WOOSH!!
Shadowy figures leaped through the air, the crisp morning dew left a refreshingly sweet scent in the air as the men dashed along the ground.
With the forest once again awake with the sound of wildlife, the group made sure to move more carefully, rapidly bouncing from spot to spot with purpose as if avoiding landmines.
"Ughhh, mini-boss this is the 4th dead-end trail we've got…"
One of the shadowy figures tiredly called out.
However, the lanky 'mini-boss' of theirs didn't even slow down for a single stride.
Seemingly unheard, all the group could do was their lower head and follow quietly, zipping to their next point, hopefully to bring a conclusion to this mission.
The lanky man however was deep in thought as they traveled, 'Fools, the fact there are so many leads just seems to prove…', his green emerald eyes shone brightly, lighting his path ahead, 'That newb is still alive…'
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{Meanwhile... on the outskirts of the Forest}
"Woah!", Oz looked out past the bush he had pushed away to see a far-stretching field of lush, green grass meshing into the horizon like it was kissing the sky.
Oz's eyes stretched out of their sockets, "Holy crap! Haha, I was getting tired of this creepy forest!"
He chuckled out as he leaped forward, flipping through the air, and landing crouched on his feet before rushing off through the shoulder-height thick grass.
At last, Oz was out of that dreadful forest and now was his opportunity to find a home.
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{Meanwhile... on the outskirts of the Grasslands}
The grasslands are the greatest.
The free-range lifestyle it provides is far more enjoyable than being in a lousy forest.
All those pathetic EarthCats and StoneWolves couldn't even come close to comparing to a creature as majestic as he.
His slick green fur, dazzling emerald eyes, and razor-sharp teeth made him the true Apex Predator of the grasslands.
While many of those creatures had yet to unlock their abilities, he was an exception.
The strongest being to ever exist.
The king that will one day return to rule over those puny scoundrels.
The 3ft (0.9m) 4-legged, furry green creature mused to itself as it leisurely frolicked in the grassy fields.
RUSTLE
He cautiously looked over.
The grass was dancing along with the calm wind as always with no other movement or disturbances in sight.
Perhaps it hadn't gotten enough sleep recently; after hunting some prey it'll get a nice rest.
WOOOOSH!!
A blur flew forward in the corner of its eyes.
ARF!
The creature's vision darkened.
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{Some time passed}
The creature's consciousness returned after what felt like only a couple of seconds.
A dirt-skinned boy stood over the now paralyzed creature with hunger in his gaze.
The boy's saliva was boiling over and nearly dripping out of his mouth, "Shit I haven't eaten since I woke up."
The creature below shook in pure rage.
There was no way this unassuming-looking wad of meat was what knocked him down.
This filthy boy's pack or alpha must have done this.
The creature's neck was cracked and unable to even look around; however, from its peripherals, all it saw was this meat wad in sight.
Being the superior species that it was, its bones slowly mended themselves.
It would make this little vermin pay.
It decided to bide its time as it let out a barely audible whine for mercy, using its superior looks to seduce this feeble-looking wad of meat.
"Hmm, you kinda look like an EarthCat except…" the meat-wad stroked his bare chin as he squinted his topaz eyes at his soon-to-be lunch, "Almost like a StoneWolf but with EarthCat fur, more of a dog than a cat."
He then let out a soft chuckle, "A bit uglier than both though."
The creature's eyes bulged, tears forming under its watery green eyes.
Being eaten was one thing but to be compared to those inferior beings was distasteful.
The boy continued to spout on, but the creature stopped listening.
A low growl rumbled from the creature's throat as enough was enough; its neck had partially healed allowing it enough leeway to bite this sack of meat's head off.
It let out its most vicious roar!
MEOW!
The boy nearly let out a laugh at the sound of it, "Haha, what the f-"
WOOOSH!!
The creature leaped up bringing its lethal sharp claws towards the boy's face.
"Woah!"
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The boy leaned back, causing the fatal strike to barely miss, lightly scratching his right cheek and leaving the taste of death left lingering in his mouth.
