Kurushimi furrowed her brows as she held onto her chin. On the side of the mountain, she had a good view of her surroundings. There weren’t really any monsters around the mountain. On the outskirts of the scorched area, it seemed none of the monsters had any intentions to change locations.

This allowed Kurushimi to have a good rest point to relax and avoid conflict when she wanted to. But at the moment, Kurushimi was figuring out her next move. From her high ground, she could see a few lizards in the distance. But her eyes alone weren’t really good enough. Kurushimi began conjuring mana into her eyes.

《Used skill: 『Farsight Lvl. 1』!》

Kurushimi’s sight was enhanced dramatically. The lizards that she could just about see the figures of had become much more detailed. If she felt like it, she could probably count the individual scale on their skin.

Switching from the lizards that were just idling about, she scanned what she could to get as much information of what was in the area as she could. Along with tons of sand, rock and burnt trees, Kurushimi saw quite a few monsters she had yet to see. Mana focused on her eyes once again whilst she observed the new monsters.

《Used skill: 『Appraisal Lvl. 2』!》

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Anguislärj

Lvl. 35

HP: 297/300

MP: 40/40

SP: 182/200

---------------------------------

The first monster Kurushimi appraised appeared to be some kind of snake, called ‘Anguislärj’. Along its back, its skeleton appeared to be on the outside of its body. Most notably on its head, covering the entire thing. The anguislärj was unusually large. When compared to previous monsters, only Karshak could stand up to it in size.

When Kurushimi was appraising it, the anguislärj seemed to be in the middle of eating a salamander. A few other salamanders surrounded the anguislärj. Fire roared from their mouths towards the giant body of the anguislärj, yet it didn’t flinch or catch on fire. Instead, the fire was instantly dispersed as it hit the rib-like ridges along its back.

With the salamander locked in its jaw, the anguislärj wrangled with it, seemingly playing with the still barely alive salamander. The anguislärj was quite obviously a natural predator of the salamanders. The only thing Kurushimi could see that the salamanders had over the anguislärj was numbers. Kurushimi felt a little sorry for the salamanders. It was no wonder why they were so angry.

But it was none of her business. Looking away from the dispute between the salamanders and the anguislärj, Kurushimi scanned around for the next monster to observe. After a second, she finally came to a stop to focus on two new monsters that were fighting. Once again, mana focused on her eyes.

《Used skill: 『Appraisal Lvl. 2』!》

《Avemlärj Lvl. 27》

《Cimex Lvl. 29》

Appraising two monsters at once, Kurushimi only got the name and level of the monsters. Though, she wasn’t too concerned as she could appraise them again some other time. She didn’t need to know their HP and other stats at the moment.

The Avemlärj was a giant bird, resembling a hawk. Its size surmounted to that of a car. Huge talons embroidered its feet, which the Avemlärj used to slash at the Cimex. The Cimex appeared to be some kind of large, insect-like creature.

Though, this one didn’t resemble any kind of insect Kurushimi knew of. It had the basics of an insect. Six legs, an exoskeleton, large eyes. But none of the specific qualities relate towards a known creature. It was one of the more unique monsters she had seen.

The Cimex used its incredibly sharp legs and flexibility to skillfully block the talons of the Avemlärj. Though it still seemed to be struggling a bit to make up for the advantage the Avemlärj has of being able to fly. When the Avemlärj got closer to the ground, the Cimex would attempt to leap and slash the Avemlärj. Though it usually wasn’t successful, the cuts and bleeding on various parts of the Avemlärj shows it has gotten some hits in.

Of what Kurushimi could see with ‘Farsight’ alone, those monsters seemed to be about it. Though, Kurushimi held no doubt that there were probably more monsters hiding about. Whether they were behind hills she couldn’t see or simply hadn’t come out yet, Kurushimi didn’t know. She could only find out.

However, what Kurushimi still found to be strange after observing the area was that only the centre of the area contained monsters. It was convenient for her as she could use the edges to rest but it was weird. Even if the monsters had no intention to leave the area, wouldn’t they still want to occupy the edges?

Kurushimi meandered about the side of the hill as she looked down onto the centre, where all the monsters were. As Kurushimi walked, she noticed her movements getting slower. Her thoughts suddenly began to race out of proportion.

《Used skill: 『Evade Lvl. 3』!》

-Evade activated?

Along with mana consumption, her skill ‘Evade’ activated. Suddenly, the noise of rocks moving besides herself filled her ear. Kurushimi quickly turned to see one of the many large boulders along the hill had begun moving.

The boulder stood up, its standing height being about twice as high than before. The boulder had turned into a more humanoid shape, with a strong and bulky body. The boulder had already reeled back its arm upon standing up.

