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The air was cold down here.
Not the kind that chilled your skin, but the kind that sank deep into your bones. Kuro walked slowly, his eyes constantly scanning, back over his shoulder, up at the ceiling, pretty much everywhere. One hand gripped the chipped short sword at his side, the other hovered near his belt where his last kunai was strapped.
Every few steps, he stopped.
Listened.
And waited.
Slowly as he continued walking down the corridor he came across a path that opened up into a large, circular chamber. The floor was still stone, but patches of grass had somehow started growing between the cracks, thin green blades climbing up and curling toward the faint light. Long veins hung from the ceiling like roots twisted in reverse, swaying slightly even though there was no wind.
He looked up at them for a second, then slowly stepped inside.
Thick torches lined the walls, brighter here than in the corridor, casting long shadows across the open space.
Scanning the rest of the room, he saw that there were three other pathways, each built into the wall at equal distances from one another, like spokes in a wheel. They stretched out in different directions, just like the one he just came from.
Kuro narrowed his eyes, stepping further in. "This whole place just feels... off." Kuro muttered the words under his breath, still gripping the handle of his chipped short sword like it was the only real thing left to hold onto. His eyes didn't stop moving, bouncing from one torch-lit corridor to the next, scanning the edges of the circular room like something was gonna crawl out of the shadows at any second.
It was too quiet, like the dungeon itself was waiting for the perfect moment to drop the hammer.
The air was heavy again, just like before. Not in the way it pressed on his chest, but more like it wrapped around his skin. It clung to him, sending his instincts into overdrive. It was the type of quietness that usually came right before things turned sideways.
At this point he wouldn't be surprised if some kind of boss music started playing outta nowhere.
But nothing came, just the quiet crackle of the torches eating through the oil in the walls.
It gave him a small window to take a break.
He could take it. Rest up. Regain a little stamina before going deeper into the dungeon. His legs ached, his mouth felt dry, and his cheek still stung from that close call earlier.
But something told him not to drop his guard. Not fully. Not yet. Those three open corridors still stared back at him, silent, dark, and wide enough to hide anything. One misstep, one second too long with his weapon lowered, and this room would turn into a graveyard.
Even so… he needed water.
"Inventory," he murmured, voice low and even.
With a blink, the translucent screen popped up before him, hovering just above his hand. His eyes shifted over the icons until they landed on the silver canteen. One click, and it materialized into his palm with a faint shimmer.
'When was this when I was in the army… shit would've been so useful.' Kuro let out a low sigh, lifting the canteen and twisting the lid open with a smooth flick of his wrist. 'Would've saved me a busted back, lugging all that heavy-ass gear through the jungle...'
His fingers brushed back the damp strands of hair from his forehead before he tilted the canteen to his lips, head falling back slightly as the cool water rushed down his throat. It felt like life was returning to his body. Way better than the filtered garbage he used to drink.
'Finally...a fucking break..'
"!!!...RAAAAAWWWWWRRRR...!!!"
The sound exploded from the far corridor like a shotgun blast, loud enough to make the torch flames flicker. Kuro froze mid-sip, his hand tightening around the canteen, body stiffening as the echo bounced off the dungeon walls.
His instincts snapped back online.
The hairs on his arms shot up. 'Fuck...I just had to jinx it.'
He quickly screwed the cap back onto the canteen, not taking his eyes off the dark corridor in front of him. His heartbeat thumped in his ears, but he wasn't worried. He dropped the canteen into his inventory with a soft shimmer and raised his short sword again, slipping his feet into a stance without needing to think.
"Of course," he muttered. "Knew it was too damn quiet."
"!!!...RAAAAAWWWWWRRRR...!!!"
Another roar echoed through the chamber again, then another followed. And another. Then another.
Each one came from a different corridor. North. South. East. West. The sound echoed off the stone walls, bouncing from one corridor to the next until it all started to blur together like a storm was building underground.
Kuro stood in the middle of the open space, his eyes wide, constantly pivoting, alert for anything. It wasn't just one, It wasn't even two, this was a whole pack. 'You've got to be kidding me…' he thought, lowering deeper into his stance.
Kuro's eyes flicked between the corridors as the sound built and built, a crescendo of howls and barks. Coming from every tunnel, a horde of Lycans charged out dashing frothing from their mouths.
As he looked through the numbers he could tell that there were at least a dozen. Maybe more.
He stepped forward, sword in hand, blood already pounding in his ears. "I already died once... what's one more!" he screamed, voice raw as he hurled himself forward.
The first one lunged, and Kuro sidestepped, pivoting hard on his left foot, spinning on instinct and momentum. His right leg came up high, then came crashing down across the wolf's skull like a sledgehammer. Bone cracked, but it wasn't enough. The creature stumbled, snarled, and lunged again.
Kuro brought his blade up fast, both hands gripping the hilt tight. He drove the chipped short sword into the beast's throat, straight through muscle, windpipe, and spine. Blood sprayed across his clothes and face. The Lycan collapsed, twitching.
