"Shit! This isn't good!" While attacking the second Plague Hound, Manco noticed a problem.

The first hound died quite messily. The finishing mana blast tore off two of its limb and broke open its torso. As it was lying there unmoving, liquids of various colors began leaking out.

That was when the smell hit him. If the stench of a live Plague Hound was bad enough, a dead one's was downright horrifying. The foul odor, which reminded him of food left in a broken fridge for several summer weeks, made him want to gag.

If he kept killing these things, their smell of the cadavers might scare off the other predators altogether. He wasn't sure how strong the night creatures felt against the Plague Hound's stench, but he was unwilling to risk wasting another night because these things stank up the place.

He stopped attacking the second hound. It looked around in a confusion, its simple brain tried to make sense of the situation but failed. Several moments later, it joined the third hound and continued eating.

'Hopefully, they will leave after they're full,' Manco thought as he tied a few lengths of rope to several split-head bolts.

He fired the bolts at the first hound's cadaver. After making sure they were firmly embedded in the flesh, he pulled on the ropes to drag the corpse towards the tree he was on. This would serve two purposes. The first one was to keep it from spoiling the 'buffet' and the second one, incidentally, was to deter creatures from approaching this particular tree. He would have to endure the smell, but he'd had worse.

Ignoring the two plague hounds which were grunting contentedly as they ate, he continued watching the surroundings.

Next to the pile furthest away from him, he saw several giant spiders in the process of spinning the corpse of an unidentified animal and covering it with their silk. Together, they dragged it up a tall tree nearby. Later, they would bite into the carcass and inject digestive fluid into it. After a while, the fluid would liquefy the inner organs, which would then be sucked out. After they were done the feeding, they would be in a lethargic and vulnerable state for up to half a day.

After they were done preparing the first corpse, they repeated the process with several more. Manco marked the tree on his map and continued observing.

Loud buzzing sounds were heard as two big wasps descended near the spiders. Without warning, they stung two of the spiders, then flew up to avoid retaliation. The stung arachnids stumbled about briefly then fell over with loud thuds, paralyzed. The rest of the spiders hissed loudly but did not dare approach the wasps, which began dragging the two paralyzed ones away. After the wasps were gone, the remaining spiders chittered and clicked, then retreated up the tree.

As time went on, more and more creatures gathered in the area.

Many of them avoided each other and were contented with eating the already slain animals. Others were territorial and attempted to hoard the food for themselves, which led to deadly fights which ended when one side either submitted, fled, or died.

A small number of them, like the wasps, came specifically to prey on the live creatures. They were quick and efficient, and were often successful with their kills, though there were also exceptions, and the preys would fight back tooth and nails.

When the fights began was Manco's cue to take advantage and finish off the wounded creatures. While his damage was still low, his precision was enough to get the last hit in most of the time.

〔Creature "Night Prowler - Weak" (lv 14) killed〕

〔 826 XP gained〕

〔Creature "Giant Scorpion SPider" (lv 22) killed〕

〔 1336 XP gained〕

…

There was one pack in particular that he left completely alone: the Dire Apes.

Heavy and muscular, each of them was as tall as he was, even when hunched over. Their fists were as big as his head. They were led by a pack leader, a large ape with grey fur. When they reached one of the carcass piles, the leader looked around as if sizing up the oppositions. After deciding there was no significant threat, it turned at grunted at the rest of the pack.

The other apes poked around in the pile and dragged out the most healthy looking corpses that were relatively intact and began butchering them. They worked in pairs, one holding the corpse, while the other hacked at the joints with a stone knife or ax. Using primitive knives and axes, along with their powerful muscles, they hacked off the limbs, tied them together using some sort of cordage. Leaving behind the torso, they began working on the next corpse. All the while, the grey ape watched the surroundings for potential threats and growled at the approaching creatures, stopping them from coming closer.

After butchering about twenty corpses, the smaller apes stopped working. The pack leader looked at them, seemingly satisfied, and gave a short nod and a snort, as if giving permission.

The apes whooped and cheered excitedly, and began gathering the limbless torsos. Two of them dragged a flat stone from nearby. They positioned the torso so that the head is placed onto the stone, then cracked it open with a primitive ax. Carefully pried it open, the ape stuck its hand inside and scooped out the brain.

The second-in-command took the largest head - belonging to a grey panther - and carefully removed the top of the skull. It reverently offered the prize to the pack leader, who accepted it.

They took turn eating the brains. After they were done, the pack leader ordered them to gathered the limbs and left, all the while glaring and grunting at the surrounding animals.

