Hey all! How are you guys doing?
2020 was truly rocky, with all the worst things that happened one after another from the start of the year, it truly makes one anxious and loses motivation to write, especially the Pandemic. Haven't done much updates, only putting on notes and ideas. But as I said before in my last poll, I'll have to try at least to update and I did, with Senran Kagura; Silver Eyed Shinobi.
And with the new year beginning, I feel like I can go back to writing and updating.
First off, I was busy working on one of my stories, like editing and adding, but I felt a little rusty and thought I should try writing a one-shot before updating, to get my groove back.
So for this one-shot, this is an original story, which is the first one out of my other original story ideas. So of course none of you wouldn't know this but I'm sure you all know of the genre.
I Reincarnated in Another World as a Mob Mouse
Chapter 1; I Reincarnated as a Mouse Monster.
"Wha… What the…?" An individual slowly opens and grunts, confused. They looked around, at first it was dark but their vision quickly adjusted as they were able to see. The individual noticed that they were in some kind of tunnel, like what you've seen in caves, in fact, the place does look like a cave.
"Am I… in a cave? Wait, how did I get here?" The individual asked, much to their confusion. And judging by their voice, it is a young male, dedicated they are male.
He soon heard multiple noises, he turned around to the source, and thanks to his adjusted vision to the dark he saw… GIANT MICE!
"UWAAAA! What the hell?! Why are there mice, more importantly, why are they big?!" The young male startled, backed away to the point his back touched the wall.
The giant mice were walking around, sniffing and looking around, judging by their size they are the same height as humans. The young male is in panic, normally mice are harmless, especially house mice, but as giants, they can attack anyone as food considered some species of mice eats meat as part of their diet.
"Wha… What is up with my… hands...?" He asked, he noticed something odd, strange, about his 'hands' when he lifted them, They were pink and soft with only four 'fingers' with nails. The male was shocked by the appearance of his 'hands', he then saw his 'arms' that were covered in fur, prompting him to look up to his appearance and running his 'hands' around his body. He noticed how pudgy his body is covered in brown fur, he looks at his feet to see that they were the same as his 'hands', he looks behind him to see a tail (much to his shock) and he then runs his hands on his head and noticed how his ears are different then he went to his face noticed the different shape it is. To his great shock when he realized; he is a mouse. "I am a MOUSE?!"
"T-t-t-t-t-hat's not possible?! How?! Why am I a mouse?! Why am I in a cave?! Why am I a mouse in a cave?! I was human!" He cried out, freaking out though the mice didn't seem to bother noticing him. True be told, he is, or in this case, was a human.
"I-I must be dreaming!" He pinches his cheeks multiple times, in hopes that the whole thing is a dream but to no avail, the only thing he got are pains on the cheeks. "Ow… Okay, obviously, I'm not dreaming..."
The mysterious human-to-mouse male sighed and soon sat on the floor, taking a moment of briefer. He sat there, for a whole five-to-ten minute, after much time passed the 'mouse' breaths and sighed, feeling calm.
"Okay, okay. Let's review my current situation." He crossed his 'arms' and legs, even though it is not possible for a mouse to do so, and started thinking to analyze his current predicament. "Here I am, awaken as a mouse, in this mysterious cave along with all these mice." He listed while he looked at the other mice. But he then asked himself while looking at his feet that replaced his hands. "But how did I get here and why am I a mouse?"
He crossed his 'arms' back before thinking again. "Okay, the best way is to recall my memories in hopes to figure it out. I should first try remembering about myself."
"My name is Souji Kurogane. I'm 16 years old. My birthday is May 17th."
As the mouse, who is referred to as Souji, recalls who he is, aside from his name and birthday, he is a Japanese high school student in his second year and his school's called Yukimura High. Being Japanese, he was born and lives in Japan, living in Ibaraki. He was raised in a loving environment, his father is an honest man working for a company, his mother though a housewife is part of a volunteer service and his older sister is a university student who aims to be a lawyer. As for him, who was Souji Kurogane the human, he was just a normal average joe, a normal student who goes out his way like normal kids his age.
Souji continues remembering as listed. "I have three friends who… wait."
