Chupacabra

Most of the effects of her potions had worn off after a few minutes but the pain suppression was still working. She checked the state of her body. Her right arm was still disabled, the back of her head was throbbing. Her back was still numb, and her chest was aching.

What worried her, even more, was the open wounds on her face. Those were deep enough to reach her bones. The blood had dripped down, making the left side of her clothes red and warm. She applied some 'Mohua Essence' to the wounds as a disinfectant.

The forest was no longer silent. Dori could hear bug and critters all around her.

♫ ♪ ♬ ♫ ♪ ♬ ♫ ♪ ♬ ♫ ♪ ♬ ♫ ♪ ♬

✌ New Achievement ✌

✯ Death Repeller ✯

🎉 Potion Upgrade Token: x2

🎉 Item Upgrade Token: x2

🎉 Skill Modifier Token: x2

♛ Respect Points: +1000

♫ ♪ ♬ ♫ ♪ ♬ ♫ ♪ ♬ ♫ ♪ ♬ ♫ ♪ ♬

✌ Milestone Achieved ✌

✯ Adventurer 201 ✯

🎉 Upgraded Potion: 🍾Rejuvenation🍾 (50%)

🎉 Upgraded Item: 🛠️Long Knife of Penetration (Blessed)🛠️ [Apprentice]

♛ Respect Points: +100

That gave her confidence that her predator had given up. Dori opened her tabs. To the top corner of potions' tab, there was an upward green arrow mark titled 'Upgrade Token.'

She used both tokens to upgrade Rejuvenation.

Each token gave the potion a twenty-five percent purity boost and the details changed.

🍾Rejuvenation🍾 (100%)

[Cost: 100 RP]

[Usage Restriction: <= Master]

[Effect Duration: 25 minutes (full)]

[Overuse Restriction: 4 hours (full)]

[Instant Damage Recovery: 25%]

[Persistent Damage Recovery: 1% per minute]

[Instant Stamina Recovery: 25%]

[Instant Energy Recovery: 25%]

The duration had increased by five minutes along with the recovery percentage that went up from its initial ten percent. But the cost had doubled too.

She needed to wait for hours before using it.

She swapped to the Items tab and upgraded the ring, 'Kram's Regret.'

The name changed to 'Kram's Will', and then to 'Kram's Revolt (blessed)'

🛠️Kram's Revolt (blessed)🛠️

[Cost: 1500 RP]

[Class: Unique, Mid]

[Overuse Restriction: 4 days]

[Upon user's death or activation, turns back time up to 10 seconds]

The first upgrade added the 'activation' option and the second upgrade lowered the restriction time. Dori bought one. The blue ring was now white, dormant for the next few days.

She sighed. Even though the restriction period had been cut by three days, unique items could only exist one at a time. If she bought a new one, the old one would disappear, wasting thousands of points. Else she'd buy one every four days to stockpile.

But the near-death experience was a good harvest. She earned about a thousand points during the struggle, summing up to more than two thousand. Even with the new ring decreasing the points by a thousand and five hundred, her total points were now nearing seven thousand.

Dori wasn't sure how far she had trailed off from the river, which way, and why. The silvery moon was right above her head, so she'd lost the track of time for about five hours.

Walking around seemed really dangerous in the night, so she set up a camp with much effort.

She only had a few pieces of bread and a few slices of salted fish. She ate those raw and pushed down her throat with gulps of water.

She changed her torn male clothing into her casual ones. Then she bought all the apparel items from the tab.

The necklace was basically woven across some transparent rocks and once worn, gave her a refreshing feeling. The socks were long enough to reach her knees and the cowl could shade over her eyes.

Then she bought the 'Disruption Bomb', the 'Fiery Bomb' and kept those within reach. She took mental notes on making proper sheathes for her long knife. The sharp blade had already scratched her a few times while working.

Then she waited. An ear out for the sound of critters should be enough as an intrusion alert.

She wondered if the scary guy, 'Brother Kaish', was strong enough to deal with the cat. Her potions were really useful but she needed her own strength before utilizing them to a better extent.

The pain inhibitor wore off soon. She tried her best to keep quiet. The hours were long and they became even longer waiting for the restriction on 'Rejuvenation' to lift.

