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Opposition
I awoke to the sounds of heavy growling. Thick, malevolent roars and the rapid pounding of feet against the surface of the earth.
Before night fell, I’d spent hours molding the rocks within my care into sharp dagger-like stalagmites and creating an area of pointy rocks around my Domain like a cage. The sticks, leaves, twines and vines I collected made for a roof, crafted by layering together the leaves and standing the sticks, it was something that was designed to help me against rain.
It would not help me against my invaders.
Silva Wolf Pack
Level ?
The serpent attacking me was merely a run of bad luck. The ant attacking me when I was a worm was merely a chance occurrence. However, the sight of six, seven – nine wolves gathered around the Creek was most certainly not.
Each and every one of them was at least ten times my size. Even if I were to have been a fully grown adult male, the wolves would still be large, with the smallest amongst them reaching over five feet in height.
The nine wolves circled the creek. There was no ‘Alpha’ wolf for that was mere human conjecture that had been disproven time and again. Regardless of the lack of a clear Alpha, the wolves still seemed to possess one amongst their nine that was larger and more ferocious than the rest. Scars littered its form, and its unerring gaze fixed upon my rock.
This is ridiculous, I thought to myself. A wolf pack, a pack of wolves, gathering, to hunt a lowly lizard. Why? For what purpose? Clearly it was not to eat me for I was less than an entrée in relative size to the creatures. Yet, they surrounded the edges of the creek, one after the other, snarling.
OBLIVION!
What else could it be? Who else, but the being whose idea of fulfilling my desires included turning me into a worm? No doubt, he set motions into event once more in order to spite me, to teach me “humility.”
The wolves did not seem inclined to move or to attack, yet, they watched me, warily. I took this as a chance to prepare a plan that would not kill me. Perhaps I possessed something in my titles –
My titles –
It seemed I only ever reviewed the information of my titles when I was in mortal danger. One of these days, I knew that it come back to punish me.
Title: [Jonah]
Details: A rare title. Can survive within the stomach of any living being without being digested. Staying for three days within the stomach of any living being grants +30% Damage Dealt to all beings of that type in the future. Staying for three weeks grants +60% Damage Dealt and +30% Damage Reduction. Staying for three months grants +90% Damage Dealt and +90% Damage Reduction.
I had no intention of staying within the stomach of any of the wolves if I could avoid it. This led me to checking the next title.
Title: [Parasite]
Details: An uncommon title. Constantly absorb 10% of a host’s health and magic and have it added to yours. Lingering on the host increases the percentage absorbed by 0.5% every twenty-four hours, for a total maximum of 99%.
No. This was not it either – there would be no opportunity to ‘linger’ on any of the wolves. I moved on.
Title: [David]
Details: An epic title. For every ten levels your opponent has greater than yours, you are granted +50% Damage Dealt, +25% Damage Reduction, and +20 Attack against your opponent. This effect is doubled for opponents more than twice your size. This effect stacks for multiple enemies. However, facing an enemy ten levels below you or more deducts –90% Experience Gain and –25% Damage Dealt.
I read the details of the title again and again, and I found myself wondering if this was why my attacks on the rabbits always seemed to kill them so effortlessly. I wondered, if this was to be my saving grace. Extra damage, reduction in damage, and it worked even well against multiple opponents?
David indeed. The biblical allegory did not slip my notice. The shepherd boy who felled a giant with but a stone. Was I to take it then, that these wolves were my own personal Goliath?
One of the wolves answered with a reverberating howl. It was deafening from my perspective, as it wound up on its hind legs and sent its body to the air, the declaration of the start of the hunt being proudly conveyed to the rest of its species.
The howl was the battle-cry and the army’s trumpet. Nine wolves charged straight into the creek, splashing water into the air from their collective assault. Ripples raced across the water’s surface as did waves follow. The calm reflection of the moon distorted in lieu of charging wet canine.
I knew I should be worried. I knew I should be bothered by the attack. I knew, that the wolves would swim and reach my rock within the center of the creek in very little time. However –
They were slow in the water. Painfully slow. On land the wolves would have been a nightmare to face, yet, they all charged straight into a creek, knowing full well about the fact that their movements in water was restricted? I could stride across the water faster than they could swim.
