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2.62% Darius Supreme / Chapter 18: Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Chapter 18

Darius had a limited amount of skill points he would receive each level and it was currently unclear whether he would gain less of them when he entered the Journeyman stage or if they would stop altogether.

His spells would naturally take precedence, so it was unlikely that this skill would ever progress beyond level 1, meaning that Darius would forever remain at the level of an Amateur skinner.

On the pro side, Darius would be able to acquire basic knowledge in as many fields as necessary to make himself somewhat adept. As for the con, it was that he would never progress further and would basically be giving himself a list of mouths to feed.

More skills with a finite amount of skill points was not a pleasant thing and would increase the pressure for him to choose effectively. This was why the saying 'jack of all trades, master of none' had been developed and used as advice for those who wanted to be proficient in too many things at once.

Whatever the case, Darius had a new skill and he would use it for as long as it was necessary. While such a thing might cause headaches for lesser men, Darius had no problem because he knew how to prioritize.

He flipped his iron dagger and plunged it into the meat of the Grey Bear, but not as carelessly as before. This time, he carefully tried to cut along the tendons in order to mimic a butcher.

After doing this for a minute or so, he received another notification.

[Congratulations! You have learned the skill, Butchery!]

[Butchery - Level 1 Skill

Cost: 2 Stamina per minute

Description: Expertly carve up the meat of any carcass with flesh. The quality of all butchered meat is raised by 5%.]

Another misc skill he would never increase but was useful at this moment. Once the knowledge flooded into him, Darius changed the way he held the dagger and began separating the meat semi-expertly.

The end result was a lot of prime cuts that glistened with fat and blood, but also stank like a slaughterhouse. Luckily, he could easily get rid of it by placing what he had collected into his Inventory.

Of course, he certainly couldn't cut up the entire carcass with his limited knowledge, so there was still some meat around certain parts like the ribs, head, and lower torso.

Darius saw no reason to tempt any predators to add him to their meal list alongside this fine carcass, so Darius quickly walked away from the site of the battle.

Now that he had exited the forest, all he saw were endless plains before him, with pockets of trees here and there. There were also a few hills that blocked his eyesight to the horizon, but nothing too jarring.

He spotted quite a few plains animals moving about in their herds calmly, only giving him cautious glances when he got too close.

Of course, there were also predators that began chasing after those herds every now and then. Darius pretended not to see such things and kept his distance when it happened.

However, to remain unmolested through his casual stroll had turned out to be impossible. Eventually, he was confronted by a small pack of hyenas that were giggling menacingly as they took in the sight of this solitary pink skin with tender features.

Darius could swear that if they could speak, they would be thoroughly mocking him. They numbered a dozen and had fully surrounded him where he stood, even making dashes towards him then pulling back when he turned to face them.

He Inspected one of them.

[Laughing Hyena - Level 2 Beast

HP: 5/5 MP: 0/0]

Darius snorted when he saw this. Here he had thought they would be powerful, but it turned out they were just level 2 beasts with health at the level of the Wild Boar. Even the Reticulated Python had been far stronger than any one of them.

However, the issue was that they came at him as a pack of 12, and he only had one hand to cast. Darius had tried double-casting when he had been finishing off the Grey Bear, but although he was able to spam his spells, he had discovered that he was unable to cast more than one spell at once.

Even though a single Sparks could kill any one of the Hyenas, he'd have to fire it off 12 times to clear them all out. Darius estimated that while he might be able to kill 3 or 4 of them by using his spell, the rest would use that time to rip him to shreds.

However, despite his lack of professional knowledge of wildlife, Darius saw an avenue to correct that. He took out the iron dagger and held it in his right hand while he pointed his left at one of the Laughing Hyenas.

They looked surprised by his gesture and were wary of the weapon he held, but didn't back off. After all, he was a trapped prey that they were toying with, so there was no need to run.

Nothing could prepare these beasts for the sight of electrical bolts striking one of their own, shocking the creature to death as it fell into a slump.

Darius shouted and rushed forward with his dagger, waving it around while he pointed at another hyena. Due to his threatening moves as well as the effectiveness of his surprise magic attack, they all scattered backward in fear.

This was the particular racial trait of hyenas that Darius had aimed to exploit. They loved to prey on the weak but would turn tail in front of the strong. By killing one of their own instantly, and charging at them fearlessly, he had temporarily overwhelmed their base instincts and left them in fear.

This wouldn't last long obviously, so Darius cast another shot of the Sparks at a random hyena with his right hand that was holding the dagger, as they were fearfully focused on the hand he used to cast from previously.

His second target had no time to react before it was struck to death. The other hyenas leaped away from their deceased companion in fear and began yipping at Darius with a mixture of fear as well as anger.

Darius understood that they were warning him not to come closer, but he would be a fool to show even the slightest weakness in front of vindictive beasts like hyenas.

He thrust his hand out at a group of the hyenas and they yelped and dodged. He didn't cast a spell obviously, for if they realized that it was possible to dodge his magic, his danger rating would drop severely in their minds and he would be swarmed.

