After a while, the grimoire closed itself and started to float around me. Its outer hardcover was almost like an obsidian tablet. And a large metallic circle was embedded in it.
I reached out to feel the little gaps and crevices. Opened it to find the same contents. And then I was content. I decided that it was alright to admit that most of it went over my head and lay back down on the ground.
"Liu." I said expecting that voice to answer yet no answer came. "Well, whatever."
I killed the moose, gained powers, and got back to full health.
It was all over. I survived.
For a moment I felt empty and then fulfilled. But in the process of it all, my head got hazy. No matter how much I could regenerate, the mental toll of having my legs crushed would still remain.
I got off the moose's carcass that I fed on. All that was left were the dried organs and muscles. The branding on my arm had absorbed the rest.
My legs were back and my body felt more motile and ready for action than ever. This was insane.
I looked down at my chiselled forearms and my wrist which got narrower than before. My body was changing rapidly and without any rhyme or reason.
It was only a matter of time before I lost track of what I was entirely. Black bones, metamorphosing body? A hunger for monsters? The tattoos? What did that deity even do to my body? The glowing arm slowly lost its brilliance.
My psyche seemed to have lost an emotion. I seemed devoid of any fright as I stood in the middle of the murder hole. I gradually started to become who I wasn't.
'At the end of the day, I survived. That is all there is to it!' I convinced myself. By the time I got my head out of the clouds, the book had disappeared.
It felt weird because it felt like it was still there, but it wasn't.
I reached my arm out again as if to catch it, and suddenly it was in my hands. A while later, as I caught my breath it disappeared again as soon as I took my eyes off it.
Weird- anyways.
"I should get out of here." After wiping my hands off the blood I turned around to check my surroundings. Being able to see the dark, it slowly became clear just how many monsters there were in my surroundings.
All of them were vary after seeing me murder a moose. It was only some time before they decided to target me.
I couldn't afford another fight.
My body might have been in top shape, but my mind- my mind was aching harder than ever before.
I still couldn't believe that all that happened today, happened in a single day. I couldn't believe it, but I was clearly still not over any of it. At any moment I felt like my emotions would take over. But the coldness in my heart seemed to persist.
At any moment I would break down in tears. At any moment, I might just choose to give up. I was scared of what my future self held for me.
I have to get out of here and return home.
The only thing that could save me was love or at the very least relevance. Someone who would need me. These were things I was only capable of receiving from Sis and Mom.
'A family loved regardless of your shortcomings, right?'
I started to move out in the direction I thought I came from- Or at least I tried to. As I looked around it became clear that I had no idea where I was.
I was tossed around so much during the fight that I lost track of direction. Every route looked the same. Every tree was covered with the same blood.
It was impossible to navigate through this. Especially at night.
'Let's just stay in a cave tonight. Surely there'll be some adventurers hanging around down here tomorrow. I'll get out with their directions.'
Using night vision, I started looking around the entire forest. Just for this period, I wasn't scared of anything. Rather- I had to exude confidence to make the other monsters believe that I still had it in me.
So I walked through the cursed land. Moist grass touching my naked thigh. I was practically nude after having most of my t-shirt torn off while falling and my trousers torn by the moose. But at least my sensitive areas were covered.
I walked in the moon dripped night where everything felt familiar, yet foreign. Every moment I would have deja vu- 'Oh, I've already been here.' Every moment I would question my progress- until I didn't.
Right after walking around for a minute or two, I felt some heat on my right hand. As if it was nudging me in that direction. The tattoos pulsated for a second. Or well, calling them a branding would be more accurate.
I turned to face that direction and found a cave being lit up from presumably a fire.
"Jackpot." I whispered.
I walked into it and sure enough, there was a fire. And someone lying next to it.
My eyes took a minute to adjust to the light and as they did, the figure of a woman came into sight.
Even when she was curled up, her body was large. Hair redder and burning brighter than the fire. Her legs were covered in some tight clothes, and between the little gap in her biceps, her abs were exposed for the world to see.
I looked down at my abs and felt a little shame. Luckily everything above her abs was covered.
I think I stared too lo-
"!! WHOA!"
Suddenly, a blade went flying past my neck and the next second there was a cape blinding me.
The woman was awake! But why did she attack me?!
A bandit? A trap? Just a vary traveller? Her gait matched all of them and confused me throughout the board.
Without the chance or strength to retaliate, I got pinned to the wall with a sword to my neck.
"What are you doing?!" I shouted while putting my arms up as a guard.
"You were here to attack me weren't you?" She dug her sword further until the side of my hands started to get cut. I could feel the sword hit my ulna.
"Why would you think that? And stop piercing me, you cow!"
"What were you here to do?" Her blade only went deeper. I was developing a distaste rapidly.
"I only came here to sleep. And I already told you to get off me. Don't make me hurt you." Her blades went deeper.
"Fck this." I kneed her abs but I think my knees sustained more damage than her abs did. She would be a tough foe to beat. At least in this state. "I was about to wake you up to ask for permission."
"How can I trust a pervert who's naked?" She scanned my body.
I looked down, and the only thing covered with cloth was my shoulders and my groin. She was in the right for suspecting me. But hurting me without a chance to defend myself? Hell no.
"Tch. I got in a fight with a moose but I doubt you'll believe that."
"You're right about that. Why are you even in the forest?" Her blades dug further into my wrists piercing the bone. She had no regard for my safety.
"Isn't something you should concern yourself with." I'd had enough. Why did the purest of my actions get mistaken for malice? Oh well, since they got mistaken for malice anyways, let's just commit to it.
I was in no state to fight her. My head was about to explode from the pain. And maybe it was because of that, that I felt rage boil up in me. More than ever before.
"I told you nicely multiple times. This one is on you." I breathed in. Let's try this out. "[Hardening]!"
"What?" The woman looked at me with questions in her eyes. It was already too late.
My arms hardened like the moose's antlers. With the blade still wedged inside, I twisted my arms and snatched the blade right out of her hands. She naturally fell back.
So I hardened my feet and kicked her right in the torso. With as controlled a strength as I could. If I didn't hold back, the possibility of me ruining my own body was immense. But the contact even after holding back was insane!
'My strength definitely did increase.'
She flew back and hit the other wall of the cave.
This lady hurt me first! This wasn't my fault!
I didn't care if she was a woman. Anyone who harmed me was an enemy.
"I don't care if you believe me or not. I'm way too tired to deal with you. Do try to understand. I fell down the cliff and got chased around by a moose for kilometres. I just want to rest. I couldn't care less about your safety, but if you promise not to touch me, I won't touch you." I undid the hardening and the blade fell off my hands. Leaving scores in my flesh.
Even though my attack was stronger than what I intended, it wasn't strong enough to kill someone. I was sure that if I put my back behind it, I could have done this much damage just with my own strength.
There was no way she died. She probably just passed out. Which meant that I was safe until the morning.
'She didn't have to get knocked out that easily. Now I look like the bad guy.' The moment I said this, fueled by the power of jinx, the red-haired lady got up and wiped the blood off her face. It wasn't her own, she was unscathed. The blood wasn't dark enough to be the moose's.
So the only remaining answer was-
'My blood?'
BUT HOW?! I had her blades in my hands! A sharp pain engulfed my chest. I turned my head down to find deep wounds running across them. As if a wolf had run its claws against me.
"I was going to go easy on you. Knock you out in one go and let you stay the night. But then you just had to pull a stunt like that." She turned her head and her deep red reptile-like eyes met mine. I felt like I was staring at a dragon. "Kids nowadays don't have any shame."
Her hand had turned into a claw and was covered with my blood. She licked a bit of my blood off.
"It's way too sweet." Not a hint of fear on her face. This situation was her playground.
'It looks like I overestimated myself.' Or underestimated her. Either way, I was screwed.
A split second later, her claw smashed my face into the cave's wall.
That was the last thing I remembered.