My (Monster?) Hero Life

Kace quickly took this chance to draw his hood back up over his head. Stealing a glance at the newcomers Kace noticed that they were wearing a badge with an emblem he had never seen. Although he was greatly grateful for the timely intervention he was also wary. Who knew if they had noticed that he was not truly human.

Kharja on the other hand was not in good shape. Besides his missing arm he was now also badly burnt on the same side. The other orcs roared as they charged at the interlopers, making the forest lively with the sounds of battle.

Gyn lobbed a projectile at the one called Phillip. Phillip snorted at what he considered a pathetic attempt to attack him. He launched a [Firebolt] at the incoming obstacle. Aiming to completely destroy it.

The fire from his spell however reacted with whatever was contained within. Causing an explosion that released a blinding light. Phillip instinctively closed his eyes in pain seeing as he had been staring at it to ensure his spell struck. Gyn bolted to Kace in this moment, grabbing his arm.

"C'mon! This is our chance!" he whispered.

Kace looked from the goblin to the Orcs fighting the humans and finally to the unconscious Kharja. He could not shake the feeling that these humans were far more dangerous than Kharja and his army.

"Gyn, take Kharja and run! We might need him alive."

The Goblin looked reluctant when he heard this. He glanced at Kharja then back to Kace. Nodding his head to show his agreement he rushed off to the injured orc. Unfortunately he was strong enough to carry him. Several orcs realised that he was trying to save their leader and broke off from their fights to aid him.

Kace smiled at this response. Hopefully this action would to some kind agreement between the two sides. As the humans and remaining orcs continued to face off with each other he dragged himself off to the side to rest against a tree. With his HP at such a level, his AP completely drained and his mana almost empty there was no way for him to interfere.

He simply watched the battle hoping to gain some kind of insight into how to better himself. As he watched on he began to notice the difference in the two sides. The humans were slowly gaining the advantage. Although the Orcs fighting style was brutal the humans compensated for it by covering for each other. Preventing the Orcs from making any moves that would result in serious damage.

'Tactics, Strategies and training. Monsters will never overcome this. Unless...' Kace went deeply into his thoughts. He was currently wondering if he could apply these things to the goblins and orcs. It would take time but if he achieved it. Well, would anything be able to save the humans at that point?

While he was lost in his thoughts the Orcs were gradually massacred. Leaving body parts and corpses laying around. The humans on the other hand had only suffered minor casualties. As he lay there one of the humans approached him.

"You alive?" she asked him.

"Barely..." Kace replied, lacking enthusiasm.

"Hey! Get a healer over here!" she called out over her shoulder.

A man wearing brown robes and had long grey hair answered her call. Rushing over to see what the matter was.

"Jason, this guy needs attention before he keels over. Deal with him."

"You know Sarah you could do with being more polite." The man reproached her. "Let's see here. Hmm, a few broken bones and your lifeforce is quite weak. Not anything I can't deal with though. Just rest easy for now."

Jason gathered mana in his hands, "[Recovery]" he muttered.

The soft glow of golden mana surrounded Kace. It felt like a warm fire gently embracing him. The comforting feeling it gave was just unbelievable. He could happily fall asleep right now. Sarah just watched the process, standing guard over the two. A similar scene was playing out in several locations but Kace's treatment took far longer. Probably because he had been so close to death.

The whole process took nearly a half hour. During this time others had begun to gather around him. This was when Phillip reappeared.

"Any luck sir?" One of the others asked him.

"No," he said shaking his head, "Kharja got away. The Goblin with him kept dropping various bomb type gear. When he ran out a few of the Orcs accompanying them held back to buy them time to get away."

Kace could feel the menace oozing from his voice giving him the chills.

"What's the situation here?" Phillip asked.

"This is the guy who injured Kharja. We've just finished treating his wounds." Sarah replied.

"Oh, your pretty strong. Didn't think a normal civilian would do so well where heroes had failed." Phillip said eyeing Kace suspiciously.

