Happy New Year 2020 everyone! Well I kinda said that already, but this is the first real story chapter uploaded for this year. Well of a short Story, but nonetheless a chapter. It took longer than expected to write this down, so thank you for your Patience. And without further ado, let's get started.
Chapter 2 - Time to Eat
I stared into the empty air before me as I repeated this voice's "message" (as I'd call it) over and over again in my head.
{Proficiency has reached the required level. Aquired skill [Stealth LV 1]}
{Proficiency has reached the required level. Aquired skill [Fear Resistance LV 1]}
...
Uh...What now?
I really couldn't make heads or tails out of what this voice in my mind had said. I had apprently "aquired skills", though I don't really know what to make out of that, by doing something as I tried to not wander mindlessly through the city and find a better hideout than behind the remains of some wall in an otherwise barren landscape. Walking around with my mind in the clouds could actually end in something worse than the close to death experience I just had been through with those apes.
Ugh… perhaps if my memories from my past life wouldn't be as full with holes as the ruins around me, I might be able to at least place those words.
Hello? Is this the service hotline? I got a technical malfunction to report on one of your products... Wait, what's a service hotline to begin with?
AGH! I hate the fact that I can't recall anything with some sort of common sense! There are just words and pictures in there plus some scraps of memories excluding me getting run over by a car! I may as well call an eggplant an elephant, despite having a gut feeling that it would be completely wrong! Ugh!? Focus on the matter at hand dammit!
Anyway, I basically stood there in the middle of nowhere staring into the empty space before me and trying to actually make some sense out of this. This is what basically what very intensive thinking looks like my friends. In the back of my mind, however, I felt something familiar about this message. I had no idea where or how, but it sounded very familiar to be honest as if I had read something similiar to this text dozens of times already.
Now that I think about it, I kinda have repeated those words by now at least a dozen times in my head already. But that isn't what I meant!
I dropped my head at this. What was I even doing? Perhaps the hunger made me completely insane now. It's not like something is just going to appear that shows me what this all means if I was to say something like status and HOLY SHIT SOMETHING ACTUALLY APPEARED!? I jumped back in surprise when suddenly a window of some sort popped up in front of my mind's eye, which made me jump backwards in surprise.
More surprisingly I managed to read what was written on the window before me, despite the fact that I had no idea how to read in the first place. Kinda hard to picture, but then again this whole situation of me, a former human being (or at least I think I was one) being reborn as some sort of monster in a destroyed world with giant monsters and people fighting with those things as weapons against them makes no sense in the first place.
So I read what the windows said.
{"Nameless" Aragami LV 1}
{Skill Points: 100}
Nameless Aragami? Is that supposed to be... me? I actually felt like crying now as I suddenly found at least a term to recognize myself in. Until now I had no idea what I was, so you can probably not understand the relief of suddenly finding a sense of self. Perhaps it was due to a remnant of my human past that I wanted to at least be able to say what I am. Imagine that, you are asked what you are and you simply couldn't answer because no one ever told you. Even though I had no idea what else I had to expect as an aragami. Well other than being crushed to death and being eaten by bigger creatures like that group I joined in the beginning.
But what's with those "skill points"? Didn't I just aquire skills from hidding from those human hunters and those things they wielded as weapons? As if the panel in my mind had listened to my question, it suddenly opened a very, very long list of words I could barely make any sense of as the list scrolled down the list and kept scrolling, not giving me the chance to actually read it at all. What the hell? I just want to look at what is on this list and yet this window keeps going down and
STOP! I said as the list stopped. And then the voice came back.
{Skill [Appraisal] chosen. Necessary Skill Points to Aquired skill: 100. Aquire skill?}
Huh? Huh! Wait a minute dammit!
So if I get this right, I can exchange these points for skills like those I just got. Mhm… Maybe I should just take this one… You know what? I'll just go with it.
'One [Appraisal] skill, pretty please.' I thought in my most adorable sounding voice that I could think off right now.
{Skill Appraisal LV1] aquired. Remaining Skill Points:0.}
One new skill for me. Alright then, this [Appraisal] skill… I had a gut feeling that it might be useful. Or at least I hoped so. From what I understood appraising meant as much as analyzing, so could it mean that this skill could give me information about something? There were more question like what these things called HP or MP were, but I'd focus later on that. For now I turned to a random rock laying on the ground. I really wanted to smirk like some sort of demon in this moment, but unfortunately that was another thing my body was incapable off. Nevermind. The constant slasher grin the others of my kind had on their face all the time was more than enough to compensate for that. Prepare for my special attack rock! [Appraisal]!
{[Rock].}
...
...
...
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? THAT'S ALL THIS THING DOES!? WHAT KIND OF A USELESS SKILL IS THAT!?