When she was finally cleared to take her upgraded potion, she was curled up on her rough bed. The potion was dark red in color, viscous, and tasted bitter. But the effect was euphoric. She moaned in pleasure as the warmth seeped into every part of her body and eroded her tiredness. She felt her muscles squirming and her wounds closing. The pain on her body faded. She tried moving her right arm, it no longer screamed in pain.

She lied still, letting the warmth do its work. Many minutes later, she felt almost as good as new.

And she fell asleep unknowingly.

When she woke up, she was immediately alert, cursing herself for carelessness. She couldn't see the sun but the rays were visible, dispersed by the treetops. She finally found her direction. Packing the dirty tent, she started walking toward the river.

It was hours before she heard the running water. This time, she remained vigilant as she followed the bank, careful not to lose her mind again.

It was nearing midday when she arrived at the village of Nau.

There were no walls guarding the village, making her wonder how they fended off animals. There were many wooden houses erected in close proximity, people walking along the dirt roads. A woman carrying water from the river noticed her and almost screamed. Dori wasn't using any persona and her face was probably not the prettiest sight after playing with the kitty.

She waved at the woman to displace her wariness.

As she followed the woman into the village, the people were looking at her like she was a freak. She knew she looked the part, and probably someone at her age wasn't the most common sight traversing into the woods alone.

But she had money and money was always the best way to befriend people. When she said she'd buy some food for twice the price, a few people surrounded her with much enthusiasm.

The villagers weren't just fishermen. She saw a store that sold jars filled with nectar, slices of dried game meat, spices, and many kinds of grains. They had their own economy and agriculture, independent of Gurjua.

She saw large goats being sold as mount and carriers. Each one as tall as her.

When she was busy stocking up, a man came looking for her. Wrinkly face didn't look over forty, long, brown tunic with brown trousers. Buff.

"Sir, did you encounter the Chupacabra?" the man asked her.

Dori realized the guy had mistaken her for a boy. She didn't blame him. Her hairs were short, budding breasts under wrap, messy eyebrows. "I don't know what you mean but I did meet a big cat on my way." She said in her deepest possible voice, hoping the guy wouldn't correct his mistake.

The man nodded grimly. "Yes, that's Chupacabra. Did you kill it?"

Kill that abomination? "No, it escaped. It scratched me but I wounded it." She pointed at her face.

"Oh." The man looked dispirited. "That thing has been stalking around the village for weeks. We asked help from the military and from the mercenary guild, even offered a bounty but no one came to check. We already lost ten good men to that monster."

"Maybe you should build a wall," Dori suggested.

The man gave her a weird look. "We already have a guardian stone. People were taken while working in the forest." Then all of a sudden, the man broke into tears. "Please help us get rid of the monster. We'll be eternally grateful. We'll return the money you paid for the supply and the thousand Aures bounty will be yours."

Dori didn't know why the man thought she was strong enough to deal with the problem. She felt like flat-out refusing at first, then she remembered the menacing eyes in the darkness. The horror of those people that got taken away, and the horror of living in fear, she knew how it felt.

Wasn't her goal to go on an adventure?

Before she could answer, the man hurriedly added another reward, "We also have many young and beautiful girls in our village. If Sir can kill the monster, you can choose any of them to be your traveling companion."

The man was taller than her by a foot but it was quite within her arm's length. She grabbed his throat and pulled his face to her level. "Is your daughter one of those 'young and beautiful girls'?"

The man was taken aback by the sudden assault and the growling voice. He struggled to loosen her clasp and failed miserably. "I…my daughter is only a toddler! Sorry, Sir, I meant no offense!"

She let the man go and he stumbled backward and fell on his buttock. Dori wondered if the guardian stone were really that effective to guard people so spineless. She took a deep breath. 'Different world, different culture.' She chanted in her mind.

"I need a day's rest. I'll see what I can do tomorrow," she said, unsure if she could keep any definite promise.

"I'll thank Sir for consideration. Please allow me to be your host."

The man's over-the-top politeness made Dori awkward but she knew the village didn't have any dedicated inn.

She followed the guy to his house.

The village was bigger than she had thought when she glimpsed it from the side. The houses near the center weren't as rotten as the ones near the outskirt, some were even fashioned from stone blocks. The roads had a layer of bricks over, preventing a muddy situation.

