After sitting in contemplation under the shadow of a great tree for a while, I finally stood up. That was when I realized something strange, even though the night was dark, I didn't have much difficulty seeing my surroundings. The shapes of the trees, the grooves in the bark, even the leaves moving slowly. They all appeared fairly clear to my eyes.
I wiped the sticky stain on my cheek with the back of my hand. The dark red fluid smeared my skin, then began to dry in the slowly moving air. I stood up straighter and stared at the wounds on the dead wolf's body. Deep gashes, clean tears, the work of pale purple claws that now seemed a natural part of my fingertips.
All of this… felt too easy.
It didn't seem like too long since I'd been in this forest, and in the beginning, I almost died just fighting one wolf. Now, two at once weren't enough to make me fall. In fact, one of them chose to flee in fear after watching its partner go down so easily.
My strength skyrocketed after eating the wolf and bear meat. But if I eat the same kind of meat again, nothing happens in my body.
So, the conclusion is simple: my body only absorbs 'something' from creatures I've never eaten before.
A rule which means I must keep hunting something stronger, something new.
Otherwise, my growth will stagnate.
Then a wild question crossed my mind. Is this normal? Would ordinary humans, if they dared to eat raw monster meat like I did, gain the same power, or would their bodies just get poisoned and die? Or… is there something special about me? Something that was different from the start, something that lets my body absorb the power from the creatures of this forest?
Silence enveloped the area, with only the whisper of the night wind greeting me. I was alone in the middle of this mysterious forest. There were no answers, no teachers, no clues whatsoever about my new world.
But one thing I now believed firmly. This strange mechanism, where my body absorbs the power from the forest creatures, was the key. It was my only clue, my only path. And most importantly, as long as it could make me stronger, I would keep doing it without hesitation.
I grabbed my handmade wooden bottle lying near the root of the great tree. Its bear-hide stopper was still tied securely. The wood felt damp but wasn't leaking. After undoing the cord, I took a gulp of the water I had prepared.
The bitter taste of young wood fibers still left a faint trace on my tongue, but its cold sensation helped clear my mind, which was beginning to fill with hunting instincts. After a few swallows, the iron taste of wolf blood in my mouth finally faded.
I then replaced the stopper, hung the bottle securely at my waist, and took a deep breath.
The wind that usually whistled through the treetops felt distant now, reluctant to approach the area that had just been a bloody battleground.
Even though it was already night, my body wasn't tired yet. I also didn't know if I could sleep safely in this dangerous forest or not. Even though the first time I was here I passed out and was still fine, that was probably because I was lucky no animals came near me.
So, there was no other choice. I had to keep going.
Then I stepped away, leaving the wolf carcass behind. Each footstep left a light but definite imprint, like the steps of someone who seemed to know where to go, even though honestly… I had no destination at all.
I just had to keep moving away from this spot and maybe find civilization to get out of this forest, or find a new monster for me to eat so I could grow stronger.
The forest scenery looked the same, yet I sensed a subtle change in my perception.
I kept walking, passing a line of ancient trees whose trunks were so large it would take three people to embrace them.
I didn't hurry. The rhythm of my steps was calm, steady, and full of a confidence I had never possessed before.
A confidence that, slowly, without my realizing it, was beginning to change color into the seed of arrogance.
"Wolves and bears can't scare me anymore," I muttered to myself, my voice sounding almost sneering in the silence.
I paused for a moment, feeling a different breeze touch the skin of my exposed arm. Not an ordinary wind. This was more like a sudden chill, a slight shift in temperature around me that made the hairs on my nape stand on end.
There's something.
I raised my head, my blue eyes sweeping the surroundings warily.
No immediate signs of danger were visible. No growling, no glint of eyes from behind the bushes. Yet the atmosphere here… felt different and heavier. The birds and insects that were usually present had fallen completely silent. Even the sound of rustling leaves seemed swallowed by a pressing stillness.
Every primal instinct in my body screamed softly that something was wrong.
This was no small threat.
Not an ordinary predator I could easily face.
But what stirred in my chest wasn't fear, but anticipation. Even a dark, little thrill.
I walked on further, moving through a part of the forest that grew denser. Giant roots like colossal snakes once again lay across my path. Dark green moss covered every surface of stone and deadwood, showing the ancient age of this territory.
The scent of damp earth, mushrooms, and organic decomposition grew stronger, indicating this part of the forest was rarely visited by other creatures, or perhaps… deliberately avoided.
After walking carefully for about ten minutes, my eyes caught something that made me stop completely.
