Learning My Limitations

I was quick to respond to the sudden attack. I pulled my knife from my waist and the clack of sharp claws hitting metal filled my ears. My weapon seemed to just barely hold up against the attack. Maybe looking like a regular adventurer for this long would be my downfall.

I was very aware of the fact that regular weapons would not hold up for long in these dungeons based on the experience of my past life. First things first, once I cleared this dungeon I was going to go upgrade my weapons.

A cold sweat formed on my brow when I realized the cat that had ferociously attacked me had disappeared. I gulped back my scared thoughts and searched frantically around me. Where did it go? I searched the foliage above, but it was impossible to point out anything.

This was the danger of going into dungeons alone. It was about this time people started realizing you could party up for dungeons in my past life as well. However, who could I trust? I couldn't just walk up to any promising hunter and be like, I have memories from the future, let's party up!

No, that would be dumb and expose me. Also, I would really look like a crazy person if I did that. It was dumb, but I still cared about what others thought of me. Maybe it was because of the experimentation from my last life or just because I never matured past high school, but I cared about how I was perceived.

The offer from the mysterious men who wanted me to join their guild was appealing in that I could finally be with other hunters and share the same goals. It was unfortunate that it was too risky after they tried to trick me into their guild. Being cautious all the time was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.

I felt a cold, tingling sensation behind me and managed to step out of the way of another incoming attack. I need to stay focused here. This time I managed to keep my eyes on the leopard creature as it seemed to fly up the trunk of a nearby tree. It was big, really big. Much bigger than I expected a leopard to be.

This is a dungeon, not the real world. Or does this count as the real world too? I can get injured here… Why am I thinking about this in a battle? I felt a sting on my cheek as I stepped out of the way of another surprise attack. Ouch.

Warm liquid fell down my cheek. The leopard was too agile, it would be difficult to take it out. I need to come up with some sort of plan or I may end up even more injured, or worse, I may end up like my last life.

My blood seemed to have triggered some kind of monster outbreak because I heard a pack of some kind of wolves howl in the distance. I cursed under my breath and readjusted the knife in my hands. For all my fortune in this new life I forgot that the skills I had previously managed to acquire were not very impressive.

The familiar sense of foreboding lingered in my mind as I looked from tree to tree to anticipate the next attack. The special ability of this monster seems to be its speed. It was using attack and flee tactics, so it may be physically weak. Even knowing that, would I be able to land an attack?

A flash of yellow came from my right and I did not have time to think before I acted. I held out the knife and squeezed my eyes shut. I either made a really stupid action or a really stupid success.

My arms folded into my chest as the weight of the creature fell over me. The panic I felt dulled my senses and soon the only noise I could hear was the beating of my own heart loudly in my ears. I waited and waited, but the weight above me did not move.

Slowly I opened my eyes and my heart almost leapt outside of my chest at the large teeth bearing down at me. Did I kill it? I attempted to shift the weight off of me with a great heave. The knife in my hands was firmly lodged in its chest.

My clothes were ripped from the claws of the creature and large scratches began welling up with blood. The red of my blood looked unreal for a second before the pain settled in, reminding me that I was in a dangerous dungeon.

The howls from before sounded closer and I knew that I would be in trouble if I did not find a way out. Like many dungeons, one needed to find the door out. I searched around me hoping this dungeon had an easy escape route at the entrance.

I looked around in vain, nothing appeared like a door. That meant I would need to find the exit. For now I needed to get away from this location. The wolves could probably track me though. I pulled my knife out of the dead creature and watched as the dungeon quickly sucked the carcass into itself leaving a claw and wrapped up meat.

I would never get used to this process. Different dungeons worked in different ways. That meant this dungeon was most likely a meat dungeon. In my past life they used these to basically farm for food. That meant that I should be able to find herbs in this forest if I looked hard enough.

I picked up my drops and threw them into my bag. I wasn't sure if the market was set up to try meat just yet, but it would be an important product to sell at a later time. Monster meat often had bonuses that accompanied the eating of them. Rare monsters could even give someone permanent stat increases.

With the way this life was working then people should not be so reluctant to eat monster meat in this world. The way things have progressed only instilled the belief that someone was pulling the strings from behind the scenes in Silver City.

Even if I knew who was doing this I couldn't trust it. If they meant well then they would have been able to help out the thousands of hunters who entered the dungeons from the beginning and the death toll wouldn't be so high.

Each day I checked the non-return list. A habit from my last life. Each day the list had a higher number on it. The thought made me shiver. So many lost lives. I'm not any better, because I did not help those people either.

I pulled some cloth out of my bag and wrapped up my injuries. I would need to see if there are any healers in the market later, since I only had the Basic Recover skill. It would cure wounds faster than a normal human, but it would still take days to heal such deep cuts.

Pulling the last cloth with my teeth I headed in a random direction to search for an exit. There was no point in running. Monsters had a good sense of smell. Wasting energy running around in circles would only hurt me.

Most dungeons in the beginning would only be about a few square miles at first. It unnerved me that there were several wolves and the leopard creature on the first floor. I just needed to continue in this direction till I came to a wall or the exit.

Exits were often on a wall. It would open up into darkness until you reached a room with a glowing circle engraved into stone. One could then choose to use the circle or go down to the next floor. Dungeons grew over time or as people conquered them.

Dungeons left unconquered would grow until the monsters came flooding out into the real world. That was why hunters were held to such high esteem in my last life. The original outbreak had also critically destroyed the wildlife and crops on Earth. Thus diving into the dungeons became the way for the survivors to eat.

It was like a perfectly planned out disaster. Enough to cause chaos and give the people hope they could survive only to throw wave after wave of despair upon them. Someone had to create such a system, right? A god or some other entity maybe. Whoever they were, I wished I could show them my fists.

Another howl made me aware of just how close the pack of wolves had gotten to my location. I needed to find the exit or I would become food for those monsters. Gritting my teeth, I hastened my pace.