Then he roughly wiped his mouth, his eyes sparkling ferociously as a wicked grin spread over his face. His canines peeked through his cruel smile. It was a complete about-face from the kind of person he had been before.
Hajime stood up, and began muttering while he transmuted the ground.
“I’ll kill them.”
Twin-tailed Wolves made their dens in certain parts of the labyrinth floor. They usually moved together in packs of four to six. Alone, they were among the weakest of the monsters that roamed the floor, so they always acted in groups. This pack was no exception, and was a group of four.
They skirted from boulder to boulder, vigilant of their surroundings, searching for a suitable hunting ground. Twin-tailed Wolves generally preferred to ambush their prey.
They wandered the corridors for a while until finding what they deemed a suitable hunting spot and all hid behind different boulders. All that remained was to wait for prey to fall into their trap. One of the wolves slipped between a small crack in a nearby boulder and the wall, then erased its presence. It licked its lips in anticipation, imagining the flesh it would soon feast on, when suddenly it felt a rather odd sense of unease.
As the wolves’ key to survival was their cooperation, the members of a pack all shared a peculiar link with each other. It wasn’t as straightforward as telepathy, but they were basically able to tell what the rest of their pack was doing and where they were. And it was that link that tipped the wolf off. They were a pack of four, and yet the wolf could only sense two of its other companions. The wolf that should have been lying in wait on the other end of the corridor suddenly vanished.
Suspicious, the wolf slowly rose on its haunches, when suddenly another one of its comrades howled. The wolf that was hiding on the same side of the wall as the one that had disappeared was feeling a sense of impatience. It was caught in something and trying to escape, but seemed unable to do so.
The two wolves on the other side of the corridor rose to go to its aid. But then the struggling wolf’s presence suddenly vanished as well.
Confused, the two wolves rushed over to the far side, but found no one there. Bewildered at the turn of events, the two wolves put their snouts to the ground and began sniffing the area their pack members had been in moments ago.
Suddenly, the ground under them began to cave in, and the walls jutted out to encase them. They tried to jump out, but before they could, the ground around their feet rose up and hardened around them. Normally, the wolves would have easily been able to shatter such frail shackles. Had they not been confused by this unusual situation, they would never have even fallen for such a simple trap.
However, their assailant had predicted their confusion, as well as their hesitation. And their precious few moments of confusion were enough for him to trap them.
“Graaaah!?” The two wolves howled angrily as they found themselves stuck fast inside the wall... Then the wall swallowed them whole, and only the echoes of their screams remained.
It was, of course, Hajime who had trapped the four wolves. Ever since he had resolved to strike back, he had spent each day in ceaseless training, ignoring his pain and hunger. The Ambrosia extended his life and restored his mana, so he was able to focus on his transmutation twenty-four seven. He worked on his speed, his precision, and his range. He knew then that had he gone outside with his current level of skill, he would have died instantly. So he made his base where the Divinity Stone was, and honed the only weapon he possessed. That weapon was, of course, transmutation.
Though he had ignored his pain while he trained, it only continued to grow as time passed. But that pain only spurred his determination, and he redoubled his efforts to improve his transmutation. Thanks to his focused training, his skills increased far more rapidly than they had been until now, and he was able to transmute from over three meters away now. Unfortunately, his talent for earth magic itself had not grown at all.
Once he had decided he’d trained enough, he created a small stone container in which he scooped up some Ambrosia, and began wandering the dungeon, transmuting, searching for his first target.
That was when he had found the pack of Twin-tailed Wolves. He had followed them silently for a while. Of course, he was nearly spotted numerous times, but every time he managed to transmute walls around him and remain inconspicuous. Then, the moment the four split up to head to their ambush points, he had transmuted the wall and dragged one of the wolves into it.
