Michael’s body shuddered.
Looking up, he felt an unbelievable amount of fear coursing through his veins as he saw the shadows of the wings of the Deus Draco. Michael heard the beating of its wings get stronger.
He cursed himself for taking so long in killing the super reptiles. Despite that, Michael didn’t know why the Deus Draco came. He’s fought super reptiles before and even if the monsters were put in dire straits, the Deus Draco never came.
Why did it come now?
Michael’s mind suddenly turned to the surviving super reptile.
It was still in the process of evolving.
He then looks at the evolving super reptile. It was too busy focusing on its evolution to notice its alpha approaching the area. Still feeling his heart about to explode, Michael lightly stabs his hand. He feels the pain spread on his hand and onto his arm.
Michael’s focus returns.
He takes a deep breath and looks around for any hiding spot. He starts to become nervous again when he finds himself in the center of a large open area. Then he sees the dead super reptile’s body.
Michael rushes to the dead super reptile and hides behind its massive corpse. Jumping over the corpse, Michael lands near the super reptile’s stomach, Michael stabs it with his knife and opens it, then he starts to smear his body with as much blood and gore as he can. Once his whole body was bloody, Michael slowed down his breathing.
He hears the wings get closer.
~Thud~
The sound of wings stops but the ground shakes along with disturbed water as the massive Deus Draco lands on the wet ground.
The Draco’s sharp eyes turn towards the evolving super reptile. It roars, releasing a powerful shockwave around it. The Draco expected the evolving super reptile to cower in fear but instead, it was ignored.
Sensing that the Draco didn’t care about him, Michael cautiously takes a peek out of his hiding spot.
He sees the gargantuan Draco and finds that it has gotten bigger since their last meeting. It was now 1.5 times bigger than the average super reptile.
Michael swallowed the lump in his throat as his mind screamed at him. How did the Deus Draco get bigger? It was already big before but now, it was monstrously big.
The Deus Draco releases an earth-shaking roar at the evolving super reptile.
Michael covers his ears as he observes the creature.
Once again, the evolving super reptile ignores its alpha as it continues to change.
Staring at the evolving super reptile, Michael notices that the wound he inflicted on its eye with a bone dagger starts to heal and, within seconds, was quickly replaced with another eye. The evolving super reptile roars in pain.
Its new eye evoked terror in those that saw it as it started to quiver within the super reptile’s eye socket. Then its eye started to split in half. After gaining two eyes in a single eye socket, its eye socket started to rip itself, releasing a small fountain of blood around its face. Once its eye socket was ripped apart, the additional eye moves just behind the original eye, giving it the ability to see behind itself.
This new evolution was not yet done. To protect its eyes from future attacks, all of the evolving super reptile’s eyes were quickly covered by a third layer that had a glassy sheen.
Once its eyes are protected, it releases another roar as its wounds immediately close and heal.
Watching the nightmarish evolution occur, Michael was starting to get antsy. He didn’t want another superspecies to deal with. He gripped his dagger. He was thinking if he should go in to kill it or not but if he showed himself, the Draco would kill him.
Michael turns to the Draco, who is watching the evolving super reptile. He knew that the Draco styled itself as alpha and lord. It did not want anything challenging its rule, even if it meant that it was an advantage to its species’ long-term survival. Would it allow another creature, even if it was of the same kind, to evolve to the point that it can contend against its rule?
Michael quickly got his answer.
Before the evolving super reptile could completely finish its evolution, the Draco lunged forward with its powerful body.
It opened its jaw which showed its powerful teeth. It clamps down on the evolving super reptile’s neck. The newly evolved super reptile roars in pain as the Draco sinks its teeth into its neck and the two monstrous creatures start to fight on the water.
Michael saw that the Draco was aiming to kill. He stayed for a bit but after seeing the amount of blood gushing out of the newly evolved super reptile’s neck, Michael was confident that the Draco would slaughter the newly evolved super reptile.
