【Rending Wind Claw LV4】
The moment Norris brushed past the Stone-hide Boar, his claws carved several deep furrows across its thick hide covered in black bristles, dark red muscle fibers turning outward.
It looked gruesome, but in reality, this wound wasn't fatal to the Stone-hide Boar at all—it could only enrage it.
Pig hooves rapidly trampled the ground as it turned its head and charged straight at Norris.
Norris was well aware of this. Relying on the special vision provided by the fungal network, he "saw" the boar's movement without even turning around.
Ever since connecting to what the boss called the fungal network, within the boss's controlled territory, he had gained this special sight.
It could see a bit farther than eyes, and had a full 360-degree view with no blind spots—though it wasn't as comfortable as seeing with his eyes.
When the tusks carried the boar's stench toward him once again, Norris suddenly leaped up from his position.
The boar's charge lost its target but couldn't stop in time, directly smashing into a thick tree trunk behind.
Norris seized this moment of pause and fired the mushroom cannon from his right chest that had already accumulated full energy.
After the explosion, the boar that had lost its hind legs was still struggling in a pool of blood, but could no longer pose any threat.
Stepping on the boar, claws piercing into its head, he ended this battle.
Norris panted, lowering his head to watch the fresh blood dripping from his claw tips, his eyes flickering with excited light.
This feeling of trampling what he once considered powerful magical beasts underfoot, of dominating the upper levels of the food chain, intoxicated him completely.
This was happiness that Norris, who could only chip away at stones day after day in the mine, had never been able to experience!
【Level Up: LV22→LV23】
The史莱姆 clearing from the past few days, plus the magical beasts he'd hunted alone these past two days, were all cross-level kills.
Leveling up again in such a short time was within expectations.
The attribute increase brought a feeling of growing strength. Norris couldn't help but hug his arms tight, not even noticing his claws pressing against his scales with grinding sounds.
After everything passed, Norris leaned contentedly against the Stone-hide Boar's corpse, not caring at all about the blood and stench on it.
Looking at his somewhat torn clothes, Norris simply threw them all aside.
Maybe the boss was right—having already become like this, there was no need to be bound by so-called shame!
He should be more free to...
"Norris, hide quickly. Adventurers are heading your way."
"Oh, oh!"
Picking up the clothes from the ground and hastily putting them back on, Norris found a dense thicket and dove in.
The boss's perception ability was very strong, always able to give advance warning and let him hide.
After all, his current appearance couldn't be seen by people.
Losing his human identity didn't cause Norris pain—rather, not having to consider debt repayment left him feeling completely unburdened.
The only uncomfortable part was the food situation. The boss only had salt for seasoning...
Footsteps approached, and Norris buried himself completely in the leaves.
A somewhat familiar voice came from ahead.
"The sixth floor really has gone dark..." Filin complained with some irritation.
It was that girl!
For an instant, Norris wanted to go forward and apologize for his escape last time.
If possible, he also wanted to ask the girl's name.
However, before getting up, Norris caught a glimpse of cold light from the corner of his eye—his own claws, claws that could easily tear through boar hide...
Right, he was no longer human.
Whether it was debt or that brief encounter with the girl, everything had vanished along with his human identity.
In the darkness, Norris pressed his body even lower...
Vera beside Filin looked up at the faintly glowing ceiling: "Aren't there still glowing mushrooms? It's not completely dark."
Behind them, Phyin maintained an orange-yellow illumination spell with her staff.
"The ceiling's so high, what use is that little glow? At least the fifth floor had some mushrooms on the ground too, but the sixth floor is just completely dark!
It's so dark it's hard to navigate. Don't tell me we won't be able to find that flower demon from last time."
"Don't worry, don't worry, I remember the way." Vera said while waving the map in his hand, which had his markings on it.
"There's a smell of blood!" Phyin, who had been silent, suddenly warned.
All three immediately became alert.
The light from Phyin's staff grew brighter, even illuminating the thicket where Norris was hiding, though Norris hid so well that not a single scale showed.
Soon the three discovered the dead Stone-hide Boar.
"Freshly killed." Filin judged at a glance.
Vera crouched down to examine the boar and said strangely: "Both claw wounds and explosion damage. Should be adventurers, but claw weapons are rare. I don't remember anyone in town using this type of weapon. Also, if they killed it, why didn't they take the tusks?"
After two seconds of silence, Vera suddenly said in a low voice: "Let's go!"
Seeing Vera's reaction, the twins immediately understood and quickly followed.
Filin even took out special arrows, ready to nock her bow at any moment.
Ever since being attacked by raiders that time, the three had discussed countermeasures for next time they encountered them.
Of course, whether they'd work well would depend on actual combat.
The three quickly left.
After they disappeared from sight, Norris fled back to the fifth floor as if escaping.
He hid back in his mushroom house.
This was the first time since awakening that he felt confused about the future and dejected about being "non-human."
Not far away, Little Black, who had witnessed his frantic run back to the mushroom house, lowered her head and took a big bite of the now-still puffshroom in her arms, showing a blissful expression.
Her schedule was packed today!
After waking up, count sparkly things, eat puffshrooms, then continue counting sparkly things!
Lin Jun naturally noticed Norris's condition, though he didn't understand why seeing those three people would make him so dejected.
But it was nothing more than some minor emotional issues after becoming non-human. Hadn't Dylan been a bit like this at first too?
Honestly, Lin Jun completely couldn't empathize. At least he still had hands, feet, and a mouth, and could still taste delicious food.
Look at himself—a mushroom!
How could Lin Jun possibly relate to him?
Lin Jun neither knew how to comfort him nor wanted to waste mental energy comforting him. At most, he'd give him some special nutrients.
When it came down to it, his only requirement for Norris was to do some skill addition experiments. Beyond that, he asked for nothing else.
As for things like participating in史莱姆 extermination missions or going to the sixth floor to hunt magical beasts and level up, those were all things Norris wanted to do himself. Lin Jun just didn't object.
Even if Norris suddenly became dejected and holed up in his mushroom house all day, it wouldn't affect Lin Jun's experiments.
If he really couldn't think straight and ended his own life, it would only be slightly regrettable.
After all, being "non-human" was an unchangeable fact on his side. If Norris couldn't adjust his mindset and accept it, Lin Jun had no solution.
Everything depended on what Norris ultimately decided for himself.
...
The location where the Great Flower Demon was discovered on the sixth floor.
Vera's trio looked at the giant flower bud remaining alone in the small basin...
Where was the flower demon?
Where did such a big flower demon go?
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