Crimson drenched my vision as I ceased my movements. I felt the neck of the maw I was on finish its thrashing as the weight of gravity lifelessly pulled it to the ground. Jumping off the fleshy neck, I smoothly landed on the scarlet soil.
The System's voice boomed in my ears.
[You have vanquished a Gifted Sloth, Gore Mountain of Maws]
I've calmed down since the first hunt and feel better now. I didn't completely lose myself again after the previous time.
I sank my fangs into the pile of flesh and activated [Blood Absorb].
For the past few days, I've been relentlessly hunting these Gore Mountains down. I simply repeat the method I used on the first one, and it always works like a charm.
I get sucked up.
Burst the small maw.
Ravage its insides.
The big maws go crazy, and I use [Blood absorb] on them one by one.
The flesh pile eventually dies.
The end. It's as simple as that.
After each battle, I take my reward and then climb a Bloodtree to recuperate at the top for a couple of hours. This tiny body of mine doesn't need much rest, but since I get a couple of injuries per battle, I need some time to heal. Thanks to [Blood Absorb], my injuries begin to heal faster, and my energy returns on its own. A break is necessary so I can reap the most benefits from [Blood Absorb] and perform my best in every battle.
It just became rinse and repeat with nothing interesting happening.
However, in this battle, I performed exceptionally well. The pile of meatloaf didn't even leave a scratch on me! I wasn't planning on resting this time around. I had something I wanted to check out
I felt the bloodflow cease as the System spoke up once again.
[96L/100L of blood absorbed]
Yeah, I may have terrorized the local wildlife a bit. I killed like eight or nine of these Bloodbark gourmets, meaning I was eaten by the gluttonous fellas like eight or nine times as well. It was more effective than my original plan. Unfortunately for me, I didn't have a kink for this kind of thing, so believe it or not, being eaten alive wasn't very fun.
I stood up and stretched before inching closer to the corpse. I searched for the seams where the monster parted its flesh. My eyes quickly landed on a narrow crevice among the fleshy surface. Crimson flew as I widened the opening.
There was one thing I couldn't forget.
Viscous fluids covered my claws while I searched inside the monster's gut.
'C'mon, where is it?'
After desecrating the flesh pile for a minute, my claws touched something round and pulsating. My lips pulled into a grin. I snatched onto it and yanked it out of the dead gourmet's body. A baseball-sized crimson orb sat in my palm, slightly pulsating.
It was an Essence Shard. Compared to the first one I found from the Flesh Shredder, this one was far larger. I was quite certain this meant it was a Rank 2 Fracturebeast.
I sighed and walked behind a nearby Bloodtree. I was happy to get more goodies, but...
There, a small pile of similar orbs sat. I had left them here before the battle.
My head fell in defeat.
I sat next to the orbs and dejectedly began stuffing them into my mouth. Once I ran out of space, I picked up the rest into my arms. I ended up looking like a greedy squirrel preparing its winter stash.
How else was I supposed to carry these things!
I already did this with the Essence Shard I got from the Flesh Shredder, but with my accumulating kill count, my cheeks were stuffed like a hamster's. I looked like a complete fool, but I wasn't willing to leave this stuff behind either. They were bound to have a use at some point.
I swung my packed cheeks from side to side. This wasn't important right now. There was something much more concerning.
I retraced my steps from earlier for a couple of minutes, passing between the towering pillars of crimson. Soon, I found something which had left me stunned earlier.
I walked along the old, crumbling remnants of a stone-paved path. Dried crimson splatter stained the stone path in places like macabre pieces of street art.
Before me lay a clearing obscured by the crimson fog. Collapsed piles of decaying pine wood and charcoal-coloured bricks passed me by as I walked along the crumbling path. A few pillars of the dark bricks were still standing, slanted on the verge of crumbling in some places. Decrepit doorframes sat in numerous piles of the wreckage, their doors long fallen off their hinges. A lone Bloodtree sprouted from one of the ruins, stretching its branches unhindered by its brethren.
It was an abandoned settlement. I walked the deserted streets, eventually making it back to the start. The wreckage and paths formed a large encirclement. This place reeked of a gruesome history.
