I sighed, opening my eyes as the morning rays of sun washed over me.
Slowly, I sat up and looked around. The morning sun was bright, but its light couldn't lift the heavy stillness in the air.
A thick quietness settled in as I scanned my surroundings. There were no animals or monsters in sight, let alone soldiers.
There were no birds singing. No insects buzzing. It was as if the massacre in the nearby village had scared all life into silence.
I gritted my teeth as the memories of yesterday returned, but the tension eased slightly as I looked out into the open fields.
If I wanted to do something to help anyone, then no matter what, I would need to keep moving.
My thoughts were interrupted by a twinge in my stomach. "Ah, I should probably eat something before I go anywhere," I thought as I turned around to grab my sack.
I set it down beside where I had made a fire last night, then broke some branches off the trees around me, and within moments a fire sprang to life.
But then I realized I didn't have a rock or a smooth surface for cooking the snake meat.
"There must be something I can use," I thought, as I stood up looking around. There wasn't anything...
I couldn't lay it over the wood, and there weren't any rocks nearly large enough to use.
"There are stoves back in the village..." I thought as I turned my head back in that direction.
"No, I'm not going back there. It's not worth it," I told myself, looking at the fire, trying to think of a solution. "Maybe I could just hold the meat while it cooks over the flames?"
I had never considered cooking that way before. Logically, anyone would know that doing something like that would burn their hands off...
But I had tough fire-resistant scales now, so why should I worry?
Picking up the opposite sides of the meat, I held it flat, close over the fire. Flames licked my claws, but I just felt a trace of warmth.
"I really should have thought of this sooner," I thought as the meat cooked quickly and its smell filled the air.
It looked great, but something was missing. With my free claws I pulled the small jar of salt out of the sack.
Careful not to spill any, I popped the lid off and sprinkled just the right amount on the meat.
Then I closed my eyes and took a slow bite. The salt hit my tongue and combined perfectly with the meat.
For a few moments I forgot about everything and just enjoyed the meal and the gift.
"Salt really does make almost everything taste better," I thought while enjoying the last bite.
Then I put the jar back in the sack, thinking, "I couldn't have come up with a better gift myself."
My mood improved quite a bit after eating, and things didn't seem quite so bad.
I began to wonder how Aurora and the villagers were doing. She had said they didn't have a long distance to travel before they reached the capital, but there was no way they were there yet.
I looked up at the blue sky, wondering if they were safe. I hoped that they hadn't come across any monsters or perhaps worse, soldiers.
I reminded myself that they knew the best paths to travel, and they should be relatively safe.
So, I refocused as I stood up and decided to continue my journey.
Over the next three days, I kept traveling north. I kept my senses on high alert as I searched for any monsters or soldiers.
The first day was a combination of sprawling, empty fields and scattered trees under a vast, empty sky.
By the second day, the uneventfulness started to wear on me. The most unique thing I passed was a massive boulder field. Grey stones stretched on for miles.
The ground was almost completely covered with them, and some were as tall as fifteen feet.
One stood out among the rest; it was twenty-five feet tall.
Hoping to finally see a rock monster or something I could fight, I leaped from the top of a smaller boulder and climbed, claws scraping, to the top.
From up there, I scanned the horizon. In every direction, it was the same. There was no movement, no sign of life. A frustrated growl rumbled in my chest. This was getting annoying.
By the third day, my patience had worn thin. I still spotted the occasional creature, such as a lizard that looked like a combination of a snake and a centipede.
The animal appeared to be a snake with dozens of nightmarish legs running down its sides...
"Ok, I'm definitely not eating something like that," was all I could think as it scuttled away into the grass while I passed by.
As I neared the end of the third day, I was getting irritated because I hadn't found anything noteworthy so far.
Aurora had told me that there would be plenty of monsters. "Was she wrong?" I wondered.
"Or had I just been so unlucky that I'd managed to find the safest path possible to travel north?"
Sigh. "I guess it doesn't really matter; I just need to keep moving."
But as the next day came, a new worry began to grow. Had I somehow gone off track? Not by just a bit, but completely in the wrong direction?
