The Udwi had his rest and he was fully restored once more. However, he had suffered throughout the night with the constant screeching in his head from the monster that he had failed to defeat. That resulted in him feeling absolutely worn down mentally with a severe headache that pulsed over and over again. This monster wasn’t going to kill him physically but spiritually with how much it tortured him without fail. At this rate, he was going to have to kill this thing, as he was certain even at a long distance away this noise wouldn’t stop.

However, that led to the same conundrum he had before. The weapon he had in his hands right now would not be able to defeat this monster for now. That meant that he needed to get a good amount of new weapons to make his chances rise significantly.

The problem: he was not fully aware of how to secure materials in this world. There was plenty of that blackened wood that he could use as a starting point, but the problem came with the other items. He was typically used to working with leather, cloth, as well as stones to create his weapons. However, seeing as how the monster had some ethereal defenses that protected it against ranged attacks and he wasn’t able to get too close, that meant he’d need to have a shield to defend against any incoming attacks.

That was simple enough. All he needed was a large amount of leather to make the shield and he could use the black wood as handle covers for his defense. There was only one problem: there was no means of getting any materials to create the tool, as none of the beasts could be used to create leather. After all, if he really wanted to do this, then he’d have to capture a beast, skin it and make sure it wouldn’t die, and hope and pray his shield wouldn’t dissolve to dust the moment the beast died.

However, he did recall the dust’s quality. How it seemed much more similar to that of sand. He wondered…

It was time to run a test. He had a source of water and all he needed were two of those beasts to test this possible theory. So, without further ado, he went off into a little journey to go find some beasts to capture and use as experiments.

He didn’t have to search for long. He found himself looking at a small herd of four beasts, the same grinning ones that he had fought yesterday. He kept an eye out for that monster, but he didn’t see any signs of that freak nearby.

So, he went ahead and moved. However, this time, he did not call upon the spirits to help guide his path. After all, such a thing was not necessary at this point in time, as he was dealing with these creatures that had no special abilities or crazy moves. Thus, he could attack without worry.

The first strike had his spear rip through the head of the nearest smiling beast, the impact turning the thing into nothing more than dust once more. The other three squealed and reacted by moving back, but they were still too slow. His spear lashed out once more and his strike hit the mark, tearing through the neck. The beast would bleed out in time, but the Udwi did not want to risk this thing doing any death throes that would be problematic in the future. So, without further ado, he redirected the momentum of the spear to cut at the throat again.

The beast’s head flew and turned to dust with the rest of the body within a single second. The other two howled in defiance, but he could care less. No, he had to deal with this now.

So, without further ado, he jumped towards the remaining duo. They gnashed their teeth and charged back, running towards him with their mouths open. It was clear what their intent was: to rip his throat out with their sharp teeth and to take him out in a single motion.

It was truly unfortunate that these beasts were far too slow and stupid to make use of such a tactic. He easily dodged the incoming strike and without further ado, he slammed an elbow into the nearest beast. A loud snap resonated throughout the area as the beast cried out in pain and tumbled to the ground.

That left one more remaining in front of him. It hesitated in its next action, letting him take care of this with a single strike from his spear. With that, he had a good amount of dust and two beasts that he could easily skin.

He took the two creatures back to the river, before rebounding back to collect as much dust as possible. Unfortunately, he didn’t exactly have a basket or any containers to carry the dust efficiently, so he ended up having to carry them in his hands for a brief while.

Within a few moments, he had the creatures near the river and a small pile of the body dust. He went ahead and proceeded with the experiment by putting a handful of that dust into the water and awaiting for the response.

He was surprised by the results and yet disappointed. The dust and water all formed together to make some sort of thick flesh paste, but it did not seem to be elastic or tough. Rather, this viscous paste was more similar to an ooze that didn’t inspire much confidence in this. Despite this, he went ahead and spread this thing onto the nearest rock, before washing his hands clean of this gunk.

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He went ahead and collected a few rocks and went on to knap a stone knife, before going to the beasts lying on the ground. Those fallen creatures all kept on looking at the Udwi with fear in their eyes as he got closer, but he paid them no heed. After all, he didn’t sympathize or feel bad for these things that attempted to murder him.

What he was doing was merely for survival’s sake.

