Chloe led the charge while Klaw followed. Behind him, Anath took up the rear. Anath didn't mind this position. It would have been smarter to lead the way, with her new armor and fighting capability. But, Klaw was eager. It might have been better that way. Since she regained full control of her spider legs, they became awkward to use. She just needed practice. That, and her exoskeleton was heavy. Not so heavy it slowed her down, but it was enough to disrupt her natural balance.

She did feel bad about sending Chloe in first. The plan was to use her as a meat shield, essentially. To break whatever trap the goblins had laid for them. As they neared the hole, Klaw stopped them.

"Anath, Elyndris. Time to potion up. We need to get in and out fast. No hesitation." Klaw said as he withdrew two Drakeheart potions. One for him, and one for Elyndris.

Anath withdrew her own. She hadn't tried this potion yet. Was it really smart to test it out now? Klaw downed his potion without hesitation. He growled as if enraged as his body shifted. Hair moved, then sunk into his flesh, only to be replaced with gleaming red scales. His claws began to glow red hot and his features took a more draconic appearance. Anath watched in awe.

The bugbear had always been lanky and a bit awkward, as far as body proportions were concerned. But, without his fur, he seemed lithe and deadly. Compact muscle and a dangerous gait to his steps made him seem like a natural-born killer.

Elyndris, with the help of Klaw, drank down her potion without hesitation or complaint. The worm cackled as draconic scales grew over her body. Her jaws became like that of a drake, with catfish-like whiskers growing at either side.

"Oh, this is going to be fun," Elyndris murmured. Smoke billowed out of her mouth as she talked.

Anath looked down at the bottle of hot, red liquid. Was it really okay? So far, the potions made you stronger. Still, she had a bad feeling about drinking an unknown potion. Daggat once explained that the chances of it killing you are extremely low. It changed how you worked at a fundamental level. The real danger was drinking too much or putting yourself in a position where you would be useless. Like Hunter's dog form.

It should be fine, right?

Anath drank. It tasted of charred peppers and ash. The heat it carried threatened to burn her from the inside out.

Then came the rage. Fire was heat and energy. But it had a spiritual element to it as well. Wrath. The need to destroy and burn. Anger came easy to her. Anger at herself, at her friends, at the enemy. Anything. The kindling for a good rage was always on hand. This potion had sparked it.

With her wrath, she activated her Berserker's Spirit on instinct. Power flooded her. Strength and vitality and… pain. Searing hot pain. She didn't realize she was screaming until all eyes turned towards her.

Looking down at herself, Anath noted the changes. Her exoskeleton had transfigured into large, thick metallic scales. Her spider legs, likewise, had become scaly. Each ended in a metallic claw. Like dragon wings without skin connecting the digits. Her head felt off as well. A small set of horns grew around the side of her head like a crown.

What worried, or rather, infuriated her most was the lines of heat that spread through her body. Branching out and following the lines of her veins. And they hurt. Every beat of her heart sent a flash of burning pain through her body.

"Hey, girl, are you okay? You've got to be careful with alchemy." Chloe said. She approached cautiously. Anath lashed out at her and snarled. She needed something to take out the pain. The dwarf staggered back, hands raised in supplication.

What was going on? Why did it hurt so much? Anath entered the status void to look.

"Heat, heat. Fire and blood. Bad, but strong. Very bad, but very strong." Spider said as it skittered around in a panic. Anath ignored the assistant.

Transformations

Drakeheart form:

+2 strength

+2 constitution

Boiling Blood [Mutations: Searing Blood]

Brightburn Rage [Skill/Biotrait Synergy: Berserker's Spirit + Boiling Blood]

Anath screamed again in pain a frustration. Five minutes of agony!

"Brightburn." She hissed. "What is it?"

"Yes, yes." Spider said, "This is a synergy skill of Berserker's Spirit and Boiling Blood. The user may activate this skill once per day to ignite the blood with searing heat. The user is damaged with every beat of their heart while the fire burns. The more damage sustained in this state, the more strength the rage grants, to a maximum of +10 strength. Note, the rage inherited by this synergy is active for the entirety of the duration. This effect persists for ten minutes, or until the user loses consciousness. No, no, not good, not good."