《Used skill: 『Appraisal Lvl. 2』!》

《Rock golem Lvl. 50》

Performing a quick appraisal, Kurushimi confirmed the boulder to be a monster called a ‘Rock golem’. The rock golem had a decently high level and was evidently a fair bit stronger than Kurushimi. With no more time, the system prompt quickly disappeared as the rock golem’s fist crashed towards Kurushimi.

Kurushimi quickly leaped back to avoid the rock golem’s fist. The heavy formation of rocks slammed into the ground, causing a large rumbling that almost caused Kurushimi to lose her balance and fall over.

“I don’t know if I can fight this one… It’s slow, so it may be possible.”

Kurushimi stared up at the massive rock golem. Staring back, it slowly stepped towards Kurushimi. It was large and heavy, meaning it couldn’t move very fast. Kurushimi wasn’t incredibly confident, but she could probably run if things turned sour. Kurushimi turned around to make sure that the exit was clear if she needed to run.

“Ah, shit.”

Kurushimi frowned and paled a little at the sight. It seemed that the loud rumbling of the rock golem smashing into the ground had awoken various other rock golems. Boulders Kurushimi had previously thought were just normal rocks, started getting up one by one.

《Used skill: 『Appraisal Lvl. 2』!》

《Rock golem Lvl. 47》

《Rock golem Lvl. 52》

《Rock golem Lvl. 49》

Scanning through a few of them, their levels seemed to consistently be around Lvl. 50. She wasn’t confident in beating one of them yet multiple had sprouted up one after another. The rock golems slowly began to move towards Kurushimi.

《Used skill: 『Camouflage Lvl. 1』!》

Kurushimi instantly started conjuring mana around herself. A thin veil surrounded her skin and started to cover her body entirely. But the veil quickly waned after a second and broke.

《Skill: 『Camouflage Lvl. 1』has failed!》

With nowhere to blend into in the area, ‘Camouflage’ had failed to activate. Kurushimi had guessed this would happen but wanted to attempt it anyway. She knew she had ‘Shadow veil’ to use, but she was hesitant to use it as the skill wouldn’t fully hide her location. The skill allowed her to hide herself in an open area but the mist would tell others of her general location. Regardless, it was better than nothing.

《Used skill: 『Shadow veil Lvl. 1』!》

Upon activation, a shadowy mist spread around Kurushimi. The veil once again formed around her skin and took on a black hue, indicating it had successfully activated. But as the mist spread around, the rock golems didn’t show much signs of confusion.

Suddenly, the closest rock golem lifted both of its arms. Kurushimi quickly started moving, thinking it was going to try and slam the mist and hit her. But the rock golem didn’t aim for the mist. Slamming the ground nearby, a large shockwave was generated.

Kurushimi faltered as she raised her hands above her face to stop rocks and dirt from getting in her eyes. When the shockwave finished, she dropped her arms to look around herself. The black mist had completely disappeared. Blown away by the shockwave.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

The black tinted veil began to wane and disappear without the black to mist to blend into. Shortly afterwards, she was placed right back into the situation she was in before. Only, the rock golems had gotten closer and grown in number.

As one rock golem lifted its fist to slam the ground Kurushimi stood on, Kurushimi tried her best to dodge the attack. Successfully dodging it, she was immediately greeted by another rock golem slamming down towards the ground.

But with her balance being disrupted by the shockwave from the previous attack, Kurushimi found it much harder to avoid the attack. Realising she wouldn’t be able to dodge it by conventional means, Kurushimi charged mana and hoped she would have enough time.

《Used skill: 『Short-distance teleportation Lvl. 2』!》

Kurushimi blinked out of the way of the rock golem’s attack, barely avoiding what most likely would be certain death. Kurushimi landed on the ground that had begun shaking again by the rock golem’s fierce ground slam.

《Used skill: 『Evade Lvl. 3』!》

But upon landing, ‘Evade’ activated once again. But before being able to attempt dodging again, she was struck in the back by a strong impact. Flung through the air, Kurushimi landed and tumbled across the ground. Kurushimi coughed up large amounts of blood onto the ground. It felt like she had broken all the bones in her back.

The fist of the rock golem was still held in the air. Presumably, that was what she had been hit by. Coughing up more blood along with the intense feeling of pain in her back, Kurushimi chuckled and rolled onto her back.

“I guess this is why none of the monsters were approaching the edge… Haha.”

Kurushimi spoke quietly with a hoarse voice. With a final laugh, A rock golem fist quickly turned her vision black. The sound of cracking and bones being crushed could be heard. Blood leaked out from the space between the rock golem’s fist and the ground.