Blood.

Feed.

Eat.

Blood…

Blood…

Bl-ah!

What the hell?

With my head spinning, I fall back and gag. What the hell just got into me? I faintly recall that I got an urge to eat the seahound I killed, but it’s all blank after that. I turn my head to look around, but wince as a searing pain shoots through my body.

Ah. I’m bloodied all over. What on earth-

Then I see the bodies. Around a dozen half eaten corpses of lay strewn around the arena grounds in a haphazard circle centered around me.

I immediately pull up my status page.

Nameless Lesser Gyaroraptor; Level 4

Status Effects : Anemic [Decreased stats]

Unspent Skill Points : 15

Skills :

Identify: LVL 2

Night Vision: LVL 6

Heat Vision: LVL 3

Venom: LVL 8

Regeneration: LVL 7

Camouflage: LVL 3

Bloodlust: LVL 3

Hemophilia(passive): LVL 2

Sense Vulnerability: LVL 1

Body Enhancement: LVL 10

Enhanced Hearing: LVL 4

Enhanced Olfactory: LVL 3

Earth Manipulation: LVL 9

Fire Manipulation: LVL 7

Magic Manipulation: LVL 4

Resistances :

Heat Resistance: LVL 2

Fear Resistance: LVL 2

Earth Resistance: LVL 5

Physical Resistance: LVL 4

Hunger Resistance: LVL 1

Thirst Resistance: LVL 2

Traits :

Bi-blooded

Small but Mighty

Heightened Stamina

Titles :

Reincarnated One

Reverse Slayer

Upholder of Morals

Ŵ̸̨͙͂̈́̇̀̽̑ư̶̩͇̼̩̹͚̰͜z̸̧̮͖̅͆̽͑ͅe̵̪̝͔̽ͅx̶̡̪̼̰̲̦̫̓̉͝ͅm̶̧̭͆̒̽͂͊̈̋̋k̴̗͘q̵͙̻͓̗̊̕d̵̢̧͖̬̀̐̓ - 5%

Core Slayer

Novice Mage

Alright, what the fuck. I leveled up twice, and a bunch of my skills leveled up. And I’m anemic right now. Fucking hell.

I notice the five percent displayed next to the Zalgo’d jargon. It wasn’t there before, what the hell? And Bloodlust! What the hell is that?

Bloodlust LVL 3:

Skill holder will gain Bloodhunger in combat in which blood is present. Once Bloodhunger has reached a certain level, Bloodlust activates for a certain duration, giving the skill holder an increase in stats but forfeits a certain amount of free will.

Because of title Ŵ̸̨͙͂̈́̇̀̽̑ư̶̩͇̼̩̹͚̰͜z̸̧̮͖̅͆̽͑ͅe̵̪̝͔̽ͅx̶̡̪̼̰̲̦̫̓̉͝ͅm̶̧̭͆̒̽͂͊̈̋̋k̴̗͘q̵͙̻͓̗̊̕d̵̢̧͖̬̀̐̓ , Bloodlust gains the following additional effect:

User will gain an extra 2 times the stats provided by Bloodlust while it is active at the cost of losing control of a larger amount of free will for the duration of the spell. Spell duration increases for each creature slain directly, depending on the slain creature’s level and rank.

Ah. So that’s what happened. But I didn’t have Bloodlust beforehand though, so why the hell did it affect me in the slightest?

I-It must have been the Zalgo’d title’s doing… What the hell happened while I was digging?

I try to get up again, but I’m unable to. My mana’s pretty darn low, and I’m feeling very lightheaded right now. Plus, you know, all the cuts and gashes on my body. I feel drained of all energy, as if I just ran a fifty mile marathon in the mountains.

I gently (or as gently as my shaking body can) lay myself down on the ground, mindful of my slowly healing wounds.

Enhanced Hearing picks up the sound of fighting quite a ways away, thankfully. I slowly close my eyes and begin meditating more or less, circling the small amounts of mana I have left throughout my body.

…

……

I wanna go home.

I wanna go back home, away from all of this stupidity.

…

Why?

Why couldn’t god, or whatever the fuck else out there have sent me somewhere safer? Why the FUCK did I do to deserve any of this?

So why?

I grit my teeth and silently curse whatever manner of bullshittery sent me here and put me in this situation.

I feel my face grimace as I fight back the tears that started welling up.

Why me? Whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhy?

Ŵ̸̨͙͂̈́̇̀̽̑ư̶̩͇̼̩̹͚̰͜z̸̧̮͖̅͆̽͑ͅe̵̪̝͔̽ͅx̶̡̪̼̰̲̦̫̓̉͝ͅm̶̧̭͆̒̽͂͊̈̋̋k̴̗͘q̵͙̻͓̗̊̕d̵̢̧͖̬̀̐̓ - 6%

I snap out of my state at the sudden appearance of the notification. Six percent? Why the hell did it go up right now?

