With the heavy rain, visibility was poor when I clambered back to shore. But not so poor that I couldn’t see a bumpy silhouette pivot toward me.
I cleared my throat, determined to follow through with my solemn vow; even I felt somewhat shocked by how quickly violence became my go-to engagement style. “Hello, friend. You might have noticed some recent construction noise in the area. I plan-”
The silhouette hopped forward.
Reanimated Four-Horned Bloat Toad Lvl 15
“Uh-” I paused and weighed my options. I grimaced. Did reanimated corpses have thoughts? But also… I had made a vow.
Wait, would this be considered avoiding my responsibilities, choosing a completely impossible target on which I would have no chance of success?
Hum… considering the generous spirit I embody in this life, I can give this zombie a chance, then also communicate with the next monster. Vow’s are sacred.
“Ahem, anyway friend, let’s discuss-”
The Reanimated Toad shot out its tongue and smacked my side. It inflicted a measly 4 damage and it also sealed its fate. My expression turned stony as I snorted and raised my Stained Fang, but a notification popped up.
Please Note: Reanimated Four-Horned Bloat Toad’s tongue possesses dangerous necrotic taint. The foreign elements have attempted to inflict the Status: Rage. The foreign elements have attempted to inflict the Status: Madness.
Due to your Wisdom, you have easily resisted the Status: Madness.
It took me a second to recognize what was missing. Uh, System, why is there no notification about resisting Rage-
A Mundane Achievement: For exposing yourself to dangerous Status you should easily resist, +1 Health.
Due to Exalted’s Due, +5 Health.
Your Skill (Earned) Exalted’s Due has grown to Level 2.
I felt an aberration in the usual rhythm of my humming jelly. I mobilized my Mana to activate my First Blessing, but as I did so, my gaze fell upon the tongue touching my side. How dare such a dirty tongue touch me. A horrible fury built in my growing and growing until all other thoughts were pushed to the side.
I grinned at the puny creature that dared near me. “Take your own life, cretin. Otherwise, I will fuck you.”
A small voice in the back of my head began loudly shouting that something was wrong, that I definitely needed to take a certain action, but I was too busy reveling in my newest epiphany. My jelly vibrated. My muscles flexed and stretched.
Isn’t the ultimate leisure… possessing power to annihilate all who stand before you?
Cackling madness, I lost myself in a red haze.
Your Skill (Earned) Body Manipulation has grown to Level 25(+17).
…
…
Your Skill (Earned) Field Butchery has grown to Level 13.
Your Skill (Earned) Field Butchery has grown to Level 14.
…
…
Your Skill (Earned) Field Butchery has grown to Level 21.
Your Skill (Earned) Unnatural Adrenaline Rush has grown to Level 3.
…
Your Skill (Earned) Field Butchery has grown to Level 25(+1).
Your Skill (Species) Lesser Array Knowledge has grown to Level 21.
Your Skill (Species) Lesser Array Knowledge has grown to Level 22.
Your Skill (Earned) Field Butchery has grown to Level 25(+2).
…
Gradually, the haze of rage parted.
…honestly, the purity of purpose one possesses while under the influence of righteous indignation is a kind of leisure…
I came out of the red haze panting and exultant. I stretched upward, feeling the rain pelting my skin, enjoying the cool sensation. My trophies were held aloft, a warning to all who would stand against me-
The duration of Rage has ended.
Wait, what was that last thought?
Trophies?
“Eh?” As my mind cleared, I began to catch up with notifications I had seen and ignored earlier. I couldn’t help but be almost impressed by the gains I witnessed. “How did Field Butchery grow to… Level 25(+2)?!”
I looked down. Which felt simultaneously like a mistake and an inevitability. I had a stomach, but no gag reflex, luckily. Otherwise, I would have hurled over the already monstrously disgusting mud beach.
During my fury, I had erected a ritual of carnal sacrilege.
The eyes of the Reanimated Bloat Toad looked back up at me from the mashed flesh, still moving due to Necrotic energy, even though they were connected by only a thin cord of nerve endings to the body of the toad.