There were multiple landmarks Aurora had told me I would come across, the first being a very large, wide-open lake where I was almost sure to find a monster.
I had expected to come across it by now, but maybe the scale of the map she had shown me was larger than I thought.
Sigh. "Yeah, I'm just probably lost," I thought. "I tried to keep going north by using the sun as a reference point, but I guess being slightly off might make all the dif-"
My thoughts froze. So did my legs.
The wind had shifted, and it carried a familiar scent. "T-that's blood!"
It was the undeniable smell of death, and I could tell that it wasn't far away.
"Another attack must be going on," I thought, dread tightening my chest. "Please, just let me get there before there's nothing left to save!"
I broke into a run; my senses focused on the scent. I still felt too slow. Every second I took felt like it could be someone else's last.
Then, over the next hill, I saw them: the red and white peaks of canvas tents. It was a Lamia camp.
I slowed, with an awful realization. "I'm too late. They must have already attacked a village and now are regrouping; the killing must have already ended..."
The blood I smelled was just what was staining their weapons and clothes.
A helpless feeling seized me, but it shattered under an intense anger that made my claws shake.
I approached the camp slowly and activated presence suppression.
As I neared the tents, images of what I had seen at the previous village flooded back as the ugly smell of death grew stronger.
The buildings leveled to the ground, the drawings on the well, and the villagers that had their life stolen from them.
I didn't know for sure if they were also responsible for the deaths in the village I had passed through. But they had still killed countless people, and that was all that mattered.
I bared my claws reflexively, ready for a fight, ready for revenge.
But with every step I took, an unexpected silence became clearer.
When I had first found the soldiers back in the forest before I had nearly lost my life, the soldiers were busy preparing or talking with each other.
But there was none of that here; the only sound I heard was the breeze gently tugging on the tent flaps.
And though I couldn't see inside the ring of tents, I began to think they might be somewhere else.
I paused, scanning the area with a sinking feeling that they might be attacking another village right now.
"I don't even have the faintest idea of where the nearest village is," I thought with growing concern and desperation. "Am I really powerless again to stop another slaughter?!"
But then from inside the ring of tents, I heard a loud, unnatural SNAP.
My head jolted up, and I saw something that I hadn't noticed before.
Sticking out of the right side of the nearest tent to me was an arm that lay limply.
"What the- is everyone asleep or something?" I wondered, but after a few steps it became clear that wasn't the case.
A shiver ran down my scales as everything inside the circle of tents came into view.
Mangled corpses littered the ground, their blood painting the grass a deep crimson. Flies hovered in clouds, and more bodies lay slack inside partially torn tents; there were maybe twenty of them total.
Then there was a loud, wet, cruel crunch, followed by another distinct snapping sound; now I could see the source.
Right in the middle of the circle sat the corpse of what looked to be a Lamia captain being split in two by a monster unlike anything I'd ever seen before.
My eyes darted up and down as I took in the appearance of this "thing" I could tell it was exceptionally tall and lanky even though it was sitting down.
Shape-wise, it was barely humanoid, but there was nothing human about it.
It had a thin, patchy layer of light grey fur covering its pitch-white skin. Underneath, the blood flowing through its veins pulsed a deep red, which contrasted with its pale skin.
The fur around its ankles, wrists, and the base of its head was thick black.
Its ears were sharp and upright, like those of a bat.
It had sharp black claws that were partially covered in old, dried blood as well as fresh blood.
It picked up a piece of the Lamia captain's corpse and bit down with its yellow, jagged teeth and a large pair of fangs.
It seemed to be sucking the blood from it rather than eating it. Its veins flared a brighter red.
I glanced around at the bodies strewn around. They were drained and not just from death.
Things were beginning to make sense now.
But still, the worst part was the expression it carried.
Its two eyes were completely emotionless; they could have easily been mistaken for the eyes of the dead.
But its mouth wore a cruel and exaggerated smile.
I flinched as the monster ripped the arm it had sucked blood from off the corpse and tossed it aside. The limb hit the dirt with a blunt thud.
