Author's Note: Internet still sucks, had to go to a cafe to post chapter, i'm happy since my project got accepted at college, thank you all for reading neo cosmos :)

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The Forest Part III

Why is the Orthoros resting in the middle of this path? It’s the only part of the forest where monsters don’t come. The only safe path that would help us in, travelling to and back from the city. This is odd, why would a monster of its size come here, where it can’t hunt for any food?

Hmm…..although I can’t tell from this far, I can estimate its size to be about seven feet, much larger than the even the adults in the village. What’s worse is its body, which is wide enough to cover half a house. That is quite large.

Is it intelligent enough to know that humans will come from this path? I don’t think it would be waiting always in this place, since the carriage won’t leave for a month again. Or is it waiting here every odd day to attack to those who pass this way?

I still don’t know much about monsters, they show intelligence to a certain level. But at the end they simply rely on their existing strength rather than tactics. As I was watching the Orthoros, it gets up and starts moving away from the path. It starts going northwest from its current location.

Maybe it’s returning now. Hmm…. It’s just a guess at this stage but I think it hunts for certain monsters to satisfy its hunger but comes to rest here after consuming.

This is bad……. If it starts staying in that place, the carriage won’t have a safe route anymore. Its best I inform this to Guez, looks like trading with the city became much harder. By the time I returned the necessary fruits and herbs were gathered. I told Guez about what I saw. He was silent, it looked like he had been thinking about this for some time now. Maybe since I reported this, his guess was the same as mine. The Orthoros might be there waiting to hunt the humans who passed through.

We all returned to the village. I was tasked with carrying one of the heavy baskets. I learned that Dari also knew how to compound medicine from the herbs we had brought. It looks like the medicine helped a lot of people in this village. I requested him to teach me how to compound, I knew it would help me in the future if I could prepare medicine during dangerous situations where I wouldn’t simply be able to buy it.

He taught me the basics and gave me a book about various herbs I could use in compounding. I tried my hand at it, but it wasn’t successful. I used [ Backtrack ] to retry the actions where I had failed. I never practiced medicine in my previous life, so it was quite difficult. After retrying for ten times I finally got the hang of it. I was able to create the medicinal liquid after grinding the herbs against the pestle many times.

I thought I would obtain a skill in creating medicine. But there wasn’t any change in [ Status ]. Does that mean I knew and understood how to prepare medicine but it wasn’t good enough or was it because there was no skill to affiliated with compounding? The basics were simple, all I had to do was crush the collected herbs in the mortar against a pestle. Maybe it was a simple enough skill for anyone to do, if they had the knowledge of existing medicinal plants. I memorized all the herbs within the Carthos Continent and stored them onto [ Info ].

I asked Dari, thinking that he may have the skill with him. He replied to me that he didn’t. Seeing that even the one who thought me also didn’t have it, it would be mean that there were only certain things categorized as achievements of some sort to be called as Skills. Since the [ Status ] mostly does is show information on such things which already existed in this world. Maybe nobody actually had the compounding skill.

So why did skills like [ Organizing ] and [ Exploring ] exist? I can ask Dari and the others, but I’ll wait till I can figure it out by myself. There’s a chance that they may not know, since I didn’t find any books which described in detail about [ Status ] magic.

Guez came later and went alone with Dari to have a chat. I suppose he’s going to inform Dari about the Orthoros recent behavior. I wonder if I can defeat that beast the way I currently am.

------------Day 6-------------

I planned on searching the forest again today, but I had to help Sara first with the chores. I quickly finished them and headed out. I wonder if she’s getting suspicious because of my recent actions.

If possible I wanted to tail the Orthoros today, I wanted to gain as much information about it. I wanted to know the location of its habitat, the skills it could use, its movements and also if it had any weaknesses. I could defeat it if I had enough information. But I also had other things on my mind to do, when I’d enter the forest today.

…….

I quickly checked all the areas I had been in, in case there were any changes. It looks like there wasn’t much difference as the previous days. I enlarged the bag I had before and attached it to my shoulder. I was able to create some medicine from the herbs I had collected before. I wanted to collect some other herbs and give them a try at compounding. Along with the Orthoros, I wanted to try and find the Somniferon.

From what I read about it from the encyclopedia(picture book). It said that the Somniferon held the sleep inducing agent within its leaf like appendages. If I could kill it and compound the appendages, then maybe I can create a sleep drug which could help me against different monsters.

