[Evolution], an [Mechanic] in the game where the [Player] or a [Monster] can change to gain a more powerful form. Usually, a [Monsters evolution] happens much faster than a [Players], and if they live long enough they can cause trouble. There have been many records of [Evolved Monsters] found in the past, some decimating lands, people calling upon [God's wrath] of this world to stop them.

[Gargoyles], a variation of [Goblin] that can be found in dark places. Although weak to sunlight, they can turn to stone at will. They say if a [Gargoyle] leads a [Goblin Horde], it can make them twenty times more powerful.

What Harrian was looking at wasn't just a [Gargoyle], it had already [Evolved], making it even a bigger threat. Harrian had already seen an [Ogre], the [Evolved] version of a [Hobgoblin], but still, he hadn't expected an [Alpha Gargoyle] as the [Boss Monster].

It made a shrieking sound, making almost everyone in the expedition grab their ears in pain. Some had a [Resistance] to that attack, but even the people who did still suffered, narrowing it down to one person, Harrian.

He was looking at the clothed [Monster] straight in the eyes and it stared back, flaring its wings. Harrian put [Chaos Column] back into the [Infinite Item Box] and looked at him. The [Alpha Gargoyle] then created an air current with its wings and it glided extremely fast towards Harrian, planning to punch him, in which Harrian responded the same way, raising the same fist. Both their fists collided, creating another small updraft, the rest of the expedition feeling it.

Unlike everyone else, Harrian could take the punches laid out by the [Monster]. Due to being [Half-Slime], all physical attacks do less damage, not only that, but the force would also be transferred to other places, like back at the attacker or the floor.

Harrin raised the other fist and punched the [Gargoyle] right in its face, leaving a small dent and revealing it's face to Harrian. Its face wasn't distorted or anything, it had an angered expression, but half of its face was covered with a plague doctor mask.

A huff of fog then came from the [Gargoyles] mask, before it grabbed Harrian and sealed the cave, leaving the two of them together. Harrian then yelled at Rache and she responded, changing the mask with her [Skill].

Suddenly, the mask the [Gargoyle] had on became inverted, shoving it down its throat, before it pulled it out again and knocked Rache to the side. She wasn't used to physical attacks, so now it was a duel between Harrian and the [Alpha Gargoyle].

It grabbed Harrian again and began to glide through the narrow cave, fighting every so often with Harrian. It wasn't long until the [Monster] threw Harrian into a rock and settled on one itself. Harrian rubbed his head for a minute before realizing where the [Monster] had taken him. The place in his small vision, it was similar, but not quite.

After a while of looking around, the string around the [Gargoyles] mask began to unwind, showing that it wasn't a mask, it was its mouth. Its teeth were stained red and yellow, whilst a big tongue wriggled from its mouth, it was about the length of a metre, coloured purple.

After a while of staring at each other again, the [Gargoyle] began to talk.

"˷ˋ˫ˋ-²âýƣçð²Ȝýü²˂˫ˋ²ȟ˷˂ȕ," It spoke with a raspy tone of voice "Ȝýü3²˂˫ˋ²ȟ˷˂ȕ²Ȝýü-²˂˫ˋ²ȟ˷ý²˷ˋ˫ˋ-²Ȝýü²˂˫ˋ²ȟ˷Ȝ"

Harrian couldn't say anything to the [Gargoyle] since it was speaking the encrypted language he couldn't understand, but Harrian did try to do it anyway. Ever since fusing with Dropley, Harrian had gained all the [Slimes Skills], one of which was to communicate with some [Monsters], the common tongue for them.

"Excuse me, but I'm afraid I can't understand you, do you speak the common tongue of [Monsters]?" Harrian asked politely.

"ƣȕ²áöˋ˂Ȍ²ˆ˂ç¾ȕ²ƣ²ãüȕ²üçâˋ˫áȕ˂çⲈ˂ç²ƣ,"

"This is the first time a rogue [Monster] has talked to me without the help of someone else. Listen, can you scurry off to wherever you came from and come back when I'm stronger?"

"˽ˋɋ²âˋˍˋ˂ȕ²ȕý²˂ãþˋ²˂˫ˋ²Ȝýü²ƣˍ²áˋˋ²ȕý²ýçþȜ²ȟ˂á²ðý˂þ²˽Ȝ²ˋȞƣþɵ²ýˍ²Ïðýâ²˂²ƣá²ȕ˷ƣá²ãˋ˷ƣçâ²ƣá²ȟ˷ý²ýçˋ²ȕ˷ˋ,"

"I guess that's a no, well then shall we?" Harrian got out [Chaos Column] again and looked at the [Alpha Gargoyle] straight in the eye. During that time, the [Monster] screamed in delight, whilst Harrian made another white pill appear in his hands before eating it.