It all came to him now, he was hanging out with his friends on a Saturday afternoon, he remembers his friends teasing him by saying he didn't get a girlfriend and they suggested him to wish for one on his upcoming birthday, but he merely waves off their teasing. As they talk about plans for his birthday, suddenly, a deranged man was running around swinging a hatchet as he's getting close to them, he remembers that the man was about to slash his friend only for him to quickly shield him and get slashed across the abdomen. He then recalls the unbearable pain he received, his hands covered by his blood, slowly losing consciousness, the sad expressions his friends had when they looked at him.
"Seems like… I died, and got reincarnated." Souji concluded, looking back at his newest paws.
"Well, at least I managed to protect my friends and said my farewells but not my family." He smiled in both relief and regret. Relief that his friends were saved, though saddened for seeing him off, he's just glad he had wonderful friends who would cry for him. Regretted that he didn't get the chance to say goodbye to his parents, and neither his sister, although he has a feeling that his friends would comfort them. He chuckles a bit. "And here I am, died at the age of 16 and reincarnated as a mouse while my birthday was only 4 days ahead with my family and friends obviously had plans for me. Must be a twisted joke."
He would have continued laughing but he was overwhelmed by this development that he wasn't in the best of moods. Right now, he just wants to take the time for himself, adjusting the whole rebirth and getting used to his new body.
He adjusts his sitting position so that his back touches the wall. He observes the other mice as they continue with their mouse business, randomly wondering if he could speak to them like normal people like those cartoons when animals speak to each other, though looking at them he can't help but to feel that there's something odd about them.
'I may not be an expert, but those mice seem pretty different… and they give me a bad feeling.' He thought, waving off one mouse that was sniffing him.
One of his mouse ears twisted, picking up new sounds.
"Those sounds like… footsteps. Several of them" He quickly stands up. He ignores the other mice's sounds and focuses on the footsteps one. "When there's footsteps, there's people."
"If I meet them, will I be able to communicate with them?" He asked himself before he slumped. 'Yeah… as if they understand mice. You're a joker, Souji Kurogane?'
As the sounds of footsteps are getting louder and clearer, Souji notices that the hall, way back, begins to slowly lighten up and approaching.
'Must be explorers, researching whatever it is in this cave.' While not an expert, Souji did hear and watched from TV, most scientists, archaeologists and biologists would venture into caves for research, so no doubt a team of explorers are here for research.
'Well, nothing better to do than scram like a wary mouse that I'm supposed to be. Don't want to startle the folks by seeing a bunch of mice on the floor.' He thought. Mice are known to be wary animals, it is in their instinct, if they sense danger they would immediately.
As he thought and prepared to run, the owners of the footsteps approached as the part of the hall lightened up. He blinks several times to adjust to the light, since he has gotten used to the darkness, and he was able to see the people in front. There are four if not five with one of them being behind and they all dressed... odd in Souji's opinion, they all dressed like something out of medieval age. The one in front, a man who holds a torch, wears an armour chest plate, armour armbands and brown pants, he was holding a sword too, his face was covered in scars, six of em, looking like a thug. The man on the left wears armour as well but with a black cloak and holding an axe. Another man, on the right, had a bearded face, his attire looked like between a bandit and a barbarian due to the lessen clothing being shirtless, he was holding a scimitar. The man between the two looked like a wizard with a staff and robe. The last member of the group looked younger than them, around his early twenties, he didn't have any weapons, instead, he's carrying several bags, he wore a green tunic and brown pants.
'Are they cosplay? Or in other cases, role play?' Souji thought, wondering why people cosplaying medieval clothes would come to this cave despite the possible danger.
Suddenly, the rest of the mice turned their attention to the group of humans, our reincarnated friend thought they were gonna run away like any other mice but instead, they all charged up ahead! The first of the mice jump high towards the leader, but the human raises his arm and blocks the mouse, however, Souji was able to see that the mouse is big!
"What the-?!" The mouse is unusually big instead of a regular size that could fit in a hand, it was the same size as a toy dog. It's not just one, but all of them, including himself, are bigger! 'What's going on?! Why are the mice bigger than the regular sizes?!'
The man threw the mouse to the ground before stabbing it with his sword, blood gushing out from the wound. He then swings his sword at the next mouse that approached him followed by a kick to another. Soon, the rest of the group, except the bag carrier, begin to fight. The axe wielder swung his weapon, cutting one mouse in half, the bearded face one cut down two mice clean. The wizard-looking one swung his staff, knocking off several of them, the next thing he's doing he points his staff and all of the sudden icicles appear and are shots hitting the mice.
