DISCOVERING NEW SKILLS

The moment his system notified him that he had completed the mission to investigate the villagers' deaths, those beasts seemed to recognize his presence!

As if they had heard the alert's chime!

And in the next instant, the five beasts lunged in his direction!

[Special Hidden Mission: Survive to Death!] [At this moment, your life depends on your next actions. Survive the beast attack – Reward: 20 additional points]

"motherfuck... so you want to start strong, huh?"

Robert muttered in annoyance, certain that this was the work of that old man.

Now he knew he wasn't the only one who had arrived in this world; other things had arrived at the same time. Or so his mind deduced upon seeing these creatures.

However, the boy shook all these thoughts from his head, for his life was at stake, so he focused on what to do next.

Robert knew that in such cases, running into the open field was not the best option.

In terms of speed, those beasts visibly outmatched him by far.

The safest bet was to stay in a place where those beasts couldn't move freely and had their movements limited, so it was better to stay inside the house.

So, with great speed, he stood up and ran to the kitchen, looking for anything he could use to defend himself.

In his past life, due to his training and profession, he had become an expert in the use of various weapons, whether firearms or blades, so anything in his hands would be a lethal object.

Of course, if the target was a human.

What the hell could he do against one of those beasts he had just seen? When he was still in Russia, he had heard from one of the old members, a man who had faced a Siberian tiger and killed it using only a knife.

But that was just a stupid story for new recruits... now he was facing the harsh reality.

Without wasting time, he added his earned points to the [Strength] option.

[Strength: 15 → 18]

Then, he grabbed a couple of knives that were on the kitchen table and prepared to face the beasts with arms raised, near a window.

Crack!

With a powerful blow, the first beast violently entered the house and quickly advanced to the kitchen.

Grrrrrr!

Upon seeing our protagonist, it lunged at him, extending its claws and opening its enormous mouth!

Robert, knowing he couldn't come out unscathed from this attack, moved as quickly as he could, trying to avoid the beast's jaws, but was struck by one of the claws which pierced the side of his torso!

'Damn!'

Although his agility had increased by three points, he was only faster than the average human.

But to dodge the beast's attack, it was insufficient. However, at that moment, he moved his arms up with abnormal speed and with great force brought the knives down, embedding them in one of the animal's eyes!

Waaaaggghhh!

The enormous beast howled in pain! Everything happened so fast that the animal didn't understand what had just happened!

Just moments ago, it was eager to kill the human, and in the next instant, a sharp pain was piercing through its skull as it partially lost its sight!

For our protagonist, this action, despite being inevitably wounded, was better than he expected.

In the situation he was in, he had sacrificed part of his integrity to injure one of the beast's most vulnerable parts.

Before this, he had seen a couple of firearms, some hunting rifles that were on the ground, and several shell casings scattered everywhere.

This suggested that some of the villagers had fired at these animals trying to defend themselves.

But not having found any corpses, it could be deduced that either the shooters were very bad and missed every shot, or the bullets were ineffective against the beasts.

Even if it had been the first, Robert could no longer use the rifles because they were broken in half, perhaps by the action of those beasts. If it was the second, the only thing left for him at the moment was to attack their weak points.

And the eyes are the most vulnerable point of any target.

"Waaaaaghhh!"

The beast roared violently again, feeling intense pain in its eye, shaking uncontrollably!

Baaam!

Due to the animal's shaking, it threw our protagonist against one of the windows, making him crash through the glass.

'Damn it! This hurts!'

Robert groaned internally as he felt the pain radiating from his side and spreading throughout his body.

In his past life, he had suffered injuries since his childhood training, as well as the ones he earned while doing his job, so his pain threshold was higher than that of an ordinary person.

However, this was a new life, and although his mind retained his past memories, his body was new, so the pain now felt more intense!

[HP: 10 → 8]

[Fatigue: 2 → 5]

[Vitality: 60 → 50]

[Warning! Significant bodily damage detected!]

After getting to his feet, Robert quickly ran to the adjacent house while holding his bleeding side.

He didn't stop to see all the things that had appeared on the system interface; right now, he needed to avoid his wound.

[Body Resistance – Active Skill lvl 1 → lvl 2]

[Due to the damage received, the skill 'Body Resistance' has leveled up! Now you can not only reduce fatigue by one point for each mana point consumed but also increase one HP point at the same time]

Crash!

At that moment, the remaining four wolves had broken through the window and were quickly following him, completely furious!

Robert swiftly entered another house, which was on the outskirts of the village, near the forest.

He went into the kitchen again, looking for something useful, as the two knives from before were deeply embedded in the eye sockets of the beast's skull, stuck firmly.

Although his strength had increased significantly, it was not enough to kill the wolf in the first encounter. However, it was enough to put it out of action for a few moments.

Now, however, he had to face four furious beasts attacking together!

Earlier, he had a bit of a chance as only one lunged at him alone, but now he had a pack of giant wolves that wouldn't be as careless as the first.

What the hell could he do at this moment?

Without thinking, he turned on the gas valve and lit the stove, all while grabbing another knife and heading up to the second floor of the house.

As he did this, he quickly read the system message and, without delay, consumed 4 mana points with a thought.

[Body Resistance – Activated]

[MP: 10 → 6]

[HP: 8 → 10]

[Fatigue: 5 → 3]

At that moment, he felt his body relax a bit, and his breathing became a little calmer.

Crash! Boom! "Whaagh!"