I went up to some nearby wreckage, placing my orbs on the ground. I cleared away rubble from some of the nearby wreckage, hoping to find something. Everything was destroyed, but I stumbled across several large stains of crimson on the floor. Just what kind of history is this settlement hiding? And why is it hidden in the depths of this place?
I left behind the rubble and picked up my orbs. Even the most skilled of rubble collectors would take days to clear away the rubble from all the ruins. I decided to investigate some more.
I walked down the center of the encirclement and saw outlines of what seemed to be former wells and fountains. This place was somewhat advanced, it seemed. There were areas which seemed to have been pens at some point as well.
As I walked down the middle of the encirclement, I saw a looming outline within the crimson fog. It was shaped like a small house. Approaching the building, its details became clearer. It was built of decaying wood and crumbling bricks, but it was still standing. It even had a frontdoor on the hinges of the doorframe. Walls of spikes and makeshift barricades surrounded the small house, forming a makeshift defense line.
I clumsily climbed the walls, trying not to drop my orbs and slipped through the cracks of the defensive line. Soon, I stood at the front door to the small house. I carefully pressed down on the handle, hoping the whole house didn't crumble. The door slowly creaked open, and I stepped inside.
The inside was surprisingly well-maintained and lined with furniture. It was a one-room house. Something resembling a mattress lay sprawled out in a corner with a writing desk nearby. A fireplace sat tucked away in another corner, still seemingly ready to cook a meal as pots and pans lay scattered around it. Half-opened cabinets lined one side of the room, already long empty.
'Seems cosy.'
I cautiously stepped deeper into the room, making sure I didn't accidentally awaken some slumbering ancient spirit or monster. Luckily, there seemed to be no such problem, as I wasn't possessed immediately or ripped to shreds. I could now drop my Essence shards in peace and explore the room.
I jumped onto some furniture to get a good look at the area. Being small had its downsides, putting it nicely.
Of course, my first instinct was to rummage through the cabinets to see if anything had been left behind when I didn't spot anything interesting in the room. I stopped in my tracks, however. On the desk, I noticed a small piece of deliberately placed paper. I decided to hold off on helping the previous owner clean out their home and went to check out the desk.
Upon getting closer, I leapt onto the desk and looked over the note. It was written in strange runes, but I could understand them. Despite its unwillingness to help me most of the time, the System is still quite useful for translating, it seems.
Dear Peacekeepers who were sent to save our village,
Fuck you.
Our village has been waiting for support for the past three months with no luck. The only other survivor fell an hour ago, and now I'm the only one left. There's nobody left to save, and you have arrived for us late as usual. I now understand first-hand why there is so much animosity towards you lot. You truly don't care about us lesser people at all. The Lord in the next county over won't be punished either, I assume. We all knew it was him who unleashed that deadly fog and made everyone sick, yet what can we do? People just began falling over and vomiting their guts out after staying in the fog for too long, and only the strongest survived for this long. Soon, they started turning into those things. They were easy enough to deal with, but cutting open the people you've watched grow from little troublemakers to men and women is not. That doesn't matter anymore. What's done is done.
As for me, I'll be leaving for a friendly visit to the nearby Lord after I finish writing this letter. I'm completely fine, unfortunately for you lot. It seems being the last of a dying Race you sought to banish has its benefits. I'll carry this knowledge with me and make sure to expose the truth to the ignorant fools in the capital.
One last time. Grow eyes on the back of your neck.
I'm coming.
The note ended there.
'Yeesh, what a scary bastard.'
There was a lot to unpack here.
First of all, the Peacekeepers. It seemed like some sort of group or organization meant to help the citizens of some kingdom, maybe? The writer mentioned a county after all. Although it seems they were corrupt and didn't give a shit about those less privileged.
'Nasty bastards.'
Also, it seems the crimson fog covering this forest isn't very safe. It was sent out for some reason by a noble, and by "turning into those things," the writer most likely meant the Gore Mountains. But I was completely fine. I sat in the fog for hours on end and didn't even feel slightly uncomfortable, just like the bloodthirsty writer...