"Are you the chief of the village?" Dori asked the man.

"No, Sir. I'm the head-guard. The chief lives near the Guardian Stone, I can introduce you when we walk past his house."

"No need. I'll meet him if once I kill the monster." 'If I can kill the monster.' she muttered under her breath. "What's your name?" she asked again.

"Gorbon, Sir."

No second name. Not a noble. Dori didn't bother sharing her name. Less exposure, the better. Gurjua was merely a few dozen miles upstream, and almost the same width away. If someone came looking for her to this side, it'd be troublesome. But the surrounding villages also numbered in the dozens and Dori doubted she had enough importance to warrant a posse from her family.

What worried her more was her eldest brother. She had only met that stoic boy twice but she knew he would certainly be riled up.

Didn't matter much, the military wouldn't probably be deployed to search for a girl that wasn't even Ramier Leafheart's direct descendant.

She arrived at Gorbon's house. Maybe being a head-guard really paid, because the house was a good niche. Two stored building with burnished planks as walls and brick tiles used on the roof. A wall surrounded the large yard and inside was a tiny pond to the side and a garden.

Dori whistled.

The guy looked pleased with her reaction. "My wife loves flowers. I even went to Mesha, looking for rarer breeds."

"Your wife has good taste," Dori complimented and meant it. The garden was well kept and the woman had separated the bushes by the shades of their color.

A home worth protecting.

Dori was led to a cozy room. It wasn't as big as the one she used to live in but it was comfy. "I'll prepare some food for you," the man said and then left.

She was confused. She had grabbed the man's throat yet he invited her to his home and left unattended. Where did the confidence stem from?

She didn't let her cautiousness drop. Something seemed wrong about the situation. The village was under the protection of Gurjua, and they paid for that protection. Why was the military not helping them in need? Besides, a thousand Aures should be a good sum to lure in at least a few mercenaries. Was Gurjua intentionally barring the village for some reason?

The water in the bathing room was refreshingly cold and it washed away her dirt. Her face stung, reminding her to use 'Rejuvenation' again.

When she stared at the mirror, she saw the scar that remained. The wound was still open but dry. There were still a few scratch marks left on her cheek and neck, courtesy of the thick bushes. Her ribs were showing patches of purple all over.

She dried herself with a towel and changed into her last set of clothes. Although a bit of her femininity was showing, it shouldn't be too obvious if she made an effort.

It was afternoon, and the sky was darkening, signaling a storm was imminent. The couple called on her to eat.

The man looked slightly confused at her change of appearance and probably noticed rapidly recovering wounds, but the man knew better than to inquire.

The food was good enough, slightly different taste to the ones she was used to. They had a boy near her age and two younglings. The man looked too old for his eldest to be only nine years old, but Dori didn't ask.

"Who told you that I was attacked by the monster?" she asked.

"A guard saw your…um…the wound on your face. There aren't many animals nearby to inflict this type of injury."

As she figured. "Do you know where its nest is? I wounded it, and it might want to recuperate before attacking again."

"Our hunting party failed to track it and it killed two of us during the search. One of them was my nephew. No one dared to go looking for it since then," said the man gloomily.

Dori kept her silence. It was probably a death wish to look for the monster in its own territory, yet the injury on its leg might increase her odds. Now that she had repelled it once, almost unprepared, with her full strength and armament, the wounded monster might not be impossible to deal with. Besides, she would eventually leave the village and if the cat held a grudge and ambushed her, she'd be done for.

She remembered how she was dazed and got lured into the forest. There was no way those were coincidences. "Did you ever find any dead bodies? Eaten or otherwise?"

The man looked at her curiously. "The Chupacabra takes away its prey. Lords know where. The two that died, we only found a pool of blood but not their bodies."

"Do you have any maps or something?" Dori asked.

A few minutes later, they pondered over a parchment.

Dori could vaguely backtrack to a general location where she was attacked. A few miles farther south, there were a few hilly areas that spanned for miles, east and west. The monster could be hiding there.

Dori wasn't in a hurry to set out. Her ring still needed more than three days to be active and she wasn't brave enough to try without her greatest life-saving item.

