The two monsters stared each other down for a moment before dashing at blinding speed. Their bodies blurred slightly as a large branch of bone came swinging at Leon. Reacting inhumanly thanks to his glowing eyes, he threw the bone knife he had in his left hand right at the beast's eyes.
Instead of sacrificing its eye, the Giant Deer moved its head, and its weapon off course so it only received a scratch on its cheek. Leon had to roll under the antlers to avoid getting hit as he used several new skills unconsciously and swiped with his short sword at the feet of the beast.
The beast roared in pain before kicking at Leon, who quickly put up his guard. Despite his monstrous defense, the kick still rocked his organs and left his right elbow broken. Leon didn't scream, only gritting his teeth from the pain as he toss his blade to his left hand.
The Giant Deer may have been a muscular powerhouse, but just like any creature, the areas that moved the most had the least amount of protection. As Leon aimed at its ankles and knees, the deer could only kneel down in defeat as its fate was all but sealed.
It was a classic Achilles heel story but there were no heroes on this battlefield.
The Giant Deer continued to swing its head wildly in an attempt to scare its enemy off but its enemy was not dumb. Instead of trying to break through the deer's giant weapon, he went for its backside, stabbing and slashing at its butt and back before cutting off one of its feet entirely.
The Giant Deer could only roar in pain as its fate was definitely sealed now. And unfortunately for it, it was going to die a slow, painful death as Leon sat down in the snow to rest.
Leon watched the Giant Deer closely as he held his broken elbow tenderly. The Giant Deer continued to flail about and attempted to stand numerous times but after going down once, it could not get back up again.
It could only scream out in pain as its breathing got rougher with time before its head fell down in the snow. Leon waited patiently for the Giant Deer to die as he removed items from his inventory to make a makeshift sling.
He kept his ears and eyes open wide for his surroundings in case another Prey/Predator came for scraps while also waiting for that sweet sweet notification.
He still didn't dare look at all those other notifications, as the system page blocked his vision. He also used a few more totems with health related effects to boost himself up. It was like using morphine, that dulled the pain slightly and made him feel better entirely.
Something from the knowledge he gained was that each stat did a number of things, it was just another hidden function that if you thought about logically, it made sense. As his health stat increased with the temporary boost, his natural regeneration increased.
It was nowhere near enough to heal his elbow immediately, considering it was still throbbing painfully, but it was a bit better than before.
One of the main hidden functions of stats was that they had some sort of special effect when you focused on it. During the battle, he had done it unconsciously but when he focused on his attack stat and dealing damage, he was able to bring out the maximum attack he has.
In normal circumstances, nobody actually used their full strength unless they consciously think about it. It works the same way with the system, as he was able to use his full E strength attack.
Likewise, when he used his arms to block the kick from the Giant Deer, he had focused on defense, pulling out as much of it as he could. He wasn't able to bring out all of it, as there was a lot of it in the first place with the Cloak he wore but it kept him from losing his arm entirely.
To survive with just a broken elbow after a strike powerful enough to smash a concrete wall was a miracle in itself.
To try to make the most of the hour boost to his health, Leon took deep breaths and focused on healing. He wasn't sure exactly how these effects were supposed to work but he thought of words like 'heal' bandage' 'cells' 'scab' 'mend' etc. in hopes to get him in the mindset of healing.
Whether it was actually working or if it was a placebo effect he caused himself, he would find out later. As he watched the Giant Deer bleed out, he continued to 'heal' himself before he finally received the first *ding!* he was excited for.
He withheld the urge to open it straight away, and instead stood up and carefully walked over to the beast. Its chest was unmoving and when he went around to its front, careful to stay out of range of the antlers, he could see the light had left the beast's eyes.
His Prey was dead.
"HAHAHAHA!!!!!" Leon laughed heartily, possibly for the first time in his life.
He gave himself a few minutes to get that out of his system before he thought of something very important.
"How the f*ck do I move this?"
The Giant Deer was easily 9 feet tall, maybe more, and definitely so if you include the giant trees of antlers that stuck out of its skull. He was very curious as to how it could even keep his head up but he stayed focused, wanting to get out of here right away in his injured state.
