Bang!
The sheep impacted with all its momentum against the back of the orc's knee, making him flinch. The blue wolf and one of the tigers, who were nearby, took advantage of the orc's bending over and started attacking his waist, causing him more pain.
'This is the moment,' Cassiel thought.
He had started to run since the sheep impacted. Now, with a better command of his body, he took advantage of the orc's lowered waist and leapt towards it.
His front claws dug into the flesh of its abdomen, but that wasn't his real purpose. He used that as a prop to propel himself upward and opened his jaw, aiming for the orc's neck.
Crrronch
Cassiel closed his jaws, driving him teeth into the orc's neck, causing a large amount of blood to gush out. The orc began to stir and, with his free hand, he wanted to shake it off.
But the pair of tigers copying Caasiel had climbed up the orc's body and one was on his hand preventing him from moving it.
The bear used its body weight to make the orc, already off balance, finally fall backwards.
Meanwhile The remaining wolf and the lizard kept biting his feet, and finally, they managed to make the orc fall to the ground, becoming completely vulnerable to the attacks of all the beasts.
Cassiel did not let go of his neck. he took advantage of the orc's desperate movements to open the wound even more.
Even the rabbit was not far behind: it jumped from Cassiel's head to the orc's face and, with its little paws, began to poke its eyes wildly.
..
.
"Aggghhhrrrrr!!!"
Finally, the orc died . Cassiel's jaw was sore, but the orc had stopped fighting. He died from blood loss, due to all the scratches and bites, especially the one on his neck.
He even had a black eye from the rabbit's persistent blows.
"Eeeeek!!!" ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ
Cassiel, looked at the rabbit, who was still on the monster's face, striking a victory pose as if he had been the one to defeat it.
Cassiel had to admit that, besides being crazy, that rabbit was quite amusing. Perhaps, from now on, it would be his source of entertainment, now that he was separated from the little wolf.
..
.
Time passed and, as Cassiel had heard, after the first day the scientists began to give more complicated and difficult to accomplish secondary orders.
This area was not only to make the beasts stronger, but also to make them learn to follow more complex orders and even gain awareness of time and methods to achieve them.
Unfortunately, the side quests started to become too strict, such as "hunt a specific beast before the others."
Cassiel tried to convey the specifics as best he could, but the howling and transmission of will had limits. As a result, in the end there were punishments, including him.
Cassiel reasserted herself, "I won't leave a single one alive when I get out of here." He couldn't lose patience; things were going well, so he endured the punishments. Oddly enough, that method worked.
The beasts, to avoid pain, began to think more deeply. Cassiel originally thought they would stop following him, that they would consider him an incompetent leader for failing, but the opposite happened: they tried to obey him as best they could.
Although Cassiel hated being a test subject, what these researchers were doing was "fascinating."
More days passed and, finally, Cassiel felt that his "mana" had grown. Not only that, his strength and speed had also improved.
he thought that if he now fought the bear from the first day, it would be an even fight. But, of course, the bear was also getting stronger.
In fact, in those days something had occurred that researchers called "rank ascension." Cassiel didn't quite understand what it meant, but he noticed obvious improvements in the bear's strength.
Once every couple of days, the scientists would take him into a room with what appeared to be a measuring device. Cassiel did not understand its purpose, for ,nothing like it existed in the world he knew.
According to the scientists, his current rank was (G+), while the bear's was (F-). He wondered if he too would go through something similar.
'Maybe my mana will grow even more.'
With renewed motivation, he continued to hunt and strive to meet the researchers' demands.
Next to ascend were the tigers. It was then that Cassiel began to feel something strange, a kind of limit.
Just after he had killed a group of three orcs, he felt a change. From where the "mana strands" were in his heart, he began to experience an increase in the intensity of him heartbeat.
His heart was beating with unusual force, and suddenly "pain came over him completely."
He had seen the bear and tigers convulse and writhe in agony during their ascents before. Recalling those scenes, Cassiel understood that his time had come.
His body was shaking violently and the pain was excruciating, but, oddly enough, it was less than what the researchers were causing him.
Although he could not control his body, his mind remained calm.
"If this is necessary to make me stronger, I will accept it."
