Chapter 8 – Run.

(Now that I evolved, I should try to look for one of those rabbits and see how much stronger I really had became.)

"!"

(Oh! I can I already found something.)

The plant beast began walking towards the nearest mana source and quickly found a horned rabbit eating some grass.

Moments later the plant beast leaped at it and barely managed slashed the creature with it claws before then falling on the ground.

"?!"

(What the fuck?!)

The plant beast quickly got up after falling only to see the horned rabbit got already killed.

"?!"

(Okay???)

(What the fuck happened?)

(I tried leaping like usually, but the speed I flew was something was I would have ever expected.)

(True. I do become stronger when I evolve, but not that much. Normally my strength would get noticeable better, even when I evolved into plant animal.)

(But this?! What the heck was that?!)

(After I evolved for the first time, I grew like what? 25% stronger compare to my previous form and 50% stronger as the plant animal compare to the walking root.)

(But this time?)

(I think I grown like what? 125%? 150% stronger compare to the plant animal.)

(Jezus.)

(Before when I was still mouth plant, walking root and plant animal I could tell that I was a freaking weakling even after evolving again and again.)

(So 25% and 50% increase in power wasn't much for me, since I was still weak as hell and the only thing that really changed was my bite power.)

(But now?! I can feel the change way too clearly compare to the before.)

(On top of that, those claws! They are finally useful! But they managed to kill the rabbit with only one hit?!)

(Before those claws could barely do any damage or anything and I needed to use them in specific way to deal any proper damage.)

(Fuck me. Was this because I chose the "Wild" plant beast?)

(I wonder if I can now take down wolf that I encounter before?!)

(…)

(Anyway, I think its time for me to run away.)

(I didn't run into any humans recently, but I don't know when I will DO run into one.)

(Probably when a human would discover me, I would have no choice but to kill it in order to keep myself hidden.)

(However…. Can I really kill a human?)

(I mean, I do understand killing the monsters, since if I don't do that then they will kill me nor I won't grow stronger.)

(Humans will probably try to kill me as well…. Fuck me.)

(I guess I really would have no choice but to kill a human if they spot me…)

(But would I be able to do it?)

(I mean not like "Having set my mind on it." But like physically? Can I even beat a human?)

(Won't they be using an armor or weapons that will give them huge advantage against me? Or won't they have a skills or magic that can literally shoot fire? I'm still a freaking plant, so I don't think getting hit with fire magic would be a great idea.)

(On top of that, I need to return back to the ant territory and began hunting them once again.)

(I know that they don't taste great, but if I want to get more EXP then I have no choice but to go back there.)

(Each time I evolve, the amount of EXP I need to level up once increases and considering how much stronger I just became, I can kind of guess that that amount of EXP I now need to level up once got increased significantly.)

(But the question how much? Will hunting ants do the trick?)

(Well, I also have to get used to my new body, so let's not get greedy until I understand more about my current self.)

I've decided to head back to the ant and plant territory.

I do know the general direction where I should go, but while walking I noticed something.

A path.

When I saw it, I got scared. Why? Because the adventures could be using it.

On top of that, I noticed boot marks. Somebody was walking on it recently.

Fuck this shit. I decided to try to look for a different route I can take that maybe bit safer.

It did took me some time searching around, but I did manage to find a route that wasn't too dangerous nor I saw or senses any humans nearby.

After sometime passed, I finally arrived to the familiar area that was near the plant monster territory.

I got curios about many things, specifically on how many of my siblings had evolved into plant animals or evolved into plant beasts like me. I was also thinking if I could see any different version of the walking plant and the mouth plant.

So, I decided to head to the plant monster territory.

However, when I arrived there….

(…. What?!)

(What the hell happened here?!)

(All the plant monsters are dead?! I can only see their remains here.)

(!)

(Boot marks!)

(Humans!)

(I think it was a group of humans.)

(I don't see any blood or anything around here, only my siblings remains. I guess the humans didn't had any trouble dealing with them.)

(On top of that, the marks on the ground look fresh. The battle happened today if not yesterday.)

(Fuck me. First, I encounter some humans and now my siblings are dead?!)

(…)

(I don't sense anything. There is nobody here.)

I've began looking around and so far, I couldn't find a single survivor.

Not only that, but all of the roots as well stems were gone. Were they harvested? In fantasies there are things like dragon blood that could be used for alchemy or dragon claws that could be made into a weapons. So maybe the reason why they harvested this things and left the rest was for some sort of alchemy?

Either way, only their heads and leaves remains.

