Chapter 26: West Territory (7)

As a child, Daniel was the most obnoxious and spoiled kid on the planet. Looking back, he understood this perfectly well. Sure, one could argue that it was partly his parents' fault for being almost constantly absent and trying to make up for it with gifts. However, Daniel knew that their blame was minimal.

It was him. His true selfish nature, born with him. He remembered once throwing a tantrum at the zoo because a monkey took food from another girl's hand, not his. He was there with his older brother and mother, and neither could calm him down. Even his father couldn't handle Daniel during these episodes and would simply ignore him.

Daniel never shared his popcorn, hated when people touched or borrowed his belongings. But what Daniel truly despised, what he had always utterly loathed, was when someone broke his toys. There was no angrier or more uncontrollable child in the world than Daniel when someone even scratched his possessions.

For a long time, Daniel thought he had suppressed this personality. He thought that the little annoying Daniel from the past was gone. However, perhaps because his 'desire' attribute had exceeded 80%, or perhaps because his wisdom and intellect had decreased—though maybe they had nothing to do with it—the fact was, Daniel was furious. No, he was enraged.

The message stating that the monster was no longer paralyzed didn't scare him. He didn't care. The only thing Daniel truly cared about at that moment was…

'My sword… My sword… My sword… My sword… My sword… My sword… My sword… My sword… My sword… My sword… My sword… My sword… He… he broke it…' Daniel looked calm on the outside, indifferently staring at the broken hilt, but he was boiling with anger inside.

Obviously, Daniel didn't realize that he himself was the primary reason his sword broke. But that didn't concern him. What truly concerned him was that it was broken, and now, Hydraglot was going to pay.

Hydraglot opened its huge mouth and abruptly grabbed Daniel's leg with a tentacle, pulling him closer.

'Unforgivable. Unforgivable. Unforgivable. Unforgivable. Unforgivable!'

'I wi...ki...youghh...' Daniel muttered coldly underwater.

Madness and fury consumed his entire being. Everything became blurry. His head spun. The piercing pain from his heightened 'sense of desire' was now in the background. He wasn't thinking clearly.

He had no plan; he just wanted to destroy Hydraglot in any way possible. Just as Hydraglot was about to toss Daniel into its mouth, Daniel began summoning items.

As if he had gone mad, Daniel started throwing everything he could get his hands on into Hydroglot's mouth: rocks, some random stuff he had recently obtained from monsters—everything except the most valuable items.

Due to the water, the objects flew slowly, but somehow two winegrapes managed to land in the monster's mouth.

With his broken sword, Daniel fiercely stabbed the tentacle that was holding him. He also violently plunged two blood spikes he had gotten from the blood bushes into the tentacle.

Hydroglot screeched and let Daniel go.

Immediately, Daniel lunged at it. In a frenzied state, he began searching for the monster's weak point, darting around and examining its entire body, stabbing with his broken sword wherever he could.

It was all in vain. The only thing Daniel realized was that its body was incredibly strong, and while its tentacles could be cut, they were not vital organs and they regenerated quickly.

`Rank, level differences, who cares! If I can't kill you, I'll make you suffer!` Daniel thought, and stared intently at Hydroglot, who for some reason had slowed down and was not attacking as ferociously and quickly as before for the last thirty seconds.

Suddenly, a message popped up in front of Daniel:

[Effect 'Paralysis' from item 'WineWorm Scale' successfully activated.]

[Hydroglot temporarily paralyzed.]

[Effect 'Mild Poisoning' from item 'WineWorm Scale' successfully activated.]

[Hydroglot is weakened.]

`Great... A chance. This is a chance. Now I need to find your weak point! But where?`

While Hydroglot was paralyzed, Daniel carefully scanned its entire body once more. He had already looked everywhere he could, but Hydroglot was well-protected everywhere.

`What about its mouth?` - A rather insane thought suddenly popped into Daniel's head. He swam up to its widely open mouth and saw nothing but darkness.

The white aura around him faded, intensifying the surrounding darkness. Daniel quickly activated the last Aquaterna sphere—he had two minutes left to kill Hydroglot and get out of the lake.

The white aura enveloped him again, slightly illuminating Hydroglot's mouth. For a moment, Daniel saw some small, round object in its mouth.

