A Salamander, but Mighty

POV: Tamara

Tamara was surprised at how quickly the large monster had approached; she imagined that with such a size it would be slow and heavy like some large dinosaur, but instead it closed the distance with her rather quickly.

The large boss similar in appearance to a tree raised its right arm, tightening the gnarled fingers of its hand, it was a fast movement, but so large as to be predictable for Tamara's monstrous reflexes: the Core Guardian's fist fell like a hammer where a second before was Tamara, who didn't hesitate for a single moment to let the Mana flow into her gland to spit an acid jet straight onto one of the boss's feet.

The spit made the monster's wood-like skin smoke, and in response it tried to hit her again without making even the slightest moan, as if it had felt absolutely nothing.

My [Acid Spit] didn’t work??

Her small stature turned out to be an advantage as she could easily slip away from the boss's fingers; Tamara concentrated on dodging a stomp and yet another attempt to hammer her into the ground as if she were a nail before she was sure she had found an opening for a second attempt with [Acid Spit]. It took her even more Mana, but the result was the same as her first attempt: absolutely no damage.

This is not good, she thought. She had placed so much faith in her trump card that seeing it fail so miserably had affected her spirit worse than a punch in the stomach, biting it with the mouth and claws that I have will hurt it even less. What do I do now?

She tried to study the monster in an attempt to figure out if there was any weak point that could tell her where to strike effectively, but the monster seemed to have nothing of the sort, not to mention that it was continuing to attack her as if it were impossible for it to feeling tired, unlike her, who was starting to breathe more deeply.

I have to find a solution, I can't keep dodging strikes for much longer! She thought, squinting for a moment, there must be a way to hurt it, I can't be so utterly outclassed!

Tamara began to improvise: she tried to make it hit the walls of the room, to get it stuck somewhere, perhaps by putting a foot inside one of the cracks in the floor. It was while she was trying to get it stuck somewhere that she managed to make it trip on a stalagmite. The monster was agile for a giant humanoid tree, but it didn't seem particularly alert: the Core Guardian fell like a sack of potatoes, sticking one of the stalagmites in its side and causing it to let out a groan of pain.

I managed to hurt it! She thought, I could keep running and try to make it fall onto some more stalagmite, only the longer I'll take, the more I risk getting hit.

She looked up at the stalactites. Unfortunately in her past life she wasn't a boy, so she didn't have much experience with spitting.

“Well, time to tap into my inner boy!” She declared, taking advantage of the time the dungeon boss was taking to get up and extract the stalagmite from its side to try to find the best position from which to use [Acid Spit] and damage the delicate balance that holds those large rock spikes suspended against gravity.

The monster had managed to get back on its feet and remove the spike that had pierced it from its gnarled body. It didn't have a real head, but the part that Tamara could have defined as a head began to move left and right, as if it was looking for her and it was not immediately obvious where she was even though she was not hiding.

Maybe it can't see me in a conventional way? She asked herself in the voice of thought. She once again used [Acid Spit] on the group of stalactites between her and the huge dungeon boss, and the monster turned its head, pointing not at her, but at the ceiling. Great, then I have to attract it to me at the right time.

The Core Guardian approached, continuing to hold its head upwards, trying to understand in which part of the ceiling Tamara was hiding. When it was close enough and the stalactites vibrated as if ready to fall, she lured it against her.

"Hey! You stupid giant! I am here!" Tamara shouted, hissing and screeching like a large reptile.

Victory seemed to be within her grasp, and it had been even easier than she thought!

Then the dungeon boss surprised her.

The monster had no mouth, yet it managed to let out a deep roar that was somewhat similar to a thunderous, cavernous bellow; Tamara flinched, felt the barriers of her mind resist for a few seconds before shattering and causing chill and terror in her heart. Her muscles stiffened to the point that she could no longer even move properly.

The giant approached the remaining few meters and raised a fist above its head, Tamara prayed that the roar had been enough to make the unstable stalactites fall but this did not happen. The huge fist came down like a hammer in her direction, too fast to avoid and certainly enough to kill her; Tamara fought against the feeling of pure desperation and horror that had frozen her muscles to make Mana flow all over her skin, managing to activate [Obsidian Defense] just an instant before the living tree's fist fell on her.

SYSTEM: ATTENTION, CRITICAL HEALTH!