The ground in front of me… was ruined. Shattered, trampled by something immensely heavy.
Very, very heavy. Its tracks didn't resemble a bear's.
Nor did they look like wolf claws. And they clearly weren't the prints of shoes or human feet.
Each footprint was so large that both my soles could fit inside with room to spare all around. Its shape was irregular, like a mix between a flat sole and sharp claws. The earth in the center was deeply sunken, while the edges were raised and clawed up, as if the creature planted its full weight aggressively with each step.
I crouched down slowly, cautiously, and touched the deepest part of one of the tracks. Then I brought my nose close and inhaled slowly.
A faint scent of blood…
This creature passed through here very recently. And my first thought wasn't, this is dangerous. But rather, maybe its meat could give me even greater power.
The corner of my lip lifted slightly. Not a smile, but more like the grimace of a predator's instinct awakening.
Without a second thought, I immediately continued my journey, now with a new focus, following those giant tracks. My steps were now adjusted, avoiding dry twigs that could make noise, my eyes never leaving the pattern on the ground. Each fresh track I found felt clearer, as if the earth itself was whispering the direction the great burden had moved.
I could feel my heartbeat change, faster and harder, not from anxiety, but from simmering anticipation. There was something ahead. Something bigger than a bear. Something that could make me much stronger, and something that might be far stronger than the bear and two wolves I just fought.
And strangely… I wanted to find it.
I wanted to see just how tough this new body of mine was, how far my new instincts could take me, and how much new power I could seize if that creature finally fell before me and I ate it.
The distinct smell grew sharper, piercing my nose.
Its footprints grew deeper and more chaotic, as if the creature was in a hurry or angry.
The surrounding trees began to show signs of damage. High gashes on trunks, and small toppled trees. The creature left a trail of its unique, sweet-putrid stench, like long-settled blood mixed with pus, yet still radiating a strong aura of life.
The further I walked, the closer I felt, and the harder my heart pounded.
Until finally…
The ground beneath me trembled.
A faint tremor, almost imperceptible. Yet enough to send a clear message through my shoes.
The creature was still around here.
And the distance… no more than a few dozen meters.
The ground grew damper under my shoes, as if the roots of these great trees filtered the night dew and dripped it to the surface. Each step produced a soft schlup in the wet soil, which was then swallowed by the increasingly oppressive silence. No other sounds, no night calls, no insect chirps, even the wind seemed afraid to blow.
This silence was not ordinary.
It was a choked silence, as if the forest was holding its breath along with the creature hiding within its darkness.
I kept following the large tracks, the wide depressions that crushed moss, pulverized soil, and shattered protruding roots. The trail was not just heavy, but brutal. Its pattern was random. Sometimes straight, sometimes twisting erratically, as if the creature walked with a body too heavy to control, or perhaps… with no clear purpose other than to destroy.
The smell grew more piercing.
The smell of fresh blood.
And behind it, a deep, sweet rot, like flesh decaying from within while still alive.
My pace instinctively quickened. Not a rush, but this body moved on its own, with an efficiency that made me aware of my transformation. Every muscle moved lightly, without tension, without the shadow of fear. That conviction flowed in my bones, sharp and dangerous. I had just defeated two wolves without significant injury, maybe I can also defeat this.
I stopped, letting my new senses read the change in the air.
There was a sound. Far ahead.
Not footsteps, but a dragging, heavy, rough sound, like a large rock being dragged over gravel. Slow, low, almost below the threshold of normal human hearing, but to my ears now, it felt like an echo pounding my eardrums.
Closer. And clearer.
Shhhrrhkk… thud. Shhrrhkk… thud.
Like something heavy being dragged, then thumped down.
I narrowed my eyes, peering through the thickening layer of fog. A chill crept up from the ground, but my body remained warm from within, as if a small fire kept smoldering.
And I stepped forward again.
Each step felt like crossing into forbidden territory. The trees here were larger, darker, and grew so densely they filtered almost all moonlight. Only a silvery glow occasionally pierced the gaps, falling like needles of ghostly light that touched the ground, making shadows seem alive and threatening.
The tracks ahead told more. The creature didn't walk straight. It destroyed anything in its way, young trees broken with sap still dripping, shrubs torn out by the roots. When I touched the break in a branch, its sap was still warm.
Very close.
My breath remained steady. No racing heart, only a burning curiosity and a warming sensation in my chest that grew stronger. A primal urge.
I stepped more carefully. The terrain changed. Roots formed natural traps. My reflexes reacted before my mind could command; my body leaped over obstacles with ease, too easily, as if I had been born with this agility.
