The sounds of bites and pieces being torn off continued to echo through the area. As he glanced around, Sief noticed everything was completely silent, only the cold wind could be heard.
Even watching the stranger tearing chunks with his hands and bringing them close to his mouth, it was hard to believe that it was being done by a normal human, and noticing how he tore the pieces, Sief concluded:
'They're claws...'
Aside from the protruding teeth and the jaw that behaved strangely, Sief could clearly see sharp claws on the stranger's fingers and toes. But what he mainly noticed was that even while eating, his eyes glowed with a reddish hue, which made Sief conclude:
'It's an active ability… no… an ability that does all this…' He narrowed his eyes slightly and raised his head. 'Is it a unique ability? These feral capabilities must be—'
Sief approached a bit more, but before he could take his next step, something flew into his face, and his eyes widened as he reflexively caught it, already feeling a horrible texture in his fingers.
When he looked, Sief saw a large chunk of the monster's flesh that had been thrown, big enough to fill his whole hand. When he looked back at the stranger, he noticed the stranger staring at him.
"Wait until I finish eating."
Now the stranger's face was covered in blood, and his red eyes stood out in that setting, but there were no more tears, and he quickly returned to eating from a hole he had made by simply devouring it.
Sief turned again to the piece of meat in his hand, which was still bleeding, causing him to narrow his eyes slightly as he pondered.
'This here is monster meat... right?'
Turning back to the stranger, who continued to eat fervently, Sief wondered if there was any way it could be as tasty as the stranger made it seem. But turning his attention to the surroundings, Sief walked under a tree and thought.
'The loud sound this fight made should have brought countless monsters here, but the forest is surprisingly quiet.'
Sief continued to survey the area intently and made a campfire, but no matter how much time passed, the silence in the place remained.
Some time passed, and Sief lit the fire, but the meat was so tough that no matter how hard he tried to cut it, it was as effective as trying to pierce a living being with a stick, taking several minutes to cut it into fillets and make holes for the skewers to enter.
When they were already heating on the fire, Sief still looked on with doubts if that was a good idea, but soon he heard footsteps approaching. When he noticed, the stranger sat across from him, staring at the fire with his face now free from blood but still without saying anything.
Sief continued to watch in silence, slightly confused, but when he turned his eyes to the monster's body, he noticed that the neck and head had simply disappeared.
In a single impulse, Sief stood up, still in disbelief, seeing that the sunken ground still bore marks of blood, but nothing was left besides the monster's armor along with the remainder of its neck from the point where the stranger had started eating.
Sief nervously narrowed his eyes and concluded:
'This can't have been a single ability... this guy has—'
"Eat."
The stranger said without looking at Sief, merely staring at the fire that crackled amidst all that silence, keeping Sief, who watched with suspicion, but soon returned to sit and pull one of the skewers from the fire, concluding:
'This guy acts strangely... what is his intention? But anyway...'
Quickly, Sief brought the skewer to his mouth and bit down, but as soon as he did, his body wanted to vomit.
The meat was tough, hot on the outside but cold inside. The taste seemed raw, and even the texture was bad, making him want to spit it out, but as he was about to do so, he saw the stranger staring at him as if waiting for a conclusion, merely repeating:
"Eat."
Sief clenched his teeth, trying not to feel that taste, and no matter how much his body told him to spit it out, he tried to swallow the piece, which almost completely obstructed his breathing.
As soon as the piece was swallowed, Sief breathed heavily, realizing how difficult it had been to swallow, yet the stranger continued to wait without moving, making Sief clench his teeth, concluding:
'Is he going to wait for me to eat all this crap?'
Even hoping for a different response, the stranger did not move, and Sief was forced to eat everything, sighing and filling his mouth to push it down again, trying to make the experience less terrible.
More and more pieces that seemed never-ending were devoured, and at the end of the last skewer, Sief threw it into the fire before swallowing, still with his cheeks full, he stared at the stranger who continued to gaze into the fire.
With a brave impulse, Sief swallowed everything he had, gasping for air, feeling like he wouldn't be able to swallow, but grabbing the canteen, he forced even more down, and finally, the pieces descended, with Sief letting out a relieved sigh followed by his panting breath as he still tried to recover from it all.
"You are very rude." The stranger moved his body and rested his fist on his cheek, still staring at him with wide eyes.
"Lack of manners is offering me this thing as food." Sief tried to recover with a furrowed brow, and finally, he cleaned his mouth, dirty with some pieces of meat and water. "How did you manage to eat all this? And more importantly..."
Sief turned his eyes to the stranger's abdomen, which remained unchanged even after a few minutes in which he had eaten all that meat, making Sief narrow his eyes slightly, but soon after, the stranger said:
"I can't answer beyond that it's an ability of mine; you also have an ability, don't you? You should be able to do this." The stranger spoke naturally and leaned forward. "You have an ability, what are yours?"
"Just one ability? It can't be that simple..." Sief looked on with disbelief but quickly responded. "I use poisoning, it's just an ability... they told me there's a way to evolve it, but I still don't know how..."
