Leah, Reincarnated As a Dungeon Core!

Ding!

[Degraded effect ⁠— You go unpunished for the death of Grant Wolfe. Arlesh still remains neutral.]

 

I stretched a bit, my body was kind of stiff from pushing it so hard ⁠— it was to be expected. Hitting a wall at a speed like that would break a thing or two. Even if everything is technically broken. An empty laugh escaped my lips before refocusing on what mattered. 

 

I raised my dagger a bit and caressed the tip. This was no good, it was already cracking from all of that abuse although it was to be expected all titles considered. Naturally, a bone dagger would break from bonus damage against bones. 

 

As I took a step forward I paused ⁠— I had forgotten… about the rewards. Dragging my hand I touched his body it was kind of disgusting seeing his skull completely deflated from having his brain pummeled along with the bones. The body slowly disintegrated into dust leaving a clean bag ⁠— the perks of being a monster were nice.  

 

Uninterested I simply pocketed the thing; it was slightly heavy but not too much. Next one was the spear user ⁠— kneeling looking at the ground with lifelessness. He couldn’t handle it, so many internal ruptures and internal bleeding ⁠— no potion would fix that. 

 

It was interesting — the effects of the dagger. Penetration would go through anything if it overcame their hidden defense value, but it would be a clean wound. Given this, it wouldn’t break a bone if it weren’t for the title. Since penetration dealt all of its damage through the penetration itself the title had no choice other than expanding instead of making it more painful it would deal more collateral damage; hence all the bone-cracking.

 

If the dagger suffers recoil from it too then it will make the impact even harder. It was dumb, really. I was lucky to have gotten everything at the right time. Thankfully I had the tools to defend myself this time. 

 

After a short sigh I touched his body as well ⁠— Decomposition: a skill every monster in this world had and very few could utilize. Thankfully I was a monster ⁠— otherwise, I would’ve been done-for long ago. I watched the seemingly natural process; leaving a bag. Normally it would either turn into a stat boost or something for the monster to use, but my circumstances were special. And uniquely unfavorable. 

 

Seriously how did I even survive this long? Ah, right. Error margin correction ⁠— a blessing and a rare stat that was largely unseen across all lifeforms. It was simply a mystery, sometimes it helped to be more efficient, sometimes it saved lives and sometimes it made things worse. 

 

The only reason I didn’t instantly die when I hit the wall was due to it.  

 

I turned to the door and approached it. It rattled when I tried to open it ⁠— It was locked. The door was made out of wood and steel, but only the hinges had still. So if I could either snap it or break them off it would forcefully open. 

 

The beating continued outside but I paid it no mind as I grabbed the spear from the ground. I tensed both of my hands and coiled them back ⁠— thrusting it into the lower hinge. 

 

Clank! 

 

Sparks flew off and a  few screws snapped. It was certainly a way to do it; my body was tired but I had to at least finish the deed before resting. I tensed my muscles again and thrusted. It came off. 

 

The door was heavy and it started collapsing on its weight. I didn’t even need to break the top hinge, just kick the bottom until it broke, it was something as simple as tha⁠— 

 

Ding! 

[System alert:  You overcame a death or death situation. +20 to all stats!] 

 

I smiled. Just what I needed. I raised my leg and kicked, the door rattled. Kicked again, the door cracked. Kicked again⁠— 

 

Snap! 

 

The door curved inwards and slowly opened. 

 

“Don’t leave me hanging like that!” Aah, there he was. He kicked the girl on the ground. “Come on, stand up! Such a big mouth. STAND!” He kicked again. Her body rolled on the ground as she panted ⁠— covered in bruises and blood. 

 

Thud.

 

The door collapsed and hit the ground with a hollow sound. The dealer turned back towards me. His eyes slowly looked at me then behind me, I could see them slowly open more and more as they trembled.

 

“You… WHAT DID YOU DO!?” he cried. 

“Come on…” I smiled. “You can’t damage the slave I was going to buy like that…” Blood dripped from my hands as I walked towards him; he was shaking ⁠— the fun had just started. 

 

“W-What are you going to do?!” he stammered. 

“Don’t worry the fun is just starting!” I said with a smile. 

 

He froze on the spot before finally grunting. 

 

“Tch, just another collector that needs to be put in their place.” Even though he acted all tough he was shaking. An unexpected factor had been introduced into his business ⁠— I bet it was going well until everything went down, and now this. He can’t handle it. 

 

* * * 

 

A gritting sound echoed from my boots. 

 

“Oi, come on. Stand up!” 

“Cough! You monster!” His blood was pooling below me. Is that all he had? 

 

“You can’t give up on me like this ⁠— you said you were the best dealer and the strongest right?!” I stepped on him. “Are you like a pushover or something? How disappointing…” He bit his lip as his body twitched. 

 

“I… AM NOT A PUSHOVER!” His body started trembling, he forced his broken arms and started to put all his remaining strength on them trying to stand up in spite of my entire weight being over him. This was bad. I couldn't risk it. 

STAB! I gently penetrated his spinal cord, I couldn’t have him activate some pity system alert of struggling to death. It happened to me, but I won’t let it happen against me.

 

“You… bitch… Cough!” More blood was spewed. 

“Stand up…” I kicked but he just twitched. His body started being drained of all color as his blood continued to leak outside his body.

 

Ding!

[Degraded effect ⁠— You go unpunished for the death of Lars Wolfe. Arlesh, in spite of everything, remains neutral.]

 

I dropped my shoulders in disappointment. He was supposed to be strong or something, but I guess the combination of bone-breaking was overkill. 

 

After a short sigh, I moved onto the girl to see if something could be done. At least the battle was over ⁠— shame that I didn’t get more stats from killing him, I guess if I had allowed him to beat me up a bit it would’ve given me something. Sigh… something to consider.