Thus, he began by stabbing the knife into the first beast and began to skin it alive. It screeched and howled and tried to move around its body to get away. However, thanks to him breaking its back, there was no means for it to truly have the chance to run. Thus, without much fanfare, he had obtained a full length of skin and a skinless beast that was bleeding all over the place.

He moved as fast as he could. He went ahead and washed the skin in the water, before stretching it out on some trees with a few sticks and letting it dry. He also went ahead and plastered as many leaves as possible all over the beast to prevent it from bleeding out to death. Unfortunately, he failed, and all his efforts were left to nothing as the beast dissolved into dust along with the skin he had left up to dry.

Tch. What a pain.

He went ahead and looked at the other beast, before groaning and trying to figure out what exactly he could do to prevent the premature death. Rather, was all this effort even worth it? He didn’t know if these things needed to eat and drink, nor did he know if they had the same functions as other beasts.

However, he already had this thing here. Might as well give it a try. So, he began skinning the beast. This time, he went slow and steady, patching up the bleeding parts with plenty of leaves nearby. He was able to get the full skin this time with the beast on the ground whining and moaning. Once more, he set it up to dry while he figured out what to do with this skinless creature.

At least, until he came up with an idea. He asked the spirits for their help with this plan and they obliged without much effort.

The wind came and began to blow a lot of dirt away from the area, creating an open grave. He grabbed the beast and threw it inside, before he proceeded to cover up the pit with the dirt that had been displaced. The creature cried and wailed, but there was nothing that it could do as it was buried alive.

The Udwi did of course make sure the head wasn’t covered up so that the beast could breathe. At this point, all he could hope was that this thing could survive long enough for him to kill the monster. Though, he had to admit, he wasn’t feeling too optimistic about all this.

He went ahead and cured the skin once it finished drying, before creating the shield. Some cuts and the black sticks were stuck inside to create the perfect shield necessary to defend against several attacks. As much as he’d like to decorate or even put in some finishing touches, he simply did not want to waste any time doing such a thing. Rather, there was something he was more interested in: the dust and water mixture.

He went back to the rock before blinking. What he found was that the paste had completely dried up and transformed into something more solid. He went ahead and touched the dried mixture, only to find himself in awe at the texture.

It had become as firm as rock and yet was quite flexible. Not only that, but tearing and shredding was quite difficult. The best part was that there was not much weight to this piece, it was akin to that of carrying a handful of grass.

Which meant this material could be useful to creating armor and a shield should he need. The durability meant that this was more than capable of deflecting several strikes and the flexibility meant he could form to a shape he desired. Last but not least, the weight made this be perfect to maintain speed and dexterity within battle.

Perhaps he could use this to create some kind of makeshift sling? Heck, this could be flexible enough to be utilized as a string for a bow if he was so desperate. However, there was one slight issue with all this.

He’d need a lot more dust to work with to create anything. That’d mean he would have to have an actual container to contain all of those particles to create the necessary equipment later on. However, that wasn’t too much of a bad deal, as he could always weave one out of dried grass or even the sticks that laid around on the ground. However, at this time, he already had a shield. This information could be used later on, just not now.

So, with the shield, he moved on back to where the monster was. He used the trees as jumping platforms like before, keeping an eye out for anything that could come and attack him. Thankfully, nothing came to intercept his movement and before long, he found himself staring down at that monster again.

This time, the monster was on high alert. There were several of those purple liquid spheres in the air and the eye stalks were looking all around with rapid pace. The monster was on the constant move, going around in what seemed to be circles to make sure that it was more difficult to hit. Last but not least, the area nearby had been flattened and with puddles of viscous liquid that clearly came from the monster itself.

That freak was more intelligent than he had given credit for. It had taken the time to create its own battleground, tearing away any possible advantages he could have used to ensure full dominance on the field. He didn’t have anywhere to hide should he get into a fight and the monster already had those purple spheres primed for an instant kill strike.

Which meant he had one shot. Only one chance here and now. A single misstep would result in his utter death. At this current state, he didn’t have all the information he wanted, but there was a chance.

He didn’t know if the purple liquid affected the monster as well. If it did, then this fight got a lot easier. If not… Well, that was something he’d have to deal with later.

For now, he needed to plan. Figure something out. After all, many battles were a puzzle.

And the Udwi was not one to avoid a tricky situation.