Exploration

“Nyaaaaa!” “Shaaaaaa!”

“Again!?”
As I walked deeper into the woods, I was attacked repeatedly by cats and snakes. Both of those species could manipulate plants, which they used to attack me.

Having figured out their movements after repeated battles, I was able to win against them with much more ease.

“Still, I’m coming across way too many monsters. Are they using some ability to detect me?”
I soon regretted coming to the Western Ward which had completely turned into a forest and had just as many monsters as the North.

“Besides, I still haven’t seen anything stronger than cats or snakes, despite neither of them being particularly strong.”

I was visibly tired after facing continuous battles in the forest, where I should have been hidden well.

“I should find a place to hide myself, before the sun sets.”
While wandering through the forest looking for a place to sleep, I came across an open area. In contrast to the forest, it didn’t have even a blade of grass in it.

“What, is this place?”

As I advanced while thinking it curious, I eventually reached a small basin into which a waterfall flowed. I was fascinated by the mysterious scenery, but I prioritized searching for a place to sleep.

“I’d like to sleep around here if I could though.”

With that in mind, I went around the back of the waterfall and found a cave.

“Ooh! This is perfect! I could spend the night here if I covered the entrance.”

Quickly gathering some branches and leaves, I cover the entrance.
“Looks swell! I might even make this my new base from now on!”

Admiring the cave which had now become a secret-base, I started working on supper.

---

“Still, I wonder why there aren’t any monsters around here.”

The monsters which poured out at me in daytime, were nowhere to be seen now.

“Do they sleep at night?”

Truthfully told, I was expecting to fight one last battle before sleeping, but it now feels as if I lost all the tension, or all the rhythm in my body due to fatigue.

“No point worrying about it. I should take breaks whenever and wherever I’m able to.”

After setting my Kikou to detection mode in order to wake myself up at a moment’s notice, I went to sleep.

==========

Encounter

At night; as I was thirsty, I had come out to drink water from the waterfall.

“You can see the stars so well.”
Now that the city lights were gone, the light from the stars was much more visible. Since I didn’t feel like going to sleep straight away, I decided to take a walk outside.

“Fu~.”
After taking a walk and returning to my base, I found a single monster lurking in front of the waterfall basin.

“Tsk, so you finally came out huh.”
I hid in the forest while keeping my guard up, and appraised it.

———-

Race : White Tiger (Sacred Beast)

—-Skills
[Intimidation]
[Shock Wave]
[Transform]
[Adjustment]

—-Race Skills
[Kikou]
   <Colors>
      [Pure White]
      [Navy Blue]
      [Yellow]
      [Black]
[Lightning Strike]
[Terrain Transform (Pure White)]
[Cloud Walking]
[Healing]

———-

Without taking too much time to judge it was out of my league, I turned around to run away but,

Patapatapatapata!

The trees and grass suddenly started dying around me. Having lost all possible hiding spots I turned around to face the tiger.

“You got me…”
Cold sweat ran down my back.

(It has so many insane skills. Were there no monsters around here because of this guy?)

I thought while confronting the tiger, but couldn’t come up with anything to get out of this situation.
(Shit! There has to be something!)
As I wracked my brains desperately, the tiger took one step forward. Expecting something to happen, I took a stance.

I suddenly felt like I was floating. Looking down, I realized that the earth had turned into water, and had formed a pond around me.
“HAH!???”

As I paddled my feet in order to stay afloat, the ground reverted back into earth. The tiger slowly approached me, who’s lower half was buried into the ground.

Dokun! Dokun!

I could hear my heart beat loud and clear. Even as I tried directing Kikou into my arms to force myself out, the earth didn’t budge.

Looking closely, I realized that the tiger was walking on air, making its footsteps completely silent.

All sounds disappeared from the world, and only the drumming of my heart rang out loud.


Fu.

Despite my worries, the tiger simply sniffed my smell, snorted at me, then turned back and headed towards the waterfall. After walking for a bit, it turned back again and roared loudly,

MISHIMISHIMISHI, BOOOOOOOOOM!!

At that moment, a wooden pillar the size of a skyscraper protruded from the ground and blew me away. My consciousness got cut off right there.

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Hello, sorry for late upload. I tried out a new format so that no one missed out on the previous chapter (inspired by reigokai).