Minutes passed and, little by little, the pain began to subside. him heartbeat slowed, his body stopped shaking and he regained control of his movements. Cassiel reconnected with his surroundings.
And, as always, he heard those "damn voices" that he swore would cause him mental illness.
"Well, let's take a longer break for the black wolf to get used to its range and possible skill."
"The black wolf has evolved. Judging by its characteristics, hiem has not undergone any mutations, nor does there seem to be interference from some beast god. Following the standard of his race, he is still a common black wolf."
"Of the four subjects who have risen one rank, none has deviated from his race. So far, nothing proves that intelligence is linked with natural mutations."
"Right. The other wolf, the lizard and the sheep are about to move up. Let's keep watching. As for the rabbit..."
"The chances of it evolving are 50%. Its breed has its limit at rank (G), and at (F) it would definitely mutate, but it would still be a common breed."
"It's also good to measure the parameters of weak races. Maybe there will be some surprises."
Normally, even though those voices made him sick, Cassiel forced himself to listen to them for relevant information.
But this time, his mind was elsewhere.
Because, right in front of his eyes....
[Finding sufficient amount of energy... Activating "The Pride Monarch's System."]
'What the hell... Am I hearing this in my head?'
Cassiel was confused. In front of him, 'glowing letters' had appeared that, for some reason, he could understand, though they did not resemble any language he had seen before.
At the same time, a voice echoed in his head.
The voice as if ignoring his doubts continued
[Evaluating the user... Full evaluation.]
------------------------------------
Name: Cassiel
Race: Black Wolf
Area Rank: Level 9
Talent Rank: Disaster (Defect)
Stats:
Strength: 6
Mana: 6
Agility: 8
Defense: 2
Vitality: 3
Authorities:
>>Guidance
>>Clarity
Skills:
>>Dark Claw (Common)
>>Dark Fang (Common)
-----------------------------------
'No, wait... I think I've heard of this before?.... Oh! Amaryllis!'
Cassiel was an experienced wizard who had been through a lot in his life. Beyond the initial surprise, he immediately tried to comprehend what he was seeing.
And he quickly came to a conclusion: this was not the first time he had heard of this.
In fact, his former lover, the Demon Queen Amaryllis, had told him about power inherited in her family, a power that allowed unique things to be done.
Amaryllis had explained to him how this power allowed her to quantify the power of people.
It only took one look to find the logic and the coincidence with what she had described. And just as he was beginning to wonder why he had this power.
[ ERROR, ERROR, ERROR... A divergence from world laws has been detected. Analyzing current situation...]
Suddenly, without further ado, the voice and the semi-transparent screen that had been displayed disappeared. There was silence for a few seconds, which confused Cassiel.
'Is there something wrong, what did he mean by that?'
[The understanding of the situation has been completed... The Creator has died... The gods have begun to actively interfere... Taking pertinent measures. Unlocking hidden functions... Adapting to current laws... ERROR... Finding solution... Reconfiguring "The Pride Monarch's System"... Complete]
The voice came back and began to say even more things, but no matter how hard Cassiel tried to take it in, he could connect almost nothing.
He thought about the meaning of it all. But if it was what Amaryllis had told him, it would be useful, but potentially dangerous considering the fate of Amaryllis and her predecessors, it didn't seem like it was necessarily a good thing.
It also reminded him of the end of his previous life, how strangely she had acted then, and the fact that a family legacy was now in he.
Was it on purpose? or just a coincidence? there were many questions in Caasiel's head.
[Reevaluating user... Complete reevaluation.]
---------------------------------------------
Status:
Name: Cassiel
Race: Black Wolf
Rarity: Common
Rank: F-
Area: Level 3
Affinities: Fire, Darkness
Authorities:
>Guide
>Confer
>Clarity
>Protection
Skills:
Rank (F)
>Dark Claw
>Dark Fang
---------------------------------------------------
'Oh, did it change? Is it because I'm in another world or...?'
[ERROR, ERROR... Compatibility problem with user found.... Problem with user's soul and body detected.... Looking for solution...]
'Now what?'
Cassiel didn't even know what to think anymore. He could only watch and wait, hoping that whatever this 'system' was, it wouldn't bring him any more problems than he already had.