But there was no time to catch his breath.
Another tackled him from behind, teeth ripping through his flak jacket sinking deep into his shoulder. "Back the fuck OFF!" kuro shouted, rage and pain flashing through his eye's. He spun back hard, slamming his elbow back into its eye. Once. Twice. Then slammed it into the wall with all his strength. He jammed the sword into the side of its neck, driving the blade all the way in until it stopped moving.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught something running towards him, turning he saw that another one was charging in from the left.
He ducked low, sweeping its legs with a quick kick, then leapt forward, pinning the beast beneath his knee. He jammed his thumb into its eye, gritting his teeth through the growls and bites, and tore the short sword out from the last one, using the blood-slicked edge to slash across the downed Lycan's neck.
[LEVEL UP!]
The notification blinked across his vision, but he didn't stop to celebrate. He grit his teeth, stepped forward again.
But they just wouldn't stop coming...
He was slashed across the ribs by a third, then took a bite to the thigh. He sank his teeth into his bottom lip, hard enough to taste blood, forcing himself to push through the pain. He spun low, gripping his blade backwards as he drove it into the monster's mouth, twisting until blood poured like oil.
He stumbled back, bleeding from too many places to count.
But they were still coming. "You guys are like summer ants...Just die already!" Kuro spat.
He panted, hand shaking. "WIND STYLE...SICKLE WEASEL!"
[ACTIVATING VACUUM BLADE JUTSU] Lv.1
Chakra surged down his arm as he swung the sword in a wide arc. Wind exploded off the edge like a guillotine. As three Lycans lunged at him at once, the blade of wind tore through their labial commissures, slicing clean through the backs of their skulls. The lower halves of their jaws hung loose, while the tops of their heads slid off their faces and hit the ground with a PLOP!.
[LEVEL UP!]
He slammed his knee into the snout of one Lycan, driving its head back before stabbing his sword through its jaw and ripping upward. Another jumped from behind, he twisted, grabbed its fur mid-air, and used its momentum to slam it to the ground, crushing its throat beneath his boot before stomping until it stopped moving.
One sank its teeth deep into his forearm, he gritted his teeth,but he didn't scream. Using that arm he slammed its head into the wall, again and again, until it cracked like a melon. Another leapt. He caught it mid-air, jamming his sword straight into its belly as they both hit the floor.
[LEVEL UP!]
The last one tried to run away. Kuro tilted his head, a grin stretching across his face, stained with red. "Where do you think you're going..." he muttered.
Kuro dragged himself up, sprinted on adrenaline alone, and leapt. He tackled it from behind and drove the sword straight down through its spine until it stopped thrashing.
He stood still for a moment. Panting. Shaking.
Kuro slowly turned, his eyes sweeping over the area. Piles of shredded corpses and severed wolf limbs lay scattered in every direction, with the smell of blood clinging to the air like smoke, it was almost suffocating. It coated the ground, the walls, his clothes, and practically everything in the area.
There was so much of it, he couldn't tell if any of it was his or the Lycans'.
Everything hurt...
But he was still alive..
Barely..but alive.
He stumbled backward, collapsing onto the mangled corpse of a Lycan. Still gripping his blood-soaked short sword in his right hand, just in case anything tried to catch him off guard, Kuro reached into his inventory with his free hand and pulled out the silver canteen full of water.
"Goddamn... finally," he muttered, voice hoarse.
He unscrewed the cap and raised it over his head, letting the cool water pour straight down his throat.
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[ NOTICE]
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[4 UNREAD MESSAGES]
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Raising an eyebrow at the sudden pop-up, he clicked it, only for another one to show up right after.
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[YOU LEVELED UP!]
[YOU LEVELED UP!]
[YOU LEVELED UP!]
[YOU GAINED A NEW TITLE!]
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Even though his legs were sore and his arms felt like bricks, a small grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. "I leveled up three times..." he muttered, licking his dry lips. "Bet. At least I got something out of that."
He tilted the canteen back, letting the last few drops of water trickle down his throat before lowering it with a tired sigh. The metal clinked softly against his fingers before disappearing back into his inventory.
"But it said I got a new title too..." he murmured, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, eyes still locked onto the floating interface in front of him. "If I remember right... titles come with their own buffs. I haven't even checked what 'Courage of the Weak' does."
He stretched his fingers, cracked his knuckles, then narrowed his eyes at the glowing screen. "Status screen…" he grumbled, and the translucent panel blinked into view, casting a faint blue glow across his blood stained face.
━─━─━─≪◈ STATS ◈≫─━─━─━
[NAME] ➤ Kuroshin Kagemura
[AGE] ➤ 13
[LEVEL] ➤ 5
◇───INFO───◇
[JOB] ➤ NONE
[TITLES] ➤ Courage Of The Weak...
[HP] ➤ 200.2/305
[CP] ➤ 430/1030 (GENIN)
[FATIGUE] ➤ 60
[AVAILABLE ABILITY POINTS: 4 ]...
