Chapter 73: Blood Swamp

"I shouldn't get sick since I have [Virus Immunity]... right. This meat does not look appetizing but I'm intrigued by what skills I might get,"

Letting out a long sigh, I shove the burnt piece of imp meat into my mouth. I instantly gagged once the taste hit my tongue but I somehow forced it down whilst continuing to hold my nose.

[Gained the following skills]

[Treasure Finder]

[Silenced Steal]

Yeah, that should be all the skills I can get. There is no way I'm eating another part of that thing again.

As I continued to wade through the water, I started to slightly regret assimilating [Water Control] since this environment would have been perfect to practice in.

Since I didn't have a general direction I needed to go, I decided to inspect this place to see where I currently was.

[Blood Swamp]

[This swamp surrounds the entirety of the [Mountain of Twilight]. After somebody pushes through the first layer of the calm forest they then run into the [Blood Swamp]. With the horrendous smell and dangerous creatures lurking everywhere, most people decide to turn back.]

It seems I'm close to the edge of the [Mountain of Twilight]. If I want, I can leave but it won't be for long, since one of the guardians might make a move on my kingdom…

*sigh*

I'll just stay here for now.

Even though I'm interested in the humans of this world, I don't feel like reintroducing myself into their society. I could pull it off as a human for a while until somebody with [Inspect] well… inspects me.

Is there maybe a way to counter [Inspect] like an inspect block skill?

I had to put it away on my pile of questions since I felt multiple signatures enter my sensing range. I was able to make out their appearance which was a small fish with razor-sharp teeth and a myriad of spines on their back.

Their color I assumed was red since they blended in with the blood-red water making them almost impossible to see with the naked eye.

I turned my head towards them and tried to [Inspect] in their direction.

[Savage Blood Piranha]

[This fish is at the top of the aquatic food chain in the [Blood Swamp]. By themselves, they are incredibly strong, but when they hunt in groups they are almost unbeatable. Their razor-sharp teeth can crunch and tear through bone like butter. The spines on their back are sharp but also venomous so make sure to watch where you walk.]

Seeing that it was pointless to try and see them with my eyes, I then closed them to enhance my other 4 senses.

I used [Forbidden Magic: Zeus's Nimbus] since the pack of fish was pretty far away. The lighting should dilute before it reaches me but also fry the fish in the process.

I held out my hand as a dark cloud with sparks of lightning, thundered through it. I raised my hand into the air and controlled it right above where I sensed the fish.

I saw the image of them ravaging a disfigured monster that was getting completely torn apart. As they finished feasting and the monster was entirely gone including the bones, my cloud had shot a bolt of lightning into the water.

A loud crack echoed through the swamp and I felt a slight tingling in my legs but that was all. I sensed their bodies fall to the bottom of the swamp, signaling to me that they are all dead.

The only problem is… that sound was loud. I sensed many monsters come within my sensing range trying to see the source of that ear-splitting sound.

I opened my eyes and walked towards the fish corpses. The monsters around me carefully observed, waiting for the right time to strike.

I picked up one of the fish corpses and threw one into my mouth. A black liquid left the side of my mouth and when I touched it, I felt a tingling sensation on my finger.

Its blood is venomous. I know I have [Poison Immunity] but does it counter venom as well?

A few minutes passed as none of the monsters made a move but I also felt fine. The venom was counted as poison making me sigh in relief.

Even though the smell slightly worsened the taste, it was still really good. The lightning had cooked the fish which made it taste slightly decent.

[Gained the following skills]

[Body Modification: Black Blood]

[Body Modification: Piranhas Spiny Fin Wings]

[Crunch]

"I still don't know the point of the bloodline body modification… I'll just [Inspect] it," I muttered before opening my status.

[Boiling Bloodline of the Phoenix]

[This body modification grants no advantage to the user but it allows their children or descendants to inherit some of their skills, body modifications, or weapon masteries.]

"I still don't even know how I'm going to have a baby because I have wives and I'm a woman, so this is completely useless to me right now,"

I finished eating the entire fish but I only just realized I had eaten the bones as well. Nothing felt different, all of it was soft and tender.

Do they not have bones… no that's impossible. Maybe this is due to my increase in stats, that would make sense since my strength is so high.

As I finished pondering, I realized none of the monsters had still made a move, so I made up a simple plan on the spot.

Dropping my guard, the monsters quickly noticed, and all dashed in towards me at the same time. Most had already noticed each other and turned away from my direction to attack the other monsters around.

Of course, there were still several monsters that continued to charge towards me but I had already set my plan in action.

Since I hadn't retracted my wings yet I flew upwards causing the monsters below me to swarm together. They all looked around cluelessly before attacking the monsters beside them. There were about 200 monsters below me and I was able to [Inspect] every individual species there.

[Blood Shark]

[The blood shark is right below the blood piranhas in the food chain. They aren't very fast but they are extremely strong. They are also able to use [Blood Water Control] which is limited to only some of the aquatic animals.]

The shark looked like your normal bull shark, but it was black with streaks of red across it. It also wasn't very big due to it swimming in the low swamp water but it was extremely long as a snake. It was also able to latch onto its prey and hold it down before ending its life with [Blood Water Control] or just ripping a chunk of meat from them, and then letting them bleed to death.

[Blood Gator]

[This sly and fast lizard has the strongest bite power out of all the aquatic monsters in the [Blood Swamp]. They are extremely slow to move but that is not a reason to underestimate them since their scales are as hard as iron.]

There were very few blood gators but of the ones I saw, they were just tanking bites and hits from everything while slowly killing their opponents by biting them in half. Their appearance was that of exactly an alligator besides their dark red scales with spikes coming from their sides.

[Blood Stalker]

[These types of stalkers can create a mist of blood that blinds the enemies while they swoop in, scratching or taking little bites from their opponent. If you are unlucky enough to run into one brave enough, they will attach themselves to your neck and suck your blood try until you shrivel up and die. Most of the time they hang upside down under trees covering themselves with their mist to confuse any potential enemies.]

The appearance of the stalker was a bat with red horns coming from their head. Their skin was red including their wings which was a dark red. The hands attached to their wings had nails that were sharper than the piranha's teeth.

They were also the reason why a thick mist of blood covered the battlefield, partially blocking out the sun.

And last but not least I saw some blood crawlers among the chaos. Their brethren were probably on their way here which was perfect since that meant...

"This is a jackpot of XP!"

I couldn't suppress the grin that crept onto my face in excitement.

I once again activated [Forbidden Magic: Zeus's Nimbus] but instead, I had 1 cloud in each hand. I held my breath while raising them to the sky. Both floated out of my hand and started to grow bigger and bigger.

The sky that was already darkened by the blood mist had become almost night but that didn't stop the blood species from massacring their opponents.

A couple of crackles of thunder could be heard from the clouds above me before a huge bolt of lightning struck the battlefield below. The crack was even louder than before making me remove my hands from my nose which I just pinched, to my ears to help me not go deaf.

Once again, [Heightened 5 Senses and More] was a blessing and a curse due to me being able to sense and hear anything from far away, see far away, smell toxic things, enhance the flavor of my food, and know every groove and curve in anything I touch.

This also meant for my hearing, smell, and taste are not saved from negative things towards that sense.

The cracks of lightning continued to slaughter and fry the opponents below but after I thought all of them were dead and paused the lighting for a second, I could hear the clicking of mandibles in the distance with 100s of signatures entering my sensing range.

click...click...CLICK...CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK