The smell of warm raw meat washed down over me. Startled, I turned towards the right.

There, most of the way up the hill, was a monster. It looked like a horned monkey, but it was missing the horn and it was fifty percent bigger. I didn’t know they got that big – almost as big as me. And it was the wrong color. Its fur was red in the front half of the body and gray on the back, instead of the creamy-gray throughout. That wasn’t the only difference. Its right hind leg was inflamed, like it had elephantiasis, the fur rough and patchy. It didn’t look like an injury. From the way the monster was walking, it looked like it was used to deformity. Which was strange since disabled monsters normally didn’t live long enough to get to adulthood.

But that wasn’t the only difference. There was a growth on its front left arm. No – it wasn’t just a growth. It was a third hand. Growing right out of the middle of the monster’s forearm. Unlike the other two hands, it only had three fingers and was half the size. But it was what the growth hand was holding that made my blood run cold. It was dragging a mangled limb, mostly bone now, with a few inches of creamy-gray fur dangling off the ball of the shoulder bone.

I recognized it immediately – a horned monkey’s arm. This weird monster had been eating it. It was then I realized that the monster wasn’t two toned. That was blood that dripped from its chin and covered the monster’s breast and front arms, staining its abnormally harsh gray fur.

Disgust twisted my stomach. Monsters ate other monsters all the time. But horned monkeys were not known for cannibalism. Then I noticed something that made my horror shift to terror.

The title bar above the monster’s head read: Unknown Lv 8.

The monster launched itself at me, tearing down the hill. Its completely black eyes, instead of the horned monkey’s reddish brown, locked on me with passionate hunger.

Panic twisted my stomach in knots, but my hand was steady as an arrow appeared and I shot it. The arrow sank into the monster's gut and chipped off a tenth of its HP, but it was like the monster couldn’t feel it. It kept coming.

I shot another arrow and missed. My next arrow landed. The monster kept coming, as if it didn’t know there were poles sticking out of it. The closer it got, the more I panicked. Why wasn’t it phased? Why wouldn’t it die? It was just six levels above me. Did it really make that much of a difference? Desperate, I shot as fast as I could, pulling arrow after arrow from my Items Bag. Only half of them landed.

The monster landed right in front of me with a thump, enfolding me in a cloud of bloody stench. The force caused the half eaten limb to slip from the growth's fingers. The spindly fingers immediately started to wiggle, as if searching for something else to hold. Without missing a beat, the monster swung its powerful arms at me.

I released an arrow, point blank, while trying to dodge backwards, but wasn't fast enough. The arrow lodged into the side of the monster's neck, just missing the kill spot, but it didn’t stop the attack. The first arm smashed into my arms and sent a numbing shock from shoulder to fingers. The force ripped my bow and arrow from my tingling fingers. The monster’s second arm hit me right across the chest.

My eyes widened as jarring pain ripped through my body. The power behind the monster's attack flung me back into the metal wall, sending another shock of pain. All the air was knocked out of me. My vision blackened until all I could see were tiny specks of light. My ears rang, drowning out all other noise except for my stuttering heart.

No matter how I tried, I couldn’t breathe. Air wouldn’t enter my lungs. Like a switch, my panic flipped to anxiety. I gasped and panted, struggling for air.

Slowly — or was it quickly? I couldn’t tell anymore — my vision cleared enough to see.

My HP bar in the corner of my vision flashed, letting me know that that one hit dropped my HP all the way down to the red.

Meanwhile, the unknown flailed about, grabbing at the arrow in its throat. Whether or not it felt pain, it was obviously agitated from the pole sticking out of its throat. It pulled at the arrow, but the reverse hooks on the arrow tip snagged on a bunch of skin and prevented it from being pulled out. The ringing faded in my ears, giving way to the monster's ruckus.

Anxiety still wrecked my thoughts, but a calm voice in the back of my mind whispered, Move. I didn’t need my bow, I could get another one. But I couldn’t get another life — I already cheated death once. Miracles aren’t a dime a dozen. Years of training guided my brain dead body along the wall towards the hole I entered earlier.

With a reverberated howl, the unknown ripped the arrow out of its neck. Blood splattered everywhere, adding to the gross mess already covering its chest. The monster flung the arrow away and turned towards me, eyes like black holes.

The metal disappeared from under my hand — the hole. I ducked into it just as the monster launched itself at me. Without the help of the wall, my air starved body collapsed into the weeds outside the ruins.

The unknown smacked into the hole, but its broad body was too big to squeeze through. The arrows still in its torso and arms caught on the rim, further preventing it from crawling through the hole. The monkey monster thrust a hand out, grabbing at me. The growth on its forearm wiggled, searching for something to grip.

I flinched back, still panting for air. My Dao appeared in my hand and I swung wildly at the groping hand.

The monster howled as a long gash split down its arm and its pinky finger fell to the ground. It clenched and unclenched its hand, as if testing the new feeling. It didn’t seem to care that blood was squirting out — it just seemed to hate the new number of digits. Did this thing really not feel pain?

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

The monster disappeared from the hole and I could hear the sounds of it banging around inside the ruins, looking for a way out. Then the wall creaked, like it was weighed down with a heavy weight.

I scrambled to my feet and ran towards the trees. But I was disoriented and out of breath, making my movements clumsy as I fought through the tangle of long weeds. I needed to relax, so my lungs could loosen enough to recover from getting the breath knocked out of me, but there wasn’t time. It was more important to get away. If only I didn’t trip over every hidden piece of trash in the brush.

