Defense

Levi struggled to get up because of the beating he had received. 

[You are stupid, host. You should have been more careful]

A system notification was the last thing Levi needed. He wanted the pain to go away already. His stomach was hurting like hell and he was fighting the urge to scream. 

"Not now! " Levi yelled.

[Shut up! You are in a dungeon full of monsters that you have to fight]

"What? "

On cue, a growl reverberated through the air. Levi looked behind him in time to see a creature that looked like a huge dog. It was black, its eyes were red, and all its teeth were canines. 

The dog was the size of a wolf and there was a string of saliva falling down on the ground indicating that it was hungry. There were echoes of more growls and other parts of the building that sent a shiver down Levi's spine. 

Levi backed up backwards to put distance between himself and the dog before standing up quickly and running. He was in a corridor with multiple doors and every single one of them was open. 

The dog was right behind him, baring its teeth and trying to bite Levi but missing every time. Levi was quite fast because he was small. When he got to the end of the hallway, he saw a staircase to his left. 

He climbed up the stairs hoping it would lead to safety. However, his luck ended when he saw a door at the very top. He tried to open the door but he found it locked. The dog was closing in on Levi and he had nowhere to go. 

[Quest: Beat the beast and earn +100 exp]

The dog charged at Levi but he got out of the way before it could land on him. 

"Maybe I can tire it out and then attack when it least expects it. " 

Levi was fast and he had a lot of energy. Every time the dog pounced, he got out of the way and it fell to the ground painfully. Soon, Levi was able to predict the dog's movements and was able to move out of the way easier.

He ignored the system telling him that all his stats were leveling and focused on surviving. 

Soon, the dog was tired and barely able to move accurately. Both the dog and Levi were in the corridor when he spotted a piece of wood. He ran toward it, took it in his hands, and widened his stance. 

He urged the dog to come at him and its anger coerced the reaction he wanted. When the dog charged, Levi hit it in mid-air. It wasn't hard enough to render the dog unconscious but it was hard enough to make it fall to the ground. 

Levi rushed to the dog before it recovered, lifted the wood, and hit the dog on the head multiple times until it stopped moving. He put his finger under his nose to make sure that it was dead. 

When he felt no warmth on his finger, he knew that it was dead.

[+100 exp gained] [congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[User: Levi Jackson]

[Race: Halfling ]

[Level:1]

[Experience: 20/200]

[Strength: 4/10]

[Agility: 5/10]

[Stamina: 7/10]

[Energy: 6/10]

[Speed: 10/10]

[Charm: 1/10]

[Congratulations host! You have unlocked a new skill and a new attribute!]

[Confidence: 0/10]

[Regeneration: 10/10]

[Resistance: 5/10]

[Inspect: 1/10]

[Morph: Level 1 fog transformation]

[Locked]

[Locked]

[Locked]

"What do morph and inspect mean? " 

[ Inspect means that the host can analyze people and their abilities. However, this is only limited to level 0, level 1, and level 2 users]

[Morph means the host can turn into a fog of black smoke to avoid enemy attacks. However, this skill is limited to only five seconds because it is a level 1 skill. The host can only use it five times at a go]

Great. At least Levi had a skill to defend himself. 

[-3 taken to regenerate the host back to health] [Regeneration: 7/10]

There were a lot of system messages but none of them gave a permanent solution for his beast problem. There was obviously more than one beast in the building and Levi wasn't sure how much longer he would last before one of them killed him. 

[Would the host like to extract the beats' eyes and store them? They can be converted into points used to buy items from the shop or the host can sell them for gold coins]

"Do I have to gouge out his eyes? Shit, that's disgusting. "

Nonetheless, Levi did as the system required of him and stored the eyes in the shop. Before he had a chance to see how many points he had gotten for the eyes, another beast came running toward him before he had a chance to protect himself. 

He hit the wall and fell to the ground with a thud. The force of the blow made him weak but not too weak. He had a chance to test out his morphing ability when the beast attacked again. 

He turned into a cloud of fog and then back to normal, hitting the beast with the force of the wooden stick he had. It stumbled backwards but remained standing.

Realizing his only ability was a defensive one and not an attacking one, he decided to use the same strategy he had used with the previous dog-like beast. He avoided its blows using both his power and speed. 

He tired out the beast and himself in the process but his need for survival was still high. He killed the beast the same way he had killed the other one. 

This time, he did not level up. All his stats did was half except his experience which increased by thirty. He guessed it was because he had fought the same beast twice. 

He still took the eyes from the best and stored them in his shop. After this, he asked the system to open the shop tab. 

[Storage: two pairs of Sowvel eyes worth 100 points] [Would you like to convert these into points?]

"What can a hundred points buy? "

[100 points = a dagger]

He wanted to sell the eyes for gold coins but he wouldn't get that money unless he left the building full of beasts. He needed a weapon as the wooden stick he had was broken. 

"Trade the eyes for points and get me a dagger. " 

As soon as he said those words, a double-edged dagger with a red handle appeared in his hand. It was just in time for the beast to walk toward Levi.

It was bigger than the dog-like creatures called Sowvels that he had encountered. This one was as big as a cow and as ferocious as a wolf. It had the head of a rhino and the scales and tail of a snake. 

Its tail had spikes and its teeth were all canines. It looked more dangerous than the rest and it would not be easy to take out. Almost all the parts of its body were weapons it could use to murder him. 

[Quest: Kill the beast and level up twice instantly! ]

That meant it was going to be almost impossible to kill the beast.