Instead, Darius made a show of clutching his belly while laughing at them. The act of mocking an enemy was universal, and even animals could understand it.


Chapter 19: Chapter 19

Darius' actions infuriated the malevolent animals as they yipped and barked back at him even more angrily, yet none dared to approach. They were extremely fearful of his might, but they didn't leave because they still outnumbered him greatly.

Darius knew that too, which was why his thoughts were running super fast on how to resolve this situation. He knew some basics about hyenas thanks to the NatGeo channel which he had watched in his offtime, but that didn't make him an animal expert.

Darius had an idea and walked to the carcass of one of the nearby hyenas. He then bent over it and plunged his iron dagger straight into the corpse and began skinning its hide deftly.

This, of course, almost made the surrounding hyenas go mad as they advanced. Laughing at and taunting them was one thing, even killing one of them in self-defense was just the way of the wild, but carving up their dead brethren's corpse right in front of them?

Darius' eyes flashed when one of them came too close in anger, and he quickly fired a Sparks spell at it. The poor wild dog had been too enraged to pay attention to its situation properly, so it received the electrical shower without fail.

When the beasts watched another of their kin fall dead, they abruptly paused and fled back again as the fear set in again, this time much stronger than before. Alas, the anger also remained as Darius continued to carve the corpse leisurely, as if it meant nothing to him.

Darius had succeeded in killing a quarter of the beasts using timing and some tricks, but to clear the rest in a manner that didn't make those survivors go crazy and risk it all would be hard.

For the time being, he simply removed the hide of the hyena and began working on its meat. Despite all this, the remaining survivors seemed content to bark and yip from their distance without any intention to get close.

They had once again entered a troublesome stalemate. Darius did not dare to show any weakness by retreating or acting soft, as they would maul him, while they did not dare to be the first one to rush in, as he could kill one of them in one shot.

No one wanted to be the first guy, and hyenas were not so noble that one would sacrifice their life for the pack. Darius needed something more solid and fearsome to scare them off, and his Ember spell seemed to be the answer he had been looking for.

Hyenas would respond strongly to fire over lightning, so he just needed to find the right opportunity…

In the meantime, he quickly carved up the corpse beneath him and kept the hide as well as the meat in his Inventory, with the stuff from the Grey Bear and the tusks from the Wild Boar.

Darius had a few plans that could work if he used Conversion Points, but he refused to be so wasteful. The day had just begun and he had already spent 8 of his 10 Conversion points, so he felt he had to be more miserly with them.

Mana though, was not an issue. He could recover that quickly and easily. How he wished this confrontation would be one where he had cover to hide behind, or if he could just get someone to act as a defender for him.

More than ever, Darius wanted to reach civilization and acquire some useful people to brand, so that traversal like this would become easier. A Magus was not meant to be a frontline fighter unless they were a Spellblade, yet Darius' other class was an Itemancer, someone who arguably should never be on the battlefield.

Darius was finished with the first corpse, so he walked over to the second one. Instead of carving it up though, he stretched his hand over it and cast Ember.

A shower of flames not lesser in quantity than the sparkle of lighting from the Sparks spell rained down on the corpse, quickly setting it alight. This made the watching hyenas howl in anger and fear.

Some of the pack were considering retreat. A human who could summon death and fire was not to be toyed with. A predator never fought another predator who had equal or more power, unless it was over territory or a conflict of interests. Treating another predator as prey was a sure-fire way to earn death, or at best, a pyrrhic victory.

'First, that strange blue light that killed our brethren, now the dreaded fire? Just what is this human? This was supposed to be easy prey on these grasslands, yet we've lost 3 of our brothers with nothing but empty air to eat!' While the hyenas were obviously not clever enough to make these kinds of sapient analysis, they did have instinct.

The alpha of the pack barked at the others to maintain order, but it was futile. Hyenas were not wolves, they were not noble and loyal animals, but traitorous bullies that liked to torment and torture others.

When they were on the receiving end? Not so fun for them.

Once the first one broke off and began running, it was a prelude to a full escape. Darius didn't let this chance go, as he fired one more Sparks off at a running hyena as it went, killing it.

This made the survivors bolt even faster so they would not share this fate. In the end, even the alpha slinked away with a filthy look towards Darius, but he had no interest in fighting it.

Once they were gone, he sighed and checked the messages from the system.

[You have gained 5 EXP, 3 Bronze Ando Coins, and 1 Inferior Mana Potion.]

[You have gained 5 EXP, 1 Bronze Ando Coin, and 1 Inferior Stamina Potion.]

[You have gained 5 EXP, 2 Bronze Ando Coins, and 1 Inferior Health Potion.]

[You have gained 5 EXP, 1 Bronze Ando Coin, and 1 Rusty Iron Sword.]

Interestingly, the loot they dropped was better than the Level 2 Reticulated Python, but still inferior to the level 3 Grey Bear.

Curious about the items specifically, he Inspected them.


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