The monster didn't appear to have any real injuries either, which was concerning, since the captain it was currently tearing apart in front of me had almost certainly reached Mana Transcendence.
And it had killed him, as well as this entire camp, without taking any noticeable damage...
My gaze sharpened as I thought about how I was going to fight; there was now no doubt in my mind that this monster was quite strong.
Then suddenly, it stopped its dismemberment and glanced around. Its ears flicked, straining to hear.
It had sensed me, and now had an agitated look on its face; it clutched the corpse tighter in its claws like it thought something else was here to steal its kill.
Then its gaze finally settled on me. It had seen partly through my presence suppression, so I deactivated it, fully showing myself to it.
"It found me already. Well, I guess there isn't anything I can do about it now. I might as well take advantage of this moment then."
With one arm I grabbed tightly onto the main pole of the nearest tent through the fabric, and I tensed the rest of my body getting ready.
The monster quickly began to stand, its anger growing. So I moved first.
I rushed forward, yanking the pole out of the earth, and threw it at the monster.
The fabric caught the air and opened like a curtain before covering the monster's head.
It took a step back in surprise, its claws tearing through the canvas as it pulled the fabric from its face.
By the time it had managed to remove it, I had already closed the distance between us and was now in position to strike.
My arm was drawn back; I formed a fist with my right claws. I pushed off, digging my claws into the ground, and my fist flew forward, delivering a heavy, bone-jarring punch straight to the monster's face.
It was thrown to the ground, but it quickly looked up at me. Now its look of anger had been replaced with an eerie smile.
A line of blood trickled down its face from where I had hit it. The monster tilted its head slightly; its dead white eyes fixed on me and deliberately licked the blood from its face.
I jumped back, not sure what it was going to do next. My attack didn't hurt it as much as I had hoped.
I left the circle of tents, knowing that based on the power it had shown when dismembering its victims, it was almost guaranteed that this was a monster I would want to avoid being hit by.
And it would be much easier to dodge out here rather than in an enclosed camp.
The monster got to its feet slowly, like it was savoring the moment and the pain with it. I could tell it was tall before, but now that it stood, I could see that it was a good foot and a half taller than me.
But by proportion, its limbs were longer still.
I frowned; reach-wise I was going to have a big disadvantage.
When I first saw the tents, I had prepared myself for an entirely different type of fight, and I certainly was not counting on running into a monster like this one.
But even so, I lowered my posture slightly. My heartbeat quickened to a fighting pace, and I felt myself beginning to growl; I hadn't let go of the built-up anger I had, and I felt more ready than ever to fight.
Then the monster kicked off the ground, sending a spray of dirt and grass into the air as it headed toward me. It moved wildly, without form, but its speed didn't suffer.
A blood-stained claw slashed through the air in a wide, horizontal arc aimed at my head.
I activated presence suppression before its claws made contact. The monster's concentration was thrown off, and I managed to dodge, dropping low and feeling the wind dragged with its attack brush past the scales on my back.
Undeterred, the monster's head snapped back to tracking me as it launched another three wild, barely aimed attacks.
The first was another sweeping slash at my head, which I was able to dodge without trouble. The second was a backhanded strike that whipped toward my left side, forcing me to jump back, evading its reach; but now I was on the back foot.
The monster closed the distance in an instant and launched a final brutal downward slash again aimed at my head. Only I didn't have enough time to dodge now that I had been pushed back.
I raised my arms to block and used presence suppression. The attack felt like a blade cutting through my scales and sent a painful wave through my arms.
I winced at the pain, but I knew it could have been worse, as its claws were only able to leave a somewhat shallow cut on my arms.
I kicked off the ground, putting more distance between us, and readied myself as I landed.
I decided to try and see if I could attack without giving the monster a chance to counter.
Activating presence suppression to throw the monster off again, I ran forward, closing the distance just before it was able to track me again.
I raised my claws as if I was about to slash its face.
Taken by surprise, the monster was only able to try to defend by raising its claws to meet mine, but they never collided.
I feinted the slash and ducked below its reach, getting onto all fours.
My claws dug into the ground as I turned one hundred eighty degrees, my tail cutting through the air like a blade before slicing into the monster's chest.