The boy's cheek was running with blood, and he lowered himself, putting himself in a fight stance, ready to pounce or run.
A puny wad of meat such as him could never understand a truly superior being when looking at one.
The beast's fur twinkled under the bright blue-reddish sky, its green radiance nearly blinding the boy.
WOOOSH!!
It was now time, this inferior meat wad would die.
The creature leaped in the air, opening its jaw to take a chunk of meat out from this meat-wad.
However, the boy had other plans.
He ducked underneath the creature, sending an uppercut into its belly.
WHAM!!
The creature was sent flying around 6ft (1.8m) high and tumbled along the ground.
Its ribs were badly banged up, but upon closer inspection, so were the boy's knuckles.
The creature grimaced and readied itself to pounce once again.
Its ribs were already starting to patch themselves up.
However, the meat-wad didn't plan on giving him that time.
WOOSH!!
The boy rushed forward, blurring through the air like a specter before leaping into the air with his fist raised and yelling, "Yaghhh!"
The creature dodged to the left out of the way, as the boy slammed down onto the ground, creating a mini crater where he landed.
The superior being took this opportunity to strike, leaping at the boy for the final strike, attacking from his blind spot.
He leaped in the air towards the boy triumphantly, ready to take this meat-wad's head clean off.
However, what he saw frightened him.
The boy whose head was turned away from him whipped his head around locking contact and smiling.
A simple smile that contained so much malice it nearly suffocated the creature.
All its warning signs and self-preservation bells were blaring.
Yet as if time froze, it only felt suspended in the air, as the two had locked eyes for what felt like years.
As much of a superior creature that it was, there was no verbal language it could speak.
Nonetheless, if it were possible for it to speak, only one word would be ringing in its mind right now.
Not the words of alarms like, 'danger', its senses were enough to tell it that, no, the word of regret for not running when it had the chance, for not realizing this meat-wad itself was the predator all along.
The simple word used by those who found themselves in the most misfortunate of scenarios.
'Fuk'.
BOOOOM!!
It felt its head shatter as the boy spun so quickly it felt inhuman and slammed the top of the creature's head with his fist.
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{After a few seconds...}
Dust was in the air from the attack.
"Huff huff huff", Oz wobbly stood over the creature with a bent-in skull.
He collapsed to his knees in exhaustion as he kept his gaze on the creature.
This… beast was unlike those from before, he truly was a big fish in a tiny pond.
He squeezed his fist in anger at his ignorance, "And to think I was ready to kill Him…"
A dark gloom covered his face, yet a shift snapped him out of his thoughts.
"M-meow…"
The creature gave off its best sorrowful look, gazing deep into the boy's eyes.
Oz only lightly exhaled as he gazed at the tenacious little creature, "Still alive…"
The top of the creature's head was slowly repairing itself, at a speed barely visible to the human eye.
Oz breathed out slowly, "And still thinking I'm gonna fall for that." A sharp glance shone in his eyes, catching the creature off guard as before it could even plea one last time.
WACK!!
The creature let out a confused meow, 'What the fuk was going on??'
'This isn't how it was supposed to-'
WACK!!
WACK!!
MEOW!!
'Why wouldn't this meat-sack at least pet him?'
WACK!!
There in the grassy green fields kneeled Oz bent over a mutilated corpse.
As he reached out to pull off a leg, he exclaimed in amazement, "Wow! Its fur is really soft! Too bad playing cute doesn't work when ya got such a strong glare in your eye"
Though the creature tried to play cute, its biggest strength became its biggest weakness.
Its pride was so strong that even having to put itself in that position to beg made Oz feel like he was swimming in a murky cloud of hatred and spite.
"Best to nip that in the bud." As Oz snapped its neck for good measure and ripped off the creature's leg, his favorite melody sang out in his ear.
[Experience Gained, Killed Realm 0, High Proficiency Creature.]
[Bloodline Detected!]
[Fuse Bloodline?]
Oz's eyes widened in shock, "This one's high proficiency?"
Oz's mouth hung open flabbergasted as he stared at the corpse, below him.
