Chapter 12: Pet?

Nader began to wander through this labyrinth in search of the staircase leading to the next floor.

This cave was nothing like the cave structures on the lower floors.

The pathway undulated everywhere, twisting and winding with obstructions that were randomly placed.

Together with the rocks and other obstructions, the cave was about twenty-five meters wide.

Although Nader found it a bit strange that no monsters intercepted his path, he didn't think much of it and kept walking.

This was par for the course. Walker monsters were often afraid to wander into the territory of a stronger monster. This also meant that the monsters in this place had a more developed intelligence than the monsters on the lower floors.

After a few minutes, he sensed some monsters passively hiding in the openings of the cave, possibly trying to corner their prey.

"Graaaahh!" an angry roar echoed through the interior of the cave.

Nader looked up at the monsters that leaped from the cave's mockery. One was coming from each side, cornering him.

They were wolves with white coats, dark red veins ran and pulsed down their bodies. At the back, they had two tails with crackles of lightning splashing from them.

When the monsters were a few feet away from Nader, he materialized a light one-handed sword and, in a blur, disappeared from their place.

With a vertical slash, the wolf that was moving at high speed through the air, split into two halves that separated and fell to the ground.

Nader disappeared from his place again. And before the other wolf knew what had happened, several residual images illuminated the place before the wolf's body was cut into small cubes of flesh.

The third wolf, who had not jumped into the air, turned to run, but unfortunately for him, spiked chains materialized and cornered him. The barbs burrowed through his flesh, causing the wolf to howl in pain before his body swelled and exploded like a watermelon being punched.

The body of the last wolf that had attacked him from behind fell heavily to the ground with its head rolling in the air and blood splattering the walls of the cave.

Nader dissolved the sword and picked up the bodies of the wolves and threw them into his storage.

"Any fertilizer is welcome..." he muttered and kept walking.

Occasionally, wolves appeared that used the same tactics as the previous wolves, but they were all turned into decorations for the slots in his storage.

He had also encountered dog-sized white rabbits that, like the other wolves, had red veins pulsing through their bodies.

Obviously, the rabbit's body would become fertilizer.

Something that interested him quite a bit was the ability the rabbits had used. From what Nader had seen, it was an ability that allowed the rabbits to step and move through the air. It was a skill that, although it wouldn't benefit him that much, would be useful for him to merge it with another skill to gain something new.

As he was in his thoughts, he saw out of the corner of his eye a white blur pass down the cave corridor towards an opening.

As Nader focused his eyes on the figure, he caught a glimpse of a pair of white, quivering ears protruding from the crevice.

Without stopping his steps, Nader walked toward the trembling figure. The figure poked its face out, revealing a rabbit's head with long fluffy ears and crimson eyes.

However, unlike the other rabbits, the rabbit in front of him did not have crimson veins pulsing through his body, which exposed his beautiful snow-white fur. Also, it was not as large as the others, looking like it had not yet fully matured.

The rabbit's crimson eyes glowed in the darkness and, without warning, it burst out of its hiding place and rushed towards Nader, leaving residual images behind as it rested on a platform made of condensed air.

Nader merely reached up and grabbed the two long rabbit ears. The rabbit hovered in the air as its long legs swayed.

"Kyuuuu!" The rabbit let out a high-pitched squeal.

With a full twist, he kicked Nader's chest, causing a loud bang. Nader was sent flying through the air as he somersaulted before stabilizing on the ground. The chest of his clothes was destroyed, revealing his refined muscles. But as described in his system, the clothes regenerated the next instant.

"Mmmm, I wonder if I can tame it and make it my pet."

Nader thought aloud as he put a hand to his chin and looked at the fluffy white rabbit.

"It wouldn't be so bad to be accompanied by a pet in this place."

Taking advantage of Nader being in his thoughts, the rabbit made a complete turn. Its two long ears intertwined with each other in Nader's hand and sent a kick that impacted Nader's chest.

The shock waves pulverized the nearby stones. Still, the result was the same as before. It had only sent Nader flying backwards without hurting his body.

