Immediately dropping into a crouch behind a nearby tree, Alex willed Sixth Sense to focus on the pair more directly. It only took a momentary inspection to realize his prior assumption had been wrong, there were not two active beasts, but only one. A stark red bird that pecked at the remains of a second creature. Rather than a worm, as the common analogy might suggest, the avian tore pieces off what looked to be some type of deer-like animal; the two beasts nearly equal in size.
If the idea of a bird that weighted as much as a horse hadn’t been worrisome enough, his inspection of the corpse did well to assuage any doubt of the beast being an easy target. The fallen creature’s body had clearly been put through the ringer, even before the avian opened a hole in its stomach to feast through. The deer was covered in claw and burn marks, long lesions that racked across the its flank, with one of the creature’s eyes even having been gouged out.
The fight looked to have been entirely one-sided, and Alex’s heart began to race as he considered what the bird could be. Was he looking at a phoenix? Well, maybe not a real phoenix from the earth stories, it wasn’t made of fire after all, though it did seem to have some control over the medium. If the beast could come back from death, then a fight between the two of them was already decided.
Not wanting to get too ahead of himself, Alex activated Advanced Analyze, the estimated level of thirty-seven that returned to him, not raising his hopes any. Sure, he’d been looking for beasts, but this one might be a bit fiercer than he’d wanted to take on this early into his exploration. Escaping now would be easy enough, he was still about fifteen feet from the avian, and between Stealth, Sixth Sense, and the bird’s feast, it was unlikely to take notice of his departure, but Alex didn’t move.
Running now could be the beginning of a never ending spiral downwards. There was nothing to say the next beast he encountered would be an easier fight and at some point, he’d be unable to run away. The sooner Alex accepted that reality, the more likely he was to survive this forest. Hoping the beast would be lethargic after it’s morning meal, Alex slipped into Stealth.
The concealment skill worked in tandem with Sixth Sense as he moved slowly across the damp forest floor, his abilities feeding him information on where, and where not, to walk. Pausing about seven feet away from the creature behind the cover of some bushes, Alex finally got a direct line of sight on the red beast as it continued to chow down on the deer’s sloppy innards. He’d already seen the entire scene through Sixth Sense, but watching the massive bird with talons as long as his forearm directly, really did something to make the reality of the situation click. Oddly enough, it helped Alex focus, the nervous energy fading as he pulled one of the hammers from his inventory. He’d been here before, this was just another interpretation of every other fight he’d been in since arriving at this tutorial from hell.
Not wanting to give the beast a chance to notice him, Alex lined up the shot with his sensory skill, his movements precise as to not rustle the nearby bushes, before loosing; the over forty points of strength his E-Grade body held propelling the large mallet end over end in pursuit of its target. Alex’s biggest worry, besides the fight itself, was the bird’s ability to fly. He could think of a number of scenarios where the beast just up and flew away, or worse began tormenting him from the sky, this would hopefully curtail any of those results. Watching the hammer fly through slowed time as he activated Battle Trance, Alex could immediately tell he’d made the right choice.
He wasn’t sure what, but something had alerted the bird to his attack and it began moving moments after he tossed the weapon. Luckily for Alex, it wasn’t enough to dodge the cudgel entirely, the heavy head of the weapon impacting the top of its wing with a loud crunch and an accompanying squawk. The noise seemed to echo out a mile as it overcame the forest’s relative silence, and Alex flinched at the commotion as he began moving toward the beast.
Abandoning all pretenses of stealth, he broke out into a Silent Strike aided run, sticks cracking and stones flying as he propelled himself forward. It barely took a full stride before the space behind the beast was within Echo Relocations range, and he immediately activated the skill his surroundings shifting. Feeling the massive drain of energy, but not letting it stop him, Alex used his experience with Sixth Sense to pulse Thorn’s Touch, and stabbed his new dagger deep into the avian’s back, before immediately retreating to the side.
His sensory skill had been choreographing the beast’s every movement and Alex had already seen the attack coming, giving him ample time to dodge the counter . It had began pivoting in his direction immediately, the close his ability created being completely ignored by the beast. Beak already open by the time it reached it’s destination, Alex watched as the beast spewed a gout of flame directly where he’d been standing.
Not wanting to give the bird a moment of respite, Alex started to dash back in mid-roar, but found himself rebuffed by the shear heat its breath released. Not cutting off the torrent, it began trying to launch itself into the air, Alex unable to close the distance without charring suffering severe burns. Having no plans to darken his skin any further artificially, he took a few steps back and began throwing axes at the beast, in the hopes his initial attack had been enough to keep it from flying.
Deciding to stop after his second axe landed in the beast’s flank, the impact having little effect on the creature, Alex could do nothing but watch on as it strained to gain altitude. The bird managed to rise about five feet off the ground after a few seconds, its right wing flapping frantically as it tried, and ultimately failed, to make up for its lost left. Dropping back to the ground unsteadily, the bargain bin phoenix had stopped breathing fire by this point but let out and indignant cry as it looked for something to take its anger out on. Alex, being the only other living creature around, was the obvious target.
The fight didn’t exactly end quickly from there, but it turned out to be much easier than he’d initially expected. The loss of the beast’s primary method of transportation, gave him the supreme advantage in terms of movement, and Alex made sure to take abuse it. He darted in and out, making use of both his hammer and dagger, whilst saving uses of Echo Relocation for a sudden fire attacks. While his mana and stamina pools had increased greatly along with his rise in levels, so many abilities at once forced him to ration the energy some, especially for his most demanding skills.
