Chapter 6: Chapter 6: The Storm After the Previous Storm

I woke up, disoriented. The world seems much wider than it once was, a strange feeling like I can feel my bodily functions, the flow of... not blood, but something within.

And then I remembered. The world as we know it has literally ended.

By my command.

I stood back up and stomped around with my hooves. An high pitched cry echoed from above, and I saw through the lack of a roof, a wyvern-looking bird flying by.

Come to think of it, I'm fucking lucky nothing decided to attack me in my sleep. Goddamn.

But, roaming around at night like that would've probably been even more dangerous. So in a way, I did good. Rest up, make sure I'm fully prepared for the day.

Now, I gotta decide where I'm actually going to go. Wandering aimlessly would just be inviting trouble.

However, before I could really work my now-enhanced mind, a comedically large and muscular hamster strolled past the rubble and into my sight.

I looked at it, about as big as my previous form. The baby pony horse. It was climbing over the piles of debris, not really paying me any mind.

And then I felt it. A tugging at the back of my mind, an annoyance, like an itch I cannot scratch. It grew stronger and stronger as I stared at the hamster. I found myself moving closer. I focused on the feeling, like a buzz in my ears growing louder, the beeping of a bomb about to explode.

And then I managed, to unravel to puzzle.

[Warrior - Lvl 8]

Oh! An Identify.

I don't have a Skill for it, but I managed to do it regardless. And the hamster somehow suddenly twitched, visibly shuddering, after I had succeeded. It looked towards me now, at first confused, before then becoming enraged. It has sharp buckteeth, and oh shit I'm about to have my first fight!

I immediately jumped to position, taking the first horse stance I could think off, a pose like I was ready to pounce. The hamster too had crouched low, about to make a run for my position. He's smaller and a fucking hamster, and he was also 3 levels ahead. After seeing what stats can do, I'd be a fool to underestimate a foe above my own level.

Specially if I haven't spent my fucking stat points!

I didn't have time to think about it so I just brought up my status screen and distributed everything evenly. 10 points for every single stat!

Alright, calm down. Examine. Focus. Just like in theater. Just like when I perform.

The standoff shattered, and the hamster began his mad dash as he clawed and crawled his way over to me, sending piles of dust billowing into the air. I readied a Hellish Fireball and immediately shot the thing towards the monster, right ahead of his path. The ball of hellfire splashed into blood red embers before the Hamster ever managed reached me. I flew back as sparks flew every which way, the red light glinting off the rocky ruins as the heat spread out.

Did that get him?

It did not!

I immediately noticed my foe's missing form from the destruction, the sound of dust and pebbles shifting drew my attention westward. I turned, instantly, only to find the hamster atop a still-remaining piece of wall. He jumped at that exact moment, bounding straight for myself as I also reacted. I pumped my horse legs into full gear and leapt out of the way, narrowly dodging the attack.

The hamster snarled and leapt back to his feet, already in position to go at it again. But just as he turned to give chase towards me, I stopped in my tracks and raised the legs of my behind.

[Horsekick Gambit]!

My hind legs shot off, kicking the jumping hamster straight in the face. Hellburn triggered, sending a smoldering blast of my hellish fire into the creature's skull, and spreading out towards the rest of his body.

He whimpered, rolling across the dirt, the flames remaining on him without dissipating. I looked as his fur burned off and the thick muscles beneath began to boil, bursting in many places and melting in others.

Yes! I won! That was so fun!

The excitement still fresh, I could feel my horse heart pounding in my chest like a drummer going absolutely crazy. A heart rate that would have absolutely killed me were I still my previous self.

And I shouldn't be calming down just yet, the adrenaline yet needed, for the battle was far from over. I only made the mistake assuming that it was, just because my enemy was mere moments away from dying.

For a beast is at its most dangerous when cornered. Its final moments.

Dead man walking.

The creature jumped, so fast and so far I barely had time to react. It latched on to my side as its apparently sharp claws clung to my skin. Its mouth opened wide and he immediately started feasting even as he burned. Teeth dug into my flesh as I whined and neighed, kicking up dust as I ran around aimlessly in a panic.

Fuck! It hurts! It hurts!

I looked over at the creature causing me pain, rage and anger in my eyes. He was struggling too, but the hamster was getting better as the flames started to dissipate, his wounds beginning to heal. Fuck he's healing by eating me!

I might actually die, I might actually lose! All without accomplishing anything. All without ever accomplishing anything!!!

I don't want that.

I will not allow that.

I pushed away all of my panic and fear, even my rage. I focused on what's happening, my mind growing clearer even as the hamster kept on digging his fangs into me, now closing in on bone.

I gritted my teeth as I continued to run, my mind scrambling to think up a plan. I figured that it's at least better to be moving rather than staying still.

That earlier fireball cost a lot to cast, I can only pull that off twice. My Horsekick Gambit costs a mere pittance in comparison, despite being decently powerful by itself. It is clear at a glance, which is more efficient. It also seems to cause some physical fatigue, more than what a mere kick would bring. A phenomenon that suggest that it's not entirely reliant on only magic, and perhaps the Intelligence stat plays only a small role.