Wait a damn minute, I didn't want to exchange my all points in some random useless skill you landed on! Give me back my points, you shitty roulette! If this was some sort of vending machine, that just ate my money and gave me something I had not ordered and not even given me exchange, I'd be kicking it and shacking it out of frustration in hope to break it, but unfortunately for me this thing seemed to have no physical form lacking arms.
My complains were left unanswered or ignored at this point. Instead it was just me standing there in this wasteland. What the hell was wrong with this world!?
As I screeched that in my head and roared in unparalled fury at nothing I began to break chunks out of the wall I had been hiding behind during the ape incident (a historical event in my life, I may add) by slamming my body against it or shooting my spikes at it, before grabbing some rocks with my mouth and starting to just throw them around like an angry child throwing a tantrum. Right now I was not caring how immature I was or how embarrassing it would be from the human perspective in that moment. I couldn't care less at all! I had perhaps just wasted a lot of valuable rescources for nothing and it might get me into another situation as the one before. I just needed to blow off that steam inside me.
But then the same voice that caused this ruckus within me spoke up again, making me freeze in my movement.
{Proficiency has reached the required level. Aquired skill [Hit LV 1]}
{Proficiency has reached the required level. Aquired skill [Throw LV 1]}
{Proficiency has reached the required level. Aquired skill [Expel LV 1]}
{Proficiency has reached the required level. Aquired skill [Anger LV 1]}
Okay screw you for the last one, but the other things looked useful. Apparently if I did certain things I could actually gain them as skills. And LV 1 from my personal understanding usually meant that it could go up further. So perhaps if I repeated the same actions over and over again, I could actually get better in them. Basically that sounded logical as training was actually nothing different. However, with my current course of misunderstandings and bad luck I might as well be wrong. I needed something to confirm my theory.
Looking down I took a very deep breath as I was about to do something very stupid, that might not even be worth the trouble and humiliation at all. Looked down at the ground and used [Appraisal] over and over again or the 7 page [Appraisal].
[Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]! [Appraisal]!
I always got back the same responses. {[Sand]. [Sand]. [Sand]. [Rock]. [Sand]…} You get what I mean. A headache in my skull and the sudden feeling of dizzyness really made me want to stop right away. But after what felt like eternity for me though I'm pretty sure it was not even nearly as long the voice in my head suddenly returned.
{Proficiency has reached the required level. [Appraisal LV 1] has leveled up to [Appraisal LV 2]}
Success! Ugh, though to what price? My head felt like spinning and my stomach region felt like it was going to implode. Standing alone was almost impossible as I wobbled from one side to another. I couldn't tell up from down or left from right. The voice shouting words like sand and stone before were still ringing through my head. Eventually I stopped wobbling around... when I triped over a tiny rock by simply grazing it with one of my feet.
I still don't dare to stand up again. My head's still ringing and my vision is still spinning. I need a moment to regain my senses here. And why the hell does some sort of song or melody resurface from my memories? Agh! Whatever! I may as well lay here until I don't feel like rotating like a car's Wheel anymore. After a minute or so I finally got to stand normally again. Now I just have to appraise something with this newly leveled up skill. Let's try again on that rock. I wanted to laugh evilly at this stupid rock. Prepare to be appraised. [Appraisal]!
{[Concrete].}
...
...
...
SUCCESS!? TAKE THAT WORLD! I'LL SURVIVE!
I wanted to jump in joy and cry my eyes out, but once more this body seemed to be incapable of the latter thing. Then I reached the conclusion.
So if I train my skills by using them a lot, I actually get better in them! Well I couldn't do much with the fact that it now said [Concrete] instead of [Rock] itself, but since it told me what it was in more detail than before perhaps I could later use that for my advantage. For example, if I wanted to know whether something was dangerous or not, which I couldn't exactly judge by the appearance alone given my lack of memory.
Gah! This stupid memory of mine! My memories are fuzzier than the hair on my back and I only can use those as an example, because the rest of my memories are pretty much nonexistent! Ugh… It doesn't matter... I'm pretty sure if my memory was fully functioning, it wouldn't have changed a thing. Sure I might be able to do something that humans were normally be capable of doing like recalling things from their memories or reading words, but given the things, that happened to me so far, I doubt my memories would have done any good to me.
It was then when a loud sound in the distance made my head snap into the direction of the source. It came from the skyline and the buildings behind it and was followed by the roars of the creatures that looked like myself. Now that I thought about it, those things always walked around in groups and when that giant cat massacred them without even breaking a sweat I had learned that they are basically weak like myself.
Still, waiting here for something else to happen was probably not the best thing I could do, so I walk towards the source of this ruckus, but more carefully than last time. As I walked around the empty streets, I couldn't help but nervously look around my surroundings. Those ape-like monsters from before had used that ruin as their home. And right now, I was pretty much surrounded by such decaying structures all around me. I honestly didn't want to, but if that was a normal thing in this world then staying in the middle of this city was as bad as staying out there on the field where there was no protection or chance to hide.