Still soaked in blood and gore, Michael returned to the shore.
In the end, Michael still only had one superspecies to deal with.
----------------------------------------
Evelyn woke up the moment Michael left her.
She was in a daze. The first thing that came to her mind was her conversation with Goddess.
Did I really die?
Evelyn didn’t believe that she died but after feeling the pain from the super reptile’s jaws, she had to believe that she wasn’t in a dream.
Then… Goddess didn’t lie. I am dead… Well, I died and now, I’m in a new world… but… why do I feel like this?
Despite coming to terms with her previous fate, Evelyn didn’t feel too bothered but she was bothered by this indifference. She was grappling with this weirdness.
Then she heard the roars.
Evelyn immediately stands up but she feels a furry hand grab her arm. Looking down, Evelyn sees Michael’s small monkey companion, Bob.
Bob makes a sign which tells her to keep quiet. Unlike earlier, Evelyn smartly keeps quiet. She checked her body and noticed that she was wounded in only a few parts. Then she remembered that she was being ripped apart by the two super reptiles.
How did I survive? Those things looked like alligators but bigger and faster…
Evelyn looks at Bob. The little monkey was adorable. He had a small leaf bag and a club in his hands.
“Hey, let’s go see your friend if he’s safe.”
Bob looked confused.
“Oh… you don’t understand me… Let’s… go… see… Ugh… speaking slower won’t make him understand…”
Noticing the language barrier, Evelyn thinks for a moment.
“Michael.”
Bob’s eyes widen when he hears the name of his friend.
“Yes, Michael. Let’s go see Michael.”
Bob can’t help but slightly bob up and down as he thinks of his friend. He wanted to see Michael but he was told to stay here and guard Evelyn. His friend’s order conflicts with his desire.
“Michael is your friend right?”
In Bob’s early months with Michael, he learned Michael’s name and then eventually the word friend.
For Bob, Michael and friend were synonymous.
Bob stands up and starts to move toward the edge of the watery shore then he stops. He wanted to see Michael but at the same time, he didn’t want to disappoint Michael. Then Bob suddenly got an idea. He jumps up and down then grabs Evelyn’s hand. He then points at the distance.
Evelyn smiles.
“Yes, let’s go to Michael.”
Evelyn felt happy that she could get through to Bob despite the impossible language barrier.
Bob leads Evelyn to the edge of the shore.
Woah…
Once they reach the shore, the two of them see Michael engaging the two super reptiles in lethal combat. Evelyn was surprised at the way Michael fought the super reptiles.
He’s moving so fast.
There was no right term when it came to describing Michael’s way of fighting. He was brutal and deadly but he was efficient. He made sure that each move was working towards his target’s death.
How did he become like that?
Evelyn felt her breath being taken each time Michael did an act of almost impossible athleticism. She continued to watch until the monster came.
Once the Draco landed, Evelyn and Bob immediately hid behind a large tree with a lot of greenery.
Bob knew about the Draco from previous encounters. Like Michael, Bob put the Draco at the top of the food chain. While Evelyn didn’t know anything about the Draco, her heart started pounding the moment she saw the beast. It was an instinctual fear that told her that she’d die if it found them.
The two of them hold their breath and then eventually, they hear the Draco roar and a fight breaks out. Evelyn starts to panic when she realizes that Michael might be fighting both of the super reptiles.
Fuck! Is that thing attacking Michael? Is he dead?
She wanted to look but she didn’t want to attract its attention. Despite being far away from the fight, Evelyn felt that the rampaging was getting closer to their hiding spot.
Evelyn felt her heart rate quicken as she imagined the monster’s teeth crushing the tree hiding them and then snapping their bodies.
Then she felt something touch her shoulder.
Evelyn almost screamed but she felt a human hand cover her mouth. Following the hand covering her mouth, Evelyn sees a bloody and gore-soaked Michael.
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“!!!”
Michael puts a finger on his mouth. Evelyn stops and nods.