"I've seen EarthCats and StoneWolves around 5-10ft(1.5-3m) tall, and while I only attack the smaller ones, this…"
He stared down at the barely 4ft (1.2m) tall creature; however, what happened next left him speechless.
The creature's skull slowly started to recover from its bent-in shape, "What the hell?" Oz yelped out in bewilderment.
Its cracked bones and cut skin subtly began to repair themselves.
'What the hell? If I didn't get the notification it was dead then I'd think that it was still alive."
This creature had officially piqued his interest, he continued reading the System prompt.
[Fuse WeedCur Bloodline?]
[Element: Earth Variant]
[Rank: 0]
[Grade: Low (Medium)]
Oz truly had no words, 'Earth Variant?'
Oz further inspected this creature that even barely gave up a fight, 'What does [Medium] mean?'
Oz had a good option in front of him right now, especially considering the fact that this looks like it could potentially increase his survivability.
The question is… should he settle for this creature's bloodline or hope to find a better one?..
Oz grimaced, "Fuk why am I hesitating? It's not like I can afford to be greedy yet…"
Memories of that pig and snake fighting flashed through his mind, the monstrosity that attacked the dung den loomed in the trenches of his nightmares, and the thought of that dastardly pervert still being alive at the Dun Den… all those culminating together…
Oz grimaced as he stared down at the creature below him, "What other choice do I have?.."
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{Meanwhile... back within the Forest}
"The fuk happened here?", one of the shadowy figures inquired.
The shadowy figures were all crouched around the destruction that had occurred in the forest.
Prints of what appeared to be a stampede and an entire tree being split in half littered the grounds.
The lanky boss of theirs spoke up, "Battle of titans' what happened here…"
The mini-boss of theirs crouched to the ground, scooping up some soil with his hands.
His deep green eyes reflected their usual mysterious glow on the environment around them.
The ground was filled with deep trenches, and the surrounding tall trees were tilted and knocked aside, some almost uprooted.
One of the shadowy figures spoke up, "No way that newb survived this one right?"
Yet the mini-boss kept quiet as his eyes looked around analyzing the battle scene.
He hopped from place to place as his men watched and waited, before spotting a small speck of blood on the ground.
"Hmm, it's not the newbs or one of those titans. Their blood is of... a different quality."
They had been hot on Oz's heels for what felt like days, and they knew they were getting closer.
The clues just seemed to be getting fresher yet also more obvious, as if the boy strung along destruction in his path.
The lanky man continued to examine the now-dried blood on the ground.
"This must've been… his meal?"
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{Meanwhile... In an Unknown Area}
Two figures sat across from each other at a long table stretching pristine white table reaching as far as 100meters(328ft) across from one another.
One with powerful glowing green emerald eyes and the other with a less-bright yet still daunting lighter shade of forest green eyes.
The room was pitch black, with only their eyes barely sprinkling the darkroom in droplets of subtle green light.
Only the table was barely visible as a long whitish-greenish strand of matter in this dark abyss.
The figure with the deep emerald green eyes asked, "Where is the miscreant headed?"
The figure with the lighter shade of green eyes responded, "Seems to have recently left the forest, and may be prowling in the fields."
The deep green pair of eyes widened in surprise before returning to a neutral look.
The two spoke in a strange language spoken out in barely audible whispers however, even that seemed to send reverberations across the space itself.
"I trust you to take care of it then. I don't need any more trouble caused." The emerald green eyes pierced directly into the figure across as if more of a demand than a request.
"It will be done!" The figure responded before disappearing, leaving the shadowy room even more somber.
The figure sat there in the dull darkness.
The darkness swam and folded around before the lone figure's eyes burst forth with brilliant rays of light, frightening the shadows away and splendidly illuminating the near never-ending room.
The luminous waves of light revealed pear-white grand cathedrals and castles soaring so high as if trying to shatter the skies.
Yet, as quickly as this was revealed...
WOOOSH!!
The figure shut its eyes, allowing the darkness to drab over the plane once again.
The long entity quietly whispered out, "So it may."
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