Once more the memory of that giant scorpion fighting the giant cat creature resurfaced in my head. Those things were huge and extremely powerful in comparison to something like myself. Even those apes, who had attacked in a large pack had been much stronger than I had been and I only managed to outrun them thanks to the humans back there. Slowly the feeling of dread in my guts began to grow further and further as I was once again reminded of the powerlessness of my kind. And so far everything I encountered was more than capable of tearing those things into shreds with their bare Hands.
What if I really was part of the bottom of this strange world's food chain? In that case, I may as well lay down and wait to be eaten...
No! Screw that! I did not survive for so long just to drown myself in melancholy now! If I see another monster that tries to eat me, I'll not run away.
Fully determined with that in mind I kept walking further down the street until the strange noise returned echoing from further ahead, eroding said determination away as I jumped to the side into some abandoned ruin. I stood still and looked outside once more, but saw nothing. Now that was weird. It must have come from further ahead then. Looks like I'm gonna investigate this case then.
Finally I reached the end of the road and spotted four more members of my kind, but strangely they didn't paid any mind to me as they were busy growling and roaring up into the air. I looked up and spotted those what they were roaring at. It was a really weird flying creature.
Not because it looked strange like everything that I've seen so far in this world, but rather because subconsciously my mind was flooded with impressions, despite my lack of knowledge. Because of that I actually had no right to call anything here weird or strange in the slightest. It was only weird from my own perspective on things and what I found weird might as well be very normal. However, neither the giant cat nor the scorpion knight, the ape-like monsters or my own kind had left me with such a strong feeling of weirdness as what I looked at right now.
The creature that the other aragami were roaring at was almost completely egg-shaped. Its body was mainly brown in color and a large yellow eye sat on what I presumed to be the forehead. That was not all however. The second part of the creature was pale in a light shade of gray like ash. It looked like a human woman having fused with the brown egg-like body while arms and legs were nonexistent. Instead the lower part was almost tube shaped, while what seemed to be the arms extended into wings as it seemed. A strange Image of a human Woman with a fish tail shot through my mind for a moment. What was it called? A... mermaid? Could one eat those?
Gah! What am I thinking about such useless things right now? I can just get information much easier, though somehow I had some hesitation in me about using it. Now that I thought about it, I never have used this skill on something alive yet. Oh well, there was a first time to anything, I guess. Let's see what the second level of [Appraisal] can do. [Appraisal]!
{"Nameless" Zygote LV1}
Zygote huh? The word sounds familiar, but unfortunately my lack of memories from my human life once more doesn't help me with that... Oh, I can appraise the species as well.
{A small type of flying aragami, that usually travel in small groups as they are relatively weak. They usually attack by diving down towards prey. They are also capably of attacking with poison.}
...
Aha!
I don't get it at all!
I want to spread my arms into the air at this realisation and shout out into the world without a single shred a shame "I am stupid!"
Earlier my own appraisal said that I was an aragami, but now it says this Zygote as it was called was a type of aragami themselves. I got to check something really quick. And by checking I mean appraising myself again.
{"Nameless" Ogretail LV1}
Oh, the kind changed from "Aragami" to "Ogretail". Now I see. Like the [Apraisal] skill only showed something trivial at LV1, it became more specific on LV2 not only with inanimated objects, but also with the different creatures. As such it would now make a difference between different rocks like concrete and sandstone and aragami like Ogretail and Zygote. Looks like this [Appraisal] skill actually deserves a lot of praise for that.
Sorry for calling you useless before. It shall never happen again!
But wait! Did the [Appraisal] skill just say attacks with poison and travels in groups?
The multitude of sounds of Zygotes overlapping each other above me confirmed my suspicions. There was not just one, but four Zygotes at once and all of them glared at the other Ogretails and myself. No wait. They were all glaring at ME alone and where swooping down towards me. Nope, my Ogretail senses are tingling! So I quickly ran towards the others of my kind. Not that I'm a coward, but taking on for of those at once might be a bit much.
Not to mention that as I turned around to see whether I was followed or not, the egg-like bodies split in half, splitting the woman like body at the front into an upper and lower half and revealing a massive mouth with sharp teeth. Yeah, but no. I doon't actually look forward to be eaten today! Somebody help! I let out a shriek and the other Ogretails seemed to have understood as they came towards me. Still while I ran, those Zygotes kept gaining on me. One of them even almost managed to snap its jaws at my tail! Nope nope nope nope!
Then a volley of white spikes soared through the air and embedded themselves into the closest of the Zygotes as the flock scattered around, but stayed a few meters higher in the air. The other Ogretails must have attacked. Thank you my brothers! I owe you one! But unfortunately the danger was not over. While both groups of aragami roared at one another, neither of them backed down. Instead the Zygotes kept hovering in the air.
