C10. Hunting Banquet (II)

Splitting towards the left, I made my way towards the direction of the mountains. The thick shrubbery was barely an inconvenience as the horse easily trampled through as I cut down any branches in my way.

GRRRR

A low growl called out behind the dense forestry as a giant shadow pounced above me, its dark brown eyes locking onto my horse and I - like a predator hunting a prey.

'[Transform]' I silently cast, shifting my arm into that of a werewolf. Swinging my arm down, I crushed the figure beside me as I halted the horse to a stop.

GRRRAARR!

It continued to growl as I held it down, hopping off the horse.

Within my grip was a 3 meter tall bear, namely what I've learnt to be called a Crazed Bear.

"Alrighty," I muttered using my untransformed arm to grab my sword from its sheath and beheaded the beast, letting the gush of blood spray out everywhere beside me.

[Sword Proficiency +0.1%]

[Bloodline: +5 Bear]

[Strength: +1]

[Constitution: +1]

I looked around the silent forest beside me to see if there was anything I could use to carry the bear, but the only idea that came to mind was cutting down trees to create a small transport platform, which I was too lazy to do right now.

Suddenly a small growl entered my sensitive ears, causing me to glance over at a small nearby cave. Securing the horse beside a thick tree and tossing the corpse of the bear carelessly behind it, I trekked my way towards the sound, anticipating a good fight.

GRAARR!!

A louder growl echoed out as another figure came pouncing over from a cliff above me, the familiar looking brown furry figure entered my vision, instantly boring me.

With a groan, I simply swung my sword directly at the bear's neck, however this time the hide of the bear seemed tougher than before, lodging my sword into the surface layer of its hide.

'Oh?' I raised an eyebrow as I retreated a few steps to gain my footing again.

I could feel the anger emanating from the bear, it's eyes suddenly turning a bright red as it charged over, its growl louder than before.

As if on steroids, it's muscles began to bulge, creating popping sounds as it's growl became deeper and fiercer.

Gritting my teeth, I dodged to the side, missing the attack by a fraction of a second.

The ground where I stood previously crumbled under its strike.

"Transform" I muttered, targeting my arms, massively increasing my own strength as I swung my sword with all I could.

GRRRARR!!

The bear roared as my sword gained a good slice into its waist.

"Come on!" I roared, exerting the rest of my strength into the sword, pushing it further in and finally out the other side.

The crazed bear let out one last cry as its life ended, the waist up sliding cleanly off its lower half.

[Sword Proficiency +0.5%]

[Bloodline: +5 Bear]

[Strength: +1]

[Constitution: +1]

[Skill learnt: Enrage]

Breathing out a sigh of relief, I wiped my sword across the fur of the bear, activating my status screen as I checked for any new improvements.

[Name: Sen

Level: 10

Age: 20

Species: Werewolf (Demonic)

Class: Noble (Duke)

HP: 3000/3000

MP: 900/900

Strength: 123

Intelligence: 90

Constitution:32

Dexterity: 120

Charisma: 100

Proficiency:-

Sword: 56.5%

Dagger: 21.6%

Bow: 1%

Noble Etiquette: 97%

Common Language: 90%

Wolf Tongue: 100%

Skills:-

Passive:

Night Vision

Persuasion

Active:

Transform (partial/full)

Howl (unavailable)

Corruption (20MP)

Enrage (50MP/sec)]

Tapping on the new skill I gained, a different screen popped open.

[Active Skill: Enrage (50MP/sec):

Effects: Increase Strength and Constitution Stats by 60%

Decrease Intelligence and Dexterity stats by 80%]

"Interesting." I muttered, reading the description.

This would imply that I could increase my strength from 123 all the way to 196.8, and my constitution from 32 to 51.2… that's like… 5120 max HP!

Noticing the absurdity of this skill, I closed my status screen hurriedly looking around to make sure there was no one nearby as if the act of having this skill in my possession was illegal.

Grraww, the sound of a small whimper. Its quiet and shaky voice echoing out from the entrance of the cave beside me.

Entering a small hole engraved on the side of the mountain, my night vision automatically enabling me to clearly see the interior. The tiny stalactites formed on the rooftop slowly dripped down water, forming a small puddle in the middle of the cave. Looking further in, I spotted a small crazed bear cub cramming itself into a corner, its tiny paws stretched out as if in a defense position.

Grraww it whimpered again, its eyes staring straight at me with caution, obviously able to smell the traces of its parents on my sword.

With a sigh, I slowly walked over and raised my arm up, swinging the sword above my head to end the suffering of the cub.

A clean swing. The small whimper of the cub slowly quietened as it drew its last breath, my sword dug into its little chest.

[Bloodline: -1 Human]

[Skill Learnt: Heartless]

"Huh?" I blinked a couple of times.

'Status,' I commanded in my head.

[Name: Sen

Level: 10

Age: 20

Species: Werewolf (Demonic)

Class: Noble (Duke)

HP: 3000/3000

MP: 900/900

Strength: 123

Intelligence: 90

Constitution:32

Dexterity: 120

Charisma: 100

Proficiency:-

Sword: 56.5%

Dagger: 21.6%

Bow: 1%

Noble Etiquette: 97%

Common Language: 90%

Wolf Tongue: 100%

Skills:-

Passive:

Night Vision

Persuasion

Heartless

Active:

Transform (partial/full)

Howl (unavailable)

Corruption (20MP)

Enrage (50MP/sec)]

"Lenso?" I suddenly heard a familiar voice sound out behind me. I could hear the person's disbelief as I turned around. Sure enough, there was the Crown Prince Lynt, staring in horror at the bear cub before me and my sword clearly stabbed right into it.

"Did you-?" He points at the cub, walking over and carefully pulling out the blade, tossing it aside while retrieving its body.

"Yeah. Did I steal your prey?" I asked, grabbing the blade from the ground, curious as to why he was treating it so gently.

"No, but he was just a baby!" The Crown Prince turned around in anger, his arms trembling as he held the cold corpse of the cub. "He didn't deserve to die so early."

"Why?" I frowned, tilting my head in confusion. "If it grows up, it'll still end up becoming an adult crazed bear that someone would eventually kill."

"But he hasn't done anything wrong yet." He cradled the cub, staring daggers at me.

"So let me get this straight. What you're saying is, even though you can easily predict the future of that thing; The future being that of death and destruction. You'll let it live until it takes a life?" I interrogated with a frown.

"That-" The Crown Prince stuttered, not daring to make eye contact.

"What you're doing now is simply denying the inevitable. Living in your own little fantasy of being a hero." I scoffed, rolling my eyes at his unbelievable naivety while walking past him towards the exit. "It's time for you to grow the fuck up, Mr. Crown Prince. The world isn't all glitter and gold."