[Earth Control] burned to life as I picked up one of the small pebbles I had left over from my scavenging. I molded it into the shape of a needle, and with literal [Herculean Strength], slapped it in the direction of one of the Silva Wolves with my tail.
The title [David] has come into effect.
The makeshift spear struck the wolf’s left ear, tearing a portion of flesh and tinting the water red. It howled, snarled, its attempts at swimming immediately becoming frantic.
I picked up another pebble, keeping an eye on my MP as I molded it into a spear, and this time spat out a glob of poison with [Strong Venom Secretion] unto the weapon. I hoisted it into the air with ease aimed, and fired.
I missed. The poisoned spear of rock sailed past my target. It wasn’t easy firing these things with my tail, [Herculean Strength] or no.
MP: 13.5/20
Water splashed against the rock as the wolves converged, closer than ever. I decided that firing rocks at them was not feasible with my aim, and leapt straight onto the water’s surface. [Water Striding] blurred to life along [Cheetah’s Sprint] and my first target appeared before me in seconds.
Why?
It was pitiful, watching the wolf attempt to bite me while in the water. The depth of the creek was about eight or nine feet, and half of its energy was focused on swimming and trying to stay afloat. A wiser strategy would have been to simply wait for me on land than try to converge on me via the water.
I was beginning to doubt if this was Oblivion’s work. Surely, the being was oblivious, but certainly not to this extent?
The wolf in front of me opened its mouth again, and I released a glob of poison from my own straight into it. [Strong Venom Secretion] did its work, effortlessly, and I possessed no doubt that my [David] title also contributed to the damages. The wolf sputtered, coughed and hacked in the water. Its eyes burned a brilliant red as it panicked frantically in the water. Blood poured deeply from its nostrils and eyes as it thrashed and splashed, desperate, confused – hurting.
I landed the back of its neck and took one, [Excruciating Toxic Bite].
The wolf went still in the water.
[Silva Wolf x1 Killed]
[15400 Experience Points Gained]
You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
[You have defeated an intruder within your Domain]
[You have defeated an intruder above your level in your Domain]
[Your Domain’s Level has risen]
[Your Domain’s Level has risen]
[Your Domain’s Level has risen]
[Your Domain’s Level has risen]
[Your Domain’s reach has expanded]
[Your Domain has evolved!]
This was... too easy.
Nonsensically easy. This was a wolf, a proud, ferocious creature that took down opponents with coordinated tactics and possessed an impeccable survival sense. Charging headlong into a creek to face an unknown enemy was not something it should do. Not something that any animal living in the wild should do. I was not even something worth dying for.
The other eight wolves mourned the death of one of their members by letting out group howls, as they collectively swam to my location.
This does not make any sense.
The title [Genocidal] has come into effect for the Species: [Silva Wolf].
This again?
There was no time to pay heed to the details of the title. One of the wolves to my left charged at me, drool and water slipping through sharp fangs as it attempted to bite down on my nimble form. I did not bother trying to dodge or run or evade this time around, instead, I focused on my [Herculean Strength] and a skill I had never used before, [Steel Exoskeleton].
The canine’s jaws came down upon me –
The sound of shattering bone resounded through my body as teeth imitated glass.
Blood rapidly filled the creature’s mouth as it attempted to cry out in pain, and I shot another dose of poison directly into its mouth. Unlike with its predecessor that thrashed around upon swallowing the poison, this one merely went still as its eyes became vacant.
[Silva Wolf x1 Killed]
[15400 Experience Points Gained]
You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
[You have defeated an intruder within your Domain]
[You have defeated an intruder above your level in your Domain]
[Your Domain’s Level has risen]
[Your Domain’s Level has risen]
[Your Domain’s Level has risen]
[Your Domain’s Level has risen]
The experience I gained from slaying the wolves was unbelievable. I had progressed from being a Level 1 creature to a Level 8 merely from taking down two of them.
Seven more to go.
The wolves stopped attempting to charge at me. Somehow, there was a renewed spark of intelligence in their eyes. The two corpses floating in the creek, and the tiny lizard, I, standing upon one of them, seemed to have made them re-evaluate their decision to attack.
They were retreating.
