Chapter 13

Rumors and Legends

Hunters in the Forest of Kali were baffled, all of the monsters that was usually roaming the area near and deep inside the forest were gone.

As they went in deeper, towards the direction of the road path, they saw a man with a cart full of monsters they were missing. The cart were made up of old tools, cut directly from the trees using nothing that resembled modern touch of technology.

The wheels were large, irregular shaped, and looked really sturdy. The cart itself were made up of filed tiles and woods cut down by monster tools. The man was in the front, hitting an E-ranked monster, a Mastodon, that pulled the cart like a slave. From the looks of the poor monster, with bloodied back and painful moans, it’s enough to put anyone into hating the man who rode him wearing a mask that hid his face.

Still, the heavy air surrounding that man was enough to put the other hunters’ words on hold.

Naturally, they could have attacked him since he was only wearing beginner clothes and doesn’t seem to have weapons. But what made them swallow the thought was the sight of the brutally murdered monsters on the cart.

Thankfully, Terroa had a rule that dead monsters would only start to rot after three days and they will respawn after the fourth day of its death. The cart and the monsters on it wasn’t decaying so there was no sort of any smell coming from there.

So basing only on the sight of how these monsters died, the thought of their deaths if the attacked the man who killed them was enough to put them on hold.

“He killed all of this?”

“It‘s been a day since the monsters disappeared.”

“Look at that broken face. That monster…urgh…”

“Over there! He plucked out its eye.”

“That‘s just gross.”

“Worst than using a sword. It‘s a murder.”

“Is he going to sell them all off?”

“Those are a lot of D and E-ranked resources. He can get a lot of materials from them.”

Siva ignored all of the murmurs and whispers he was getting. Even the attention that he received when he got into the city’s vicinity. The SWAT guards guarding the gates did not even bother to check what he had brought, not even a question were asked as they too felt that it may lead to a sin.

Luckily, the Trade Center is just on the first corner after entering the city.

After the cart had been emptied of its luggage, the masked man went directly towards the NPC Assembly Shops in the Market Place. There, he only bade a slight glance to the crowd he gathered and entered the shop.

By the twist of luck, inside this certain establishment is the rule that only customers can enter. And so Siva glanced at them and hoped that his plan would come to a good start.

After a few hours, as the curious people who waited for the masked man to exit the shop thin out, Siva got passed them and stared at them with curiosity.

So the mask actually worked?

As he thought of that, he continued to pass through them wearing a gray colored cloak over a white long sleeve polo with an intricate design on the left sleeve. A black slacks for the bottom and boots for his feet. All of these materials came from the monsters he had hunted.

He could have fashioned armors and sharp weapons but with his unique fighting style and his chosen initial skill, clothes that emphasize the freedom of movements though offers little protection is what he preferred.

Siva’s aim now is to hunt more, become stronger, and gather enough Intel on the target he chose. The first month will be spent like this, and he wouldn’t stop until he get his goal. These are his thoughts when he passed them. The cloak was just a regularly sold item that can offer little protection from cold and rain.

His silver colored polo was made from powdered Grinder teeth, fashioned to become tiny silk braids, and eventually the shirt he wore.

The bottom are made from compressed layers of the bones of his victims and the blood of the E-ranked wild monster, Taco, a bird-like mob that flies in groups, that actually had the ability to soften up the bone layers into becoming the black shiny slacks he wore.

His boots are the product of technology.

It was made from a material from the dissolved brain and bones of a rare D-ranked monster he luckily saw in the middle of his hunt. That monster was different from all the others he had hunted and he spent one long hour fighting off just one of the three. But as soon as he defeated it, the last one escaped leaving the wounded second to become his victim.

He never knew until he had talked with the Trade Center’s keeper that it was a rare monster and actually was in the boundary of C-rank and D-rank.

Siva remembered how he suffered a few broken ribs and a black eye when he defeated it. The boots, yes, is a marvel of technology that he himself was curious to test in the field so he hurried his pace towards the city’s exit. But then, as he turned to the corner, he bumped to a player and they both landed on their behind.