You know what, fuck it. Identify’s being a little bitch and not identifying whatever the fuck that six percent means, and I don’t have any fucks left to give at this point.

I dismiss the notification and go back to mana cycling. If I am to survive, mana is essential. I need to regenerate as much as I can before something finds me. The one thing that’s going for me is the fact that my bloodied body is pretty well camouflaged amongst the other corpses. I’d use Camouflage proper, but it uses too much mana.

And so I lay there, cycling and healing while the sounds of battle grew quieter and quieter.

Ah, yes, I should probably check what skills I can buy with fifteen skill points in the meantime.

Available Skills :

Bloodsense - 20 skill points

Farsight - 15 skill points

Intimidation - 15 skill points

Damn, nothing new. None of these seem particularly useful, but unspent skill points is unspent power that can potentially save my life. Right now the more useful between Farsight and Intimidation is definitely the latter. If I can make the other creatures wary of me, I can minimize the amount of fights I get into. Its active ability will give me an edge if I manage to apply the ‘fear’ status on my opponent.

All right, I’m buying it.

Please confirm your purchase :

~ ~ ~

Intimidation --- 15 Skill Points

Yes

No

Yes!

*ding*

You have purchased Intimidation for 15 skill points.

Alrighty, back to healing.

…

……

I can’t hear any fighting anymore. I sneak a peek and spot a couple of intimidating, though heavily wounded creatures roaming about. Some eating, other recuperating, though none in my near vicinity.

Huh, weird. Lucky, but weird. I was pretty certain at least some of the creatures still left would have come towards my corner of the area grounds, but it seems like no one is.

I feel sufficiently healed now. My mana’s around half full still, but I can probably take on another beast, or at least escape, if need be.

I warily stand up. The more or less healed cuts and scratches adorning my body tingles with pain, though it’s nothing I can’t handle, and I look around.

To my left a large gorilla-like beast is currently eating the leg of some other creature with its back turned to me. Further out, an enormous snake not dissimilar to the one that had been put next to me when I was still caged seems to be in the process of digesting something large that it had eaten. Directly across from me a surprisingly small wolf-like creature is sitting on the ground and gnawing on a rib bone. On the right hand side I see a tylapera, or at least I think it’s one. It’s too far away for me to Identify. It isn’t red like the one I know, instead it has an awful brown coloration. Gross. Then again, I’m covered head to toe in blood and gore, my feathers soaked through. Ergh. I’d kill for a nice bath and some much needed sunbathing right about now…

No, focus! I have to focus on my survival, else I’ll get fucked over by my laziness again. I shake my head and begin empowering my regeneration, and a few seconds later I feel all my wounds have healed completely leaving me with around one third of my max mana.

Alright, time to make my move. If I can buddy up with the tylapera, we can probably beat the other creatures one by one. Yeah, let's go with that plan.

I begin approaching the tylapera, who at this point is chewing on something I’d rather not know the origins of.

Earthen Tylapera --- LVL 26

Ah, so that’s why it’s that dirty brown color. It’s an earth variant.

I continue to walk towards the giant lizard, trying my hardest not to appear threatening though being covered in gore doesn’t really help. The tylapera turns to me and growls, then lets out some kind of guttural warning shout.

…

Aw shit.

Alright, first hole in my plan: how the fuck do I communicate with it? I mean, I guess I can ‘gyaaa’ at it, but does that communicate to it that I’m a friendly? Oh fuck it, here goes nothing.

“Graaaaah!”

The tylapera rears up and lunges at me.

Fuck. Guess that’s a ‘no’.

I duck and roll to my right side. The tylapera misses me by an inch and crashes down into the ground. I flinch as a loud ‘crack’ rings out and a large crater appears where the tylapera landed. I turn to deliver a bite at its exposed back, but only find a mouthful of dirt and rocks. Earth magic! The lizard has a layer of earth on its back as some sort of natural armor. Urgh…

Luckily I’m faster than the lumbering hulk of a lizard. Now that I look at it, it’s a good deal bigger than the fire tylapera.

I cast Sense Vulnerability. As expected, no targets on its back or its front, but its underbelly’s lighting up.

Just as I was thinking of a new plan, the sand underneath my feet shifts violently, sending me tumbling down just as the tylapera begins charging again.

I slam my snout into the sand and, in a panic, pump as much mana as I could into it and aim it at the beast’s eyes.

