His jaw moved, grinding the flesh between the molars on the back. Zach tried his hardest to move his tongue out of the way, dodging any contact with the flesh. But it was futile. The taste seeped into his taste buds, and the disgusted look on his face slowly toned down into a normal curious face. ‘It’s not that bad,’ Zach thought. For something looking so horrendous, the taste was quite normal, and if his tongue wasn’t messing with him he could hardly tell it apart from chicken breast. Finally, he swallowed it down.
Zach waited for a while, wishing there was no adverse reaction to such meat. A whole five minutes and he was fine. But realization hit. The thing he hoped for did not come as perhaps the giant stick insect wasn’t deemed to fit the criteria of being unique or he might just hit the ninety percent failure rate of this effect. One thing came to mind, eating it again was the way to go to see if he could obtain bonus points.
Shaking his head, Zach was starting to regret taking the high road rather than the easy way out. Who knew he had to be a weird gourmet in order to gain bonus status points? But his future called for it. If he wanted to succeed, he had no other choice.
Zach nibbled another and before long it was his seventh skewer of giant stick insects. Calrin happily obliged roasting for Zach as he was delighted seeing Zach enjoying the skewers he made, not like he knew the truth of course. As it was probably better not to know for the likes of Calrin.
By the time he finished his seventh, his stomach had reached its limit. The easily satiated effect of Dominion of Satiety only made it harder for Zach to stuff his food down his throat as without an appetite, eating had become an ordeal. Then by the heaven, it came.
[You have eaten Giant Phasmida(Lv.2). Dominion of Satiety activated.]
[You have gained +1 Perception.]
He raised his hand in triumph with the stick skewer still in his hand. It was a silent celebration as the smile revealed it all. Calrin was touched seeing Zach being this happy. It was a misunderstanding, but nevertheless, Zach had earned a silent supporter. Besides that, through this skill of his, he inadvertently discovered a method of identifying the monster name and level that he had eaten. Well, he would have preferred having the usual identifying skill, but he had to make do with what he had right now.
“Sorry to break your peasantry meals, but I’ve found a better alternative,” Mathias said. He came back after going alone for a while.
“Do you want one, milord,” Calrin handed out a skewer to Mathias. The man with blonde hair leaned back in revolt. Despite wearing that disgusted look at least he tone down in his speech. “Thank you, but never in the seven hell will I eat it.”
“So what did you find?” Zach asked.
To that, Mathias let out a sly grin.
They trod through the forest floor for a while and found themselves in the lusher part of the forest with shrubs growing way above their waistlines. There was not even a path as Zach and Calrin could only trust Mathias to lead the way.
“Get down,” Mathias said. Hiding his upper half within the shrubs as the others followed suit.
“I don't see anything,” Zach said.
“Well you’re looking at the wrong way,” Mathias chimed. He beckoned Zach to come over, and Zach swaddled to Mathias’ side. He brushed aside the shrub and pointed at the tree top.
Zach looked up and saw something hanging by the branches. His jaw fell, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. Eight hairy limbs hung on different branches of different trees as the sheer size of the limb's owner defied the scale of the giant stick insect or giant Phasmida. It was huge, and that was an understatement. Zach observed it with careful eyes and discerned the two horns on its familiar-looking head.
‘It’s a bull,’ he thought, and he wasn’t wrong. This upside-down creature had the body and head of a bull and the limbs of a hairy tarantula. If it wasn’t shocking enough, he swore the bull size was twice as big compared to the biggest bull he had seen in the prairie of Greatland. But amazement was quick to fade replaced by a sudden fear. Zach glanced at Mathias’ smiling face as if the blondie didn’t even know what he got themselves into. Judging by the sheer size of the bull-spider, he doubted it was the same level as the giant Phasmida.
Zach grabbed Mathias by the collar and pulled him close. “Are you crazy? How on earth do you think we’re going to kill that thing?” Zach whispered. Restraining his tone down, trying not to make his presence known.
“Relax,” Mathias said. “I have a plan in mind, and it doesn’t involve you as bait.”
Zach was unsure of this as he wasn’t confident of his level to contend against an opponent like the bull-spider. But seeing the confidence in Mathias made him second guess his own reasoning, and thought perhaps he should give Mathias a chance.
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The blondie explained to Zach, and surprisingly the plan wasn’t that bad. “Don’t forget. I’m still a noble with proper tactical education. So yes, I’m not a foolish pervert like you think I am. Well, the pervert part is true though,” Mathias said, chuckling.
Mathias's plan was reasonable, but Zach doubted its effectiveness. Not when they knew nothing about this new opponent of theirs and looking at those eight hairy limbs, he had a hunch that outrunning it would be an impossible feat, especially with his current agility stat.