The village of Nau wasn't as prosperous as Gurjua. She wondered around the streets in her leisure. The air carried a thick smell of dried fish whenever the wind blew. There were only one school and no guild halls. Nau's inhabitants relied on trade lines to Gurjua for things like medicines and tools. People weren't the most educated, and rather simple-minded. Some people were better off while many worked their hardest.

Gorbon wasn't lying when he said there were many beautiful girls. Hard working people, tall, fit and able, she saw quite a few good looking ones, bright-eyed and sweaty. Some of them even paid attention to her as she walked by. Probably the whole village knew about her to some extent, courtesy of the scars on her face. Although the wounds had closed up the scar refused to fade even after she used a few more 'Rejuvenation.'

She wasn't sure if 'Body Nourishment' would be any help. She didn't mind the scar, it made her feel somewhat awesome, a memento of her near-death experience.

Dori spent a good amount of time near the chieftain's house, examining the large humming crystal at the center of the crossroad. Guardian stone, they called it, bought from the capital and crafted by the mage guild. Somehow it discouraged most of the monsters from coming closer. The crystal was probably bigger than her, sitting on a column. It was forbidden to cross the fence that surrounded it, or Dori would have tried to copy it into her tab.

Three days went by fast. Dori could tell her host was getting impatient while she strained her body to the fullest every day. Gorbon wanted to talk about plans while Dori had nothing to share. All she asked for was two guys with a little bit of control over their Spirit Roots. That turned out to be a tall order. People with better roots preferred to settle in Gurjua and join other families by marriage.

Dori wanted to test if she could bypass 'Fiery Bomb's restriction time by letting other people use it. 'Angee's Mistress' was a unique class bomb, so she could only buy one at a time. But if she bought one, let other people trigger it and bought one again, maybe the restriction time wouldn't be an issue.

But that required people who could trigger those with Spirit Energy. A few men did have some degree of flow control but most of them held important positions in the village and they wouldn't accept going out to hunt the Chupacabra with a stranger.

On the fourth night, her ring suddenly turned blue again, signaling it was finally ready.

The next day, Dori walked out of the village with a small bag of food on her back and two jars of water hanging from her waist. The rest of her camping gears she left at Gorbon's house.

She was disappointed at the people in the village. They were willing to fork up money but none that were capable were willing to follow her. A few hotblooded youths wanted to come as aid, but they'd be more of a burden if shit went south.

A pair of socks that could reduce impact, a cowl that could defend against Spirit Arts, a necklace that channeled constant Spirit Energy to her roots, a ring that could bring her back from death's door and a knife to pierce the toughest of hides. Dori felt somewhat confident.

Gorbon was generous enough to get her a custom-made leather belt to store a few vials and bombs, and a leather sheath that could fit the foot-long blade inside. "The least I can do," the man had said and Dori laughed at the truth of that statement. She had bought one of each potion that she deemed useful and hung them on her belt, then filled the other pockets with 'Fiery Bombs.'

She walked as fast as she could without exerting herself too quickly. The sun was rising from the river downstream and the rays were warming her back as she went further west, hoping to find the place where she was attacked.

On her way, she met a pack of half a dozen brown wolves, but they only snarled at her for a while and being wiser, left her on her journey.

Any trails she might have left days ago, she wasn't any good with tracking to trace those back. She was eyeing for a place on the map that she deduced by how long she had walked to reach the village and how long it took to find the river.

She knew she was probably still off the mark following the map, so once she reached a somewhat opening in jungle miles away from the river, she stopped to look around.

In vain.

The hours of walking made her lose water fast. One of the jars were already half empty. She ate a few slices of fish while resting for a few minutes on a root. The plan was to walk about the vicinity and hope for the kitty to pick up her trail. Then travel to the nearest hilly range and look around for suspicious activity, while hoping nothing stronger than the kitty would take an interest on her scrawny stature.

A few more hours of hiking later, the sun was already above her head, peeking through the ceiling of leaves and vines. The humid, foggy air was present in every few steps.

That's when she heard the howling. Long, bone-chilling howl. The wolf pack was back, doubled in numbers.

Time to test the effect of 'Fiery Bomb.'

Dori pulled out the orange-sized, orange colored metallic ball from her waist. Once she channeled some Spirit Energy into it, she felt it connecting to her mind and then activated.