Michael looks around and he nods. He lets go of her mouth and she stays quiet.
He makes a “come” sign with his hands. Fortunately, this is a common sign and Evelyn understands.
Michael turns toward the direction leading home. Bob jumps on Michael’s back and hides in one of his big bags. Evelyn follows Michael as the three of them start to walk.
~ROAR!!!~
Michael and Evelyn tense a bit when they hear the Draco’s triumphant roar. With this, Michael knew that the alpha is still the alpha.
Evelyn looks around frantically. Her thoughts move at an extremely fast rate.
It’s not coming to us… Okay… we’re safe.
Evelyn suddenly hears the sound of wings flapping and she looks up. She sees the gargantuan Draco fly overhead and she finds her knees weakening.
Michael grabs Evelyn and they both hide in a nearby large hollow tree. Michael’s heart slows down and he silences his breathing. While Michael has trained himself to disappear, Evelyn didn’t have the same skill.
But they didn’t have the time to train. Then they hear the Draco land, disturbing the wildlife.
Michael was deathly still. Evelyn did her best and hoped the Draco didn’t hear her pounding heart.
Evelyn lightly taps Michael. Looking at her, Michael sees her pointing at the Draco. It was wounded, not wounded enough to be considered weakened but wounded enough. Maybe the two of them could use this to their advantage.
The Draco stopped moving and started to sniff its surroundings. The Draco looks in the direction where Michael was. Michael stared at the Draco from their hiding spot. He hides deeper into the hole with Evelyn and Bob.
Michael internally curses as he realizes that the blood that hid him earlier was now the reason the Draco was able to track him.
As the Draco slowly approached their hiding spot, Michael was trying to think of a solution. The Draco was getting closer and Michael felt Evelyn’s quickening pulse. Michael observed her so he can stop her from doing anything dangerous but unexpectedly, she looked at him with determined eyes.
Michael felt his heart skip a bit. He liked that determination.
Evelyn whispered.
“Michael… I have a plan.”
Michael listened to the Draco’s heavy footsteps. It was getting closer to them.
Michael looks at Bob who was covering his mouth with both hands. Michael then looks at Evelyn again.
He nods. Evelyn nods back.
“Okay, thank you. This thing… is tracking you through scent… right?”
Michael nodded. Evelyn was surprisingly intuitive. If she had his back, he could relax a bit more. Michael immediately removed those thoughts. If he was complacent, he would die, even if he had a partner.
“If we damage its nose and sight, we could escape.”
Michael shook his head.
“Why not?”
Evelyn was confused. Her plan was simple but for Michael, it was dangerous. Damaging the Draco could induce an evolution. Since they were both human, any creature they interacted with had an increased chance of evolution. Not only that, the creatures that evolve due to human interaction can evolve in extreme ways. The Draco is a prime example of that.
Michael didn’t know how to explain this to her.
“Why not??”
The Draco was getting closer and Evelyn was starting to become frantic. Michael knew that if they attacked it, they would need to kill it.
“Hey, Michael? Why not???”
The Draco’s breathing was close and Michael clutched his knife.
He wasn’t going down without a fight. He put strength into his legs, preparing to jump forward for a surprise attack. Then he heard a roar in the distance.
~ROAR!~
Michael immediately recognized the roar as another super reptile. It sounded distressed.
~ROAR!!~
Michael turns to the Draco, who suddenly stopped moving. It looks up and releases a roar of its own.
Michael felt a change in the air. Peeking out of his hiding spot, Michael noticed that the Draco was not afraid or looking for a challenge but its face had a confusing expression. If Michael was a super reptile, he would have recognized the Draco’s expression as panic.
It beats its wings and flies upward.
The Draco left them alone but Michael did not move. Evelyn and Bob followed his lead and stayed still.
After a few minutes of silence, Michael eventually moves. He signs for Evelyn and Bob to stay put. The two of them nod.
The surrounding was peaceful and serene as if Draco was never there. Excluding a few crushed plants, the area was devoid of super predators.