◇───STATS───◇
[STRENGTH] ➤ 29.5
[AGILITY] ➤ 17.5
[SENSE] ➤ 14.5
[HEALTH] ➤ 19.5
[INTELLIGENCE] ➤ 21
◇───SKILLS───◇
[BASIC TAIJUTSU TECHNIQUES] ➤Lv.6 (PASSIVE.) [ Basic Melee attacks inflicted on an opponent is increased by 18%. ]
[BASIC SHURIKENJUTSU TECHNIQUES]Lv.3 (Passive) [ When throwing small concealed weapons, damage inflicted is increased by 10%.]
[WIND AFFINITY] ➤ Lv.1 (PASSIVE.) [ Whenever a Wind Style jutsu is used, its power is increased by 10%.]
[BASIC KUNAI TECHNIQUES]Lv.7 (PASSIVE) [ Basic kunai attacks inflicted on an opponent are increased by 15%.]
◇───JUTSU'S───◇
[TRANSFORMATION JUTSU] ➤ Lv.10
[BASIC CLONE JUTSU] ➤ Lv.10
[SUBSTITUTION JUTSU] ➤ Lv.10
[VACUUM BLADE JUTSU] ➤Lv.1
[GALE PALM JUTSU] ➤Lv.1
━─━─━─━─≪◆≫─━─━─━─━
He gave a slow nod, a silent approval to himself as his eyes scanned the numbers on the screen. Compared to where he was a month ago, this was a small improvement. It might not be impressive by anyone else's standards, but to him? This might've been the difference between walking out of that last fight or getting his throat ripped open.
'Level 5...' he exhaled. He was still bottom of the barrel in the grand scheme of things, but right now, he'd take what he could get. One more level meant +1 to all his stats and maybe that tiny edge was what saved his ass back there.
His hand hovered over the "Title" tab for a moment before pressing it.
The screen shifted. A faint chime rang in his ears as a new window popped up.
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[TITLES ]
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[COURAGE OF THE WEAK..]
- (ACTIVE), the "WILL TO RECOVER" :Any damages to the body will be restored.
- (PASSIVE), "LONGEVITY":You will be immune to all diseases, poisonous substances, and any other abnormalities in your status. Regeneration abilities will exponentially increase while sleeping.
. . . .
[ONE MAN ARMY..]
- (PASSIVE), "I WILL NOT FALTER" : When outnumbered by three or more enemies at once, all stats receive a 30% boost for a short duration.
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"Holy shit..." he muttered, his eyes locked on the title buffs like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. For once, after everything, after all the bullshit life kept hurling at him, he finally had something good going for him.
He stared for a second longer, before his gaze dropped to another part of the screen.
His eyes dropped to the [Will of Recovery] skill glowing faintly on the screen. 'I would've preferred to save that for later…' he thought, jaw clenching slightly. 'But I'm too damn injured to even fight one of these Lycans by itself. It's a risk, but I gotta take it.'
He pressed it.
The moment he did, a warm golden light burst over him, coating every inch of his body. It wasn't painful. If anything, it was comforting, like stepping into a hot shower after a cold day. His cuts sealed, the bruises faded, and the throbbing aches bled away like they were never there.
Letting out a slow breath, he pushed himself up off the ground. His body felt lighter, stronger, even. Stretching his arms out with a few satisfying pops, he took a few test swings with his chipped short sword.
'Not bad. Not bad at all,' he thought, a small grin pulling at the corner of his mouth.
Afterward, he made his way toward the nearest corpse and crouched beside it, ignoring the thick, blood heavy smell that clung to the air. His fingers ran through the matted, blood-soaked fur, feeling for anything the system would let him sell. Claws, fangs, shards of metal jaw, whatever he found he stuffed into his inventory.
This was survival, and broke people didn't get to be picky.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Kuro finally finished looting the last corpse. "Finally..." he muttered, rolling his shoulder to work out the stiffness before tightening his grip around the handle of his chipped short sword. "Alright, let's move on..." he mumbled, turning his eyes toward the three corridors stretching out ahead of him.
Each path disappeared into darkness with no markers, no sounds, and gave him practically nothing to tell him which one was the safer bet or if any of them were safe at all. He sighed under his breath, standing there for a second, thinking between the options.
He could overthink it..
Or he could just let fate decide..
Shrugging, he raised his short sword, pointing it lazily between each passageway as he mumbled under his breath, "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a puppy by its toe, if it hollers let it go, eeny, meeny, moe..."
The tip of his blade stopped at the front corridor.
Kuro stared at it for a second, ' This is probably a bad idea... knowing my luck, fate's got it out for me.' still, he wasn't about to stand around second-guessing it. He shifted the sword in his grip, feeling the roughness of the leather handle bite against his palm.
"Whatever," he muttered, stepping forward. The sound of his sandals scraping against the cracked stone floor echoed ahead of him as he made his way down the front corridor.
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