I Am A Monster Reborn [A Monster Evolution Litrpg]

Victor had once again woken alone in some dark part of the world. A cave in the middle of who knows where. Though it was lonely at times, he was his own master at very least.

He had kept running for miles upon miles not looking back at where his former ‘spawn point’ had been. It was outine now it seemed to creep in the shadows. As he was chased, by the patrol, the lever had been opened by someone and the dog-thing had come after him for a while, but had lost track of him as he had a good head start.

For a while now he had felt tired, though couldn’t have been exhausted as he didn’t overexert himself. Perhaps the dog-things spread his drool on him and infected him with frog leg illness. Maybe he’d sprout four legs, then he wouldn’t have to slither like a sentient bowl of jello.

‘Well wasn’t that grand. ‘He knew he shouldn't have eaten that rat.

It seemed the annoyance spurred on by the rats would bother him for a little while longer.

‘Status’

It would disappear in a while or so, it didn’t bother him all that much. Though he was as slow as he started now, halving his speed essentially.

Sprinting

He had moved through the cave for quite a while, probably half an hour navigating.

There wasn’t much to see yet. Dead bats (which were cave rats to him essentially), the occasional salamander who paid him no mind and of course worms the size of a human arm tunneling the earth below.

A creepy and icky place.

In the distance, Victor could make out crackling noises and the smell of smoke filled his little slimy pores. Someone was making a fire or was camping in these caves. Friend or foe he would have to pass by them.

He heard a hyena-like laugh coming in the general direction of the fire. It was disturbing but clearly the laugh wasn’t that of a monster as the voice seemed to talk. It was too faint from here to properly make anything out. He’d have to get closer.

His limb manipulation had once again gone up. Likely from all the rocks and weird stuff he had touched in the dark along the way. Everytime he had obtained or leveled a skill it felt like new knowledge was printed in his head.

He now had gained the comprehension to make the perfect hand and was able to use it just like when he was, when he was human with some minor problems of course. He had to shift his mass to match that of his weight or else it was like walking with some small but dense object, getting heavier over time.

It was an improvement regardless of pains that came with it.

For sometime now he had a creeping feeling of a presence sneaking up on him. At first he thought the dog thing had caught up but then he realized it would have made the dog-frog noises to terrify him. He had napped every now and then, passed numerous pathways or tunnels. What was strange was that he caught no indication that his senses were picking up something, just the sixth at work. Noise, smells, visual disturbances, there was nothing. Just the sensation that he was being watched as he moved along.

Perhaps it was a poltergeist, maybe the ghost of the minotaur he ate. Coming to horn him in vengeance. Or maybe the druid girl died and she was haunting him like a nasty specter. Maybe it was her tailing him. What would be the reason for following him? No proper motive.

He quickly put that theory to rest as she had left quite a while before him. Did she even make it out in that wild cat state?

Questions for another time.

He kept moving onwards, eager to leave. He had followed a mine rail for sometime now, and it was sure to lead somewhere interesting. Where there were signs of artificial objects, there was sure to be life.

The rail had split in two. One leading to a tunnel going up and one going down.

In the tunnel going down. A minecart had laid defunct ahead. A dead miner remains in the cart, clearly dead. All that was left was bones and clothes. There was toxic fog around where he had died. The rail in front of the miner had an unexpected end, a deep hole in the middle of the passage, cut off from its original destination. He could climb around it but the risk of falling in was too real.

Who knows where it leads?

On the other side, the smoke was clearly flowing. That was where he would go for better or for worse.

But he was going to see what that miner had on him.

There wasn’t much to find on the cadaver. No gold, no treasure. The miner was dressed in overalls and had a protective cap on his head. A pickaxe in his dying hands. Made him wonder what had happened. A symbol was imprinted on his overall. ‘RM’, perhaps the symbol of a company he had worked for.

A strange thought had come to mind. Though he couldn't wear the overalls, perhaps he could put the protective cap on his head. Shift his body so that it would just stick. Just in case something started lashing from above again.

He put it on. And widened his mass slightly. Sure he would look alot fatter now but at least he was protected. Protection was an important thing after all, we don't want any unnecessary consequences now do we.

(Con+1 Str+1) It didn’t provide much benefit but it would make up for Stat debuff.

He moved towards the other passage on the other side of the splitted rail.The noise had become clearer.

