Achievement! Revenge Tastes Better Raw

  Some would call this monstrous, but since you are a monster, it’s just the circle of life.

  Minor bonus to all stats!

  Taste-wise, I can’t say that human was all that different from anything else I’ve eaten. It wasn’t as fatty as the Felsnare Grazer, not as swampy as the frogs, not as stringy as the martins, and not as grassy as the Leaf Crawlers. It was… well, it was just meat.

  Honestly, I felt a little bad for being so hesitant about this before. I wasted so much perfectly good food! I hope other monsters will find some of the humans I’ve killed so they don’t go to waste.

  Lily seemed to be enjoying her meal as well. She managed to get the armor and clothing out of the way and was digging into his stomach. I was currently enjoying his thighs.

  Come to think of it, if I had a favorite meal, it was definitely Direwing legs. Anything that had nice meaty legs tended to be the best, in my opinion, although digging into stomachs got a much more interesting variety of flavors. I have to admit I felt just a little like I was missing out, but I left Lily alone; she was enjoying it too much for me to stop her.

  …What?

  Hey, don’t judge me! You read the achievement, didn’t you? It’s just the circle of life! Right?

  So what if I have human memories? It’s not like I was ever really that girl. I was born as a Hell Hound, and I just so happen to have some memories from her life. And frankly, the idea that I was ever human is becoming less and less sure in my mind.

  No, I’m a Hell Hound. Not a human. And being a Hell Hound is way better anyway.

  Hell Hounds don’t kill for the sake of sport. They don’t kidnap their victims and make them suffer. They don’t destroy just for the sake of destroying.

  So who’s the real monster here?

  Grick sat back while we feasted, playing with the strap on that mask that he loved so much, getting it back to the appropriate size. When he was done, he slipped his arms through the makeshift harness and gave a few testing steps. Maybe if he ever evolved, it would fit him a little better. Goblins were monsters, right?

  Thinking of it now, he claimed he had leveled up from our last kill. Sure, he was involved in the fight, but he in no way got the kill himself. He was down the cliff when we finished the human off.

  My eyes narrowed as I watched him, something occurring to me.

  Could Pack Bond be responsible? And if that were the case, wouldn’t he get all of the effects?

  I made a mental command to check Grick’s stats and was shocked that something actually came up.

  Name: Grick

  Race: Goblin

  Level: 6

  Path: Cave Dweller

  Stage: 1

  Body Development: 50%

  Vitals

  Health: 45 / 50

  Mana: 25 / 25

  Stamina: 40 / 60

  Attributes

  Strength: 11

  Dexterity: 15

  Vigor: 10

  Attunement: 5

  Guile: 18

  Active Skills

  Clean Cast lvl 2

  Cast your fishing line more precisely where you want it to land!

  Passive Skills

  Mining poise lvl2

  Traits

  Good memory lvl 2

  You don’t forget things easily.

  Danger Sense lvl 3

  You have an innate understanding of when it is best to just turn tail and flee.

  Wow! It actually worked! I took a moment to analyze Grick’s stats and found him to be… well, I suppose as pathetic as I would have guessed. He likely gained multiple levels from that last kill. He may have been only level 3 beforehand.

  And he was only stage 1? Then wouldn’t this make him in his baby form? I mean, he didn’t act childish… I mean, not in an actual child sort of way, anyway.

  Maybe goblins just evolve very slowly? I wondered how old he was.

  I supposed it made sense. If everything could evolve at the rate we Hell Hounds were able to, then there wouldn’t be so many unimpressive monsters in the cave and forest. I knew Lily was due for her next evolution as well.

  I saw very basic evolutions of toads, martins, and mouse things, but they were not varied to the degree of the different Paths I’ve walked.

  I couldn’t imagine any of them becoming anything like my father… But what about Genzo? He said he had started as a tadpole, but perhaps he was a special case. He was from another world just as I was, after all.

  In any case, after a brief rest (which we were also getting a regeneration bonus from Grick now) it was time to check our vitals and figure out where to find the last of these humans.

  Vitals - ???

  Health: 420 / 480

  Mana: 150 / 615

  Stamina: 197 / 436

  Vitals - Lily

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Health: 230 / 230

  Mana: 160 / 330

  Stamina: 154 / 280

  At least 150 mana for each of us. Nice, that would be enough, especially if Soul Rend works as well as I was hoping it would.

  I took a good sniff of the human we had eaten, familiarizing myself with his scent, hoping it would help us track down the rest of them.

  Lily seemed to understand my intentions, as once Grick took his place on her back, she started snuffling along the ground right beside me as we started working our way down the path and into the forest.