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Slightly bowed over on a section of charred dirt, Alex breathed heavily as he watched to corpse for further movement. The first time he’d delivered what he was sure should have been a final blow, the beast had gone limp for a moment, before opening its eyes and releasing a gout of flame directly at his face. The result had been a hit to his mana pool and the loss of some hair but even though it hadn’t been dead it was obviously still at the threshold. The event made Alex wonder if his prior assumptions about the creature’s relation to the mythological earth bird had been correct, or if the fallen avian was smart enough to try playing dead. If it was the former than the second life ability wasn’t as good a full restoration, but surely better than death.
He wondered if he could use the scroll to steal the ability from the next one he encountered, as he stored the truly dead bird before moving on to the partially eaten deer corpse and storing it as well. Ignoring the wayward realization that he was becoming a hoarder, Alex doubled Sixth Sense’s range and took a seat on the ground. He’d managed to escape the fight relatively unscathed, but decided to take a few minutes to rest and replenish his expended energies. Opening his notifications, Alex read over his gains from the fight.
***
You have defeated Heatray (Level 35). Bonus experience awarded for killing an enemy above your level.
+2 Gold
Your skill [Thorn’s Touch] has advanced to Level Eighteen.
Your skill [Fear Resistance] has advanced to Level Twenty-one.
Your skill [Battle Trance] has advanced to Level Eight.
Your skill [Battle Trance] has advanced to Level Nine.
Your skill [Dagger Mastery] has advanced to Level Nine.
Your skill [Dagger Mastery] has advanced to Level Ten.
Your skill [Echo Relocation] has advanced to Level Two.
***
Rising as his mana pool topped off a few minutes later, Alex gave himself a once over as he resumed his walk, only then realizing how much of a mess he was. His clothes were once again little more than tattered rags and to put it simply, he stunk. Between the escape, search for loot, eating, his conversation with Theodora, and the race advancement, Alex had completely forgotten to change, or even clean himself. It wasn’t exactly surprising, per se, after nearly a week of being covered in filth, even magically advanced senses would do their best to ignore the stench. Still, he wished Dora had said something about it. Now that his E-Grade nose was conscious of the smell his mind had been writing off as the forest’s natural odor, the scent was driving him crazy.
Pivoting from his immediate goal of more beast hunting, Alex pulsed Sixth Sense in an attempt to find somewhere to bathe. Part of him wanted to head back to the bunker, it had showers, he’d just been too stupid to remember to use them, but now he was nearly an hour away from the place. Even if he sprinted it’d take him at least twenty minutes to get there, and that was without running into any other beasts. His last encounter had made it clear the forest was waking up. No, it was best he keep on course, hunting as he looked for a river or lake, Dora had mentioned that the place had some natural bodies of water. Nose scrunched and modified plan decided, Alex continued on his walk.
It only took about another five minutes of before he encountered his first true group of living beasts. The sun had fully risen by this point, making the beasts easier to spot without the help of his skill, though Alex knew the same would be true for him. The group consisted of four of those deer like beasts, and while they seemed to be focused on eating, Sixth Sense told him their muscles were tense. Considering that the tension might have come from a run in with the bird, Alex inspected them. Based on their sizes he’d assumed there to be two adults and two children, the pair of asterisked level twenty-fives that came when he inspected them, confirming it. Both adults were only estimated to be in the early thirties, making the fight doable, even with the numbers disadvantage.
Forming a plan as the beasts grazed on the foliage, Alex ran over his options. He didn’t know how much wildlife stability mattered, especially since he wouldn’t be there in a couple of months, but he didn’t want to kill the children if he didn’t have to. Knowing the random surge of morality was irrational, Alex tried to focus on what really mattered. Deciding to initiate this fight like his last, he got as close as he felt he safely could, before pulling out and tossing his trusty hammer at one of the beast’s hind legs, as he launched himself at the other.
The dual pronged attack left neither beast able to aid the other, and though alert, both failed to dodge his attacks. One whined as it dropped at the pain of his newly broken leg, while the other flailed, forcing Alex to remove his dagger from its back. He expected the commotion to send the babies running, but it seemed he’d been basing that assumption too much on Earth animal behaviors. One of the baby deer did take off, however the other charged directly at him, the smaller beast colliding with his side and throwing Alex to the ground a few feet away.
Losing his weapon as he impacted the ground at an angle, Alex watched in Sixth Sense as the stabbed beast recovered, sharped teeth bared as it moved toward him. Not wanting to see what it would do once it arrived, he expended mana to activate Echo Relocation. Unlike with the sudo-phoenix, this clone managed to distract the mother and child cervine as he teleported up and above the creature. Pulling one of his spare axes as gravity began to do its thing, Alex landed on the beast’s back with a startling thud. Not giving it anytime to react he took the hook of his weapon and carved a line across its neck.
The beast began to buck and whine, its cries garbled by the blood from it’s severed artery. Hoping that the beast was officially out of the fight Alex turned his attention to the other adult deer. It had gotten over the shock of its injury and while still unable to put weight on the limb, the beast had managed to hop its way over to Alex. Antlers pointed at him, it staggered toward him in a disabled charge.
He wrapped up the fight shortly after that, the battle needing another use of Echo Relocationfor him to retrieve his blade before he could dispatch the final two beasts. The fight ended up giving Alex his first chance to see his dagger's ability in action, the effect it had somewhat disappointing when compared to its name. Rather than an explosive blast of lightning, the release was almost invisible, though with the way the small beast had dropped to the floor after a single stab, Alex could tell it had done some real internal damage. Unfortunately, he was made doubly aware as he pulled the blade out, only to be sprayed with a smattering of gore and popped organs. Making a note to never combine Thorn’s Touch with the dagger’s kinetic release, Alex decided that he’d need to find somewhere to clean sooner rather than later.