Chapter 116: Chapter 115: Prowl

As I prowled through the knee-high grass, I couldn’t help but think back to the last time I hunted here. 

Well, calling it a hunt was a stretch. It was on my first visit to [Floor 1], when all I wanted was a peek, to see what Labyrinth has to offer. Instead, I ended up fighting two of the beasts.

Both horned rabbits were below level 40, yet I had a lot of trouble defeating them and almost got beaten myself and lost in the Labyrinth in the meantime. 

Despite my confidence that nothing like this would happen again, now and then, doubt crept into my mind. After all, I didn’t go through any combat training and still fought my way. That was the clumsy form I showed in the fight with the guardsman. The brute style, as some called it, and I even got a class in evolution for it.

But that wasn’t the point. It was the fight itself. I almost beat Clay if he hadn’t cheated. Yeah, I was still bitter about that. Even so, a close fight. So when I could keep up with a trained guardsman, killing a horned rabbit shouldn’t be such a problem anymore, in theory.

In my experience, nothing ever went exactly as planned, and I didn’t expect that to change while struggling with rabbits.

As I said, I had my doubts now and then. Was it a sign of weakness? Nah, I’d say nothing weird. I would find it odd if I didn’t have some. Moreover, according to Deckard, overconfidence has been the undoing of many seekers.

Speaking of the devil, spotting the horned rabbit was much easier without my mentor around. Unfortunately, I saw my first prey before I got close enough for the rabbit to be in the range of [Sense of Beast]. Thinking about it, 200m wasn’t that much, not here between the green meadows and rolling hills. I know. It was only the first tier of this skill, and I could expect that range to grow with the following tiers.

Except that was it! I could grow a more useful skill in its place.

“Ha!” I let out a heavy sigh if only in my mind, soothing it with [Indomitable Will] and using [Silent Prowl] to calm my heart and breathing. I masked my presence to hide from the sensations of my prey on which I set my eyes. 

Cautiously creeping forward, I was conscious of the rustling of the grass as I moved through it. Not a lot of noise, but the rabbit’s ears seemed to be as sensitive as mine, if I remember correctly. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much more I could do about it.

And so I moved forward step by step, expecting that at any moment, the beast might notice my presence. 

It didn’t happen, not even after I got within range of [Sense of Beast], and I felt the full effects of it for the first time.

Even though the hornet rabbit was still far away, I was aware of its every breath, twitch of its nose, or flick of its ears. Needless to say, it was weird. Helpful in gauging its reactions but odd, making my prey more alive than I needed right now. The rabbit was just grazing peacefully on the fresh grass, minding its own business, unaware of me and my intention to kill it.

What did that make me? A murderer? A killer? No! Right now, I was a predator.

To my amazement, I got within 50 meters of the beast before it reacted. Quite an unexpected feat, considering the noise I was making. My footsteps may have been light and soundless, as the skill description said, but me forcing my way through knee-high grass was not.

The horned rabbit paused, pricked up its ears, just to turn his head in my direction. At that moment, I knew it had caught wind of me. The spell of my prowl vanished. 

Not waiting for the rabbit’s next move, be it to rush me down or hop on me so it could crush me with its weight, I dashed forward as fast as I could, using [Swift as a Whip] to its full potential. Tensing my muscles and tendons under the weight of the double speed, I covered the distance in fewer steps than I expected, reaching the rabbit just as it turned its body to face me.

It was time for [Fierce Pounce] to shine.

Of the two choices I had, I chose the claws. It seemed a safer pick when I had no idea exactly how the skill worked. After all, no matter how hard, a punch could do nothing but piss off the rabbit.

With the skill active, I slashed its neck. And what a slash it was. My claws cut into its flesh easier than I anticipated, deeper too. Only a bone stopped my strike and a whiff of panic.

Under the painful squeal-roar of the horned rabbit, I pulled out my now blood-stained fingers, slashing with my other hand. To the beast of frustration, I stayed close to its side, giving it no chance for a frontal charge. 

Was it always this easy?

Not letting myself be lulled by the course the fight was taking, I hacked away as fast as I was able, trying to do as much damage to the beast as possible while I could. 

Unable to get rid of me, the horned rabbit roared again, his muscles tensed, and it jumped away, leaving behind a trail of blood that fell to the ground like red rain. 

I went after it.

Not pushing my advantage would be a mistake. However, the mistake turned out to be my neglect of the issue that plagued my previous battles with those beasts, stones hidden in the grass. After two steps, my unprotected foot has found one. No need to say, it ripped a painful whine from my throat and sent me into a front roll.

Before, I would have hit the ground face first. Yet now, Deckard’s fairly basic training proved helpful again.