A giant pillar of sand erupts from underneath the tylapera’s head, knocking it a meter upwards and stopping its forward momentum completely all the while exposing its unarmored underbelly.

I pull my head out of the sand and open my mouth, making sure to scrape my teeth against each other. This is a move I had come up with while in the cage in which I scrape my teeth together while opening my mouth. Since I have way more teeth than claws, there’s a much higher chance for sparks to be formed this way.

I pump mana into the sparks, forming a sizable ball of fire in my mouth. Another surge of mana and the fireball launches itself straight at the tylapera. I follow this attack up with a Body Enhancement empowered bite.

Fire engulfs the stunned tylapera as my teeth sinks easily into the oversized lizard’s neck. With my remaining mana, I pump the tylapera full of venom.

The seconds feel like minutes as I continue to inject venom. I spot the gorilla and the snake watching my fight with keen interest, while the small wolf-like creature has disappeared.

I push the tylapera to the side as its upward momentum died. Its body lands with a ‘crash’, belly up, as I immediately dig my claws into its belly.

You have slain Earthen Tylapera LVL 26.

You have gained enough experience points to level up. You are now level 5. You have received 5 skill points.

Sense Vulnerability has leveled up to level 2.

Magic Manipulation has leveled up to level 5.

Hemophilia has leveled up to level 3.

I disentangle myself from the bloody mess that I’ve just made and shudder. Killing the tylapera did not bode well with me. And for some reason it felt familiar…

“GROOOOAAAAAAH!”

A deafening warcry comes from behind me.

...it’s the gorilla, right?

I turn around to see the gorilla beating its chest and hollering at me, before it drops on all four and begin charging towards me.

Giant Shirubian Silverback --- LVL 20

I feel my blood simmering, but it doesn’t feel like Bloodlust is activating. Does it have a cooldown? Either way, there’s a giant berserking silverback gorilla barrelling towards me, and I should probably get the fuck out.

Yeah, fuck this shit I’m out.

I’m fucking OUT!

I activate Body Enhancement and bound off towards the wolf’s side of the arena. I have enough mana to run around for at least fifteen minutes, so I have some time. I just need to deaggro this damn ape and get it to fight something else!

The gorilla charges through piles of bones and bodies, sending bits and pieces of them everywhere.

I run to the edge of the area and jump on the wall. With my previous momentum and my light weight I begin wall running, looping around the wolf’s territory and towards the snake’s territory. The gorilla, on the other hand, crashes right into the wall, making a loud ‘bang’ sound as well as inciting a loud cheer from the crowd. This guy can sure run fast, but it has little to no control over its direction, and given the circular nature of this arena, I’m certain I can keep it off of me.

Oh, yeah, the crowd. I almost forgot where I am. A fucking gladitorial ring… I’m gonna fucking kill that golden-haired guy the first chance I get.

As expected, the snake rears up and tries to intercept me, but given the fact that it just ate an enormous mean, the thing is neither dexterous nor fast, and I effortlessly slip by its half-assed attack unharmed.

Another loud cry rings through the air as I redouble my efforts to run away. Stealing a glance backwards, I spot the enraged gorilla has recovered and has decided to target the snake instead. I slow my pace down before loudly sitting myself down in the sand. I’m surprisingly not as tired as I would have expected, more likely Heightened Stamina doing work. Alright, time to rest up as much as I can before a victor is decided between the snake and the gorilla.

“GROOOOAAAAAHHH!”

“HIIIISSSSSSSSSSS!”

The gorilla barges into the snake, trying to rip the snake in half while the snake wraps itself around the ape in an attempt to squeeze it to death. Neither are successful. The gorilla’s too big to handle even for the giant anaconda, but the anaconda’s too tough and thick for the gorilla to rip apart. It seems this fight’ll last quite some time.

Oh, before I forget I should probably cast Identify on the snake.

Titanic Boa --- LVL 26

Huh, so it’s the same species as the one that was next to me, but it’s nineteen levels higher. I wonder what’ll happen to my body in a couple levels, though with a trait like Small but Mighty I doubt I’ll grow any bigger… damn.

I crack my neck and begin circulating my mana as I continue watching the two beasts struggle against each other. Whichever creature emerges victorious will most likely be exhausted and/or wounded, which’ll give me a pretty big advantage in a fight, though to be honest I don’t want to fight either of them. I’m not confident in my ability to not get entangled by the snake, and I doubt taking down even an exhausted silverback will be an easy task.