At that moment, a loud explosion shook the ground floor, as if a grenade had gone off, accompanied by the painful groans of the beasts that had just entered the house.

Robert didn't stick around to check and jumped out of one of the second-floor windows into the vegetation.

The fall caused great pain in his legs, but he quickly got up and started running again, this time towards the forest.

Now that the beasts were 'trapped,' it was the perfect moment to try to escape.

He needed to lose himself in the underbrush and blend his scent with the vegetation so these animals couldn't detect his presence.

Staying in enclosed spaces was no longer a feasible plan, as these wolves were true violent machines with immense strength.

However, it seemed that fleeing again was not going to work as before.

"Grrrrrr"

Upon reaching a clearing, the wolf he had attacked first was standing in front of him, its single eye glaring furiously at him!

The two knives were no longer embedded, just a large bloodstain where its other eye should have been.

"Damn… Why is it here?" Robert muttered ironically to the beast, which seemed to have learned not to be hasty.

But nothing mattered anymore, because with a quick movement, the beast lunged at our protagonist, embedding its claws in his chest and slamming him against the trunk of a large tree!

"GRRRRR"

"Haaaagh!"

The beast, without any hesitation, began tearing apart our protagonist's torso, causing blood and guts to fly everywhere!

[HP: 8 → 5 → 3]

[Vitality: 50 → 30 → 10]

[Warning, warning! Host's life is in danger!]

"Damn, this hurts like hell!"

Robert, feeling his body literally being torn in two, didn't stop fighting, and with his last strength, he plunged his hands into the wolf's wound to cause as much damage as possible.

'If I'm going to die… let it be giving my all!... I don't want that old man to start bothering me when I see him again!'

Our protagonist's mind began to fade, not paying attention to what appeared on the system interface, feeling bitter about not being able to do something significant in this life.

Ding, ding, ding

[Host's life is at its last breath, permission granted to use the passive skill 'Vitality Absorption']

At that moment, the sound of a mechanical voice echoed in Robert's mind, making his consciousness wake up for a second.

Since his system appeared, only written data had shown on the interface, without producing any sound except for the alarm chime. Now, however, it provided information with a robotic voice.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Suddenly, a surge of energy seemed to arise from deep within the boy's body, shaking him completely, waking him up!

The beast, which was still tearing at his entrails, stopped moving, as if sensing something.

At that moment, Robert's eyes began to glow with a bluish light, his arms moved quickly, grabbing both sides of the beast's head, holding it tightly.

Wuagh!

In the next instant, the giant wolf began to shake violently and desperately, trying to pull away!

But no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't separate itself from the mutilated body of its prey!

Just as it was about to raise its front paws to tear into our protagonist again, the beast's body began to convulse, making it collapse heavily to the ground.

Suddenly, its body began to change horrifically!

Slowly, its movements became sluggish, while the volume of its muscles began to decrease at an alarming rate, as if it were 'deflating.'

Its fur, which had been tough and resilient, started losing its characteristic shine, turning into a sort of wrinkled hide.

All its energy, all its vitality was being absorbed!

[Passive skill 'Vitality Absorption' is active, starting to absorb the vitality of the selected source]

[Vitality: 0.01 → 01 → 05 → 10]

Suddenly, the amount of vitality shown on the interface began to increase, all while our protagonist's body started to heal at an incredible speed.

[HP: 0.01 → 3 → 8]

Little by little, as Robert's entire body was recovering, the beast stopped moving, and its body began to turn into a pile of mummified remains!

"Damn… this really was a hell of a mess."

After he fully recovered, he slowly stood up, looking at the beast's body.

He touched his abdomen, which was completely intact, with no trace of having been torn apart just moments ago!

[Congratulations! You have activated the passive skill 'Vitality Absorption' to restore the lethal damage received]

HP: 20 (20) MP: 20 (20)

Strength: 18 (10) Agility: 13 (13) Vitality: 200 (200)

Intelligence: 11 (11) Perception: 11 (11) Fatigue: 0 (0)

[New passive skill acquired: Unbreakable Spirit lvl 1. Due to your resistance to death, whenever your HP is below 30%, all damage received is reduced by 50%]

"Well… this turned out to be quite a surprise," Robert said with a small whistle as he looked at his new stats.

Both his HP, his MP, and his vitality had doubled!

And, as if that wasn't enough, he had acquired a new passive skill!

This was, in terms of a video game, a huge plus!

Wuuu!

Ahuuu!

By the time the other four animals arrived, the beast that had attacked our protagonist had already passed on.

Grrr

The remaining beasts didn't immediately lunge at him; instead, they circled him slowly, growling as if being cautious.

And rightly so, because despite being mere animals, seeing one of their own reduced to nothing more than a mummified body triggered their instincts, telling them something was wrong, very wrong.

Robert, who had been absorbed in his gains, looked warily at the newly arrived animals.

"Very smart, huh?" Robert crouched and slowly picked up the knives he had dropped when the beast attacked him. "They're not attacking because they don't know what happened to their friend."

Adopting a fighting stance, he took both knives and crossed his arms, waiting for their attack.

"Come on, stupid beasts, give me what you've got!" he bellowed loudly, trying to provoke them.

GRRRRR

Wuuu!

The beasts, which had been holding their positions, trying to assess the danger, seemed offended by what the human had said, and quickly lunged at him!

'Damn… now I have to go through this again,' Robert lamented sarcastically, knowing his body would be torn apart once more.

However, now he knew he could survive!