And [Sense of Beast] too, the rabbit did not get out of the range of the skill. So even amid my personal failure, I knew the wounded beast didn’t make a run for it. Instead, as soon as it landed, it spun around and rushed at me at a speed I couldn’t hope to match, even with all of my current skills.

To stand in its way would get me killed, as I didn’t have the mass or the skills to face this beast directly. At least not yet, not with ones selected in my current skillset. Sure, I could have used my beast presence to intimidate the rabbit. All I had to do was roar, maybe not even that, and it would have stopped, perhaps even run away. Easy, right?

Or I could change, submit to the beast, increase my speed by doing so and end this quickly. Though I really didn’t want to do that, since it hadn’t been that long since I’d starved to death for doing so.

Dragging this out using poison was also an option, and I should if I ever wanted to level [Tail of Poison Empress]. When I thought about it earlier, after my lesson with Ria when I was pondering whether to dive into Fallens Cry or not, I concluded that I really should use the skill. And not just that one, the others too if I ever wanted to level my class.

At first, I thought Deviant of Humanity was a class characterized by being different from humans. It even gave me a vibe of disgust and disdain over them, us. But then I thought of Ria and wondered how terrans differed from humans. Sure, they were a distinct race, and looked different. Yet, like me, even though they had roots in beasts, they shared the same desires and dreams as humans.

The class never mentioned beasts, just pushing my limits, human limits, even at the cost of losing some of the humanity. For me, it meant becoming more of a beast and using what I’ve been given. Thus even [Tail of Poison Empress]. But for others...

It made one wonder what other deviants were out there.

Anyway, why not utilize the benefits of Sage then? Right now, I was exploring the potential of my new skills, not to train here and level up my old ones. To do that, to learn as much as I can about them. I needed to use as few of the old ones as possible. Meaning no poison, no roaring, and no turning into a beast, at least for now.

That didn’t leave me with too many options, though.

Pretty sure the shield wouldn’t withstand the impact of the horned rabbit, I leaped aside at the last moment. The beast only brushed against my tail, which I deliberately left trailing behind. My previous stumble gave me an idea. Of course, it was foolish to expect the horned rabbit to trip over a rock as I did, but with a bit of help...

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Yeah, I formed a barrier in front of its front leg just as it was passing me. Since it was only possible for me to create it within reach of my arm, I left the job to the tail. As in the case of the bolts, this was not a direct face-off, but just a little push, an unexpected obstacle in the way.

And it worked, to a certain extent.

Its front foot slammed into the shield, making the rabbit stumble before the barrier shattered. Perhaps it was due to bad timing, or maybe the beast had simply better balance on four legs than I had on mine two, but it didn’t tumble as I did.

So, I rushed to the rabbit, reaching before it had a chance to turn around, digging my claws into its flank, tearing it to shreds. The beast was trying its best to get rid of me, put me in its fangs, kick me, roll over me, all tricks I was familiar with. As hard as it was to admit, mossbears taught me more than just how to suffer.

The only option for the rabbit was to jump away again.

Whether it was the injuries I inflicted on it or the amount of blood it lost, the length of the jump was half that of the previous one, and the landing was not as smooth either.

To the horned rabbit’s credit, it didn’t try to escape. According to the leaflet I got back then at City Hall, few ever flee even in the face of death. They were stupid omnivores defending their tiny territory at all costs, in other words, ideal for beginners. Newbies like me.

Springing forward to reach the beast before it could react, I marveled at the unusually high strength in my legs. Like before, it nagged at my mind. [Fierce Pounce] shouldn’t affect the strength of my entire body, so what was the problem? A matter I had to put off until later.

This time arriving at the side of a profusely bleeding beast, I went for a stab instead of a slash. With all the power I could muster, bolstered by [Fierce Pounce], I brought my claws together, thus forming one tip, and stabbed.

The gruesome image I had of the attack didn’t differ much from the disgusting reality when my hand sank elbow-deep into the warm body of the horned rabbit. Even though I missed it, I could sense the beast’s heart racing, trying to keep it alive. I almost felt its pain as the rabbit twitched, its muscles tensed, and it let out a hurt squeak-roar.

As I pulled out my blood-covered hand, the beast tried to jump away again but ended up in a pitiful tumble, squealing in pain more. With tears in my eyes at what I had let the beast suffer through, I dashed to it with a few quick steps and stabbed it a second time, intending to put an end to its misery. 

Yet, my claws did not pierce its heart, but a lung.

At that moment, the beast collapsed, wheezing, trying to get air into its lungs, only to drown in its own blood. Not anything easy to look at. 

I was ready for another stab with my hand already outstretched when the system notification chimed.

