When the night was about to fall, Edward went back into the forest, ready for round two. He had managed to kill one monster the night before, albeit with some difficulties. Now he wanted to repeat the experience and improve his killing technique. The last time was his first try, but this night he planned to go further, if everything went well with the first monster he would continue to hunt. After all, if he could continue to hunt, why stop? Every beast he killed made him slightly stronger and closer to the aim of avenging Adrien.

He did the same thing as last time, staying in place for a few minutes before hiding under a layer of leaves with his aura restrained. This time he had gone further inside the forest, he could see some of the flowers’ trees not so far away. He had to wait for almost half an hour for a monster to find him when he was at the outer edge of the forest, he wanted them to find him faster this time. He wasn’t afraid and henceforth knew how to deal with them.

After about a dozen minutes Edward felt something strange happen nearby. What was that? I didn’t dream, right? I felt something happen, I can’t even say how I felt it, but I did. He focused on his aura perception and felt that one of the monsters had appeared in his vicinity. Okay, let the hunt begin. The monster was too far away for Edward to jump on him by surprise, but now he was confident enough to face them frontally. He simply left his hideout not bothering to hide, after all, he didn’t want the monster to miss him and teleport away. Then, he would have no way to chase it.

“Hey, you, come at me if you dare!” he shouted at the monster who turn to face him before teleporting behind him. Déjà vu. He thought while slashing his dagger behind him, the monster teleporting away. Um? I felt this thing again, just like before the monster arrived here. Wait, am I able to feel when this monster is teleporting now? Interesting. Let’s make him teleport a few more times to check this. Indeed, while Edward was fighting against the monster, each time it teleported Edward could feel the same strange sensation. It was as if he could feel a faint tremor for a brief instant when the monster teleported, except the tremor wasn’t in contact with him but rather the place the monster teleported to. If I didn’t have my aura, being able to feel their teleportation would be game-changing. But since I already have my aura perception it is a bit redundant.

Enough testing. Let’s end this. Time for my special trump card. He thought while turning his back to the monster, keeping track of his position with his aura. The monster hesitated, confused by what was happening just like the previous one that Edward had killed. He did the same choice and decided to teleport in front of Edward instead of behind him. Edward immediately finished him with a sharp jab from his dagger, the monster freezing in place before dissipating in a cloud of particles a few seconds later. Edward felt the surge of warm energy flowing inside him. One more to the count. It is almost too easy. Those things are not nightmare material, they are more like scarecrows in the end.

Edward took some time to rest and refocus after this fight. It had been a short fight, and he had been a lot more at ease than last time. Without the stress and tension, this fight hadn’t been too taxing and he felt he could still go on. I can still continue. Let’s go find another. I feel like I will become those monsters’ nightmare in the end. Let’s see who is scared of who.

Edward resumed his walk to get deeper inside the forest, he didn’t repress his aura as he was walking since it would be taxing on his concentration and since he wanted to attract those monsters toward him. Now that I think about it, I didn’t even give them a name. What should I name them? I can’t just call them teleporting monsters all the time. I will probably encounter other monsters with the same ability at one point. I think I will just call them Teleportcrows for now, it suits them. If I really want to roam the wild, I guess I could create my very own monsters’ handbook. That would be cool.

As he was taking one step forward, one of the monsters teleported right behind him and swiped at him quickly with its arm instead of trying to bite him. Edward was caught by surprise and once he sensed the aura of the monster behind him, he had barely the time to make a front roll to avoid being hit. This one is fast. It almost caught me. It isn’t behaving like the others. The Teleportcrow didn’t give Edward any respite and continued to attack him without stopping, teleporting each time Edward tried to strike him. What happened to this one, did it take cocaine or what? Usually, I would turn my back to it, or bait it, but this one isn’t giving me any time. I’m stuck in its rhythm. I have to parry it to avoid getting hit, but I can’t manage to counterattack.

Edward was focused on the fight having to react very quickly to the teleportation of the monster to avoid getting hit. Fortunately, his aura perception and now his space awareness enabled him to sense the monster as it was teleporting around him. Instead of getting nervous Edward was growing more focused. Calm down. For this fight, I need to stick to simple short attacks. If I get angry, I will execute large movements and create an opening for it to hit me. I only need to wait for it to make a mistake. After all, I have a cheat, with my dagger one hit is enough to kill them. Even if I only manage to graze it, it should still apply some damage. He was able to remain somewhat calm thanks to his experience in boxing matches. The stakes were a lot higher in this fight, as the winner would take the life of the loser, but it didn’t mean that the tactics to win were any different.

