Online In Another World

After reading these harrowing notes that took place over the span of many years, the young Dragonheart brought his eyes up, looking past the gallery of monster-holding cages to see one ominously in the back of the room, larger than the rest and covered in a blood-stained cloth.

Is that this 'Masterpiece' the Collector is talking about?...Well, I'm not going near that, he thought.

Planning to evacuate the unsettling chamber, just as set the papers down, the sound of footsteps echoing off of the stone flooring brought his gaze up.

"Welcome, welcome!"

Standing on an elevated platform that led to the corridor he initially planned on going, a bald-headed man with tan, callused skin looked down at him with an abnormal gaze. The unknown man's eyes were completely black with white irises staring down at the young man.

"...Who are you?" Emilio asked, "Are you the one who set up that barrier outside?"

The bald man held an unnerving smile, wearing a black apron above rusty chainmail, with matching gloves and boots, "Usually it's the guest who should give his name first, but I happen to have manners. I am called Collector."

Hearing that name immediately brought Emilio to raise his guard, holding the handle of his sword tightly in preparation of a fight.

Noticing the intensity in the young man's amethyst eyes, Collector waved his hand, "Oh, don't worry. I'm not here to fight you. Actually, I'm after those you came here with."

"What?!" Emilio gritted his teeth.

"You see, I'm just overstocked with male subjects. But, I was watching from afar, you know? Two females…well, those are valuable bodies. I'll go fetch them myself, in the meantime–"

"I won't let you!" Emilio stepped forward.

After being interrupted, the Collector simply smiled, crushing an opulent rune in his hand before walking away, whispering before disappearing down the hall, "...I'll feed you to my toys."

The rune that was reduced to sediment seemed to trigger a chain reaction as the hieroglyph-etched locks on a number of the cages exploded, opening the doors of the monster cells around the young Dragonheart.

They're opening?! This isn't good! He thought.

Attempting to bypass the horde of imprisoned monsters altogether, he dashed forward in to give chase to Collector, only to find himself impeded by a one-eyed orc leaping in front of him.

SLAM.

It landed with weight that caused the stone beneath to crack, built of scarred, light-red hide with its left arm being replaced altogether by a larger limb of silver scales and claws.

"Graaagh…" The monstrosity of an orc growled, salivating.

Finding himself in a hurry, Emilio attempted to summon a stream of flames to annihilate the brute, though forgetting the ailment he suffered as he coughed out.

Shit!...The black gas is still…! He thought.

Before he could even finish a thought, he was forced to jump back as the scale-armed orc swiped at him with its claws, narrowly avoiding it.

"--!"

Glancing back after dodging, he wasn't given a moment to breath as a disfigured goblin lunged at him from behind, forcing him to block its attempted bite with its sword.

Is it rabid?! What kind of goblin is this?! He questioned.

It gnawed on his blade, salivating and growling like a feral beast as he heard the orc approaching from behind.

There was no part of him that wanted to touch the grotesque goblin that had boils over its green skin and a head covered in growths, but he was forced to act quickly.

While it bit onto his blade, he clenched his fist before slamming against the fiend's abdomen with draconic force.

"Graaa—!" The deformed goblin lost its breath.

The impact crushed the internal organs of the creature, flinging the goblin back in one blow, though it was only quick enough to barely give Emilio time to roll as the orc behind stomped down.

"Ghh!" Emilio winced.

He ducked beneath the tables, quickling beneath each subsequent table as the scale-stitched orc roared out savagely, breaking through the furniture with swings and slams of its fists.

A path of destruction was left in his wake as he rapidly crawled, scampering as wood and stone was flung around with the orc stomping behind him.

As he finally reached the end of the tables, he rolled over and jumped to his feet just as the stitched orc tossed a half of a stand towards him.

"--!"

Emilio rolled forward to dodge, though this brought him face-to-face with the orc, getting a frontal kick to the gut that siphoned the air from his lungs.

"Pyuh-!"