  I wondered if she knew about the quest as well? I supposed she did, even if it wasn’t through system screens, she probably understood once we killed them we would be rewarded. It explained why she followed me back into the caves without question and was now trying to track more humans right alongside me.

  I felt like I was picking up a scent, and Lily moved ahead a little faster, very clearly being onto a trail. I’ve always felt that I was making a mistake by not relying on my nose more often. She didn’t have any particular smelling skills beyond my own, but she was much more talented at it, despite me having a high Sense stat. I suppose there was a level of skill involved in things the System didn’t directly contribute to as well. Maybe the problem was I had a more active mind and got distracted too easily and therefore lost the trail more easily. Damn puppy ADHD!

  Lily occasionally got off track, then doubled back and corrected herself, and I eventually decided it was more efficient to just follow her.

  Once we were down in the trees, I used {Pulse Sense}.

  The forest around us instantly lit up with pulsing heartbeats. I sure missed being able to do this, but I was probably going to miss using magic just as much. I hoped for a Path one day that would allow me to use both.

  I took my time analyzing the various heartbeats. Most were small, though I did pick up one somewhat larger one. I wondered if it was a Felsnare Grazer. They were so hard to defeat before, but I imagined they would be an easy kill for me now.

  It hadn’t actually been very long since I was all alone in this forest, but it already felt like a lifetime ago. A lifetime ago, when I had wondered if I would ever see any of my family again, and the red masks felt untouchable. Yet now here Lily was, hunting alongside me—hunting red masks. I could only hope in the near future I’d have the same feeling about the rest of my family. That we would all be together again and this nightmare of us being separated would be just that—a bad dream.

  But I knew my pack could never truly be whole again. No matter how strong I became or how hard I searched, Dad would never be with us again.

  Soon Lily suddenly stopped and pointed her nose forward as she peered through the darkness. I followed her gaze, and far through the trees I saw a very soft flicker of yellow.

  I used {Pulse Sense} and instantly spotted four heartbeats that were undoubtedly human. Only one was standing, but the rest were lazing about on the ground. As I focused and perked my ears to listen, I heard the subtle murmur of conversation.

  Grick quietly asked, “Puppies find nasty humans?” I gave him an affirmative huff, and he slid off of Lily’s back and then went to hide somewhere. It seemed even Grick understood our purpose here. I wondered if he also had access to the quest, but I didn’t think so. I think he didn’t become recognized as a pack member until this last fight, after all. Yet, I suspected he wouldn’t be far behind. Twice now he came in to join the fight when he saw an opportune moment or knew we were in critical danger, and that meant he must be planning to stay on the outskirts of the battle unless he was needed.

  Lily and I prowled forward, the murmuring becoming clearer and clearer to our ears. The red masks seemed to be having a good time as they babbled about this and that, not at all focused on their hunt and completely oblivious that they were the only survivors of their hunting party at this point.

  “...so then I said, if the thing’s already limping, why are we even chasing it?” one of the red masks laughed. “Let it crawl off and die on its own.”

  Another chuckled as he tossed back a drink. “Oh, and Tamok, he was boasting for weeks of the level 20 he killed.”

  “Weeks? He still does it.”

  More chuckles.

  “A level 20 Puffstork is like a level 7 Drake Wolf Pup. Now, an evolved Drake Wolf—that is a worthy hunt.”

  “Speaking of which,” another chimed in, stretching and rolling his shoulders, “I still can’t believe we’re stuck crawling around a low-level hunting ground like this. Valrok sending us out here like we’re greenhorns.”

  “Aye, at least there will be a party.”

  “Embarrassing!” Another scoffed. “Yes, honor the brave warriors who flew for days to capture mere pups. I almost don’t want to wear my mask to the celebration!”

  “Aye, it is more for that bitch daughter of his, to convince us she was worth all the effort. It’s obvious.”

  More chuckles then, and the next words perked my ears.

  “Supposedly that one has wings. Elva plans to make it a mount.”

  “A bitch on a bitch, then,” laughed another.

  I narrowed my eyes. This Elva person again… Geirna had said something about her inheriting one of us. So… it was Iris whom she’d taken. I fully planned to rectify that one day, though knowing Iris, she wasn’t making it easy for anyone.

  “You know what I say? Once these pups are caught, let’s head to the other side of the lake and have a real hunt before returning to the Bloody Peaks!”

  They all cheered to that and continued to drink and gossip with each other. They sounded more like a sewing circle than a pack of proud hunters, if you asked me. Still, I didn’t love the idea of four versus two, even with the element of surprise. While we had regained some mana from eating Rakul, we were not exactly unlimited in the skills we could activate, especially not Lily. My new Soul Rend skill might give me some longevity in the fight, but I didn’t want the test run to be under such odds. Especially that one standing against the tree, mask sitting by his feet and quietly drinking to himself. He looked strong. He was bulky, had black hair tied back in a ponytail, and had enough scars on his face and arms to show he was undoubtedly a seasoned hunter.