Well, a portion of its body.
I shifted, uncomfortable with the strange bloody patterns I had hacked into the ground. These curled together into a tight sigil of flesh I had created by folding frog entrails. Apparently Rage didn’t affect my attention to detail.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Blood dribbled down from each one of my limbs; even my squirrel fingers were covered in crusted gore. Bits of flesh were scattered in the surrounding area. In one tentacle I held aloft the partially pulped heart of the toad, while in another tentacle I possessed a frogleg with the joints shattered.
It twitched listlessly, prompting me to drop it.
Upon closer inspection, I began to feel extremely alarmed at the entrail patterns. Because definitely, while I was under the influence of Rage, I was attempting to create an Array to concentrate Mana… but using the flesh of my enemies…?
“Am I the problem…?” I turned away from the carnage and did some soul-searching. “Or… is it this world, which gave me Skill Levels for this…?”
Needless to say, both my leisure and desire for work were shattered. The only blessing was that the heavy rainfall would wash away most of the signs of this-
Your Skill (Earned) Detection has grown to Level 25(+19).
My gaze whipped around as I sensed movement. A few nearby reeds rustled as two heads poked out of the tall grasses and looked down at me, right as the first drops of rain began to fall. Tongues flicked out to scent the air and tasted blood.
“Ah…” I opened my mouth, but I couldn’t come up with a plausible excuse. Two surprised serpents examined me, looked at the patterns of blood spattered across my body, looked at the triumphant lift in my Stained Fang, and saw the strange sigils drawn in the rotting offal in front of me.
The larger serpent paled visibly and tried to cover the eyes of its child with its tail.
I took a step forward, wanting to hide any evidence of my Rage and indulgence, but then I stopped in horror. “No! Don’t- don’t look at this! I promise I’m a really leisurely guy-”
The mother serpent grabbed the tail of its young and dragged it away. Leaving me alone as the torrential deluge began. I just stood in the rain, a statue. But eventually, the shock faded off and I slouched in the mud. “Ah… I’m putting so much effort into clearing the pall over us Chimera Cores… and now I’ve indulged in rage and confirmed all of the worst fears about us. Haah… I’ll just lie here. Walk over me, zombie apocalypse, stomp my jelly-”
A panicked hiss woke me from my pity. I straightened and listened closely, but other noises were blanketed by the rain. Compared to the constant patter of raindrops around me, the reeds appeared to flicker soundlessly.
My expression hardened in the crackling white noise of the storm. I forced myself to my feet and galloped through the mud. “That sound… was it a fearful hiss…? From the direction those two serpents just fled-”
Perhaps it hadn’t really occurred to me before that moment, but because I had been Leveling and earning Skills in this strange fantasy System, I possessed power. As my flat feet dug into the mud and I rushed through the reeds, I felt the faint trill of excitement running through this body.
They judged me and my siblings for something I couldn’t control, but what I could control was the way I acted. And this? This dash after a barely heard cry in the night? Surrounded by torrential rain?
It felt damn heroic.
This is my chance, to prove to the surrounding monster population that their worst fears about us aren’t correct. I felt my hopes rising, even if reality tempered them somewhat.
Plus, I really need to get ahead of this flesh-ritual scandal.
I roared out of the reeds into a small mud clearing. My cape was chivalry and sheets of rain, my lance…. Well, a bloodsoaked fang, but one with a knightly tilt. What I found in the mud clearing was exactly as I hoped for- errr, I mean feared.
A half dozen reanimated bloat toads shifted at my arrival, their flesh bodies partially obscured by the dark precipitations. Their eyes were dull and glassy, like the token antagonists they were. To my right, the adult and juvenile serpents curled their bodies together looking at the threats with wide eyes. My eyes narrowed as I planted my foot on the ground and began executing hand seals.
With the foundation I’ve built in this life… I’ve earned the capability to protect…!
I threw all of my effort into my gallant charge.
I threw too much effort into my charge.
Your Skill (Earned) Minor Realm Step has grown to Level 7.