Spitting out the air from within, he was knocked back against the bars of one of the cages, being bitten by a patchy, tiger-like beast from behind the bars before elbowing it to get free.

Damnit! Without being able to use spells, this is going to be a pain…! He thought.

Just as he freed himself from the tiger's jaws with blood momentarily squirting from the bite marks on his shoulder, the orc rushed him again, stomping forth and throwing its fist towards his head.

The scale-armored arm of the maddened orc was empowered by different physiology from the salivating fiend, punching through the air with such strength that Emilio knew it would likely blow straight through his head.

As he ducked down, in the absence of spells, he instead called upon the dragon blood within as his veins bulged with their blackened state and azure scaled appeared on his forearms.

[Dragonheart System Activated.]

[Current Stage: Dragon Son | 2/10]

In a swift counter to the punch that missed his skull, he swiped his blade up, lobbing the orc's entire scaled forearm from its body.

"Graaagh–!" The frankensteined monster stumbled back as purple blood spewed from its amputated limb.

"--Sorry, but I'm short on time!" Emilio mumbled, holding his hand forward.

The azure flames that he manifested weren't born of mana, but ignited by the draconic force born from his heart, roaring forth in a cerulean blaze that engulfed the orc, charring it within moments of contact.

Still, this wasn't the end of the encounter, but just the beginning as with the fall of the burnt orc, more goblins and fish-men charged towards him, grabbing shattered table legs to use as weapons.

"Come on, then!" Emilio shouted with draconic might interlacing his words.

In his heightened state, each swing of his sword was as though he was carving a knife through butter, rending the flesh of the experimental goblins.

He paced around the chamber of cages as the abhorrent experiments dashed towards him over the stained stone, using the cages as leverage to leap towards him.

Some of these deformed goblins attempted to spit acidic liquid at him, while some had their arms replaced by swords, though it didn't matter in the end as he was able to counter their attacks, swiftly cutting through them.

A goblin leapt towards him with its teeth bared, though he dashed directly past it, slashing through its midsection before stabbing through the head of a fish beast that was approaching from the side.

Finishing off the horde of goblins and fish men, the forefront cage finally broke open, freeing the minotaur that was quietly imprisoned within it.

It slowly walked out, stomping down with onyx hooves as it revealed itself from the darkness of the cage, having the clear body of an orc by its muscular structure and prominent green skin, but the head of a stone-skinned bull stitched on its shoulders.

[Level Up!]

[Level Nineteen Achieved.]

The well-timed level ascension raised his physical capabilities and mana limits, giving a sense of vigor throughout his body as he conjured his mana as a test: there was no longer any sickness.

"Just what I needed," he said, wiping the blood of a goblin from his cheek, looking up at the grotesque minotaur, "--I think I'll need magic against the likes of you."

The orc-bull hybrid roared out, not wasting any time before rushing towards the young man with its head down and its curved, black horns pointed forward.

Grabbing his wooden catalyst swiftly, he wielded it, summoning a sphere of water around the minotaur to imprison it before–

SPLASH.

It charged straight through the bundle of reinforced water, causing it to explode in a blast of water before continuing its charge towards Emilio, unimpeded.

…That didn't work as I expected, he thought.

Instead of trying to grab a bull by the horns, he opted to simply evade, jumping high with wind at his boots, causing the minotaur to miss completely as it rammed into one of the walls.

As he was falling back down, he conjured bands of water, gripping them tightly before lassoing them around the stitched-up, horned beast.

Landing on the ground, having a complete hold on the beast with his bands of reinforced aqua, he began to summon his inner strength, pushing the second stage of his Dragonheart system to its limits.

It was a contest of strength, though the more the minotaur pulled, dragging its hooves across the stone and exuding steam from its scarred nostrils, Emilio's Dragonheart blood pumped harder to compensate.

"Rrrrgh!" The minotaur growled like an engine.

"--Nngrah!" Emilio gritted his teeth.