Principled Jewellery

Pinta took a deep breath as she looked at the figure of Sarah who nodded at her. She hesitated for a couple of seconds before throwing the stone towards the Spear-Tailed Goat. The stone missed its target by a wide margin and impacted on the rock behind it, producing a loud sound.

The ears of the Spear-Tailed Goat twitched in alarm as it swerved its head in the direction of the sound. The Spear-Tailed Goat noticed the stone when it dropped to the ground after its impact. Its ears then turned sideways and captured faint rustling sounds behind it. Its hooves stomped into the ground while the nerves in its hind legs contracted, making the Spear-Tailed Goat jump in the air and perform a 180-degree turn.

It captured the sight of Pinta in its vision and took a couple of steps back in alarm. It slightly folded its forelegs while its hind legs looked fully bent, preparing to launch a counterattack anytime. Energy rushed into the spiralled horn on its head as the Spear-Tailed Goat launched itself towards its target, all the while, its ears were paying attention to its surroundings for a possible ambush.

"Yaaaaaa!" Pinta shouted and crouched down on all fours, giving the feeling akin to a feral beast preparing for an attack. Her back was soaked with sweat while her limbs were trembling due to fear as she saw the charging Spear-Tailed Goat. She also noticed a faint amount of energy entering its tail in order to guard against for an ambush.

During its charge, a formless heat suddenly enveloped its head, penetrating into each and every cell. The heat enveloped its eyes, ears, nose, brain, etc. Hot air entered its lungs when it took a breath, its eyes began to bleed as the tiny capillaries in it burst, and its thought process came to a halt due to the overheating of its brain.

It was at this time a blinding beam of light impacted its strained eyes, blinding it instantly. The response stimulus clocked its brain into overdrive while the heat further worsened the situation.

The Spear-Tailed Goat lost control over its energy as the spiralled horn on its head expanded to 2 Dobin in an instant. The sudden increase in weight on its head broke its balance when a tremendous force impacted on its lower jaw, twisting its neck in the process.

The Spear-Tailed Goat fell on the ground, its head twisted for a quarter-circle while blood leaked out of its orifices. Its legs twitched a couple of times before coming to a still. A gush of hot air leaked out of its nose, without any sign of inhalation. The Spear-Tailed Goat had lost all signs of life.

"S-Success!" Cailey ran out from behind the rock and rushed towards Sarah. She jumped at the latter and hugged her. The two lost balance and fell on the body of the Spear-Tailed Goat, using its soft fur to cushion their fall.

"Thankfully, it went as planned," Sarah replied while taking deep breaths to control her beating heart. It felt like her heart would leap out of her throat if she left it to its devices.

Cailey got up and stood atop the head of the Spear-Tailed Goat, striking a victory pose. She then noticed the figure of Pinta, still remaining in her battle posture like a feral animal. Cailey's mouth curled up like a cat that found a rat to play with as she jumped down and walked towards the crouched lady.

"Why is our shining war maiden still in such a crouched position? Aren't we supposed to be striking a victory pose together as a team?" Cailey stood before Pinta, an arm's reach separating the two.

"I…I am j-just alert for an enemy ambush. Y-You know how people generally become relaxed after victory." Pinta said, straining her neck to look into the eyes of the person before her.

"Ho, ho?" Cailey sneered as she lightly nudged the left hand of Pinta, moving it a little towards her right.

"Guek" Her body lost balance as Pinta face slammed into the ground. A couple of Ticks later, her body began to shiver uncontrollably. A moment later, their surroundings were filled with the cries of a girl whose limbs had petrified due to fear. There was also a burst of laughter mixed within the cries, drowning out the sounds of the rustling of the leaves.

…

In a meadow, before a Rat Head, there were the bodies of hundreds of children strewn across the floor. Some were bleeding, some had lost their limbs, but many were dead. There were also occasional sightings of the dead bodies of Spear-Tailed Goats on the meadow, maimed under a variety of abilities.

"Something's wrong!"

"Why is the dungeon gate not working?"

A team of 30 survivors huddled atop the Rat Head and screamed in fright. Below them were hundreds of Spear-Tailed Goats roaming around, munching on the human bodies. When they tried to enter the Rat Head to escape the dungeon, they found out to their demise that a formless force prevented them from stepping through it.

"Aren't they supposed to be herbivores? Why are they eating flesh?" A yellow-haired boy screamed. He felt helpless, just like the others atop the Rat Head. They had already depleted their energy reserves before climbing up the Rat Head. With their means of energy replenishment unavailable and their escape routes cut-off, they were just sitting ducks.