He could care less about the other deer, as he could always come back later to grab whatever remained. But there was probably only one Giant Deer like this in this area. It would probably be a long while for another one to pop up.
"Hey brat, you back yet?" Leon called out and waited a bit.
Just as he was about to say something else, he got that annoying ding that he didn't miss at all.
[I'm still here geezer, is your memory failing you or something?]
Leon could almost hear the attitude in the message but didn't flip out.
"Is there anyway for me to move this thing with my current strength?" He asked as he tried using both the bone knife and the short sword, only for the bone knife to break completely, and his short sword to bounce off with an ugly gong.
[What the f*ck?! How did you kill this thing??]
[This is way out of your league!!]
"So you weren't here earlier? That's fine, go away. I'll do it myself." Leon shooed the system as he tried to find a good grip on the antler to begin dragging it back.
[I-I was here! But I was doing what you suggested and did my job! I can't hover around you all the time so be happy that I'm here at all. Hmph!]
"Good for you, now go back and continue doing your job." Leon grunted as he used his one good arm to try and drag the body.
It barely budged, but he continued trying anyways. This was a valuable prize but more importantly, his Prey.
[I'm doing my job now by helping you!]
"No you're not, your skipping out on it."
[I am! Here I'll show you what you can do!]
"...Okay what is it?" Leon waited a few seconds but she never said what.
[Say please first.]
"Goodbye." Leon continued dragging the beast.
[W-Wait! Fine! I'll tell you!]
Leon paused and waited with a very grumpy face.
[I suggest you open up your previous notifications, your answer is there.]
Rolling his eyes, Leon was about to continue dragging the corpse when the system put the message in front of his face for him.
*ding!* [alg48e395923faoh&*%*&*G(%FIUH]
The message was a string of letters, numbers and symbols that looked like a bunch of nonsense, but for a moment, it felt like he actually understood what it said.
His normally hazel eyes turned golden again.
<
Once again, a strange powerful voice in another language came out of Leon's mouth. When he came to his senses, he was able to see a sinister dark mist come out of his body and move toward the Giant Deer.
Leon patted himself down, trying to get it off to no avail. It was like pure evil in a physical form that made him feel violated and sick. He wasn't sure how to feel but he just wanted it gone.
Suddenly, the mist solidified, forming a giant maw like some sort of shadow demon that swallowed the Giant Deer up in one foul swoop before it all vanished in an instant. The feeling he felt was gone and all that was left was another message.
*ding!* [Through unknown means, you have earned the skill: Bone Overgrowth (B)!]
{ Bone Overgrowth (B) - You're bones are dozens of times stronger than Adamantium, making you practically unstoppable. Your bones are constantly growing, strengthening your body as a whole and spreading everywhere like a thin membrane. Your Health and Defense stats are fortified, preventing you from taking massive damage in a single moment. Your bones can only break under special circumstances.
- Unstoppable - Once a day, for 5 seconds max, you become Unstoppable.
- +300% to all methods of healing done to yourself
- +5% to all stats for everyday you are out of combat. Extra boost will be consumed in your first attack/defense upon entering combat
- Fortification: Upon taking overwhelming damage in one instance, your health and defense stats will fortify tenfold and preventing you from losing a max of 50% health.
Evolution Requirements:
- consume the bones of 50 different creatures with at least one in each rank, A and lower. (0/50)
- Survive 20 life or death situations using Fortification or Unstoppable (0/20)
- Reach +100% in out of combat boost and use it to kill a creature of at least B rank in one hit. (0/100%) (0/1)
- Regrow at least 1 limb (0/1)
<
Leon was speechless.
Unsure how to think of any of this. He moved it aside and in a daze, picked up the pieces of the Giant Deer's antler he cut off earlier. There were so many things to think about, and he hadn't even gotten to all the other messages he received mid fight.
All he could think about was the message in strange symbols and letters. Why was it on a skill.
"Did you do that?" Leon asked.
[That isn't even a skill that exists in the Universe. I have no idea how you got a brand new skill... and an evolvable B rank at that when I didn't approve of it.]
Leon had even more questions now but his thoughts got interrupted by a cute little fur ball that growled and pulled on his pants.