Finally, the [Alpha Gargoyle] spread its wings and flew towards Harrian trying to bite him, but it missed. As the [Monster] looked towards him again, Harrian had already propelled himself in the air and was using a [Blade Art].

"[Scythe art: Burn affinity: Heated Blade]," Harrian ran his right index finger against the blade, afterwards slicing the [Alpha Gargoyles] right arm halfway, before casting [Burnball] flying back landing on a pillar.

The reason why Harrian did it was due to the [Alpha Gargoyles] healing powers, which he expected it to have, turns out that Harrian was correct. Although slow, the [Alpha Gargoyles] body began to heal all on its own, reversing the charred wound, stitching itself back together.

The gargoyle looked at Harrian, with anger in its eyes, taking off it's tattered hood, revealing its full face. With another roar, floating lights began to appear across the pillars, illuminating it even more. There were already small torches around the walls, which led to the path the expedition went. After the healing was done, the [Alpha Gargoyle] looked back at Harrian, responding with more corrupted text.

"âƣˋ3²ȕý²ðýƣçð²˂˫ˋ²Ȝýü²çýȟ²ˋ˂áȜµ²ðýƣçð²ȟ˂á²ƣ²ã˂áȕ˂˫â3²Ȝý!" Again, Harrian spoke the [Monsters] common language.

"That's probably an act of violence, so bring it now!"

The [Alpha Gargoyles] light grey skin changed to a very dark grey, its wings and nails grew larger and its eyes changed, from a grey colour to its entire eyes becoming black with a white pupil.

The [Alpha Gargoyle] developed its wings and flew at Harrian even faster, Harrian looked at its claws and noticed that they were longer, but it also seemed that something was behind them. As the [Alpha Gargoyle] got closer and closer, Harrian finally saw what it was.

It was as though a ghost was behind the claws, and that they scratched afterwards, it was too late so Harrian defended himself with [Chaos Column] and then it hit. The claw hit, knocking Harrian back and onto another pillar, but then something weird happened.

Claw marks then appeared, tearing through his clothes and creating a small wound, some blood leaking out. Harrian didn't expect it and was caught off-balance, so he cast [Illusion Magic], masking the [Alpha Gargoyles] vision so he couldn't see Harrian.

Knowing that [Monster] Harrian didn't have much time, so he quickly patched himself up with [Recover] to heal the wound and [Absorb] to collect back some of the blood. He also looked at his [Stats] and saw that the one scratch brought his [Hp] down by [20]. In ten hits, Harrian would be dead, or so he thought with his [Health] regenerating very slowly.

The [Recover] that Harrian cast was beginning to wear off and the [Alpha Gargoyle] attacked again. It was blade against claws and teeth. Harrian would cut up the [Alpha Gargoyle] when it would claw at him, and it would retaliate with a scratch.

It wasn't long until Harrian was defeating the [Alpha Gargoyle], unlike Harrian, it's wounded were healing, but not it's [Health]. The [Alpha Gargoyle] was running out of breath, and afterwards, the worst happened.

The gargoyle grew even larger and disappeared and reappeared behind Harrian. There was only one thing that he thought before the worst happened.

'[Swap]? No, only I have that [Ability], so this is different! Wait… could this be?-' He felt a large piercing in his back, and then he caught a glimpse of the [Alpha Gargoyle] which had seemed to [Evolve] again. Soon after, it brought back its claws and began slashing at Harrian.

" ƣˋ3²âƣˋ3²âƣˋ3²âƣˋ3²âƣˋ3²âƣˋ3²âƣˋ3²âƣˋ3," Every time, the gargoyle slashed at Harrians backside, but after it was done, the second wave it. The [Ability] the [Alpha Gargoyle] had taken into effect, causing twice the amount of damage.

Harrian had lost all consciousness, before the [Alpha Gargoyle] hit him with its tail, knocking Harrian into the pillar, going through multiple ones. Afterwards, Harrian hit the wall, he tried to get up, but lost all feeling and just rested there.

Harrian had no pulse, his wounds were all over his body, and he couldn't do anything. As he was fading into black, a [Status Board] appeared, very quickly he read through it.

