Chapter 19- First Kill

Malice felt his hands starting to shake as the sound grew louder and louder. What started as wet sounds turned now into something far more disgusting. As if someone was crushing a tomato with their own hands and then devouring it in the messiest way possible.

His heart rate skyrocketed as he held his breath. He was sure that there was some kind of monster up ahead. The first ever monster he would meet in his life. It was a terrifying moment, naturally.

The worst things Malice had ever seen came solely from humans and these were supposed to be the rational, smart creatures. He could only imagine what a monster that has neither would be like. Perhaps feral, unforgiving, and deadly.

'Well, that awfully sounds like a human still…' He thought to himself as he clenched his teeth. 'No, I need to focus, goddamit! There is something ahead!'

Shaking his head, Malice continued moving. Eventually, he saw a glimpse of a silhouette up ahead so he stopped again. The creature was facing the opposite way so he couldn't see its appearance. But, he could see its back and silhouette.

It had horribly reddish skin with massive yellow blisters filling every corner of its back. Oddly enough, it looked like a human with no muscles. Its bones were protruding out disgustingly and some were even piercing through the skin like spikes.

'What the hell is that…' Malice stared at the monster for a few seconds. It looked so repulsive, even without seeing its face. Hell, even its smell was foul, like rotten meat.

The monster was bent down, munching on something without a care in the world. That was until it seemed to notice his presence as it looked up and started sniffing. Then, it turned around, revealing its hideous face, and as expected, it was pure nightmare fuel.

The face was a mix between a human skull and the eyes of a snake or some kind of reptilian creature. Its yellow-slitted eyes stared at Malice as its protruding teeth were dripping with what he could only assume to be blood.

'Oh no!' Malice instantly felt danger as he stood up and started retreating. His fight or flight reaction had already kicked in and it told him one thing… Run!

That was what he was accustomed to, if there was danger, just run away. He never considered fighting as a possible solution. After all, what can't touch you, can't hurt you. But, that's when he realized something.

'I have nowhere to run!' He halted as he looked behind him. There was nowhere to go even if he started running and he certainly can't just ask to go back to the white chamber. He was here to do the opposite of running after all.

Meanwhile, the monster noticed the panicking new prey that appeared and it immediately lost interest in the thing it was eating and instead started moving toward Malice at a moderate speed.

'It's already coming toward me! How do I fight again?' His mind rushed to find a way to deal with this problem. With the lack of knowledge and practice, Malice was as good as a toddler when it came to fighting. He also didn't know how to swing a sword so it all came down on him at the same time.

But, he didn't have time to contemplate what to do as the monster had already closed the distance between them and swung its arms to capture Malice. The latter jumped back, barely dodging the attack. So, the monster tried to capture him again with even more vigor.

The boy jumped back again at the last moment. 'I just need to swing, right?!' He mused as he finally lifted the sword in the air and swung it down with all his power.

Meanwhile, the monster continued pressuring him relentlessly. As the sword fell on it, it suddenly moved back. The blade hit its arm but didn't cut through it all. Instead, it got stuck there.

Malice panicked as he pulled the sword back, only to realize that the monster was pulled toward him too. The two fell to the ground as the monster started trying to grab the boy.

'How did I fail so miserably at something so simple?! It's… quite strong!!' Clenching his teeth, Malice grabbed the monster by the head and pushed it back with all his power not to let it take a bite from him. The two struggled for a while, trying to overpower one another.

Malice felt the immense strength of the monster weighing down on his arms, making them shake visibly.

'S-Screw this!!' Looking at the sword still stuck in the monster's arm, he grabbed it again and tried to pull it out. Blood was gushing endlessly from the injured hands as it coated Malice's armor and face.

"Get. Off. ME!!" With a loud yell, he pulled the sword out before he stabbed the monster in the neck with all his power. He didn't even think twice about doing that as he was truly in lethal danger.

The sword stabbed cleanly through the neck, exiting from the other side. Huge loads of blood exploded out of the injury and fell on Malice's face, making him close his eyes as he started coughing.

"D-Disgusting!" Feeling the resistance grow weaker, he threw the monster off as he dragged himself away with a terrified look on his face. "*Cough* *Cough* Ugh, this is horrible!" He then started spitting out all the blood that entered his mouth by mistake. It tasted so horrible he felt like throwing up.

His eyes were also burning from the sticky substance. But, at the very least, he didn't get injured.

[You have killed an Unranked Monster.]

[You have gained 1 Soul Essence.]

[Your power has increased subtly.]

Looking at the dead monster, Malice was shaken by the sudden notifications. '... So it is really dead… I-I have killed it…'

For some reason, it didn't feel real that he killed that monster. It happened and ended so quickly that he was still in shock. But, the feeling that settled in his heart wasn't discomfort or fear… Instead, he felt rather relieved.

Seeing his first kill happen this way was exciting in a sense. He couldn't quite describe how but it didn't feel bad at all.

Slowly, Malice stood up and approached the corpse. With the sword still lodged in its neck, the creature was seeping blood like a fountain, creating a giant puddle around it.

"Where is all that blood even coming from? Its body shouldn't even fit that much of it…" He murmured as he hesitantly pulled the sword out of its neck and quickly shook it to get rid of the blood.

"Sigh, ok, that was not bad… Well, it was bad, but at least I didn't get killed. I believe that's good enough for now."

This was Malice's first-ever fight so the outcome was not bad. Granted, he did get showered with blood, but he at least was able to win with no injuries whatsoever.

'It didn't give me anything else other than the one Soul Essence?' He thought to himself. 'I guess it's supposed to be a very weak monster, considering how I was able to kill it.'

Assuming his current position, this monster was probably nothing compared to what lay ahead of him. He had to brace himself.

After that, he shifted his gaze somewhere else. A few meters away, there was a second dead corpse lying on the ground. It was the corpse the other monster was munching on. Surprisingly, Malice realized that the second corpse was the same kind of monster as the first one.

"It was eating one of its kind…" Malice blinked with a frown as he held his mouth not to throw up. It was already disgusting as it is yet it somehow became even more repulsive. These monsters had no sense of decency or morals, after all.

As he was about to turn his head away from the shredded corpse, he suddenly noticed an object next to it.

"Hm?" Squinting his eyes, he approached it curiously. Picking it up, he realized that it was a piece of flipped paper, soaked in blood. Opening it slowly, he was surprised by what he saw.

A very intricate image was drawn on the paper. The image was that of long, branching lines that expanded everywhere across the surface of the paper. There were some weird, distorted words written here and there but Malice couldn't read them.

Still, he understood what this was instantly.

"A map!"