He was growing fast, far faster than he did the last time he had done this. Mash knew how to take advantage of that and kept growing larger. A jet of water shot through the imitation, and he felt it as it tunneled through him slowly. The hardening glyphs made him harder, but it couldn’t handle the sustained pressure of the water. He ignored the water glad to realize that he didn’t feel any pain in this imitation. He shuddered, thinking about the pain he would’ve felt if he went with another transformation. One of the crabs, claws swung at his back, crashing into the growing wood and destroying some branches.

The rest of the crab started materializing behind the claw. Mash realized that it was the same claw that he had damaged before, and Mash made sure that branches started growing into the cut. They flowed into the wound like a parasite would and started tearing apart the monster’s insides. More branches wrapped around the claw to hold it in place, while others pierced through the softer flesh that was beneath its shell. The crab started thrashing as Mash started eating it from the inside. The branches grew mouths on them and tore into the soft flesh.

Clacking noises rang loudly, as its feet slammed into the ground as it tried to run away. The other creature started digging into Mash with claws, tearing into the wood roughly. The hardness glyphs weren’t doing much to stop the claws, but he was more focused on finishing off the one he had in his grasp. His stats were rising quickly as he devoured the creature like a parasite, and he used the added stats to pull the creature down to him while growing to meet it. Branches wrapped around it, growing within as they did outside as well. The monster didn’t last long, and he stopped once he felt the rush of gaining a level. There was one crab left, and he prepared to kill it as well. He was surprised when a pincer tore through the wood and managed to grab his real body. It yanked him out of the tree, pulling him away from the imitation.

It was something he had never felt before. His senses shifted from the imitations to his own forcibly. It caused his vision to swim and his body slowly regained control of its motor functions. Thankfully, the crabs weren’t particularly intelligent, and it threw him away like another piece of random wood. The imitations started decaying immediately, but Mash didn’t care about it. With the additional stats, he began changing into his dragon form. That got the crab's attention, and its claw swung at him mid-transformation. He was struck in his side, still somewhat dazed by the forcible removable.

The claw struck partially grown wings and pressed against his arm and side. His bones crunched loudly, and he was surprised to feel a burst of pain explode from his side. The arm at his side was badly mangled and the changing of forms didn’t heal it. He tried to remember the last time he had been hit mid-transformation and realized that this was the first time. Apparently, he was made vulnerable during the shift, and the injuries lingered into the form. He would need to be more careful when changing forms, but he rarely had to fight enemies that could teleport like these crabs.

Mash had one good arm though, and his necklace had begun working on the injuries already. He also noticed the boos from hunt activate and jumped at the shelled underbelly. His additional stats were letting him move a lot faster. The crab teleported away before the blow struck, and Mash realized that the monsters were adapting quickly. It was avoiding him and attempting to batter him. Grinning, Mash knew that he would win the fight. Mash would not lose a battle of attrition with his hunt skill and doubted the crab had a similar one. Claws and jets of water hit him several times, but his additional stats were more than enough for him to handle the damage.

Eventually, he landed a hit. The crab was slow with-it teleportation, and Mash managed to slam into one of its legs. He plowed right through it, breaking it to pieces as he did so. Blood started falling from the injury, but it stopped midair, turning around and re-entering the wound. At first, he thought that the creature was healing, but he caught Red emerging from the fog. He guessed that she had finished her fight. The creatures didn’t seem particularly capable of resisting her type of attacks.

Mash didn’t let up his attacks and headed for the monster's main body. Using his strength, he managed to dig his draconic claws into the shell and lift the creature into the air. The monster tried swinging at him and was thrashing with its legs randomly. He ignored them, and flew a little bit higher, before releasing a burst of lightning magic. He aimed upwards and didn’t care about the backlash from being so close. His scales were especially resistant against lightning, and he barely felt it as he cooked the crab. It died soon another level up rushing into him.

Then something unusual happened, and it felt like the power leaked away. He had an idea of what was going on but couldn’t check yet. The others were still fighting, and he flew towards where Jill would be. Red followed and they arrived to see her dodging between two crabs. One was dead, and he wondered how she managed it. The two crabs were struggling to land any hits, but Jill wasn’t attacking back very often. She seemed wholly focused on dodging.

“I don’t have mana to attack. Can only teleport myself for now too.”

