Slice.
*Ding!*
[You have killed a level 4 Grizzly Hog]
[You have leveled up]
[Level: 5]
[XP: 1800/5000]
[Quest Objectives]
[Kill 10 Gate Wolves: 10/10]
[Kill 10 Grizzly Hogs: 10/10]
[Kill 10 Razorfauns: 10/10]
[Kill 10 Fang Rats: 10/10]
*Ding!*
[Quest Complete! Collect Rewards?]
[Yes] / [No]
Finishing off the last monster in front of my with my Mana Imbued hand in a claw shape, I finally finish my quest, a little over a day of non-stop hunting having passed.
Clicking the holographic [No] for now, I decide to wait to receive the random stat points until I've finished building my physical stats' foundation.
I slump down against a tree in the forested area surrounding me, eating a hot meal and activating [Meditate] while staying aware of my surroundings.
Having experimented a lot with [Gamer's Constitution] in the past day of hunting, I've found more optimal combat strategies that would normally be considered to fall under the phrase 'An arm for a life', but in my case, I'm not really losing an arm, I just lose some HP, which can be easily recovered after battle.
Taking advantage of my constitution, I've been able to make fairly quick work of the enemies I've faced, and I've noticed my [Gamer's Cognition] has allowed my brain to adjust to the pain and push through it more and more quickly.
Interestingly, when I lose HP I do bleed, but I don't face any symptoms of blood loss or anything like that, making my battles have a gruesome look to them sometimes, as I can ignore a few hits if it means reaping the enemy's life.
Thud. Snap.
The sound of a heavy foot landing and a twig snapping pull me out of my thoughts, alerting my attention to potential danger.
I quickly hide behind a tree and take a peak in the direction the noise came from.
Towering at a massive 4 meters in height, a monster that looks like a mix of a grizzly bear and a gorilla marches through the forest, a desperate, manic glint in it's eyes.
'That thing is strong.'
I stiffen. That's not a monster I can treat like I've treated the others, that's a threat to my life.
I recognize this easily, my instincts flaring up and telling me to retreat to safety, but my pumping blood and wild, animalistic grin tell of the different plans I have.
Using my signature starter, I cast 3 [Fireballs] in quick succession, sprinting out from my hiding spot towards the monster, not planning to give it any time to react to the fireballs.
My plans, however, are quickly thwarted, as the monster notices my attack before it hits.
The monster swats the first fireball away with it's bulky hand, the other two managing to hit it square in the chest, but barely leave a mark.
'Heh.' I grin. 'This is going to be fun!'
Closing the distance, I lower my center of gravity and swing my dagger towards it's ankles, aiming to lower it's head so I can strike it's eyes, passing between it's legs as I do.
Clang!
A sound like metal striking metal resounds, and a glance tells me that my strike barely nicked the creature's tough hide.
The monster quickly turns around and throws a weighty punch towards me.
I attempt to dodge under it, but the creature's swing is simply too fast for my body to react to, it's striking hitting me square in the chest and sending me flying backwards, hurling me into a tree.
While the air should have been knocked out of my lungs, [Gamer's Constitution] prevents that, and I simply lose a chunk of my HP.
The monster looks at me as I quickly stand myself back up, and a grin plasters itself across it's face.
'Cocky bastard. We'll see how long you can keep that grin for.' I mock inwardly.
Sprinting back towards the monster, I put my dagger in my inventory, jump into the air, and prepare a punch towards it's face.
The monster lets out it's own animalistic version of a chuckle at my seemingly stupid decision, before opening it's mouth to bite off my extended arm.
Letting the monster bite down on my arm, I quickly use [Mana Imbuement] on my other arm and my legs, wrapping myself around the creature's head, before letting out a blood curdling scream at the pain of it's bite.
"AARGH!"
Huffing, and keeping myself firmly attached to the creature, I begin to laugh, a wild, feral, animalistic laugh I didn't know I was capable of releasing.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!! I've got you now, fucker!"
I spit out, spamming [Fireball] from my hand that's currently down the creature's throat.
It's eyes widen at the realization that it was unable to sever my arm, and it begins to thrash in pain as my spell rips apart the creature's insides.
The creature throws it's fists towards me to get me off, but I tank the hits and keep firing my spell relentlessly.
In an incredibly dangerous race on time, I watch my HP and mana continue to go down as I relentlessly cause explosion after explosion inside the creature's body.
Pulling my dagger out of my inventory with my mouth, I cast [Mana Imbuement] on the blade and use my head to thrust the dagger into the creature's eye, it's mind unable to react to my attack due to the pain and fire wreaking havoc on it's internals.
The dagger cleanly pierces through the creature's eye and into it's brain, causing a final couple spasms before it's body goes limp, falling backwards and signaling it's demise.
"Huff... huff..."
Panting for air, not due to a lack of oxygen, but simply due to the mental strain that fight caused me, I pull my arm out of the creature's maw and let my body untense, falling off the creature's body onto my back.
My mind, a little hazy from the pain wracking my entire body, remains active enough to pull a meal out of my inventory, my body quickly reacting and gorging itself on the much-need nutrients while I space out a little, wondering when I'm going to hear the kill notification.
Right as I notice my HP start to refill little by little, I finally hear it, and the holographic text I see alongside it startles me.
*Ding!*
[You have killed a level 10 Boss Monster, Grizzly Gorilla]
[You have leveled up]
[You have cleared a C-Tier Gate]