"Face the gale!"
With a low shout, a high-speed vortex of air suddenly formed before Hans, a swirling barrier of wind, a wind wall.
The roaring wind cascaded like a waterfall, cutting across the entire cavern in a breathtaking display.
He wasn't sure how much defense it offered yet, but it definitely scored full marks for style.
After several rounds of experimentation, Hans had finally learned how to control the power of wind in multiple ways, enhancing his body, boosting attacks, and even mixing it with his Scorched Bomb to increase its speed and power.
He even managed, through sheer will and airflow manipulation, to lift his massive body off the ground.
Slowly, unsteadily, he hovered in midair.
Just maintaining that floating stance stirred up violent gusts that slashed through the air.
Invisible blades of wind carved the lair's interior into a jagged mess, scattering chunks of rock everywhere.
Though the flight was wobbly and draining, Hans was quite satisfied.
After all, it was his first real step from zero to one, his first step toward flight.
The Swift Wind ability had dramatically boosted his mobility and combat options.
Now, he turned his focus toward another ability, one he'd been itching to try.
"Monsterization!"
For someone like him, a transmigrator trapped in a monster's body, the idea of regaining a human form carried enormous meaning.
With a focused thought, the ability activated:
"Monsterization: Human Form Transformation!"
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
A strange, invisible force rippled through Hans's body, followed by the sickening sounds of bones shifting and carapace plates contracting.
In seconds, the grotesque armor covering his entire body wriggled like a living thing and sank beneath his skin.
His massive three-meter frame began shrinking visibly, muscles and bones reshaping themselves under some mysterious, orderly power.
Within a few seconds, the terrifying monster had vanished,
And standing in its place was a tall, broad-shouldered man about 1.95 meters in height.
His features were sharp and striking, his physique lean yet muscular, chest broad, biceps solid.
His short, black hair was neat and clean. His face, high-bridged nose, sharp jaw, thin lips, was so perfectly sculpted it could make most men despair.
If not for the faint red gleam that occasionally flickered in his eyes, and the subtle monster aura that lingered around his bare, powerful body, he would have passed for a flawless top-model human.
By human standards, he was easily "handsome enough to make a thousand girls scream."
In fact, he looked even better than his peak appearance before crossing into this world.
It was his old face, his original human appearance before transmigration.
Hans instinctively raised a hand to touch his cheek, staring at the familiar, flesh-and-blood fingers.
Though it hadn't been long since he became a monster, the return of a human body felt like it had been centuries.
The sensation was indescribably bittersweet.
"Even though I gave up being human to gain strength… this feeling of being human again, ain't bad at all."
Once he got over the nostalgia, Hans began assessing the drawbacks of his new form.
In human mode, his strength, speed, and defense were drastically reduced.
It felt as though heavy shackles had been placed on his power, his energy sluggish, his abilities restrained.
At this level, he wasn't even sure he could handle an ordinary Tiger-level monster, let alone a Demon-level one.
"And that's not all," he muttered after a round of test punches and dashes, panting slightly.
"Since these abilities are copied, they're naturally weaker. Switching forms drains too much, and stability is still poor."
He analyzed calmly, brow furrowed.
"An A-rank hero would probably spot my abnormality right away… The monster aura leaking through is hard to hide."
"As expected, Monsterization Lv1 is way too rough."
If he wanted to truly blend into human society, he'd need to upgrade it, maybe even evolve it entirely.
When Hans deactivated the ability and reverted to his monster form, a strange intuition struck him.
Normally, copied skills didn't need training, they came with a built-in degree of proficiency.
That made him immediately sense something unusual about this one, aside from freely switching between human and monster forms…
He could monsterize again, on top of his current monster body.
Hans blinked.
"…Wait. Is this a bug?"
But then he thought about it.
Everyone else unlocked Monsterization while still human, he, on the other hand, had acquired it as a fully-fledged monster.
Given this world's weird logic… yeah, that checked out.
"…Well then. Guess I'll give it a shot."
'It's not like it costs money, right?'
With that casual thought, Hans activated the ability again,
This time, he didn't think of reverting to human form.
He aimed to monsterize once more on top of his monster form!
Henshin! (Transform!)
BOOM!
A terrifying aura erupted from his body.
In an instant, his energy spiked crazily, his already huge black frame swelling further.
The lava-like red lines on his carapace flared with a blinding glow, and his power skyrocketed, leaping entire ranks in seconds.
Straight to the peak of Demon-level!
Total. Absolute. Madness.
Within his territory, the ground and cave walls shook violently.
Countless Wolf-level monsters trembled in confusion, while the Tiger-level ones and Fang all turned toward Hans's lair with wide eyes.
"Lord Han… just got stronger again?"
"We're used to it, but still, that's insane…"
"No joke, he grows stronger though, like he's drinking water or eating meat."
"…"
The underground was filled with murmurs of disbelief.
Inside the lair, Hans himself was utterly stunned.
"Holy!!"
"This power!!"
It was as if a boundless surge of energy had appeared from nowhere, flooding his body like a spring.
Strangely, despite his muscles bulging and energy raging, he felt no strain at all.
Hans could only gape.
He… he just leveled up again, like that?!
What kind of bug exploit was this?!
But thinking about it, maybe this was how monsters were supposed to work,
They didn't need hard training or enlightenment. Just a single freakish opportunity could make them transcend entire disaster levels overnight.
That was the true terror of monsters.
Having accidentally unlocked a "second-stage transformation" on top of his existing Monsterization, Hans couldn't help but grin.
"Didn't think I'd become a monster for less than three days and already get my villain-exclusive second phase."
"From now on, this move will be called, "
'Monsterization: Stage Two!'