The sound of her words suddenly sprang from beside him as she appeared there. She grabbed onto Mash’s arm as she arrived, and he realized that she didn’t have the mana to fly. An instant after she finished speaking, she vanished again appearing between the crabs. Red headed towards one of the monsters, yelling to Mash to handle the other. Without hesitation, Mash crashed into the side of the crab monster. He toppled it pushing it into the stone ground with all his strength. The shell cracked and his hands pushed into the monster’s flesh. The stone itself was undamaged though. Mash grew some imitations of Priscilla inside of the monster letting them start to consume the monster. With his additional strength, he pulled his hands out while tearing off a chunk of the monster’s shell. His broken arm was working again, and he exposed the monster to attacks from Red.

Eventually, the fighting died down as they finished the remaining monsters. Luke had joined them and helped Red defeat the final crab. When the monsters died, Mash felt more power rush into him, only for it to leak out as it had done before. The water's constant movement had actually washed away most of the water, leaving them surprisingly clean. The fight ended while Mash was flying, and he started falling as his hunt skill was deactivated. The fall probably wouldn’t have killed him, but Red still caught him long before he hit the ground. An enormous hand of blood gently lowered him to the ground.

“Thanks!”

Mash yelled the word as he was deposited into the water. He was lying there, recovering with his inhuman hibernation skill while checking his status.

Name: Mash Stellumbra Class: Draconic Thunder-wood Imitation

Level: 97 → 100 Test of Ascension Available

Health: 1817 / 2090

Energy: 2 / 3560

Fortitude: 210

Endurance: 136

Strength: 171

Agility: 173

Intelligence: 220

Wisdom: 102 → 105

Charisma: 96

Free Stats: 70 → 85

Skills: Hunt, Thunder-wood Creation, Inhuman Hibernation, Monstrous Transformation, Thunder-wood Imitation, Draconic Domain, Adaptable Monster Core, Monstrous Humanity, Wooden Body, Mimic’s Avarice, Golden Body

His status confirmed his hypothesis. Mash had made it to level 100, just one dungeon away from getting his next class advancement. He was surprised to notice something along with his level. He was able to do something called the Test of Ascension. That was probably what would let him get the next advancement, and progress beyond his current level.

Curious to see what it would look like within himself; he poured some energy into the earrings. Inside of what he thought was his soul, he saw a strange film seeming to limit the skies above him. He barely noticed it but could notice the odd way it rippled occasionally. He remembered that the sky wasn’t actually real, and was just an embodiment of the class system. He smiled as he returned to his senses and turned to the others.

“Guess who’s level 100?”

The question was rhetorical, but one of them still answered him. Luke spoke as he walked over to help Mash heal.

“I’m not sure, but I think you’re talking about me.”

Mash was surprised at the news and looked at him skeptically. He was a few levels behind Mash and shouldn’t have been able to close the gap without killing several crabs. Unless, he had stolen he souls of the crabs. That probably would have been enough to grant him the levels. Mash was going to ask him but decided against it. It would have sounded like an accusation, and he didn’t want to sound petty. They rested a short while and discussed how they would take the bodies with them. They were much larger than he expected. Aifell had described them as enormous, but he still thought that he would be able to store them in his storage space. That didn’t seem very likely now though.

“I think we are going to have to take the bodies back.”

Mash spoke while he looked at the bodies. They were much more daunting now that he was just looking at them like he was. The fight hadn’t been as challenging as he expected, but it had been somewhat annoying with the teleportation.

“Well, how about you two take them back, while me and Red catch up? Oh, and give me one of those imitations of Priscilla, I can let you know when we are done, or you guys could find us with it.”

Jill sounded a little annoyed that she had fallen behind and was obviously trying to close the gap. Mash just shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t mind taking the bodies back, as he wanted the communication item done as quickly as possible. Luke agreed easily too, but the four of them didn’t part ways just yet. Jill suggested they try eating the monster, and they all agreed easily. The crab was tasty and expensive back home. A single one of these was more than any of them could eat reasonably. It wasn’t hard to start cooking one of them.

The meat was good, and they ate it without using any seasoning. The slightly sweet meat was even better than he had expected, and the others liked it just as much. Luke pulled out some dry spices, sprinkling it on his portion as he ate. Everyone tried some of the spices, but it was a bit too spicy for Mash. Jill liked it a lot though and ate with more of the spice than Luke himself. Red mixed eating it plain and with the spices. She seemed to enjoy changing the flavor regularly. They ate slowly, talking about random things for a little bit. It felt weird to separate for a few days, especially after having spent so much time together.

Still, they ultimately separated, and Mash grabbed most of the creatures, using wooden limbs to grab them. He also needed to use his draconic transformation to actually be able to carry all of the corpses. The trip back would take longer since they would need to rest to let him recover his energy more frequently. It took a little longer, but they finally arrived at the city.