Nine centipedes invaded from the tunnels, everyone from level 5 to 9. They crawled down the wall in a group and slowed down at the battlefield, jerking their claws in the cloud of mana, touching dead bodies of ants and snakeflies with their forcipules. Alice, who had sneaked behind the farthest stalagmite as soon as she heard the clatter, concernedly appraised her new enemies. Six were normal. Three...

[Hunter Centipede Lvl. 6], [Hunter Centipede Lvl. 8], [Hunter Centipede Lvl. 8]

...were not. The trio had a lighter carapace colour, longer bodies, and no forcipules. Bigger claws. Alice felt an itch in her hand as she stared at them, sensing danger. Or maybe just fear, who knows?

After searching and not founding any living exp source, normal centipedes attacked the closest snakefly stalagmite nest. And while they were systematically destroying every single egg, Alice was wavering. Should I run? The tunnel is about three meters up, how fast can I climb it? Or maybe I can jump?

Her current Strength was 7.4, which was putting her on par with a male athlete. But she didn't know any jumping technique. She weighted two, even three times less than a man athlete with so much muscle power. But her legs like a short spring wouldn't give her the same momentum. Adrenalin would help, but even if her hands reach high enough her legs would be grabbed...

Having spent minutes and one devastated snakefly nest on these useless calculations, Alice arrived at a natural conclusion: there was no risk-free escape option. She had to fight. Six arrows... System, use my sp, bow mastery level up.

[Bow mastery: 4 -> MAX]
> You reached MAX level in one of your mastery-type skills.
> Mastery skills can be evolved into art-type skills by spending 5 SP.

The message didn't mention using a template point for the purpose of evolving a skill, but she could experiment... System, use my template skill point to level up, not evolve Bow mastery. However tempting the new option was, Alice didn't lose the sight of what was important. When her 4 SP were compensated, she almost heard 'ping!'. Spear, level up. Hunt, level up. Stealth, level up. The girl didn't focus on the following infuse of skills.

No, with three arrows between fingers, she was choosing the timing. Three hunter centipedes were her high-priority targets. They were predictably absorbing mana and Alice knew the leveling process would put them into a daze. When the minions reached half the way up the second egg plantation, one of the ringleaders started to glow.

[Hunter Centipede Lvl. 6->7]

It shook, absorbed siphoned energy from the close vicinity, grew a bit. When the evolution ended the creature crawled a few meters to where mana was denser and continued to devour it greedily. From time to time, it was satisfyingly screeching.

Alice lowered the bow, hands trembling and mouth opened agape retching. Every cell of her body was sick or straight nauseated. Cold feet turned into weak feet and the girl kneeled, all her remaining strength wasted on making it as noiseless as possible.

Her hand was hurting. Her legs were hurting. She didn't want to fight these monstrosities again. To get injured, to get paralyzed, helpless. Staggering, almost falling, Alice could glance at the minions on the second snakefly's nest through darkness clouding her vision. They were now unhurriedly devouring eggs. One of them glowed, leveling up. She didn't want to be eaten alive...

Why don't they notice? Why don't they just kill me?

Nothing seemed to be reflecting in her eyes anymore.

They cannot see well. They cannot hear well.

A sudden, nigh foreign thought flashed through the fog of despondency, pierced the curtain of sudden weakness and Alice clutched at it like a drawing man at a straw.

They are just toys of the dungeon. Dummies in a stupid test. There is no meaning. They just do. Like an avalanche. Or a shark. Ah, this is what the Hunt mastery is.

Hunting meant knowing your enemy first. And her enemies were just insects, limited and witless. Alice felt very sick, but a new emotion burned through her mind now. Anger. The blade she pointed at herself.

I am in control. The girl ordered, and her body froze, making no sounds at all besides light breaths. Stand up. Her body rocketed up and then behind the stalagmite, away into a blind zone. Did she alarm..? No, she listened attentively, didn't. Snakeflies were fragile and powerless on the ground, ants were dumb and centipedes had a muddy ear- and eyesight. And also no brain. This is better. No-no-no, still not in a shape for a fight.

Ants and snakeflies were Alice's prey, centipedes on the other side were the first monsters she'd met. The only monsters to have hurt her.  This time the girl overestimated herself. She wasn't ready to confront their overwhelming numbers in a straight fight, her whole being had revolved against it.

Straight fight... I cannot win in a straight fight. The girl whined. Out of Alice's battles in the dungeon, she had only ambushed weaker prey and twice she acted as a third party. At the very first fight, the system also gave her the right to do the pre-emptive strike.

Long ago, Alice was taught in a dojo she cannot win in true combat. Was demonstrated, again and again, how much weaker she was than a grown-up man or even a trained woman. They meant good. Her karateka meant good, Alice's mom Emilia who asked for this meant good because they were right. Alice was a troublemaker who liked to take risks, loved the feeling of adrenalin pumping through veins instead of oxygen. The girl's childhood dream of becoming a cop and then a superhero was a nightmare for her parents since she really had guts and naivety to try something stupid.

Now, Alice decided to run. One risk against the other, only her life was at stake. She chose the one that wouldn't flare up her trauma.

Fortunately, when her Bow mastery skill reached high levels, Alice acquired new tricks. The girl placed an arrow one hand width from the center, aimed and pulled the string halfway. The destabilized arrow strayed to left, and then air pressure turned it back to a straight path, making the trajectory curved¹The most popular example.

Three stalagmites formed a triangle, and Alice shot an arrow around hers into a wall behind the dining centipedes. When it struck it, the girl grabbed her spear and ran to the right on the tiptoes, utilizing every bit of stealth skill she could muster and hid behind a destroyed snakefly's nest.

Now again.

Hunter centipedes didn't move. Alice managed to sneak around them, but now she was very close both to exit and to the three mini-bosses. It was normal centipedes who had circled her first arrow and were now crawling around, screeching, looking for an enemy. I can kill them... the girl just thought and her stomach revolted after a look at the hunter mutants. Her heart almost came out of the chest.

Hunters' carapaces were almost shining in the dungeon's light. Eyes-orbs were jerking from side to side while Alice concealed herself, not daring to watch. Every second the girl expected to hear the clatter of hundreds of legs against the rocky floor, aiming at her. I am in control. Move. She sheathed her bow and threw a stone. When it landed, when the centipedes turned on the noise, Alice dashed for the exit.

Her spear was in a hand, she had to ditch it either by throwing it into the tunnel or...

With a corner of her eye, Alice saw a level 8 hunter centipede bent and looked straight at her. There was something in how it lazily shook its head, clicked the claws. It screeched once and the girl knew it was a signal, an order to minions. The creature was too busy drinking free mana of the destroyed colony to even dawdle in her direction, might be that close to level up.

It was supposed to be her win, honorable or not. Her trophies, ugly or nor. Her proud moment, deserved or not. The girl was scared of fighting back, so she ran with the tail between her legs, yet suddenly she recognized just how much she was unwilling! The anger struck Alice in the head at that moment. Her blood boiled, blazed brightly by the mysterious source in her heart!

Her legs came to an abrupt stop. Alice turned the momentum into a spin, the spear lifted horizontally. The counter-force transferred through her leading leg to her back, and then into her arm. The inner fire multiplied her strength and the girl launched not the spear but an artillery shell in the form of one! The air howled!

The centipede barely flicked an inch aside when the spearhead went through. The spikes on the spear passed the impulse fully, ripping off pieces of the carapace and the whole monster head burst apart, showering the area with flesh and blood!

Shut up, system. "I know it's dead."

Five arrows. One sword she couldn't really use. Alice spun back and raced for the exit with a maniac grin. Now a running beast who had fought back.