Meanwhile, our little friend was watching the carnage of his fellow mice getting killed by the humans, he can't blame them though, the mice were merely protecting their territory like any other animals and the humans were fighting as self-defence. And as for him, he isn't as animalistic as the rest since he was human in the past life or obliged to protect the territory, and he can see that the mice are about defeat.
'This doesn't look good… they'll come at me if I stay and stand around. I better get the hell out of here!' So he did, he ran off from the carnage, like any normal mouse that runs from danger.
The boy-in-mouse ran as fast as his new mouse legs could, in his mind he realized that he was running on four and quickly getting adjusted to his new way of running. He's been running for quite some time as he took turns from different directions that this cave has. After a whole ten minutes, Souji stops himself and places his paw on the wall for support as he breathes.
"What was all that about…? Mice in this cave that are bigger than normal, promptly the same size as any toy dog, and attacking people insight?" He asked himself, even though there is no one else but it makes him feel better when he's confused before thinking things through. "And men wearing medieval attire and weapons, and I just saw the wizard-looking one shooting icicles from his staff, was that magic or something?"
It was still shocking to see people wielding real medieval weapons, not the prop, what's even more surprising is that the wizard dressed man shooting icicles.
"Speaking of sword and magic… didn't Hiroki used to talk about a genre, the one he said that it is top trending and every plot has similar settings, and I think I've watched a couple of anime and manga of that genre too… oh yeah." Then it hit him.
"I did reincarnate but not on Earth, in another world."
He may not be an otaku or hardcore fan, but he is familiar with Isekai. In which translation to different world/otherworld, it revolves around a normal person from Earth being displaced, transported to, reborn or otherwise trapped in another world. It always starts with a protagonist landing in another world, and depending on stories, it was usually duties to save the world, granted a second chance or bad luck. Souji is familiar with it since he has seen several anime and manga of that genre, and constantly from his friends, and he knows that it always starts in a sword and magic world.
The mouse chuckles at the new reality. "Who wouldn't have thought that the trending genre would turn out to be real? Well, at least I'm not in some Otome world and reincarnated as a villainess, thank God that I do not play Otome games." He had also heard that the genre was granted a subgenre in which has become a hot trend that involves female protagonists reborn as the villainess of otome games they played.
'Te! This isn't the time for comparisons!' Souji snapped, pulling a straight man move.
The human-to-mouse looks around to his surroundings, to his surprise, he somehow ends up in a new place with flat ceilings, walls and floors made of stone bricks, before he was in a tunnel of a cave but now it looks like something out of a dungeon. He must have been in a panic that he was too busy to notice.
"Haa, no matter what I see it, this is obviously another world, judging by that group of people and this place. This looks like some sort of ruins, or better yet; a dungeon." Dungeons are usually common in fantasy worlds, crawling with monsters and treasures waiting to be taken. He then took a thinking pose. "If memories are correct, in the Isekai genre, depending on the stories, there some who reincarnated as different people while on the other hand, some are reincarnated as monsters."
He remembers some of the stories he heard and from his friend, that in some stories there are protagonists reincarnated as monsters. Slime, Goblin, Dragon, and he even heard about one becoming a Spider. And most of them start with the characters having a hard time getting along with humans since they are monsters and they all have one thing in common.
'Survival to the fittest.' In other words, he has to fight to survive. While in his previous life, he believed that fighting does not solve anything but more fighting and later on grudges.
"Though I'm in a sword and magic world, and I'm reborn as a mouse monster. Like it or not, I'll have to fight my way out and I'll have to do the same against humans in self-defence." He proclaimed while he is not fond of the idea of fighting, but in another world, he'll have to abide by the rules of this world. "But… what could I possibly do? Aside from being bigger, which gives me a great advantage of clawing and biting even harder, I'm no match for foes who are bigger than me. And let's not forget the massacre I've witnessed with those men killing my fellow mice, I'll be dead for sure if someone strikes me with a sword."
True be told, he had seen how the fight went and it was bloodshed, he just knew that all the mice are probably dead by now. If he would up against an armed human with experiences, he will be dead for sure. He sighed. "Well, I guess, my best option is to run away as fast as I could. There's just no way I have a chance, I just need to accept it."
