“Can you use the protection thing on me again?” Eik asked Michael.

The healer shook his head. “Not for another two minutes… But I think the cooldown gets shorter as the skill levels up and evolves.”

“Alright, I’ll do without it.”

“I’m gonna go check up on Heath and Sonja,” the healer said and started toward the battlefield. “That bison looks like a pincushion, but I don’t think her arrows have the power to penetrate properly yet.”

“Stay in cover,” Eik called as the young man left.

He took in the situation. With how much the Awakened bison moved around in its pursuit of the siblings, Eik didn’t see the point in trying to climb another tree. Trying out his new skill would probably be more beneficial.

A fair distance had built up during his short recovery, so he took a running start and went for the rump again. As he drew near, he willed the [Movement Boost] to trigger. Suddenly everything sped up, his legs carrying him at a velocity where his brain could barely follow. He jumped.

As if by teleportation, Eik found himself clutching the bison’s hair again, hanging on for dear life as it bucked and leapt. He only had two fingers around the hectona fang, the smooth bone slowly slipping from his grip.

“Heath, can you get this damn rodeo bull to stop for a second?”

Eik wondered if he’d even been heard over the chaos of the battle, but abruptly the bison stopped dead in its tracks. He didn’t dare look at what had stopped the beast for fear of losing the opportunity. He tried to activate the [Movement Boost] again to get to an artery, but it lasted only a moment, throwing him wide instead.

With one hand still gripping the bison’s mane he swung up and over, landing on its neck right behind the horns, facing towards its back. Seeing a chance, he plunged the fang into the side of its neck, hoping to hit something important. The Profound Toxin flooded in, squirting out along the edge of the wound.

The beast reared and flung the much smaller Eik away like a sack of garbage. He was hurled through the air but managed to land on his feet, ripping out grass as he slid.

The bison was beginning to show signs of fatigue. Its movements were unsteady and even its lunges as Heath and Sonja now seemed to be weighed down by lethargy.

“Eik, keep going! Just a bit more!” Sonja shouted as she let fly another arrow that cracked against, but failed to penetrate the animal’s thing, fortified skull. She cursed.

Eik approached once more. He had no idea how the effects of [Movement Boost] behaved yet, but if it allowed him to get close enough to stab the bastard, then that was good enough for now. He triggered the ability and flew forward, losing control of his body. His lower body seemed to be affected more intensely by the skill than his torso and arms, and that disconnect combined with the general burst of speed threw his senses off.

Somehow, he actually managed to land on his feet this time, arriving at the beast’s flank where he stumbled face first into its coat as the venom fang penetrated flesh. Another dose of toxin went in. Before the bison could counterattack, Eik reactivated [Movement Boost] and leapt away, avoiding the attack completely. He couldn’t help but grin. It was working.

The injection site was growing veiny as blood rushed in to remedy the mounting damage, skin discoloration setting rapidly setting in, a faint blue aura emanating from the wound. Heath rushed in from the front and bashed the bison across the face with his shield, following it up with a decisive stab to the eye. It roared and reared, Heath forced to jump away lest he be trampled by the thing.

As the bison exposed its stomach, Sonja managed to plant an arrow in its belly, which went deeper into the less muscled flesh than any of her attempts thus far. When it came back down, the nock of the arrow shaft hit the ground and was pushed even further in.

Michael tended to Heath’s wounds while Eik triggered his new ability again, letting that boosted momentum carry the fang deep into the beast’s flank again. It penetrated almost to the root of the fang. There wasn’t much strength left in the creature to fight back, so Eik took the chance to let his toxin flow freely into its system, the luminescent substance staining its fur blue.

After several seconds of continuous injection, Eik hopped back on enhanced legs, gradually getting the hang of his new skill. It wobbled on its feet and then collapsed. Sonja rushed in and cut through its neck with numerous swift swings of her thin blade.

“Is it dead?” Michael asked from Heath’s side.

“Yeah, definitely,” Eik said.

“Was that the new skill Michael spoke about?” Sonja asked Eik.

“Yeah, it’s called [Movement Boost]. Pretty difficult to control, though.”

“What does it feel like?”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“It’s like… I’m moving faster through time, but only part of my body comes along for the ride,” Eik chuckled.

“You’ll get used to it,” Heath reassured him. “When Sonja got her movement skill [Disengage], she jumped headfirst into the ceiling at least twenty times before she got the hang of it.”

Sonja didn’t respond as she looked the corpse over, but her expressionless face confirmed Heath’s words nonetheless.

“That’s good to hear.”

They gathered around the body of the beast that had almost gotten them in real trouble, Eik handing a healing sphere to Heath.

“So what do we do with it?”

“I guess we leave the body and have Heath carry the head back?” Eik said.

“Why me?” Heath complained and was met with raised eyebrows. “Yeah, okay, I get it, but next time Michael’s carrying the loot.”

“Let’s go to a bakery next time then.” Michael said and knelt by the beast. “So, does this look like a monster from a portal to you guys?”

“Not in the slightest,” Eik said, nudging the corpse with a foot.

Heath nodded. “Yeah, this looks too much like a bison to not be a bison. Is it… an Awakened?”

“Maybe. Or maybe it’s just mutated by whatever’s happening to the world. The environment is changing, so why wouldn’t the wildlife?”