Once they were in the clear, Michael signs to Bob and then to Evelyn that they should move.
Evelyn didn’t understand Michae’s signs but she followed when Bob left the hiding spot. As of the moment, she knew that the best thing to do right now was to follow Michael.
Once she was outside and the flow of adrenaline stopped, Evelyn felt the cold air surround her body and she lightly shivers. Michael notices that and he removes his leafy cloak and offers it to her.
“No, I’m fi-”
Before she could fully decline, Michael drapes the cloak over her and locks the thread in the center.
Michael’s chest was bare and Evelyn saw a veritable amount of old wounds and scars.
She muttered a “thank you” as they traversed the forest.
Eventually, they hear the sound of flowing water. Evelyn perks up.
Water! Finally! I want to wash off those monsters’ saliva.
Michael and Evelyn break through the thick greenery and find themselves near the river.
Almost immediately, Evelyn starts to run to the water. Michael quickly grabs her. Looking at Michael, Evelyn frowned a bit.
“Hey, I’m just gonna wash my body.”
Michael nods and takes out a piece of meat from one of his fur bags. He then throws it at the river. Even before the meat reaches the water, a giant serpent leaps out and swallows the piece of meat, startling Evelyn.
“What the… Is there anything normal here??”
Michael shakes his head and approaches the water with his knife in his right hand. Unfortunately, he could not retrieve his spear but it’s not like he doesn’t have a backup.
Once Michael’s feet enter the shallow part of the river, he turns to Evelyn and beckons her to come.
She looks at the river but she doesn’t see any of the monstrous snakes.
Evelyn hated snakes. She always thought they were creepy.
Michael waits for her.
“This better not be some ploy to off me.”
Her joke was met with eye-rolling.
Despite her joke, Evelyn still disliked snakes very much. While thinking of what to do, she sees Bob confidently walk towards the shore. The little monkey seemed unaffected by the presence of the monstrous river monsters. After reaching the river’s edge, Bob gives Evelyn a smug smile.
Evelyn frowned.
If the damn monkey can do it, so can I.
Evelyn approached the water. She dipped her toes into the shallow water.
Then the water splashes and Evelyn runs back to the shore.
She looks at Bob who threw a small rock into the river. The monkey was still smug.
Evelyn scowls at Bob.
Michael ignores the two of them and starts to wash up. The stink of blood and gore was sure to attract other predators.
Despite making blood trails in the river, the serpents only watched Michael. Michael watched them as well. Michael took out another piece of boar meat and threw it to the serpents. They greedily devoured it and ignored Michael.
Seeing that Michael was being ignored, Evelyn returns to the shore and starts washing the grime and dirt off her body as she warily stares at the serpents. She washed off some of the blood on Michael’s cloak.
Michael regularly fed the serpents to keep them at bay while he cleaned himself.
Since he didn’t have a way to freeze the meat, it was better to lose it now than to lose it later through spoilage.
As more serpents came, Michael took that as a sign to leave. Michael makes a splashing sound. Evelyn and Bob, who were both playing in the shallow waters, turned to look at him.
Michael makes a sign which means “let’s go”.
Evelyn still didn’t understand but it was obvious that they couldn’t stay anymore. Bob, on the other hand, understands and quickly waddles toward the shore.
Once they’re out of danger, Michael gives the two of them a small dry fur rag. Bob immediately starts to wipe his body down. Evelyn reluctantly takes the fur rag and observes it.
These are quite small… What animal does it come from?
Seeing Michael nonchalantly dry himself with the small animal fur, Evelyn surrenders and dries herself as well, ignoring the smell. After a bit of cleaning up, the three of them move out.
“Hey, where do you live?”
Michael stops and looks up. He raises his hand and points upwards. Evelyn follows Michael’s finger and sees the top of the waterfall.
“Oh… wow. Wait… how are we going to get up there?”
Michael doesn’t reply and he walks.
“Don’t tell me we’re climbing it??”
