(to Draedon's Forge: Yeah, thank you for the examination and suggestion. Definitely gonna try improving this story first before I try anything else!)
(to sforzando111: Thanks for the heads up! I'll keep that in mind.)
Jack quickly dodged far to the side. He knew that this was no ordinary rabbit. Well, no ordinary compared to the horned rabbits. His teacher always told him not to take any chances against an unknown opponent.
Sure enough, the rabbit proved to be far more dangerous than he thought. While it was still in the air, it suddenly changed trajectory without even bouncing off of anything. He was far enough that he had time to dodge the tail that slashed at him.
When he came to attack with the corpses, the creature jumped back quickly and charged at him in the air aiming for his head, making him cancel the attack and roll below it. The creature took advantage of this and lashed its bladed tail below it.
"Ack!" Jack toppled over the roll before he righted himself.
His back was hot and painful. His mental image of the dark room started to become hazy. He grit his teeth, his eyes starting to water. This was the first time he got injured bloody. His teacher's strikes were nothing compared to the pain he was feeling right now.
Jack jumped far backwards, evading another strike. It seemed that there was not much advantage in being able to change trajectories when the opponent moves back.
He tried to calm himself by breathing slowly. He chanted to himself, "Ignoreignoreignore the pain..."
He had to fight. He needed to. He needed to get stronger. He needed to live.
But why?
Slowly, scenes from the past replayed through his mind. He remembered other kids laughing at him, calling him an orphan, someone that even their parents had to throw away. He remembered running away from them, crying.
Flashing forward a bit, he then saw someone, a little girl from the orphanage crying in front of the same kids who laughed at him. He remembered seeing red. He remembered getting beat up. He remembered the girl hugging him, saying "thank you" and "sorry" while he pat her head.
Flashing further forward, he saw big scary people come into their orphanage to demand money. He remembered how hopeless everyone felt, how sad everyone looked. He remembered resolving himself into committing thievery.
Then he remembered the hand grabbing his thieving hand, and the words that were said.
"All I see is a brave boy willing to help his family no matter what it takes. A boy who would sacrifice his well-being just to keep his loved ones away from harm."
That was right. He already knew why. He remembered the shock and fear of his brethren's faces when they thought he was going to be punished.
He needed to get strong so that they wouldn't have to worry. So that he could protect them.
He needed to get strong above all for himself and his family. And he wasn't going stop just because some fucking long-eared rat decided he was some kind of fleshy whetstone!
The rabbit attacked again as he dodged. He needed to find a way to hit it. He couldn't just run at it wildly and hope to hit it. He'd die if that happened.
He needed to be like those elves. They had planned their attacks together to achieve better results. He needed to plan things ahead. But how? How could he beat an opponent he couldn't hit?
He kept remembering his previous fight, from the beginning of him riding the overgrown cow to the moment he lost consciousness. Sure enough, he got an idea. But first, he needed to make sure of something.
The next time the rabbit jumped at him, he threw one of the corpses which made it change trajectory again. Then he threw the second one, which was immediately deflected by the tail.
Aha!
His experiment proved to be successful. The rabbit didn't change paths when he threw the second corpse; it deflected it. Similar to [Shadowfoot] , it had a limit to how many times it could change directions in the air.
He might have only one shot at this. If he missed, the rabbit could find out how to counter it next time.
He continued to dodge and swerve, recollecting the horned corpses. When he finally did, he waited for the moment it charged again.
As it jumped through the air, he made a throwing motion with the corpse, to which the rabbit changed route earlier, having seen him throw the corpses at it.
He didn't let go of the corpse. He charged at the rabbit and when he got close he finally threw it at the rabbit. As predicted, it deflected it, but it couldn't deflect what came next.
While the small beast was currently deflecting the first corpse, he thrusted the second one in his other hand. True to its aim, the attack pierced through the rabbit's throat.
The rabbit made a gurgling sound as it fell to the floor, jolting around and moving wildly before it finally stopped. After a few seconds, Jack couldn't hear any breathing. He sighed in relief and plopped down onto his butt.
{You have defeated the boss. Artifact room unlocked.}
He heard the Voice of the World suddenly say. Artifact room? He heard something moving from the other tunnel and got alert. But after processing the noise, he was able to determine it was something opening. Apparently the tunnel was closed before.
Jack slowly got up and walked towards the apparent artifact room, clicking his tongue just to make sure no one on the other side came to attack.
The room had faint light he didn't know from where it came. In the middle, he saw a pedestal. And on top of it was a book. He warily took the book, looking for any traps, before he opened it.
Suddenly, words flew out of the book and quickly entered his mouth. The book then started to crumble, along with the rest of the cave.
All the tiredness he felt coupled with the rush of knowledge knocked him out. But before he fully lost consciousness, he heard the Voice say something once more.
{Skill Obtained: Kinetic Shifter}
It was then he finally lost it.
...
Rimuru looked at the downed form in front of him. He then stored the scrying orb he was holding.
"Really, Ciel? What's with the whole words entering the mouth thing?"
{Cool factor. It makes the books more desirable.}
Rimuru could only twitch an eyebrow at her reasoning.
He turned the kid to his stomach and proceeded to heal his wounds completely before he turned him onto his back.
"Really, now. How talented is this kid?" Rimuru asked no one in particular.
The kid was able to obtain a skill on his own by deducing his own strengths and limits. Even Rimuru needed Ciel's help to gain skills. And to add to that, he also got another skill after that, albeit from a skill book. Though, it was still no less impressive.
{Individual Jack's potential is equal, if not more, to master's potential before being blessed by the storm dragon.}
If he was surprised before, he was definitely shocked now. Back then, his beginning potential was higher than most otherworlders, who by themselves were naturally more talented than the average human in this world.
To have a kid with the same potential as him in this world which Ciel had weakened meant that the kid would grow and become almost unparalleled in this world one day. He wanted to see how far the kid could go without any blessings. Only then would Rimuru give Jack his own blessing.
Rimuru smiled. It appeared the kid not only grew stronger physically, but also mentally while in the dungeon. He really couldn't be more proud of his precious student.
"Maybe I should let him off from any punishment this time. He definitely learned his lesson," he thought to himself.
He scooped up the boy before walking back to the village. It was currently night time. He wanted to give the boy a bed but couldn't. They had to pack up and leave now before people begin questioning about a girl going missing.
"I guess I'll just piggy back him, then."
And with that, they continued on the road.
(Tell me your honest thoughts about the action scene. I was trying to make the fights a little more fun to read. Can't really do much about godlike powers, but I'm trying to make mortal battles more interesting.)
(Next chapter will close this arc. Thank you for reading!)
