Looking For A New Pet

'What... The hell... Happened...?'

Mark had lost consciousness for about five minutes, but it felt like he had been out for much longer.

As he opened his eyes, his whole body froze for a second.

A creature straight from nightmares hovered above him.

Its numerous eyes stared.

Purple sickle-like legs, twelve red eyes, sharp fangs.

The creature's body was covered by both purple motifs and blazing flames.

Only after Mark noticed the dozens of Mutated Fire Ants behind the Monster, did he recognize it.

'Fiery?'

The Underling looked nothing like it used to.

After all, it wasn't a Mutated Fire Ant Queen anymore.

Its body had grown in size by about 50%, but its legs had gotten a lot longer, making it look much more imposing.

Mark shook his head before checking Fiery's Status.

'Poisonous Claws... Silk Production... Venomous Mist... Good, looks like you got some useful new Skills. What about Offspring Production? Is it still the same as before?'

[As your Underling has assimilated another Monster capable of Offspring Production, the Skill will give birth to Mutated Fire Ants, different types of Mutated Spiders or Hybrid Monsters.]

'Hybrid? You mean like Mutated Fire Spiders or something?'

[Correct.]

[The Skills the Offspring will hold, will also differ from one another.]

'I guess that's as good as it gets. Mutated Fire Ants are good long-range fighters, while some of the spiders are better at close-range. That aside. What the hell happened earlier?'

[You had been strongly poisoned.]

[Thanks to your high Vigor Stat and the Passive Skill "Poison Resistance" you have managed to survive.]

'I can't have gotten close to losing all my Health Points though?'

[As there were no enemies around, your body shut down to process the poison faster.]

'Huh? How can I stop that from happening again?' Mark asked telepathically as he sat up.

To his side, Light was seated.

[Your new Passive Skill "Poison Resistance[E]" will stop that from happening again.]

'Huh. So I devoured it before passing out. I can't really remember much after I beheaded it... How come the poison was so strong though? The Monster seemed pretty weak.'

[The effect was the combination of two Skills.]

[Poisonous Wings[D].]

[Poison Regulation[B].]

'I did get both of them. So?'

[Poisonous Wings can secrete weightless poisonous particles.]

[They are spread through the air by using those same wings.]

[By using Poison Regulation, one can adjust the Lethality and the Quantity of the released Poison.]

[For the two variables, one of two values can be chosen.]

[Maximum or Minimum.]

[Two Maximums cannot be chosen.]

'Mm. I can either produce lots of particles full of weak poison or a small number of them but make the poison deadlier. It's true that the first poisonous particle did way more damage than the cloud later on...'

Mark stood up and placed himself in front of a group of Mutated Fire Ants.

'I guess these were produced before Fiery's assimilation of the spider queen. Anyways...'

Mark spread his wings.

Five purple particles were released into the air.

Once a Mutated Fire Ant was touched, it dropped dead about 10 seconds later.

'Yep. Deadly...'

The Poisonous Wings were spread once more.

That time, hundreds of poisonous particles filled the air.

The Mutated Fire Ants were touched by many of those particles.

While their number was great, not one Mutated Fire Ant died from them.

Still, Mark noted that the Mutated Fire Ants were slow and sickly for about 5 minutes after they had been poisoned.

He tested one last thing after that.

Mark sensed a Mutated Fire Ant about twenty meters away.

A second later, his tail was stretched and pierced the Monster's body with ease.

'Tail Lengthening. I got some amazing Skills from these two Monsters. Let's hope the remaining tunnel will be as productive.'

...

As Mark walked into the third tunnel, he noticed that it was getting wider and wider.

'Wonder if the Monsters will also be bigger...'

As Mark went deeper inside the tunnel, he found more and more Fire Ant corpses.

'Unlike in the other tunnel, the ants here were all torn in two...'

A devilish smile appeared on his face.

'Maybe I'll get my second 6th Floor's Underling here.'

The next second, Mark felt uneasy.

As if the enemy was close, but,

'Invisibility? No. Camouflage.? No... That's not it. Fiery, send some ants.'

Seven courageous Monsters stepped forward.

Two of them were Mutated Fire Ants, three were Mutated Black Widows and two were Poisonous Mutated Spiders.

As the Insects walked deeper into the large tunnel, the ground started shaking.

'A swarm of Monsters? Again?'

The ground shook much more violently.

Fiery's Offspring lowered their gaze to the ground.

'Oh. It's not a swarm, it's-'

The next second, something emerged from the ground.

The three Mutated Black Widows were cut in half by a giant centipede.

More than 10 meters long, its body was covered by what looked like thick armor.

As soon as it exited the ground below the spiders, it used its fangs to cut them in two before using its momentum to create a hole in the ceiling.

The centipede dug itself a path and disappeared once more.

'What was that?'

The next instant, a second Monster exited the ceiling and tore apart two Mutated Fire Ants before disappearing by making a tunnel through a wall.

[Ironclad Centipede: [B-] Rank Monster.]

'So their body is covered in iron? They're pretty stealthy too. Great for surprise attacks. The only downside is that they're big. Too big. Which means that there probably won't be a queen. I think?'

As he stepped forward, Mark felt confident.

Extremely confident.

Even though he was in the middle of battle, he didn't feel like he was risking his life.

Instead, Mark felt as if he was simply choosing a new pet for himself.

Only two spiders remained in front of him.

Mark focused on his senses.

The vibrations, the sound of the centipedes digging through the ground, their iron carapaces scratching the rocks under.

Mark felt and heard it all.

He launched himself forward at the perfect time.

As soon as a centipede left the ground, its head was crushed by a flick of Mark's tail.

...

After defeating dozens of Ironclad Centipedes, Mark arrived at a large room.

On the other side of it, were two huge doors.

'The Guardian's Room-'

Screech-

'Of course, it wouldn't be that easy...'

Mark raised his gaze.

On the ceiling was a truly gigantic Centipede Monster.

At least 3 times larger than the Ironclad Centipedes.

Its golden carapace shone brightly.

[Centipede Monarch: [B+] Rank Monster.]