Swimming as quickly as they could away from the water and trying to return to land, the remaining seven wolves paddled in entirely different directions. The option to let them go was not even an option. I was not going to take the chance that the wolves would let bygones be bygones after I killed two of their kind – I was not going to take the risk that they might not become even worse enemies in the future.
They made the erroneous decision to attack me. They had to understand that there would be consequences.
I raced across the surface of the water more akin to a shark detecting blood than a lizard. The wolf was a defenseless lamb as it retreated; its neck exposed and it possessed no way to turn around or cover it. I landed, sinking my teeth deep into the neck, feeling my fangs pierce through skin dipping into bone. The paralysis was effective immediately, and I jumped back onto the water’s surface, sliding as though I was a skier being dragged by a speedboat. Another wolf, another prey, another animal defenseless in the water, weak to my teeth. This one was even easier, it felt as though I was biting into foam, into a soft, spongey cake than a flesh and blood animal.
I raced again, feeling my small heart pumping blood faster and faster. I would cackle in glee were I capable.
[Silva Wolf x2 Killed]
[25200 Experience Points Gained]
You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
[You have attained the Maximum Level (10) for your current species]
[You have unlocked the suitable conditions for evolution.]
[It is not advisable to evolve in the midst of battle]
Fools! Yes – yes they were fools indeed. Their attempts to kill me would only literally go on to make me stronger. For every wolf I fell, I garnered experience for myself, experience for my domain, and upon my next evolution, the skills and abilities of the wolves would become mine for the taking. I would have all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses, I would move on and progress and evolve – and there would be nothing, nothing that would stand between myself and my goal of walking amongst the world with my own two legs –
[Sixth Sense – Danger Warning!]
The forest attained sudden brightness.
A spherical ball of fire descended upon me from the heavens like a meteorite of extinction. My entire body screamed for salvation from the fire, as the overwhelming heat loomed like the sun plummeting onto the earth.
I dove into the water, and the heat pursued. The water sizzled and I found myself in a makeshift pot, as an improvised ingredient.
[Skill {Lesser Pain Resistance} has gained a Level.]
[Skill {Lesser Pain Resistance} has gained a Level.]
[Skill {Lesser Pain Resistance} has gained a Level.]
[Warning!]
You have attained the Negative Effect: [Severe Burning]
You will lose [10] HP Every Minute until [Severe Burning] is mitigated.
HP: 51/150
I swam, emerging out of the water and unto my familiar rock, rolling and letting out tiny screams that came out as haunted hisses in order to stop the burning sensation.
[Sixth Sense – Danger Warning!]
Another one? No – no –no –
It was smaller than the previous one. Rather than being the size of a shopping cart, it was the size of an over-fluffed pillow. I was the size of an infant’s palm, and as such, the ball of fire was not any less intimidating.
The water was boiling, and my options were to either jump in or to face the wrath of the fire.
No. There was always a third option. Always.
I slammed my claws into the rock, and burrowed deep within. [Earth Control] granted me that ability, the ability to burrow through rock as though it were earth, a tribute from my days as a worm.
I burrowed myself, deep, and deeper still, the tail ends of the flaming ball sending waves of heat down and across the rock. The heat was sweltering, but survivable, unlike the water of the creek that was boiling and hissing.
What exactly was the temperature required for fire to flash boil water? To immediately boil an entire creek? How hot were those flames?
The rock shook as another ball of fire crashed into it. The heat continued to rise as I hid, I hid, and decided to wait out the passing fusillade.
The barrage continued for at three minutes. I could do nothing but hunker down within the rock, my HP dropping from 51/150 to 21/150. Even as portions of the rock began to glow red, as merely touching anything sent agonizing scalds of heat down my body, I hunkered down and waited.
I waited, I breathed, and I wracked my brain for answers.
Things had appeared easy from the start – too easy, and I knew, I felt it, that something was wrong. Yet – yet – I let myself get carried away after a small taste of victory. Watching the wolves retreat, I chose to hunt them down instead of retreating as well and calling it a night.
And the wolves – were the wolves all an elaborate plan? A trick? Were they used as a distraction in order to get me overconfident? Used, as a sacrifice in order to deliver the bombardment? Why? For what reason? If one could fling fireballs, you did not need wolves –
Another fireball crashed against the rock and it began chipping away.
