Chapter 33 Stalking The Shiny Humans

'Shiny humans?' Ethoss thought.

Despite Ethoss already having his camouflage active, he innately concealed himself beneath a abnormally large tree that grew in an irregular angle. The tree itself looked more like a enormous bush rather than a tree, however, it's dark brown, almost black, bark body gave away it's true nature.

It wasn't just the bark of this one tree either, many others were similar and there was even evidence of what seemed to be smaller bushes growing on their own between other trees or sprouting up from the roots of them.

Ethoss kept his eyes peeled in front of him, rarely blinking. In front of him were a group of pink fleshy bipedal creatures: humans, the inferior creatures that he had recently hunted down.

He watched as the group of humans marched loudly through thickets and into small groves. Ethoss felt that these humans weren't the only group venturing through the forest.

He could sense them all around him, he could also hear them; most likely from them also stomping their feet loudly just as the group in front of him. However, he could not pinpoint any of the other human groups around him, their locations jumped from one place to another just like the monsters earlier.

Not to mention there was a very strong odor of something that could only be described as 'grotesque', Ethoss felt like it was clogging his Jacobson's organ or interfering with it entirely.

Looking closely, underneath the marching humans, there were incapacitated monsters laying lifelessly on the ground, yet, none of them were deceased. Did the humans do this? But they were all weak weren't they?

Perhaps these humans were different from the previous weak and useless ones he encountered before?

The group itself was a six-man group, four of these humans wore armor made of metal plates covering most of their bodies. The other two were the ones that stuck out the most to Ethoss, they were downed in a silvery chainmail that covered small portions of their bodies, each one carrying a yellow glowing ball in one of their hands.

Ethoss continued to stalk the humans, he followed behind them like a shadow.

'What is that ball?' He thought, 'It's weird'.

Each time the yellow balls glowed, the grotesque scent would heighten.

As if responding to his thoughts, the strange smell intensified once again, and all kinds of monsters poured out charging toward the group of armored humans. Ethoss also felt an unknown urge to attack the humans but was sophisticated and disciplined enough not to acknowledge it.

He personally knew how rewarding it was to kill and eat a human, nevertheless, he continued to hide underneath a large tree while watching the battle unfold. There were way too many unfamiliar and obscure elements at the moment that he didn't understand yet, besides, perhaps he could gauge just how strong these 'shiny humans' were without involving himself.

Upon noticing the hoard of monsters quickly approaching them, one of them shouted something incomprehensible, that Ethoss could not understand, then the group halted their stumping and moved into a defensive formation.

The group began systematically immobilizing the monsters, the four humans armored with metal plated armors brutally cut down any monsters that got in their vicinity, while the other two humans holding the despicable ball's, shot torrent flames or sharp winds from their palms.

His vertical yellow colored pupils narrowed seeing this. Ethoss glanced down at his own claws, how strong would he get once he was able to do the same as these humans. He could potentially cast multiple spells simultaneously from the four of his claws, and even his mouth on top of that, then who would pose a threat to him?

Looking back towards the battle, Ethoss was taken aback.

Despite all of their brutal and aggressive attacks, most of the monsters they attacked did not die, they were either knocking them unconscious or crippling them to remove them from the fight entirely.

Of course when the humans did kill some of the monsters, this was either by accident due to their overwhelming strength, or they specifically targeted certain monsters that were a bit larger than its peers. Ethoss observed this calmly.

He flicked his tongue in confusion, his eyes darting all over the place taking note of everything he was perceiving.

'Why aren't they killing all of the prey they take down?' He thought, 'Are they only killing monsters who they deem as a threat?'.

After a couple more minutes, the humans were the only ones still standing. Two of them were limping, it seems they took minor injuries, they were being supported by a couple of the other humans, however, all of them were covered in green and red blood; none of it their own. They looked around, finding and picking up any monster cores that were present then began to leave the scene quickly.

Countless monsters were left on the forest's floor, left out in the open, totally ignored by the humans. Some were dead while others struggled to even move due to the loss of its limbs. It seems that the humans had no need for the corpses of monsters, on the other hand, to Ethoss, this was nothing less then free biomass and XP.

Ethoss stared at the disabled and dead monsters, then looked back toward the humans who were moving away. He had to make a choice here and now, he could either follow the humans, which could potentially lead him to where the humans were originally coming from, he would then have the location of where these creatures territory was and could make use of that to grow faster then ever.

Alternatively, he could stay here and take advantage of the free opportunity the humans gave him, this could also give him a bunch of biomass and XP, however, it definitely wouldn't be as much as what the humans granted him.

Ethoss continued to anxiously switch between looking at the humans, who were already almost out of sight, and at the free prey that literally couldn't move at all on the ground.

In the end, he gave into what his instinct told him, and as soon as the humans were out of sight he darted toward the carrion of the monsters. He figured it wasn't always good to listen his mind, instincts were present for a reason so he would use it as way to make some of his choices easier.

However, some logic also was contributed to his decision, he had clearly saw how strong that small group of humans were. If there were even more of humans just as organized and capable as the ones he just witnessed, it would be much more difficult for him to hunt them than he thought.

As soon as he reached one of the dead monsters, he chomped right into it without hesitation.

[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Aeternus Luvenalibus Porcus, you are rewarded one Biomass]

[Basic profile of the Aeternus Luvenalibus Porcus unlocked]

***

Monster profile:

[Aeternus Luvenalibus Porcus: Eternal Juvenile Warthog. Monsters equipped with sharp and deadly husks. Usually found together in groups, these monsters are capable of killing its target with its strong hooves. Found in the first Stratum of the Great Aeternus Labyrinth]