{Chirp! Chirp!}
Morning already, huh?
Time for yet another long day.
-Status
[Name:####]
[Age:####]
[Body Age:11 days]
[Rank 1]
[HP:20/20]
[MP:15/15]
[Left Eye(Mai####):Comatose,62%]
[Right Eye(####):Dormant,100%]
[???]
Looks like my injuries have recovered. Sure, I didn't get too hurt yesterday fighting against the boar monster, but even I'm beginning to think that my regeneration speed is a bit too fast. Not that I would know though, Mai was the one who always answered this kind of question.
It's been 3 days now since I found that dead tiger monster and I've fought 2 more monsters since then. One of them was a bear, but weaker than the first one I fought, having only 15 MP. The second monster was a boar, having 15 MP again. I let Mai absorb both cores.
Those 2 fights barely allowed me to adapt to the mana from the core of the leopard, so now I have 15 max MP.
Those 2 fights also helped me adapt to the upgraded Ethereal Strings.
With my constantly increasing battle instinct due to all these fights and the Ethereal Strings, I feel like no monster with under 20 MP can be a threat to me anymore.
Of course, I won't get too cocky and challenge something way stronger than me, but I think it's time I venture a little bit further into the forest.
That also means that it's time I abandon this little cave. After all, I don't want to walk for so long every time I go hunt monsters.
I would like to say that I will miss it, but in reality, I won't. There is nothing special about this cave- It's just some hole in which I sleep. I don't have any good memories of it either.
I left the cave and started walking deeper into the forest. The only thing I had on me was the big leaf tied around my crotch and the leopard claw.
The solution to my problem was actually pretty simple- I would just carry the claw with me and drop it before a fight.
I did try to use it as a weapon in the fight against the bear, but I failed horribly. Stabbing and piercing motions are way different than punching, so I had no experience. Plus, something weird happened when I tried to attack. My right eye started throbbing and I felt a feeling of disgust emanate from somewhere deep within me.
After trying for a bit, I just decided to drop it and kill the bear with punches and kicks.
Still, that feeling stuck with me after the fight. I checked my Status immediately after the battle to see if my right eye had awakened, but it was still dormant.
I used the claw a few times after that against some beasts, and one time even just swinging it in the air, but I could not endure the disgust and stopped using the claw as a weapon at all. Still, it is very useful for skinning beasts, for procuring meat, and especially for retrieving mana cores, so it's not all bad.
I would really like to know what that throbbing was and what this feeling of disgust is, but I don't know, and there is no one I can ask...
But I'm close. Just a bit more, and I can awaken Mai again. Yes, I do not feel threat from weaker monsters anymore, and a part of why I decided to venture deeper into the forest is due to wanting to find some excitement.
After all, while the forest is kind of pretty to look at, there is nothing interesting. My last few days have just been a cycle of waking up, taking care of my daily needs, walking for hours, fighting a boring battle, walking back, hunting some beasts for some food, recuperating, sleeping, repeat.
The only times I've felt excited in my whole life spanning a grand total of 11 days were the few battles that were truly threatening. So my decision to relocate deeper into the forest was partly due to boredom, but mainly because I'm close to awakening Mai.
Well, no point thinking so much, let's just go and fight some monsters!
------------
-Analyze
[Species:Great Elephant]
[Rank 1]
[HP:50/50]
[MP:28/28]
It seems that it's true. The further I walk into the forest, the stronger the monsters get. Still, this has to be a monster among monsters.
I have never seen the beast variant of this monster. I'm sure of it, because I would have remembered seeing something this gigantic.
This thing is 4 times as tall as me. It's so big that it can kill me just by stomping on me. One would have to be insane to try fighting something like this.
Sadly, there is no one here that can discourage me from fighting this. Plus, even though it's so huge, it's not like I don't have a chance. I have observed this fact over the past few days of fighting, but even though my body is so small and lithe compared to the monsters I see, I have a ridicilous amount of physical strength.
It's not like being small is necessarily a disadvantage. I'm harder to hit, I'm faster, I'm more agile than the monsters I fight, all the while I have similar physical strength.
That is not to say that this fight will be easy. Anything but it. Rather, this will surely be by far the hardest and most dangerous battle I have had. But that's what also makes it the most exciting battle, and moment, to date.
No more stalling, I have to take the initiative in this battle!