Finally, the monster stopped its assault, either because it was exhausted or because it wanted to reconsider this fight that should have been easy but that had already lasted for a few minutes. It tilted its head, confused by this weird prey, while Edward was releasing a white puff of hot air from his mouth ready to get back into the fight. And then the monster was gone, it didn’t continue the attacks but simply disappeared. Edward should have been happy that the monster had fled but it made him uneasy instead. I didn’t even have the time to bait this one. It was more aggressive, faster, and clever enough to run away. Can those monsters learn? That is not a piece of great news. Though I should be flatter that it ran away from me. I’m the monster to them now. I should stick with the forest borders for now. Those monsters seem to grow stronger as I go deeper in.

Edward decided to call it a night and to go back to his base. That monster couldn’t deal with him, but he couldn’t deal with it either, at least for now. Edward had the conviction that he would grow stronger and surpass them in time. On his way back he was attacked by another one of those monsters. Seems like they can’t get enough of me. This one was a bit slower and wasn’t as ferocious, Edward had been able to easily avoid its first strike even though it tried to catch him by surprise teleporting behind him without notice.

I could try the same trick, baiting it to teleport in front of me by turning my back to it, but that would be an easy way out of the fight. If I am not able to pull this trick on the more aggressive monsters further in I shouldn’t get used to it. I need to beat this one the hard way. It will enable me to familiarize myself with their way of fighting and to adapt my fighting style. I will try to beat this one fair and square.

Edward and the monster opened a deadly dance, one teleporting here and there trying to get a hit, the other pivoting on himself to counter and attack back. The two of them weren’t really trading hits, each time Edward turned to face the monster it teleported away rather than forcing an attack. Edward focused on his form, trying to minimize his movements to gain speed. His opponent was a spooky glass cannon, it was scary but it could be taken down by one hit. Edward didn’t need to put that much strength in his attacks, but he had to actually manage to hit it. His dagger was an excellent weapon but it wasn’t made for this kind of opponent, the handle of the dagger enabled a good grip to deliver more force and pierce through the armor of an opponent, but it also prevented him from adopting a nimbler reverse grip.

In the end, seeing that he wasn’t fast enough to turn around and stab his opponent, he decided to change his strategy. Just when that Teleportcrow appeared behind his back, Edward quickly delivered a powerful elbow blow to its head. The monster didn’t have the time to react and took the brunt of the attack. This time it didn’t teleport away stunned and surprised by the hit, it gave Edward enough time to turn around and thrust at the monster with his dagger, finishing it. Edward savored the stream of energy flowing into him as the monster turned into dust. He also experienced the same destabilizing sensation as when he killed his first Teleportcrow.

I’m getting better at it. I wonder how many of those monsters are roaming inside the forest. I’ve been in this forest only three times and I have already encountered four of them. They must be quite numerous. Maybe I’m actually doing a good deed while hunting them, regulating their overgrown population. One less monster equals one more shrew he giggled. Maybe I could adopt one, they are so cute with their little noses wiggling.

When he left the forest, he took some time to admire the starry sky. I feel like I will never get bored of it. It is so beautiful, so serene. He still had to walk for some time to get back to the base. I don’t know what time it is, but I’m starting to stay awake late. I only found those monsters during nighttime, it is starting to become exhausting. I will sleep more tonight, if I have to stay awake during the night, I can get up later.

During his sleep, Edward dreamed about huge shrews hunting small Teleportcrows, the Teleportcrows teleporting to avoid the swift shrews running after them. He woke up with a grin on his smile. “What am I even dreaming of?” he said shaking his head. He took his late breakfast with mushrooms and some red berries, went to the river to wash and refresh himself, and went back to the base to check if his physical capacity had improved. This thing is just magical, simply having to kill some beasts to grow in strength makes it so easy. Normally it would take me months of work to get the same results.

He did a series of push-ups, managing to reach 95 push-ups before having to stop exhausted. I was at 85 push-ups yesterday. I killed two monsters since yesterday night, so each time I kill one of those monsters it roughly grows my strength capacity by five more push-ups. I only have to keep it up, I will reach a superhuman level of strength in no time.