He then goes back to thinking, he then remembers another thing common in the Isekai genre. He sighed again before speaking. "Well, not like I have any skills or anything, let alone checking status and levels-"
As soon as he spoke, a strange transparent tablet appeared before him, on it, there were letters and numbers.
[Name; Nameless]
[Race; Little Cave Mouse]
[Title; Reincarnator, Otherworlder]
[Level 1]
[Stats;]
HP; 25
MP; 12
ATK; 7
DEF; 7
AGI; 9
MA; 5
[Skills;]
Scratch LV3, Bite LV5, Night Vision LV10, High Hearing LV7, Scent LV7, Appraisal, Language Barrier, One's Strength
The weakest monster in dungeons. They lived in dungeons and caves as packs. They get easily defeated by one attack if alone, but as a swarm they can easily take down novice and weak adventures.
They usually stay in packs, but if one leaves/abandons the pack they will immediately become rogues/deserters. If they see a rogue they will attack it and cannibalize it.
"WOW!" Souji was startled by the appearance of the tablet. "What the- is this… a status? No way..."
He took a closer look, after expecting it he confirms that it is indeed a status, something that you see in video games.
"Well, I'm also a gamer myself, so hopefully my game knowledge will help me. Now then, let's see..." He then goes back to check on the status, he had play games, especially RPG and MMO, but not as hardcore. He remembered that in some Isekai stories there are game elements such as Levels, statistics and Skills, and geeky characters tend to use their game knowledge to their advantage. Though, he is realistic, so he wouldn't let it get over into his head and treat all of this as reality.
"As I thought, I really am weak as it said. Though, the levels of my skills, except Appraisal, Language Barrier and One's Strength, make it up for my low stats." After checking his status, he was a tad disappointed to see his very low stats and the description of the Little Cave Mouse did not help much, however, seeing the levels of his skills makes it up. He also has to wonder if his stats would go up if he levels up.
"And I don't have a name... that's a shame. Considered that I just got reborn." The mouse sighed, realized that he wasn't named since his rebirth. "If I name myself, would I gain a name?"
"I'll name myself; Souji." When he said that, he checked back on his status to see any changes, unfortunately, nothing. "Huh, guess not, maybe a person will name me. If this was a light novel, readers would probably give me a nickname… like Nezu-kun."
With that aside, Souji went back to his status.
"But 'title', isn't something like an achievement after you accomplish certain conditions?" Back to his homeworld, he has a console that offers achievement titles after accomplished, depending on games. He has to remind himself that this is not like the games he played. "And it seems I got 'Reincarnator' and 'Otherworlder' as my first titles... well, considering that I did reincarnate from another world."
As he fixated on the titles, suddenly, two windows appeared in front of the status and read;
[Reincarnator]
A title given to an individual who had a past life and reincarnated.
[Otherworlder]
A title given to an individual who originated came from another world, via summoning or reincarnation.
-Bonus: Skill; Language Barrier, One's Strength
[Language Barrier]
-Allowing the individual to understand the foreign vocal and written language of this world.
[One's Strength]
-Granted the individual to observe their growth process.
"Wow, so certain titles grant skills as bonuses." The mouse boy awed, he should keep it in mind. "One's Strength… does it mean the status? It did say observe their growth process." If that were the case, how exactly can it appear when he says the word 'status' instead 'One's Strength'.
"And the Language Barrier is pretty handy, it'll save me the trouble of understanding people." If he is in another world, then surely the native language is different and he would have to learn how even the written letters.
"Better to see how these skills work." He then looks at his skills, overall, they were simple skills but with higher levels than one another. He then looks at the skill 'Appraisal' and reads the description, needless to say, it's exactly what it sounds like, allowing one to appraise objects and living beings, and the odd thing is it doesn't have a level does it mean its already maxed out?
"Now then, let's test out the skills, I should try appraisal." He said, spotted a rock on the floor, he picks up and activates the skill. "Appraisal."
He then saw a window appeared that says;
[Rock]
"Figures." Souji chuckles before throwing the rock away.
He approaches the wall. "Might as well appraise the wall, maybe it might tell me where I am." He places his palm on the wall. "Appraisal."
A window appeared and read.
[Wall of the Pupol Dungeon]
"Pupol Dungeon…?" He repeated. "Odd name, better use Appraisal to look it up." He's not so sure if his Appraisal skill is useful, due to not having a level, but he is going to test it out. He has a theory that if he focuses he might get more info, like with the Status's titles and skills when he fixated.
