Chapter 66: More Pain
Being on the head of a Wendigo made me rethink my life choices to get to this point, but a part of me was excited. The sight of poorly mushed monsters getting torn apart was not a view for everyone.
Seeing her shred through "low-level scrubs", as she calls them, was eye-opening. It showed me just how weak I am. Her strength and agility were off the roof, but the most shocking was her skills. One skill, in particular, made him wonder, just how strong monsters in this world could get. The skill was called [Perfect Adaptation] making her able to adapt to every enemy and environment in a matter of seconds. Her form was ever-changing, and the only thing that stayed unchanged was the skull on her face.
Finishing off the last Corrupted Child Eater she stopped and sniffed the air, searching for more "worthy prey".
"Ts!"
Clicking her tongue she ripped off an arm and began to gnar on it while looking around for an uncorrupted stone to rest on. Even with her [Perfect Adaptation] it still was uncomfortable for her to walk on this cursed earth.
"Well, that was disappointing..." said the wendigo dejected. "What is taking Scorge so long! Grrr, he said only he will be here a few hours ago!" Growling in anger the blood-red leaves on her back stood on end, rustling slightly.
Letting her cool off for a moment I just silently sat on top of her head while thinking about what to do. During the hunt, I asked her a lot of questions and found out that I will be stuck here for quite a while. This place is at least as big as the central continent and 4 cities if you could even call it like that. I also found out that hell actually exists... a little concerning. She wasn´t very talkative, or she just got annoyed by my barrage of questioning once she allowed me to ask her.
Oh, and another thing that I found out was that the monsters here tasted worse than horse shit, not that I have tasted it. Eating the corrupted meat was disgusting, but after my evolution, hunger set in, like nothing before, and to my surprise, I was slowly growing again. In only a few hours I grew 1 meter, now 5 meters long, but still looking slim.
I didn´t get any levels, as I was too weak to even damage them with my attacks. I had to find out the hard way that poison didn´t work on them as it should. They only got high of that stuff... It was nightmare-inducing seeing a Flesh Tree waiving its limbs like there was a breeze.
I could never forget this image out of my head anymore... just thinking about it made me shudder.
"So, what now little one?" asked the wendigo throwing me out of my thoughts.
"Don´t know. I hoped I could gain some levels since we were hunting, but even those corrupted Nagirus are stronger than me. How did they even get here?"
Ignoring my question she picked me up and placed me on her palm right in front of her. "Hmmm, you grew again. Good good. What level are you now?"
Not minding me telling her my level I replied, "Level 20." There was no meaning of hiding it.
"Hmm that should be enough to kill it... wait here." With those words, she placed me on the stone and sprinted away before I could even voice my concern.
...
Seeing her image vanish in the distance I felt uneasy. Not wanting to stay idle I looked at my skills and decided to try to level up the few I can use. Slithering in circles and crushing rocks that were in my grasp, I continued to do it till there were no more objects there to crush and my underside sore. There wasn´t much I could do with a cracked core, not even [Ash Field] worked, as I couldn´t gather energy from the sun and [Grey Out] was more like joker, or get out of jail free card as he still couldn´t control it.
I slumped down exhausted trying to ignore the burning pain in my lungs from the sick air. 3 hours already passed, but she still wasn´t back, but at least I leveled up [Slither] from 7 --> 8 and [Crush] from 3 --> 5. At one point a rhino-sized cockroach with a cat head and crab claws got awfully close to me but scurried away when a loud explosion echoed through the wasteland... just another sight to fuel my nightmares.
Just when I was about to think I was left for dead, the large wendigo came running towards me.
"Catch!" shouted the wendigo and threw something at me.
Not being able to dodge braced for impact. The long object that was thrown at me hit me dead center and threw me on the corrupted soil, shaving of 10 Hp. I slithered away and looked at the thing, only to see it untangle itself. A blood-red serpentine face looked back at me, seeing the rooting flesh and pale white eyes made me shudder. I couldn´t inspect it for long as the snake launched at me. Dodging its two sharp fangs I backed of onto the stone.
Seeing the amused look of the wendigo irritated me.
Focusing back on the fight, I saw the serpent open its maw wide before spraying a red liquid on me. I jumped back as far as I could, but couldn´t avoid everything. Some droplets landed on my belly, eating right through my scales and inflicting massive amounts of pain.
The bloody snake was about to spray another load of corrosive blood.
"Damn cracked core" cursed I "ts, I could have easily killed it, if only I could use mana..."
The serpent paused hearing me speak and a grin formed on its face, "Ahhh, a ssssentient one. Ssstop ssstruggeling and join me. There issss~ no reason to spill more blood here."
I shuddered at his voice, as the sound he made came out rasp and crooked. But I wondered why his mouth moved when speaking. Normally it was just like telepathy... no, don't get distracted!
Shacking my head lightly I didn´t answer him, instead, I launched at him. He seemed angry at my action and hissed. He opened his jaw, trying to bite me, but I headbutted him and wrapped my tail around his body. He tried to wiggle free but, my strength was far greater than his half-rotten body.
"Guesssss~ there is no other way! Then to forcefully turn you!", Sinking his fangs into my neck, he effortlessly pierced through my scales and bit shut. Releasing some kind of toxin into me, I felt the venom spread through my veins burning me from the inside. I grit my teeth and flexed my muscles, absolutely crushing his fragile rotting body. Releasing a bloodcurdling hiss the serpent slumped down while mumbling something incoherent.
Slowly unwrapping myself from the mass of rotting flesh and bones I struggled to stay focused as whatever was coursing through me was slowly eating away at my sanity. I couldn't even register the notifications that I got.
"Ah, shit. Better fix you up! But a win is a win. Not bad little one!" came a voice that now sounded distant. I felt two small objects enter me where I was bitten and slowly felt my consciousness being restored.
Glancing at my health I saw I was down to 116/410. I still had plenty of Hp left, but I felt like shit, and probably smelt like that too...
I never thought that my first encounter with another snake would be like that...
"What was that..." asked I groggily, still recovering from the aftereffects.
"Oh, that was a Rotting Corruption Viper, one of the weakest monsters here."
I only nodded and looked at my notifications.
[You have slain a Rotting Corruption Viper!]
[You gained 652 exp!]
[You gained [Coruption Ressistance]!]
[You gained [Mental Fortitude]!]
...
My jaw dropped seeing the two skills I just gained. One gained skills usually when certain conditions are met or through training, but it was still rare to see someone gain two skills at once.
I turned towards the wendigo who was starring at me with a tint of amusement. "What does the skill [Mental Fortitude] do?"
I could feel her eyes widen under her mask as she replied, "Hoooh, so you unlocked it! Hah, you will indeed become a worthy pray once you grow up! The skill [Mental Fortitude] is a passive skill, allowing you to better resist sleepiness, hunger, thirst, tiredness, dizziness, and so on."
"Oh, how handy!"
"Yes, it is a useful skill, but be careful, as you still need to sleep, rest, eat and drink, even if you feel less compelled to do so," said she warning me.
I gave her an appreciative look and laid down to get some well-deserved rest. My mind was drained, my scales burned and I was covered in bits and pieces of rotting snake flesh.
Just as I was about to fall asleep I heard an eager voice,
"Ready for another one?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone