The Water Hole

Day 8

[Congratulations! You have metamorphosed into a Golden Demonic Chick]

[Some of your abilities have changed]

[Your base stats have been altered]

[Your skill [Adorable Wink]>> [Lustful Gaze]]

[You have acquired the skill [Terror]]

[You have acquired the skill [Soul Consumption]]

[Your body's composition has been rearranged into that of a Devil's]

[The Devil King Ozvon will be notified of your existence]

DING!

[Notification order denied]

[Would you like to see your stats?]

'Huh? What? What happened?'

My vision was flooded with blue as I took in the view of the several screens. I sat up with a groan and looked up into the sky. It was getting dark. I wondered what time it was.

<<It has been exactly 1 day since you died>>

'Woah… what happened to me?'

I was genuinely stunned by the sudden transformation. I was bigger than I last remembered, but there was something off with my feathers. My cowlick was red alright, but the tip was turning dark. My feathers were still golden, but they looked sharper and less messy than before. They looked sharp and refine, almost like a blade.

I lifted them up and saw that the underside was pitch black, which was a shocker. Same thing was my feet.

<<Notice. You transformed>>

'I can see that! I mean how?'

<<A devil tried to take over your fading consciousness after it killed you. The unique skill [Evolver] activated and used it to fix your body up>>

'What was that again?!'

<<Notice. The unique skill [Evolver] act->>

'Not that you idiot! The one before!'

<<Notice. A devil tried to take over your fading consciousness after it killed you>>

'Ah! How?! I don't remember this! Explain.'

<<Notice. You were attacked by a Devil that tried to take over your body>>

'Hold up! I was attacked by a demon? This sounds like it's going to be a long story. I'll need a meal for that.'

I looked around and saw nothing that I could eat. Then I thought about the river behind me. Maybe I could try fishing for something. The water rippled a bit and something jumped out of it. I jumped back in fear, but then the creature landed back in the water.

It came to the water surface and was looking at me. It was a giant fish wish light blue skin and creepy fish eyes, staring blankly at me.

'What… the heck?'

I decided to back down from the water, trying to activate [Analyst], but I couldn't.

'Huh? That's weird. Agent?'

<<…>>

It didn't respond. Two more of the weird fishes sprouted up out of the water and stared blankly at me, giving me chills.

'Weird… anyway I guess they remind me of guppies, so I'll call them that. Luckily they don't seem violent.'

I decided to drink some water. Then I just realized something.

'When was the last time I ever felt thirsty?'

I hadn't felt thirsty since I came here and it was odd. Each and every day I would pass out, my status would show hungry, but never thirsty. That was interesting, but I couldn't rely on the agent to tell me. Maybe it had something to do with my species. Now that [Analyst] wasn't working, I couldn't tell much about that.

***

This place was so calm and serene. It seemed to be the safest place in this insane forest. So far some horned rabbits had appeared here, but they only took some sips from the river and ran back into the forest. The guppies had been here for a while and revealed that they weren't actual fishes, but were these tiny blue people with two stick like fingers, hollow white eyes and fang-like teeth, wearing huge fish heads.

I was startled at fish when they started clacking their teeth at me, but decided that they couldn't come on land to eat me. Either that or they just weren't interested in killing me.

The bushes rustled and a white viper appeared. I thought it wanted to come fight. I was scared at first, but I remembered that I could take even a white viper on now, so I was waiting to see its actions. It just entered the river and swam away.

Later on came this raccoon looking creature with huge ears. After eyeing me for about ten minutes, it sprouted wings and suddenly took off. That was a weird encounter. And [Analyst] didn't activate weirdly enough.

After a while a giant frog with a curved horn from its head popped out of the pond. Its eyes were blood red and its skin was a bright orange. It hopped past me and went into the forest. For whatever reason, I didn't know.

The bushes rustled again and I was tired with the boring nonchalant creatures popping up and simply giving me a jump scare. I was about to shout at it, but then a huge black panther appeared. It was slowly approaching me and I couldn't activate [Analyst] for some reason. Matters turned for the worse when I received a message.

[For your safety the skill [Analyst] has been locked]

'For my safety? What the hell is that supposed to mean?'

It drew closer to me, licking its mouth with its tongue. Almost as if it were staring at its prey.

It passed by me and went towards the lake behind me. Sounds of it drinking filled my ear drums, same for the horrid sight of a barely attached hind leg and trail of blood it had been leading. I looked at the beast from the side. Its back had grey fur and its tail was silver. A weird combination in my opinion.

I realized that it must have been tired so it wasn't here to fight. Still though, I didn't like how calm he was. Maybe he was just tired. That would explain things.

I just couldn't put myself at ease with the dangerous amount of presence he was giving off, but the other creatures seemed to not mind. Was there something I wasn't getting right?

<<Answer. The target is not giving off any presence>>

'What?'

<<The target has 0 presence>>

'Huh? That's like saying he's invisible to every creature here.'

<<Affirmative>>

'Ah… T-Then what is it that I'm feeling?'

<<…>>

'Huh… Am I just imagining this feeling?'

***

The bushes rustled yet again and I was getting tired of them. These harmless animals that just kept waltzing out of the bushes to come drink water and leave. So far only a boar had appeared, but it didn't matter.

I was currently sitting on that very boar's back. How this happened? Well it's a weird story that involves a suicide attempt, what was probably the fluffiest substance in Larm and me simply falling asleep on the boar for practically the entire day. I was surprised it didn't change locations.

Well I had to give it to Larm. It just kept on giving me huge middle fingers at every turn. I was speechless. What else could I do as a giant black wolf jumped out of the bush, accompanied by two more?