“Now then, still alive, are we? Well, I can’t kill anything directly with transmutation, I suppose. I could maybe make spikes come out of the earth, but they wouldn’t have enough force to kill monsters this deep in the labyrinth.” Hajime grinned wolfishly as he peered down at the trapped monsters through a small hole at his feet. The wolves were all trapped within the wall itself, and couldn’t budge an inch. They were all whimpering softly, panic evident in their eyes.
He had, in fact, tried to attack a monster by transmuting a spike to stab it from underneath before, but it hadn’t even had enough power to penetrate its hide. That was, after all, something more in the domain of earth magic and not transmutation. In the end, it was still a skill used for mineral processing and production, so it would be impossible for a production skill to have any real power. Which was why trapping them was the best he could do with it.
“I could just suffocate you in here... but I’m not patient enough to wait that long.” Hajime’s eyes had the glint of a predator to them by that point.
Hajime put his right hand up against the wall and transmuted it. He cut away parts of the boulder little by little, focusing on the image in his mind to make sure his work stayed precise. Eventually, he was able to make a spiral-tipped spear. He then began working on the shaft. He added a handle where the grip would normally be.
“Now then, time for a little digging!” Hajime pointed his spear down at the wolves as he said that. He thrust down, and felt their tough fur and skin deflect his spearhead.
“So I can’t stab through, huh? Well, I expected that, though.” Why had he not just crafted himself a knife or sword? That was because the stronger a monster got, the tougher its outer hide was, usually. Obviously there were species that were exceptions to the rule, but as Hajime had spent all his time at the castle studying, he knew that a normal knife or sword wouldn’t penetrate the hides of monsters at this level.
And that was why he began to twist the handle he made for himself, while applying a steady downward pressure. The spiral-shaped tip began to rotate as he twisted. He had made a drill to pierce the thick hide of monsters.
He pushed the weight of his entire body down into the drill as he turned it with his right hand. Slowly but surely, the drill began to penetrate the wolf’s thick hide.
“Graaaaah!?” The wolf howled in pain.
“It hurts, doesn’t it? Well, I’m not gonna apologize for it. Gotta do this to live after all. You’d eat me if you had the chance, so we’re even.” He spoke to the wolf while continuing his slow drilling. The wolf tried to struggle, but it was unable to move at all due to the stone tomb.
Finally, the drill pierced the flesh of the wolf. And Hajime mercilessly gouged out its insides. The wolf screamed in agony as it died. Its howls lasted for a while, until suddenly, it spasmed and grew still.
“Alright, with this I finally have some food.” Hajime smiled happily as he drilled the other three wolves to death. Once they were all dead, Hajime transmuted their corpses up to him, then began awkwardly peeling away their fur with one hand.
After that, driven by his hunger, he began to devour them. He cut a ghastly figure as he tore into their flesh, illuminated dimly by the green light of the crystals. The green light that defined his hell. He greedily devoured the wolf, every bit the animal he had just killed.
“Agah... Gah, tastes like shit!” He spat curses, but that didn’t stop him from eating the wolf. His entire mind was focused on his meal.
The flesh was tough and stringy, and the fresh blood
clogged his throat, but he tore at the meat and swallowed it all happily nonetheless. It was his first time tasting food in two weeks. His stomach protested at the sudden infusion of flesh, and resisted its ingestion. But Hajime didn’t care what his stomach thought, so he continued wolfing the wolf down.
He looked just like a feral monster. Any modern human would have found his current figure repulsive.
The meat smelled raw and disgusting, bringing tears to his eyes, but Hajime felt the food relieve his excruciating hunger pangs, and compared to those, such minor inconveniences were nothing. He had never imagined eating meat could be such a euphoric experience. He ate and ate and ate.
Hours passed, and still he continued to consume. He gulped it all down with Ambrosia, and had the priests of the Holy Church known his barbaric meal was accompanied with such a sacred drink, they would have fainted. However, around the time he was finally starting to feel full, Hajime began to notice a change occurring within his body.