The monster stood still as I rose to see the damage; a steady stream of blood was flowing from its chest. But just as soon as it started, the wound closed completely.
"You have got to be kidding me..." I thought as I saw the wound closing. "Does it really have instant regeneration?!"
However, something about the monster was different now. It seemed like its veins didn't glow quite the same as they did before, as if the intensity had dulled.
Unfortunately, I didn't have time to dwell on it, as the monster only seemed more eager to kill me now that I had done some real damage to it.
Excitement flashed across its face as it rushed at me again with vicious and even more wild attacks. So much so that I was forced into a constant state of retreat, activating and deactivating presence suppression many times in order to dodge.
It didn't target any specific area anymore; it only aimed for what was closest to it.
Claws raked the air on all sides as I leapt back; powerful kicks missed my ribs by inches; the monster even tried to bite me a few times when the other attacks failed.
I tried to watch every swing closely, looking for a rhythm in its attacks to try and find an opening, but it was hopeless.
Every attack seemed completely and utterly random; it was as if the monster itself only knew it was attacking me and was paying no attention to how it did so.
Like its subconscious had taken over its movements.
Attack after attack after attack, eventually one of its slashes landed, and I received a painful cut on my shoulder. The damage wasn't something I needed to worry about, but I had been knocked off balance, and the monster was closing in.
I began to fall backward; the monster was now looming over me, ready to deliver a finishing blow. Even if I blocked, I would be in trouble, but I still had one option left.
I took in a deep breath and then launched a wild blaze of fire at the monster. I was driven downward faster as a result, but the monster stopped trying to attack and recoiled, throwing its arms up to shield.
Before I hit the ground I managed to twist around and land on my claws.
I looked back at the monster. I hadn't gone all out with the fire, as I would have probably slammed into the ground from the recoil.
The monster was still slightly disoriented, but besides its hairs being singed and slight burn marks, the fire hadn't done much.
The important thing was that there was still a small, almost unnoticeable flicker of hesitation in its face, caused by being caught off guard by the fire.
I knew it would be smart to take advantage of its hesitation.
I took a slow step forward, then with the next I kicked off at full power. The monster raised its claws, ready to strike.
Before I entered its reach I began to open my mouth. The monster's cold eyes widened, anticipating another fire attack, and it instinctively crossed its arms in a defensive posture while beginning to move backward.
"That was just what I was hoping you would do," I thought as I eyed where to strike.
In an instant the gap between us closed and I was in perfect position. I put my force behind my right claws and raked them down its forearms, slicing deeply into the skin and muscles of both arms the monster was using to block.
The monster dashed backward as a thick stream of blood flowed from its arms, then paused as the wounds closed.
The veins that were glowing so brightly before were almost invisible now.
The monster's expression wasn't so gleeful now either.
However, it still rushed forward at me wildly.
I dodged a flurry of attacks again with presence suppression, but I might not have even needed to use it now; something had changed for sure.
The attacks were quite a bit slower than the unnatural speed it had displayed before. The force behind its strikes had been greatly diminished.
My theory had been confirmed. "One of the monster's abilities is blood-related for sure. It must have drunk the blood of the soldiers for this power boost... that would also explain why it had no injuries when I found it."
But now that stolen power had almost been used up, and I just had to finish it off.
We were on about equal footing when it came to speed and strength now, but I was still leagues ahead when it came to fighting skill.
I watched its attacks carefully, and this time I found an opening easily.
"Ok, let's end this," I thought as I leapt forward. My claws outstretched, aimed directly at the monster's neck.
For the first time I thought I saw fear in its face. As my claw got closer to its target, I saw the last of the blood drain from the monster's skin.
In a last desperate attempt, the monster used the last of its blood to buy a momentary boost of speed.
Just inches before my claws reached the monster's neck, I felt my arm being latched onto. The monster's claws dug painfully into my scales.
Then it raised my arm above its neck and opened its mouth.
"It's still able to move that fast?!" I thought, being taken by surprise. "Damn it, it's going to bite me!" I thought desperately, as I watched its fangs lower toward my arm.