“What do you want?
A mere seconds after he went to the surface, he was ambushed by a scorpion with it trying to stab him with its stinger but failing.
And now here it is, clicking its claws and circling around him. Hans stares at the scorpion annoyed before the scorpion leaps at him, trying and failing to grab him with its claws and its stinger once again bouncing
Hans raised one of his claws and proceeded to slam it down.
The scorpion was surprisingly agile as it dodged his attempt at killing it, the ground shattered as sand went everywhere, leaving a small crater.
Hans pulled his claw from the ground and began swinging both of his claws at the smaller scorpion.
The scorpion kept dodging his attacks, some it barely dodged which led Hans to start using his tail blade instead.
Facing the barrage of his claws, and tail blade, Hans came closer to crushing the small scorpion.
Then the small, distracted scorpion got swallowed by a fox. The small fox stared at him as he saw a bulge going down its throat before running off in the distance. Huh, it would seem that the ambusher got ambushed. Was that considered irony? Meh.
Still though... He stares at the direction the fox runs off before shrugging. “Welp, that was that I guess."
Then he heads off.
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“What does a pig say when it’s a hot day? ‘I feel like bacon!’”
You have slain [Marking Fox - Lv. 10]!
[Grapple - Lv. 9] Leveled Up!
[Grapple] has achieved the max level. Please choose your desired path for the skill to take.
Path of Constrict: Able to increase your grip and squeeze your target to death when grappling.
Path of Flexible: Make your limbs more flexible, making it so you grapple your opponent easier.
“Yeah I agree, that joke was horrible.” Hans drops the now dead fox and turns his attention to the notifications.
“Hmm, so the choice is between being able to squeeze or being more flexible,” Hans muttered, reading the description.
Neither of the two was exactly amazing because while the Path of Constrict did at first glance since allowing him another way of eliminating his targets, though he doubted he was gonna be using it much.
After all, he didn’t use the skill [Grapple] at all, considering he had a skill that allowed him to crush skulls and a tail that had a blade on it that could also be coated in venom. It just didn’t have synergy with his other skills either.
In fact, lately, he has only been using the skill for two reasons. To wrestle a flying monster to the ground which seems to be rare since he only encountered one and reason two, to level it up to see what paths it offers.
So, Path of Constrict wouldn’t make the skill any more useful.
Path of the Flexible on the other hand, while not as deadly as the Path of Constrict, does synergize well with his other skills.
After all, his being more flexible allows him to stretch his limbs further thus, increasing the range for skills like [Crush] and [Venom Slash].
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
And so, he chose the Path of the Flexible.
Hans then felt his limbs begin to have a tingling sensation throughout his body before it stopped just as quickly as it started.
Congrats, [Grapple - Lv. MAX] has become [Flexible Grapple - Lv. 1]!
[Flexible Grapple- Lv. 1]
Improve one’s flexibility and allow one to move their body to a superhuman level.
He raised one of his claws and began moving it around. The movement was about the same except he could move it further to left, right, and up.
His tail’s movement was also less stiff than it was before.
Overall, the new skill was doing as it was intended.
Now, he needs to level up the rest of his skills.
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Hans felt claws and teeth, scratching, and gnawing at the hard exoskeleton of his claw, as a fanged rat tried and failed to do any damage to him before he stabbed his tail blade deep into its neck.
You have slain—
He barely registered the notification before he dodged another rat lunging at him. Hans then proceeded to slam his claw into the lunging rat’s head, killing it.
Hans then picked up the dead rat and threw it at an acid spitter that was creeping toward him.
It spat acid at the corpse, turning it into a sizzling, melting, flesh ball and splatting onto the ground, around three to four feet from the snake.
You have slain [Fanged Rat - Lv. 6]!
The acid spitter hissed and raises half of its body upright, rattling its tails, looking vigilant and ready to attack at any sudden movement.
Hans narrowed his eyes, clicking his claws, and began slowly circling the snake, observing it for any weakness.
The first thing he noticed was that the acid spitter was larger than most of its kind, its tail had serrated edges to them, had dark-yellow scales, and a shrewd look in its eyes.
He most definitely would have to be careful around it.
Only the sound of rattling and the clicking of claws could be heard as the two waited for each other to make the first move.
And Hans was the one to do so.
Digging his claws into the ground, and proceeded to throw a large amount of sand at the acid spitter, in an attempt to obscure its vision.
The acid spitter responds with a glob of acid at him, missing him as Hans digs into the ground and disappears.
Seeing this, the acid spitter hissed and began scanning its surroundings, now even more vigilant and tense.
Hans then leaps out of the ground, his claws raised and ready to club the snake.
However, to his surprise, Hans found himself smack to the ground, and acid covering his back, causing him to hiss in pain but ultimately, the acid was unable to cause any serious damage.
[Pain Resistance - Lv. 2] Leveled Up!
“You know, I expected many things, but what I didn’t expect was just how weak your acid is. I mean, the last guy who managed to splash me with acid, had melted one of my claws off, while you can’t even do any lasting damage to me!” Hans said in a mocking tone.
“It’s especially embarrassing considering that display you had with that dead rat! Guess you acid spitter can’t do anything right, huh?”
The acid spitter while unable to understand the words that Hans had said, was able to understand the meaning and tone behind them.
Thus, it proceeded to rear its head back, and its cheeks began to burgle, before letting out a large glob of acid the size of a human head.
”Oh shit.”
Hans dove toward his left, just barely avoiding the large glob of acid that was now melting through the sands, creating a hole in the ground that was still sizzling.
You have learned [Taunt - Lv. 1]!
[Taunt - Lv. 1]
Anger your target into diverting their attention to you.
Hans took a long stare at the sizzling hole before turning his gaze to the acid spitter.
”I still stand by what I just said.”