A few minutes of struggling later I notice the snake beginning to give. The gorilla’s raw strength combined with its enormous size made the snake’s job of squishing it very, very difficult, and it also isn’t long enough to overwhelm the ape. The gorilla manages to grab onto the snake’s head after a while and more or less did a ‘no u’ to the snake by crushing and ripping its head off and eating it. Urgh…

I stand up and activate Body Enhancement. Lets go-

From behind the exhausted silverback, that small wolf-like beast springs up from out of nowhere and bolts straight at the silverback. The wolf jumps up and HOLD UP WHY DID IT TURN FUCKING HUGE. The small wolf suddenly transforms into a giant wolf, its size on par with the silverback, and clamps its jaws full of dagger-like teeth together on the ape’s neck. The wolf, using its momentum, twists around and more or less rips a large chunk of flesh out, causing a cascade of blood to spew out. Around me the crown cheers.

Your team has slain Giant Shirubian Silverback LVL 20.

Ah.

Okay.

This is fine.

I stare at the wolf, who had turned back into its small form by this point. How the fuck am I gonna win against this guy? It literally one shot the silverback! The giant silverback fifteen levels higher than me! Are you serious?

The wolf turns and stares back at me, seemingly unperturbed and approaches me. I snape out of my daze and drop down in a low stance, ready (hopefully) for whatever the hell will come next.

The wolf begins walking towards me with slow and confident steps, stopping a couple meters from me. We stand there, staring at each other for what feels like an hour, but a sudden voice breaks the moment.

“Frrriend orrrr foe?” A surprisingly higher-pitched voice comes from the wolf. I blink.

What? “Gya?”

“Ah, another lower life forrrm. Pity. Then again with all the barbaric berserking you were doing I shouldn’t have thought any of you.” The wolf gives me an almost pitying look before baring its fangs and begins pacing towards me.

I fumble, trying to think of something to do to stop this as I identify the wolf.

Lesser Fenrir Pack Hound --- LVL 27

I wave my claws around in an attempt to look as unmenancing as possible and to hopefully convey I am, in fact, quite intelligent and not like the other beasts, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s not working with all the aggressive growling going on and all.

“Gya grra grra! Grrra!” Damn my vocal cord-less throat!

The fenrir pack hound stops and tilts its head.

“What in the unholy fuck arrre you doing?” A low rumble begins emanating from the beast.

I pause and let out an exhausted sigh. This is making it much worse, isn’t it?

Almost as though on queue, the rumbling intensifies.

“Filty inferrriorrrr. I shall grrrrant you a painful death, then kill all these puny mortals here who DARRRE attempt to lock ME up!” The lesser fenrir lunges at me. I prepare to duck out of the way, but half a second into its leap the wolf begins to morph. Elongated jaws filled with dagger-like teeth greets me as the fenrir’s body quite literally unfurls.

I flinch at the sudden outburst and jump back, Body Enhancement empowering my legs. A few seconds later, I hit the ground a lot harder than I had anticipated, knocking the air out of my lungs. I watch as the giant wolf begin collapsing upon itself, morphing back into the body of the small fenrir as quickly as it had appeared in the first place.

What the hell was that? I begin carefully pacing around the now growling but visibly tired fenrir pup. That skill again! I doubt I can take a hit head on from that, but it seems to take a lot out of the fenrir to use. Should I try and bait them out? I probably can, but I don’t exactly trust myself to be able to dodge another attack like that…

I continue pacing around the fenrir, occasionally fainting an attack or two, but I am still unsure as to what I should do.

I don’t want to kill someone who hates this whole situation as much as I do, but at the same time he’s trying to kill me, so…

- - - - -

Meanwhile, the king of Coviel, Dorarian Totagon, sat slouched in his seat with a look of annoyance plastered on his face.

“Boring. Why the hell is this taking so long? Who cares about animals fighting other animals! Clean out the area right this second and bring out the slave fighters!”

“Yes your Majesty.” One of the dozen servants who stood behind him bowed and blew a horn. Immediately, several large sigils that had been drawn underneath the arena lit up as a large-scale paralysis spell came into effect. A loud wave of “aww”’s emanated from the crowd as the two remaining beasts fell to sandy ground.

A few seconds later, the glowing sigils darkened once more and the arena’s gates opened. A few of the soldiers quickly made their way to the limp bodies of the fenrir and gyaroraptor as a second group brought in dozens upon dozens of people, all of whom wore filthy and worn out rags.

The crowd exploded, blowing the cheers for the beast battle out of the water.

“See? The people don’t want filthy beasts to gore each other to bits like those western barbarians do! They want TRUE battles! They want human blood to be shed!”

Dorarian rose to his feet, his hands outstretched as he scanned the crowd, taking in their unfiltered bloodlust and excitement. A large smile formed on his face as he turned around and faced his servants. “Let the games begin!”