[Pupol Dungeon
-A dungeon inside the Puponlon Mountain. A large dungeon, where monsters nesting, the place contains magical minerals with a low percentage of magic stones. The dungeon has hidden trap doors that will lead individuals to different tunnels or rooms. The Pupol Dungeon is also a place for adventurers to locate treasures, materials from monsters and sometimes as a base.-]
"Well, at least it confirms that I am technically in a dungeon." Souji commented. Still has his palm on the wall, he tries to focus to see if he could get some sort of map of the dungeon of some sort. After a whole minute, he exhales before taking off his palm from the wall. "And I just prove to myself that it is impossible to get a map of this place with Appraisal. Figures." He was hoping to have a lead in getting out of the dungeon.
Just then, his mouse ears pick up a sound, with his High Hearing at Level 7, he can hear very well, like when he was running away from the massacre he could still hear the sounds. He turns around, to see that the tunnel leads to two tunnels. "What's that…?"
He walks towards the source, after he approaches he hides and takes a peak. What he saw gives him goosebumps. "Uwa… it's a cockroach, a big one too."
As he said, there is a huge cockroach, roughly a little bigger than a Little Cave Mouse, coloured in purplish brown. It was munching on some sort of meat, making chewing sounds.
"Better use appraisal to see what it is." Though he would rather not approach it, so he focuses on staring at the cockroach. "Appraisal."
[Race; Cave Roach]
[Title; Foul Pest, Little Glutton]
[Level 3]
[Stats;]
HP; 50
MP; 8
ATK; 18
DEF; 7
AGI; 16
MA; 4
[Skills;]
Bite LV4, Night Vision LV8, Charge LV7, Scent LV8
Cave crawlers that spend the majority of their time in search for food. They tend to leave caves and dungeons in search of food, which lends them appeared in villages and cities. They will also attack any creatures that they dubbed them as prey.
'Well, cockroaches do eat anything they find.' Souji thought after reading the window. 'I should leave and avoid it, no way I stood a chance against a bug that big with slightly higher stats than mine.'
The statistic of the cockroach is too high even for a level 3, Souji was reborn as the weakest monster he has no chance to fight against.
'Hopefully, that bug isn't too hungry, and really, would it be interesting eating a Little Cave Mouse? I bet I taste bad.' He thought he took one step back but failed to notice a bone as he stepped in and broke it making a sound.
SNAP-!
'Shimatta!'
The Cave Roach turned its attention to the sound and saw the mouse, its antennas rise and shrieks.
'I can already see a message telling me that the Cave Roach spotted me.' Souji thought half-joked, imagined a video game with a monster on screen and a window message saying 'the monster spotted you'. While in reality, a mouse has a better chance against a small cockroach but in this world things are different, is the survival to the fittest. Souji knew that, despite the game elements, the whole thing is real, his new reality, and he would have to face choice against a monster higher than him, and these choices were:
[Fight] or [Run]?
'The option is obvious.'
The Cave Roach starts walking towards the mouse, most likely for its next meal. The Little Cave Mouse takes a stand, prepared for his action. After two seconds passed, he quickly turned around and projectile himself in the opposite direction.
"Nigerundayo!" He cried out, running away from the roach.
Running away is his best option when knowing you don't have a chance against something stronger. Cowardly but the best strategy, plus he already decided what he should do before. It also occurs to him that if he tries to fight other monsters would he gain EXP, also known as experience points, and raise his current level? Unfortunately, he can't take the chances with the Cave Roach and will try another time.
'I need to get away from the roach as fast as I could and find a hidden spot to lose him!' Souji thought as he ran. Turning in every direction in hopes to chase it off, unfortunately, the Cave Roach was chasing after him.
'Crap! It's gaining on me!' He cursed in his thoughts after looking over his shoulder (if mice have shoulders) and tried to put much force in his running.
The chase of cockroach and mouse continues for five minutes, Souji has been turning in all different directions yet despite not knowing where he goes. He makes another turn to his left, and as he runs he sees a wall dead ahead, forcing him to stop, hitting the brakes as his feet slide on the floor before stopping.
'Shimatta! A dead-end!' He wished that he had a mapping skill to allow him to see where he was going. He turns around, in hopes to run and take other directions, but when he sees the Cave Roach at its tracks. 'Figures, it's agility is a bit higher than mine, no surprise that it managed to caught on.' His Agility (AGI) is 9 while the Cave Roach's is 16, he was surprised though he managed to prevent the insect from catching him despite the disadvantage.