No –
This was irritating. Irritating – for I had fallen prey to overconfidence, I had idiotically allowed myself to believe that circumstances were becoming more favorable. Now, unless I did something, I would die, hiding within a rock, whilst an unknown assailant rained fireballs upon me.
[You have attained the skill: {Lesser Fire Resistance} from enduring significant temperatures.]
[Skill {Lesser Fire Resistance} has gained a Level.]
The sensation of the hot rocks cooled, minutely, and it enabled me to think. Think. I could not assume that my enemy was limited in the amount of fire they could rain down upon me. If, perchance, they were not, then waiting out the bombardment would be a pointless endeavor. I needed to return fire – however I could manage.
Failing that, I needed to stop the enemy from firing, or get out of the range of their attacks.
[Warning!]
You have the Negative Effect: [Severe Burning]
You will lose [10] HP Every Minute until [Severe Burning] is mitigated.
HP: 11/150
My entire body was blistering with burns. Healing myself with [Basic Molting] would buy me some extra time, but it would not be enough until I escaped this situation. But how?
My [David] title would have helped me against the opponent, and my [Jonah] title would be useful, allowing me to enter into a creature’s stomach to escape, but my major issue was the fire. I needed a way to avoid the fire and to escape the creek without touching the sizzling water. The cooldown for [Insectoid Metamorphosis] and [Diapause] were not over, leaving me with no skills capable of escaping this situation.
Another minute passed. The barrage continued.
[Warning!]
You have the Negative Effect: [Severe Burning]
You will lose [10] HP Every Minute until [Severe Burning] is mitigated.
HP: 1/150
I could felt myself get weaker. The world around me began to fade to black, and I frantically used [Basic Molting].
My skin shed, the burns and damages slowly slipping away behind the old, and replaced with one that was new and unblemished.
HP: 75/150
The Negative Effect: [Severe Burning] has been mitigated by [Basic Molting].
You have attained the Negative Effect: [Minor Burning]
You will lose [3] HP Every Minute until [Minor Burning] is mitigated.
[Skill {Lesser Fire Resistance} has gained a Level.]
Buying myself some extra minutes of time also bought me some moments to think and recollect. I thought about my mistakes. Thought about the moment in which things went wrong. Attacking the retreating wolves felt right. Felt instinctive. They were prey and I was predator, yet, there had lain in me the desire to kill and destroy all of them. I possessed a title that called me [Genocidal] due to my destruction of the anthill, but... was it truly something that could affect me?
Title: [Genocidal]
Details: An epic title. Fighting against opponents of the same species of an enemy you have previously killed grants you +10% Attack, +10% Defense, +10% Damage Dealt and +10% Damage Reduction. For every opponent you slay that is of the same species of an enemy you have killed before, you gain a permanent +25 Points to allocate to either your HP, MP or Regen. Fighting and not killing an opponent of a species you have killed before deducts –50 HP Permanently. This effect stacks upon each consecutive kill for each species.
Species Kill Count:
[Common Rabbit] x 16 = +160% Attack, +160% Defense, +160% Damage Dealt, +160% Damage Reduction against [Common Rabbits]. You Gain: 425 Points on Next Kill.
[Silva Wolf] x 4 = +40% Attack, +40% Defense, +40% Damage Dealt, +40% Damage Reduction against [Silva Wolves]. You Gain: 125 Points on Next Kill.
Available Points: 3,650
For the first time since my reincarnation into this world, I found myself silent. Ramifications ran through my mind, each one less pleasant than the last. To kill a species of living creatures and become better at killing species of living creatures –
If I kill a human... does that mean –
There was no opportunity for me to think about the grander connotations. The rock shattered as it was consumed by fire, and I was engulfed by the inferno. I tried to scream and failed. My lungs were turned to ash. My blood boiled, sizzled and evaporated. My skin melted off my bones and my eyeballs exploded in their sockets.
[Warning!]
HP: 1/150
My brief life flashed before my eyes as I screamed out a single word that would bring me salvation from perdition.
[It is not advisable to evolve under critical conditions. Would you like to evolve anyway?]
[Yes]
[No]
The boiling water claimed what was left of me as I descended into its depths and the world became silent.