Wait.
Was this writer even human? Were they like me?
They mentioned Races in their note, like there are several of them. Even being a human from a different race wouldn't make you immune to some kind of magic fog. I can only conclude that the writer is something like a Fracturebeast.
Could I have found the note of another Bloodfiend!? I was technically also a Fracturebeast, so if this guy was from the same race as me, why the hell was he living in such a civilized place? No way people would accept a monster into their community. Just what kind of village was this place, and what the hell is it doing in a dungeon?
It's a possibility that the writer was also a Bloodfiend. Still, there's a chance we both just happen to be from a Race that was immune to this fog. There's too much missing info to be certain, although I was definitely leaning towards the Bloodfiend theory. This whole place reeks of questions and mystery.
One thing I am certain about is that the threatening fella who wrote this note could cut down those monstrosities with ease. He might be weak in the grand scheme of things, but one thing's certain. He's stronger than me and the experienced group of youths I was stalking until recently.
'I wonder if he ever got his revenge? He most likely lost a lot of people dear to him. Didn't seem like the type to kindly tell the lord to simply fuck off either, so chances are that lord guy was dead the moment this vengeful writer decided so.'
I decided to help my fellow brethren do some spring cleaning. I approached one of the cabinets and began my rummaging.
I hit the jackpot almost immediately. Several large dishes sat in one of the cabinets filled to the brim with crimson. For some reason, there were large dishes filled with blood in the cabinets! Most normal humans don't just happen to have a ton of blood lying around. This somewhat solidified the idea that the previous owner of this house was a Bloodfiend like me.
The blood seemed old and stale, but I decided to try my luck. I was running out of patience to wait for the System to activate.
I gulped down the first dish. It tasted like sour juice to my monster body.
[97L/100L of blood absorbed]
'It worked!'
I felt like a kid on Christmas morning again, despite the unpleasant taste.
I took a sip from the second dish.
[98L/100L of blood absorbed]
I was getting closer and closer. I could feel my heart pounding against my chest. It was finally happening!
Then I greedily gulped down the final and largest dish. I felt a strand of the murky liquid run down the side of my cheek.
[100L/100L of blood absorbed]
There was a moment of silence before the System continued.
[Requirement fulfilled]
[System activating]
[Please wait]
Tense silence filled the room for several minutes before the System continued. I could barely contain my excitement. I had worked so hard for this. Ignoring the blood I leached off of the youths, of course. I was beginning to miss them a bit, honestly. For the free blood? Yes, and also since they were a solid form of entertainment at times. There wasn't much to do here between battles.
Back on topic, a big portion of the blood was gathered by me. The Gore Mountains helped fill up the meter a lot after all.
Soon, with the voice of an angel, the System presented me with my holy grail.
[Activation complete]
I could feel a big grin forming on my face.
As I was about to celebrate, something began to feel off.
My whole body shuddered.
The taste of bile filled my throat, but I didn't vomit.
A moment later, blinding pain pierced through my very being. The ear-piercing screech of a monster filled the room. My vision blurred, and a loud ringing began in my ears. Palpitations from my heart shot through my body, causing me to convulse violently. I quickly collapsed to the floor and felt my body heat up. It felt like air couldn't enter my lungs as I began heavily gasping. I was drenched in cold sweat within moments.
Then the real torture began.
I felt muscles tearing and bones rearranging themselves underneath my skin as my wailing grew louder. Nerves broke and reformed within the same second, sending shocks through my body. Organs shifted and grew, feeling like a whirlpool in my torso and stomach. I could feel my arms and legs elongating as the feeling of boiling water pouring onto them encompassed both.
I wailed and cried so much that my screeching turned into a continuous cacophony. I tore at my face, lacing my claws in crimson. The skin regrew a moment later, feeling like a scarification was being performed on my face with molten lava.
The torture seemed endless.
I could feel my mind collapsing in on itself and strange thoughts consuming me as I faded in and out of consciousness.
I felt my mind succumb to the pain as I was released from my suffering.
Eventually, only darkness remained.