The stranger approached again, and Sief recoiled with a furrowed brow, but he noticed that since the fight had begun and up to that moment, the stranger's eyes hadn't stopped glowing.
"If your goal is to kill, there's no way to kill a monster that size with this skewer, even by poisoning it." He drew back his body and straightened his posture, concluding. "But it's not just the weapon, your ability is too weak."
"Of course it's not just the weapon, after all, you didn't use weapons." Sief turned his body forward and narrowed his eyes slightly, saying. "The answer is that simple? The poison that worked until yesterday is now too weak?"
"Yes, if your problem is simple, the solution follows the same logic." He extended his fist and said, "If you want to do the same as me, killing monsters, why is your ability poisoning?"
Sief backed away slightly and leaned against the tree while still watching the stranger, noting his slightly relaxed posture, but he tried to appear as casual as possible, almost unnaturally.
"My goal is not just to kill monsters; I have a place to go, and I haven't thought of a better ability than poisoning." He raised his dagger and said, "The weapon is short and quick; in a big monster, it's unlikely to reach the organs or a lethal zone if it goes into the abdomen, so I can weaken my opponent and put him on the same ground as me at least..."
"You speak beautifully, but if your goal is just to go to a place, why didn't you create an ability to run or elude monsters?" Again, the stranger rested his fist on his cheek, but this time without leaning his body. "It might be a difficult ability, but if you managed to replicate poisoning, it shouldn't be that hard."
When he heard this, Sief furrowed his brow slightly and looked down, seeming to think, noticing this, the stranger sighed and straightened his posture again.
"Your type of mana is complicated and different from mine, but if it's just a movement ability, it shouldn't be too hard to do." He cracked his neck and turned to stretch toward the monster's body. "If it's your goal, go fulfill it and stop wasting time with me."
"But is that the right thing to do?" Sief narrowed his eyes and looked back at the stranger, saying. "If I create an ability to flee, the monsters can gather or surround me; in the end, I'll have a weak ability and no knowledge of fighting."
"If they surround you, flee. Your goal is not to kill monsters or clear the path for anyone passing after, so why speak as if it were?" He turned his face slightly towards the assassin, seeming to observe him, finally saying. "You created a fighting style designed to defeat stronger monsters; if you don't want to be stronger than them, just keep fleeing, as you did today, but if your goal is to fight, then things change a bit."
"If I..." Sief stood up, still with his eyes focused on the stranger as he said, "If I want to do this… where do I start?"
"You tell me." He turned his face again, keeping the reddish glow in his eyes. "You created an ability, even if I don't like it; if it's your way of fighting, improve it with more abilities, buy better weapons, train, kill monsters, do it your way."
"That simple?" Sief once again lowered his head with a furrowed brow and finally concluded, "It doesn't seem right to me..."
"Don't expect there to be a correct formula for doing this; seek more information and apply it, improve what you know, and thus you will become stronger." The stranger returned to walking towards the monster's body and concluded, "Grandpa used to say: become a stronger version of yourself every day, so you'll overcome your limits sooner or later. Find a way to improve, even if only a little, so that you'll always get there, no matter how long it takes."
Sief once again raised his head and saw the stranger with his face close to the monster's neck, prompting him to run up to him, saying:
"If that's the case, what's your goal?" Sief narrowed his eyes slightly, noticing that the stranger continued to devour ferociously, and finally questioned, "Can you help me with this?"
"My goal is to kill monsters; it was what Grandpa asked me to do, so until I think of something different, I will kill. But for it not to be a senseless slaughter, I at least eat them; if you're not going to do this..." He opened his mouth wide and tore off a larger piece of flesh, concluding, "There's no reason for me to help you."
"I just need you to tell me a bit more about this type of mana." Sief narrowed his eyes, watching the stranger stuff his cheeks even more with the flesh, and finally said, "On my way, I'll end up killing monsters, so if you help me, indirectly, I'll be doing what your Grandpa asked."
The stranger quickly struck the monster's neck, and in an instant, the sound of impact echoed, blowing a wind that reached Sief and blew the assassin's hair back, leaving him surprised again by the abrupt change. When he realized it, the stranger swallowed all the contents in his cheek without chewing, letting out a long sigh and finally saying:
"Even if you kill monsters, I don't want you to do it just because I asked. If you're going to make their deaths meaningless, just create your escape ability and go to your sister; stop wasting time here with me." He raised his head, using his hand to tear off another piece of the monster's flesh, and finally clenching it. "I don't like causing meaningless deaths; even though I kill the monsters for Grandpa's request, I eat them to survive and become stronger. If you don't do this, you'll be like all those other guys, and I don't like them."
Quickly, he brought the piece to his mouth, and once again Sief saw the fangs appear, making him narrow his eyes slightly, but finally, the stranger concluded:
"If you want to do something like this, do it alone. I won't help with a goal that even you don't know if you want."
He brought the piece to his mouth again and drew his face close to the flesh, returning to eat directly from the monster's body, leaving Sief, who still watched in silence, gripping his dagger's hilt slightly, and finally drawing his map directly from the backpack, turning around and soon departing while hearing the sound of the flesh being fiercely torn apart.