"Actually Sir, I'm a Hunter." Kace replied handing over his guild card. Deciding to try and deceive his benefactors to discover their motives.

"Hmm, you're only Level 2? I find it hard to believe that you could do that kind of damage." Phillip said suspiciously. Glaring at him.

"Ah, it wasn't me exactly. You see it was this gun that the Goblin dropped when they surrounded me." Kace volunteered the [Airgun] to Phillip as he explained himself. "I was just desperate and fired it without thinking."

"Hoh! That explains that light that led us here!" Jason cried out in astonishment.

Phillip returned the guild card and examined the [Airgun].

"I guess you're off the hook for now." Phillip said losing interest. "Alright! Everyone gather up. Our target left for an unknown location. It may be that he caught wind of our approach and abandoned the settlement that was in the information. Stay on guard. Expect anything. Let's go."

"Ah wait!" Kace cried. "I'm skilled in tracking. Let me help."

Phillip pondered his request. Although they had trackers present none of them had such a potent skill as the one Kace held. He had already verified this fact when he had seen the Hunter Guild Card.

"Very well. Don't disappoint me." He replied.

Kace breathed a sigh of relief. At least now he was in the perfect situation to deal some damage when they reached the goblins cavern. An unknown enemy was far more terrifying than one you could see before you after all.

Quickly checking his stats he noticed that the [Recovery] that Jason had cast on him had completely refilled HP, AP and MP. 'Hmm, I wonder if it's a race exclusive skill or if there's an equivalent for monsters?' he wondered, sincerely hoping that he could get his hands on a monster priest. Or learn a similar skill for himself.

Kace did not bother activating his [Tracking] skill. After all he knew exactly where they would be headed. Hopefully he could slow the Heroes advance enough for Shagrat to prepare for their arrival.

He waited patiently for the Heroes to fully prepare themselves before Phillip gave him the order to lead on. As he jogged through the forest Sarah took a place beside him.

"Why would you volunteer for this? You almost died back there." she asked curiously. Staring into his golden eyes.

"Well, that's exactly why. I can't really hunt safely in the area with such monsters around. Besides, how could I forgive myself if they managed to escape because I was too scared to act?" Kace replied rubbing the back of his head, feigning embarrassment.

"Your one of those huh?"

"One of what?" Kace asked confused.

"A masochist."

Kace stumbled as his face went red. Staring at her he realised that she was being completely serious in her evaluation. 'What the hell is wrong with this chick?' he thought as became angry.

"You know, you shouldn't just judge people arbitrarily. You could piss them off." He said, letting his anger show in his voice.

"Hmm. I think I'm right though. Can't help it if you're in denial though." she fired off as she fell back. Not giving him the chance to respond.

'Stay calm. Just take her head off when the fighting starts. That'll shut her up.' he thought viciously as he carried on.

"What do you think of him Sarah?" Phillip asked as she returned.

"Bit hotheaded, easily baited. His reasoning for joining us is solid though." she said giving her honest appraisal.

"Hmm, I don't like it. He's an unknown factor. If it weren't for his skill I would've left him behind..."

"So what do you want to do with him?"

Phillip sighed as he thought about. Running all sorts of scenarios through his mind. He couldn't place his finger on why but Kace just gave him an uneasy feeling. The more he thought about it the more this feeling became more prominent.

"Leave him for now. Keep a close watch on him. If he does anything even remotely funny. Kill him."

Sarah simply nodded, accepting her new orders. She pinned her gaze on Kace's back. 'Let's hope his hunch is right. I could use some fun...' she laughed to herself.

***

What follows is the current stats for Kace. You can skip this part if you aren't interested.