I went even deeper and found the remains of my parent.

(Slash and burn marks all over it. Some of the body parts are missing. No human blood.)

(This was one sided fight.)

(Fuck me. Did humans came here to exterminate my family?! If so then it confirms that the humans will kill me on sight!)

(I don't sense anything around me right now, but I need to fuking get out of here!)

(I don't know how strong my parent was but I can tell that it evolved many times over in order to reach it current stage.)

(If they could one sidedly beat up my parent then I can definitely tell that I would end up getting the same treatment.)

(Fuck. I'm definitely not fuking around with the humans until I get stronger!)

(But where the fuck do I go?!)

(I don't know how big this forest is nor I know where the human settlement is located. What if I try to leave the forest and end up accidently going near the settlement?)

(I get spot on and killed.)

(Fuck me… I'm trapped.)

(I cannot leave the forest.)

(But humans saw me. If they did survived that encounter with that wolf, wouldn't that mean that humans know about me?!)

(But they maybe think that one of the plant animals they killed was me. So, there is a chance that they still don't know about me being still alive.)

(However staying here is obviously out of the option.)

(Considering that I meet humans when I ended up going south, then good idea would be to go north.)

(But I need to make sure that I would keep my guard up all the time. Not only humans pose danger to me but also other monsters.)

(And especially that fucker that cut off my arm for the first time is probably still out there. There will be probably like others like him that could hide their mana like it did and get me with surprise attack.)

(Fuck me. When I finally started to believe that it will be bit easier starting today, this bullshit happened.)

(Tch. Let's get going already before I fuking run into anybody.)

I started heading south after finding out my murdered family. I don't know if this is smart idea or not, but it's not like I have any choice.

I did encounter some ants wondering around, so I decided to try my luck and see if I could defeat them.

As it turns out, I can.

Now that my claws can injure them properly and kill them with just few swipes and the group of 4 ants that could easily leave me heavily wounded ended up getting killed by me without suffering any serious injuries.

I was thinking of looking around for that evolved version of those ants, but I didn't had time to waste.

As I headed further north, the ants stopped appearing and honestly, I wasn't encountering any monsters for a while.

Honestly, I got worried.

Are the monsters not appearing because I'm getting near the human settlement?

But as I was wonder whenever I should change direction or not, a group of monsters appeared.

This thing appeared to be some sort of green raccoons?

I was bit confused at first when I saw them but then they began spitting poison at me.

By the look of things these raccoons have ability produce a poison.

Not only that but they were quiet fast, so they were bit annoying to deal with.

However, I did manage to beat them all up.

But after I killed them, I was wondering if I should eat them or not.

I mean, they were literally spitting poison at me.

Well, I decided not to eat them, since I was that hungry at the time because I ate some ants before.

Anyway, now that I confirmed that the monsters were present here, then it would mean that I'm still safe?

I resumed traveling north.

The next monster I encounter was some sort of plant monster like me? It looked like a vine at first glance but after I killed it, it was a freaking snake that was just pretending to be tree vine. It was not a plant monster at all and only looked like one.

The snakes themselves weren't poisons or venomous, but they did used their tales like some sort of whips.

However, their flesh did tasted quite good. Kind of like bacon.

The third new monster I encounter was a chicken?

Specifically, it was a chicken with red feathers and spike punk hairstyle?

It looked weird but then it freaking began breathing fire at me!

That gave me a huge scare and it almost set me on fire.

Not only that but it was able to take 2 of my slash attacks without problem. So, I didn't wanted to risk it and ended it with a bite.

Honestly, fighting this thing was dangerous, but I managed to beat it and eat it. Not only that but it also gave me some good amount of EXP.

Anyway, I think I can draw some sort of conclusion?

The monsters that were in the south were weaker compare to the ants while the monsters I encountered here were stronger than the ants?

If this is true then its both good and bad news.

Good news, since there would probably less adventures and bad news would that I would have to deal with stronger monsters and if I encounter adventure wondering around here, then it means he or she is strong enough to take down the monsters in here.

However, this place is also an opportunity for me.

Stronger monsters means more EXP and more EXP means I would level up faster and evolve once again.

If I die hunting monsters, so be it!

I'm not a main protagonist or anything and I'm still scared of dying like a coward, but I don't have fuking choice.

Eat or be fuking eaten!

Grow stronger and survive or die for somebody else growth.

I died in my previous life as nobody, but that doesn't mean I will just wait patiently and die again.

If I must I will become real monster, both physical and mentally if that means that I can survive!