A turtle snake is aiming for a frog at the river area. The frog is standing still as if frozen by fear. The turtle snake, confident that it has found an easy prey, snapped at the frog with its extendable neck. 

Just as the turtle snake's jaw was close enough to eat the frog whole...

*CRASH!*

Hah! Sucker! There was no frog there from the beginning, just my light magic, idiot! I need to go back a little in time to explain what just happened here:

After escaping the spider hive, I wondered why I suddenly knew the language of the spiders. [Language Adaption] didn't do anything before, and after the escape, I tried to eavesdrop on some spiders again, but I didn't get what they were saying at all.

Then it hit me. It must have been [Transformation] that allowed [Language Adaption] to work on the spider language. Since I was transformed into a spider at that time, the [Language Adaption] must have thought that the spider language was something I should know.

I guess that the skills prowess changes based on the language and the species. I tested that theory out by transforming into a frog, and then I started to understand what the frogs in the dungeon were saying, only when I was transformed though. It wasn't that I understood everything that the frogs were talking about either, only broken bits here and there.

It must be because I'm similar to the spiders at certain points, therefore their language is easier for me to understand. It could be how close to the original I am when transformed that determined how well I understand the language.

Since I got to know about the hidden aspects of [Transformation], I started to train myself with the skill before searching for the second Console. The result was just a few new skill levels and no new languages, but afterward, while playing with the Light Sphere magic, I noticed I could bend the light made from the spell as I wished. The light could be reshaped into a hologram-like light, which resulted in me getting a new spell, the light magic "Hologram".

Pretty straightforward name, I know, but it does its work as bait for monsters, especially here in the river area, which is just bright enough for the holograms to stay visible, without looking out of place. If I used the spell inside the dark tunnels, I would just recreate the time when I used the Light Sphere spell for the first time.

Back to the present, I managed to trick the turtle snake into attacking the rock that was behind the hologram of a frog I made. Now that it's damaged, let's go in for the finisher!

While running towards the confused turtle snake, I threw my new special attack at it. I call it the String Fist, a fist made of [Ultima Thread] based impact threads and [Thread Control]. It looks like the name says, a huge fist made of threads. And the strength of the move...

*BANG*

It's just as you saw. The String Fist generates a massive impact that sends even the armored turtle snake into dreamland, as longs as I hit it on the head. The good part about impact-attribute attacks is that Fatal Blow can be applied to a bigger amount of spots than slashing- or piercing-attribute attacks can. As long as its somewhere close to important organs, like the lungs, heart, or in this case, brain. 

Therefore, the String Fist can get the Fatal Blow boost at almost every attack at the main body. Arms and legs don't count, but monsters aren't that profound in martial arts to defend with those.

After clobbering the turtle snake, I ran towards it, while readying my dagger. And now, Accel Leap, Fatal Blow, and Killing Edge!

*Slash*

And there went half of its neck. Damn, that triple art combo is nasty.

=====================================================================

EXP has reached the required amount.

Individual [Reha Zera] has reached LV6

Life attributes have been recovered.

All basic attributes have increased.

0.3 skill point(s) acquired.

=====================================================================

Winner: Reha Zera!

I won, I won! And without poison! Against the strongest type of the Glavras mobs! 

Huh, I used a move that you guys don't know about? And how I was able to move so quickly while using the String Fist and the triple art combo? I'll explain, so let me enjoy my victory a little more. Yahoo!

---

Okay, the turtle snake is safe in the storage, and I'm safe at the top of a pillar on the north side of the river area. I want to see if I can use the turtle snake's materials as ingredients for medicine. Back to me then, the new art I used, Killing Edge, is something I got when [Assassination Arts] reached LV15 when I was hunting for dinner after the spider tunnel expedition. 

The art powers up attacks by the amount of HP the target has left. The more HP, the more damage. I also got the art Blunt Edge at the same time with Killing Edge. It has the opposite effect of weakening attacks by the amount of HP that the target has. Lower HP equals lower damage. It's like those attacks in games that will damage the enemy until it has just 1 HP left. Of course, in this world, any attack will kill the enemy if its remaining HP is 1 unless it has some awesome defense abilities.