“Ah? Gah!? Agaaaah!” Searing pain shot through him. It felt as if something were eating away at him from within. As time passed, the pain only grew worse.
“Guaaaaaaaah!!! Wh-What’s— Gaaaaaaah!!!” It was unendurable agony. The pain was trying to eat him from the inside out. Hajime writhed on the ground, screaming in terror. This pain was far, far worse than the hunger pangs he had been feeling previously.
With a trembling hand, Hajime pulled a stone vial out of his pocket, ripped the cap off, and poured its contents down his throat. The Ambrosia did its work, and the pain began to recede, but then, eventually, it returned once more.
“Hiii... Gugaaaaaah! Why... won’t it heal... Gaaaaah!” Along with the pain Hajime, began to feel his body throb. It began to pulse, like one big organism. In fact, he could hear his body creaking too.
However, an instant later the Ambrosia kicked in again and began repairing his body. Once the healing finished, the pain returned. Then he was healed again.
Thanks to the Ambrosia, he couldn’t even faint. Its healing powers had backfired on him.
Hajime screamed incoherently, smacking his head against the wall over and over, but the pain showed no signs of ending. He begged for someone to end his pain, but of course no one granted his wish.
Eventually, Hajime’s body began to morph.
The color was bleached from his hair. He was unsure whether it was from the pain or for some other reason entirely, but his distinctively Japanese black hair slowly turned white. Then, his muscles and bones began to grow slightly, giving him a toned appearance. Red veins ran down the inside of his body, though he wasn’t aware of that at the time.
There existed a phenomenon known as overcompensation. When one attempted muscle training, their muscles actually tore, and the body simply regrew them a bit stronger to overcompensate. And that same thing was happening to Hajime.
A monster’s meat was poison to humans. Because of the mana crystals distilled into their blood, a monster’s specialized organs allowed them to directly interface with magic, and give them superior physical strength. The mana that circulated through monsters affected even their bones and muscles.
This transformed mana allowed monsters to use magic without incantations or magic circles, though no one knew exactly how. Regardless of the particulars, a monster’s mana was poison to humans, and killed any who tried to ingest it. It would eat a person away from the inside, destroying their very cells.
There were people who had tried to eat monsters in the past and they had all, without exception, died. In fact, Hajime had read all about this, but his extreme hunger had led him to forget.
Had Hajime just eaten the wolf’s flesh, he would have died an agonizing, but swift death. But there had been something that prevented that. And that was the Ambrosia. It healed him every time his body was destroyed. As a result, his body was forced to evolve at an unnaturally rapid pace.
It was broken, then repaired. Broken, then repaired. With each cycle, his body slowly changed. Almost like a reincarnation of sorts. His frail human body was forcibly transformed into something stronger, and he went through a ritual of rebirth. It could be said Hajime’s screams were akin to the cries of a newborn.
Finally the pain receded, and Hajime slumped to the ground. The hair on his head had turned white, and underneath his clothes, veins of dark red mana ran down his body. Just like the Twin-tail Wolves, or the Kickmaster Rabbits, or the Claw Bears.
Hajime’s right hand twitched. He slowly opened his eyes, then groggily looked down at his right hand, and finally clawed at the ground, slowly curling his fingers into a fist.
He clenched and unclenched his hand multiple times, confirming that he was indeed still alive, and that his body still listened to him, before slowly getting up.
“Come to think of it, you weren’t supposed to eat monster meat... I can’t believe I did something so retarded... Well, I wouldn’t have lasted much longer without food either, though...” Exhausted, Hajime smiled self-deprecatingly.
His hunger had faded, and the specter of his left arm no longer pained him either. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he was free of pain. In fact, his body felt surprisingly light, and power was overflowing from within him.
Despite how much the constant pain had exhausted him mentally, he still felt better than he ever had in his life. He looked over at his arm, then down at his stomach, and saw very prominent muscles. He had grown a little taller too. He had originally been a mere 165 centimeters tall, but he had grown a full ten centimeters.
