Skill Hunter -Kill Monsters, Acquire Skills, Ascend to the Highest Rank!

Mag reached the centipede grubs first. He transformed into his beast form in midair and swooped the grubs, snatching up fistfuls in his claws and flapping back up into the air. Seconds later, Wisp struck. She tossed webs left and right as she landed, the silk blanketing the squirming grubs and binding them up. Midair, she transformed into her spider form, spindly legs, bulbous body, and all, and directly started chewing through the grubs she hadn't bound up.

Beating at the air, Mag hovered over the grubs. He glared at Wisp. "Hey! Not fair!"

"You hunt by swooping, I hunt with my thread. Don't complain because of your inferior, non-spider hunting methods. Besides, all that time you're wasting complaining—" she swallowed noisily, "—I'm busy slurping delicious grubs!"

"You!" Mag snarled. He bared his claws at her. For a second, Ike tensed. If he attacked—

Mag caught sight of the grubs vanishing into Wisp's mouth at speed. He growled in frustration and dropped to the ground, stomping and snapping up grubs almost as fast as Wisp could. The two of them burrowed through the slimy bodies in opposite directions. It was the most disgusting eating competition Ike had ever seen, and he'd watched workers race to eat a whole rat, bones and all, back in the slums.

The two of them wreaked havoc on this half of the grubs, staying far away from the mother centipede. Even so, she couldn't help but notice the two figures noisily fighting over her grubs. She hefted herself up with her body, rearing like a snake or a worm. Her weak, too-small legs thrashed at the air. The centipede roared in anger and lunged toward the beasts.

Ike snorted. "Hey, you two! Get out of there before the momma—"

Mid-sentence, he stopped. Between the mother moving and the beasts eating the grubs, they'd cleared up a significant portion of the floor. Thick aether emanated from the floor, but he'd expected as much from a mana vein. What he hadn't expected was the glittering gem floor clearly inset with some sort of spell formation. He raised his brows. Was the mana vein being utilized for something? It was in the trial realm. Honestly, now that he was thinking about it, it would be more surprising if there was just a random mana vein in the trial realm, not connected to anything.

I wonder if this is the goal of the trial, to find one of these spots? In any case, it's got something to do with the trial, I'm sure. Even if it only offers an opportunity to figure out what's going on with this trial by studying the underlying spells, or whatever, that's still useful. I mean, I can't do that, but I'm sure Shawn can.

"What?" Wisp asked, mouth full of grubs.

"I'm coming in. Let's take on the momma!" Ike shouted, grinning. He leaped down toward the bloated centipede from above.

Sure, it was strong. Sure, it had terrifying emanations. But so had those bloated monsters, way back in the Abyss. This one wasn't deliberately bloated, but it had become naturally bloated by living on this mana vein for so long. It would be tough. Big and fat, and full of vitality. But it wouldn't necessarily have powerful moves or any fighting power. Hell, the thing could barely lift itself off the ground.

He might not be the king this trial was looking for, but he wasn't going to let the trial count him out. He was getting that skill, king or not. And no giant, fat centipede was going to stand in his way!

"That's the Ike I know!" Wisp cheered. Still in spider form, she charged the giant momma centipede head-on.

"Hey! Don't leave me out!" Mag hopped into the air. Beating his wings furiously, he climbed into the air, then swooped at the centipede's rear.

Ike struck the centipede first. He slammed into its head from above, kicking furiously as he landed. The soft, bloated flesh gave way before his feet, as if he'd jumped into a pillow. He did no damage. The centipede's flabby body completely absorbed his blow.

Wisp charged in next. The centipede slammed its upper half at her, carrying Ike with it. She darted back, then charged in. Eight legs latched onto the centipede, and she bit deep. Her fangs barely penetrated its soft flesh. She injected poison, then jumped back.

"Fat as that thing is, that'll kill it in about a week," she muttered aloud, annoyed.

"Ha, foolish non-bird beings! Observe my enlightened striking prowess!" Baring his claws, his dragon tail thrashing in joy, Mag swooped at the centipede's rear.

The centipede glanced back. It lifted its rear end. A blast of sticky white goo and eggs struck Mag out of the air. Wings snarled, Mag crashed down, cursing the whole way.

"If that's what enlightenment looks like, I'm a happy cave man," Ike commented.

Wisp snorted. "Yeah, count me out."

Mag screeched in anger. He slashed at the goo and yanked it off with his beak, quickly freeing himself.

He's fine. Leaving Mag to it, Ike drew his sword. He poked it into the centipede's body. The soft flesh collapsed around the blade, refusing to cut, but willing to sink around it. "Damn. I'm kinda scared of what kind of skill this thing'll drop."

"You can always sell it. Assuming it even drops a skill," Wisp said. She crawled past Ike, occasionally stooping to bite the centipede. Like him, she seemed a little at a loss as to how to injure it. Reaching one of its legs, she paused and breathed fire. The leg burned up, but the fire stopped at its flesh.

"We need to find a place to sell skills. Or funnel people toward Shopkeep and get him to sell our skills for us," Ike pointed out. As he'd stood on the centipede's back, he'd slowly sunk into the beast's core. The flesh reached as high as his head, and threatened to close in over him. He hopped up out of the pit he'd created with his own weight and landed lightly beside it. The flesh next to the pit was relatively stiff with all the displaced material from where he'd been standing, and it held his weight with relative ease.

Ike raised his brows thoughtfully. He slashed out with River-Splitting Sword, slicing into the thicker parts of the flesh. The centipede's skin split open, and green ichor gushed out.

"Whoa! How?" Wisp asked, shocked.

"If you use your weight to push all the ichor out of one spot, it moves to another. It's like squeezing a waterskin. The waterskin is all loose and hard to cut if it's half-empty, but if you grab it and squeeze all the water into one point, it gets taut, and it's easy to cut." Ike looked at Wisp, then at his hands. "I've got the swords. Do you want to borrow Shawn's weight and pin it down for me?"

"Sure." Wisp transformed back to human and held her hands out.

A shiver of relief passed over Ike's skin. He wiped his brow. Phew. No more giant spider. He reached to his shoulder and lifted Shawn.

"Hey, hey, nuh-uh, I'm not an object, I—"

Ike tossed Shawn to Wisp.

"You piece of shit! When I become a giant mountain, watch out! I'll throw you all over the place!" Shawn shouted.

"I'm looking forward to it. We're rooting for you, Shawn," Ike told him wholeheartedly.

Shawn paused. "Really?"

"Yeah, of course. I'd love to have a giant mountain I can throw around," Ike replied, grinning.

Shawn scowled. "Oh, come on."

Wisp caught him. She shot a spider thread into the sky and hoisted herself up. "Ready?"

"I'm ready!" Ike said.

Wisp released her thread. Taking on the fullness of Shawn's weight, she plunged toward the doughy flesh below.