In the path of gaining power Steels had been trying to find a suitable prey for himself to hunt down safely or cowedly. So he can finally gain a Soul weapon.
But he had made no progress.
Each time he had tried to stalk something or try to gain an advantage, It has all been for nothing. Or just put him into mortal danger.
Like the time he followed a devil spawn that had been severely wounded behind its back during a fight with another. He stalked that devil spawn for two whole days and he was quite confident in his chances of killing the thing.
The devil was larger than Steel himself. It had eight legs, six were like spider legs and other two were like huge mismatched pincers, sharp enough to cut anything in half.
The face was covered inside of a shell like protected armor. That probably obscured its vision to some degree, right? That's what Steel thought.
He called the devil spawn, the Armored crab.
Steel's confidence for being able to kill the Devil was, of course, cause of its severe injuries. Its internal organs were even exposed to the outside. He really wasn't sure how it was even alive. Perhaps, if he were to stab it with his makeshift knife made by that useless Devil slug's bones then it would die.
He was even ready to finally ambush it from behind. But his paranoia, for whatever reason, was screaming danger.
So he decided to take the advice of the demon on his back, River. And what he heard, in his mind, still gives him shivers.
[…isn't it watching us too.]
Steel couldn't even make sense of those words. He saw no eyes on the Armored crab's body. He had thought that it could only see straight ahead cause of that armored plate on its face. So cause of his observation, he's been so cautious to always follow it from behind.
How was it watching him? Does it have more eyes or some different type of ability to sense living things.
Whatever it was. He was not interest in hunting something that was waiting for him to attack.
Then with some bitter taste in his mouth. Steel gave up and ran far away from the Armored crab.
There were two more hunting tries made by Steel. But they went even worse than the Armored crab.
Second prey of his was even more cunning than the armored crab. That devil was like a Large lizard or a large snake with odd number of feet. Whatever it was, that devil spawn was much small than any other devil spawn that he had ever encountered.
But no, it wasn't small. Of course, it wasn't.
It was segmented into two more much larger bodies that were cleverly hiding underground. At the top, it was a small snake like worm with legs but there were two more heads ready to kill anyone that took the bait.
Steel was one of the fools who took this bait and almost got himself killed. Only reason he didn't die is because that devil spawn was way too cautious and vary of everything.
In the end, River existence made it leave but not without making Steels wounds even more severe.
Later in the night, he had to seal his wounds with fire. The bleeding stopped but he regretted a lot of his life choices. Especially the one where he chose to hunt down a Devil snake that had feet.
Steel was tired after losing two times in a row. But third time is the charm. So Steel gave another try.
This time he stumbled upon a devil spawn at night. Or just the sound of one.
Night times are the waking hours for the most terrifying and vicious devil spawns. It is always necessary to find a hiding spot before night. There can be some leniency if the misshapen moon decide to bestow some of its moonlight though.
However, one of these nights when it was little brighter. He heard helpless cries of a devil spawn.
Helpless and devil spawn doesn't go well together in a sentence. But it was strangely true. There are dying sounds of something in the dark. Not too far away.
Steel was curious to find what could even make such sounds. Who knows, maybe he would actually find something easy to kill and get a soul weapon for himself. That would be a jackpot.
But Steel quickly threw that thought out of his head. The sound was misleading and hypnotic in nature. Once again, River's idle mind talks helped him get a hold of himself .
There are no weak and pathetic devil spawns. They all knows how to set a trap far better than Steel.
'Fool me once, that's on me. Fool me twice, I admit that I'm not the brightest. But Fool me the third time? No way…'
So Steel's third hunt ended before starting.
Steel hasn't even started yet and he already wanna give on this ambition of growing stronger.
Its been a week. And Steel wishes that he had anything to show for it. But all he had are severe burns and a tired body.
Steel knew that growing as a demon is an impossible task. His very existence is made to hide from the eyes of living things. If he just had not tried to hunt then he wouldn't have gotten himself into so much trouble.
Even in the past, most of the pain and suffering was result of his own action. Like taking that revenge against that devil slug or this hobby of trying to hunt devil spawns but become hunted instead.
How do one even kill such creatures? He remember that Human who faced with hundreds of devil spawn and also that towering one. That human made all of that look like a piece of cake. At least that's what he concluded after witnessing that fight.
Steel even asked River.
[Just kill them. Then you won't have to be stronger.]
It didn't help. Understanding her is impossible for him.
Maybe gaining strength is a slow process. Like learning combat skills, mastering weapons and understanding your opponent. He heard that in a digital comic of some weak warrior growing up in the ladder.
He doesn't even remember the title of that comic. It was just too long but it was a fun read and a good time killer.
Whatever the case, soon he would be near a camp of humans. Probably after one more week or so.
He visited it before coming to the flesh storm just to see what was going on. All he understood that it was to search for some disturbance in the jungle or something like that.
Right now, He doesn't have much interest in going there and introducing himself though. What is he? Stupid? It is just a good opportunity to steal some resources for himself. Like some medicines. Who knew that burning yourself isn't a good idea.
But there is still time before he would reach that place.
For now, he just want to rest for a day or two.