Thump! A heavy noise landed just behind me and the pressure of a stronger creature washed over me, carrying the lingering disgusting smell of rancid blood. All of my senses screamed in warning.

I gripped my sword with both hands and swung around, just in time to see the unknown swinging at me. My blade caught its thick arm and I forced it to the side, its hand skimming along my shoulder pad. But the monster’s momentum continued.

It tackled me, knocking me right into the ground. My still reeling lungs screamed for air again and sent another wave of terror through my mind. The unknown stood over me, one of its feet painfully crushing my thigh and a hand pinning my right arm to the ground. I gaped up as its blood mouth opened, ready to bite me.

Desperate, I impulsively thrust my left palm out. Panic accelerated my actions and I screamed the only thing that popped into my frenzied mind. “Bubble!”

Time seemed to slow down. A pressure built in my chest, like carbonation in a drink, and spread down my arm to my fingers. A small blue light appeared in front of my palm. It swirled and grew, forming a glowing circular water bubble that expanded from one inch wide to two inches and more.

The unknown leaned forward, bloody tarnished fangs closing in on my fingers. Its black pit eyes were just as wide with hunger as its mouth. Its intention was obvious – bite off my hand, magic Bubble and all. Red saliva on the fangs brushed against my gloved fingertips.

The Bubble contacted the monster’s huge tongue – and exploded.

Water magic filled the unknown’s mouth and covered its head, ripping holes right through its already bloody fur and revealing the muscle below. The force of the attack blew the monster right off me. It staggered to the side and crumpled to the ground as half of its remaining HP was blown off with that one attack. Blood oozed from its abnormally slack mouth at a steady rate, and it seemed disoriented.

That worked? The thought barely finished crossing my mind before I lunged to my feet and thrust my hand out. This time I didn’t yell ‘Bubble,’ I just thought it. The water attack appeared in my palm, just like before.

The unknown’s blurry eyes focused on me just as I slapped down on its face. Since the first up close attack worked, another should too. The Bubble attack exploded again and sent the monster skidding back through the tall weeds a foot. Its ugly face was as bloody as ever, but it still wasn’t dead yet.

“Ah!” I gripped my Dao with both hands and swung down. The blade cut right into the fleshy part of its neck until the tip got stuck in the spine, preventing me from cutting the head off.

The unknown convulsed … and stopped moving.

Ding! [+45 EXP]

My mouth hung open as I stared down at the dead monster and gasped for air. It … was dead? I got EXP, so it was dead, right?

More System notices popped up.

Ding! [You have Leveled Up!]

Ding! [You have Leveled Up!]

I couldn’t seem to focus on them, my mind just couldn’t compute yet. My knees gave out and I stumbled back. The tip of my Dao was still stuck in the monster’s spine and the handle slipped from my numb fingers. I sank down onto the ground. The battle had flattened the tall weeds so I could still see the dead monster bleeding out.

“That was … so scary,” I whispered and pressed my shaking hand to my chest.

That was nothing like hunting the horned monkeys or even the fire martens. Although both were intense experiences, I at least felt like I was on the same level as those monsters. But fighting the unknown was completely different. It was like the mud golem, reminding me how scared and powerless I was.

I … hated that feeling. I didn’t want to feel it anymore.

Even though I was still trembling, I forced myself to stand up. Now that the threat was gone, my lungs finally relaxed enough to catch a good breath. As such, I was steady on my feet while I walked up to the unknown. My Dao was so stuck that I simply returned it directly to my Items Bag, instead of trying to jerk it out. That was when I noticed that my bow had returned to my Items Bag at some point.

“That’s weird,” I muttered. I know for sure I didn’t put it back – I had been practically unconscious at the time, then I abandoned it. That wasn’t the only weird thing: all the arrows that I shot at the unknown and missed were also returned to my Items Bag. “Double weird.” Convenient, but weird. What was going on?

Still, it wasn’t safe to investigate that now, not in the wilds. I looked down at the unknown. What the hell did I do with this? Did it have any monetary value? What was it anyway?

Last time I touched a horned monkey, the System took it apart and only left the valuable items. It should do that trick again, right? Frowning, I reached out and poked the carcass.

Ding! [The System cannot auto generate Drop Items from unknown species.]

“Oh,” I muttered, nonplussed.

So, the System really didn’t know what this monster was. Meaning, it really wasn’t a part of the horned monkey species? I should bring it in to be tested. If there were more in the wilds, other Hunters needed to know.

Since I had open industrial slots in my Items Bag, I simply put the whole carcass in there. At least I didn’t have to hang the monster on the back of –

“Shiva!” I gasped. Oh my god, I totally forgot about her.

I took out her whistle and gave it a blow. Now that I thought about it, I didn’t have to fight that unknown. It would have been ten times easier to call Shiva and let her deal with it. But, now that I fought the monster, I realized that I didn’t need any help. I could do this myself, without any crutches. Despite all the klutzy and amateurish I was in the battle with the unknown, I proved to myself that I had the ability to survive as a Hunter.

And in doing so, I earned a lot of EXP for it.

Curiously, I opened my stats menu. Since getting the System, I gained four levels – oh, and an ability. So what did that entail?

Ria Moore

E Rank

Level 5

EXP to Next LV 31

HP 13/52

MP 35/62

Strength 12 (+2)

Magic 16

Constitution 12 (+2)

Agility 16

Perception 14

Intelligence 15

*****