I started moving as soon as the door out of the jail was open. If there was an Eater approaching, we needed to stop it. No matter what. It did not matter that scum, like the man who was berating that child, lived here. They did not deserve to be killed by one of those monsters. Thankfully, I did not have to say anything to Astrid. I moved, and she followed. Despite that, I was starting to get a bit worried about how she went along with my plans without question, but this was an issue to think about later. People were running, likely rushing to the safe locations around the city. It would not be a surprise if they had a bunker or something of the sort around here, but there was no time to waste thinking about that. The Eater had to be dealt with as soon as possible.

The man we met back on the staircase was not far behind, but he did not seem to be interested in what we were about to do. He was giving orders to those guards in the village. Honestly, that was better for us since we would not be berated for teaching that person in the jail cell a lesson. It was insane to think someone would be that mean to a child for no good reason. Not that there was a good reason to be that cruel to a child.

Still, I had to ignore those thoughts and focus on the task at hand: dealing with the Eater. We rushed to the gate leading out of the village, passing by the two guards, who were clearly mortified. If it was not because of the System, I would have had a very similar reaction. One of them glanced in my direction and asked as we approached.

"What are you doing here? You need to get to a safe place," the man's voice was shaky. It would not surprise anyone if he decided to run.

"Don't worry. Where is the Eater?" I asked, my voice a bit louder than I would have wanted.

The other guard snapped. "Quiet! You're going to get us killed!"

"Tell me where it is and I'll leave you alone," I pressed.

The guard pointed to the forest a few hundred meters [yards] to the right of the village. "It was there the last time anyone saw it. Now sh-"

Before he could finish his sentence, I sprinted towards the forest. My staff was already in my hand and {Compression} ready to be activated. I could hear Astrid's footsteps following me, and once more I mentally thanked her for having my back. Even though I was moving with confidence, we were still going after an Eater. It was a strange and terrifying idea, something that went against everything people would be taught while growing up in this world. But knowing that someone would have my back made it a lot less scary.

The Frosted Lumberjack sped up a bit to catch up with me and asked, "Plan?"

"If it's tier 0, we kill it. If it's tier 1, we play it smart. If it's beyond that, we run away. I'll feel sorry for the people in the village, but we won't be able to do anything against it if the Monster is tier 2. Even a tier 1 saturated might be an issue."

"You killed one. What level?" Astrid asked.

"I'm not sure. All I know is that it was tier 1 and so was I. And it was not saturated, so before level 10. I was level 1 at the time," I explained just before we heard something from deep between the trees. The light of the stars was the only thing that illuminated our path.

We did not say anything else while we jumped into the forest. In a perfect world, this would be an easy fight. The Eater would be either on tier 1 or on tier 0. It was just one of those annoying creatures that came to bother us like a bug. But I did not trust my luck like that, so I was getting ready for whatever could come, even the possibility of finding an Eater at tier 2 or maybe even 3 and run for my life.

It did not take long for us to find the Eater. The telltale sound of metal grinding against metal invited all to its location. What once was a noise that caused terror now had become a beacon for us. And by the looks of it, it was not very far. It took three minutes of following the grinding sound until the creature came into view. Twelve legs, much thicker than any of the trees, moving in an unnatural synchrony. The motion seemed to try to emulate the ocean, bobbing up and down, but it was too perfect. Too exact as the previous one to be believed to be from something living. Each of the legs also had a large spike pointing upwards that almost looked like a shield.

Yet, the top was anything but perfect. Dozens, or maybe even hundreds of tentacles, writhed and snapped, trying to reach and grab everything. But they were smaller than the ones I had seen before. There was no massive tendril capable of wrapping around a tree several times. The longest and thickest one was just about the size of my arm.

It quickly became apparent why the change as one of the legs lashed out and pierced a lump of meat that was on the ground before bending backwards and placing it on top of its body, just above where its maw should be. With the tendrils grabbing the bounty and greedily pulling it into its body.

We stopped moving as soon as the creature came into view, not wanting to give away our position. By the looks of it, it was not one of the strongest versions of the monsters. Just one similar to the first one I killed. But something told me it had a few more legs than the Eater I faced, and I really did not know how to feel about that. Could be a sign that this was a weaker version of it and that is why it needed more legs, but this could also mean that it was a stronger version. A version that could be more than capable of killing us. There was not much I could do aside from gambling and hoping this would not be enough to warn it of our presence. Taking a quick deep breath, I told the System to give me the information on the creature.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gatherer Eater - Tier 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So it really was a type that I had yet to see, but if that was good or bad, it was still to be discovered.

I reached out to Astrid and touched her arm, sending a message through the System.

Cassandra: It's Tier 1, but it's not saturated. Want to fight it, or should we run?

Astrid frowned and looked at me with a confused expression.

Astrid: You said we should fight if it was not saturated. Why should we run?

Cassandra: Just making sure.

I took a deep breath.