“Either way,” Heath said and heaved the head onto his shoulder. “we should get out of here for now. It’s dangerous in this forest, and I doubt this guy was the scariest thing we could have run into.”

***

On the way back, Eik checked his wooden plaque.

[Acquired (Unique) Profound Toxin — Lv. 5]

[Acquired Movement Boost — Lv. 2]

[Acquired Movement Boost — Lv. 3]

Eik scratched a circle with three dots inside it—the symbol for the ability sheet—into the wood.

[Acquired abilities:]

[Resistance: Toxin — Lv. 24]

[(Unique) Profound Toxin — Lv. 5]

[Movement Boost — Lv. 3]

“Hey, does anybody have any evolved skills yet?” Eik asked the team.

Heath looked back, the entire antlered head on his shoulders spinning with him as he did. “Yeah, I’ve got one. I evolved my Fortitude ability into a version that also gives me resistance against the elements, like heat and cold. Got it during the second wave.”

“What level did it evolve?” Eik asked.

“It was 25, why?”

Eik double checked his plaque. “I think I’m probably getting an evolution with one more level to one of my abilities.”

Sonja did a double take. “B-But you basically just awakened. What skill is it?”

“It’s an ability called Resistance: Toxin. I’ve gotten it to level 24, although it hasn’t increased in a while.”

“What the hell did you do to get it to level 24 in a week?”

“I fell into a fracture hole the moment I awakened. It was filled with Xaraxis-3, so I kind of had to choose that skill,” Eik said with a shrug.

They all stopped and stared at him. “Are you serious?” Michael asked, his face a mask of astonishment.

“They kept envenomating me until I passed out. Next thing I know, I’m waking up in a tent with the skill at level 24.”

“So you did it in a day,” Heath laughed heartily. “I think that might be a record.”

“You should have been dead instead,” Sonja said.

Eik snorted. “Gee, thanks for the kind words.”

“You know what I mean,” she said, rolling her eyes at Eik’s cheeky grin.

“It started at level 14 for me. It said something about inherent proficiency and stuff.”

“That’s pretty damn lucky…” Michael said as they made it out of the forest proper, the city of Forest stretching out ahead. “What do you think is going to happen from now on? Will the world change again?” he continued, worry seeping into his voice.

None of the others answered and kept their eyes on their feet. It was something they had all tried not to think about ever since the first wave a week ago.

People stopped and stared as they walked through town, the enormous head balanced on Heath’s shoulders drawing attention, kids hoping to touch the pronged, antler-like horns.

Back at Mission Central Heath was directed to the back of the building where they had an area reserved for the storage of monster, both for research and to prepare for distribution to various facilities, such as tanners, smiths, apothecaries, and other artisans.

“Is that a bison?” a woman in a long robe asked as people began to gather around the table where Heath had dropped the head.

“We think so,” Eik said. “The body didn’t leave much doubt.”

“What rank are you guys?” another asked.

“F-rankers.”

“What do you reckon this guy was?”

Sonja put a finger on her chin as she thought it over. “Difficult to say,” she said. “It wasn’t very fast, but had great strength and toughness. High F-rank or low E-rank?”

The man nodded at that.

Eik, Sonja, Heath, and Michael reported on the strangeness of the forest, describing the flora in as vivid detail as they could, noting how anomalous the environment was compared to the land on which it had appeared. They discussed the colossal lake and what might lurk in its depths. Apparently, several other teams, ranging from F-rank parties to D-rank had also been sent to different parts of the forest. All of them, even the teams that had been sent out before Eik’s, had yet to return, theirs being the only one to have reported back.

That fact visibly shook the administration of Mission Central. Things were going awry fast. The whole world had become one big, inexplicable mystery.

“What’s that?” a loud voice said, attracting eyes. “New monster? Doesn’t look like anything special.”

It was Rock Fist Bart, the muscled, brainless, smelly lunatic who had smashed Eik’s beautiful, perfect, walnut countertop to pieces a week ago. Even though it felt like months ago with all that had happened, Eik was immediately fuming.

Bart’s two subordinates were still glued to each of his shoulders, hovering in the back like nervous, overworked personal assistants. They both looked just as tired of his ridiculous macho act as they had when they came to Eik’s Excellent Elixirs.

Bart the Sock Fist seemed to notice Eik for the first time, the donkey-headed look in his eyes sharpening into recognition as his meaty finger rose in near accusation. “Aren’t you that disrespectful lout from the pharmacy?” he said.

“Disrespectful lout from the apothecary.”

“There’s no difference.”

Eik crossed his arms. “It’s my shop, so it’s up to me, isn’t it?” he shot back, unable to keep his mouth shut, feeling a sense of security with the number of Awakened surrounding them.

“Eik,” Heath whispered, elbowing him in the ribs. “That’s Rock Fist Bart.”

“I’m well aware of that.”

“Did you also know that his father is Boulder Fist Gary…?”

Eik blanched at this. He was aware of a guy named Boulder Fist Gary. Boulder Fist Gary was a B-ranker—one of only a few in the entirety of Forest. He was powerful man. Not only in terms of his powers, but also sheer influence.

Gary was the top dog of a major faction in Forest, and if his dull son was close enough to his father to have gone so far as to imitate his nickname, then Eik might well and truly have stepped in it this time.