The Cave Roach took several steps, towards the mouse like a predator. The reincarnator gulped, he thought of running again but he was stranded, behind him a wall, in front there's a monster and both sides have walls, there's nowhere to run. He doubted that he could outrun it again, his success of not getting caught was pure luck and if he tries to run the cockroach surely catches him with his advanced speed.
He clutched his palm, realized that he could not get out of the situation. 'Seems like… I have no choice but to fight.'
Souji extended his legs and raised his front legs with his palms in claw position, looking up close it looked like a mouse that was about to defend itself, nonetheless, he was ready.
As the Cave Roach took one more step, it bends itself for five seconds right before it charged up ahead towards the mouse. Souji was caught off guard by the sudden charge that he had no time to think as the insect hit him on the front, the force pushed the mouse back before landing on the floor. The mouse monster cough, feeling the pain of the force, it felt like a punching hit him before it went back to the puncher.
He concluded that it must be one of the Cave Roach's skills known as Charge. He noticed a small window above his left vision, it was a notification of his HP, also known as Health Point.
[HP; 23/25]
'My HP went down… I know this isn't a game but I'll die for real if it reaches zero.' If he wasn't a realism, he would be like those game-obsess idiots assuming that you get a redo after dying.
The Cave Roach prepares for another Charge yet again, only this time Souji is now aware of it, the moment the bug launches itself the mouse quickly rolls to the ground to dodge. The Cave Roach hits on the wall headfirst, it shrieks in agonize. Souji saw a window above the insect, it was its HP.
[HP; 46/50]
'Guessed using a straightforward skill wasn't such a good idea considering its low defence.'
Souji then charges ahead, readying his palms, once he's behind it he swings down his arm as he uses the Scratch skill. Now he doesn't know how to use the skills per se, he did have a theory on the back of his mind that if he tries to shout out the skill name it may activate automatically, but right now he'll have to try normally considered that the only offensive skills he has are Bite and Scratch. The paw hits the back, scratching it, the Cave Roach shrieks as its HP goes down again.
[HP; 43/50]
'Alright, looks like I can do this.'
Souji is about to use Scratch again only for the Cave Roach to brutally spin around and knock him as he falls to the floor, the bug then opens its horrendous mouth and bites his right leg.
"ARG!" Souji cried in pain, his HP showed up.
[HP; 20/25]
The reincarnated mouse uses his other leg and kicks at the insect, after a third kick, the cockroach releases its opponent but Souji did not stop there as he kicked it again, pushing the bug backward. Souji stands up but flinches due to the pain of his injury, he looks at his leg's bite wound, it looked worst but not as bad as he thought, his HP is at 20, so he could rest assured.
Ignoring the pain, he got on four before he jumped on the Cave Roach, holding it tight his next course of action is to use his second offensive skill, Bite. Opening his mouth wide open before biting down the bug, it shrieks in agony as the mouse digs his fangs deeper and shakes his head to make the wound wider.
[Cave Roach. HP; 40/50]
The Cave Roach shakes its body to get the mouse off as Souji begins to lose his hold before letting go as the Cave Roach runs around to get the feeling of pain off. Though, the insect's HP has also dropped.
[HP; 38/50]
Meanwhile, Souji spats, trying to get rid of whatever is in his mouth and the taste. "Blerg…! Why did I bite it…?" He complained, the Bite may have a greater effect on the insect but he was forced to experience an awful taste.
As Souji laments about his action and the taste, the Cave Roach quickly recovers and runs straight ahead to the mouse, using Charge again. The insect made a direct hit at the distracted mouse, knocking him back.
"OH!"
[HP; 18/25]
Souji groaned, seeing that his HP had gone down and the pain he's feeling, making an effort to get on his feet again the Cave Roach quickly went to him and opened its mouth, attending to bite the mouse. The reincarnated mouse saw it coming before he lifted his arm and blocked the cockroach, instead, it bites on his arm.
"GAH!" Souji cried in pain, feeling the teeth of the cockroach sunk on his arm. All the while his HP window appeared again.
[HP; 16/25]
'Damnit…!' He cursed, struggled to get the bug off him. As much as he could to get the cockroach off it was holding on tight, clearly a sign that it was determined not to let go of its prey.