CURRENT STATS

Name: Kace

Title: Glutton

Level: 3

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Race: Chimera (Monster)

Rank: Captain

Legendary Feats: 1

HP 200/200

AP 180/180

MP 40/40

Exp 15/600

Strength: 8

Endurance: 7

Intelligence: 7

Willpower: 9

Agility: 17

Speed:10

Charm: 5

Luck: 3

Skills:

Racial: Basic DNA Manipulation (Passive)

Description: Having absorbed enough DNA strands into your own DNA chain has unlocked the Chimeras natural ability to alter themselves. Using accumulated DNA points you may choose only one genetic enhancement or skill from each strand per level of Mastery. Spend DNA points to rank up. Next Level: Apprentice. Current points: 10

Just think 'DNA' to activate.

Racial: Digestion (Passive)

Description: Able to eat the meat of any living thing absorbing a portion of its Experience for your own. Slight chance to trigger Assimilation.

Racial: Assimilation (Passive)

Description: A racial ability of the Chimera. When triggered randomly increases HP, AP or MP as a percentage of subjects Max Value. Slight chance to randomly gain an ability or knowledge possessed by the subject.

Racial: Chameleon (Passive)

Description: Your Chimera bloodline his awakened the ability to give a false reading of your status. Allowing you to "blend" into the world of humans with great ease.

Tracking (Active)

Cost: (None)

Description: Heightens users sense of hearing and smell allowing them to 'see' recent paths of passing lives.

Night Eye (Active)

Cost: (None)

Description: Allows user to see in the dark.

Kinetic Vision (Active)

Cost: (1 AP/ per Second)

Description: Heightens the users ability to track fast movements resulting in faster reaction speeds.

Instinct (Passive)

Cost (None)

Description: 70% chance to detect a stealth attack aimed at the user. 30% chance to automatically react to what would be a lethal blow preventing a killing strike.

Spider Thread (Active)

Cost: (3 MP)

Description: This is the innate skill of soldier level spider monsters. Able to secrete a mana enriched spider thread. Can be made tough like steel or extremely sticky. Highly versatile.

Flame Spit (Active)

Cost: (5 MP)

Description: This is an innate skill of the Salamander. Using magic you turn air into flammable liquid in your left lung. The right lung sets natural gases on fire. When you breathe out the two mix in your throat to create a high temperature flame. As you breathe out magic power mixes in to greatly increase the propulsion rate. Please note that while magic will keep you from harming yourself internally a serious case of dry mouth may be inevitable.

[DNA] [Padded Feet] [Passive]

Increases Agilility by 5.

[DNA] [Mind Numb] [Active] Cost: 3 MP

Magic that causes opponents thoughts to be slightly clouded. Occasionally causing slower thought processes.

HUNTER STATS

Name: Kace

Rank: F

Level: 2

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Race: Human

HP 160/160

AP 140/140

MP 20/20

Exp 55/200

Strength: 5

Endurance: 4

Intelligence: 4

Willpower: 4

Agility: 8

Speed: 9

Charm: 2

Luck: 2

Skills:

Tracking (Active)

Cost: (None)

Description: Heightens users sense of hearing and smell allowing them to 'see' recent paths of passing lives.

Instinct (Passive)

Cost (None)

Description: 70% chance to detect a stealth attack aimed at the user. 30% chance to automatically react to what would be a lethal blow preventing a killing strike.

*

Important Author Note Please Read

Hey folks! I've had to edit this is to quite a few chapters so that as many people as possible see it. Please read to the end as it is important.

First off. I need to thank each and everyone of you for the massive show of support in the past few days. You guys are the heart and soul of why I do this.

Second. You deserve to be rewarded. You have shown so much support that I feel you deserve something more in return. Therefore I'm going to try to start releasing two chapters a day. They may be a tad shorter but you'll end up with more to read overall.

Third. Some goals! We're doing well in quite a few of the charts. So let's aim for more. See below for targets to meet and the rewards to go with.

1. Enough votes to make it into top 100 in power Ranking. Two extra chapters to be released next Monday.

2. Top 50. You get 3 extra chapters.

3. Top 25. You get 4 extra chapters.

4. Top 10. You get 5 extra chapters.

5. Top 3. It's a secret but will be worth it.