It would have been better if he had an identifying skill so could dissuade Mathias through proper facts. But he couldn’t. The only thing he could rely upon was his eyesight and his assumptions. If he followed his realistic pessimist approach, then retreating was the best option. But an unspoken rule had been known to him, the bigger the risk the bigger the reward, and inside a game-like system, it couldn’t be any more true to those words. In a situation where fortune favored the bold, Zach had to change his mindset a bit even to his own frustration.
“Fuck it. Let’s do this,” Zach whispered.
Mathias relayed the plan once more to Zach and Calrin. Dividing the parts to one another as they readied their souls for this treacherous mountain they were about to climb. But before they part away, Zach held Mathias by the shoulder.
“I thought you’re the type that avoids danger,” Zach said.
“Well as you can see, my class isn’t exactly allowing me to be at leisure,” Mathias said. “Sooner or later, the truth will come out, and it’s better for me to be prepared rather than being burned at a stake.”
A valid reason and that alone let Zach know that there were others beside him striving to get stronger. It might be long or it might be short, soon the advantage of knowing what the system was would be useless as most would slowly adapt and make use of the system to their advantage. And it would be in Zach’s best interest to strive first before the others.
The group parted, and Zach found his position. Hiding behind a thicket. They had done their preparation and it was time for the plan to be unfolded. In his hand, Zach held a torch, unlit. Preparing for Mathias to start it all. He waited, then came the signal.
Under the shade of the forest, a bright ball of flame flew and smashed against the ground right underneath the bull-spider. The flames dispersed into smaller balls of flames. Landing on the greens around the bull-spider, lighting them up in a bold rush of wildfire. Again, Mathias did the same trick he used last time, and this time it was a planned action.
At the same time, Zach and Calrin lighted up their torches as they started to burn the dry leaves, branches, and grasses they laid on the ground that formed a circle with the bull-spider right in the middle. The flames picked up the wind from the north, and they blazed even brighter.
The bull-spider awakened from its slumber. Feeling the heat around it as it dropped to the char-ground with its eight pointy limbs. Unlike a normal bull’s head, it had eight eyes scattering around the place and all it could see were trees being burned. It let a mix of a screech with a bull’s mooing. Fearing the flame as within seconds, it burst into a maddening leap. The bull-spider dropped at a safe spot, away from the fire. But far away the flames were coming at it like they were caging it in a prison of fire.
Zach adjusted Mathias’ plan a bit, making the circle of flame bigger than expected, in case the bull-spider could leap to safety, and it paid off. The flames were closing down on it, and the bull-spider could do nothing but ran where the lusher green was still intact.
But unknown to the bull-spider, its path of salvation led it stumbling to a person with two shields in his hands. As if it had been planned to lead to this place. Calrin took his position and raised two shields in front of him. He had been given Zach’s recovered shield, taking the role of blocking the bull-spider path. Calrin could feel his heart beating in his ears as this encounter was making him shiver in his boots. Facing it alone with its size towering over him, Calrin was close to shitting himself in his pants. But a role had been trusted on him, and Calrin would not let Zach down.
“Guard Stance!” he bellowed a war cry as his defense was bolstered through his sole skill.
The bull-spider screeched and mooed at Calrin as its instinct raged against an unknown stranger. The fire was already making it anxious and now a human barred its path, further pushing the creature to a corner. It leaped off the ground and plunged its horns toward Calrin. They clashed, and the winner was decided. Calrin was sent flying like a ragdoll as even two shields couldn’t withstand the devastating impact of a bull-spider’s horn attack.
Calrin tossed and rolled over the fire, and then to the green. He stopped the moment he crashed into a tree and lay there motionless. It might have been seen as a futile effort, but it wasn’t. Zach came from behind under the cover of the shrubs, brandishing his sword. In an instant, he cut one of the limbs down like it was nothing, and he wasn’t stopping. The cry of the bull-spider was deaf to Zach’s ear as he slashed at the other limb. Another cut clean close to its body, blood spilling on the ground as he had done massive damage to this monster of a creature. But before he could cut another one, another limb smacked him right in the flank.
In a second, he was gone where he stood. Zach lay on the ground, unmoving. Yet a cough could be heard. He got up, propping himself with the sword as an aid. That flick really did some damage and he swore he could feel a few of his ribs fractured, and the pain justified it. Another screech of the bull-spider erupted over the sound of burning trees. He eyed the incoming bull-spider, who was hell-bent on taking its revenge.
But Zach saw something in his opened status window. He smiled as at least something went right. “Thanks to you, my pain stack finally broke to the sixth,” Zach said. His left forearm bled and it wasn’t because of the bull-spider. Numerous self-inflicted shallow cuts on his left forearm and it wasn’t without purpose. Zach earned another boost in strength and agility and he was readied for another clash.
He raised his sword as the bull-spider crawled towards him, slower without two of its more prominent limbs. The distance shortened and it was a few feet away from Zach. But before it could reach him, a ball of flame slammed it right on its blind spot.
Mathias’ fireball hit, and the flame went mad.