The mosquito slowly drank the last drops of blood from a dead squirrel.
It was now exactly the same size as the squirrel.
A little bigger, even.
Maybe double.
The squirrel had been completely drained of all its blood. Desiccated like rotten fruit. An empty husk.
At a certain distance, the egg from which the mosquito had emerged was still clearly visible.
White. Translucent. Empty and cracked.
Its previous version had filled up on essential nutrients, which had allowed it to become the monster it currently was.
Bigger. Stronger. Hungrier.
The mosquito violently beat its wings.
BZZZZZZ.
This squirrel hadn’t been as nutritious as what the previous mosquito had consumed before it.
The blood wasn’t rich enough.
The genetic memory of the previous one clearly pointed to the manor.
That was where the food was of the absolute highest quality.
Rich. Delicious blood.
However, if it drank too much premium blood all at once, it risked dying because its body wouldn’t be able to handle the power.
It would explode from the inside.
Anyway, it should be able to drink a lot more than the previous mosquito before it.
Its body was bigger. More resistant. Stronger.
For now, the best strategy would be to strike exclusively at night, when the prey was tired.
It flew deeper into the dense forest, constantly searching for more victims.
Its hunger was hard to satisfy.
Insatiable.
---
Cassian slowly descended the worn stairs of the dungeon, each step echoing in the oppressive silence.
That morning, no delivery had arrived.
Good.
She couldn’t have handled another distraction.
The night had been restless, but she preferred to completely forget it.
She had only one goal in mind: finish the dungeon.
After that, she could think about other problems.
Cassian finally reached the bottom of the stairs.
The moment she turned right to continue down the corridor…
WHAM.
She was violently attacked.
Stolen novel; please report.
A skeleton positioned at the perfect blind spot brought a one-handed mace crashing down on Cassian.
An ice spear instantly erupted from the ground and brutally impaled the skeleton.
CRASH.
It had happened in an instant.
Cassian’s magic had activated purely on survival instinct.
Like closing your eyes when you’re startled.
Or throwing your hands up instinctively to protect yourself.
Cassian had also screamed from the surprise and violently recoiled.
“HAAH?!”
The scream immediately drew the attention of about a dozen skeletons in the area.
Cassian was surprised.
There hadn’t been nearly this many skeletons yesterday.
Absolutely not.
The skeletons rushed at Cassian en masse.
Their bones clacked horribly.
Cassian panicked and sprinted back up the stairs.
The skeletons followed, their bones clattering loudly.
CLACK CLACK CLACK.
She finally made it out of the dungeon.
But when one skeleton exited the dungeon…
It simply vanished.
Like smoke.
POOF.
And another. And another.
POOF. POOF.
Cassian found it extremely strange.
“What? What’s happening?”
Then she saw a skeleton violently forcing its way to the front of the others, physically preventing them from exiting.
It pushed them. Blocked them.
It was the skeleton with the mace.
The skeletons behind it desperately tried to reach Cassian.
But it blocked them.
Cassian suddenly grabbed the armed skeleton’s arm and yanked it sharply toward her.
“Come here!”
The instant the arm exited the dungeon…
It vanished.
POOF.
Then the entire skeleton.
POOF.
The mace fell heavily to the ground.
THUD.
“They can’t leave the dungeon,” Cassian murmured as she realized.
Suddenly, the skeletons stopped completely.
They no longer tried to reach her.
They turned and descended the stairs again.
Cassian didn’t let them.
“Oh no. Not happening.”
She quickly charged a large ice spear.
A lot of mana.
Then hurled it at high speed down the narrow stairway at the descending skeletons.
CRASH CRASH CRASH.
Total carnage.
They were all shattered into pieces.
Bones scattered everywhere.
“Perfect strike,” Cassian said with satisfaction.
She thought back to the skeleton that had wielded the mace.
It was strange. Far more intelligent in its actions than the others.
“Was it ambushing me?”
If so, that was absolutely terrifying.
Besides, the number of skeletons was astonishing.
She was sure she had completely cleared the first floor yesterday.