I rushed out of the bush I was hiding. I didn't do it stealthily, because there was no point. This thing's ears are huge, it would have heard me no matter what I did. Might as well try to get to it as fast as possible.
As I expected, the monster turned and looked at me even before I was fully out of the bush. It's ridicilous, considering how far away I was from it, but it didn't surprise me. I sprinted with my fastest possible speed, my surroundings turning into a blur.
Of course, I didn't just rush in blindly. I do have a plan about how to fight this thing. This monster is way stronger than me- if I have to fight it while it is at full strength, my chances are slim. So I have to start off the fight by inflicting a critical injury on it, hopefully a fatal one. And I can do this by following the Ethereal Strings.
Getting closer to it, the Ethereal Strings twisted sideways all of a sudden, and I followed. Before I could wonder why, the ground just beside me cracked, and I barely avoided the shockwave and the debris. I turned to see what had happened, just to notice a massive appendage rushing straight at my torso.
I slid on the ground, maintaining my forward momentum while still dodging the trunk of the monster that barely grazed my hair. While sliding, I got a genius idea, and it seemed that the Ethereal Strings wanted me to do the same thing.
I crouched, gathering power in my legs, while extending my hands to the trunk that was above me. With all the strength I could muster, I simultaneously jumped and pulled myself, launching straight at the head of the Great Elephant. Since I exerted such a strong force on the trunk, the monster lost its balance and its head tipped towards me.
I flew straight at the eye of the elephant, my arms being extended forward. I wanted to puncture through its eye, but it managed to move right at the last moment, so I instead hit between the eyes.
The sound of flesh cracking and bones breaking was heard- both mine and the elephant's. The monster toppled over from the impact, while I fell on the ground, making sure to protect my vital organs from the high fall.
Looking at the state of my arms, I knew that they would be absolutely useless for the remainder of the fight. I could only hope that I had killed it in one attack, but I highly doubt it.
The Great Elephant was lying on it's side, blood oozing from it's forehead. It didn't seem to be moving, but I had to make sure.
-Analyze
[Species:Great Elephant]
[Rank 1]
[HP:15/50]
[MP:20/28]
At least I did a lot of damage. Though it's not like I'm in a good position myself...
-Status
[Name:####]
[Age:####]
[Body Age:11 days]
[Rank 1]
[HP:15/20]
[MP:13/15]
[Left Eye(Mai####):Comatose,62%]
[Right Eye(####):Dormant,100%]
[???]
I have vaguely felt this in all my previous experiences, but this solidifies it. The HP metric is not very trustworthy. Me and the monster might have the same HP right now, but our injuries are totally different.
While my attack did a lot of damage to the Great Elephant, it did not really make it weaker. It still has all it's appendages and it can still use a lot of its physical strength. Sure, it will be very disoriented due to the damage to the brain, and it will succumb to its injuries at some point, but for the next few minutes, it can still fight at around 70% of its full strength.
Meanwhile, I cannot use my arms at all. Till this point I have fought mainly with my arms, so this injury is almost devastating, even though I won't die just from this. I still have my legs, so it's not like all hope is lost, but I would say I can only fight at around 40% of my full strength.
The monster still has a lot of strength in the short term, even though it will die soon. Meanwhile, I have lost most of my short term strength, even though I can still surive just fine. Yet we have the same HP.
I dealt so much damage, yet this position seems disadvantageous to me. I also cannot just run away and come back once it dies from that injury. Do not be fooled by its large stature, I am sure that this thing is way faster than me while running in a straight line.
Of course, even if I could run away, I would not. I actually expected that something like this might happen. I hoped that I could kill it in one go by going straight through its eye, but I have already learned that not everything goes as expected.
All I have to do now is run around it and dodge all of its attacks, maybe kick it a few times as well, surviving untill it cannot do so anymore.
Of course, if I am hit even once from this monster, I will suffer serious injuries. This battle is still extremely dangerous. I am scared. I would say that I am closer to death now than I have ever been before. After all, if I lose consciousness, there is noone who can save me.
Yet...
The Great Elephant started twitching, and very quickly managed to stand up. I could only watch with a mad grin on my face as it started running towards me, feet wobbling along the way. A pair of insane beastial eyes filled with rage and hatred and a pair of insane human eyes filled with terror and excitement met.
The real battle starts now!