CRUNCH. SPLAT.

Blood and leaves were stepped on indifferently. Kurushimi was slowly pacing herself through the gaps between the trees, following the trail of blood. Despite the fact she was currently chasing the pullumskāl, Kurushimi wasn’t in any rush. Kurushimi gazed down at the pooling blood on the ground.

“From the amount of blood, it seems to be bleeding pretty heavily. So it should end up tiring itself out while trying to run away… and I should be able to catch it then.”

Kurushimi stretched and yawned as she unhurriedly stepped forth.

“Or at least, In a game I played a bit ago, that’s how it was… The game was pretty realistic and the logic makes sense!”

Kurushimi suddenly came to a stop and stared at the ground. The trail of blood had abruptly stopped. Normally, you would think that the pullumskāl would be lying at the end of the trail but it was nowhere to be found.

“It… Shouldn’t have gone far from here.”

Kurushimi began to look around and try to find any more spots of blood that could indicate the direction the pullumskāl went.

“Ah! The bush! The bush!”

A small amount of blood was lying stagnant on the leaves of a nearby bush. Kurushimi quickly ran over towards the bush, now that she had found where the pullumskāl had likely gone. But as Kurushimi stepped through the bush, to her surprise she suddenly began to fall.

“Uwaaaahh! Shit!”

The land she had expected to be placing her foot on wasn’t there. It would seem that the bush was sneakily hiding a small cliff, in which Kurushimi had fallen victim to.

Kurushimi’s hands and sleeves were covered in dirt from the fall. Wiping away the dirt, she slowly looked up to see more blood pooled near her. Kurushimi coughed and slowly stood herself up.

“That was a shock but it seems the pullumskāl did go this way after all~”

Kurushimi patted herself down and looked ahead. Before her stood the pullumskāl, standing in front of her but not running away. But much to Kurushimi’s dismay, it wasn’t that the pullumskāl had finally exhausted itself and came to a stop.

“Tch, well this might be bad…”

Kurushimi furrowed her brows. Gritting her teeth, her eyes worriedly swept the field in front of her. Along with the pullumskāl she had been chasing, quite a few more pullumskāl’s were aggressively eyeing her.

-They... don’t look happy.

《Used skill: 『Appraisal Lvl. 1』!》

《pullumskāl Lvl. 9》

《pullumskāl Lvl. 8》

《pullumskāl Lvl. 11》

《pullumskāl Lvl. 10》

《pullumskāl Lvl. 13》

There were 4 more pullumskāls than the original Lvl. 9 pullumskāl she was chasing. Now, Kurushimi was confident that she could take on just one pullumskāl. Possibly she could even take on two pullumskāl’s at once now. But could she take on 4 pullumskāls at once? Kurushimi didn’t know but the pullumskāls before her definitely didn’t care.

With a small cliff face behind her and 5 pullumskāls surrounding her, there wasn’t really anywhere to run. Kurushimi wasn’t given any more time to think as one of the pullumskāls rushed towards her.

The pullumskāl jumped at her, brandishing its sharp toe claws. If those terrible claws made contact with Kurushimi’s flesh, that flesh wouldn’t be on her body for long. Kurushimi began to solidify and harden her shadow.

《Used skill: 『Shadow magic Lvl. 2』!》

Kurushimi swung her arm up, in the general direction of the incoming pullumskāl. The partially solidified shadow rose up in an instant, forming a tall and daunting wave of shadow. The pullumskāl claw and dense wall of shadow collided.

Though the wall was only able to stop the claw from reaching her and ended up disintegrating upon impact, that was all Kurushimi wanted from the wave at the moment anyway. With her other hand, Kurushimi formed it into a claw and attempted to send another wave of shadow towards the airborne pullumskāl.

《Used skill: 『Shadow magic Lvl. 2』!》

But Kurushimi quickly had to retract her shadow as another pullumskāl had jumped at her in the meantime. Kurushimi did her best to pull the shadow back to stop the other pullumskāl from driving its claw into her side.

“Gyah! My control still isn’t good enough!”

Kurushimi shouted as one of the pullumskāl’s claws dug into her side. She had just managed to pull her shadow back enough to successfully block two of the pullumskāl’s claws but couldn’t stop the third from getting through and stabbing her in the hip.

《Used skill: 『Blood magic Lvl. 2』!》

As her blood splattered outwards, Kurushimi made sure not to waste the blood. The blood crystallized into a sharp thorn of blood that spiked outwards, counter-striking the pullumskāl.

“Die!”

Kurushimi shouted out towards the pullumskāl and not long after, the blood that it had bled through its wound similarly crystallized and ruptured across its body. Kurushimi watched her gruesome handy work and smiled with satisfaction.

Previously, she had only been able to slash with blood at high speeds to cut things. But now, using the same theory as when she condensed her shadow, she had learnt to change the state of matter entirely. Not only that but she could change her enemies own blood and turn it into a weapon to use against them.

However, Kurushimi needed to damage the target first. She couldn’t straight up control the blood of others like that just yet. Even so, Kurushimi was proud of her advancements in using magic.

《Skill proficiency reached. Skill: 『Blood magic Lvl. 2』 has become 『Blood magic Lvl. 3』》

“Haha, I can’t wait to see what the higher levels of ‘Blood magic’ will look like!”

Kurushimi noticed the system notification of her skill leveling up. Seeing her skill was only Lvl. 3, she wondered what it would be like when she leveled the skill to a higher point. She had previously seen that Karshak’s ‘Body transformation stage one’ had managed to reach Lvl. 17.

The pullumskāls that surrounded Kurushimi momentarily faltered after seeing their buddy turned into a living piñata. But with their numbers, they were still confident they could easily overwhelm Kurushimi. Not to mention the fact that taking out the pullumskāl in that manner had cost her greatly in the sense of a deep wound in her hip.

Kurushimi’s breathing was a little ragged. Sadly, unlike a game, taking damage meant she couldn’t perform as well. In a game, you could be 1 HP and still be able to do anything you could at full HP. Unfortunately for Kurushimi, she wasn’t playing a videogame right now.

-I need to get to the body of the pullumskāl I just injured… If I can get there, I can use ‘Fangs’ to heal myself.

But the pullumskāls still stood nearby. And it was highly unlikely that they would let her get to the injured pullumskāl for free. Even if they didn’t know that Kurushimi could heal herself by drinking its blood, they still wouldn’t want her getting close to their injured friend.

Presently, Kurushimi and the pullumskāls were in a bit of a stalemate. Neither side was making a single move. Both sides wanted to watch the other and observe each other's actions. Kurushimi knew that the second she moved, the pullumskāls would move too. Kurushimi had to use her time smartly.

-I just need a few seconds. If I can charge ‘Short-distance teleportation’, I can get a headstart and dash for the injured pullumskāl! I have high AGI so I could get there well before them with the help of ‘Short-distance teleportation’!

Kurushimi nervously watched the pullumskāls. They had started to get rowdy, not seeing Kurushimi make any movements. If they predicted her ‘Short-distance teleportation’ and ran towards the injured pullumskāl too early, she could easily get jumped on by the three before she could get a chance to use ‘Fangs’.

And then suddenly, the original Lvl. 9 pullumskāl started moving. This one had the most experience fighting Kurushimi out of the group and had seen Kurushimi’s ‘Short-distance teleportation’ trick before.

-Shit, does it know what I’m gonna do?! I still need a second!

The Lvl.9 pullumskāl rushed forward. The pullumskāls behind it followed.

《Used skill: 『Short-distance teleportation Lvl. 1』!》

At the same time, Kurushimi had finally activated ‘Short-distance teleportation’.