And then, I found something that forced me to stop.
Not the creature.
But proof of its power.
A tree trunk, as thick as my body, irregularly split. Not cut, but smashed from the side. Its wood fibers were torn wildly, forming a brutal crown of violence around the break point. The strength required for this was no joke.
The piercing smell was strongest here, the scent of living flesh rotting from within.
The tremor in the ground returned. The pattern was clear now. Step. Step. Drag. Step.
I sharpened all my senses. The distance was maybe only thirty meters now, hidden behind the wall of colossal trees ahead.
With steady steps, I approached the source of the sound. The desire to see, to know, overrode all other considerations. I wanted to see if this creature could give me new strength. I wanted a real fight.
The fog ahead was so thick it was like a wall of dirty milk. The cold, damp air froze the vapor of my breath. Then, my eyes, which could see clearly in the dark, caught a shape on the ground.
A wolf carcass, the same kind I had just faced. Its body wasn't torn by ordinary bites or scratches. It was decapitated, nearly split in two from shoulder to hip by a single, crushing attack.
Its bones were shattered, its internal organs spilled out and scattered in pieces on the damp ground. There was no neat predation pattern. Just total destruction and swift disposal. Most of its meat was still there, as if the killer only ripped a little then left it, uninterested in prey that was "too small."
I touched the blood-splattered fur. Still warm, like this happened just minutes ago.
A cold shiver ran through my blood, not out of fear, but because I knew. Whatever did this to a wolf with a single strike... is not something I can take lightly.
I stood up straight. My instincts screamed louder now. The creature was closer. And very dangerous.
I turned, moving through a narrow gap between two colossal trees. From there, the fog seemed to flow in and out like a giant's breath.
And then…
The ground trembled stronger, closer.
THUD. Shhrrrhkk. THUD.
I slowed, my body naturally slipping into total alert mode. Every movement was calculated, every breath controlled. I crept closer to the source of the tremor, piercing the final curtain of fog.
I peeked from behind the cover of the last tree trunk.
And there, in a small moonlit clearing, I saw it.
The creature had its back to me, but its silhouette…
Was massive.
Its height was perhaps close to 8 meters. Its shoulders were unnaturally wide and muscular, rising and falling with heavy, audible breaths. Its skin was a grayish-green, rough and full of cracks like dry earth, each crack appearing wet and pulsing weakly.
The putrid smell I had been following radiated strongly from it.
But what made it stranger were its arms. They were unnaturally long, almost reaching its bent knees. And at the end of each large hand were nails.
Black curved nails like sickles, as long as my forearm, looking capable of tearing through steel. One of those nails still dripped with dark blood. Wolf's blood.
The creature was hunched over something. Not to eat, but as if examining it, or just destroying it further. It snorted, its voice like grinding stones.
I drew a breath slowly, very slowly. But the moving air, or perhaps the scent of wolf blood still clinging to my clothes and skin, was enough.
The creature's large head jerked up. Its flat nose sniffed the air.
Once.
Twice.
Its entire massive body tensed slowly. It turned, its movement more agile than I had imagined for its size.
And when it faced my direction fully, two murky yellow eyes, full of mindless hatred and insatiable hunger, stared straight toward my hiding spot.
Troll.
The word surfaced in my mind, knowledge from who knows where.
Its mouth, full of rough, irregular teeth, opened slightly. From within came a long, foul-smelling hiss of breath.
"Grrrrrrrrrhhhh…"
That sound was not just a sound. It was a vibration in the air, a warning that could be felt by every cell in my body.
Could I fight this? The question flashed briefly, cold and clear amidst the heat of fighting instinct. The creature before me was the embodiment of raw violence, something even a bear might only be a plaything for. But the fear that used to freeze my bones… never came. All that existed was the echo of the change within myself, a challenge that had to be answered.
I will not run, and I will no longer hide either. Slowly, I stepped out from behind the tree, entering the same field. The faint moonlight illuminated my face, and also the monster's body completely.
We stared at each other. One, a deviant human with pale purple nails and eyes full of cold determination. The other, a monster from night-time tales, a symbol of brutal, mindless strength.
The troll raised one of its long arms, displaying its still-wet black nails. Then, it let out a short, hard roar, full of the promise of violence.
"GRRRAHhh!"
The forest floor shook.
The fight I had been seeking, the challenge that would test the limits of my still-raw new strength, had finally begun.
And in the silent darkness of the forest, for the first time, a thin, and cold, anticipatory smile finally appeared on my lips.