Filled with excitement, Sam, a lone human, ventured deeper into the dense forest teeming with roaming beasts.Every step he took was calculated. He knew that any misstep could alert a hidden predator, so he moved carefully and swiftly, blending seamlessly into the environment.
His senses were heightened, his ears tuned to the slightest rustle, his eyes scanning every shadow. Despite his vigilance, several minutes passed without any sign of beasts.The chilling night wind gently swept through the quiet forest, causing the leaves to sway back and forth. Moonlight trickled through the tall trees, subtly illuminating the forest floor with a ghostly glow. Sam paused for a moment, ducking behind a large tree to analyze the situation.
"The disappearance of the beasts is far from normal," he muttered to himself.
"There's a chance this is caused by human interference."
Back on Earth, Sam learnt a thing or two from a book called "The Breathing Wilderness," one of the main point in this book is that "don't ever ignore an oddity in nature." He don't know how accurate his knowledge is considering this is about beasts of unknown origin in an unknown place but he believes his knowledge about it is not completely off. Besides, the system had indicated that the beasts roamed the forest hunting for prey. In such a predator-rich environment, total silence was unusual. There should have been some noises—growls, howls, the rustling of creatures moving through the underbrush.
Sam moved forward again, his eyes scanning his surroundings even more fiercely than before. Every rustle of leaves and snap of a twig heightened his senses. He knew he was close, and his intuition paid off. He finally found it, a battle trace.
Three corpses lay sprawled on the ground, charred and bearing several cut wounds. These weren't just any creatures; they resembled rabbits, but on closer inspection, they seemed to be a bizarre combination of rabbit and kangaroo. Each had a single large white horn protruding from its forehead, and their bodies were as large as motorcycles.
"Hm? What's this?" Sam murmured, approaching the ground near a destroyed campfire.
As he got closer he didn't need to inspect it closely to know what lay before him. The "thing" Sam found was a severed left arm and a right leg, ripped apart from their owner's body.
"Shit... There goes my appetite," Sam said tiredly, his face twisting in disgust.
He knelt beside the remnants of the campfire, analyzing the scene. According to the evidence, the battle likely started with an ambush by the beasts. One unfortunate group member had been caught off guard, losing his entire left arm, probably trying to defend himself in a desperate last moment. The severing blow was likely delivered by the horn of one of the rabbit-kangaroo hybrids. The group had fought valiantly, eventually defeating the beasts, but "something" had ripped apart another member’s right leg. It seemed the survivors had fled, too exhausted to fight, with no sign of human corpses other than the dismembered limbs.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"A coordinated attack from the beasts shows some intelligence, but I doubt it was these three rabbit corpses leading the charge," Sam muttered to himself, piecing together the scenario.
"There's a beast commander or leader here. I'm 99% sure of it."
As Sam searched the area for anything valuable or any clues, he heard a rustling sound not far from him. His heart rate quickened, and his muscles tensed.
'Looks like this is gonna be my first encounter with a living beast of this forest,' Sam thought, a small grin forming on his face.
He traced the sound, moving stealthily through the underbrush. Finally, he spotted the source: a rabbit-beast gnawing on the corpse of a creature resembling a wild boar.
'Identify,' Sam thought, activating his skill to assess his opponent.
[??? - lvl 3]
'Hm... Lvl 3, it should be manageable to fight this thing. Now I just need to wait for the right moment to strike'
The plan was simple, all he needed to do is to wait until the rabbit focused solely on eating the Boar corpse, when it's unaware off it's surrounding, Sam will strike it down from behind.
Sam circled around the rabbit-beast carefully, finding a perfect position. Minutes ticked by. One minute. Two minutes. Three minutes. As the fourth minute approached, Sam saw his chance. He took a deep breath, tightened his grip on his sword, and leaped forward like an arrow, striking the unsuspecting beast with a powerful downward slash in one fluid motion.
*Krriekk!!* The beast cried out, the slash aimed precisely at its spine in an attempt to cripple its movement.
Before committing to this attack, Sam had considered finishing it with a blow to the head or heart. But he quickly dismissed the idea. Striking the head from behind felt a bit difficult when Sam simulated it in his mind, and aiming for the heart without enough information about the beast's anatomy was a risky gamble he's not willing to take for now. So, crippling its spine was the safest bet for Sam.
The beast turned around and it's eyes is red in anger, immediately the beast begin to charge at Sam. Well, a useless attempt by the beast though, because the moment the beast tries to leap toward Sam it suddenly looks distressed as if it cannot move their monstrous Rabbit legs. Sam looking at the helpless rabbit like a piece of meat on a cutting board smiled, his attempt to cripple the beast movement works!
'"Thanks for being my first beast you big ass rabbit and also for helping me confirmed my theory about one of your weaknesses beast, may you find peace after death, farewell." Sam said while moving closer to the Rabbit, and finally when he's close enough he beheaded the rabbit and the rabbit corpses fall to the ground with a thud lifelessly.
*You have slain [Kabbit Cub - lvl 3 - Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level. 4 SP earned*
*'Ding!' Class: [Warrior] has reached level 1 - Stat points allocated, +1 free point*
"Phew... The hunting session took a lot more time than I imagined but oh well this is still a nice experience though" Sam said while smiling looking at the system notification.
He had won against his first beast, even though he didn't face it head on and struck it down silently from behind he's still felt great. The feeling when he followed his plan and making it come true to reality still clear in his mind, but this is far than enough. He wanted to try a lot more thing, he wanted to hunt more of these forest beast.