**Chapter Seventy-Two: Beastmen**
Darkness.
This is the most intense feeling for anyone entering the Underdark from the surface world.
The entire narrow passage is pitch black, the ground slightly slippery from moisture, with dark blue moss growing on the walls on either side. Soren’s night vision allows him to clearly see his surroundings, but the little girl following him has a bit more trouble. Dragons have much better eyesight than humans, but their effectiveness in dark environments is limited; at most, they can achieve ‘dim vision,’ making it inconvenient to move in complete darkness.
The Underdark is not entirely black.
In fact, most areas of the Underdark are in a state of ‘dim vision.’
Because there is always some light scattering, possibly from luminescent plants or other light sources. The situation can be compared to a night with overcast clouds where there is no moon and the stars are not visible; in such conditions, a human’s range of vision is reduced to less than three meters. Many areas in the Underdark are like this, so adventurers from the surface must prepare torches or find some extraordinary item that grants night vision.
This is not difficult for wizards; a typical night vision helmet costs around 3,000-5,000 Gind.
Anyone capable of venturing into the Underdark wouldn’t be short of this little money!
“Ugh! It’s so dark!”
The little girl is lying on Soren’s back, leaning her little head close to his ear, whispering, “Are we there yet? Can I cast a Light Spell?”
A Light Spell?
Do you want to be a target in the Underdark?
“No!” Soren decisively refused, speaking in a low voice, “Another 1,000 meters down, there will be glowing moss; then you will be able to see.”
A light source.
In the Underdark, a light source is like a living target; Soren is well aware of how much trouble lighting up a source would bring.
Claw Terror, Giant Lizards, Mind Flayers, and so on.
These creatures in the Underdark are highly sensitive to light sources, recklessly using a Light Spell is equivalent to activating the so-called ‘monster spawning mode’ that adventurers jokingly talk about.
As they gradually delve deeper into the underground world, Soren began to notice some stalactites overhead.
Somewhere nearby must be an underground water source, as he can hear the sound of dripping; anywhere close to a water source in the Underdark is a combat-triggering area, where monsters living underground are sure to be found.
“Ugh! It seems there’s a swamp nearby!”
The little girl leaned on Soren’s shoulder, seeming a bit displeased, wrinkling her little nose saying, “I can feel that damp scent from a distance. There’s also a rotten smell. No wonder those ugly and filthy Black Dragons like to stay underground.”
Underground swamps.
Basically, wherever there are swamps in the Underdark, there will be obvious light sources.
Sure enough!
Soren’s line of sight begins to see some brightness; it’s the dark blue moss giving off a faint glow, a common variant plant in the Underdark, another one being a type of mushroom native to the Underdark. These two plants have quite robust vitality, able to grow even near volcanoes. Soren has seen fiery red moss near a volcanic area in the underground world. The ground became a bit damp, and Soren gently set the little girl down, then made a shushing gesture.
In underground swamps, such terrains are usually home to a specific type of creature.
—”Swamp Bearmen!”
To put it simply, they are a variant of human infected by a virus, belonging to a branch of beastmen that, for some unknown reason, have been bitten by other beastmen or are born with beastification syndrome, ultimately gaining the ability to transform into a beast form or beastman form in combat. Lulu, whom Soren brought back, is one such ‘catgirl’ from the beastman branches. By looking at Lulu’s talents, one can understand the combat power of beastmen; the innate level of most adult beastmen ranges from 5-8.
As for beastmen.
Soren knows best about werewolves, tiger people, and bear men; among them, werewolves infected with the beastification virus are the most common and can occasionally be encountered on the surface world. Tiger people and bear men are comparatively rare, mostly living in very unusual areas, while cat people like Lulu are near extinction. There’s no need to elaborate on werewolves and tiger people; bear men have a natural strength modifier of +16, meaning their strength value increases by 16 points upon transformation. (Note: In the Underdark, bear men’s strength values fluctuate between 27-36; in human form, their strength is not much different from ordinary people, mostly between 9-14.)
Even newly-matured bear men possess strength greater than that of robust brown bears upon transformation!
Giant footprints began to appear on the ground.
They are roughly the size of brown bears; these mutated bear men lie between humans and beasts, and the beastification virus affects their intelligence, making the bear men’s IQ comparable to that of savages. Most of them live in tribal communities. There are rumors that bear men are the failed products of druid transformation studies during a glorious arcane period, ultimately leading to the emergence of beastification syndrome, but no one has been able to confirm it. (Note: The emergence of beastification syndrome predates the Arcane Empire; the Arcane Empire also conducted research in this regard.)
Thinking back to the initial encounter with Lulu, one can understand what kind of creatures these bear men are.
At that time, she truly was wild and untamed!
………………
“I’ll go take a look.”
Soren glanced back at the little girl, speaking softly, “Maybe we can find a guide from the bear men’s territory; they love to capture other creatures as slaves and food reserves.”
Stealth.
Soren’s figure blended into the shadows; in the Underdark, he feels like a fish in water, able to enter a stealth state at any moment.
There are plenty of footprints on the ground.
Soren preliminarily judges that there are living 3-6 bear men here; even a patrolling Drow guard squad would not easily provoke them.
Swamp terrain can be troublesome.
But fortunately, Soren still has spells, and as he gradually sneaks in deeper, he quickly sees a dilapidated, makeshift shelter.
And a massive cage.
There are obvious bones on the ground, which he can preliminarily identify as belonging to Drow elves, Grey Dwarfs, and Gnomes. There’s no sign of a campfire, indicating that the bear men in front are of the most primal, blood-drinking level, entirely incapable of communication. Beastification syndrome may completely destroy the brain, turning individuals into beasts; in the entire Underdark, there are very few civilized and intelligent beastman groups.
In this regard, Lulu is among the very smart types of beastmen! (Powerful combat power, and very low intelligence, seems more like preparation for war.)
Inside the cage are some creatures being held captive.
Soren sees an injured mutated Bear Goblin, a barely-breathing Grey Dwarf, and a dead Claw Terror.
All are troublesome creatures.
But for the infected bear men, they are merely food.
Bang.
Heavy footsteps approach.
In Soren’s vision appears a massive monster weighing over 1,500 pounds, resembling an upright brown bear, its head like that of a giant bear, yet part of its body retains human contours, similar to transformed werewolves. From any angle, their bloodline level is significantly lower than that of Lulu, which also signifies that they are more primitive, more feral, and pose a greater threat.
“Bear Man [Beastman] (Third Tier).”
“Challenge Level 10, Biological Level 12+, possessing transformation ability.”
“Maximum Attribute 36, Minimum Attribute 9, Total Attribute Value 85-100 points.”
“Specialties: Strong, Powerful Attack, Powerful Strike, Tear, Claw Strike, Roar, Transformation, Frenzy, Bloodlust, Charge, Wild Instinct.”
“Challenge Difficulty: S+.”
………………
Most bear men are around Third Tier beings, but measuring them against standard Third Tier enemies would practically be a fool’s errand.
Because their challenge difficulty is ‘S+’! (Note: A fully armed adventurer party with a profession level around 10 has less than a ten percent chance of defeating it even when exhausting all resources.)
………………
*(PS: Only one chapter today; please let the Author (Floating Tower) organize his thoughts. Mwah!)* (To be continued ~^~)
