บท 2: [Hatchling War]
Like they were smelling blood in the water, every egg was rolling and thrashing with activity. My leap had taken me far from the relative height and safety of the cliff wall. Stranded on the bare ledge, with nowhere to hide.
The first pus laden pop was soon followed by a wet chorus as my brethren started their descent into the world. A starving hoard of grasping claws and wailing mouths. The smell of brimstone and puss became overwhelming. They were hatching faster than I could keep track of them.
Watching the first few gain their balance, seeing them rip their mouths open for the first time. We were a wretched form. Attacking one of them would leave my back exposed to the next.
Along the ledge small fights were already breaking out. Growls and shrieks becoming wails and knots of knuckle and bone. Those closest to me looked at me with dead shark-like eyes, like springs waiting for the first move. I knew their hunger. The gnaw that stole reason. The need to consume or die. A stalemate wouldn't last.
I leapt first, trying to take advantage of their inexperience. My target wailed in an all to human sound, and the moment shattered like glass. It was so hard to focus on the others while trying to crush one in my teeth.
The nearest two turned on each other, one grabbing a sinewy arm and digging in deep. The crunch and scream were worse than the deaths I had caused. Somehow still alive, the broken demon tried to flee, fluids and splintered bone in its wake.
I was almost startled when the skull of the Cliff Hugger I had latched too gave way in a soft, wet collapse.
[Soul +1]
[Experience Gained]
Closing my maw to force what I had gripped into my gullet, I leapt again. Weakened, it was so much easier to catch and tear. I couldn't let it's original opponent finish it off. Any amount of experience was a threat.
[Fatal Damage done to Lesser Wailing Cliff Hugger]
[Soul +1]
[Experience Gained]
[Title Unlocked: One Who Covets]
Another wicked title. For wicked actions, sure, but this is my survival. I'm already in hell, where else is there to fall?
[Location Information Locked]
Surprised by the notification I took my attention off the other demon, a costly mistake.
Its teeth were already sinking into my back haunch before I could react. The pain stung, but whipping my head around the damage looked bad. My skin had torn, and red blood mixed with black fluids around its mouth. I shrieked in anger and challenge. I couldn't turn to bite as I watched my health tick down.
[Health: 2/8, Mana 0/0, Stamina 7/22]
[Your suffering has rewards. Beginners Pain Resistance has increased in ability.]
Yet my arms could reach. Twisting and popping I forced the dull points of my claws into the only weak point available.
The soft pop of its black eyes leaked a soft white cream as I buried as deep as I could. I pressed and pressed and pressed.
[Lesser Wailing Cliff Hugger -4hp]
The demon recoiled off me, falling onto its back, arms clutching the ravaged holes in its face. Its movements were like a cockroach trying to right itself, erratic and flailing. I wouldn't be giving it the chance, if you could even heal an eye. I took one arm and crunched, delighting in the flavor of copper and marrow.
[Fatal Damage done to Lesser Wailing Cliff Hugger]
[New Skill Unlocked: Beginners Gouging Claws]
[Soul +1]
[Experience Gained]
[You have gained a new level. 3 unspent ability points]
[New Skill Unlocked: Beginners Tough Carapace]
If I had the time in this throng of chaos I would make this one suffer. I felt something especially unpleasant for anything that brought me close to death. Something dark and cruel.
[Health: 9/9, Mana 0/0, Stamina 25/25]
Leveling had some benefits. The wound on my side had already closed, knitting itself into a tight scar. Already it was fading in with the surrounding flesh. Healing gave me time to pause and observe the carnage around me.
Now that the initial frenzy had passed, carcasses littered the ledge. Cliff Huggers that survived the first killings had begun to eat instead of attack. How many of them had reached my level? A more troubling thought was what to do against those that surpassed it.