And then I noticed something off. One of the zygotes swung its tail towards us and in the next moment some sort of purplish projectile shot out. Instinctively I jumped away, but the attack was not meant for me in the first place as it hit another one, which shrieked up in pain. What the hell was that? No, focus on the matter at hand. The other Ogretails tried shooting spikes at the airborne enemy, but they kept dodging. Dammit! For something that big, they were surprisingly hard to hit.
Then my eyes fell on the one who got the most spikes earlier. The one that almost bit me in my tail plate. Its movements were more sluggish and it was keeping a further distance from the rest. I don't know what exactly went through my head in that moment as I sprinted towards the wounded Zygote, roaring in challenge. The airborne aragami answered in kind as it swooped down to take a bite out of me. In that moment, time seemed to slow down once more.
I could see it. The menacing yellow eye. The wide open mouth. The human decoy-like body. The droplets of salvia dripping from its lipless jaws. I didn't care. All I cared for was to sidestep before it was too late. The enemy attack missed and thus its back was fully exposed.
Alright you flying exhobist. Let's see how you like some accupuncture! [Expel]! My tail basically moved on its own as I gave the mental command to use that skill. The spikes on my tail plate separated from my body and went flying towards the backside of the Zygote... ONLY TO COMPLETELY MISS!? AHH! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? IT WAS A POINT BLANK SHOT! AND I STILL MISSED! WHY DO I GOT SUCH A STUPID BAD LUCK!?
...Wait. If all my spikes missed, why was it falling then? Then I see its flank. My spikes must have damaged its wings a bit as they were now bloody stumps. The Zygote wobbled in its flight, desperately trying to keep its body airborne, but failing and finally falling into the ground rather ungracefully. Unfortunately for it, it would not get up anymore. As if fell it was still moving with high speed from its swoop attempt towards me and with that into the general direction of the other Ogretails, which took notice of the falling aragami immediately. What followed was them dogpiling on the still living Zygote and tearing it apart with their jaws as they kept it grounded. The sounds of blood splattering and flesh tearing as well as the dying cries of the Zygote tore through the air, while I simply stood there, watching the others turning that enemy into a pile of bloody flesh.
Then the other Zygotes hovered away. Apparently witnessing that one of their own was killed had made them lose their bravado to attack. I finally let out a sigh of relief. With the danger being over, I felt my body calm down again. It was luck that it had been just such monsters and not that giant tiger or that scorpion knight I met at the beginning. If it had been them, they would just have torn through all of us and I'd not have had the slightest chance to fight.
Looks like that creatures on the bottom of the food chain eat other bottom feeders themselves. Well it does make sense especially since except that I only got to see other Ogretails munching on either carcasses of already dead beings or whatever was laying around. Looks like my type wasn't really picky.
Speaking of being picky when eating, I was still starving as the reminder of this made the sensation return, hitting me like a truck head on (given that I technically could sing a song about that). If the bottomless pit in my stomach could have gotten any deeper, it just did as the other ogretails were still busy eating themselves. And so I approached the others. They only glanced at me for a moment, before returning to their meal, happily feasting on the killed Zygote's body once it was clear I was a fellow Ogretail and probably meant no trouble.
Can't really blame them for that though. My previous pack was killed for not being super attentive to their surroundings after all. I took my place amongst them and looked down at the carcass. Most of them were Eating from the egg-like main Body and wings, leaving only the human-like Body untouched so far.
I really felt like swallowing a lump in my throat at this. If I really had been a human being before, I was just about to eat something that looked at lot like one. Unease spread through my stomach, but the hunger was stronger. Whatever this would be like, I was Ready for it. And so all I could do was lung Forward with my wide open mouth and close the jaws around the flesh as blood sprayed from the torn flesh onto the ground.
Chew
Chew
Chew
...
I personally had no idea what to expect, but for some odd reason I seemed to have no problem chewing on the human-like half of this aragami. I had no idea whether that was good or bad, but it did feel odd for me and I could tell that I was supposed to be… something, but I had no idea what.
Digusted? Eager? Uncomfortable? Maybe even excited? I shouldnt Focus on that. Because of that I actually missed the flavor of my food. But my stomach was not satisfied with one single bite.
And so I finally took another bite out of it, trying to Focus on the flavor this time. Perhaps that would make it easier to eat and calm my mind a bit down.