This 1000 man dungeon was regularly used by the Hunter Guild to conduct its tests due to the following reasons: one, it could allow 1000 level 1 warriors to enter at a time. Two, the monsters inhabiting the dungeon were herbivores; making it a relatively low-risk dungeon. Three, due to the contract with the Dungeon Lord, it wasn't mandatory to defeat the dungeon Boss to clear the dungeon. Four, using their own teams composed of level 1 warriors carrying various Artifacts, they had already sealed the dungeon Boss prior to the test.

Moreover, the Entry/Exit gate could be accessed at any time from the dungeon. Meaning, if a group of people felt that the dungeon was too difficult for them, they could retreat through the dungeon gate. The dungeon gate only limits the maximum number of people that could stay within a dungeon but doesn't restrict the traffic as long as they belonged to the specified level.

But, something had happened in their dungeon gate that prevented their exit. This was the reason they had faced such adverse casualties and had to resort to climbing the Rat Head to prolong their survival chances.

At first, when the people noticed the herd of Spear-Tailed Goats rushing towards them like a stampede, many were apprehensive about confronting them head-on. But, there was still enough distance between the two for them to retreat to an advantageous territory.

It was then; a group of five people shouted the name of the 'Morbid Reincarnator' and committed suicide by impaling their hearts. A black fog spread through the surroundings after their deaths that impacted the judgement abilities of the children. What followed next was a one-sided massacre as the Spear-Tailed Goats behaved like carnivorous creatures that desired flesh.

…

At the peak of the rocky hill, within a certain stalactite filled cave, a huge beast slumbered. Its eyes were closed while its chest area slowly expanded and contracted. Even while it slept, it exuded a formless pressure into the surroundings. Chains were wrapped around its limbs while an energy barrier encased the spiralled horn above its head. It was the dungeon Boss, a monster many times stronger than a level 1 monster.

A figure walked into the cave, dressed in the same white garment worn by the others. He stopped a distance before the beast and fished out a small worm from his pocket. The worm looked like a caterpillar with wings attached to its back while various runes covered its body. On its wings, various lines filled with energy crisscrossed together to invoke a strange feeling of distortion.

The boy who looked no longer than 10 years old set the worm free; he then took a deep breath and fished out a pen from his pocket. The pen looked like an Artifact as the boy inserted his energy into it and began to draw a small circle on the ground. After the circle was completed, he drew another tiny circle above it and drew a small straight line that connected the two.

Feeling the energy drain, the boy sat down and scooped out the Energy Berries from a bag. There were 30 Energy Berries in total. The boy swallowed one and placed the rest within the smaller circle while he saw down within the larger circle.

The worm looked dead as it lay on the ground, motionless. The boy placed it atop the pile of Energy Berries and took a glance at the slumbering beast. The boy used the palm of his left hand to cover his eyes while he placed the palm of his right hand atop his heart and tapped it twice.

"May the Morbid Reincarnator liberate our constricted lives." The boy held the pen in his right hand and pierced it into his heart. He let out a scream of pain as blood gushed out profusely. In a matter of Ticks, the eyes of the boy lost its lustre as his screams came to a pause. The blood rushing out of his body turned white as the energy in his body was drained. His body then began to melt into a puddle that corroded the ground.

The larger circle lit up with light and contained the destruction while seemingly directing the pool of blood towards the smaller circle through the straight line in the middle. The blood turned dark yellow as it entered the smaller circle and began to melt the Energy Berries.

The Energy Berries soon melted into the mixture and turned it light blue as it gushed into the body of the worm. The worm slowly began to grow in size as it voraciously devoured all the blue liquid before the circle of light encasing it turned dim and vanished into specks of light.

The worm that was now the size of the boy's arm crawled towards the sealed beast; its eyes still displaying that vacant gaze. The moment it neared the beast, the walls within the cave lit up as countless runes flashed into life and invoked a formless pressure that sought to pulverise the worm.

The wings on the worm lip up as it began to absorb all the energy in the surroundings. The pressure applied by the runes began to considerably decrease as the energy they sourced from was being leeched by the worm. The runes engraved across its body lit up in response and manifested into life. They pounced upon the runes engraved into the walls and began to devour them. Using the energy of their opponents, they grew stronger while their opponents became weaker, eventually getting destroyed.

The eyes of the beast shot open as it trembled with fear. The fur on its body inflated like a balloon while it tried to rouse the energy dormant in its body. Its eyes trailed the figure of the worm that slithered towards it while using all means to break free of its restrains. Everywhere the worm moved, the runes inscribed into the wall alongside it shattered.

The beast roared in pain as the worm drilled into its body and began to consume its flesh and blood. A faint instinct of it also warned of its existence being consumed by the invader. The howls of a monster echoed within the cave which was soon drowned by munching sounds that were as if a monstrous predator was snapping bones and chewing on them.