I went ahead and checked the area further. Having [ Force Rush ] made it easier to search faster. I was able to find a few Somniferon, I cautioned myself to be careful so that I don’t get caught in their trap. By controlling my speed with [ Force Rush ] , I pierced them with the dagger. They easily died and I was able to get their leaves. I thought the leaves would be more flesh-like but they actually felt like the leaves from trees. The creatures of this world always intrigue me. More like I feel stupid trying to understand every time monsters like these come and go.

Once I entered deeper into the forest, I was able to scan for many monsters within the vicinity. It looks like the further from the village I go, the more monsters appeared.

I mostly found Iron Boars and Claw wolves, since I already had enough information on them I left. Surveying an area of an extra mile wouldn’t get me more information anyway. Since I had finished today’s quota, I went near the path and headed in the direction the Orthoros left the other day.

The Orthoros hadn’t shown up today, maybe it only came to the path on certain days. If I can figure out the timings, it would help me since I wouldn’t have to fight it. I looked at the ground and I could see the large footprints of the beast. It must be quite heavy due to its size.

I followed the footprints hoping they would lead me to it. After a while, I could see large dense mana entities clashing some distance away from my current location. I headed there to observe. I lay hiding in the trees as I watched the two monsters face off each other.

It was the Orthoros on one side and an Iron Boar on the other side. If I looked at it closely enough, the Iron boar looked familiar to the one I had seen a few days ago. It seems the Orthoros planned on hunting for boar meat and had encountered the large one. Both the heads seemed eager to kill it. The boar had the same expression when I saw it face off against the claw wolf days ago.

I wondered if the boar could take out the Orthoros, if it did that would really help me. Since the boar seemed like a herbivore, it wouldn’t needlessly attack humans. As I was watching with my [ Mana Sight], the boar was ready to use [ Force Rush ] on the Orthoros.

Just like last time, the mana went to its legs and this time I waited patiently to clearly observe its speed. The Boar rushed at the beast and the speed was insane. It was a little less than the third level I concluded but still fast nonetheless. If I practiced enough I could dodge it, while timing it.

…………Huh?!

I look at the area in which they fought, it seems the boar collided with the beast. There’s dust cloud rising due to the impact. Maybe the Orthoros was studier than the Claw Wolf to be defeated that easily.

The dust is slowly fading away and I can see the two monsters still engaged. The Boar is stuck to the Orthoros. It looks like the iron tusks are fixed into the Orthoros skin. The Orthoros looks to be pain, the damage from the boar must’ve been great.

The boar struggles for a while, but it can’t seem get out. The Ortho doesn’t miss this chance and bites into the boar’s flesh.

…….it bit through that iron hide? What are its teeth made of?

One head of the Ortho bit the left side of the boar and the other to its right. The Ortho lifted up the boar and started pulling both sides using its heads.

It was only a few moments…….but boar’s body had been separated on both sides. Its blood was flowing over the area. The tusks which were fixed to the Ortho’s skin were removed because of this. I could see it, but couldn’t believe it. The defense on the boar was ignored and instead it was simply pulled apart by the Ortho’s strength.

I can’t defeat it. Not in my current state. Even if I wear my defense, the Ortho won’t care. All it needs to do is focus its strength on my body instead. I can understand why none of the monsters want to go against it. It’ll rip me apart just like the boar.

So does that mean we can’t do anything against it? The strongest probable monster in the forest is trying to hunt humans by going on the only safest path. Is there nothing that can be done to kill it?

No…..let’s observe a little longer. I can confirm that its eyes can be a possible weakness. If it can’t see then it will be a disadvantage.

I observe the Ortho for the next few hours, it left after it had gorged on the boar’s meat. Next I see it fight against two Claw Wolves. But they’re also beaten easily. One head takes care of the claw attacks, the other motions the entire body to slam against the wolves when they begin to attack. Maybe the Ortho has decent knowledge on the monsters here and how to counter them.

It doesn’t try to attack any of the Somniferon. So it’s cautious about their self defense mechanism or maybe it just can’t notice them since they can hide well.

But having two heads, I didn’t think it would twice the amount of senses against many monsters. Even if I disable one’s sense the other will attack. Its speed isn’t much, but it can catch a person if it aims at it.

It had a wider vision, greater hearing and it probably distinct different scents accurately because of having two noses. Since its appearance is that of a dog, I think it may have the same characteristics. It has advantage against many numbers and can hold its own against single attacks. I don’t really want to fight it, I have to prepare the best environment favorable to me if I want to even a chance to graze against it. The damage from the boar isn’t much visible now, so it even has fast regeneration.

I didn’t think it would have so much coordination between the heads, that’s mostly the reason it’s so strong. I follow the Ortho until it reached a cave. The cave was located beneath a cliff and almost no monsters were around the vicinity. This must be its territory. From the village to this cave, I assume it’s about five miles.