Nader let go of the poor rabbit's ears so as not to ruin it and rubbed its white head with his energy to calm it down.

Then, Nader put his hands in his pockets and turned around as he started walking down the hallway to look for the staircase.

The rabbit looked at him in a daze.

"Kyu, Kyu?" a few small squeaks came out of the bewildered rabbit's mouth. It hopped a few times and landed on a tall stone as it looked at Nader's back.

Of course, Nader could have forced a contract by invading the rabbit's mind, but he preferred it to follow him on its own. He was sure it would follow him since the rabbit was a curious creature.

As Nader walked, the white rabbit followed him stealthily behind the rocks. Now and then it would poke its head out with its long quivering ears to watch him.

Nader smiled at the rabbit's performance.

As he continued to walk through the narrow corridors, he sensed a presence coming toward them down one of the corridors that led to another path.

It wasn't long before a monster appeared in the hallway where Nader was standing.

The monster was huge. It was over two meters tall, and it was no surprise that it had white hair like all the other monsters present on that floor.

Its characteristic dark red veins throbbed all over its body. Its appearance resembled a bear; however, unlike a bear, it had long, muscular forearms that reached down to its feet. On its sturdy hands were sharp claws about thirty centimeters long that exuded a cold light.

The bear stopped and looked at Nader, then looked at the rabbit with quivering ears behind a rock.

The white rabbit, the instant he had sensed the bear, had become rigid with fear. It had thought about running away, but upon seeing Nader's calm figure, it simply remained rooted in place.

With a mocking expression, the bear ignored the rabbit's existence and watched Nader. The bear assessed him from head to toe only to feel a dangerous aura exuding from the pores of his body.

"Grahhhhhhh!" The bear roared in fury.

It felt intimidated at Nader's imposing presence. So far, all the monsters on this floor trembled at his presence. He would kill them and feed on their bodies whenever he wanted, but now, the roles had reversed.

"Haha, what happened little bear?". Nader scoffed and started walking in the direction of the bear.

The bear made a quick slash through the air.

Nader felt the air compress into a sharp blade heading towards him, so without a second thought, he jumped backwards.

"Oh, that was a bit dangerous."

"Groaaah!" The bear roared and ran at him as it slashed the air with its long claws, sending out blades of compressed air.

Deciding to end the fight, Nader ran towards the bear while nimbly dodging the wind blades.

The bear, when it was close to Nader, attacked him with its two long arms. However, his opponent dodged his blow by ducking before connecting his fists with the bear's hard abdomen.

The large bear shot out like a cannonball before crashing and burying itself in the cave wall. The bear's figure was etched into the cave wall comically: the bear's arms and legs were spread open. It was a pity that the agitated air raised dust that had covered the figure.

Slight grunts of pain could be heard inside the cave. It was almost impossible for the bear to get out of the cave in the position it was in.

Nader sighed and materialized a chain that had three prongs with hooks to easily catch his prey.

Nader swung the chain in a circular shape and pulled it in the direction of the opening created by the bear figure. Soon, the sound of flesh being punctured was heard along with the sound of pain that, as soon as it was heard, disappeared.

Nader pulled the chain rope and the lifeless body of the bear shot out in his direction. Then Nader dissolved the chain again and put the bear's body in his storage.

After that, Nader continued to advance floor by floor.

Previously, the green stones dimly illuminated the caves; now, however, there was nothing but darkness. The stones that should have been embedded in the walls no longer exist.

Still, Nader was able to observe the outlines of the blocks or moving monsters, plus, he had his senses, so the darkness was not a problem.

Let's also not forget his little new friend, the little white bunny who followed him timidly, keeping a certain distance between them.

However, he was no longer too afraid to stay close to him. This was because Nader had saved him many times: from reptiles that could petrify his little body to filthy swamps that contained strange fish living in them.

During that time, Nader had acquired an ability called [Petrification Resistance] after a reptile had tried to petrify him with its golden eyes, though due to his body, the petrification had not worked and instead gave him an ability.

He had also saved the reptile's body for use.

Nader looked back and smiled before resuming his walk.

'It won't be long before I can tame it completely'.