"Anath?" Klaw asked. She left the status void. Already her strength was increasing. How long she would last, she couldn't say.

"We need to go. Now!" Anath hissed. She drew two blades. A normal curved blade and her enchanted Blade of the Desert Flower. If she didn't start killing goblins, she didn't know who would be first. She needed to attack something. Break it down and destroy it entirely.

"Say no more," laughed Chloe. Then, she charged down the hole. An instant later, Anath was running in, with a bemused Klaw and Elyndris behind her.

Between Klaw and Anath's glow, there was enough light for her night vision to illuminate the cave. Still, she saw red.

The tunnel was short, so she and Klaw had to duck. At first, it was simple packed earth, but soon broke into a taller tunnel. Shelves of stone filled either side and splintered bone cracked under their steps. These shelves were filled with disordered piles of bones.

When the bones began to move, Anath realized they were bone-like goblins in hiding. They lashed out with bone weaponry, which bounced harmlessly off her exoskeletal armor. She snarled and lashed out with her legs, piercing two goblins clean through. Her strength was now twenty-five after these attacks. The notification for slaying two level 13 goblins popped into her view. At least she knew these were indeed goblins and not some evolution.

The elation of defeating the goblins was a small relief to the growing pain.

Chloe laughed off the goblins' pitiful attacks but then screamed in pain as one of them landed a solid blow to a rib, shattering it. She smashed them with her hammers. Bits of bone splintered off until a wet squish ended them. Klaw had his own stealth goblins to deal with, but Anath didn't spare him the look.

The dwarven warrior continued her charge into the barrows. Suddenly, the ground gave out beneath her.

"Dead gods!" She yelped, like a curse, then fell into the darkness below. Then she started screaming.

Anath glanced down. She had fallen into a larger chamber below. Several goblins were around her, beating her with black bone clubs. Where the goblins held these weapons, their hands had melted away to actual bone, not the bone plating. Where they struck Chloe, not only did bone crack, but her flesh seemed to rot away.

Then, Chloe faded away in a fog of light.

It didn't matter, Anath was too angry and in too much pain to think. She dropped down the hole.

Landing deftly on her feet, she didn't hesitate to begin. Immediately she impaled two goblins and sliced the head off another. The goblins were tricky, dodging and attacking with their cursed bone clubs.

Most of their strikes were reflected by a leg or exoskeleton. But one lucky goblin struck an unprotected portion of her calf. Cold, chilling pain radiated from the wound. Like a portion of her skin simply died. Likewise, her calf bone cracked. Anath hissed and dropped to the floor. Lashing out, she continued to slay. Every time she hit, she only became stronger. With every moment, the Brightburn rage fueled her. Every kill gave her a sense of elation she allowed to overwhelm the pain.

But, she could feel the damage. Deep, muscular damage that was offset by the strength increases.

"I'm going on ahead," called Klaw from the hole above, "Don't, uh… die."

Before she realized it, the goblins who wielded the death clubs were dead. Tunnels were dug in different directions. One led upwards. Likely back towards the entrance. So she took another. It didn't take her long to find something to destroy.

Two goblins dropped from hidden alcoves. Anath trained with Zuss, these goblins were amateurs. She slew them before they hit the ground. But, the one they protected was not hidden.

A large goblin, taller than Anath. Bone plating throughout its body, just like the others. This bone, however, was reinforced. Its entire body was protected, as though it wore full plate armor.

"Come, face your death, demon." It snarled from what Anath first mistook for a helmet. Its teeth were so long, they formed a cage in front of its face. In one hand it wielded a black femur. Even without the ability to sense essence, Anath could still feel the death around it.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The heat radiating from her veins had only become worse. Now it felt as though she was burning alive. Her clothes were smoldering. At least, it completely overwhelmed the pain from her cracked bone. Anath leapt at it screaming. She came at it with four thrusts with her spider legs. It responded by guarding its face with its arms. The force of the blow was enough to send it staggering backward. Her exoskeleton was now further reinforced by Chloe. It was stronger than the goblin's reinforced bone.

