Choice - 23

Choice - 23

I managed to stay in the river for whole day, continuing with my unusual method of fishing, even as the beasts got stronger and stronger, though not as much to prevent me from handling them from a strike from my sword.The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

[+54 Experience]

[+130 Experience]

[+71 Experience]

[+30 Experience]

"At least, it was not all bad," I muttered as I pushed back to the surface. More confident, now that the darkness had fallen once more, not afraid that I would be noticed by the occasional flying castle or fortress that was in the sky.

The number of Flying Fortresses alone had reached a dozen, while the smaller castles had reached almost three digits, further highlighting the capabilities of the world I had found myself in.

Hiding was getting better and better.

At least, until Isuddenly felt a presence underneath me! One that recognized as the weight of the Charisma, though it hit me differently than Toross' aura of trust later replaced with some kind of madness or Falael's pressure of obedience.

It was more like a call to distraction, asking me to swim closer, just like the tales of the siren. I was glad for that, as without that presence, I wouldn't have noticed the stirring in the river bed until it was too late.

I swam to the shore as fast as I could, though I barely moved a few feet away from the radiating point.

Some kind of ambush predator, I realized even as I stretched my new skills to the limit to avoid its attack. If it wasn't for the early warning, I would have been taken down by the beast, which wasn't exactly good news.

I wasn't able to catch its appearance, as the moment it burst out of the bottom, the mud and sand spread, turning the river into a turbid mess. However, even with my impaired vision and the challenges of dodging underwater, it hadn't been particularly difficult to avoid the attack once I had moved in the opposite direction the creature wanted.

I moved towards the shore, though I swung the sword in front of me preemptively, in case it could quickly correct its direction.

Instead, I heard the sound of a huge body bursting out of the water, and falling back in. I continued to move towards the shore, and my perception stretched to the limit. When it attacked me again, it once again came with a warning, the same pressure that I easily ignored thanks to Resilience.

It only helped me to predict its charge, nothing more. When I felt the water move, the sword was already moving and sank right into its huge open mouth.

Unlike the previous times, the hit of the magical sword didn't result in a sudden burst of experience, just another wave of mental pressure, more primal and much stronger yet still easy to ignore. The voice commanded me to fear, but I just gripped the sword tighter, which gave me leverage to avoid its huge jaws.

It charged, ignoring the injury, and I held the sword, ignoring the fear. Its linear charge worked to my benefit, and before it could slow down, I felt ground beneath my feet. I didn't know if the beast was intelligent enough to understand the tactical implications of that mistake, or if it was driven by instinct, but it started pulling back.

But the way it suddenly twisted its head, the pull was strong enough to drag me back if I didn't react by releasing my grip. As the beast retreated back into the water, the pressure was once again easily ignored.

The beast tried to attack me again, but I was already at the shallow edge of the river, and I threw myself to the side.

I pulled myself out of the water, and even dashed away, ignoring the cries of the beast and the pressure it radiated, and instead quickly pulled the daggerfrom my small pack. Though, I couldn't help but feel a pang at losing the magical sword in the chaos.

I noticed that, after killing the beasts, they didn't leave them on the ground, but dragged them toward a large tent, some kind of large butcher station, where several people continuously worked on the beasts, separating various parts.

And, after a sufficient amount of choice cuts were collected, a small group of couriers piled them into a cart and brought them to inner camps. Occasionally, some people from the camp arrived to pick some for themselves as well, but most of the beasts were thrown onto a huge bonfire, to be destroyed.

It was against the principles of hunting to waste such a great amount of material, but considering it was the beasts that were constantly attacking the group, I was willing to cut them some slack.

As the monsters, I decided that it was a good moment to check the current state of my abilities. I closed my eyes, and called the System

[Class: Hero

Level: 10

Experience (0/43,500)]

[Health (3/225)]

[ Experience: 98.436]

[STATS

Resilience: 30

Vitality: 15

Strength: 18

Agility: 17

Perception: 15

Memory: 3

Charisma 1

LOCKED]

[Stat Points: 1]

[SKILLS: Archery of Destruction (0X)]

[ABILITIES: Elevated Life - Basic - Human ]

[Alignment: Unaligned]