*Disclaimer - things happening in this novel are fiction and not reflective of my viewpoints. Murder, torture (animal or otherwise), etc is not okay and not something I agree with. Nothing gory happens.*
As the rain continued pouring down, I put on the flimsy poncho and began walking through the dense forest after consolidating my packs of supplies. My first order of business was to get to high ground to get a good look around the island before finding a good camping spot.
Bzzz. Bzzz.
Slap!
"It's so fucking hot," I grumbled as I slapped away another bug flying around me. I was completely drenched in sweat and my hair hung limp over my face.
Screeech! Screeech! Screeech!
The sound of an animal rang out and I tilted my head back and glanced behind me without stopping.
I spotted a monkey no bigger than a small dog with green fur that allowed it to perfectly blend in with the foliage around it peeking out from behind a tree trunk. Pretending not to see it, I continued walking while analyzing it.
Vine Tailed Monkey
[Rank F]
[ Strength - F ]
[ Intelligence: F ]
[ Perception – E ]
[ Speed: E ]
[ Magic power – F ]
[Its tail is a long extendible vine that it uses to navigate the forest and control other plants. Its coloring allows it to blend in with the forest.]
Suddenly, our eyes met and it flinched before baring its teeth at me.
"Screeeeeeeeeeech!" the monkey howled before controlling a vine that yanked me up by feet and hung me upside down right in front of it.
"Wanna let me go?" I calmly asked while removing the safety of my gun.
"Screeeeeeeeeeech!"
The monkey howled with rage, exposing its sharp yellow teeth and causing spittle to splatter all over my face.
"Gross." I immediately shot it in the face, watching as the bullet flew directly to the center of its forehead.
"Chee Chee Chee Cheee!" the monkey laughed mockingly as a tree branch moved to block the bullet. As the monkey jumped, it swung me into a tree, then another before throwing me down to the ground.
Rolling to break my fall, I quickly got to my feet and began shooting at it. With a shocking display of agility, it wove and ducked through the branches before slinging itself at me.
Creating a barrier in front of my face, I allowed it to smash head first into it before grabbing it by the throat and slamming it into the ground, firing a bullet into the monkey's face and blowing its head off.
Holding out my watch, I toggled through the settings.
1. Scan monster.
2. Share Location
3. Exchange Points
4. View Points
5. Register on leaderboard?
6. View Leader Board
7. Request Emergency Aid
I quickly scanned the monkey, gaining 1 point, and took a glance at the leaderboard.
1. Lionel Lionheart: 65 points
2. Julius Crimson: 48 points
3. Evelynn Isolde: 37 points
4. Solomon Nova: 23 points
5. Sylvia Lancia: 19 points
6. Lina Meraki: 12 points
Damn monsters. We hadn't even been here a full hour and they had already taken over the leaderboard. What the hell were they doing?
Screeech! Screeech! Screeech!
I began hearing the sounds of more monkeys surrounding me and I broke into a jog, crafting a cutlass to help me break through certain areas of the forest.
Screeech! Screeech! Screeech!
The sounds began getting closer and closer as I caught a glimpse of monkeys leaping through the trees.
As the trees around me slowly became full of monkeys, each one howling louder than the next as they whipped their tails in agitation, I stopped, willing away the cutlass, and calmly reloaded my gun while filling the air with magic arrows.
Although they were meant to be menacing, all I could see were points easily falling into my lap.
"Here for revenge? You're going to need a bigger army than this." I laughingly told them as I aimed and began shooting. Although they took me off guard at first, compared to Blue, Red, and Professor Lee, they looked as if they were moving in slow motion.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Three heads blew up before the bodies slowly fell.
A vine whipped at my legs, attempting to grab me and I quickly hopped up, crafting a grappling hook and firing it at a tree. As my body launched upward, I spun in the air, firing at each monkey I saw jumping around. Even if a bullet missed them, a magic arrow pierced through their bodies. I calmly sat on the branch, a barrier around me as I casually fired at the monkeys that were hopping around. Seeing the bodies of their comrades dropping to the forest floor, the few remaining monkeys screeched before retreating.
"How boring. Isn't there something stronger?"
Thud!
As if to confirm my words, the biggest animal I had seen so far landed on the ground in front of me with a thud. A large green gorilla with skull patterns on its face landed before roaring while beating its chest. Bigger than even Blue and Red, it stood 7ft at the shoulder, its arms looked thicker than a tree trunk and its fur reminded me of weeping willows.
Green Willowed Gorilla
[Rank D]
[ Strength - D ]
[ Intelligence: E ]
[ Perception – D]
[ Speed: D ]
[ Magic power – E ]
[Able to control the plants around it to a certain extent.]
"I don't suppose you'll accept an apology? They did attack me first." I negotiated while I reloaded my gun.
"Graaaaaaaaaar!!!" It howled before leaping straight at me.
"No? Too bad." I quickly emptied the clip at it before flipping myself to the ground. The gorilla swung itself on the branch, breaking it as it flung itself towards me.
Bang!
The impact as it landed created a crater on the ground and I quickly dashed back, reloading and grabbing my sword.
Leaping at me once more, the gorilla smashed down with both fists. I jumped at it, avoiding the debris flying up, and continued shooting at its face with explosion-imbued bullets.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The gorilla sneered as the smoke cleared exposing only its slightly charred fur, before quickly swinging and backhanding me. Although I created a barrier to block it, it shattered on impact as I slammed into a tree, getting the air knocked out of me.
