The First King of Beasts

Dustin waited for the approaching hoard while readying himself, checking his weapons. He might have the cold hearted nature, but facing a hoard of monsters that were stronger than you, even the tiniest bit was still something huge, and he could feel his heart beating a little faster and harder.

As seconds ran by, the hoard got closer and closer, and Dustin also realized that he would have been able to run away before when he first noticed the hoard, and that it was too late for that now. Now, he could only stand firm in position and face the incoming hoard.

The closer they got, the more details Dustin could make up from them, and for sure they looked even monstrous than they had ever been. The flying night crawlers' wings spanned wider than the last one he saw, and most of the incoming monsters had glowing eyes and body sections. There were marks that resembled claw marks that radiated red a red colour, and Dustin couldn't help but wonder why they hadn't attacked each other yet.

"This is going to be a hell of a fight." Dustin said, as the monsters finally reached within 10 metres of him, and he could feel the ground shaking ever so slightly from their stomping. He had completely misjudged the number of monsters that was approaching.

Instead of waiting for the last section, Dustin leapt forward with two blades, one in each hand and went straight for his first target, the closest flying night crawler that just fly a few metres above the hoard.

Like he using twin daggers, Dustin dug straight into the monster's under side and then jumped off unto the hoard below and like a well calculated attack, he managed to land straight unto the head of another and stabbed his swords through its neck. Dustin tried to be careful about this and not aim for the head or other places that might have bones that would be hard to deal with like the head. If he attempted to stab the head, there was a very big chance that the monster's skull was stronger than the blades, so the most logical option was the neck.

The way the fight played out in Dustin's favour was that in the real sense of it all, this wasn't really a fight, as it was much similar to him killing the night crawlers while the rest paid him no mind and just ran towards the fire. It was as if they were blinded by the light of the flames and couldn't think of anything else, like a hypnotic subjects. Dustin wasn't complaining though, as it all worked in his favour in the end, and he was getting his experience points.

At this point, Dustin was getting between 150 and 250 experience points from every individual night crawler he killed, and that was how he confirmed that these guys were of an entirely different rank from the rest. He wasn't sure if he could handle them after the fire quenched, but that time would have to come first.

Dustin continued his hack and slash style of fighting, and it worked well as he was jumping from monster back to monster back killing the things with a strike to the neck and moving on to the next as fast as he could. If he wasn't mistaking, the number of these night crawlers was nothing lower than 50, and from the ones he had killed at this point, it was around eight, leaving alive enough to tear him apart very easily.

The night crawlers ran passed Dustin, and in a matter of time, they put off the fire to some degree, but in the end it still wasn't enough. After almost all the remaining night crawlers jumped unto the tree, their bodies did manage to cover the entire top, but the under parts were still exposed, and with the endless breeze that blew across the land covered in darkness, the fire never stopped, it only grew.

Maybe it was because of the incredible hardness of the wood in this place, but the parts of the tree that looked fragile and were most likely to give in and break under pressure did not, and instead remained supporting the weight of the night crawlers on top of it.

With the monsters fully focused on quenching a fire that they would be unable to, Dustin finally realized the genius idea behind his plan which he himself had not noticed till now. No matter how strong these things were, when it came to flames and light they would happily abandon their children and rush towards the light like crazy religious fanatics seeking salvation.

'This turned out to be a brilliant idea in the end.' Dustin said in his mind.

He then made his way to each of the night crawlers and using a great axe severed most of their heads while using his blades on the remaining. After some minutes had passed, he managed to kill all of them and harvested quite the experience points. Another thing he gained from the whole ordeal was food. He was running out of food, and by his estimates, the food was going to finish before he got to the day part of these lands, or shortly after.

Since he had some preserved food that could last longer, Dustin decided to take some of the night crawler roasted meat and use that as food for the time being, then he would return to his original food stuff once the meat finished.

He did a quick taste, and the taste was even worse than some of the things provided on X-Factor. The meat tasted like dirty old shoe that was soaked in water for days and then left in a moist environment. Dustin was sure he would get quite the stomach ache from eating this, but there was no choice. His stomach would just have to adapt to the new diet as soon as possible and bare with it for a little time.

It was already hard for him to live in such a place with no toilet, and to top it off, he had to constantly watch his surroundings for approaching night crawlers whenever he took a dump. Back in the forest, he at least had some safety as he could just control the creatures around, but here it was different, he had to remain vigilant at all times.

The good thing about this second time is the fact that he has many spare clothes which he had cut into several small pieces to serve as napkins to clean himself with, compared to the leaves he used back in the forest. He was lucky he didn't encounter plenty that caused irritations.

After taking enough meat, Dustin quickly left the area and headed off to the light he could see in the distance, while on the tiger's back.

He hadn't realized it back while killing the night crawlers, but he levelled up in the middle of it all, and even had some extra experience points spill over.

..

Level: 18 (5,610/10,500) >> 19 (1,190/12,130)

Name: Dustin 𝗳r𝗲𝙚w𝐞𝚋𝘯𝚘ѵ𝗲l.𝑐oｍ

Title: Progenitor, Slaughterer

Class:

Nature: Cold-Blooded

Hp: 1,180 >> 1,230

Mp: 1,100 >> 1,150 f𝑟e𝒆𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗oѵ𝐞𝗹.c૦𝑚

[Stat]

Strength: 35 > 37

Agility: 40

Sense: 30 > 32

Vitality: 27 > 28

Intelligence: 31

Unallocated stat point: 30 > 34

[Skill tab]

Passive: Bloodlust (A)

Active: Taming Master (A), Reality Manipulation (A)

..

The level up goal was achieved, and with that Dustin could let go of his ingenious bait that would continue to work in his absence until that tree burns down, or till the night crawlers stop the fire. Either way, it didn't matter.

From this point on, Dustin didn't get as much sleep as normal and was just focused in getting to the other side where the light was coming from. On the way there though, he thought of some theories that could very much be possible. Seeing as the light in the distance illuminated the skies very much like a sun, it was very possible that it was an actual sun, and he as on an actual planet, not just some other plane of existence as originally thought.

If this happened to be a planet, and on this planet the nights stayed for this long, it would mean that remaining in darkness was the best way he could survive. If it was like this, then there was only one way to explain this.

The only way for a planet to maintain a constant night and day was if the planet did not revolve around its axis, which would mean the other side would be so hot from the hundreds or thousands of years it has been facing the sun, so hot that it would be basically a living hell to be anywhere near there. On the contrary, the other side would be constant darkness plunged with blistering cold, just like the side Dustin was on now.

'This is too fucked. I hope I'm wrong and science doesn't apply to this place, if not I might really be trapped here.'