Your Skill (Temp) Weak Secretions has grown to Level 23.
I raised my squirrel hands, now covered in healing secretions, but it proved to be superfluous. I hurtled forward like a bull towards an opened gate. Whether it was due to my unfamiliarity with the Minor Realm Step, my enthusiasm, or some adjustment in footing due to the rain and the mud, I had been relegated to my original combat style.
My body slammed into the unlucky Bloat Toad in front of me. My ‘lance’ went wildly astray as I lost control during my Realm Step. Two fleshy boils on its head exploded on impact, spattering my skin with gore and causing my to splutter.
The rest of its body cracked and sagged, overwhelmed by my rush.
Probably… my aggressive and impressive display cancels out the fact I am once more covered in gore…? And doesn’t unearth horrible, hopefully suppressed memories of me covered in monster blood in a similar situation…? I spared a peek for the two serpents-
-who appeared so panicked by the zombies they hadn’t really noticed my arrival. Which was fair, as they were being lashed with rotting tongues.
Your Skill (Earned) Monster Wisdom has grown to Level 25(+28).
Sighing, I stabbed down through the bloat toad in front of me with my bloodsoaked fang and stepped back. Another foe hopped forward and this one I happily slapped with my healing hands. The effect didn’t cause the critical reaction, but its flesh still rapidly began to wither and melt.
Using my bloodsoaked fang like a pole, I vaulted over the collapsed zombie to the final two bloat toads in the clearing. They lashed out with their tongues, hitting the adult serpent and leaving a horrific, bubbling black substance on its scales. The adult released another pained hiss.
But then I was there-
Your Skill (Earned) Short-Term Prediction has grown to Level 24.
Your Skill (Earned) Unnatural Adrenaline Rush has grown to Level 4.
Time slowed as the bullet-time effect of Unnatural Adrenaline Rush activated. Just as I touched the ground, one of the Bloat Toads flexed its back leg and tried to donkey kick me in the torso. My attention narrowed. Heroic transformation!
Your Skill (Earned) Unnatural Adrenaline Rush has grown to Level 5.
Your Skill (Species) Interstitial Body Structure has grown to Level 27.
Just as I had practiced on the beach, I pulled my body together, curling over as I landed on the ground. My powerful, protective armored spine closed together, so I became a solid ball of momentum. So when the bloat toad kicked backward, its leg slammed into armored plates and shattered itself.
The bloat toad stumbled sideways and I was already unfolding. My fang lashed out, cutting into the leaking flesh of my foe. Immediately, the wound began to smoke and then erupt with golden flames; while I had been folded up, I had rubbed healing secretions all over my fang.
I straightened and wiped some loose gore from my torso. With this backdrop of golden fire, I’m sure I cut a very dashing figure.
The final bloat toad finally wheeled around, but I was already too close. My squirrel paws executed their strange hand seals as released another wave of healing secretions and slapped it all over the undead abomination. It trembled and gurgled, but its flesh rapidly disintegrated. My musculature trembled from the rapid exertions and I wiped some of the gore from my head.
I pivoted to the serpents with as warm a smile as I could manage with my chimera body. “I can heal-”
I blinked; the two had vanished at some point, fleeing deeper through the reeds.
I thought about the horrible black liquid that had been left on the adult’s scales. Hopefully, that liquid wouldn’t inflict Rage or Madness over the next few minutes. Or corrode its Health-
Chasing again wouldn’t help; the serpents made their opinions clear when they fled. I felt almost suffocatingly frustrated, alone in the clearing with the corpses and the constant rain. Why is it still like this…?
I knew I had allowed a similar frustration to overwhelm me in the past life, but that didn’t mean it was any easier to push past the misunderstandings and take a breath. Honestly, I might have stayed there much longer if I had received a nudge from the spiderlings; a situation had developed on our mud beach. But they believed that they had witnessed the culprit.
My eyes flashed as I wiped away the last rotten toad flesh and began to stomp toward the source of this aggravating misunderstanding.
At the very least, with the power I had gathered in this life, I could put a stubby foot through the face of the asshole who was responsible.