Cracks appeared in the goblin's forearm armor. Anath knew that strength increases came in bursts. Every five levels of strength, and her power output seemed to double. But, the past twenty-five was extraordinary. Anath reveled in the feeling.

The goblin came at her with a two-handed swing, trying to crack her skull. She was forced to roll to the side but underestimated her strength. Anath instead crashed into the wall, sending bone fragments flying.

With a chuckle, the goblin walked towards her. "Never knew someone could be too strong. Little girls shouldn't play with power they can't control."

Anath's arm was stuck under a pile of collapsed stone and bone. She desperately pulled at it. She could get free, but in time?

Suddenly, a burst of fire washed over the goblin. It screamed and covered its eyes. Then a beam of force blasted it across the room. Elyndris cackled softly to herself.

"Are you okay, girl? Free yourself and slay this beast. Klaw is dueling the other boss, but this one is yours."

With that, Anath pulled herself free. The goblin roared in anger, charging her, But this time, Anath was quick and clever. She formed a cage of spider legs, then parried his oncoming attack. His club shattered. Then Anath swung as hard as she could with her curved blade. It shore through his metallic defenses. Sparks scattered and metal ripped. Then its head was flying away.

[You have slain - goblin, level 13. Experience Gained.]

She laughed in victory. Letting the feeling of destruction wash away her pain. Then she noticed the twisted edge of her non-enchanted scimitar. That only fueled her rage more, reminding her of the constant pain.

It was terrible, frightening even. But, she had been through worse. This was only physical pain.

"Anath, are you okay?" Elyndris asked.

"NO!" Anath screamed, then mindlessly threw the ruined blade at Elyndris. Luckily, she missed. But the force of the blow still knocked the worm sideways.

"What is it? What's happening."

"My blood is on FIRE. My rage won't end." Anath yelled at her. She punched a wall in frustration. The force reverberated through the earth. "STUPID POTIONS." She slammed her forehead into stone, to try to ease the pain. It only led to boiling blood dripping down her face and a crack in the wall. "STUPID GOBLINS!" Anath struck out again, this time piercing the corpse of the goblin boss over and over with her spider legs.

Elyndris slithered back.

"STUPID PAIN! STUPID LISA, STUPID MOM AND DAD AND EVERYTHING!" With a third strike to the goblin's corpse, Anath's strength finally ticked over to thirty.

And, as if it was never there, the pain vanished. Instant relief. The potion ended.

[Feat achieved: Overwhelming Power. Cause: Artificially raise your strength by 20 points. Reward: Biotrait, Strength Core.]

Her chest swelled with a tingling sensation as the new organ grew in seconds. Anath stared wide-eyed at the notification. What even was strength magic? It could be worse, but she wished someone could have warned her!

Fire and pain exploded within her once again. Anath roared, realizing the potion had not ended. Not for several more minutes. It was the numbing effect of gaining a biotrait that had countered the pain. She brought both fists down on the ground, just to focus on something else.

The ground gave way, and she fell even deeper into the burrows. She lay there for a while. Too tired to thrash and destroy, or even move. Her body was damaged from the inside out. She just let the flame burn her from within. A funny thing, about the heat. If you let yourself feel it, really feel it, it becomes cold. There was a kind of peace in that. It was easier to accept the cold.

Why… was she here? In the bottom of a hole, far away from home. Burning from the inside out after killing who-knows how many goblins, helping a town that hated her on principle. Or, maybe they were just trying to get loot. Anath couldn't remember.

What happened to her dreams of the outside world? A mythical land of heroes, princes, and evil monsters who never won. Where the good guys always came out on top. The outside was where sweets and kittens and beautiful dresses were. What she had found was death, pain, and discomfort. Who were the good guys and bad guys again?

The humans attacked them and used them. These goblins had done nothing to her, yet she slaughtered them. Her party wanted to use the village too, just to sleep better in the haunted mansion they took.

The heat, Anath realized, wasn't just pain. It was a tempering. A reforging. She had been beaten into different shapes ever since she left home. When she had to kill to survive, live in the wilderness, and face off against a demon. Her wounds were ripped open by prodding from her new friends. Daggat's comments, Elyndris's suggestions, and Zuss's subtle actions that she didn't know Anath noticed. Even Lisa's crude attempts at… whatever she was doing.