The wolf grabbed the panther by its already torn up leg before it could even react.

ROOOOWWWW!

The panther roared. It quickly turned around and swiped at the wolf. The wolf avoided the attack and growled in a low, cool tone. The other two wolves with grey and ash fur also came out and they surrounded the puma. The puma was doomed or so I thought.

Its eyes began to glow red, same for its body. Its muscles seemingly acquired more definition and it radiated an aura of absolute power, similar to the rabbits from before.

'D-Don't tell me…'

It smacked the ground and a storm of dust erupted. All the guppies dove back into the lake and the other animals ran away. I was surprised that the boar was still here. I looked down and saw that it was also asleep.

'Huh?! Wake up you dolt! It's time to run!'

The boar kept on snoring. It was times like this were you just had to abandon ship, which was exactly what I was about to do. Unfortunately, I couldn't. The boar's fur wrapped around me tightly and I could feel myself sinking.

'Oi! What now?!'

I looked down and was shocked to see two iridescent blue eyes staring at me intensely.

'Eh?'

A mouth filled with fangs about above the blue eyes and it started to hiss wildly.

'Sa sa! Really? What the hell is with this forest? Isn't this a regular boar?'

I used peck on the fur, but it showed no reaction. If anything, it started to laugh. What kind of boar could grow eyes on its back, as well as a mouth? This forest was all shades of creepy and disturbing. The unfortunate image of me being swallowed by a back entered my head and I could see on my tombstone.

Here lies Akira, who died after being eaten by a back.

'No way! No! I'm going to keep my promise to Ken no matter what! I won't die now! I'll live gloriously and just you wait!'

I activated [Poison Generation], then spat out a chunk of acidic poison. The back started hissing and I thought I was causing it pain. When I looked back down, I noticed it was enjoying this. It was smiling and happily drinking the poison.

'What… the… heck? Ah… Wait. If I can keep on producing to the extent where you get satisfied, I guess you won't have to eat me anymore. In that case, let's go! [Poison Generation]!'

I kept on producing the poison even as it kept on burning my beak. My lower beak was actually starting to melt and my HP numbers were slowly going down by the second.

I turned back to see the fight while I kept on feeding the monster.

There was a very loud howl and I suddenly felt this urge to flee and hide. Death was coming.

The panther's display suddenly just turned off and its ears plumped down, almost as if it were scared. It looked up into the forest and I could understand. There was something scary there, gazing back at us although I couldn't see it. All my instincts were telling me 'Run! Hide! Run! Hide! Don't let them catch you! Run! Run! Run!'

[You have developed the skill [Prey Instinct]]

'[Prey Instinct]? W-why that skill? Ah… that's a stupid question.'

The answer was so obvious I didn't know why I didn't think about it. I was still weak. Way too weak. But now wasn't the time to be thinking about such things.

I turned my attention back to the fight. I regretted my decision. The sight that laid before me was a gruesome and gory one. I was horrified.

All three wolves jumped the panther, who didn't even try for self-defense.

Meow.

I heard a scared and pathetic meow from the puma, before it lost its hind leg and its tail got bitten off by the ash and grey wolves.

The black wolf dragged the black panther around, crushing its nape with its powerful jaws and flinging it into a tree. The white fur I was standing on suddenly produced a whip that lashed the boar. Its actual eyes snapped open and it started to run away into the forest and I was too scared to even think about jumping off its back.

The view just kept on shrinking as the boar carried me away.

***

When we got far enough, the boar dropped me, although my beak had already fallen off. The fur waved me goodbye as if it were happy with what had happened, then I fell, leaning on a tree.

My eyes started tearing up again. I didn't like it whenever this happened. In my previous life, I tried as much as possible to not cry a lot. It was best to not be trouble to anyone.

'So why? Why did this happen to me? Had I sinned so much that this was my punishment? Who the hell sent me to this world? Who the hell invented this world and why the hell was I sent to it?'

I lamented

'Oi! Isn't this where you show yourself to me you cosmic being? Come on! Show yourself to me!'

[You have gone up 1 level]

A system notification came and I went poof.

'What? Why did I-'

[You have achieved certain requirements, you have acquired the skill [Fire Breath]]

My eyes lit up. I was so excited I completely ignored the fact that I had acquired my lower beak again.

'A new skill?! [Fire Breath]? Muahahaha! Let's go! Fire breath! Let's go!'

I tested it out, but I regretted immediately. Sure, a bright orange flame came out, but it was barely a wisp. And my stomach didn't feel alright. I was suddenly hungry and my chest was hot. If I could sweat, I was certain I would have done buckets.

Next to my status I saw [Hungry] and was alarmed. I needed to find food and somewhere to rest, but only one place came to mind. The nest.

[Auto Mapping] activated and the digital map appeared before my eyes, leading me towards my only home in this insane world.

I returned to my nest, having nowhere else to go. There were tons of dead rabbit bodies on the ground and giant paw prints left all around. Cracks and holes in the ground littered with broken trees. I stumbled towards my nest. My only form of home in this forsaken place.

The cover had been blown so it was bright as day inside. I let out a sigh and leaned against the wall of my nest.

'I guess I'll have to move now. But then… if there are more creatures out there like the rabbits and that black wolf. Damn it! If only I had been able to use [Analyst] on it. It should have activated automatically though.'

<<Notice. Doing so would slowly erode your soul>>

'Slowly erode my soul because of over using [Analyst]? Oi, that's scary. So there's a limit to how much I can do it? Lame.'

I looked up to the tree tops.

'How will I find another nest though? I guess I'll stay here for tonight then think something else up.'

Chapter 14: The Water Hole

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Chapter 14: The Water Hole

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