At the far edge, a particularly large Cliff Hugger gorged, surrounded by at least a half dozen corpses. It would be at least as strong as I was. A very small one, near the middle was picking through the corpses. I watched it take a broken arm and take careful steps to strip off the flesh and fashion itself a dagger.
They were intelligent too.
[Your observation has rewards. Beginners Observation has increased in ability.]
The rot of the wombs increased in smell, the sick sweet of rot a perfume among the offal and death. The system, it seemed, was generous. If I survived long enough I'd have to test its limits. In this land of sulfur I'm not looking forward to an ever refining sense of smell.
Blood and remains had pooled on the ledge, mixing in with the afterbirth of the cocoons. The mush of dirt mixing made a sludge that was hard to navigate with my smaller back legs. Out of disgust, I made my way to the cliff side, keeping an eye out for entrepreneurs that might try and attack. One of the carcasses I stepped in hissed and tried to bite. Cut right through, it still clung on to life.
I considered the bite a mercy.
[Fatal Damage done to Lesser Wailing Cliff Hugger]
[Soul + 2]
[Title Unlocked: Student of the Last Rites]
A title that wasn't horrible. Were the last rites an actual practice? The implication of society in this world where maws dug deep into flesh was a concern. What would the religion and politics of Hell contain?
I reached the cliff and began my climb out of the muck. Having a better vantage let me observe the living huggers, looking for the weak. One with especially long arms had raised itself entirely off the ground, and was heaving in a... laugh? The dead around it suggested it was far more dangerous than it looked.
The big one and the dagger wielder were also out of the contest. One mistake away from death was one mistake I was going to avoid. Some of the eggs remained whole and untouched. Stillborn? Surrounded by flesh and never being able to tear your way out, giving in to the darkness. It was worse than those that died to another demon's teeth.
Crawling down to the full sacs, I gouged one open. The creature that was inside was half formed. Its arms were so fragile they seemed to have broken from trying to escape their prison. tragic.
An error like this suggested that I wasn't made. I was born. Demons had mothers. What size creature would be depositing eggs this large?
Whatever had spawned my clutch seemed to be long gone. These dead eggs weren't going to be a source of experience and I was beyond the hunger that drove me to eat my own. As I looked over the other cliff huggers they all seemed full. Bodies left on the ground to decay. Only the largest one kept gorging.
Confident that my Observation skill would give me an early warning, I climbed up out of leaping range. Turning my mind's eye to the system, I willed up the summary. I needed to know what these meant.
[System Display: Titles]
[You can only have one active title at a time. Active titles will gain experience]
[Active Title: None]
[Available Title: Eater of the Womb - Resistance to minor Possessions]
[Available Title: Sinner of Siblicide - Increased damage to demons of similar morphology]
[Available Title: Sinner of Greed - Chance to consume skills from other demons]
[Available Title: One Who Covets - Increased damage to the prey of other demons]
[Available Title: Student of the Last Rites - Massive damage when killing out of an act of mercy]
So I could select which of the wicked things I found valuable. I wish I had had a moment to go through these before. The Sinner of Siblicide would have been helpful during the first rush. As it was, no longer hungry, the survivors seemed to be keeping space between themselves. Like me, it seemed the risk of death had outweighed the reward of killing.
Sinner of Greed had the most promise. The leap skill had proven invaluable. I was sure my hunger would return and I would have to move beyond the easy source of cannibalism for food. Getting stronger during a fight would be the difference between death and surviving starvation.
[Active Title: Sinner of Greed]
Looking at the more dangerous of the Cliff Hugger, I rethought leaving them alone. If I could rip skills right out of their flesh it would be well worth the fight. Did I influence the title or did the title influence me? It was hard to say. Before then, I had some more examining to do. There were two other branches I had to examine.
[System Display: Abilities]
[Available Ability Points: 5]
[Invest Ability Points into base stats, upgrade skills, or unlock new skills]
Wonderful!
I was about to examine what I already had when the worst happened.
[Observation: Shadows are moving above you]
Something was coming down.
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