With the pain, Anath now knew how silly all of it was. All the chaos, pity, self-hatred. She had been fighting for what? To not be a monster? She lived with monsters. She WAS a monster.

Anath laughed to herself. She wasn't just a monster. She was a STRONG monster. Never human, not really. Something Daggat said tickled at the back of her head.

"Being a monster, now, that's all about freedom. Freedom to eat what you want, sleep where you want, take what you want, and become your perfect self."

It was about letting yourself have fun, despite the scars. To become… a perfect self. Anath thought she WOULD like that, after all.

Then, mercifully, the pain simply ended. Like the snuffing of a candle extinguished before it could burn the last of its wax. Or submerging a red-hot blade into oil before it melted.

Tears of relief cooled her face. Her body shook as she turned to her side and curled into a ball.

"Anath?" Elyndris asked.

After a moment, "I'm okay. Maybe. I am hurt. Badly. Again. Why does this keep happening? The demon was the same way."

"There is a reason adventurers, real adventurers, are rare. The body is fragile. So is the mind. What happened?"

"The potion. It gave me boiling blood. And made it hotter. Then… it combined with my rage… Spider can tell you." She slipped into the status void, where Elyndris followed. Spider then explained the details of what happened.

"You are to never take that potion again," Elyndris ordered.

Anath shook her head. "No, it's too powerful. I was so strong. Stronger than I thought possible. I even got a strength core."

"Anath, no. That is not something you should go through again."

"If we need it. If we are fighting something too strong. Maybe I can get pain tolerance, like Dag." She whispered, then added softly, "Or if I ever feel weak again."

"Anath, your body is ravaged with burns. From the inside. Much more of that and your body would cook."

"Emergencies, then. " Anath said. Then she stood shakily and took in her surroundings. It was dark. "What about you? What did the potion do?"

"Fire breath. True fire breath. Scores of goblins fell to the torch. Well. A lot. Okay, only three. Well, Klaw finished off one and you the other." Elyndris turned to face Anath. "There is death, here. Be careful. I will look around."

[Party member has defeated - Goblin, level 13. Experience Gained. You have gained one monster level.]

Anath smiled to herself. Good timing. Her friends were going to be so surprised.

Anath

True Name: Anathema Soul: Monster/Mortal Genseed: Human [ 3 Str, 3 Dex, 3 Con, 3 Int, 3 Wil, 3 Cha; Standard Size]

Monster Level: 6 Berserker Level: 6 [+3 Str, Dex Con, -1 Int, Wil, Cha; Berserker's rage, Great Vitality]

Attributes [0/7]: Strength: 12 Dexterity: 11 Constitution: 13 Intelligence: 10 Will: 8 Charm: 7

Feats: Encounter: True Angel Knowledge: System Knowledge Act: Vile Concoction Act: Devotion [layered feats] Act: Overwhelming Power

Skills(0/9): System Aptitude: 1 [Source: System Knowledge] System Assistant: 1 Skill Boosts: Survival (1) Savage Legs: 1 Berserker's Spirit: 1 [Synergy: Warrior's Spirit (Burst of Strength + Burst of Alacrity + Burst of Vitality) + Berserker's Rage] Purge Poison: 1 Great Vitality: 1 Blood Rhythm: 1

Notable Natural Skills: Survival: Apprentice Savagery: Apprentice

Biotraits [1/6]: Disease Resistance [Mutations: Rot Resistance; Source: Vile Concoction] Extra Limb (Arachnid), x4 [Source: Variant] Venomous Mandibles [Source: Variant] Multi-eye [Mutations: Magnified, Night Vision; Source: Variant] Hardened Chitin Exoskeleton Strength Core

Transformations: Night Stalker form: +2 strength +2 dexterity Claws Dark Vision

Drakeheart form: +2 strength +2 constitution Boiling Blood [Mutations: Searing Blood] Brightburn Rage [Skill/Biotrait Synergy: Berserker's Spirit + Boiling Blood [searing blood]]

Notable Gear: Blade of the Desert Flower

Other: Variant: Arachnid Traits

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