…
…
…It tastes bland…
I chew a little on it… still bland…
I lick it… still bland…
I bite a rock next to me on the ground… bland…
The blood, the skin, the flesh… absolutely nothing! It was as if I was actually chewing on something made out of plastic. The flesh of this aragami simply had no taste at all! Or perhaps my body had a tongue that had no taste buds? I couldn't tell for sure. However, I became sure of one thing as my sharp teeth tore through the Zygote's flesh and my jaws ripped pieces out of the carcass…
I begin to really miss my taste buds. My memories might be gone, but my mind was sure that I should at least taste something. ANYTHING BUT THIS!? It wasn't even like I could enjoy the sensation of it in my mouth as my mind was more focusing on eating more and more. What has my life come to? Once I must have had access to the whole variety of different tastes from bad to magnificent and now I my body couldn't even taste dirt. My mouth probably would have enjoyed the sensation on anything else once upon a lifetime, but now it was only made to get more and more into my throat. Life is so unfair...
Today REALLY isn't my day, huh?
THUMP
I suddenly heard a noise from further away. Unlike the other Ogretails, I look up fromt he feeding frenzy in front of me and stare forward.
THUMP
Again! This time stronger and closer. I had a really bad feeling about this. Taking a few steps away from the carcass, I recalled my first pack of Ogretails dying by that giant cat's claws before my eyes and a dreadful feeling of deja vu was announcing itself in my head.
THUMP
It looked like my suspicion was correct as once again a meal of us bottom feeders was interrupted when suddenly something, I had not seen before came from a street up ahead. As I took in its appearance multiple images from my past life flooded my brain, trying to conclude the best way to actually describe what I was looking at. It looked like a strange combination of a centaur and a tank. Well if someone would have decided to give a normal tank a centaur-like body as it looked all wrong in my opinion. The legs were literally those chains a tank uses and in my mind I was just asking myself how this thing could even move in the first place.
The most disturbing thing however was its upper body. It looked like a mumefied human corpse stuck on top of the body as hollow black eyeholes turned towards me and my fellow Ogretails, who finally stopped eating to see the incoming danger.
Okay, you got this. Let's just see what this thing is. [Appraisal]!
...Naiive. I was so naiive.
{"Nameless" Quadriga LV 13}
{A tank-like large sized aragami. It has formidable defenses and powerful attacks with very long range.}
...I really wish I wouldn't have seen that and instead just run away from the start. I have never been able to actually see the other stats of the other aragai around me, but LV 13 must mean really a lot of power when me and the other Ogretails around here were only LV 1 or 2.
And as if to add Insult to injury to my suddenly realization that I couldn't taste anything, whether it was flesh or dirt a giant aragami has appeared, most likely ready to kill me in a heartbeat. It began to march towards us. It didn't take a genius to tell that this thing was bad news. It wasn't just the level, but with every other creature thus far trying to kill and/or eat me, I really had a bad Feeling about this one. And on top of that, this thing looked even more menacingly than that giant cat!
The other Ogretails then began to take a step or two towards the Quadriga, roaring in challenge at it and not wanting to Hand over the killed Zygote to this giant mechanical looking creature. It simply stood there with its hollow eyesockets locked onto the roaring ogretails. Every part of my body screamed at me to run for it, yet I found myself unable to turn around as the being before my eyes was staring right back at me.
Plus there were the others now as well. They kinda saved my life, so I might have gotten a Little bit attached to them. No, this time I'm not going to run. If I could take on that Zygote, then this would also work out just fine right.
...Once more. I was so incredibly naiive.
One of the 4 other Ogretails broke out from the formation and charged right at the Quadriga. Then on the back of the tank-like entity two mechanical arms folded out and then a volley of about a dozens missiles flew right into the brave ogretail. The small aragami gave only a last cry of pain as it was drowned in a massive explosion. As the dust settled, there was only a large crater in its wake, leaving not even a body behind as it must have been devoured completely by the explosion.
Hey?
Are you serious?
Are you really being serious just now?
That thing can actually shoot missiles that and could just... disintegrate any of my kind?
To my horror, the Quadriga turned its attention towards the other ogretails, who had fallen silent, and myself. And for some odd reason, it was for me as if the skeleton-like upper Body was smiling at us.
Okay, I retract my statement from earlier. I'M DEFINITELY GOING TO RUN AWAY FROM THAT THING!?
And so I once more ran for my life, but this time there were more of my kind around on the run. As if only waiting for us to run, the Quadriga made use of its centaur like body and dashed towards us with much greater speed than what you would expect froma creature as big and heavy as itself.
THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP
Each step the Quadriga took make the ground shake under its weight, making running even harder than it already was.
{Proficiency has reached the required level. Aquired skill [Running LV 1]}
Oh now I get this skill, but not when a horde of monkeys was chasing me? Are you kidding me? What am I even doing? NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO ARGUE WITH THAT VOICE!?
SPLAT
A pained cry from a fellow Ogretail and a loud splatting sound made me turn around for a moment. And what I saw could only be called a pile of deformed flesh in a crater. Apparently the Quadriga had simply stepped on one of them and crushed it flat. One more reason to run like hell!
