Chapter 103: Steel Soul
Chapter 103: Steel Soul
I followed the stale scent of bugmen for a short while until I lost the last whisper of it. I would’ve been more disappointed that I didn’t pick a right direction to track, if I didn’t find some fresh water at where I got. It was just a tiny trickle that seeped out of the wall, but it still tasted diving, and there became more of it after I carved a wider hole in the wall with my claws.
Then I went to track bugmen again. I had the scent, and I had my claws with which I marked the place I had been. Now that I was circling the same caves, it became both harder and easier to understand where I was. There was an actual fear now that I would have to dig my way outside if I planned to ever get there…
The bugmen weren’t the first thing I found when I went in the other direction, either. Instead, it was a furrypede, just like the one I’ve seen on the other side of the human fortress. They seemed to be a pretty common monster. That one, though, was smaller than the ones I’ve seen before, and just from the way it scuttled around, I could tell that it wasn’t as strong.
I extended my claws and took in a deep breath, inhaling the scent of its fur, chitin, and the sweet meat underneath. I was going to test my newfound abilities on this creature. One of its kind almost killed me once, now it was my turn to return the favour with percents.
Despite my attempts to be quiet, when I drew closer, the furrypede noticed my presence. It turned around me, twisting its long body. Its fur stood up on its ends, and the creature warned me with a clatter of its mandibles. Or maybe it was just tasting the air, too. I wasn’t sure about this monster’s intelligence.
While it stood nice and still, I whipped my hand, letting the claws on my fingers—not the bone stuff, but the air magic things that covered my fingers—detach and fly forward. Unlike a normal throwing knife, these claws didn’t have much weight to draw them towards the ground and skew off my aim.
It was still poor, though. Instead of piercing the beast’s head like I intended, the blades of wind cut through its body, severing several legs. The furrypede jerked in pain, and the metallic scent of the blood that spilled out of its wounds filled the cave. But it was still alive, and now angry enough to advance at me.
I raised my hand up. My claws were back again, and I was ready for another shot when I felt it. At the moment when the clarity of the battle trance should’ve descended on me, instead I was plunged into…
It was hard to describe with words. There was just the sharpness of the mind and my perception that I got in battle trance as well, but stronger this time, and then there was something more. Something that came right from my soul. It was like suddenly, my resolute desire to prevail and to succeed became something I could turn into a material thing at will.
I gave into that feeling and expelled it outward. Power surged in me, and the clarity I had helped me to understand its extent. I became stronger, faster, harder to kill. I knew that no pain would stop me in this state, and the furrypede seemed to crawl barely faster than a snail. It wasn’t the enhanced on rainbow water creature the likes of which I’ve seen before, but I judged it was still as fast as Frost Griffins.
It didn’t even have a chance to get closer to me. I turned it into mincemeat—a literal puddle of finely chopped meat and blood—with my wind blades, at the same time sharpening my aim. It took hours, but I was patient. It was better to train on something like a living—or dead—target than just shoot at random things, I believed. A few times, the scent of blood attracted other predators, but they just became new targets.
Only after I was satisfied for now with my results did the enhanced state left me. By then, I could reliably hit a critter with a wind blade from ten steps, which was good enough in these cramped caves. Later, I would have to train more.
When the trance left me, I fell to my knees. I felt exhausted, but not on a physical level. I just spent what felt like half a day repeatedly sharpening my aim, like there was nothing more important. And while it WAS important, my body was sure that food was much more so. The smell of meat and blood around drew me almost insane.
I ate all I could gather and felt much better, partly because my stomach was full, and partly because food was just a nice help for mental exhaustion. ‘Steel Soul’… Would I enter this state every fight from now on? No, this wasn’t just about the fight. The enhanced state fell on me not when I attacked, but when I decided to train my aim on the furrypede.
I imagined, if I made it a goal, I could approach anything this way. I had to learn how to control it. In this state, the needs of my body were somewhere down there, and it was just tiring overall.
There was nothing better for some grind, though. I scoffed. There was a reason I didn’t like grind, and this was because I didn’t like repetitive activities. Hunting, now that always was exciting. Each time, it was something different. Easy or challenging, short or long, chase or ambush…
I shook my head. And there was another thing, too. With the mess I made from the furrypede, the scent of bugmen was completely lost in the scent of blood. If there were any nearby, I would have harder time searching for them.