A Cold-Blooded POV

The cathedral welcomes all who seek the age of the gods, an age where the deities walk free in all their glory, a world cleansed by the Voice of God- the one and only utopia. We have been aided by the blessed in our endeavors with their mysterious otherworldly knowledge and strength.

The Voice of God which is dubbed as the 'System' by the blessed is our road to ascension, to a greater state of being and a new world where mortals and Gods exist on the same plane. But to do this we must awaken the deities themselves from their eternal slumber, and commence the world's advancement with the souls of the blessed.

Exert from the Sacred Book of the Cathedral

***

[You have defeated level 3 Scorpius Lupus Pup]

[You have gained XP]

Getting its neck snapped the canine dropped lifelessly on the ground, its limp tongue hanging out of its open jaws. One of the canines was killed, however, the fight still wasn't over yet, and he still had to deal with the other two canines and the large bug monster.

Ethoss glanced at his HP and noticed that it was slowly decreasing. Did the stinger the canines used have venom in it?

Luckily the venom wasn't as strong as his own, the canine's venom was still too weak to completely paralyze or kill a monster of his evolution tier. The canine on his back continued to be a pest, biting and stabbing its stinger into the back of Ethoss.

Fortunately, the scales were much more sturdy on his back so the stinger did absolutely nothing other than annoy him. A few meters away from Ethoss the large insect struggled to stand up after having several of its legs decapitated, its carapace damaged from Ethoss's previous attack.

After a couple of tries it finally started to become accustomed to its new amount of legs, it stood up, placing more weight on its left side to keep balance, then it rushed towards Ethoss.

The large insect wobbled unbalanced as it ran toward him, however, its legs moved one after the other, giving it no chance to stumble. It lifted its claw and aimed at the Ethoss's throat.

Its legs were filled with long hairs that resembled spikes, and Ethoss could see what looks like a gooey, watery, substance dripping from the maw behind its mandibles onto the ground.

With a swift movement, Ethoss used his skill, Rapid Dash, zipping away from the insect, easily dodging its claw attack. Additionally when he dashed his speed caused the canine to fall off his back as well, landing on its side. Ethoss quickly took advantage of this chance and rushed it.

Lethal Venomous Bite!

As he crunched into the canine, the venom immediately began to enter deep into its body. Dark black veins appeared like an allergic reaction, spreading slowly. The dog howled once, then fell silent as the poison worked its way deeper.

Ethoss' jaw snapped shut, biting down hard on the canine's head.

Lethal Venomous Bite!

[You have defeated level 2 Scorpius Lupus Pup]

[You have gained XP]

The rich taste of blood landed on Ethoss's taste buds. He opened his mouth and savored the flavor, then swallowed it down his throat. The sweet liquid made him feel invigorated more than ever, like an energy drink. Still, he controlled himself, he couldn't eat yet, right now wasn't the best time to be greedy, no matter how hungry he was.

*Clack*

The clacking sound of mandibles being snapped echoed, and the insect's unblinking eyes shined with a cold glint as it stared at Ethoss. Seeing this he hissed back, Ethoss took a peek at his HP just to be on the safe side, he had a habit of forgetting to check it now and again.

HP: 45

He still had a bunch of remaining HP, Ethoss's confidence had even more of a boost now. A snarl interrupted the tense stare down surprising both Ethoss and the insect.

Soon after a canine with one of its back legs completely gone jumped out, and a stinger jutting from its back darted forward toward the insect's carapace, the large bug couldn't even dodge properly due to its lack of legs.

*Swuek*

The stinger pierced directly through the insect's carapace, and it let out a shrill cry that was almost comical. But not quite. The bug's many legs twitched and shivered until finally, it stopped moving.

Ethoss was shocked, he had forgotten about this canine due to all of his fighting and now he missed out on a lot of XP. He was positive that the insect would have given much more XP than any of the canines, but that was ruined by this dog.

Ethoss felt the back of his throat become warmer and warmer. The fire gland, began to work, pushing mana in and out, like a processor. Ethoss put his all into the organ, the fire in his throat condensed and compacted itself, until the point where he could no longer hold it, if done incorrectly he would definitely hurt himself severely.

A ball of fire flew out of his mouth, heading straight for the canine. The dog flinched, trying to move its body before the condensed ball of fire made contact with it, alas its back leg held it back and slowed it down. The ball of fire landed causing a giant explosion, fire flee everywhere, landing on trees, grass, and even rocks.

[You have defeated level 2 Scorpius Lupus Pup]

[You have gained XP]

In the place of the canine, there was a huge burning crater, it looked like an asteroid had crash-landed. The canine had been vaporized, with nothing left of it.

Ethoss hissed in annoyance, his tantrum had costed him potential biomass, and even after all of that killing he didn't level up. It was painfully obvious that leveling up would be much harder than before.

His tongue flickered, and he moved closer to his food. He had to move fast, the explosion from the fire blast would definitely draw in other monsters.

Ethoss greedily bit into the corpse of the dog, allowing the tasteful blood to cleanse his taste buds once more.

[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Scorpius Lupus Pup, you are rewarded one Biomass]

[Basic profile of the Scorpius Lupus Pup unlocked]

[You have gained one biomass]

Hearing the praise of the unemotional voice his anger sided, not to mention, the taste made him feel better about his situation, though he lost one corpse that he could eat to get biomass, at least it was only one of the canines and not the insect.

The dog's fur tasted good, but it wasn't nearly enough to satisfy Ethoss' hunger. As soon as he finished he rushed over to the insect and began gobbling it up.

[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Unguibus Scolopendra, you are rewarded one Biomass]

[Basic profile of the Unguibus Scolopendra unlocked]

The alerts of the robotic voice continued to echo but Ethoss was focused on eating his fill. He finished the insect, then moved on to the last corpse.

***

Monster Profile:

[Unguibus Scolopendra: Claw Centipede, its carapace acts as armor, taking all external damage. Has strong claws that can easily decapitate limbs. Found in the first and third Stratum of the Great Aeternus Labyrinth]

[Scorpius Lupus Pup: Scorpionous Wolf Pup, a wolf with features similar to the Scorpio's. It has sharp teeth and sharp claws just like any other wolf species, however, unlike other wolf species they have stingers with weak venom. Found in the first Stratum of the Great Aeternus Labyrinth]