The remaining 2 Ogretails and I kept running as the hissing sound of missiles ran through our ears. Quickly I turned around only to see the head of a Missile narrowly missing the outline of my chin as it flew past me and hit the ground a few meters away with a loud explosion. Unfortunately, the ogretail at the very back was not that lucky as it was killed just like the other two. The Quadriga didn't give up. It simply kept chasing me and the other ogretail. Seriously, what was this thing's deal? If it was just killing us and not eating us, then I ask myself why it was doing so?
Doesn't matter. I then noticed a large hole in a building up ahead to our left. The shocks of the Quadriga's steps became stronger and I swore I heard how the mechanical rear parts folded out again to unleash more missiles. There was no time to lose! Quickly breaking out to the left, I charged right towards the hole. The ogretail behind me followed, but the Quadriga had apparently not counted for the two of us to change directions as it seemed to slam ist legs into the ground below and skitting further due to its speed, unable to suddenly change directions.
The hole was just a few meters away when I heard now for real how the Quadriga started to run towards us with its missile launchers ready to fire. Using my tail like a spring, I catapulted myself into the air and at the same time, the Quadriga fired. I couldn't afford to look back. The fear to be hit while being airborne was to great and even greater was the fear of missing the hole. I couldn't see what was happening with the other Ogretail. But I did know one thing.
'I don't want to die!'
This thought alone rang through my head as my feet finally touched the ground of the building's floor where the hole was. The jump was made, but the missiles were still coming. Before anything else could happen, an explosion behind me occured and I was thrown deeper into the building, before I landed harshly onto the ground.
It hurts. It hurts so incredibly much. It felt like my backside had been scorched. My legs hurt even more as they took most of the blunt force of my fall. Numbed by pain I only noticed the other missiles hitting the area around the hole and a bit deeper by the bright light the explosions emitted as well as the dust that was kicked into the air. Then there was a rumbling that shook me to the core. Not just by ist intensity, but also by the shockeaves travelling through the ground I laid on. Then I realized what was happening. Dust began to rain down alongside small pebbles. And following were larger rocks. The entire building was collapsing.
Whatever survival instincts remained in my body, that was wounded and numb by pain, kicked in and forced it on its feet to at least get out of that building before it would become my grave. Heading deeper inside to exit it through the otherside like back then with those apes. It would be the same.
Then the ceiling came crashing down upon me. And then there was darkness. Only darkness.
Timeskip
...
...
I had no idea for how long was unconcious. The moment I woke up, it felt like my head was exploding on the inside while I was pinned down to the ground by some heavy weight. Slowly as my control over my body returned I managed to open my eyes. Everything was blurry and dark. It was as if I was trying to look with my eyes full with water. Forms and colors seemed off and distorted. Eventually everything rearranged itself back to normal and I saw, that I saw nothing but rubble. I was inside the rubble! How did this even… Ah right, the building collapsed. As soon as I realized that I worked on getting out. Easier said that done with all somewhat useful limbs being crushed beneath most likely tons of concrete. Yet, my body seemed to be fine from that.
Well except the burn on my leg and back. Thanks for that you damn Quadriga! I'll get you back for this...later. Now I have to get out of here.
Immediately I started to push myself up with my legs, but the burn caused me to flinch in pain. Okay, straining the injured right leg was a no then. But the left one seems fine and I got my tail still. I started wiggling as fast as I could. I needed to make room and push out of this thing. Centimeter for centimeter I kept pushing until finally the rocks before me fell down and sound of rocks falling onto the ground filled my nonexistent ears.
And before I knew it, my head poked out of the rubble. As I looked around myself, I saw that it was dark outside, yet I had no trouble seeing at all. The moon shone brightly in the night sky alongside many stars. I asked myself for a moment how I did know These Things, but I guess that was my human memory. When it came to trivial things like moon and stars it was there, but when I needed something useful it was filled with more holes than those damn ruins. Of course!
I wanted to sigh so bad, but my eyes looked down and saw something else. I was not on the same street as before. Instead I must have come out the other side of the building. But that wasn't what caught my eyes. An Ogretail, but it was not moving and laying on the ground. It must have been the other one from that pack that fled alongside me. Was it... dead? Only one way to find out, [Appraisal]!
{[Corpse of an Ogretail].}
So it was dead, but not eaten, huh? Looking around I saw nothing that could have killed it. Once again the feeling of hunger filled my mind. Great! I just had the worst meal of my life and the worst run of my life and now I was hungry again. Now that I thought about it, eating that Zygote had not filled my stomach at all nor did it satisfy my hunger. It was as if it just disappeared without any effect! Are you telling me I will always be hungry? Seriously, what was it with this constant feeling of being starved to death!?
I wiggled a bit more and suddenly I felt my body shift forward. Then I hit the ground with my face and fell onto the ground below with a loud thud.
Okay, not the best landing I admit, but not the worst either.
