Chapter 5: Hunt

‘Please…’

Ahh! Why would you think that!?

☆☆ Snow Hyena LV31
☆☆ Snow Hyena LV28
☆☆☆ Snow Hyena LV33

The creatures that appeared from between the cracks in the wall were much larger and more threatening than the hyenas I’d seen in documentaries.

Their bloodshot eyes flashed, and their fangs swung here and there, seeming like they could tear my fragile sprout apart in an instant.

‘Th, status window information quickly…’

I desperately needed information about the snow hyena.

However, the status window did not respond, either because the distance was far or because I couldn’t concentrate.

Please don’t come this way…

Instinctively, I dug my roots deep into the ground and shrunk my sprout as small as possible.

Fortunately, the ice hyenas weren’t interested in me.

Their gaze was solely focused on Drake’s corpse.

With growling sounds, the hyenas guarded each other and slowly approached the corpse.

The sound of their sharp claws scraping the ice echoed terrifyingly.

It seemed safe for the moment.

However, to those monsters, I was nothing more than a weak sprout.

All I could do was hide my presence as much as possible and survive quietly.

As the hyenas approached, the status window finally rang.

Snow Hyena: Danger Level C.

A monster that lives in the middle layer of the Sia Kalt Ice Cave.

Unlike regular hyenas, it lives alone and has a strong sense of territory, so it sometimes engages in fierce fights with other snow hyenas.

It feeds on the corpses of other monsters, but it also uses the terrain of the ice cave to ambush its prey directly.

“Whew…”

The information that seemed to imply that this was the middle layer was jarring, but in this situation, the fact that those hyenas’ diet consisted of corpses was important.

“You’ll just eat the drakes and leave, right…?”

At first, the snow hyenas only kept watch over each other and growled quietly.

But the moment one of them bit into Drake’s flesh, hell broke out.

“Kyaaaaak!”

“Kkiiik!”

In an instant, three snow hyenas rushed at each other.

Sharp claws cut flesh, and fangs tore into meat.

Red blood stained the white ice floor.

‘Eeeeeee….’

The level of the “Perception LV7” skill has increased.

I didn’t want to see it, but because of the needlessly increased perception, everything was conveyed more vividly.

Even the muscles were torn and bones were broken.

When the LV33 bit the nape of the LV28, the LV31 took advantage of the gap and dug into the LV33’s side.

The sight of them biting and tearing each other apart was too brutal to bear.

‘Ah… Please end it…’

The sprout begged, shrinking even further.

In the game, the battle was just covered up by flashy skill effects and damage numbers, but here, it was a desperate fight for survival.

The bloody fight continued for a while.

Eventually, the LV31 fell, and the LV28 collapsed with its head half cut off, groaning.

Finally, only the LV33 Snow Hyena with three stars remained.

I had expected this guy to survive, but his appearance was too gruesome.

His entire body was covered in wounds, one eye was blind, and one of his front legs was broken.

‘Now… is it over…?’

The victorious hyena approached Drake’s corpse with difficulty.

However, its movement felt too threatening to me.

My position and Drake’s corpse were too close.

“Let’s calm down… They haven’t found me yet.”

While the surviving hyena focused on Drake’s corpse, I carefully extended my roots.

The blood that had spilled during the fight was flowing here and there into the icy floor.

“The level of the ‘Blood Absorption LV8’ skill has increased.”

‘Okay… slowly…’

The hyena was busy eating Drake’s flesh.

The guy who lost one eye couldn’t even properly watch his surroundings.

His posture was unstable because of his broken forelimb.

I felt myself getting stronger little by little every time I secretly absorbed blood from him.

★ (Anonymous) Blood Child LV12
0 years old

[Ability]
HP: 66/66
MP: 66/66
Attack Power: 66
Magic Power: 66
Defense Power: 66
Magic Resist: 66
Agility: 0

After absorbing the blood of the hyenas, it had already reached level 12, and its health had also recovered.

I looked at the hyena left alone again.

“If it’s injured like that… what could it be…?”

For the first time, I saw ‘prey’ within me.

Until now, I had been trembling with fear, but strangely, my mind became calm.

With poison and root protrusion… can I do it?”

I slowly thought about what I had.

The root protrusion became faster at LV2, and although I haven’t used it yet, it also had poison.

Plus, that guy was already seriously injured.

Mikel… this is my first time hunting.

After quietly praying, my mind became calm.

I carefully moved the roots and headed near the hyena’s feet.

If I went towards the broken foreleg, I would be more defenseless.

“Now!”

“Boom!”

The sharp, crimson root pierced the hyena’s broken foreleg.