"That fucking hurt." I groaned as I slowly got up while clutching my aching back. Even if I could see the swing, the speed and strength behind it wasn't something I could defend against right now not to talk of it eating low-ranked explosion bullets with no problems. It was time to change tactics, and honestly, I wasn't the type to go for fair direct confrontations anyhow.
"Che che che." The gorilla sneered as it slowly walked towards me, the ground shaking slightly each time its arms slammed into the ground.
"Fine. I've been meaning to test this out anyway."
Gripping my sword tightly, I activated Concealment and backed away, quietly fading into the background and quickly scaling a tree. As the gorilla looked around in confusion, sniffing the air to find me, I quickly switched out my bullets for something a little stronger.
Perched on a branch, I activated Blind, watching as a black shroud covered the gorilla from head to toe. The gorilla spun around, arms swinging wildly as it turned in a circle while roaring. It began banging on the ground, the plants around it growing and whipping around in a frenzy,
As it roared, while swinging its arms, I smirked before ordering.
"Attack."
One by one, metal spears appeared in the air before firing at the gorilla.
One. Two. Three. A barrage of them fired at breakneck speed. A few were deflected, as it protected its head while swinging its fists, but the rest sunk slightly into its body, making it look like a pin cushion. As the black shroud disappeared, the gorilla glared at me before roaring once more.
"I've been a bit stressed out lately, so I really hope you last a long time." I cocked my gun at it before firing.
Another round of spears appeared above it, shooting down as it began to turn to run. Leaping to the ground, I began chasing after it, blocking its path with spears and shooting my gun at it the moment it stopped.
As the gorilla turned to face me, its face in an ugly snarl, I calmly told it.
"I saw this yesterday and I really want to try it out. Don't die, okay?"
I commanded my mana to replicate the skill that I saw yesterday. Although I couldn't be sure of my aim, with all the metal spears piercing its body, at least a few were sure to hit.
Feeling the rapid drain of my mana and seeing it converge into a vortex above the gorilla's head, I gave it my most gentle smile before repeating the words of a certain person.
"Rain down."
Crack!
Boom!
Strike after strike, lightning struck down on it, attracted to the metal spears embedded in its body. The fur on its body slowly turned black and it continued shrieking as each flash of lightning hit it.
As it writhed in agony, I slowly dissipated the skill, observing as the gorilla fell back with a groan. Popping a mana potion into my mouth, I slowly approached while crafting another spear in my hand. As I reached it, I slammed the spear into its leg, pinning it to the ground before creating others and piercing them through all four limbs.
"Graaaaaaaaaaah." Hearing it shout as it struggled to free itself from the ground, I crafted another one and stabbed it into its stomach, repeatedly shoving it down until it went through and got stuck on the ground.
As it stared at me in fear, I gently patted its body.
"So durable. That's good. I'm in a bit of a dilemma you see, so I want to check something out. Does torture against monsters count as a crime? Let's find out, just you and me."
As if it understood my words, it began struggling harder while I observed it with cold eyes. "I haven't done this in a while so apologies if it's a bit messy. Well, you're going to die anyway so who cares." Smiling softly, I crafted a skinning knife and gently ran it across the chest of the gorilla as it struggled to free itself while screaming.
"First, we start with the nails…"
****
Evelynn looked around at the disgusting monsters surrounding her and felt her anger begin bubbling up. Although she couldn't analyze them, he recognized the disgusting animals around her from class and wanted to eliminate them immediately.
[Mud Boars]
[Rank D]
[Monsters with a foul stench that can't be removed by common means. These boars are normally found by water sources and have the ability to control mud. They are faster than they appear and live in a Sounder, led by a male and female pair who's combined rank is above C. They are omnivores who prefer the flesh of living beings.]
The boars were larger than normal boars, standing at almost four feet with tusks over a foot in length and small beady eyes that glared angrily. Their original coloring was unknown as they were completely covered in mud and green slime. Around 12 of them surrounded her with the 2 directly in front of her being the biggest. As they snorted hungrily while pawing the ground, Evelynn wrinkled her nose in annoyance.
Smelling the stench arising from their bodies and seeing the saliva, snot, and mud covering their faces and bodies as they snorted at her, she directly wanted to wipe them from existence.
"Don't you know, I hate pigs the most? Disgusting things." She fiercely scolded them as she dropped her pack to the ground.
She planted her spear into the ground and cold air began emanating from her body, slowly freezing the ground and river behind her.
Gruuuuuunt!
The largest boar snorted at her as it shook its head. Mud and saliva flew through the air and landed on her uniform. As the stench penetrated her nose, making her eyes water, she began seeing red.
Evelynn: ".... I'll kill you!!!!"
Staring at the monster pawing the ground, she held her hand out and commanded.
"Freeze."
At her words, a large transparent wall of ice formed in front of her. As the boars began charging at her, spikes formed from the wall impaling the two front runners from head to tail.
"Snoooooorrt???"
Three more boars snorted in confusion before slamming head first into the wall, blood, bones, and brains splattering and attaining the crystal clear wall red.
The two lead boars snorted in anger before covering their bodies in a swirl of mud, a spinning drill forming in front of the both of them.
"Heh. Lowlives like you should just die," Evelynn smirked at them as she met the eyes of the leading boars.
"Tower of Ice." Evelynn calmly said and the river behind her began to rumble as it repeatedly cracked and froze, while a tall tower formed. Covering her body with mana and leaping to the highest point, she formed a barrage of icicles, each over 5ft in length, and pointed it at the boars.
"Disgusting creatures like you should bow when you see your superiors."
As the spears flew, impaling multiple boars from head to tail, the sound of her laughter could be heard.