“Sorry!” He shouted and immediately went towards the other person. “Are you alright?”

“I‘m alright. Sorry, I didn‘t see you. I was on my way to the NPC Shops and was in a hurry.”

“I‘m also on my way out of the city and so I did not anticipate that I would bump into someone in a corner. If you are alright, I‘ll be on my way then.”

“Yeah. Sorry, again.”

As Siva turned and apologized, the girl, an Archer, bowed. Behind her, her companions were rushing to help her clean up and one of her companion, another archer, went to follow the man with a stare.

“What‘s wrong Loni?” Asked Henna who cleaned her clothes, especially on the back side. “Do you know him?”

Loni shook her head. “No. But I kind of felt like I‘ve seen him somewhere before.”

“Come on!” Shouted Fuma who was already far up front! “They said it was the Weapon Shops!”

The four of them went on and Siva could only sigh as he saw that the person he bumped into was alright while hiding in the corner leading straight towards the city gate.

Siva went towards the Eastern Gate, near a forest he learned housing C-ranked monsters.

His eyes were flaming with desire, hunger, and some kind of light that made E-ranked monsters cower away. He did not bother looking at them anymore, unless they attacked him first. But when they did, Siva felt the same feeling again of wanting to crush them with his hands.

Weight management, when he’s fighting, he can’t wear his weapon at the same time as his cloak.

The cloak weighed a total of 34 weight units (we), the boots are 29we, his inventory 10we, and his slacks are 23we that almost reached the 100 weight limit. And if he uses his new weapon, he would have to sacrifice his cloak which hid his equipment.

In the East Gate, the Oz Forest, his C and E-ranked victims live under a banner of unified peace. Their food are the people who wander in their forest not prepared on how dangerous they are and they actually get strong whenever they defeat them.

But when they faced Siva, with his burning zeal and his angry fist, the weaker monsters cower away as if told by a master. But Siva never let them escape. Not one. Nothing. In his vocabulary, the term “No Mercy” had just been created. And when this zeal becomes a smile on his lips, all cowering monsters are enchanted into coming after him.

That is his initial ability.

He crushed, he punched, he kicked, he smashed, and he literally murdered the monsters using any means he had in his immediate surroundings.

Rocks, sticks, plants, even the small rodents, he used them all as weapons and bait.

His fights weren’t the ones seen in a classical movie where the hero slashed his weapon in a cool manner. No. His fights looked more like a brawl between an ox and a man trying to strangle it to death.

The only big difference is just C-ranked monsters don’t look like the animals you can see in an animal encyclopedia. With their large tusks made to skewer anything to death, fangs that’s big enough to measure an arm, eyes that can spurt off some form of acid, and some of them literally can make tornado with just a flap of its wing or a single roar, they were enough to put any conservative hunter to his most coward state.

But Siva braved it all bare handed.

He had a roar of his own.

And whenever he did that, the monsters would either get serious or they would get slaughtered.

Siva’s fights all looked like that. His weapon is an arm equipment that he can summon anytime with just a voice command or just his thought.

Human Technology, as per told in Terroa’s storyline, had reached the point where the Neurolink Device was literally a device implanted in the brain to directly give the user direct control over his equipment. Using the so called Nano Weapons Technology to create weapons in any form, Siva designed his own weapon to be efficient enough to be of use with his own style.

Fist fights.

His weapon, he called Cassius Clay, he only calls in times when fights are actually going to happen. The one reason he had is because it weights a whopping 38we that maximizes his weight management limit.

He had spent a total of two hours just trying to small it down to that weight. Reducing its size reduces total weight. It also reduces its maximum attack power but in terms of practicality, it serves no purpose if you actually had a powerful weapon but you can’t use it because you are moving slower than normal because of overweight.

For that reason, he lowered it down to this exact size just a few centimeters bigger than his hand. It offers comfort in his knuckles, plus, it is durable enough to last a total of 10 fights before maintenance is needed.