In an instant, purple-tinged poison seeped into the wound, and the hyena’s skin began to turn black.

“Kyaaak!”

The hyena screamed and rushed towards me.

Perhaps because one eye was blind, its perception of distance was off, and its fangs slid past.

The sharpest root shot up.

“Toxic, work quickly!”

The hyena, whose front paws had turned completely black, began to move more and more slowly as the poison spread throughout its body.

“Kurur…” A weakened howl.

He would never have imagined that the harmless-looking sprout would attack him.

‘Die quickly!’

I moved up towards the neck of the guy who was too poisoned to even fight back properly.

Acquired a large amount of experience points.

Snow Hyena (LV33) defeated.

The level of the “Toxic LV2” skill has increased.

The level of the “Root Protrusion LV3” skill has increased.

The thrill of my first hunt ran through my whole body.

I had now become a predator in this labyrinth.

‘Multi-layer, nothing special, right?’

It was a hunt that could be criticized as a last-ditch effort, but this too was a tactic.

The merciless roots spread out beneath the cute, harmless-looking sprout…

‘Call me the hunting genius.’

I prepared to absorb blood while looking at the fallen hyena.

I was no longer a weak sprout trembling in fear.

‘Hmph! Delicious!’

With all the hyenas dead, I slowly savored the blood I had sucked without worrying about what others might think.

The level of the skill “Blood Absorption LV10” has increased.

“Blood Absorption LV10 has evolved.”

“It’s finally here!”

Absorbs blood to grow even faster.

Stores some of the blood you absorb.

[Crimson Reserve LV1]

I continued to suck blood and read the description on the status window.

‘Oh, so your existing abilities are strengthened. But what does storing blood mean?’

It was difficult to understand the ability of the evolved skill because of the vague description.

When I suddenly checked the status window, several differences caught my eye.

★ (Anonymous) Blood Child LV18
0 years old

[Ability]
HP: 84/84 + (11/100)

‘Huh? Already level 18?’

It seemed like its level went up quickly with the experience gained from defeating hyenas and absorbing a lot of blood.

What was even stranger was the HP display.

“What’s this?”

There was a strange number next to the HP number that should have been 84/84 as usual.

This is… a health auxiliary battery!?

This means it stores blood!

It seemed that the number 11 had accumulated little by little as it absorbed blood.

The performance of the Crimson Reserve, which had evolved from Blood Absorption, seemed really good.

In a world where you die when your health reaches 0, additional health is more reliable than anything else.

‘This is a really great skill.’

I was amazed by the new skill and absorbed all the remaining blood here, and the status window rang again.

The level of the “Crimson Reserve LV2” skill has increased.

★ (Anonymous) Blood Child (Can evolve) LV20
0 years old

[Ability]
HP: 90/90 + (46/200)
MP: 90/90
Attack Power: 90
Magic Power: 90
Defense Power: 90
Magic Resist: 90
Agility: 0

[Skills]
[Perception LV7]
[Blood Absorption LV10]
[Photosynthesis LV1]
[Toxicity LV2]
[Root Protrusion LV3]
[Crimson Reserve LV2]
[Freeze Block LV1]
[Michel’s Cheer]
[Inferno Stigma]

The increased capacity of the auxiliary battery as the level of Crimson Reserve increased was surprising, but that wasn’t the important thing.

‘Huh… Evolving again? I didn’t grow anything?’

When evolving from a seed to a sprout, my body grew on its own.

I only applied strength to the tip of the stem when emerging from the ground.

And only after I became a sprout did I receive the belated notification that I had evolved.

But now, after becoming a sprout, there was no change in my body.

It suddenly evolved without any warning.

“What the heck? Is this the time when the dream of a cataclysmic change will come true…!”

I remembered the thrilling change I felt when I first became a sprout.

This time, I felt that an evolution beyond comparison would come.

‘Okay! Evolve!’

A powerful shout echoed from within me, but nothing changed.

“Huh, this isn’t it?”

I concentrated my mind, hoping for evolution deep in my consciousness.

Still, nothing happened.

“No! What the hell is this!”

This is a big deal. It can evolve, but it can’t.

Suddenly, I remembered that I was just a sprout.

If the sprout grew any longer, the stem would only grow longer.

Was my longing for a cataclysm narrowing my thoughts?

“Hmm… But I can’t give up on the dream of a cataclysm. I don’t want to live my whole life as a plant!”

“Mikel, I can become a human someday, right…?”

I gathered my strength to the tip of the stem, fantasizing about evolving into a human while being enveloped in holy light.

Then, my body began to grow rapidly.