The ear-shattering roar danced across the nearby area. Announcing its presence to everyone nearby.
A screen would appear in front of him.
[Automated message: You are currently the only verifier in the nearby area. It is your responsibility to take care of the anomaly. Lest you want to be responsible for the deaths of the civilians as well, causing you to be outlawed.]
'....Seriously? I'd better get hazard pay for this...'
After all, it was more worthwhile to risk his life fighting an unknown monster than to deal with corporate.
William would look towards the dark abyss that was the inside of the cave, and force himself to walk forward slowly, one step at a time.
He would keep walking until he was fully submerged in the darkness. In the shadows, he could feel something watching him, or maybe somethings...
He could see what seemed to be eyes scattered all across the interior of the cave. The rancid smell of rotting flesh and blood permeated throughout it.
[Mission Log Updated.]
[Mission: Moonbeast.]
[Difficulty: A]
[Details: Hunt the Moonbeast. Before "they" hunt you.]
[Reward: 5000 Loreld, Skill, Item]
Good Luck.
William would immediately activate his strongest combat skill.
[Skill: Bane of Existence is activating!]
The aura and sparks of destruction and chaos would appear around William, infusing into his body. Consuming some of the abyssal darkness dwelling inside the cave, and revealing his foe.
A towering, beast-like monster with countless eyes scattered across its body. Each of them was blinking at their own rhythm, but all were staring at one thing: the intruder that dared to wake them.
'No, this....this doesn't make any sense. The line between fantasy and reality exists for a reason, so how is a creature like you standing before me?'
William was extremely confused by the appearance of this creature, as a monster like this would typically only exist in the world of fantasy.
[Authors' Note is being activated!]
[Name: Nine]
[Status: Corrupted]
[Attributes: Modified, Enhanced, Painkiller, Poker Face.]
[Skills: Moon Wielder, Seek, Transformation.]
'What the hell is this...'
William would grit his teeth, trying to think of a way to beat this thing with his skills.
[Constructive Criticism is activated!]
"You are merely a pitiful stepping stone in my lifetime, destined to make me stronger."
[Effects Applied: Weakness, Stone-Like Defenses, Reluctancy to Fight.]
[Effects will differ depending on the difference in strength between the user and the target!]
[You are currently weaker than the target!]
[Effects will be diminished by 30%!]
'Good enough. Time to take this thing down.'
William would soar into the air and attempt to strike the Moonbeast in the chest with his Bane-infused body.
Thanks to the debuff he had applied, the Moonbeast decided to dodge instead of fighting him head-on, with William barely managing to land a minor blow on the side of its body. Which then started to decay and degenerate thanks to [Bane of Existence].
The monster would roar out in pain before using its transformation ability to shapeshift into something more suited for this battle.
A young humanoid figure, covered in pulsating eyes and composed of darkness, would appear before William. Although it didn't have a mouth, William read its facial expressions, a smile.
It would change its arms into tendrils that would lacerate anyone who came near.
He would click his tongue in annoyance before continuing his onslaught of attacks.
[Surroundings have been analyzed, Insight is available for use!]
'That reminds me..'
[600 Loreld has been invested into the Ingenuity stat!]
[Ingenuity Lv.10 ---> Lv.11!]
[Attribute 'All-Rounder' has been deactivated!]
'Unfortunate, but the boost from level ten upwards should outscale the All-Rounder attribute.'
[Skill: Insight has been activated!]
The small portion of space that wasn't covered by darkness, courtesy of [Bane], was projected in his mind. As a 4D perception of the area enveloped William's eyes, he would show off an empty smile to the Moonbeast.
"Let's start the real fight, shall we?"
------------------------------------------------------------------
[Skill: Writer has been activated!]
[Maximum Word Count: 30]
[Time remaining: 2 Minutes]
Time would come to a halt as William would think of what to write. Even though he was a Reader of Lore now, his writing skills were still as mediocre as ever, evident through his shoddy first webnovel.
'Cool it. I'm trying to think here.'
After a few more seconds of thinking, he would produce the illusory pen once more and begin to write with haste.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Once time resumed, William and the Moonbeast continued their brawl, with William being forced into using more ranged moves with [Bane] due to his reduced stats after losing All-Rounder.
Due to this, he also started getting pushed into a corner. He has sustained a couple pretty bad wounds across his chest due to the creature's sheer domination in physical fighting. With the only reason for him being alive being the [Insight] skill that allowed him to dodge the worst of the damage.
Things were definitely looking grim, but William didn't seem fazed, infact he seemed as calm and cold as ever. Why you ask? Well you'll just have to keep reading to understand. -__-
At this point, William's Ingenuity reserves were also running relatively dry, so he had to deactivate [Bane of Existence] to keep [Insight] running.
-Rouwragh!
The creature would start moving strangely, as if fighting against itself. Simultaneously, it would realize that William had stopped attacking it leaving him wide open for a full on barrage of attacks.
Unfortunately for the Moonbeast, between the [Constructive Criticism] William had applied, and this new side of them trying to become the dominant personality, the small part of them that wanted to fight William was slowly being pushed out and erased.
The Moonbeast would look up at William, still in their weird humanoid form, and shriek at him. As if questioning what he had done to them.
To the Moonbeast's shrieks of despair, William showed no emotion. He simply stared back with his page-like eyes that seemed to be recording the fear of his opponent, and said:
"Did you enjoy the little present I made for you? To tell you the truth I wasn't sure if this was going to work, but it seems my gamble paid off. In war, information is power. So I made use of what little dirt I had on you."
He would smile emptily while staring at the words he had wrote.
[The Moonbeast's original persona will attempt to fight against the corruption and mutation placed upon it, creating a hazardous mental conflict that will impair its ability to attack William.]
'The opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.'