I could probably reach back to the village within an hour if I used the trees to jump from one to another. If I used [ Force Rush ], probably would take thirty minutes.

So I returned to the village after marking the beast’s location in my map. I started compounding the Somniferon leaves and other herbs I had taken with me. I tested the sleep drug on the Griffons. Have a nice nap guys. The other herbs helped me make some potions, their effect at best was to relieve from stress and fatigue. It would be more helpful to the adults than me.

Although I added only a little, it seems the drug made them sleepy. If I added more, perhaps they’d instantly fall asleep. I hardened the liquid by heating it a little in the kitchen. I molded the drug to the size of a ping pong ball. If anyone swallowed this, I don’t know what kind of effects it would cause. Maybe I should try it on someone in the village. I’m only putting them to sleep, there’s no harm in that. No harm at all.

I don’t know how I can use it against the Ortho. If I could make it swallow this, I’d have a chance against it.

I overheard Dari and Guez talking. Guez was planning on gathering most of the hunters of the village and to attack the Orthoros in a few days after he healed himself completely.

……this is bad. I know the Ortho could handle itself even if all the hunters in the village went to attack it together. It looks like I’ll have to fight it myself. I can’t ask them for help, no adult would ever listen to a child. If they’re planning on attacking it in a few days, then I can’t really figure out at what point they may do it.

Thinking of how to survive against it, I made a plan to defeat the Ortho. I went to sleep, I needed rest now. So I could make use of all my current abilities in my best condition tomorrow. Yes, I’ll beat it somehow and end this threat somehow. Even if I can’t defeat, I’ll make sure it can’t harm the villagers anymore. I have to make sure I survive if I plan on seeing this whole world.

-----------Day 7--------------

I get up and start making preparations for today, I attach a small blade at the end of my pole. I can use the pole to pierce from a distance now. I check by hardening it, looks like [ Enhance Weapon ] makes it seem more sharper than before. I get the sleep inducing drug I made yesterday as well.

There were no chores today, so I headed out early. I wonder where Sara left so early for. I didn’t want to meet Gina and Targ today. There was a lot be done and I couldn’t be distracted today. If I don’t do what I need to, then I can’t say how many will die.

Since it’s a little early in the morning, the guards would be a little sleepy and they would be changing shifts right now. I quickly jumped over the wall. I felt a gaze nearby, was someone watching me? If I can be a little quicker, maybe they won’t know it was me who went out. I really don’t want anyone to recognize my face, so I don’t face back for long. Even if somebody saw me today, I don’t think they’ll convince themselves that it was a child who did something like jump over the wall.

Sure they may come check again at a later time, but I won’t be going to the forest anytime soon after this. Alright, that’s enough distractions. My mind needs to be ready to handle anything that may happen.

I jump to the trees using [ Force Rush ] and start hopping from one to another. I follow the direction on my map to reach the marked location. I avoid the monsters I detected along the way. Iron Boars and Claw Wolves don’t climb the trees so I’ll be safe. Somniferons are mostly shy so they wouldn’t actually come against me unless they felt danger. So I reached the cave with a lot of time to spare.

I waited on the tree until the Ortho left to hunt. It took some time, but finally it had vacated the cave. The cave seemed a little dark, I didn’t want to use the cave as the ground to fight it, since I didn’t know whether the Ortho could see effectively in the dark or not.

So I started making small trenches and small holes in the ground near the cave. The holes weren’t visible since I had covered them with a little sand from near the river. The Ortho would lose its balance if it didn’t know what type of ground it was fighting on.

I practiced the tactics I would use, the form I needed to take and any other plans in case I couldn’t defeat it. I was careful, extremely careful. One small mistake and I would die.

After done with my preparations, I hid until the Ortho returned. It took a few hours, so I had enough time repeat the simulation of fighting against in my head ready. If I was able to at least disable one head then that would be my victory.

It returned after a long time. Looks like it didn’t get anything much to hunt today. Now that I take a close look at it, it doesn’t seem similar to the one in the book. It has a lot of white fur over it, was this one a variant. It was already planning to head back in to the cave.

…….wait? why would it do something like that? Any beast would normally head back to its lair only when the night would be arriving. So is it returning just to rest? Can it survive without food for a day?

Damn it. If it returns now, then my plan will fail. I’ll have to bait it. I threw a stone at one of the heads. *smack* it hit the mark, on the head. The Ortho looked at me in surprise. That means no other monster dared to come near its lair. But its surprised look changed into one with hunger, like it had found a prey today after a long time. It was drooling. I like dogs, but the face this one is making , that’s one ugly mut.

