Chapter XXVI: Hunting

Zack finally escaped his prison and ran away until the sun was out, being near miles away. "Okay! Top priority, No Woods!" Zack said. "Second, look for some souls to collect. Lastly, focus on stats when you get a constant, free flow of souls beside the cabin. That thing is supernatural. It said ancestral home. Right? So I'm related to the person who made it." Zack said, deep in thought about the cabin. He never questioned it even though it manages to keep even a death class out of it and have offensive measures. It seemed crazy.

"I should figure out what's behind it soon… but for now, I won't care. I just need to focus on this for now" Zack said while continuing his run.

[You've run so far! Keep going! +1 speed gained!]

"So I can gain attributes without drawing from my pool of souls… this is interesting…" Zack said. He kept the run while not expecting a single stat. He was running miles and it gave him a stat point at this distance. He already knew the system wasn't going to let everything go smoothly so this wasn't a surprise. He didn't really know where he was going but his plan was to make it back to his home.

Every time he gained a stat he felt more capable. He felt bulkier, lighter, or more flexible. The changes weren't apparent but he could feel it. After running for a few minutes, he had a realization. "I can't go there like this! I'll be hunted down!" Zack yelled. "Damn it!" Zack punched the ground in annoyance. He wasn't human anymore. He knew the cost. "I knew something like this would happen. The cost for living again was the normalcy in my life."

He wanted to cry or she'd a tear but he couldn't. All that came out was blood. It just made him cry more blood while punching the ground in sadness. He lost everything he had and had to build up from scratch. He stopped his sobbing after thinking more. "My skills. Maybe I'll have a skill for transformation. Or some power to look different. Until then I can't go back home."

He kept running. He still didn't know where he was going so either way going whichever direction would work. He still felt staring but ignored it as he felt the pressure of it the entire time and saw no one. On the road, he wanted to use soul eater but all there really were to bugs. If anyone else had the system, they'd think nothing of it but to Zack, who read near hundreds of books, it was a gold mine. He started smiling menacingly as that's the only way a demon can smile but this was also how Zack was actually smiling.

He used soul eater on a ant.

[Error. Bugs have no souls. Only instincts. Steal an actual soul idiot!]

"What?! Why are you insulting me?! And bugs have souls! Bug lives matter!… so I can steal a portion of their souls!" Zack said. He kept walking out while thinking about things more. He got a little emotional a few times but was okay. It made it into the moonlight and it seemed different. The stars were red and the moon was blue.

[The harvest moon has begun. The red stars alight. You crave for the thrill of the hunt]

[Mental stability decreased to zero]

[All stats increase by 200%]

[Soul Eater uses are unlimited without cooldown. The hunt allows you to steal from anything]

[All traits are maxed out]

[Quest: Fulfill the desire to kill]

[Reward: 50 ASP]

Zack felt a hunger. A horrible, horrible hunger. His claws grew, his fangs sharpened, and the coating on his teeth dripped out from them. He fell down and started shaking. The pain made him feel like permanent death was better. He let out a glass breaking screech. His vision turned into black shortly after. He got up after that and laughed. He laughed crazily. He clawed on his eyes while doing so.

"He thought he could seal his insanity away! The fool! It's been damn near thousands of millennia!" Zack said. He looked around "I need… blood. I need… Death. I need… Souls!" Zack said. He got on all fours and shot off the ground like a bolt of lightning. Instead of avoiding the woods, the thing now in control went head first in it. If anyone looked at the woods from afar, it was being demolished. Many animals attacked him but all Zack did was look at them and every single trait they owned was gone. He did this with everything. After a hour, he made it to a god status. He killed hundreds. Thousands. He poured every soul he gained into stats. His stats were over 10000 and he gained skills.

"I need more of a hunt!" The thing said. He jumped forward while clawing every tree in the area chopped in his wake. Its excitement for everything related to bloodshed was madding. The tearing of trees was noticed by the death class from afar. "The mortal. He's gotten stronger." the death class thought. He sent white patched animals. They charged into the monsters direction but they died before even seeing him. He was too fast. He was right in front of the death class.

"Did you think your little goons could kill me?" The monster said. "I'm not the person you fought but I remember what you di-id" in a singsongy tone. "So let me give you that ten fold." The monster that was Zack roared while coughing out poison that wasn't just cobra poison anymore. It was many poisons mixed to the point it would kill on contact. The wolf was blown back thousands of miles away. The poison didn't kill it but it would kill it in a few minutes.

The monster jumped towards the death class. The death class didn't know the feeling it had right then the feeling felt horrible. It felt fear. Fear it would die. It never felt this because it could survive anything. "Now little wolf…" the monster grabbed its head with ease. "I'd love to kill you but you are not mine to kill, you're his to kill. But I wanted to have this moment. To make you feel powerless. And I'm sure Zack is watching. So this is enjoyable." The monster exclaimed.

The monster roared loader than it ever did before. Enough to make heads explode. The wolf felt pain and thought it was going to die. It almost was if another second passed but the monster stopped. "You will die. But not by my hands. By the one you should not have tried to kill" The monster said. It jumped off while the death class had fear engraved into his head. The monster jumped off until it reached a city and waited. "It looks like my time is over. I can't wait until my next hunt…" the monster said while it got the many marks of blood on it and licked it. The day came and the sun's purifying light got rid of the monster. Reducing all his features to dust, turning it into Zack's form before the hunt.

[Quest successful]

[50 ASP gained]

[Hunt shop gained]

"God… What happened?" Zack said as he rubbed his head. He checked his system *!*

[Strength: 30]

[Speed: 31]

[Agility: 30]

"Hunt shop?" Zack said.

[Hunt Shop]

[Skill: Demonic Fist]

[Skill: Martial Arts]

[Skill: Transform]

[LIMITED TIME OFFER! Stat: Endurance]

Zack looked at this with happiness.

[Buy "Transform" for 10 ASP?]

[Yes]

["Transform" Obtained!]

[Buy "Endurance" for 35 ASP?]

[Yes]

["Endurance" Obtained!]

[Transform]

Shadows enveloped his body, floating upward, until he was in a human form. "This I can get used to!" Zack said. He didn't care about what happened at the moment as now he could go into his town, which he was right in front of. He brought his endurance up by 30 so everything was the same level. "Time to end this." Zack said while walking into the city on the road with the horizon showing a fresh daybreak.