SYSTEM: [SLEEPY SWAMP]’S CORE GUARDIAN DEFEATED

[Obsidian Defense] had managed to protect her and make the monster let out another cry of pain when the obsidian-black quills managed to pierce its very hard body. She would not have resisted another such attack if it had not been that the vibrations on the ground caused by the punch finally caused the stalactites to detach, which fell in a group of three, two sticking into one of the monster's shoulders and a third into what resembled a head.

Tamara felt the tension and strength of the Core Guardian disappear, the gigantic being collapsed on its side and never moved again.

SYSTEM: DING! You went up [1] level! [+3] Traits points to place, [+1] Feat available.

SYSTEM: DING! You went up [1] level! [+3] Traits points to place.

SYSTEM: DING! You went up [1] level! [+3] Traits points to place, [+1] Feat available.

SYSTEM: DING! You went up [1] level! [+3] Traits points to place.

SYSTEM: DING! You went up [1] level! [+3] Traits points to place, [+1] Feat available.

She had won, it was still absurd to believe, but she had won. Her quills returned to being normal scales and even though the system had filled her with level up notifications, she didn't feel like celebrating: her body was destroyed, she no longer felt her tail or her hind legs, she was struggling breathing as if a lung had collapsed and looking at herself she noticed that the shattered tip of a bone was protruding from one of her hind legs... she had been crushed like a fly.

No, she really didn't feel like celebrating.

The pools of light, she thought, at least she didn't feel pain in half of her body. I have to reach them.

They were without a shadow of a doubt the worst minutes of her existence since she had become a salmadrer: she dragged herself slowly on the cold ground, fighting not only against the pain that she still felt in the upper part of her body, but also against the residues of whatever the dungeon boss used to attack her mental defenses. had done. When she reached the nearest pool of light she threw her whole body into it, feeling the miraculous effects of healing almost immediately.

Tamara made sure she had gotten all the benefits possible – and also that she couldn't stay submerged any longer, as she was starting to suffocate – before emerging and walking out of the glowing water, still injured but in much better condition, so much so that she could walk on all four legs again and breathe properly.

Now the realization that she had won – and that both doors of the room had opened – could be processed. Tamara looked at the corpse of the boss she had defeated, fearing that it might start moving again even if the system had notified her with the confirmation of its death.

“Status,” she said softly.

___

[Tamara Parker][Salmadrer][Monster (lv.15)]

[Health: 45/90 (70)][Mana: 30/60 (40)][XP: 2762/29269]

[TRAITS MODIFIERS]

Satisfied

[TRAITS]

[15 points to place]

► Dexterity: 12 (16)

► Faith: 8 (12)

► Knowledge: 8 (12)

► Resilience: 14 (18)

► Speed: 11 (17)

► Strenght: 13 (17)

[FEATS]

[3 Feat slot free to use]

► Acid Spit 1

► Greater Reach I

► Growth (Lesser) I

► Improved Reach I

► Obsidian Defense I

► Scale Armor (Lesser) I

► Scratch I

___

She took a moment to think about the level she had reached, she was now officially the most powerful monster in the dungeon immediately after the boss - at least, as far as she could see -, for some reason she had also started taking more Trait points to distribute, probably it was something due to the increase in level above tenth. Perhaps she would start getting even more Trait points and Feat slots once she reached twentieth level.

“Okay, okay, let's think about the Feats first,” she said to herself, focusing her concentration on the desired box.

___

FEAT LIST:

► Bite (Lesser) I

Strenghtens all bites by 5%

► Flying Membrane I

Ability to fly increased by 10%

► Greater Reach II

Improves user’s limbs reach by 10%

► Horned Assault (Lesser) I

Strenghtens headbutt damage by 5%

► Humanoid Form (Minor)

Monster obtains the ability to transform into a humanoid monster. It conserves its Feats and Traits as they’re in its beast form (Mana cost: 1 Mana/10 min)

► Nimbleness (Lesser) I

Makes the user move and react faster by 5%

► Scratch II

Strengthens all claw attacks by 7.5%

► Tail-Whip (Lesser) II

Strengthens all tail attacks by 7.5%

___

Whatever thought process she was doing was stopped when she came across a specific Feat that had appeared on her list for the first time.

“[Humanoid Form]??” She said out loud, making it echo inside the large, empty room, “I want it! I want that one! Give it to me! NOW!" She thrilled ecstatically.