Michael ignores her and walks forward.
“Hey!”
Evelyn chases after Michael.
It wasn’t long before Evelyn sees the bottom of the waterfall. Ignoring the large pool of water full of giant serpents, Evelyn’s eyes widen as she studies the structure near the waterfall.
The area leading to the bottom of the waterfall had been cleaned and there was a clear path. The grass was trimmed and the side of the deep pool was fenced off with twine rope that was attached to multiple wooden sticks embedded in the ground. Looking at the nearby cleared-out area, Evelyn could see logs stacked on each other with a crude stone axe embedded on a nearby wooden stump.
She was impressed but all of these paled in comparison to the structure installed on the side of the waterfall. It was a makeshift elevator. Giving it a good look, Evelyn noticed that it had old parts but she also noticed that there were new parts.
Michael must have improved it over time.
Besides the elevator, Evelyn noticed an unfinished staircase. It wasn’t even half of the way up but it was still impressive considering that Michael didn’t have carpenter tools.
Michael goes near the fenced pool. He takes one of the full fur bags and throws all the meat in the center. Almost immediately, all the meat was devoured by its monstrous inhabitants. Evelyn, who was watching Michael, was surprised.
“Why did you do that?”
Michael turns to Evelyn to sign but he stops when he realizes that she can’t understand him. He then points at the elevator.
Evelyn sighs.
“Up then?”
Michael nods.
Entering the elevator with Evelyn, Michael starts to pull. Evelyn hangs onto the wooden rail as the rickety makeshift elevator starts to go up.
“Wait, where’s Bob?”
Michael holds the rope, which completely stops the elevator, and points at the stairs.
While the stairs weren’t complete, Michael already put down markers on the wall by stabbing soft parts of the wall with tough sticks. Evelyn sees Bob happily climb the markers.
“Oh, at least he’s exercising.”
Michael’s breathing was calm but Evelyn could see that he was exerting a large amount of strength to carry the two of them.
“You’re exercising too… When you first came here, was your body like mine too?”
Michael nods.
“Did you get stronger, stronger than when you first came here?”
Michael nods again.
Evelyn is quiet for a bit.
It’s hard to keep a conversation with someone who can’t speak…
Internally sighing, Evelyn doesn’t even attempt to restart the conversation.
The two of them silently reach the top of the waterfall. Evelyn felt surprised as she saw Michael’s home.
The top of the waterfall was filled with a variety of structures and items that only a human could have made.
The greenery around the area was trimmed to look symmetrical and pleasing to the eye. Evelyn didn't see any dangerous-looking plants. Turning to a fenced area, Evelyn sees a small patch of tilled land. There was no sign of sprouting yet but she knew that Michael planted something.
The flowing river was fenced off as well but Evelyn noticed that there was a small bridge connecting one side to the other. The bridge was made out of crudely carved wood. It was rough but Evelyn felt that it was tough and could withstand a great amount of weight.
On the other side of the river, Evelyn sees a small stone structure. It seemed incomplete. She wanted to ask Michael about it but she still had a language barrier to deal with.
While Evelyn looked around, Michael locked the elevator. After securing the elevator, Michael taps Evelyn’s shoulder. She makes a slight jump, surprised.
“Oh, sorry. I was just impressed by your… home...”.
Michael looks around and nods. To be honest, Michael was proud of his current achievements.
He beckoned for Evelyn to follow him.
Evelyn nodded and walked toward him.
Michael pointed at the cave.
The hole of the cave was covered with planks of wood. It looked like the end of a barrel, a very horribly carved barrel. At the center of this huge barrel end was a rectangular door. The door was simple. It was basically a wooden wall with a wooden handle. Looking at the roughly made entrance, Evelyn looked perplexed. She knew that Michael had tools but were those tools really capable of carving wood like this?
“How did you carve these?”
Michael looks back, thinking about how he should answer her question. Unsure of how to elaborate his thoughts, he instead signs by tapping on his wrist.