I readied my stance, waiting for it to attack. The Ortho glanced at me and even though it saw my pole, it didn’t look like it cared. Maybe it was underestimating me because of my size. Either way it wasn’t focusing on the uneven ground.

*slip* Its front leg got stuck in one of the holes I dug. It was only a single moment and when it was confused I took the chance to strike it. I used [ Force Rush ] and pierced its eye using the pole and quickly drew back. The head on the right felt agony and shook its head with force. There was a lot of blood coming from the right eye. I used [ Backtrack ] to see how it would react to the pain. I shouldn’t let any chance escape now that it’s injured, keep attacking without giving it a moments rest. The Ortho probably can’t understand the situation yet.

I check its movements, it would turn around to stop my attacks using its other head, while the head with the injured eye recovers. I use [ Force Rush ] , but this time twice. Once to the front and next to its left where the injured face was turning towards. Again this time, I pierced the left eye of the right head.

The Ortho seemed shocked, I had eliminated the possibility of sight on one head. But I couldn’t confirm whether it could also regenerate the eyes as well. Waiting for the Ortho to react, I used [ Backtrack ] waiting for its next possible movement.

……there was none. The Ortho stood its place observing me. Looks like its guard is up, I can’t carelessly attack it now. I’ve already readied myself with [Enhanced Defense] in case it was going to attack. I’ll use [ Force Rush] to dodge if it neared too much. My defense will be ignored if I get caught.

I stopped using [ Backtrack ], since it wasn’t moving. I shouldn’t waste too much mana on it. [ Backtrack ] can’t perfectly predict, but I can only know if my other experiences have recorded most of its actions. I approach it , trying to provoke it to attack me. But it’s failing. Maybe it realized, I wasn’t easy prey. This is one intelligent monster, I wish it was just dumb like the claw wolves.

I’ve got no choice I need to attack. I take my stance to attack and move towards the Ortho. I don’t use [ Force Rush ], since I can only use it continuously for a limited number of times. It only stands waiting for my attack to reach. When I come near enough, it starts backing away. This thing is too careful. If it takes too long, I’ll be at a disadvantage. It’s making me enter into a battle of attrition.

I use [ Force Rush ] at this chance to completely disable the right head. I try to get rid of it, by piercing its throat. The tip of the pole which you could now consider a spear pierces the throat but it’s hard to pull it out now. Is it the body fat? Damn it, so that’s why the boar couldn’t free itself easily.

Before I could react, the Ortho grabs the spear in its mouth using the left head and pull me away. I try to let go but before I could do that it pushes me into the cave.

I get up, now I don’t have the spear to attack. I can only use the dagger and the wooden sword to fight. The sword won’t be sharp even if I use [ Enhance Weapon ], but I can probably use it to inflict blunt trauma. I’ll save the dagger for last.

The Ortho rushes at me with intent to kill. I can feel its bloodlust. I couldn’t move and during that moment it grabs my hand using its mouth.

Before the other head can recover, I should be able to hurt it enough, is what I was thinking. Even though it held me I was confident I could kill it since the other head was injured enough, even if I was in the cave. But what happened next …….

From the middle of its two heads, there was some space covered by fur. I thought the book described the average Orthoros and this one was a variant with fur. But now I knew, I was wrong. I wouldn’t have imagined this happening. Something emerged from between the two heads.

It was another head.

…..this thing ….it isn’t a Orthoros. It’s a Cerberus.

I was shocked and didn’t realize the new head had captured my other arm. This thing, I should’ve guessed it. It was intelligent. It understood how to counter monsters, so it shouldn’t have been impossible that it kept a trump card. While holding the palm of my hand in its mouth, it looked like it was smiling. Like the prey was in its trap. I understood now, why there was a cave here? Why it pushed me there? Why it would go to the length of sacrificing one head just for that sake? It wanted to kill me, where this head would hidden from others? Even in this situation, it was able to make that call.

I knew what would happen next, just like the boar, my body would also be ripped into two. Even if my [ Enhanced Defense ] could hold its external attacks, it couldn’t strengthen my inner bones and ligaments which were still developing in this child’s body.

I really hated that smiling look on its face. It pissed me off for some reason.

But after a while its face contorted. The Cerberus looked at me with a questioned look. It was probably wondering why was I was smiling. That’s right, I was smiling. I didn’t know this thing was a Cerberus, but I had seen its attack against the boar and knew that was the only way this mut could hurt me.

So when it grab my hands or feet or the sides of my body to kill me. I had already rubbed on myself the sleep drug. Thought none of it came to my face, I also attached two of the large balls I made yesterday. I threw them as hard as I could into its throat.