Just around the corner, he could see a thriving fire. And four greenish looking small men, sitting around a fire. These goblins look unarmored compared to the guards he had met before. Dressed in rags, some of them barely clothed

That didn’t mean he would let his guard down. He was sure even a child could kill him with enough motivation.

“We've been stuck here all day,” A goblin moaned, laying back comfortably on a bedroll. “No treasure. No gold. And no fat whore to have fun with.”

“Well, if some of us worked more proactively we may have found some gud bloody loot. Ya know what dey say most lucky men quit right before they make it big.” The tallest one said, who looked like he was in charge.

“Where would that loot go anyway? The Warboss is way too harsh on his fucking quota.”

The tall goblin stood up. Played around with his knife restlessly.

“Well just keep to Ourselves, don tell da boss nothing. Split the spoils only among trusted brother’s, i'm gonna have another look in that dwarven burial ground if you don’t mind. I know there’s loot down here. ”

“I’ll come with you.” A meek looking goblin told him.

‘So fuck off already! I’ll piss the night away.” The fattest among the four shouted. Drunk, and a full tankard in hand. “May a fat dwarf haunt and your mother.”

“Imma catch a nap, have fun.” The lazy said.

“Useless! Come on then green grunt…” The tall one called out to his only loyal companion and the small part set off, deeper into the cave.

They were a rowdy and a hostile bunch it seemed. He hoped not all of them were like that.

The drunk one started chugging. Non-stop. Would blabber something to his sleepy comrade and then keep drinking again, occasionally saying something rational.

“Do ya know that local gnoll warlord is planning to ambush a humie village nearby, we oughta join.” He said confidently.

His companion had said nothing and was snoring on. Deep asleep

“Though they are unpredictable characters, trusting a gnoll is like trusting a dog not to bite you.” and he Mumbled to himself and to no one in particular. Except to Victor of course, though he would find that out soon. Chugging more and more and was half dancing moving to the other side of the room, taking liquor from what Victor assumed was his companion’s stashes.

This was Victor’s chance. He was weak, incredibly so. But a tool was a tool. He would kill the one on the floor in his sleep and then move on to the drunk one.

He moved swiftly. Instead of using his tentacle whip. Thanks to his <Limb manipulation> he formed a full five-fingered hand, took one of the weapons the goblins left on the ground. ‘A dagger.’

Slowly but surely he crawled his way to the sleepy goblin. Jumpy that the drunk one might see him.

He casted observe on each one to make sure they were ‘vulnerable’ as the Druid girl had been when she was unconscious.

As he found him on the chest of the sleepy goblin, shifting his weight off unto the ground. He wondered how he found himself here, how quickly he shifted to killing without remorse without a doubt.

Then he snapped back to reality again, time was running out, if he failed here he could always retreat into the caverns.

Staring at his soon-to-be Victim. He wondered if they would just let him go, was it worth doing this, sure he would get stronger, what if this goblin back home had a family. What if he was this goblin. He had never done anything nearly as gruesome as this before. It was disturbing, he hoped that this wouldn’t haunt him.

He gripped the dagger with his makeshift hand and tentacle arm, brought to his neck and slit the goblins throat.

Slash!

The goblins throat was cut open. Metal tearing into flesh. Blood spurted from his neck like a kitchen tap overflowing . He woke from his lumber in panic and fear, immediately realizing he had been cut. Instinctively one hand was locked around the place where the incision was made.

The other searching for his dagger. Not finding it.

He realized Victor was on him. His eyes went wide. His other hand is now moving, trying to get Victor off of him. Victor moved his mass onto his body and covering his face.

The goblin tried to scream, but everything was muffled.

Victor restarted his assault, this time aiming for his brain and then his eyes.

Stab! As the dagger got pressed inside his brain. He started twisting and shaking, legs, arms fingers and toes contorting.

Stab! Another in his eye rupturing and partially blind him

.

Red liquid, stuck to victor, coated in the blood of his foe. He turned towards the other enemy. The drunk was already looking at him, but was doing nothing. If he was paying attention, he was not rational enough to know what would happen next.

“Look Deezer there’s a green thing on your chest.” he started pointing and laughing very much like the hyena Victor heard earlier.

Victor approached him and waited to gauge his reaction.

"What you… you meant, you're all funny and squishy, kind of cut-” he was silenced.