With an expressionless face, Daniel swam into the monster's mouth and immediately began scratching its inner walls, causing the monster to let out a horrifying, ear-piercing roar.

`So I was right after all. You're not as protected on the inside, haha. Feel the pain I felt, you damned spawn...` - But Daniel didn't swim into the mouth just for that. He was trying to locate the round object he had seen earlier.

`Was it my imagination?` - Daniel delved deeper into the monster's mouth and soon noticed a small black core on the wall of Hydroglot's throat, resembling a uvula.

Daniel lunged at it and plunged his broken blade into the core with all his might.

CLANG CLANG

The broken sword only left a small scratch, but even so, the monster trembled and squealed.

`Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Does it hurt? Does it? Does it? Does it? Really? Hey, I have an idea! Why don't you just die?` - Daniel continued to furiously stab Hydroglot's black core, gripping it tightly and hanging from it like a monkey.

However, the blows were too weak and left only scratches. Daniel felt that he was close to breaking it, but something was missing.

[The 'Paralysis' effect from the item 'Scale of the Wine Worm' has expired.]

[Hydroglot is no longer paralyzed.]

Suddenly, Hydroglot's mouth snapped shut. Daniel felt a rush of air start to rise from the depths of Hydroglot's throat, trying to suck him in like a vortex.

Daniel held on, tightly gripping the core while continuing his furious attacks. Hydroglot kept screaming and thrashing. Daniel could no longer hold onto the core, knowing that any second now, he would be swallowed by this vile creature.

`Random stat increase or decrease! Spin!` Daniel mentally screamed. A wheel with colored sections popped up in front of him, instantly spinning.

[Attribute 'Build' decreases by four points.]

Daniel was going crazy. Angry, he even began to bite the black core in front of him. He also noticed that he was becoming much weaker and losing stamina. His already frail physique became even frailer, so much so that his ribs began to protrude.

Losing strength, he could no longer hold onto the core and began to slowly let go.

`Random attribute increase or decrease! SPIN, YOU DAMN BASTARD! SPIN YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!` Daniel internally roared.

It seemed that Daniel had no idea what he was doing. Instead of relying on logic to come up with a plan, Daniel was just acting on emotions.

He now resembled that typical toxic player in online fighting games, who, upon losing, instead of developing a tactic or using practiced combos, just starts hitting all the buttons mindlessly. Daniel was doing the same.

The wheel's arrow suddenly stopped in the green zone. A system message popped up in front of Daniel.

[Attribute 'Strength' increases by two points.]

Suddenly, Daniel's arm muscles became more voluminous and noticeable. He felt a sudden surge of strength and energy.

Daniel swung his broken sword high above his head and thrust it with all his might into Hydroglot's core.

CRACK

Daniel stared intently at his broken sword, which he held in his left hand. The sword was fine, meaning it wasn't what broke. Therefore…

Daniel looked back at the core and saw a huge crack that had formed on it. The monster let out an insane roar and started to shake violently, making it even harder for Daniel to hold on.

Suddenly, Hydroglot's mouth opened, and Daniel saw tentacles flying straight at him. Dodging them was impossible, so they latched onto Daniel's body. However, due to the monster's weakened state because of poison, its grip wasn't as strong as before, and it didn't pull Daniel with as much force.

Therefore, before Hydroglot could pull Daniel out of its mouth, Daniel quickly swung again and plunged the stub of his short stone sword deep into Hydroglot's core. The monster let out such a desperate and terrifying scream, it seemed as if its very soul was being torn apart.

He tried with all his might to pull Daniel out of his maw, but Daniel gripped tightly onto the hilt of his short sword, which had penetrated deep into Hydroglot's black core.

When Hydroglot finally managed to extract Daniel from his mouth, he felt the blade lodged in his core suddenly being pulled out. It was at that moment that his core began to emit cracking sounds, gradually breaking apart.

Hydroglot, with all its strength, tried to strangle Daniel before meeting its end. He couldn't see Daniel's face nor hear him, but he felt a cold and icy stare fixed on his own face.

The tentacles around Daniel's neck suddenly weakened, and a stream of system messages appeared before him the next moment.

[You have killed the Monster Monstrosity, Hydroglot.]

[You have earned 250 experience points.]

[You have earned 55 points.]

[You have obtained an item.]

[You have obtained an item.]

[Level up!]