She waited for the pack to reduce distance with each other. She examined the circling formation. She knew how wide the fire would spread but if they weren't close to each other, it'd be a waste. But the wolves were getting dangerously close to her yet refusing to clutter up.

Sighing, she threw the ball toward the biggest wolf she could see, one that was tall enough to reach her shoulder. Then she commanded it to break.

Contrary to her expectation, the ball didn't break into a fire. Instead, she saw it open up like a budding flower and suddenly the atmosphere surrounding it became cold. The cold, she could feel even from distance, like her warmth was getting sucked in. She immediately retreated a few more feet and saw the wolves getting alert too.

It didn't look as violent as it was described in her tab. An orange flower bloomed and engulfed three of the wolves close to it. The diameter was only a few feet at first but then it doubled in a second. She felt the heatwave, forcing her to shut her eyes and turn away. She staggered back a few more feet, getting closer to the wolves that guarded that side. They whimpered and ran away.

The fire didn't persist. A few seconds later, it went out with a poof. The nearby air rushed in to fill the vacuum with a whooshing sound and ended with a loud 'plop'. The leaves on the ground had vanished and a few piles of ashes scattered with the disturbance of the wind. There were scorching marks on the tree next to where the dome of fire had erupted. Good thing the forest was damp.

Dori was satisfied. It was a strong enough weapon for the cost of twenty points and if used properly, a good deterrent against her foes. And she had already earned twice the points she spent on that item for defeating the predators.

No wolves disturbed her as she walked toward the hills.

Even when the dusk came and her pace slowed, she didn't reach her destination. She felt annoyed. Maybe riding a goat would've hastened the pace. She had walked all day without caring much about muffling her noise, yet only a few animals glanced at her before running away.

Was the kitty really hiding in some caves? How wide the cave had to be to shelter such a huge monster?

Then she felt it.

Her cowl flapped lightly despite the air being completely still.

A wave of nausea assaulted her and then lessened. Dori hurriedly gulped a Tranquility potion, followed by a Flow Enhancer, both with relatively short restriction periods.

Her cowl flapped again but this time no drowsiness, no nausea came afterward. Definitely Psych Attacks. Probably the kitty. Her heightened senses and focus picked up the movements. She immediately turned to the left and watched in awe.

Black fur was waving as it moved, its head looked like a mix of a panther and a lion. Beady eyes shimmering in the dim light of the dusk. As big as a Horse Carriage. A long thick tail was slithering around like an agile snake.

It was favoring its right paw, Dori noticed, somewhat relieved.

She pulled out a second orange ball and activated it. The kitty didn't bat an eye, staring at her with all of its attention.

Finally sure that it was the kitty monster, one by one she gulped the rest of her potions. A Nutcracker, a Brainstorm, a Hand-Precision Enhancer, a Blazing-Heart and finally a Pain Inhibitor.

Then grabbing her knife she turned and a made a run for the closest and biggest tree and reached it before the kitty ran her down.

Dori saw the huge body pouncing toward her. Without any hesitation, she kicked.

Her Socks of Damper worked perfectly aligned with the Nutcracker effect. She didn't feel any exertion on her leg muscles. The strength and speed boost of Blazing-Heart was somewhat overlapped but it still helped her keep up with her legs.

The impact, she felt very clearly.

Even with the strength and speed she carried, she was too small compared to the kitty. Although her kick rattled the kitty's head, it didn't even flinch nor slowed down. Dori didn't bother trying to dodge.

Just before she was sent flying, she dropped the activated Bomb and detonated mentally.

One second of charge up, one second to fully bloom. By then her body had flown dozens of feet away.

The kitty was preparing to rush again when the orange dome engulfed half its body, from its belly to the hind legs.

Dori stood up, ignoring the pain. She was prepared enough to avoid colliding with trees. The claws had aimed for her head again but the cowl took the brunt of it. Although the impact was enough to traumatize her, she received no more wounds. and other than a few scratches, she was unharmed.

The kitty, on the other hand, was dancing on the ground, hissing in pain. Half of its body was naked and underneath the skin was charred. It was amusing to Dori that it survived the heat.

She threw her first Disruption Bomb, Angee's Mistress.

The result was less graphic yet more effective.

There was no dome of fire, no sound, nothing. She saw the ball disappear into thin air. The Kitty shivered for a second before collapsing.