"Geg-! Let go of me-!" His HP drops again and is now 14/25.
Souji glares at the Cave Roach, staring at its eyes. Then an idea came to mind. "An eye for an eye..."
He got close to the Cave Roach's face and bit its right eye, sinking his fang deep before ripping it off. The monster insect lets go of the Little Cave Mouse before it drops to the ground on its back, shrieking in agony.
[HP; 34/50]
'Only 4 HP dropped?' Souji complained, saw the cockroach's HP, spatting the eye. He thought for sure that it would have a much greater effect. 'No matter, this is my chance!'
He quickly moves towards the Cave Roach and slamming his paw on the insect's exposed abdomen before using Scratch, causing claw lines with white liquid gushing out. The Cockroach shrieks again as its HP shows again.
[HP; 31/50]
"Again!" Souji slams his other paw and scratches its abdomen again, leaving a cross claw line.
[HP; 27/50]
Could no longer bear it, the Cave Roach forcefully turns its body, escaping from Souji's Scratches. It then turns around facing the mouse before it uses Charge, however, the human-turned-mouse is prepared and grabs hold on the roach. The insect and mouse are struggling, with the former continuing to push with its legs while the latter holds his ground as his paws are sliding on the ground. Just then, the insect found an opening and bites on the mouse's left knee.
"Geh!"
[HP; 14/25]
"Get off ME-!" Souji scratches the roach's remaining eye, leaving scratch marks, injure it in the process.
[HP; 24/50]
The Cave Roach lets go, backing away as it shrieks. Now both its eyes are destroyed and cannot see anything.
Souji groaned in pain, looking at his knee. By the looks of it, if he hadn't made a quick move surely the insect would have sunk deeper and ripped off his bone knee (if mice have those). The reincarnator turns his attention back to the roach, shaking its head in agony, he would have felt guilty for destroying a creature's eyes but it attacked him and so he has no choice to defend himself.
The roach stops shaking and standing still, it takes a moment to catch its breather. Then, all of sudden, it begins to approach Souji, the mouse moves to another side but the roach follows him. The mouse tries to turn to different sides but no matter what the Cave Roach was still following him.
'That's right, I heard that cockroaches have a strong sense of smell, stronger than any insects of the plant. On top of all, this guy has a level 8 Scent.' Souji realized, recalling his knowledge. He also heard the cockroaches can still move and live with their heads cut off. 'It'll still fight by relying on its sense of smell. It'll still fight until the very end.'
"In that case… I'll have to finish this fight." Souji declared.
The Little Cave Mouse stops his track, allowing the roach to pick up his scent. The Cave Roach approaches and then stops, picking up its prey's scent, it positioned itself before using Charge again, only for the former human to kick off the ground jumping to the side allowing the blinded roach went straight for the huge rock. The bug hits the rock head first, the impact also causes the injured eyes to be more damaging, and because it has a low defence and already hits its head to the wall before causing even more damage.
[HP; 18/50]
Souji then jumps on to the roach's back, grabbing on to the antennas, and rides on it as the insect is running around. As he forces the roach to run, he pulls the antennas as hard as he could, and after ten seconds passed he finally ripped the antennas and fell off the floor as the Cave Roach shrieks.
[HP; 14/50]
The antennas were worth 4 HP? Putting that thought aside, Souji went straight to the still agonized roach, he grabbed hold on to one of its legs and before using Bite, he didn't care about the taste anymore. He chews on the leg as hard before cutting it off, before going for another and using his leg for support he rips it off. The Cave Roach shrieks even more, feeling its legs being pulled off, its instinct kicks in and knows that it needs to get away. Souji was not done yet as he proceeded to go for the wings, grabbing them with his paws and pulling them, putting much force despite its low stats he ripped the wings off.
[HP; 10/50]
The Cave Roach shrieks not before taking the opportunity to get away, trying to run with its remaining legs. Souji wouldn't let it get away, another thing he heard about cockroaches is that they can regenerate lost limbs and heads after moulting, if he lets it live surely it'll moult and its injuries will recover. He wouldn't allow it.
Souji charged went to the roach, catching it and using Scratch on its back again. He scratches it for eight times that it creates a wound, leaking white liquid, he looks at the roach's HP and sees that it went down to 6.