“Time?”
Michael nods. He then taps his wrist multiple times.
“A lot of time? We have a lot of time?”
Michael nods again. He then pulls the door handle and the two of them enter the cave.
Once they’re inside the cave, Evelyn notices that it was not yet fully fixed. The stone floor wasn’t fully covered with wood and some parts still required cleaning.
The cave was big enough to fit many of Michael’s items and containers.
In one corner, one could see a wooden shelf with many tools. They were all crude but Michael made a variety of tools for almost every situation.
Looking at another corner, Evelyn sees a big bed. Looking at Michael, Evelyn saw that he was wearing leaf clothing but his bed used fur and some material similar to cotton. Compared to his regular wear, the bed looked comfy.
I wonder why he’s not wearing fur clothing?
Michael goes to a table with a chair. Evelyn watches Michael as he looks around for something.
Bob goes to his bed, a small comfy fur bed near Michael’s bed. The tired monkey lies down.
Michael takes a small pack of objects from his work desk and goes toward Evelyn. Evelyn looks at Michael’s hands. Her eyes widen in surprise when she sees the object in his hand.
“Is that… paper!?”
Michael takes out a sharpened piece of charcoal and starts to write on one of the pieces of paper.
He shows it to Evelyn.
Evelyn reads out the words.
“If you want to communicate with me, you will need to learn how to sign language.”
Evelyn frowns.
“Can’t you just write on the papers?”
+No. It takes an insane amount of time to create paper. I only have the batch I have now.+
“Tsk. I’m not good at learning stuff.”
Michael was about to write but he stops.
He summons the log and shows it to Evelyn.
“What the? You can summon a book?”
Michael opens it to show a page.
“What are you trying to show me?”
Looking at the page, Evelyn sees nothing but a blank.
“There’s nothing there.”
Michael thinks of Evelyn so that her information shows up in the log. He waits for Evelyn to comment on the information.
“Still nothing.”
Turning the book so he can read it, Michael looks at the page.
???
Classification: Animal (Proto-Superhuman)
Description: A human at the peak of the human condition and more, ??? was sent to Teremarae as the second human being. While she has only been in Teremarae for a short while, she’s already leagues above most peak-level athletes from Earth.
Divine Gift: Unbreakable - ??? has an extremely durable body that can withstand large amounts of punishment, exceeding normal human limits.
Possible Effect: NA
Evolution Number: 1st Iteration: Peak of the human condition.
He wonders if the log’s information is only visible to him. Michael didn’t know and since he couldn’t arrive at an answer, he dismisses the logbook.
The log disappears from Michael’s hand and he starts to write again on the parchment.
+Name?+
Evelyn reads it and she nods.
“My name is Evelyn, Evelyn Pendelf.”
Michael then signs.
“I can’t understand that.”
Michael points at Evelyn and then he makes a sign. Then he points at himself then he makes another sign.
“Evelyn? And Michael?”
Michael nods.
“So, this sign means Evelyn, and this one means Michael?”
Michael nods again.
Evelyn tries to emulate what Michael did. Michael helps her quickly memorize the two names.
“Oh, okay… That’s… nice. I guess?”
Michael nods.
He then points at Bob.
Then he makes a sign.
“Ah, so this means Bob?”
Michael nods.
Evelyn quickly copies the sign.
Michael continued to teach Evelyn basic signs that can be used for everyday situations. He was impressed at how fast she learned and memorized the signs that he taught her. Right there and then, Michael confirms one thing he’s been thinking of for the past few months.
For some reason, he learned skills at a very fast rate, faster than even what most people would call prodigies. At first, Michael thought that it only applied to him but it seems to apply to Evelyn as well.
While Michael was stuck in his thoughts, Evelyn seemed excited. Despite her initial reaction to sign language, she couldn’t believe how easy it was to learn.
Why am I learnings this so quickly? I was always bad at my studies!
Michael smiles as he watches Evelyn breeze through the first basic signs.