Chapter 7 Territory War

Several days passed since that incident. Nothing very strange happened afterwards except for the fact he saw more sightings of canid and feline mammals lurking about in the jungle.

He decided that he was going to take a break from hunting in the plains biome for while since he felt an underlying current was just waiting to burst there.

At least the good thing about it was the fact he had gotten to level 5 in [Cognizance]. He had forgotten to address the fact that all his skills had leveled up to 3 by the time he woke up from that evolution frenzy, hence why everything looked so different.

Now, he was given two choices. Evolve the skill using [EP] or let it be. In all honesty, he was tempted to evolve it, but the necessary amount of points was…

[Evolve [Cognizance] using 100 Evolution Points?]

Currently, he only had 80 from his last hunt…and who knew how long it'd take if he were to use 100? He had only gotten those points by a stroke of luck because the salamander had low poison resistance.

Hunting took too long because just catching one 'good' prey takes from 3 to even 7 days. If he were to count it all up, say, that he continued to get around 7 on average in 4 day intervals, that'd be…45-47 days! That would take too long!

Who knew what could happen during that time!? So far, with the scorpion's scouting abilities, they only played with danger on a few occasions, but he nearly died at least 5 times…over the course of the last month!

The creatures out here were just as crazy as inside the cave, goddammit! If not, maybe even more dangerous..so far, he had taken to prowling in the tall grass and foliage like a snake, but if he encountered something large with wings, he'd easily be seen and eaten.

He shook his head. That is why he needed to get stronger. For now, evolving the skill wasn't his priority.

Either way, his current sight was fine. It still felt strange, but he had gotten used to it by now. Just as he had resolved himself, there was a loud howl outside the cave.

He winced from the sheer volume. It's not like his sense of hearing was good, but it was almost as if there was some kind of…warning shrill? The scorpion stood up from where it had been sleeping, alert.

Right then, there was another loud roar, different from the howl, but with the same intentions. The vibrations made it seem like it was close with the intensity, but his intuition told him it was actually far away.

What creature is stupid enough to be so loud? What if it alerts something even stronger!? Those thoughts ran through his head at lightning speeds, but his mind came to a conclusion on its own.

There was a battle going on, and that meant there was going to be loot to take. Excited but cautious, he made his over to where he could feel the disturbance, leading back to the grassy plains.

He slinked into the tall grass, slightly popping his flattened head up to see the action. The scorpion followed him like a duckling. They both watched as a pack of multi-sized cats and dogs growled at each other.

Still, nothing happened. It was almost like the latter were trying to scare away the felids, simply glaring and snarling.

At the head of each group was a leader. The small, brown-black furred wolf-fox he had seen days prior and a royal-esque sabertooth with luscious yet short, blue speckled fur. It was like a hybrid of a tiger and jaguar with long canines. It stood calmly with the an air of majesty, similar to the wolf.

The thing that made it cut out from the rest was a third eye and a pair of horns like his own, pointing backwards.

Exactly what was he witnessing? Was this a territory war? His curiosity was peaked. The next moment, all hell broke loose. Dogs with sharp ended tails slashed at their opponents while those same enemies were mauling their dog rivals with long teeth and razor sharp fur.

Blood splattered all around. He witnessed a few of the cats hiding in ambush, dealing fatal blows. This wasn't good terrain for the canids despite having bone crushing strength. Could it be that they were fighting due to a lack of prey? To him, this group of mutated felids were more specialized in this terrain.

But despite the ongoing chaos, the two leaders didn't move an inch, almost as if trying to see who'll make the first move. He waited tensely for the moment one of them attacked, and he didn't have to wait long.

The sabertooth extended out long claws, roaring in anger. He could feel their indignation. The wolf calmly sidestepped the attack, huffing in annoyance.

How could it act so calm despite being at a disadvantage? The moment that question came to mind, the wolf howled once more. The insect duo could feel the sound reverberating within them, literally.

Their bodies involuntarily shook as a system notification went off.

[WARNING: You have been subjected to the skill [Royal Howl] lvl 10. Strength and speed reduced by 50%. Enemy morale decreased by 25%.]

[Tip: when subjected to a high level debuff skill, recommended action is to run]

[You have gained the skill, [Debuff Resistance]

Although it was nice he got a new skill, it was only level 1. What the hell was that wolf!? A level 10 skill!? And that calm demeanor wasn't a facade after all…the centipede got a complete reality check.

He underestimated the monsters around him. Just because one was small in stature doesn't mean it isn't strong. he needed to adjust his thinking again…he succumbed to his own upended arrogance just because he had been doing well for a while.

Even so, their first priority was to get away from here. He didn't want to risk their lives for a few measly corpses…with that in mind, he was about to turn away when he heard a loud roar.

[WARNING: You have subjected to the skill [Ferocious Frenzy] lvl 7. All creatures within a 70 meter radius are now in a berserk state]

Strength and speed increased by 70%. Regeneration has been negated]

[You have gained the skill, [Frenzy Resistance]

Holy shit. Already he could feel his mind growing muddled. He turned to look at his companion with difficulty. It was getting harder to control himself.

Beside him, the scorpion was already screeching in untamable rage, pouncing on the nearest thing, the centipede. 'Fuck!' He cursed, using his long legs to hold the scorpion in the air, mandible on its tail.

He had nothing else to use in order to detain its claws. They slowly inched closer, but before it could cut him in half, he bent his joints, launching the creature away and into a canid corpse.

The scent of blood made the arachnid further crazy as it bit into the corpse's flesh. Using this chance, the former attempted to curl around and secure his partner, but the sudden urge to kill took over.

His body rose slowly from the ground, extending high into the air, legs creaking from unleashed pressure as his mandibles clicked intimidatingly. The mammals below whimpered from the sheer pressure he was giving off, shadowed by his large body.

With one tail sweep, he had already killed 4 of the mammalians. None of them had anticipated his interruption, most critters having run away when they heard their warning cries.

Seeing a crazed centipede the size of a 3 story building was indeed frightening, even to the once calm leaders. Their packmates, who had been affected by the skill, all whimpered, backing away in pure instinct, fear overtaking their frenzy.

The man turned insect didn't give them a chance. In his berserk state, he swept his head on the battlefield, large horns stabbing into another 3 while his mandible grabbed two unlucky canids as they whined.

Unconsciously, he began to use his skills, [Bite], [Sharp Edge], [Lock] for more strength, [Dash] to go after fleeing prey, [Defensive Curl] to make sure none escaped, any skills he could currently use, and something new, [Head Hunter: Increase in damage and durability of one's head to attack].

By the time the pack leaders came back to their senses a few seconds later, he had already killed over 20 of them. The wolf snarled at the cat, crying that it was their fault for this happening.

Now, not only were the new arrivals, the felines, going to die out, the dogs were gonna die out quicker! The wolf was strong, but that centipede had a completely different air about it in a berserk state.

Its aggressiveness was on another scale like no other, mauling, ripping, slashing at its enemies with no remorse. If it were before when the wolf had seen it a few days ago, it had no doubt it could've taken it down after a painful battle. The only reason it hadn't was because of its obligations. They were in a war to the death, to see who would control the plains.

But now? The insect's primal instincts took over and completely brought out its fighting potential.

The only choice they had to preserve their lives was flee.

To be continued…