The Cerberus let my hands free, I knew that even if the drug didn’t work it would confuse the beast to let go making it think I made it swallow some sort of poison. But it was staggering now, that meant the drug worked.

It lost its balance and fell. I took this chance and pierced the three heads using my dagger. It was a little hard, but I was able finally cut of the heads.

Let me hope, this thing can’t regenerate even from something like that. It shouldn’t be possible right. It could heal fast, but not grow back all heads.

As the dead body laid there , I leaned against the wall in the cave. I was dead tired. I was exhausted, more mentally though. I was shocked it had something like an extra head. I don’t know the relation between the Orthoros and Cerberus to understand how the physiology of the monsters worked.

I was resting and when simply looking at the cave. I found a pair of limbs. It wasn’t a monster’s. It was a human’s legs. I didn’t want to know, since it could be Targ’s father. I checked anyway. I don’t think he would be alive by now. It had been almost a week.

When I went and checked it, I saw. The head was completely mangled. I couldn’t recognize the face, but the clothes were similar to the villagers. The body had a tattoo on its left hand, which showed that he was a hunter from our village. I didn’t want to accept it, but the corpse which had its right half completely missing would understandably be Targ’s father. This monster, it saved up corpses in case it didn’t get any food on certain days.

I wanted to get angry, but the beast was dead and I felt empty. I noticed that the corpse was holding onto something in its left hand. I opened it and it looked something like a pendant. Maybe it was a family heirloom. I’ll give it to Targ when I get back to the village.

I felt empty, I didn’t want to move after seeing the corpse. My mind imagined the corpse could’ve been anyone from my family as well. It was at that time, a certain memory appeared in my head. It was my past life. I remember it perfectly now. I was crying, I couldn’t help my parents on that planet. They died. I was alone for a long time. Tears welled up in my current body, I thought my previous memories didn’t bother me. I was crying not just because I lost them, but also because I could lose the parents I had in this world too.

I felt powerless. If I left the village, I could explore but what if something happened to them when I wasn’t there. Could I live with that? What if a monster stronger than this Cerberus appeared, could I still protect them even if I found out how? The people in the village were kind. There were all kinds of people, and everyone had lost someone important to them there. So they cherished the bond they had between each other.

I don’t know the circumstances as to why a village was there. But I was certain that it wouldn’t always be a safe place to stay. Nobody ever left the village, so that would mean something had kept them inside for some reason. I didn’t know why yet.

But my mind was still showing it, I knew there would be a time where I would lose them. I didn’t want that. I wanted to save them at any cost. They were all I had to protect. They were treasures greater than anything.

They were Family.

I wanted to protect them.

I got a nagging feeling in my mind. Whenever the [Status] changed this feeling came and went. I opened my [ Status ].

Then let’s protect them.

I was shocked at what I saw. It was a message of some sort and my [ Status ] was showing it to me similar to [ Info ]. Then when I prodded it, it went to my skill.

Unique: Gift of Time

Backtrack: Can secure your future experience and return them to the present time.

Chamber: By enhancing your thinking ability, you can think with a speed where time would not seem to move.

Ability3: Sending the information to the past self to change the future. Caution advised not to use, since time would be affected for your present self. If the past changes to something different from the future, the time lived by the sender will be transferred to the only existing timeline of the recipient.

--------------Sara’s POV-------------

Orian’s always been weird. He would read books and start writing from when he was young. I’m glad he finally made some friends. But it seems to me, he spends a lot of time alone. He disappears to somewhere most of the time. I can’t find him even if I look for him.

He has enough strength to lift that heavy basket. Those who are even twice as old as him have a hard time doing that. Being his sister, I have to look after him. But he keeps insisting on going to dangerous places.

He even asked to come with me when I go picking for fruits outside into the forest. Is he even scared? Since his friends haven’t been showing up with him much, maybe he’s lonely.

Sigh….. I’ll find him tomorrow and have a good chat. He’s been nice enough to help me with the chores, I suppose he needs his sister's advice now and then.

……..

Why is he coming near the wall today? Is this where he comes when he’s alone? I wonder what he’s doing here. I’ll hide behind those folded carpets to see what he does here.

…….the heck? How?

He just jumped over the wall in two steps. Did he enter the forest when the guards weren’t watching?

Does that mean he’s been entering the forest behind our backs? Doesn’t he know how dangerous this is? This is bad. I should ask Uncle to help me. If I tell Mom and Dad they’ll just go crazy. For now, I’ll go ask help to find that brat. We need to catch him quick.