Victor jumped on his face, suffocating him. Victor’s whole mass around his face. The drunk struggled to keep balanced. And fell to the ground, the man-ooze still clinging to his face.

He started suffering acidic burns form being exposed to Victor’s internal fluids.

He opened his mouth to scream. Which was a mistake as Victor’s oozy flesh started to flood inside. Victor dragged the dagger through his own body. And pressed it deep inside his Victims head.

No more would the drunk laugh and babble.

As the drunk lied lifeless on the floor. He immediately moved away. Something smell weirdly like piss and sure enough on the pants of the goblin, there was it. He was surely not going to absorb that thing, so he moved away to the other.

He started checking them for anything of value . The only thing he had on him was several gold coins. which was of no use to him right now.

He had also leveled up which was of vital importance.

He put everything into dexterity. Fighting would mean nothing if he was going to keep moving like a slug. He felt faster, much faster. If it wasn’t for his size, he felt he was probably as fast as he was a human before.

He considered absorbing them and then he remembered There was the matter of the other two who went on a treasure hunt. Sure enough he heard sudden footsteps marching in his direction . WIth their swords drawn.

He would run before he would get caught by them, he didn’t trust himself to win a battle head on.

“What’s going on here!” he shouted calling out to his former comrades. “ Deezer! Nats!”

They look perplexed at the scene in front of them. Their comrades lying on the floor unresponsive. Blood leaking from their ruptured and punctured heads. The culprit was standing in the middle of the excavated room behind the fire they had made. A mass of gelatin and slime with a miner’s cap on it. Dagger in its hand.

“What the fuck. Kill it grunt! Kill it.” The tall goblin shouted, fuming with rage. The grunt goblin started dashing towards him, longsword in hand. The tall one behind with a battle axe. This wasn’t something he could face yet.

Victor knew he would be on the run again. At Least this time he would have a fighting chance. He slithered around and sped straight to the tunnel he came from.

‘Oh shit!’

The goblins froze. Their prey had been caught and not by them. Immediately turned around and started sprinting for their lives. Victor was caught in a trap, much akin to a spider’s web. A giant spider’s web. His pursuer’s tucked tail and ran the other way.

The goblins tactical retreat was cut short. Throwing one back, he fell through the web besides Victor, the other’s head munched off clean. The beast started feasting on the decapitated goblin. Indulging for a minute or two…

Victor had tried fleeing, tried forcing his way out. Tried to heat himself, hoping his acidic fluids might burn the webs. It was a senseless effort.

The beast. A gigantic 12 legged arachnid turned it’s attention to Victor. Slowly creeping forward, skittering towards victor. Ghastly twin mandibles, with little mandibles inside. Eight crimson red eyes staring at him in the dark.

He wasn’t scared of dying again, if what Victor told him was true. This would go on and on and on….

“Oh i do apologize, for my behavior,” It said aloud. In the same manner, a sophisticated gentlemen may have. ” I get carried away by my behavior sometimes. It’s a hard bugs life one could say it.”

It giggled at its own joke disturbingly.

It moved even closer, Victor started panicking. Here he was again in the shittiest of situations. He hoped the talking spider didn’t eat ooze and slime. It was disgusting after all. Victor started wiggling erratically again

“Do not be afraid.”

It moved his leg towards him

:”Let me get you down from there.” he said as he cleaved off the web.

Victor was less surprised and more happy it didn't eat him.

‘You’re Free to speak.’ the same voice that came from behind the mandibles now reverberated in his head. ‘What’s your name.’

It had telepathic communication. How bizarre.

‘Victor’ he replied to the beast… Hoping his manner’s didn’t offend.

“What brings you down here, Victor, it’s not often I find someone similar to me.” It spoke aloud now, maybe it preferred to speak through its mouth. Victor’s attention was caught, perhaps this giant spider was like him.

‘Similar.’

‘Yes where one and the same you and I. Cut from the same tree, branch and leaf.’

‘Can i tell you a story, the hulking giant said.’ Scratching its huge head, with its giant legs. They were surprisingly flexible.

“But of course, you may indulge in your spoils,” It tapped on the dead bodies. “You’ll need it to survive in the coming future," he pointed to the goblins Victor killed.

He didn’t exactly know what was going on but Victor would not throw away such an opportunity like this. If anything, for the first time in his horrible newlife he has been blessed.

“If you listen I'll grant you a special boon.” The monster offered.

‘Sure why not.’