Getting up from the ground again, I hissed in pain as I put some weight on my right leg. Great, still burnt. I may as well try to hop on my left leg and not to fall over like when I learned how to walk. My hunger painfully tore me out of my thoughts as my eyes were immediately on the dead Ogretail again. And then my mouth began to water. I came to a conclusion.
Sitting here and thinking about my wounds won't change anything. Actions needed to be taken and that fast!
Walking to the carcass of the fellow Ogretail. I still wondered what had caused it to die, but I couldn't think about that right now. The only thought in my mind in that moment was to consume. I'm sorry good fellow, but for my continued survival I have to devour your body. Please forgive me for this one. Without much hesitation I then bit down on a dead Ogretail.
...And I almost threw up.
Bad. Bad! Really damn bad! URGH! WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS HOLY WAS THAT GROSS TASTE!? I can't even find words to describe this horrific taste or begin to search for words or make up new ones as it was so bad that my entire chain of thought was snapped in half by this overwhelming sensation of disgust. I then notice that the pain in my leg became less. Putting it on the ground normally, I only felt a slight sting, but not the same unbearable pain as before.
I looked down on the dead Ogretail from which I had taken out a bite with a shaking gaze. Sure having my leg healed would be pretty neat. But it seemed that would mean that I'd need to eat even more of...that... I felt like standing on the edge of an endless abyss. Either I stop and keep going with a semi-healed leg or... I keep digging in... Shakingly I opened my mouth again. And took another bite out.
...
{Proficiency has reached the required level. Aquired title [Kin Eater]}
{Aquired skills [Taboo LV 1] & [Heretic Magic LV 1] as a result of title [Kin Eater]}
...
I didn't hear the message in my head.
The after taste in my mouth was just... too much… I wished that I could throw up...
The whole thing. I had eaten the entire body of my fellow Ogretail. Even that strange orb that was in its body for some reason, but my mouth was faster than my head. I was healed, but to what price? Apparently my appettite as even though my hunger had not disappeared at all and still demanded more, my will to eat was completely gone now.
So I am either eating something without taste or I cannibalize on my kin, which tastes more disgusting than anything I had ever in my mouth?
This was so unfair. There had been a dead Body before me that would have turned anytime soon into those mots of orange light and leave nothing and I couldn't enjoy eating it because it tasted like...like... WHAT WAS THAT UNHOLY TASTE IN MY MOUTH! Ugh! It's still in my throat!
I really needed to focus on something else… Like what to do now?
I had no companions again and it was nightime. I had no idea what that meant in this place and I wasn't sure if I did like that. Not to mention that this Ogretail that I ate… Ugh, I had a feeling of nausea by just thinking about it... must have been killed not that long ago. I may have not spotted who or what it was, but I most certaintly didn't look forward on meeting them.
But apparently they did look forward to add me to the pile of corpses as suddenly something sent tremors through the ground. I took several steps back feeling the ground shake beneath my feet. And then I saw it. Something emerged from the ground a few meters away. It looked brown and had ovale shaped to say at best. A human like face looked back at me, but it was unmoving like a statue.
Was that also a monster? Better appraising it now than being sorry later.
{"Nameless Cocoon Maiden LV 1}
{A small sized aragami. Immobile during the day it moves during the night underground. It attacks with fast projectiles and spikes.}
I see. I see. Wait did it just say fast projectiles?
As if my thoughts were audible to anyone, the head of the Cocoon Maiden changed into a flower-like structure and then shot out something I'd describe as a bright ball of energy. I had not enough time to dodge as it hit me right in the face, sending me staggering backwards. Damn that hurt! Good thing, my head is covered in hard bone like plates. Who knows, how much more damage that thing would have made then?
Quickly running to the side, another projectile missed and hit the rubble behind me. Geez, why was everything in this world trying to kill me? Can't I get something more friendly as company for once? Is that really asking too much?!
The Cocoon Maiden fired another shot, but missed again as I drew closer. Fine, if this Thing wanted to play, I would play with them until they'd break! [Expel]! A row of spikes was sent flying at the other aragami, but once more I missed. This time without even grazing it. I really needed to make a mental note to practice aiming later- GAH! My face! That thing just hit me in the face again!
Grrr! Okay, no more Mister Nice Ogretail! I ran right towards it and smacked my tail against it. I heard something crack in that moment and I wanted to grin as now I'd have had a shit-eating grin on my face. Take that you stupid thing. You and your chest armor can't do anything.
That was when the body suddenly lifted itself into the air a little and many spikes shot out from underneath it in all directions around the Cocoon Maiden. I screamed in pain as one or two of those spikes pierced through my leg. Bastard! I will make you pay. I smashed my tail into the Cocoon Maiden's back this time, causing the aragami to almost hit the ground, but it simply got up again. Seriously, what was this thing and why was it not falling down?