[You have gained the requirements to gain a [Taboo Skill]]

As Harrian saw this message, his finger moved, and his heart, very slowly, began to beat again. Soon afterwards, he began to read the rest of the [Status Board]

[If you accept the [Taboo Skill] you will gain the following:]

[Complete healing of your body]

[The gain a [Taboo Skill] randomly, you will not choose]

[Your [Stats] gain a raise whenever you [Level up]]

[Do you accept?]

[Yes] [No]

Harrian then thought for a second, and that's what he thought for what seemed like an eternity. He looked back at the [Status Board], before chuckling and giving his answer.

[No]

[Are you sure?]

[Yes] [No]

[Yes]

[Very well, enjoy the rest of your life]

Harrian looked at the [Alpha Gargoyle], seeing it celebrating its victory, screeching. Harrian very quietly got up and recalled [Chaos Column], one of the many [Abilities] he gained during his training, now being able to summon his weapon back into his hands.

The [Alpha Gargoyle] noticed this and looked back to Harrian and noticed that a mass amount of bandages were beginning to wrap around it. It tried to break free, but it was all in vain, as Harrian was casting [Spells] on the bandages.

"すぇえぺ,うぇあけん,えんふぉるせ,だまげあむぷぃ,ぴしかぅだまげぼぬで!"

After the [Alpha Gargoyle] was wrapped, Harrian pulled it towards him and then put his left hand onto the mummified [Monster], saying the same thing, over and over again.

"[Decay], [Decay], [Decay]!" Each time he said, the struggle weakened and then, finally, it stopped, the [Alpha Gargoyle] and the bandages turned to dust. Harrian was victorious, with blood covering almost every part of his body and only survived on one [Health], he returned to the expedition.

Harrian threw the [Monsters] corpse back into the cave and began to drag it back, healing himself on the way. After a while, he saw light, and people began to come closer to him but stepped away for a reason. Rache had already made it back and was with Cordelie, and they were shocked as well.

His clothes in tatters, most of it stained red, his bareback was completely shown. Claw marks, on both his body and clothes, were seen, some were healing, but people could see scars forming. Harrian's head had a massive wrap of bandages around his right eye, clearly seeing that he was crying blood.

As he got closer and closer to the expedition. They gathered around him, and then Harrian threw the corpse onto the floor, getting mild applause. Harrian began to look around and saw someone who he didn't like.

Making his way through the crowd, he was face to face with Harrien, again acting all stuck up, like he did nothing wrong. Angered, Harrian then punched him in the face with his right hand, revealing it.

It was charred black, all the way up to the shoulder, and its width was only that of a twig, only his elbow and hands were larger than a twig. Harrian took a deep breath and turned around.

"That! Was no [Boss Monster], that was a being, sent to massacre everything and everyone, I only survived on one [Hp] and mortally wounded. That thing could use [Fly], had a powerful [Skill], and it had a [Magical Resistance], I had to fight it with a blade! Yes, I rushed in there myself, but we were already weakened, almost all of you were tired from the fighting, some of you even gaining wounds like mine. This sudden [Dungeon] is just trying to wipe us out!"

Everyone fell silent, realizing that one of the only reasons was because of Harrian, although one person seemed to disagree. Harrien yelled "Wait", and everyone paid attention to it.

"Why is everyone celebrating you! You rushed to face that [Monster] alone, what made that different to what I did?"

"First of all, you ran into a [Monster Horde] and blew a lot of them up, we are grateful, but you also damaged some of the exterior, which might have caused a cave-in. Second of all, you put people at risk, what if they were in the blast radius, whilst I did not, I fought that [Alpha Gargoyle] away from people. And finally, you did nothing other than that, I was tired and saved your sorry ass, before facing something where I was offered a [Taboo Skill], something you can only get at the feeling or the brink of death!"

Harrien fell silent stuttering on the floor, trying to make a comeback. Again, Harrian sighed and showed everyone his right hand, before it turned to ash. Slowly, starting at the fingertips, began to make a neat pile on the floor.

"I lost a limb, and I'm not complaining, cause I can grow a new one with something I've already gained, now, we haven't gone far, but let us rest now."

Harrian moved back to the [Alpha Gargoyles] corpse and ripped off its right arm. Afterwards, Harrian plunged the arm into his right shoulder, leaving it there, retreating himself and the corpse into the [Infinite Item Box], leaving only a tophat in his wake.

Everyone scattered and began to care for the injured, all whilst Cordelie picked up the tophat and put it on her head. No one was sure what had just happened, but they knew this, that Harrian had saved them from everyone's demise.