With all things regarding efficiency and proficiency in combat, Siva had settled on his current equipment. After all, it was all his materials could only provide.

Right now, he was fighting a C-ranked monster that he saw lurking in the forest alone.

It was a large bird monster that walks and fly. It has a large beak for picking its enemy but whenever it is in an agitated state, it can let out a scream loud enough to put anyone in disarray.

Siva was struggling to shut it up using vines that he had pulled out from somewhere.

He tied its mouth three times and was now in the process of tying up a lock on the back of its head. There are three others more like that in the vicinity but having him hugging one of their companions made the three large birds called Cleopa to think twice before they start to attack Siva.

When he finished, he jumped off and made distance between him and them.

He prepared himself for his next attack.

Three had been shut up and one more to go. Siva could have punched them all but one of the things that made it difficult was that these monsters are all bright bastards despite the understanding of them being birds.

“You guys are pain in the ass…”

SQUAWK!

The last one screeched loudly as it tried to scratch the three’s mouth bindings. Siva rushed and prepared the vine rope while he clenched his fist to do one of his counter attack.

When the last open mouthed monster saw him, it did a turn and covered its face with its sturdy wings.

But Siva had learned the mistake of attacking it. Just a few hours earlier, he tried to punch his way through that thick feathered limb but ended up wounded instead because it has this ability to stiffen up into blades when hit on impact.

Luckily, he bought a basic healing gem and so fatal injuries were averted in exchange of Z1000 worth item.

But that doesn’t mean that his fight was over. He had been successful on immobilizing their wings by hitting it underneath so they couldn’t fly even if they wanted to. Also, these monsters can’t run that fast and he can catch them when they try. But he himself is in a tight spot. This is a four versus one fight. Normally, hunting teams would fight C-ranked monsters in groups and ensure that everyone is going to be safe after the fight, but he is defying that logic by fighting them all alone.

It never was easy.

E-ranked monsters, though they are relatively weak, once they got you surrounded, you are a goner. A few beginners had already been through the mistake of taking it lightly and found themselves regretting that.

D-rank monsters are the same. They had abilities that can put a player in a bind if not careful and Siva dealt them with utmost care.

C-ranked monsters are different. Though they are creatures who gather and wander the forest in smaller groups, they are still capable of annihilating a whole group of hunters if they wanted to. Siva knew, if he stay like this, he would belong to the numbers that miserably failed to defend their life.

I can’t afford to commit that mistake!

Steeling his resolve, Siva rushed in and dived. The three monsters that had their mouths shut off all stood in his way and covered their faces with their wings.

“You can‘t fool me twice!”

He shouted and punched the air. An impact of wind, one meter away from the nearest monster, broke its defensive stance and the wings flipped up, broken, with its painful roar.

Siva jumped and kicked its chin, doing a somersault and a punch that drove the creature down to its knee. A weakness on these monsters are their chests. Though it looked like they are bulgy, once you got through their superior defense, everything about them is open and vulnerable to a devastating attack.

He did that again and finished the second one. It fell on the ground, shaking, with its tongue protruding out its mouth and eyes looking up.

Finally when the monsters are just the two last one, the last open mouthed monster let out a roar that was different from the usual. At this, Siva felt a tingle on his nape that spread throughout his body. It was some sort of chill that tells you that there are more troubles coming your way.

The one with a bandaged mouth tried to escape but Siva threw a rock towards its head that made it turn in anger and a blazing stare.

“That‘s right. No turning back prideful bastard!”

He murmured and wore a sinister smile. In his eyes, what these two looked like were fried chickens, moving and trying to get away from his plate. Now that he think about it, he haven’t eaten anything like that for the past week since he started Terroa. This made his eyes burn more with his eagerness to put these two on the list of his next murdered victims.

“Hahahahaha…”

With the swelling feeling in his chest, a laugh escape his mouth as he straightened his pose, slowly, casually walking towards the two birds who also felt the effect of the activation of his unique skill.