They Wanted a Hero. They Made a Monster: Born at the Bottom
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 41: The First Signs
The Dragonkin took great bites from the still-struggling Puffcap while effortlessly dodging Spore Cannon blasts.
Was that an expression of happiness on its face?
So it thought Evan’s Puffcaps were delicious?
Evan personally took over the targeting assistance.
Predict its path. Seal off its escape routes. Saturate the area with fire.
And then ... not a single shot landed.
This Dragonkin was the fastest creature Evan had ever seen.
It was not only fast in a straight line. It accelerated quickly, stopped quickly, and turned quickly.
Every aspect of the creature was fast!
Its destructive power was equally terrifying.
This was absolutely one of those creatures whose strength made no sense.
After several attempts to hit it, Evan gave up. Continuing would only waste his attention.
Other monsters were emerging from the rift, and the loss of this position seemed inevitable.
The moment Evan reached that conclusion, the Dragonkin rushed forward and tore the heads from two monsters in the blink of an eye.
The monsters had emerged intending to eat the Puffcaps.
Hm?
Was it protecting its food?
Evan ordered the remaining Puffcaps to stop fighting and gather in front of the rift, ensuring that every monster coming through would notice them immediately.
He intended to exploit the Dragonkin’s possessiveness, but the next monster to emerge still startled him.
Cold air swept outward when only a single claw had passed through the rift.
Then an enormous monster with bulging muscles and masses of sharp external bone forced its way through with considerable difficulty.
[Species: Ratkin: Frostbone Dire Rat] [Level: LV54] It might belong to the rat species, but at nearly twenty-three feet tall, it was difficult to associate the creature with a rodent.
Only its pointed head bore any resemblance.
The Dragonkin and Frostbone Dire Rat were both powerful monsters above LV50.
The creatures emerging from this rift appeared far stronger than those at the other one.
After squeezing through, the Frostbone Dire Rat naturally noticed the half-frozen Puffcaps in front of it.
It extended a thick forelimb to swat the small creatures aside.
Before the claw could fall, the black figure charged straight into it.
The Dragonkin looked tiny beside the Frostbone Dire Rat, yet the collision knocked the enormous creature to the ground.
The Dragonkin’s claws swept across its chest, tearing open flesh and drawing howls of pain.
The Frostbone Dire Rat roared and spewed a torrent of frost at its attacker.
The two monsters began tearing each other apart in front of the rift. The Dragonkin held the advantage, but the Frostbone Dire Rat was still capable of fighting back.
Every monster that emerged afterward was caught in their battle. Some were crushed. Others froze to death.
The Puffcaps hid at a distance, ready to become the victor’s snack.
Evan had even dispatched more than a dozen spore Puffcaps as an extra course. They were on their way.
Perhaps he could profit from both sides of the struggle.
At least this rift was no longer an immediate problem.
Evan did not feel any relief.
After the two rifts, a third problem had appeared. Monsters from the lower stratum had begun charging toward the fifth.
Looking down from the upper edge of the stairway, Evan saw monsters of every kind swarming upward like layers of insects.
The circular stairwell had once seemed spacious. Now the creatures packed it so tightly that no room remained, and several were occasionally shoved over the edge.
Almost none of the monsters attacked one another.
Evan even saw natural predators climbing side by side with their prey.
Why did every other monster seem to belong to one happy dungeon family while Evan remained an outsider?
They would not let him join the fun?
Then they could die!
More than a hundred Puffcaps filled the upper edge of the stairwell and poured Spore Cannon fire downward.
The monsters had nowhere to dodge and took the full force of the barrage. Those at the front were blasted into smears against the walls.
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