“Unless the skeletons are coming from lower floors. Or the dungeon is respawning them.”
But the number that had chased her was excessive.
Easily ten. Maybe fifteen.
Cassian also wondered why, at one point, the skeletons had suddenly stopped caring about her and returned to the dungeon.
It was as if they were obeying an order.
It had happened right after she pulled the armed skeleton out of the dungeon.
“Some kind of elite skeleton controlling the normal ones?”
Cassian was still troubled by the intelligence of the mace-wielding skeleton.
The way it had held back the others from exiting.
It was aware they would disappear if they left.
Really strange.
Cassian re-entered the dungeon with extreme caution.
Every step calculated.
Unlike yesterday, the first floor was full of skeletons.
Absolutely packed.
She spent more time clearing the floor.
She encountered nothing resembling a skeleton commander.
Just normal skeletons.
Finally, she reached the second floor.
It was empty.
No skeletons in the first corridor.
She advanced cautiously.
Then stepped on a slightly raised tile.
CLICK.
It dropped her into a hidden pit.
“FUCK!”
The bottom was filled with sharp things.
Stakes. Blades. Rusted spikes.
For a brief moment, Cassian’s foot landed on something.
Like an invisible surface preventing her from falling.
It didn’t last long before it vanished.
She quickly spread her legs and hands to brace against the walls.
She painfully climbed back up.
“Goddamn it…”
Cassian had absolutely not expected a trap.
She slowly admitted she had underestimated the dungeon.
There hadn’t been anything like this yesterday.
It was as if the dungeon had adapted to her.
If that was true, it meant the dungeon had planned to kill her on the first floor with all those skeletons.
Maybe that was why she wasn’t seeing any on the second.
“To be honest, I didn’t really explore the second floor yesterday.”
She began to seriously doubt her ability to finish the dungeon today.
She had really drained her mana reserve.
It took a certain amount of power to shatter the skeletons with her magic.
And with their numbers, she had struggled.
Her mana had been seriously depleted.
Cassian suddenly thought back to the mace dropped by the intelligent skeleton.
It was still at the dungeon entrance.
“If I use the weapon instead of my magic, I can save mana.”
She exited the dungeon and picked up the mace.
Holding the weapon, she smiled.
“I feel like I can crush skulls with this.”
She made a few swings.
WHOOSH. WHOOSH.
“The perfect weapon right now.”
Cassian remembered the moment she had almost fallen into the pit.
She had braced herself on something before using the walls.
“That was definitely my magic. I’m sure of it.”
She had braced on air? No, something else.
She tried to reproduce it.
Without success.
“Come on… how did I do it…”
Slowly, Cassian grasped the sensation.
Then BOOM.
She understood what had happened.
Cassian had total control over water.
In the past, she had tried walking on water for fun.
At one point, she had succeeded.
The water supported her, preventing her from sinking.
A dense zone formed beneath her.
What she had done in the dungeon was similar.
But the water came from ambient humidity.
In the urgency, she had drawn the water around her foot into a tiny area.
The water had been compressed and was able to hold her weight.
Because she hadn’t continuously fed mana to the surface, it dissipated quickly.
Cassian tried to reproduce it now.
It worked after a few practical attempts.
It now stayed in place without falling or dissipating.
“Crazy…”
Cassian was impressed.
It was like walking on air.
Tiny ripples appeared beneath her steps.
She rose. Rose. Rose.
One meter. Two meters. Five meters.
She suddenly stopped walking about ten meters in the air.
Cassian put her hands behind her back and struck an enigmatic pose to look cool.
She felt incredibly stylish.
Like a cool manga character.
“I can’t even be called a genius,” she said arrogantly. “I’m definitely above that.”
She grinned widely.
“I’m definitely a prodigy.”
Small problem.
Her already low mana reserve hit the limit.
She fell in a humiliating way.
“AAAAAH!”
THUD.
She crashed to the ground.
“Ouch…”
It was something she could have avoided if she hadn’t been busy playing with her new discovery.
No regrets from Cassian.
It was totally worth it.