“What happened to my body? I feel different somehow...” And it wasn’t just the outside. The inside of Hajime’s body somehow felt different as well. It was at once both hot and cold, an indescribably strange feeling. If he focused, he could make dark red veins float up to the top of his arm.
“Uwaaah, th-that’s gross! It’s like I turned into a monster or something... I better not have, that would make for a terrible joke. Oh yeah, I should check my status plate...” He fished around for the status plate he had completely forgotten about, eventually pulling it out of his pocket. It appeared he hadn’t lost it yet. He examined his current stats, imagining it would give him some insight to the changes in his body.
* * *
* * *
Hajime Nagumo Age: 17 Male Level: 8
Job: Synergist
Strength: 100
Vitality: 300
Defense: 100
Agility: 200
Magic: 300
Magic Defense: 300
Skills: Transmute — Mana Manipulation — Iron Stomach — Lightning Field — Language Comprehension
* * *
* * *
“What in tarnation?” A little of the old Hajime returned as the shock made him slip into his weird accent. His stats had all risen astronomically, and he had three new skills. But his level had only risen to eight. Since a person’s level represented the proportion of the total potential they had reached, it would seem that Hajime’s growth limits had increased as well.
“Mana Manipulation?” If he took it literally, that would mean Hajime had gained the power to directly control mana.
Could that weird sensation I’ve been feeling be mana? Hajime thought, and attempted to activate his Mana Manipulation skill.
When he focused, Hajime saw those dark red veins come up to the surface of his skin again. He concentrated on an image of that sensation rushing to his right hand all at once. As he did so, the strange sensation, or rather his mana, began slowly flowing down to his hand.
“Oh? Oooooooh!” He unconsciously cried out at the inexplicable sensation of mana moving throughout his body. Then, suddenly, his mana poured into the magic circle inscribed on the glove he was wearing without him having to say anything. Surprised, Hajime attempted to transmute something. The ground rose up without him saying a word.
“No way. I didn’t even need to chant an incantation? I thought direct mana control wasn’t supposed to be possible for anyone except monster
s...? Does that mean I absorbed a monster’s special abilities by eating it?” That was indeed the case. Hajime had acquired the power of monsters. He then moved to try out another of his new skills, Lightning Field.
“Umm... how am I supposed to use this? Since it says Lightning Field, it must have something to do with electricity, right? Could it be? Do I have the same skill the wolf used when it gathered electricity in its tail?” He tried various things, but none of them seemed to do anything. Unlike Mana Manipulation, he couldn’t physically feel the skill inside him, so he wasn’t exactly sure how to go about activating it.
While pondering to himself, he remembered that when he was transmuting, he always needed a mental image of the effect he was trying to produce. The less one relied on a magic circle to define the characteristics of a spell, the more they needed a mental image to guide its creation.
Hajime formed an image of crackling static electricity in his mind. Suddenly, red lightning started trailing down his fingertips.
“Oooh, I did it! I see. So to use a monster’s magic, I need a good mental image of its properties. And now that I take a closer look... my mana’s become reddish just like the monsters.” He continued practicing making electrical discharges over and over. However, unlike the Twin-tailed Wolves, he was unable to fire off the electricity he could generate. From the sound of the name “Lightning Field,” Hajime surmised that he could only wrap himself in lightning, and transfer it via direct contact. So he practiced adjusting the flow of the current, as well as the voltage of the electricity he could produce.
The skill Iron Stomach most likely did exactly what its name suggested. Hajime most certainly didn’t want to suffer that hellish pain of eating monster meat ever again. However, there didn’t appear to be any other source of food in the labyrinth either. Which would have meant that he would be forced to choose between starvation and agonizing pain. Fortunately, he assumed that skill of his prevented him from having to make such a choice.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 1 (Premium) Page 12