 

• You have defeated [Horned Rabbit: lvl 36]

 

The moment I read it, my legs buckled under me, and I slumped into the grass.

The sense of victory I was supposed to feel was not there. Instead, it was the disgust I felt. It wasn’t a monster trying to kill me, or a slaver looking to seize my freedoms. The rabbit was just minding his own business, living its own life, and I took it away. 

It was harder to digest than I expected.

But I had to! It was necessary if I wanted to continue and survive in this world. So...has it brought me anything positive?

I didn’t break down in tears like I did last time. That was a good thing, right? On the other hand, there were no level-ups. The fight was too short and unchallenging to push my skills further. Yet I still learned a thing or two about the new ones. 

[Silent Prowl] proved to be working even on beasts around level forty, to some extent. Although it must be said, the horned rabbits tended to attack rather than flee, so it just added a sort of surprise element to my pounce. Was it my thing? I quite liked sneaking through the grass, but I generally enjoyed the outdoors. Prowling after my prey so I could ambush it from behind didn’t sit well with me, though.

Still, I was willing to give it one more try just to learn how to sneak properly and pick up some nuances. The same was true of [Sense of Beast]. It was great to keep track of where my prey was and what it was going to do, but I saw it more as a hint to what my beast sense might be capable of with a bit of training. The rest should be covered by [Spatial Domain]. With that skill, I could perceive more detail, albeit for the time being in much less range.

The big surprise for me was [Fierce Pounce]. I mistakenly thought it would just add more power to my attacks, but it seemed to affect my whole body. The attack itself was... too easy. My claws were so sharp that I hardly felt any resistance as they pierced the rabbit’s fur and skin. Truthfully, I found that more gut-wrenching than a thing close to my heart. But it was not a reason to dismiss this skill straight away, though.

I still had my fists to try out.

Not as contactless as the poison I used to kill my first rabbit. Yet, if I could break its neck with my new strength, as I did to my second victim, it would be quick and painless. Not to mention clean, too.

Checking my surroundings for unwelcome guests first, then the presence of Thread for my return journey, I wiped my hand covered with blood and gore on the grass. Only then did I set out, reluctantly but with determination, to hunt my next prey.

To cut it short, if you can’t hit the back of the neck to break it, using your fists to kill your prey isn’t easy or quick. I wouldn’t say much more painless for the horned rabbit than slashing and stabbing, either.

Forced to pummel the beast to death with the fury of my fists, I marvel at the power the blows carried. At times, I gritted my teeth at the pain the hits brought, wondering that my bones hadn’t cracked. I struggled to keep my balance other times, wishing my skillset included [Behemoth] at full capacity.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a skill I could use in the Labyrinth without any prior preparation. So the question was what skill should I test next, as I concluded that [Sense of Beast] was not the skill for me. Nor [Silent Prowl] for that matter. It just didn’t sit well with me. If I was going to kill someone or something, I was going to do it by facing it head-on, not from the shadows, like an assassin or...a coward. Some might call me foolish for thinking that, but it was something I believed my prey deserved.

Since each of my blows was so heavy that I risked breaking my bones, I went for [Unbending Resilience]. That 35% bonus to resilience, toughness, and vitality should help me with the issue. Not only that, if I was not mistaken, my tendons and muscles shouldn’t snap that easily. So it ought to extend the time I should be able to use the extra speed.

The next hunt will tell.

Then I hesitated to choose [Mantle of Magic]. Or should I say, I was reluctant to pick [Call of Nature] and Mantle, even though I didn’t have a proper grasp of magic right now? That it was my safer choice? The fact that my beast traits would become 26% more prominent frankly still freaked the shit out of me.

“I know, I know...” I said out loud, sighing. There was still my human side, which Lord Wigram said was predominant. Plus, as Deckard mentioned, I could remove the skill at any time...unlike my mutations.

Even so, it took a lot of guts and self-persuasion to settle on the [Call of Nature]. I did it fully focused on myself through the domain, wanting to see immediately what changes it would bring me.

And it sure as hell didn’t go without some!

Now and then, the fur covering my body receded. On the contrary, my mane seemed to thicken and spread a little down my neck. If I wasn’t mistaken, my wingspan has grown, just as did the length of my ears, and so has Sage. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if my antlers did, too. What didn’t escape my attention was the change in the color of my hair and fur. As redheaded as I was, the ginger was more vibrant now, across the whole body.

It looked... nice.

Then there was a change I wasn’t quite expecting, though the Imperial Chief Healer said it was a trait. I guess I’ve wronged my boobs when I said there was nothing on my chest that [Call of Nature] could affect. For the first time in over a decade, they grew up.

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