The First King of Beasts

Even though Dustin was enthusiastic about going to the bright part, he also wanted to use the night crawlers to grow stronger. The opportunity he had with the night crawlers was like one in a time kind of thing, he just couldn't abandon it.

'I should really think things through before I talk. The more shit I say when I'm alone, the more it slips into my normal speech around others.' Dustin said in his mind.

Seeing as Dustin was a pretty careful and cautious guy, he made way too many flops when he was alone or at home. If someone was to catch him making these blunders, they would never expect it.

Something else that Dustin noticed while he heading towards the light was that the night crawlers seemed to become less and less as he got closer to the brighter area and away from the darker and night parts. The system did tell him that the night crawlers hated light and they'll do whatever to take out the source of the light, but seeing as it was the sun, maybe they too were not just beasts to the core of their brains. They must have known that there wasn't much they could do.

For this to work well and for him to reap more from the endless night crawlers, Dustin planned to bring as many together to one place and take them out so he would gain some experience points before he crossed to the side of light.

Whenever Dustin tried to make some fire, it would always attract the night crawlers almost immediately, but as it would happen, he had to make these fires from time to time, if not he would become a victim to the cold. The night crawlers that come always turn into good experience points, so Dustin wasn't against it. But he wouldn't have thought that he would have to use it to make an elaborate trap this soon.

To make this work, Dustin would need a tower of fire, but that was impossible. The trees in this place weren't at all easy to cut. Except for the branches that Dustin could break off, the trunk itself was like iron, and weapons would only leave a dent in them. So, instead of trying to make a tower as originally planned, he would just set the tree on fire as it stood and hope for it to act a a beacon, even though these trees weren't the tall type.

After trying for some methods to keep the fire he started atop the tree burning, Dustin managed to create a torch that burned slow and was bright enough to illuminate many metres around. He had to use some of his clothes that he took as spare, and even use some oil. He was just lucky that the oil was able to add the flames and not quench them.

After creating this disturbance in the dark, all that was needed to be done was wait around for the night crawlers to come. After only 30 seconds of waiting, the night crawlers appeared in earnest, and the first one that came was just full of suicidal actions as it directly jumped onto the tree. Even though the trees in this place were not tall, they weren't short enough for these creatures to reach the top by only jumping, but this one did.

Seeing this, Dustin was a little taken aback. This kind of height could only mean two things. Either the night crawler was stronger than the ones he had faced before, or it was just driven by all the adrenaline in its body to be able to jump that high. Dustin ran up the screeching night crawler that was riddled in pain from the obvious noises it was making, but still didn't jump off. When Dustin got there, he just kicked it down putting good strength in his foot. He had to be fast to begin with if not he would be jining the monster to become barbecue.

'To think they hate it to the point that they would willingly jump on fire and remain there while they burned alive. Sacrificial barbecue...' Dustin thought to himself, as he remembered that his rations were running out, and soon, he would need to find another source of food.

The moment he kicked that one down and was descending back into the top of the tree that was in flames, Dustin's plan was to sizzle past the fire and save his fragile human skin, but that thought had to be put on hold as he noticed three other night crawlers jumping towards the top of the tree that was in fire.

'What the fuck is wrong with his fools?' Dustin had never pictured them to be the suicidal type, but maybe it was because he was thinking too shallow.

The moment he fell back to the top of the tree and his body was covered in flames, he jumped back into the air, first to escape the heat, and secondly to get the suicidal bunch away. The first one met his feet perfectly, and he was able to land a perfect drop kick, even though he wasn't really dropping at the moment. The second one Dustin had to use some force and add substantial strength to kick it to the side, but then the last one was remaining. Dustin couldn't fly, so he needed to land on the tree one more time before he would be able to make any other such movement that would be able to push it off.

That was the option, but the thought of remaining on top the intense flame wasn't at all pleasant. In this place where there was no hospital or first aid, the last thing Dustin wanted to do was injure himself in anyway, not even in the slightest. He pulled out his great axe from the inventory as it appeared in his hands, then with all he got, he swung his hands and threw the axe towards the night crawler, knocking it off course and unto the ground.

The throw wasn't a perfect one, so the axe didn't manage to meet the monster on its cutting side, instead the monster met with the axe's blunt side and was just pushed off.

The moment Dustin's feet touched ground as he landed from the tree, he brought out his blade and attacked the monsters below that were still a little stumped. Once think he realized while trying to get them away from the tree was that his hypothesis was right and at the same time wrong. These guys were not just stronger than the ones he had faced till now, they were also driven by every single millilitre that was in their body. It was best he took them out now that they were down.

Dustin rushed them at once and managed to get a cut into the neck of the first night crawler, and with that killed it. The same tactic didn't work on the others though, as they still had enough energy in them and dodged his next attack just at the nick of time, but then he still got to the last one that had his axe on top of it. Since it was trapped, the kill was easier to accomplish.

Not wanting to risk anything or drag out the fight, Dustin tried to use his illusion skill, but this skill was also ineffective against night crawlers, so it didn't do much as it only worked for like two seconds, then it was, but in those two seconds, he managed to injure the monsters by digging in his blade into the side of one of them and draw it out towards the back leg creating a big cut.

When he killed the last one, he took back his axe, so now as he attacked the other night crawler that he was unable to injure earlier, he swung his blade at its head, which it avoided without much of a hiccup, but then with a quick spin, Dustin aimed at its throat and managed to cut a little. If he was a little stronger than the earlier night crawlers, he was now a little weaker than these ones.

'This guys are stronger, More are going to show up here, and if I continue like this... Fuck This!' Dustin coursed in his mind.

There was only one way he would be able to stand up to these creatures if they were to come in mass, and that was increase his stats. Since the next level up was a ways away, and it wasn't like one level up would do much to begin with, Dustin had to use the stat points he had been saving all this time. Looking at the stat points, he still didn't want to use everything, so he decided to only focus on the crucial stats.

..

Level: 18 (5,610/10,500)

Name: Dustin

Title: Progenitor, Slaughterer

Class:

Nature: Cold-Blooded

Hp: 1,180

Mp: 1,100

[Stat]

Strength: 27 >> 35

Agility: 34 >> 40

Sense: 26 >> 30

Vitality: 27

Intelligence: 31

Unallocated stat point: 48 >> 30

[Skill tab]

Passive: Bloodlust (A)

Active: Taming Master (A), Reality Manipulation (A)

..