So, with great effort, I cut off the head of the ram.
The thing was the size of my torso—and that was just its head. If you counted its horns, it was more than half my height. And Caelum was about 5 feet, 7 inches tall.
My dagger, which had a blade that was about a foot long, definitely wasn't the best of tools to saw through the ram's neck. But at least it worked, and for that, I was very much thankful. I was able to cut through muscle, flesh, fat, skin, and sinew with this rusty old dagger.
I also wanted to thank the goddess of the night, Nayictus, for her darkness helped greatly in veiling my eyes from the gore that came with brutally chopping off a giant ram's head.
The only thing it did not block was the mushy feeling of tearing apart flesh with my bare hands and the heavy, viscous feeling of animal blood on my clothes and body.
I reeked of blood, and I had a feeling that such a state wasn't good. Right. If I stank of blood, I might attract beasts. In fact, I think I already had.
My irises dilated as I saw another peculiar movement of mana.
Grrrrrrrrrrr—...
Instantly, I ran. I ran as fast as I could with the beast's head on my shoulder. I did not dare look back right away, focusing only on where to place my feet and what obstacles were in my way.
When I finally grew too tired to continue sprinting, that was when I glanced behind me.
There was silence. That was all there was. There were zero animalistic fluctuations of mana and not a single growl or pur.
It must've been distracted by the carcass I left behind, I thought to myself. But I was still wary. After all, there wasn't only a single beast in this mountainous region. I had to wash off this bloody scent somehow, but dipping myself into the river nearby would mean an even closer encounter with death.
"No..." I poured physical mana into my eyes, heightening my Mana Vision as much as it could be while it only had a single mana program.
That was when I saw that the mana in the area was slowly drifting towards a certain direction.
I realised what this meant after a second of recollection.
I bolted away the moment I did. Even if my stomach ached from all the running I was doing. Even if my muscles screamed at me to rest. I ran.
A little bit of pain was better than death.
I ran as much as I could, even as my vision began to blur.
I didn't stop.
I couldn't stop.
There were several instances where the slope of the mountain was too great and I ended up tumbling down. There were times when I slipped on loose gravel and triggered a small-scale landslide that brought me with it. And there were times when I ran past a sleeping beast, waking it up as I zoomed by.
Multiple times did I have brushes with death, but through my Mana Vision and Caelum's more-or-less athletic body, I ran through them with my life in my hands.
But right now, I was running on pure adrenaline as I pushed my body beyond its limits. A little bit further and I would surely collapse. Yet, a little bit further was all I needed to survive.
"Cursed beasts!" I swore as I felt nauseous. The beef jerky that I had eaten just a few hours earlier suddenly came up my oesophagus. "When I get stronger, I'm going to go on a hunting spree and decimate your populations! This I swear!"
And I would do it after activating the system.
"To make the most out of my... butchering." I muttered. Such an idea would work wonderfully. I couldn't help but grin despite my exhaustion.
...Time passed as I ran.
Just as I began to give up hope of ever making it to my destination, I spotted lights in the distance. They twinkled like little fireflies at the foot of a steep incline.
Joy lit up on my face as I continued forward, gasping for air and barely conscious.
I wormed my way through the silent, sleeping town until I arrived at a house identified as 29A - 42. The house was mostly brown and black, gilden with tubes of brass and an exoskeleton of gears. It was small. From the outside, one could tell that all it had was a single room and a bathroom.
I dug into Caelum's pockets and fished out the keys to his tiny home.
Click—!
I got inside. I squeezed my way through all the trash and stolen goods that did not sell. I then laid down the ram's head in the sad, stinking bathroom and took off all of my gear.
I was proud that I was capable of doing all this before collapsing on the dirty bed near the window.
Thud—!
The bed was rough and dusty, smelling of sweat and grime. But I couldn't care less. My eyes were closed even before I landed on the matress.
I was gone. I promptly passed out.
...
I slept like a log until late in the afternoon. When I finally awoke, I was starving.
The afternoon sun shone through my window, and my clothes were wet with sweat. I reached towards my ceiling and tugged at a thin chain.
Psssh—!
Whoom whoom whoom whoom—!
The ceiling fan began its rotations with a cloud of steam. Because of the wind, I felt a little cooler.
I looked around and witnessed, with a clearer mind, just what kind of trashbin Caelum lived in.
I smacked my lips, my eyes glimerred with the desire to clean this all up. I refused to spend another minute in this place if it wasn't all cleaned.
But a thought occurred to me, preventing me from listening to my impulses.
I was leaving soon anyway. I was going to take the Aethercaller University's entrance exam and later on attend its classes. There was no need for me to stay here any longer.
So I decided to leave this place be. It would be better if I sold this house for some extra cash that I desperately needed.
I kicked a rusted iron plate off of the ground. I did it half for fun and half because it was in my way.
Who knew that I would discover something valuable in the midst of all of Caelum's trash?