Manco silently observed the pack. It was clear that they were no corpse-eaters, but were skilled pack hunters and were out on a night hunt. They had encountered this feast and took what they needed, without making a mess. This restraint showed much more intelligence than normal beasts. The leader was also vigilant and cautious. Dealing with them clearly wasn't a good idea, and he wouldn't gain anything much by doing so, either. That was why he gave them a wide berth.

After the apes were gone, he lowered himself to the ground to reposition himself and hunt more effectively.

The creatures reacted to him differently. Some of them became more alert when their companions died, and several spotted him and gave chase. However, most ignored him and were focused on feeding.

Nevertheless, Manco stayed cautious and didn't draw the attention of more than a handful of creatures at a time.

〔Creature "Giant Birdeater" (lv 18) killed〕

〔 1062 XP gained〕

〔Level up! Your level is now 24!〕

〔Int +2; Wil +1〕

〔Free attributes points + 2 (Total 38)〕

Even without the boost from the Well-Rested status effect, he gained experience steadily and eventually reached level 24.

Manco lost track of time. Ignoring the notifications, he observed, struck, defended, evaded and fled. He picked his target, struck decisively, and retreated to safety before the others could react.

When the first rays of sunlight shone on the ground, there were only a few living creatures in the vicinity.

As the pack of giant Dire Wolves retreated, having eaten their fill, Manco checked the stat description for the gun.

- ??? (Requirement to unlock: Kill 5000 corpse-eating creatures. Progress 4832/5000).

He sighed. After five real-time hours, he only managed to kill over 40 corpse-eaters. Most of the creatures he killed were considered hunters and only occasionally eat carrions, coupled with the fact that the distinction was fuzzy and non-conclusive, the progress was painfully slow. It was relatively safe, but he was itching to get this over with and move on to more exciting things.

As he considered the possibility of having to stay in this forest for a few more days, a small movement attracted his attention. Scanning the area, he saw the source of the movement.

Two wolves lying on the ground looked like they were breathing. He was pretty sure they weren't really breathing, as one was missing half its head and the other's neck was twisted way beyond the normal movement range.

Taking no chances, he loaded the crossbow and fired a bolt at one of the carcasses.

*Pop!*

The contact point burst outward and a thick sludge spurted out. The sickly-looking grey ooze, mixed with liquefied flesh, innards, and bones, kept flowing out of the wolf cadaver. As it flowed out, the cadaver deflated like a balloon, until only a layer of skin and fur is left.

The ooze then converged into a lump that looked like a giant molehill, wobbling and rippling in a steady rhythm.

〔 Necrotic Slime - Weak 〕

〔 Level: 21 - HP: ??? 〕

"Sneaky little shits," He muttered, approaching the slime as a second one began forcing its way out of the other corpse. These two had used the darkness as a cover and snuck their way inside the corpses, eating them from the inside without him noticing.

The first slime slithered away slowly. In general, slimes' movement was already slow, and this one even more so after eating. Its movement reminded him of a gigantic, slightly transparent slug.

"Hey, where are you going?" Manco shouted and shot at the necrotic slime with a crossbow bolt. The bolt did minimal damage but seemed to get its attention.

Having seemingly realized that fleeing was not an option, the slime stopped slithering away.

"That's more like it!" He stepped into its striking range.

*Whoosh!* *Snap!*

Part of the slime shifted into a limb and lashed out at him. Dodging the limb, he slashed down with the dagger, cleanly severing it. The cut part fell down on the ground, twitched, then reformed itself into a smaller version of the slime.

Without waiting, Manco slashed at the smaller slime twice, cutting it into four. Retreating out of the large slime's striking range, he observed the quartered small slime with bated breath. Indeed, a few moments later, the four quarters became four even smaller slimes.

Drawing his gun, he fired a mana blast at the quartet.

*Boom!*

This time, they were blown apart and didn't recover. Immediately, he received four notifications.

〔Creature "Necrotic Slime - tiny" (lv 1) killed〕

〔 12 XP gained〕

〔Creature "Necrotic Slime - tiny" (lv 1) killed〕

〔 12 XP gained〕

…

Manco opened stat page of his gun.

'… Progress 4836/5000'

"Jackpot!" Manco let out the breath he was holding and grinned. He had struck gold with these slimes! Each small one counted as one creature! During the day they would hide in all sorts of nooks and crannies that were nearly impossible to find. They only came out to feed at night and were equally difficult to spot, given their slow and quiet movement and limited shapeshifting ability.

"Alright blobbies, here I come!" He approached the two slimes, dagger in one hand and gun in the other.