I felt the monster's grip tighten, the hamster regaining its strength. Out of time, I snapped towards the first plan I thought of, a mad dash towards a large boulder. I jumped at the big fucking rock, seeing the hamster uninterested in letting me go. Just as I planned for.

I swerved at the last moment and slammed the side of my torso into the hard stone, the shock traveling through my body as the hamster was crushed between myself and the hard place. Its smaller body crumpled under my weight and momentum, flattened. Like a puppet with its strings cut, the hamster weakly slid to the ground.

A shrill scream, haunting and melancholic. It was both the creature's, and my own.

But this time I did not pause, I wasted not my time. A fireball already loomed over my head as I forced my body to move despite the pain and the obviously broken bones. A hard crunch resounded as I stomped on the dazed creature before it recovered, the ball of hellfire descending not even a full moment later.

A sudden bright flash of light shot out. It surprised me, but I still kept a vigilant watch. It was only my Horsekick Gambit, stomping still counted as a kick, and therefore the light, a trigger of bright flash.

If the situation was any less dire then I would've laughed at myself, for being spooked of my own skill.

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The hamster twitched and convulsed under the heat of hellfire and the disorienting effects of the light. Its flesh was burning just as it did before, but this time down to the bone, pieces of its dark white rodent skull showing underneath the peeling skin.

I kicked again, this time triggering a deluge of hellflames. It's probably dead for sure this time, but it might pounce on me again.

I won't make the same mistake twice.

I'll reduce you to mush, and that mush to atoms.

My front legs whipped out again as I began to kick it over and over. A storm of light and fire, the roar of an eternally beating drum. A barrage that continues without ever stopping, even as I felt myself tiring out, Horsekick Gambit costing far less than a fireball for a somewhat comparable yield, but still taking toll if overused to this extent.

The hamster cried, at first, but it was soon drowned out by the crunching of bone and the rupture of arteries. Not to mention the brilliant lights and hellfire.

I was laughing now, a weird horse laugh. I reveled in the violence, the victory, the rage I previously bottled up, the pain I suppressed. Now it's all coming out as I laughed and cried amidst the loud cracking of bone and the pop of blood bursting out of their sockets. My throat began to feel hoarse, my body fatigued, wounds open and bleeding. But I was still better than the hamster, now turned into splatter, unrecognizable as the former level 8 creature.

It was my absolute, complete victory.

[You have defeated a Level 8 Warrior!]

[Your Level Has Risen to 6!]

[Your Level Has Risen to 7!]

[Your Level Has Risen to 8!]

Oh. There was a notification. Several notifications.

I think I heard the buzz and bells of it a bit earlier, amidst the slaughter and the carnage. I was too busy to give attention to the System, despite its attempts to pronounce my opponent dead. But, hey, I was busy. Maybe there's a revival skill, or some kind of play dead illusion, a trick that could make me think I've won, when I really haven't. One never truly knows, what is out there.

I looked back at the shimmering mess of red blood and flesh splattered on the ground, flames still licking it all over.

I can confidently say that I have neutralized now, all the possible tricks.

A thought brushed against the surface of my mind. [Warrior - Lvl 8] is what appeared when I identified my opponent, the notifications I received say the same thing. Does that mean it wasn't just a roided hamster, but a person? A sentient being? The classification of Warrior does make me think that he was an actual person. Perhaps someone like me, a human stuck in a horse's body. Or a hamster in this case.

In the end, it doesn't really matter. I will never feel guilt over protecting myself. For if it wasn't just wild monstrous instincts that led to my assault, then I am only all the more justified for defending myself and retaliating against my assailant.

I collapsed to the ground, satisfied with my work. I laid there and rested for an eternal moment. It was just so surreal... and terrifying. To be fighting an actual monster, myself in the body of a horse. The pain still lingered now, vividly in fact. I'm just trying to regain my mana, replenish my stamina. And then I'll use Blessed Heal on my wounds, before finally going out there.

Northwards, a wealthier part of the city. I'll try to meet up with Flaze. She's not exactly the closest to where I am, but if anyone is crazy enough to actually succeed in Systemization, or survive ego death like I did, then it'd be her. And well, if I'm being honest, I need the help. She's that type of person, the kind that's just good at everything she does. Even I think it unfair sometimes.

And then after I meet up with her, maybe we'll go look for the rest of my friends. Although with the monster I had just faced, and the terrors I've seen lurking around, I don't know if simply surviving the Systemization will be enough.

I don't know if I will be enough.

_______________

Name: Jackal Dolmer

Level: 8

______________

(Unassigned MANA: 30)

Vitality: 10

Strength: 10

Magic: 10

Agility: 10

Intelligence: 10

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Class:

[Thy Blessed Pony]

[Hell Baby]

Skills:

[Foal Blessing] (Level 1 / Integration 4% -> 10%)

[Hellborne] (Level 1 / Integration 5% -> 12%)

[Hellish Fireball] (Level 1 / Integration 9% -> 20%)

[Trailblazer] (Level 1 / Integration 1%)

[Blessed Heal] (Level 1 / Integration 5% -> 14%)

[Longstrider] (Level 1 / Integration 2% -> 4%)

[Horsekick Gambit] (Level 1 / Integration 2% -> 29%)

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