And the reason for being able to do all this back then is thanks to the Assassin class reaching LV10 due to my spy trip in the spider tunnel. Guess even that counts as assassin work. Anyway, I didn't get any skill points with my class reaching LV10 like with skills. Instead, I got a new skill for free. This guy, to be exact:

=====================================================================

Skill: Acrobatic

Skill type: Passive skill

Effect:

• Increases physical movement abilities.
• Increases physical flexibility.
• Increases physical dexterity.

=====================================================================

It's a skill evolved from [Free Moment]. I think so at least since it was integrated into this new skill. While [Free Movement] increased just my movement abilities, [Acrobatic] takes it to a new level. To say it in simpler terms, [Free Movement] is an irregular SPD boosting skill, while [Acrobatic] boosts SPD and DEX.

It's through this new skill, along with my thought enhancing skills, that I managed that feat with the turtle snake. Even a walking tank like that is a goner without its neck. Thinking about it, those guys are always dying. I killed the first one I saw by doing a Tarzan attack from the bridge, the second one was killed by the rats ganging up in it after paralyzing it, and the third one was smashed by the berserker. Huh, maybe these turtle snakes aren't that big of a deal after all.

The real big deal must be [Acrobatic]. Even after just getting it, I was able to do back-flips! Me, a spider(ish) creature, doing perfect back-flips! ... Okay, I admit it. I failed it big time. Landed on my head and all. I was so close to not die from a broken neck, FOR THE SECOND TIME IN MY TWO LIVES!

Luckily, there is no one there to see my blunder, it was my first thought after failing the back-flip. Until I saw a frog that was standing close to me. It saw everything. Did I allow it to live and tell the tale? Take a guess. My lowered karma value of a negative 115 says it all. I even got this scary-sounding title to add insult to injury.

=====================================================================

Title: [Fear Bringer]

Acquisition condition: Induce several individuals with fear.

Effects:

• Increased effect of Fear inflicting abilities.
• Grants skill [Bloodlust LV1]

Description: A title given to those who brings fear with them.

=====================================================================

I'm not that scary, or am I? Eh, whatever. The new skill lets me inflict the Fear status of individuals. Not a skill that's all that useful, but since the skill lets me choose the targets, rather than affecting a whole area, could make it useful. I can afflict an area as well if needed.

Anyway since I've proven myself able to defeat even a turtle snake, I can start exploring the next tunnel. There is a 50% chance that the next tunnel is the boss of the turtle snakes' lair, so I wanted to be sure if I could stand up to at least one of them. 

Good thing is that the turtle snakes don't cooperate with themselves. I've seen them preying on other Glavras monsters, even on other turtle snakes. That leaves out the transformation strategy that I used in the spider tunnel since there is a possibility that they would attack me anyway.

This time, I'm exploring the northern-most tunnel of the river area. The spider tunnel was in the south-east, while the remaining tunnel is in the south-west, forming a reverse Y with these three tunnels. I may not have told you this before, but there are two more big tunnels like these, one in the west, and one in the east. I didn't talk about them before, since these tunnels are going upwards and downwards, to the upper-layer and middle-layer tunnels respectively.

Back to the north tunnel, this one is strange, when compared to the other two. Both the spider tunnel and the south-west tunnel has rivers going to and from those caves, but this one only has rivers going from it. 

I guess that this tunnel contains the Console responsible for stealing the outside world's water. Since the water both goes to and leaves the two other tunnels, it stands to reason that those are the enhancer Consoles. I proved that in the spider tunnel, meaning the south-west tunnel must hold the purification Console. 

That leaves the stealing Console here in the north tunnel. This is the one I wanted to find. If I can tinker with the Console, maybe I could reverse the stealing function and dry up the whole dungeon. That would remove the crazy power-up that the dragon has, and attract new Adventurers. Even with the stealth function of this place, people are bound to get suspicious of a place that spews out water that should have dried up a long time ago. 

Of course, that's just a temporary solution, since it's still impossible for me to defeat that dragon even without its pure water power-up, but it will give me some time to figure out how to use my secret weapon. I've even collected several containers that can store water in case I manage to execute the dungeon drought. 

Well then, time to find out if either a dino or a turtle comes up. Either way, it's gonna be troublesome to sneak past them. I should stick to just collecting information this round.