That is what I asked myself as the chest suddenly opened before my eyes. Immediately sensing the danger, I brought my tail down and catapulted myself with a leap backwards when many long spikes shot out, which without doubt would have made it through my plated head. As I landed, I hit the ground first with my injured leg, causing me to yelp out in pain and fall down again.
Grrr! Now I was really mad. The Cocoon Maiden shot another attack at me as all I could do to dodge was literally to roll over. Once my feet where beneath me again, I shot up and charged at the enemy again. I needed to take that stupid thing down, otherwise I'll end up like that other Ogretail. The Cocoon Maiden fired another shot as I jumped sideways. This thing was dangerous. Not as dangerous as larger monsters, but it was still formidable in close and long range combat. However, my previous attacks told me that its defenses were not the best.
I had to exploit that!
Running around the immobile aragami, I dodged the shots it fired at me, only hitting rubble and the ground. That was until I decided to lung forward right after another shot was fired. I came from the Cocoon Maiden's right and bit down right on its midsection. My mouth was barely large enough for that. Yeah, try extending those spikes again without spening your chest or pulling your body up again! I'll tear you into shreds. The Cocoon Maiden struggled as my feet scrapped against the ground. Trying to keep that things chest closed and pushing it down all with one mouth and no arms was not that easy. Not to mention that it was surprisingly strong for something looking so unassuming. At the same time I bit down harder and harder as I heard my teeth digging down into the Cocoon Maiden's carapace.
Eventually, the force was enough to shatter the maiden's chest and blood sprayed from the new wound. I let got and jumped backwards as the Cocoon Maiden turned slowly towards me. Its movements were now sluggish and strange like that of a broken toy. Then its head and body fell fowards, but not onto the ground as the root was basically keeping it in upright position. The chest armor hung open a little like the unclosed doors of a cabinet. It didn't move anymore.
Was that it? Was it done?
[Appraisal]!
{[Corpse of an Cocoon Maiden].}
...
...
YES! My first enemy slain, baby!
I kept cheering for a small moment until my hunger made a return even stronger than before. God did I hate the fact that my hunger would always have the last word and ruining the moment, but this time I'd ignore it. I just managed to kill and fight for myself. If that wasn't something, I wouldn't know what is. But yes, I'd need to eat something after a tiring battle like that.
I bit down on the freshly killed Cocoon Maiden to finally see what victory tasted like.
...
Victory tastes awfully bland.
I swear Victory never had been this tasteless before.
At least my assumption was correct.
TODAY REALLY WASN'T MY DAY AT ALL!?
Ogretail: (laying in the corner crying over the fact that they had no tastebuds)
Don Orbit: (sweatdropping) I never thought they would take it that badly.
Ogretail: (still crying)
Don Orbit: (puts a blanket, a mug of tea as well as a plate with cookies on their back) They would make a good coffee table now though. (looks at the still rolling tears and stained floor) Then again they are ruining the carpet… (door opens normally this time) Huh?
A certain spider reincarnator: Oh hi there!
Don Orbit: Well, well, well. I didn't expect you here Kumoko. But I even expected less that the day would come that someone wouldn't kick my door in to get here.
Kumoko: (sweatdrops) Huh? Does that happen that often?
Don Orbit: (frozen in time as flashbacks fill their mind as modem noises can be heard)
Kumoko: (visible confusion before looking at the new coffee table/crying ogretail) What's with them?
Don Orbit: (snapping out of flashbacks) They got reincarnated just like you a day ago and they discovered that they can't taste anything or it tastes horrible.
Kumoko: Oh... (walks over, before giving the ogretail headpats) Don't worry. I know exactly how that feels.
Ogretail: (sniffs) Really? (╥﹏╥)
Kumoko: Yes, really. (-_-);
Ogretail: (cries even harder, leaning against Kumoko) Thanks onee-san!
Kumoko: Huh? |˚–˚|?
Don Orbit: Good to see that you are able to make friends once the language barrier is lifted, Kumoko. Mmpfh!? (gets hit by Kumo-Morningstar in the face, before the thread wraps around their mouth, preventing them from speaking if it wasn't for them to be already knocked out)
Kumoko: (climbs on top of the ogretail/coffee table and starts eating and drinking) Ah! Delish! That hits the spot just right.（⌒_⌒）(looks at the audience) Hey you may as well go now. There's nothing else going to happen soon. I'll just get the remains of that guy's Christmas Food and raid the fridge. So have a nice day! (waves away as she accidentally grabs the Elroe Gastruch from the last omake and bites on it only to reel back) BLURGH! (✖﹏✖) (Drops down from the ogretail on the ground where she keeps twitching but with foam in front of her mouth. A complete knockout!
Meanwhile, the Gastruch was minding its own business, chewing on the cookies with delightful clicking of its mandibles)