บท 6: Savage Assassin

While I run through the forest with a full belly and dry mouth, I make my way back to the river from earlier today. I arrive at the river just before the last sliver of sunlight slips off the ground.

As I lower my head and start drinking, I see the reflection of stars on the water. When I finish quenching my thirst, I look up to find my eyes glimmer in amazement. It was a spectacle you would see in the anime that I watched on Japanese television.

A streak of stars pours throughout the sky, and the moon glimmers with a white glow that seems to hypnotize you into staring at it. The spectacle waked me up for a split second before my eyelids started to get even heavier than before.

Scanning the area, my eyes then land on a tree with a giant hole about a third of the way up the trunk. I decided to check it out but cautiously moved towards it because it might be home to something already.

As I climb up the tree and poke my head in, all I see is a hole in the middle of the tree that goes all the way to the ground. It looked like it had been hollowed out by something, but I pushed that thought to the back of my mind.

All I wanted to do was go to sleep now, and if something attacked me in my sleep, I would have to fend it off or die. So my mindset is pretty simple now, kill, devour, sleep.

I crawl down to the bottom of the hole and feel the blades of grass on my belly before falling asleep.

[Day 4]

As I start to wake up, I try to stretch my body but feel something tugging on all of my limbs. I fully opened my eyes and found myself still in the tree with the sun shining through the entrance. But that wasn't all because there were vine-looking plants curled around all my limbs. Even though they weren't trying to rip my limbs off, I couldn't get them off.

As I tried to struggle, my stomach grumbled in protest.

Shit! I need to get this off, or I'm going to die of starvation. I'm so hungry right now. But, wait, I got some new skills yesterday; I should try them out.

『Status』

[Name: Arpious]

[Race: Cursed Raptor (Lightning)]

[Status: Distressed]

[Level: 2/20]

[HP: 25/25 MP: 10/10 SP: 10/10]

[Strength: 8]

[Defense: 6]

[Magic: 5]

[Speed: 8]

[Luck: 1]

[Charisma: 3]

[Skills: [******] [Shock] [Boost] [Scratch] [Mind Control] [Shadow Control] [Beserk] [Swipe] [Posion Resistance (2/5)] [Poison Secretion]

[Titles: [Blessed by ********* ****** of *************]

...

Ok... it's [Poison Secretion], I could use this to melt the vines, but I thought acid did that. There is no point in not trying, and it's my only hope right now.

As I use [Posion Secretion], it feels like I'm starting to sweat profusely. Every sweat gland on my body starts secreting a purple liquid that starts to melt the vines tangled around me. Not only does it start to melt the vines, but it also starts to melt the grass that substituted as the floor for my hideout.

The vines slowly dissolve away into nothing and land on the ground below me, which wasn't a comfortable fall because all the grass melted away, leaving only dirt.

As I look around my barren home, I stayed the night in, and I find nothing I can inspect. However, I eventually conclude that the vines were the plant's main body, meaning the poison that I secreted from my body had killed it.

I climb out of the tree and scout the area to see if there is easy prey because I was starving.

Without even wandering around for 10 minutes, I find my first victims of the day, two Berseker Wolves. They are drinking out of the river that I always use. I wanted to try and manipulate the shadow that coated the river, so I decided to start there.

As I activated [Shadow Control], 2 black tentacles come out of the shadow in front of the wolves. I tried to imagine them turning into black blades, which to my surprise, they did indeed turn into black blades.

Since their heads were so extremely close to the water, I manipulate the shadows, cutting their heads clean off, which fall into the water. I was amazed at how useful this skill was and dragged the bodies under a tree.

[600 XP gained]

As I finished devouring both wolves, I headed over to the river to drink some water. After quenching my thirst, I decided to go hunting just for XP so I can grow stronger.

[Beserker Boa]

[An uncommon species of boa. These boas are in a constant state of berserk. Due to this, they can only live up to 2 weeks at most.]

The boa was a wood brown color that blended itself in with the tree it was lying against. They also had bloodshot eyes with a small pale horn on the top of their head, about half an inch long. However, the boas length was the most surprising as it reached a total of 2 meters long.

I wouldn't have noticed this boa if it wasn't making all the hissing it did. When I saw it, I jumped back and fixed my eyes on it. Apparently, it didn't see me because it wasn't moving at all, sitting still like a rock.

I wanted to try and mix my [Poison Secretion] with my [Scratch] to see if it worked. Seeing no point in not trying, I used [Posion Secretion] and closed my eyes, trying to focus it on the tips of claws. As I felt something coat my claws, I immediately opened my eyes and lept forward at the snake using [Scratch]. The snake didn't react in time, and as I scratched it, it writhed in pain on the grass, slowly turning into snake juices.

Maybe the [Posion Secretion] was a bit over the top. I should use [Scratch] next time, so I can actually eat my prey.

[200 XP gained]

[You leveled up]

I could have drunk that snake soup but didn't want to do that since, first of all, I'm not even hungry, the wolves sated my hunger, and secondly, it looks disgusting. I'd probably puke it back up anyway.

I strolled through the forest, checking every nook and cranny to find some prey. But, the only creatures I could find were the Berserker Boa. So, I went sneaking around and then assassinating them with [Scratch] and [Shadow Control], which leveled up.

[Shadow Control has leveled up]

[Scratch has leveled up (x2)]

After a while, they weren't that hard to find since you could see their bloodshot eyes if you looked carefully. Also, they were never in groups. They were always by themselves. Everything about their flesh resembled chicken, it tasted like chicken, and the texture was like chicken.

Even though they give so little XP, I found tons of them, which eventually satisfied me.

[2200 XP gained]

[You leveled up (x2)]

[Gained the following skill]

[Body Modification: Fangs]

As I was finishing my last boa for the day and checking my status, I got a new title which surprised me since I haven't gotten a single title besides the censored one.

[Gained the following title]

[Savage Assassin]

Woah, this is something new! I got a title which is... wait, why does it have savage. Of course, it would have been reasonable to get assassin since that's all I've been doing for hunting... but why savage.

I focus on the title in front of me, causing a notification to pop up.

[Savage Assassin]

[This title is achieved when a living being assassinates another living being and then devours it (low chance of acquiring this title).]

I see, so it's probably because I ate what I assassinated, which I'm assuming doesn't usually happen. It doesn't really explain that in-depth about it, but I'll take it. It also seems like it doesn't affect me in any way, which is a bummer, but it sounds cool... at least.

『Status』

[Name: Arpious]

[Race: Cursed Raptor (Lightning)]

[Status: Calm]

[Level: 5/20]

[HP: 25/25 MP: 10/10 SP: 10/10]

[Strength: 8]

[Defense: 6]

[Magic: 5]

[Speed: 8]

[Luck: 1]

[Charisma: 3]

[Skills: [******] [Shock] [Boost] [Scratch (3/10)] [Mind Control] [Shadow Control (2/5)] [Beserk] [Swipe] [Posion Resistance (2/5)] [Poison Secretion] [Body Modification: Fangs]

[Titles: [Blessed by ********* ****** of *************] [Savage Assassin]

...

The sun has already set, and it was getting pretty dark in the forest, which gave off an eerie feeling. I traversed through the forest, found my usual drinking place, and took a sip of water before heading back to the tree I slept in last night.

I found the tree with the hole in it and climbed into it. I plopped down on the hard dirt and thought that I should try and make this hideout comfier.

Never mind trying to make this place comfier. Today was a very productive day! I wish I weren't alone all the time because it is very lonely talking to myself every day like I'm a crazy person.

While wishing, I had a friend or comrade; I started to drift off into the land of dreams.