  Luckily, it wasn’t long before I had my chance. One of the ones lying around the fire tossed back the rest of his drink and abruptly stood. “I gotta piss,” he declared and sauntered off into the woods while the two others laying by the fire continued to be a couple of chatty Kathys.

  I nodded to Lily, and she followed as we prowled through the shadows and stalked our prey.

  I went ahead and used {Death Mark}, and instantly a red aura formed over his body. It was quite different than Pulse Sense, but just like with Pulse Sense, I could even see it through trees or anything else that broke my direct line of sight from him. If the description of the skill could be trusted, it also implied that there would be much greater distance and time that it would maintain its effect.

  Actually, it wasn't just an aura. In my mind’s eye, I could see everything he was doing.

  I could see how the man glanced around worriedly, the way his posture shifted slightly. He tucked into his shoulders and rubbed his hands together. That must have been the fear effect.

  “Almighty forsake this damn place,” he muttered to himself as he found a bush he was apparently happy with then reached down to his groin to relieve himself.

  Lily and I separated enough so that we could come at him from both sides, silently coming through the shadows. The plan would be to kill this one quickly and then disappear into the night once again, then work on picking the rest off one at a time.

  I’m glad they were so cocky about their strength coming into these woods. They didn’t even have their Direwings nearby for a quick retreat, and come to think of it, Rakul had tried to let off a warning whistle that they were probably not wise enough to be listening out for. I bet they never imagined anything could go wrong for them on this little hunting trip of theirs.

  I heard the trickle of the man urinating and tried my best not to watch with my mind's eye through Death Mark.

  “Scaly Bastard Below,” he muttered. “Need to see a healer about the stinging.”

  Okay! Too much information there, buddy!

  Anyway, it was time to strike. His allies were still in earshot, so I hoped to make this as quick and silent as possible. I probably couldn’t stop him from at least getting some kind of sound out, but the less coherent it was, the more confused they would be about what happened and the more time me and Lily would have to plan our next attack.

  I led the charge, bolting right at him and leaping at the last moment.

  He heard just enough of our rustling paws to let out an alarmed gasp, but then I was sinking my fangs into his neck.

  “GYAAAAAH!” he sputtered just as I shook, twisted, and ripped. His pathetic attempt at a retreat was even more hampered as Lily took his leg, leaving him with nothing to do but fall with me as I chomped down, right in the front of his throat. “Ove-hhhhhggggg—” It was quite a pathetic cry for help, but I was careful not to kill him with that bite. I wasn’t done with him yet.

  He continued to try to scream and push me away, but he was so weak, and his voice only gurgled. I stared down at him as I kept him pinned. My blue eyes glowing in the darkness would be the last thing he would ever see.

  I lifted my paw.

  {Soul Rend}.

  As I slashed down, a trail of blue smoke followed my claws—it wasn’t like elemental mana. No, nothing like that at all. It actually consumed my paw, making it slightly translucent as well, and as my claw reached his chest armor, my paw actually went right into him, as if my paw were not material at all.

  I raked my ghostly claw through his heart and lifted it out again, leaving not a single scratch on his armor, but he instantly fell still. I stared at my paw as the translucent quality slowly turned normal again, and the blue smoke retracted into the black nails as if being sucked in by a vacuum until it was gone.

  Prey Eliminated - Lvl 11 Homo Sapien - Bloody Peaks Tribe

  Experience Gained!

  Essence Extracted!

  48 health restored

  32 mana restored

  67 Stamina restored

  +3 to all attributes

  I huffed in discontentment.

  That’s all I got from you? Must be because you’re so weak.

  It would have been massive if it were a permanent bonus, but the skill description was very clear that those attributes would only be temporary. I suppose getting permanent attribute gains so easily would be a bit overpowered.

  But, that wasn’t the only benefit of my new Path. I looked back towards their campsite. Apex Ambush had already taken effect and placed a new Death Mark on one of the last three remaining red masks.

  It was one of the ones lying by the fire, but now he was up on his elbow, looking in our direction.

  Their chatting had stopped, but through Death Mark, I could see his mouth moving. It seemed he was talking in a hushed, alarmed tone.

  I grabbed the one we had just killed by the leg and dragged him into the undergrowth to hide his body, then me and Lily prowled back towards their campsite. The whole time I watched my next victim, his every move was very clear to my mind’s eye through the Death Mark.

  Don’t worry. You’ll be joining your friend soon.