LXXIII

After an hour of quite relaxed running, I come across the first monster of my journey. Of course, the distinction between a mere animal and a monster is really quite arbitrary, I have thus chosen to set it at the boundary between creatures found on Earth and those that are not.

Perhaps some cute, innocent creatures may be caught up in such a distinction, but I couldn't possibly care less; to me, it is the flora from which nature may derive its beauty, as for the fauna, I care not for them any further than their use in keeping nature running. Of course, in the face of human development, I may prioritize humanity, only in that I am likely to benefit from abuse of the environment. My hatred for my fellow man is so great in the abstract, that I value even a young tree above the life of a nameless, faceless human. While I recognize that this becomes quite different when I have better knowledge of the person whose life I am valuing, when I do not possess such knowledge, a tree seems a better inhabitant of this world than a man. Though, considering this world's wretchedness, would it not be better to free the trees of their torment, to burn every forest to the ground to save them this world's enforced edict that all must suffer?

[Of course not. That would just be silly,] I think as I eye the strange creature that has emerged in front of me. I have no real word to generalize its appearance, perhaps imagine an elephant mixed with a bear mixed with a wolf? It possessed a trunk and tusk, whereas the ears are far more reminiscent of a bear. In fact, ignoring its teeth and nose, its head looks like a bear's. It is also heavily muscled along its entire body, almost excessively so, heaping mounds of hardened flesh covering it from neck to paw. It stands on four legs, and it doesn't seem to be designed for anything else. Its fur is light silver in color, brilliantly reflecting some of the sun's rays that trickle down from above.

It is standing in my path, there is no hope of it not seeing me, and once it does, it releases a blast from it's trunk, a shockingly low, rumbling blast that penetrates all the way to my bones. It seems to bear its sharp teeth, though they are mostly blocked from view by its trunk.

[You know, it seems as though a trunk would make biting attacks quite difficult, what an odd feature,] I think, ignoring its warning and charging forth. Seeing that I am not stopping, it bends its knees and lowers its head, pointing its tusks at me in an obviously defensive stance.

Its trunk lifts high into the air, waving about threateningly and reminding me strangely of those scorpions I had once fought. Where they had possessed stingers and pincers with which to attack from three entirely separate angles, this beast has a trunk and two tusks. Admittedly, none of these are nearly as deadly a method of attack when compared to the scorpion, the tusks being unable to move independently of the head or one another and the trunk not being poisonous, it still forms an imposing sight.

Obviously, I have many appropriate methods with which to deal with this monster. However, in the interest of time, I condense what of my magical energy that has recovered from my most recent usage, and, after waiting for the distance between us to close to one at which I could not possibly miss, I release my attack.

As my attack was released from less than ten feet away and travels with remarkable velocity, the monster can do nothing to avoid taking a hit to the side of the head, as result of my employment of magical projection, keeping hold of my attack post release to have it curve around and hit the side of the beast's head. As for why I didn't aim for the forehead, the trunk was in the way.

My attack drills into its skull before I allow it to explode outwards. The eyes fly from the beast's sockets, and blood and brain shoots violently from its ears, but the skull itself manages to hold, keeping all force self contained and keeping me from having to avoid shrapnel of blood and bone.

Recognizing my hunger, I cleanly slice one of the monster's bulky legs off, and, after cooking it with extremely hot flames until it is blackened, dig in as I continue to chase down the origin of the sun.

The meal is far from satisfying, quite unsurprising when one considers that the outside has been turned to ash while the inside has been left raw by my hasty cooking, but oh well. A new poison resistance skill wouldn't be all that bad anyway.

I continue to gnaw away at the charred, raw meat until all that remains is a bone, which I promptly throw behind me before continuing running. The grease, blood, and ash on my hands causes some annoyance, so I form together some water elemental particles and use them to rinse my hands until clean. [Heh heh, begone foul grease!]

I run until night falls, and even then I continue to run. Morning comes again, and again evening, as I run without any rest, killing monsters along my way to sate my voracious appetite.

After running for nearly two days, I lay down to rest. Even with my sleep resistcance skill somewhat cutting down on the time I am unconscious, the sun is still high above when I awake the next morning.

Following an appealing babble, I come across a small stream, running with crystal clear water. Having not drunk anything since awakening, other than the blood from my poorly cooked meals, the cool water is refreshing as I gulp it down.

I take a moment to analyze my surroundings as I drink. The trees here, though still coniferous, are much darker than those which I had first awoken near, with deep green leaves and an almost gray trunk and branches. The underbrush is rather sparse and open, making travel easier, ease that is slightly lessened by the gentle hills that abound.

Around me, I still see no sign of human habitation, or habitation of any sort, for that matter, just as I have seen none for the whole of my trip thus far. From this, I determine it rather likely that I am in one of the monster territories, though whether I am in the southern one in which I had lost consciousness or the northern one, I am unsure.

Though I see no signs of human habitation, a quick look around does reveal a single mountain some ways away, barely visible through the trees in which I am buried. I feel a rather strong urge to go investigate it, but, considering that it would require taking a detour to the North, I decide against it. A desire to adventure is of less importance than getting to the Holy Empire with as much haste as possible, after all.

And while it is true that the ultimate plan of my current goal of reaching the empire is to become an adventurer, it is still only something in which I have interest if I am at least being paid for it.