Cassandra: Let's do this thing.

Pulling my staff to the side, we slowly split up to flank the monster, taking advantage of the fact that the creature seemed to be busy eating. By the amount of fur on the pieces it was taking from the ground, I assumed it was a deer. A poor animal that got unlucky enough to be on its path.

We moved quietly enough so that the creature was not able to notice our approach. Or that is what I thought. In reality, the Eater was more than capable of realizing it was being attacked. Before we even got ready to strike, it lashed out.

One of its tentacles aimed at me and two aimed at Astrid. I jumped to the side, dodging the attack, but already following it up with a strike with my staff. This was a kind of Eater that I had never seen before, and maybe it was weaker than the one I killed. But when my weapon collided with its appendage, it made me feel like I was hitting a brick wall. My arm was barely able to hold steady due to the shock created by the impact. It was unbelievable that this was so sturdy despite its thinness.

On the other side of the beast, Astrid also managed to evade its attacks and brought down the Frosted Axe with a powerful swing covered in Energy, likely triggering Chop. Unlike what I had done, the Frosted Lumberjack's strike was able to cut off one of the tentacles without much trouble.

The creature lashed out, all of its appendages swinging wildly at us, trying to catch us before it turned and aimed all the 12 legs at my companion with a jumping attack. Despite the dangerous situation, Astrid's eyes were full of confidence. It did not seem like she was expecting to be killed. Her face looked like that of a hunter who had just found an opening to strike. But as she tumbled to the side, she focused only on evading. The Eater went after her again, lashing out with all of its limbs, trying to capture or hurt my companion. But she continued to evade every single attack without showing any signs of counter attacking.

It took me a moment to realize why she was not fighting back, why she was not taking advantage of the opening she saw. The reason was very simple. I was the opening. While the Eater was focused on her, it let me be free enough so that I could strike without having to worry about being caught off guard.

Once the creature jumped with all of its strength towards Astrid, forcing her to jump away and tumble on the ground to escape, I jumped at the Eater activating {Formless Ice Devil Lunge}. A layer of frost covered my staff as three claws appeared around it just before they crashed on top of the creature's midsection, the point where all the tentacles and legs connected to each other.

The creature shuddered as a large gash appeared on its body, the area surrounding the impact slowly started to freeze. But it did not show any signs of letting up, turning to strike at me. But Astrid came for a follow-up attack using another Chop, this time horizontally to cut off the creature's legs.

For some reason, that attack was much more powerful than anything she delivered before. It got to a point where you could compare it with Shattering Frost, but there was no ice attached to the blow. Maybe it had something to do with how the skill was utilized, but I stopped my mind from going there for now. There were still more pressing matters at hand.

The Eater lost about half of its legs in that attack, making it struggle to balance itself. It still did not stop going after us again and again even when it was clear we were too fast for it.

Taking a small trip down memory lane, I noticed a bone that seemed to be stuck into its maw and reached out to touch it with my staff. Triggering {Compression}, I changed the femur's size, making it explode inside the Eater's body. The damage was not as great. Unlike its own leg, the bone cracked under the pressure, but there were some large shards that stuck themselves into the metallic skin of the monster.

The Eater tried to continue struggling, but it was to no avail. Its movements were too hindered. Astrid had more than enough time to get to a good position and deliver another Chop right at the center of the monster, cutting it in half. I felt a rush of particles getting to my body, but not enough to level me up.

Astrid, on the other hand seemed to have gotten particles to reach the next level considering her smile. She should now be at level 6. That was more expected after all we were sharing the particles we would gain. I was only getting the small amount of particles every time we killed a creature. But the real prize was in the body, more specifically the blood of the Eater. Quickly pulling up my empty waterskin, not the one that I used for water but the one I used for blood, I grabbed one of the legs and turned it upside down so the white blood would fill up the container.

This was too good of an Energy potion to let go of, and Astrid seemed to have the same idea. Using one of her free water skins to fill up with blood, I frowned, noticing what she was doing, and asked, "Since when do you have an extra water skin?"

Astrid smiled, "Since home."

I really did not expect the Frosted Lumberjack to have prepared an extra waterskin just to harvest this kind of thing. But it was a good idea to have a bunch of those literal Energy drinks. But if one person was carrying it all, it could be a problem for when we were split. Not to mention the issue of giving it to someone else in the middle of a battle.

I looked at the body of the Eater, unable to hold back my smile. That was the monster that haunted my nightmares. The monster that killed my parents and destroyed my village, and yet because of the System, now it was just another creature I could hunt. And it was honestly quite easy killing it.

This also proved how much the System helped me. This fight was nowhere close to the fight I had against the first one I killed, as it almost killed me as well. Now, being at level 10, I could feel and see the progress in my strength. So maybe the dream that I was stopping myself from dreaming could eventually become a reality. Maybe I would be able to get rid of all the Eaters once and for all and return the world to what it was.