" Is this the weapon," he thought to himself.
[Host has procured a rusted rake]
[Chance of killing the giant wasp has increased]
"I can kill them; guess I have to swing it around..." He stopped in his thoughts as his battle instincts kicked in.
He swiftly rose to his feet, swinging the rake and squarely hitting the nearest wasp. The unexpecting wasp tumbled through the air, crashing into its companions.
The wasps, noticing that the skeleton had gotten up, rushed toward him, slamming into him. Ossa, who was as light as a feather, was pushed back, falling hard on his back, his rib cracked on impact.
Laying on the ground, a wasp opened its mandibles, attempting to snap Ossa's neck. In an attempt to dodge, Ossa accidentally raised the rake, plunging it into the opened mouth of the wasp.
The rake shaft entered the creature's mouth and found its way into its tiny brain located in its head, between its compound eyes. The brain was pierced, killing the creature on the spot. The creature's wings twitched as it hung awkwardly on Ossa's improvised weapon.
[Host killed a normal wasp]
[Extracting life force]
[Life force extracted]
[Life force converted to intelligence]
[Host intelligence increased to that of a five-year-old]
Ossa felt an energy wash over him, clearing his mind.
BUZZ!! BUZZ!! Unrelenting, the wasps continued to swarm him.
He quickly pulled the rake out of the creature's mouth, a pale yellowish liquid dripping from it.
"This is hard," he thought as he was once again knocked to the ground.
Annoyed, he got up and started randomly swinging the rake around.
The creature swiftly dodged his amateur attacks, unable to counterattack as he violently swung his improvised weapon.
He luckily grazed the wings of one of the wasps, causing it to fall.
Without hesitation, he rushed to it, plunging the end of the rake into its mouth, raised at an angle that made it easier to pierce the creature's brain.
As he did this, he was bombarded by the rest of the wasps but did not waver, holding his ground to destroy the fallen creature.
The system notification sounded, signaling the demise of the creature. As a reward, his intelligence increased to that of a six-year-old.
Refreshed, he lay down, waiting for the creatures to come to him. He had noticed that standing up was a disadvantage as the wasps always hit him when he did.
"I should stay like this and wait till they get close enough," he decided, holding the rake by his side.
He waited, and luckily, a wasp entered his range. With all the strength his bony muscles could muster, he stabbed at the creature with the end of the rake. The unexpecting creatures hurtled vertically upwards, hitting some of his comrades in the way.
Taking advantage of the disorientation, Ossa swung the rake, the rake head ripping the wings of the unfortunate wasp within his reach.
With a thud, wasps fell to the ground, buzzing as they tried to fly.
Without hesitation, he rushed towards the fallen wasps, plunging the shaft of the rake into their mouths, bringing their lives to an end.
He had noticed that the exoskeleton of the creatures was too hard to penetrate; their mouths were the only weakness he could exploit.
After taking care of the three fallen wasps, he fell back down, waiting for the next attack.
As a reward for his kills, his intelligence rose to that of a nine-year-old.
He felt refreshed as he lay down, patiently waiting for the next creature.
"Wow, he is so powerful," Bel, who had observed the whole thing, said, her eyes glittering with admiration.
As she watched, minutes passed, which quickly turned into hours.
As time passed, her admiration turned to boredom as her stomach rumbled, hungry.
"What is he doing? It's getting dark," she said, noticing the sun going down the horizon, casting its fiery golden rays in the sky.
"Wolf!" A shadow wolf nudged at her. She turned to it, her crimson eyes reflecting the horned rabbit in the shadow wolf's mouth.
"Is that for me?" she inquired, her mouth-watering.
The shadow wolf, understanding what she said, shook its head.
"Huh, it's not mine. Then why are you here?" she said, a bit annoyed at the creature.
The creature placed the rabbit down, came closer to her, and started licking her index finger.
"Hey, what are you doing... You want me to cook it for you," she said, understanding what it meant.
For reasons that I will later talk about, Bel was able to understand the emotions, feelings, and thoughts of others, whether beasts or humans, making her a rarity in the human kingdom.
"OK, but you will have to give me some," she tried to negotiate with the shadow wolf.
Hurriedly, the wolf nodded, enticed by the aroma of the cooked meat Bel had enjoyed earlier.
Believing that Bel would cook it for it, the shadow wolf melted into the shadows of the trees, going off to hunt a new rabbit for Bel.
Bel, who understood the creature's thoughts, sat cross-legged, ready to cook the horned rabbit.
A dark green flame appeared on her finger, dancing to the tune of the dusk breeze.
"Wolf!!! Wolf!!! Wolf!! Wolf!!! Wolf!!! Wolf!!!"
As she busied herself controlling the flames to cook the rabbit, other shadow wolves slowly moved towards her, small creatures in their mouths.
"Huh, you want me to cook it for you too!!" she exclaimed, looking at the shadow wolves who stared at her with pleading eyes.
Each wolf had brought more than one, as they had heard her request for compensation.
"No problem," she agreed to their request, happy that she could be useful.
"I've got nothing to do anyway, and Ossa is still at it," she added, turning her gaze to the skeleton who was swarmed by wasps, occasionally swinging his rake.
She ignored Ossa and started to cook the critters for the shadow wolves.
Meanwhile, Ossa was busy cutting down wasp after wasp, his bones a bit cracked from the continuous impact of the wasp stingers and mandibles.
[Quest Completed]