Decided to finish things off right now, he jabs his paw to the wound, sinking his fingers and claws deep as hard as he could all the while the roach shrieks even louder that it echoes to the tunnel. Souji then twisted his arm to dig deeper, he could feel the roach's flesh as he went. The Cave Roach continues to shrieking and moving its legs, ten seconds went by before the legs stop moving and the roach's shrieks lower by each millisecond passed, before it stops.
Still had his paw on the wound, Souji stares at the roach in wariness, some people believe that the cockroach they killed is dead but there were times when they are still alive which prompt them to kill them completely. Souji looks at its HP.
[HP; 0/50]
The Cave Roach was dead. Souji sighed before pulling off his paw, covered in white liquid, shaking it off to get rid of it.
"And stay down!" He proclaimed. He takes his time to catch his breath, then a window appears and says.
[Nameless has earned 14 EXP.]
"Wow… I've got Experience Points." It would seem that his theory of earning EXPs by defeated monsters was right.
Another window appears after the one disappeared.
[Nameless has reached Level 2]
"And I've reached level 2, already? By simply defeating the Cave Roach? Hm?... my wounds are recovered." Truth be told, his wounds have closed up as if he wasn't injured. He didn't expect to level up so soon after defeating one monster, even though it is common in some video games that you've reached level after your first battle, still he is surprised to know that he levelling up. It might be because he is the weakest monster that defeated a slightly stronger monster. But he could not complain, after all the trouble he went through this was enough of a reward.
"That aside, I may need to see my stats." He activated his status as he looked at it.
[Nameless]
[Level 2]
[Stats;]
HP; 29 (+4)
MP; 15 (+3)
ATK; 10 (+3)
DEF; 10 (+3)
AGI; 12 (+3)
MA; 7 (+2)
"Hmm… seems my stats have only increased by two to three." Souji said.
Though, he has to wonder what the average stats of humans have and what numbers they gain after levelling up. Knowing that a Little Cave Mouse is the weakest if alone, are they much higher? He truly needs to keep it in mind if he ever runs into them.
He then looks at the Cave Roach corpse. What he did from that moment was truly unbecoming of him, he has been aggressive when he tries hard to kill it. In his previous life, he would never resort to violence, left alone aggressive. He threw those thoughts away, what he did was to survive, and it proved his theory of levelling.
He then looks around the tunnel then to the direction he came by, he still hasn't got a clue about this place and he was careless when he ran away in different directions, chances are he might be lost. Not to mention that this place has monsters if what the Appraisal said, and his battle experience with the Cave Roach made him realize that the monsters are gonna be a lot stronger.
He looks back at his One's Strength, staring at his level and stats. By defeating the Cave Roach and earning EXP to level up makes him stronger...
"Well, it seems like I have no choice." Raising his arm and closing his paw to make a fist. "I'll have to fight and grow stronger, in order to survive. My new life in another world doesn't start until I'm out of this dungeon."
This day marks his oath to grow stronger to survive and set himself free from the dungeon, then he will see the world and explore it.
Souji's current growth progress;
[Name; Nameless]
[Race; Little Cave Mouse]
[Title; Reincarnator, Otherworlder]
-New Title; Rogue
[Level 2]
[Stats;]
HP; 29
MP; 15
ATK; 10
DEF; 10
AGI; 12
MA; 7
Experience Points; 4/10
[Skills;]
Scratch LV3, Bite LV5, Night Vision LV10, High Hearing LV7, Scent LV7, Appraisal, Language Barrier, One's Strength.
[Skills Proficiency;]
Bite: 17/80, Scratch: 27/54
So there you have it.
I got this idea from like one-two months ago, after I've done some research, watched and read some of the Isekai genre that involves protagonists reincarnated as monsters. Stories such as That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime, Re:Monsters, Reincarnated as a Dragon's Egg ~Lets Aim to Be the Strongest~, Reincarnated Into a Phoenix: A Bird That Can Defeat a Dragon Can't Be Normal Right?, and lastly the newest anime adaptation So I'm a Spider, So What? All those give me an idea for a MC to be reincarnated as a weak mouse monster and undergoes changes along the way, it was a tough choice.
Hopefully this was to your liking.
With that out of the way, I'll go back working on my other stories. But first, I'll take a break before going back. And I even found a new way to motivate myself; by giving myself a deadline, it truly works.
Stay safe, protect yourself, wash your hands, and stay away Coronavirus.
