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For the time being, I’ll take a wander around this forest . The manticore didn’t die last night, which is worrying, and I’d like to see if this forest has any easy-to-hunt monsters .

Food’s not really a problem for now, since I have the tribute… Although I’m not sure whether it’s really ok for me to eat it . It would be nice if I could make dried meat again here .

I’d like to take a look at the Lithovar settlement, but going now would be a little bad . The next time they come, I need to appear more dignified . Come to think of it, it might be best if I’ve eaten the tribute before they come next . I wouldn’t want them to get worried thinking “It wasn’t to his taste” or “he got angry” .

… In the future, I won’t be treated as a tribute thief, right? There’s no way that would happen, right? After I’ve eaten it, I would hate to be told “that’s for a different dragon, so give it back!” . I suppose today I’ll only hunt for edible monsters if I see plenty of them around . I want to maintain the stability of my hunting grounds, after all .

Having decided my policy, I move to leave the shrine . Hearing a clattering sound from behind me, I turn to see the wight following me .

No, it would be dangerous to bring it along… but then leaving it behind would also be dangerous . I want to level it up to prevent it falling apart sooner rather than later, so I guess I’ll take it along . We’ll be fine if we retreat as soon as I see a dangerous monster . If needed, I can throw the wight into my mouth and flee with [Rolling] . Yeah, we probably won’t meet any monsters too powerful for that to work .

I start walking while maintaining [Presence Sense] . When hunting, having the initiative is essential . Before attacking or running away, seeing your opponent before being seen is more important .

Silencing the sounds of my footsteps, I slowly walk through the forest . Initiative, initiative . The wight’s with me, so I need to steel myself . Wight, follow close to me, ok?

The wight suddenly tackles my body . Its head rolls off its shoulders and falls to the ground . O-oi, what are you doing?

The wight pays no mind to its collapsing body and continues to tackle me . Its body continuously becomes more and more scattered .

What’s wrong? Is it confused? Partner, use [Soul AppendmentFake Life] .

“Gaaaaah! GaaaaAh!”

Her complexion suddenly changes and she starts howling . Something has got her extremely agitated – she’s no longer in a state to respond to my thoughts . Shit, a status abnormality? I don’t feel any monster presences, so it might be the work of a plant or something .

I’m unaffected for now, but I have no way of knowing when the confusion effect will hit me . At once, I turn around while taking care not to be separated from the wight . I see a red ant-sized bug latched onto my tail .

It has a an unpleasant-looking black-based striped pattern on its body . Its eight legs are oddly long and bent in a way which emphasizes the joints . Its mouth is lined with serrated teeth . Although they don’t look like teeth . There’s too many .

Its outward appearance is similar to a whip spider . It’s sucking blood out of my tail, so its nature is probably rather different . Well if I were to convey its impression with a single word, it’s that . Gross .

“GuooOOOOOOh!!” “GuaaaAAAAh!!”

I howl in sync with my partner and slam my tail against a tree . Blue blood dribbles out of the pseudo-whip spider’s mouth . It’s probably mine .

Just the idea of being bitten by that thing is enough to make me shudder . Or rather I feel like I’m about to throw up . It’s seriously gross . I’ll have to clean my tail later . Hey can we leave this forest already? Why wasn’t I able to detect such a powerful monster?

“GuOOOh!”

I wave my arm wildly and release a [Wind Slash] . The blade of wind mows gouges into the tree, mowing it down . The pseudo-whip spider loosely bends one of its legs to neatly block my attack, then starts skittering away . Its movements seriously gross me out . If you’re going to run away, then don’t attack in the first place, seriously .

“Gah! Gah! GaaaAh!”

With my partner’s howl, the pseudo-whip spider’s rear is enveloped in a black light . She seems to be trying to use [Death], but can’t quite land the hit .

There might not be a need to hurry so much, but both of us are worked up . There’s also that I really don’t want to look it in the eye .

Chasing it away would be fine, but I feel like I’ll never be able to have peace of mind unless I kill it . So when I lost sight of it, I was struck by an eerie feeling .

Haa, haa, haa… It’s run off somewhere . I should have checked its status . Without knowing the source of these unnatural feelings of disgust or whatever, I can only react with fear . My feelings could be eased a bit if I just knew its identity .

Shit, my tail’s going numb . The pain is fading .

It masked its presence while sneaking up on me, then sucked my blood while numbing the pain . In its approach makes it look rather like a mosquito which targets large monsters . No, mosquitos are much nicer . Visually, too . More than a mosquito, my impression of it was more like a cockroach .

Well, I’m safe for now . Thanks, wight . You broke your body in those tackles in order to alert me . You saved me .

I look down at the scattered wight’s body . Its skull shakes left and right .

Hmm? What is it? Is something wrong? No, was that the wind?

The wight’s arm bones bend, causing its finger to point behind me . I turn my head to look that way .

The pseudo-whip spider is crawling towards me at a terrifying speed . No, to be accurate it’s not moving towards me all that fast . Its long legs are swinging around fast, creating the illusion that its body is moving faster than it is . For some reason, the lack of noise only amplified the illusion .

Suddenly I remembered a scene from my previous life . A cockroach I thought I’d chased away suddenly jumped out at my face . Even though I can’t remember the room’s layout at all, I can distinctly remember the appearance of the cockroach flying towards me .

“Gaah! Gaah! GaaaaAAh!!” “Guoh! Guoh! GuoooOOh!!”

My partner and I release volleys of [Death] and [Wind Slash] respectively . A [Death] landed, but it crawled out of the black light . It’s no good, it didn’t have an effect . With [Death], the size level difference really does make a big difference it seems .

But it’s not like I can’t learn from my failures . If targeting it directly is no good, then I just need to target something else from the start .

I gouge a tree in its path with [Wind Slash], which falls and crushes the pseudo-whip spider beneath it . With a cracking sound, its back splits open and cream-colored body fluids leak out . Its eight long legs squirm madly in the air .

With this, I no longer have to worry about missing . Aiming at its head, I release a large [Wind Slash] . Its head is cleaved open vertically and its movements stop .

【186 experience points have been acquired . 】

【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 186 experience points have been acquired . 】

【The level of [Ouroboros] has risen from 60 to 61 . 】

Presence erasing, bloodsucking, and numbing skills . What an unpleasant monster . I’m a tiny bit reluctant to eat it . Let’s just do the appraisal .

【[Abyss]: C-rank monster】

【It sticks to the blind spots of large magic beasts, sucking their blood while simultaneously injecting its body fluids . 】

【The [Abyss’] body fluids are poisonous, and it lays its eggs in the corpses of its prey, transforming them into a nest for its young . 】

【During its normal hunts, [Abyss] typically for monsters smaller than itself . It is capable of eating nearly anything . 】

… It’s even worse than I’d thought . It’s a good thing I won . If I’d lost I’d have become a nest for baby abysses .

… I’m seriously feeling worse and worse . The numbness in my tail is probably the effect of its body fluids . I wonder if I can regenerate my tail if I were to chop it off .