Day 101-110/Day 103

Day 103
We arrived at the Shirisuka Forest this morning.
In this place, there are animals that I haven't eaten yet. This prospect got me quite excited.
There are several beast species and insect species around a huge lake and river system deep within the forest. From this, many of the species of this forest are amphibian.
Of the species that I heard were within this forest, there were:
Red Lizard that had red claws and scales that burned with a high heat.
Guriforundo, a cheetah-like creature that shoots red flames from both its tail and claws.
Kelpie, a slimy frog-like horse with light-blue scales that had both hind legs and a thick tail - quite the interesting creature.
Crystal Crocodile, a creature about eight meters in length with skin and fangs made of quartz crystals.
Ness Frog, a yellow frog species with poisonous patterns that had shades of purple.
Rock-turtle Frog, a creature that possesses a head with a lightweight turtle shell similar to rock on it.
Silent Mosquito, a silent mosquito type that sucks blood, about ten centimeters in size.
Shell Grasshopper, a high speed insect that randomly attacks without much reason.
This time, I plan to scour for them directly. I wanted this to be quick, so I released Kumajirou and Kurosaburou while sending several others out as well. While we progressed, there were several times where we captured the new creatures, though eating them did not give me any new abilities.
Next were a Silent Mosquito and several Shell Grasshoppers, followed by a Ness Frog all in succession to attack us. It was a flock of several animal species, because of that, I was able to kill them all and eat them. I have to admit, I was slightly greedy and ate the entire body, not saving any materials.
It may just be icing on the cake, but the most troublesome of all of the monsters was, surprisingly, the small Shell Grasshoppers.
To clarify, the only real way to capture them was to receive them head on by reinforcing my body with several abilities, or to avoid them and allow individuals with keen eyes to catch them mid flight such as Dhammi-chan. There were several instances where these type of attacks grew near the non-combatants such as Blacksmith-san and the Tomboy Princess, though since the speed of the attack is nothing if I get serious, there have yet to be problems. Yet, even saying that, it is still quite troublesome.
This time around, the Shell Grasshoppers were quite small in size and few in number. They also started attacking the Skeleton horses, though the hardness of these specific Skeletons is of a level that these Grasshoppers could not damage them. That said, even upon collision, the hardness of the Grasshoppers themselves to withstand the impact at such high speeds is quite something. I suppose one might even be able to use these creatures as some sort of ammunition.
In fact, they are pretty useful things to use. If you were to have a large amount of these grasshoppers as ammunition, you could fire them at the walls, and in most instances, the walls would be destroyed. With the walls destroyed, the city could be ravaged and turned into a city of flames quite easily. Though for now, my interests lie with raising the new generation and gaining ties to the Royal Family of the Sternbild Kingdom.
The monsters we caught made a delicious lunch. We also caught a Ness Frog, but since the level of poison was probably high, only I would be able to eat it. Though there is the possibility that Redhead could have a little due to [Job - Noir Soldier].
Though, it isn't impossible to detoxify the poison of the Ness Frog, so I let Redhead have a little.
With that, I ate a large amount of materials that we had collected over the past few hours.
Ability unlocked [Epidemic Scatter]
Ability unlocked [Disease Carrier]
Ability unlocked [Burning Claw]
Ability unlocked [Refractory Mucus Secretion]
Ability unlocked [Plague Infection]
Ability unlocked [Hard-Head]
Ability unlocked [Head-Butt]
Ability unlocked [Silent Flight]
Ability unlocked [Weak Intimidation]
Ability unlocked [Variable Temperature Weakness]
The Ness frog meat was so tender that it practically melted with softness in my mouth. Even the taste of the Shell Grasshopper's was unexpectedly delicious, and their crunchiness was enjoyable.
Although human beings like Blacksmith-san claimed that it is pretty difficult to eat certain creatures, especially insects, Looking at me eating pretty much anything no matter the hardness was simply not something they could do. Thinking that, I had a little grin slip out, but that was all.
Delicious things are delicious. Mixing some of these items with rice would have been amazing. The vitality of these creatures simply oozed from the meat, making it all the more enjoyable.
The Kelpie meat was quite similar to horse meat, but there were subtle differences in taste. Though somewhat different, the subtle changes in taste weren't bad, simply delicious.
During the meal, several topics had risen and fallen.
In the middle of our discussions, suddenly a Crystal Crocodile shot out from the river behind me.
It is no foolish animal and understands the danger of the prey, thus it was waiting for the moment where it believed we were most vulnerable. It is certainly the king of the water within this forest.
The mouth boasts such enormity that not even an Ogre could compete with it. A Crystal Crocodile is ranked higher in strength than a normal Ogre, and there are several instances where a Crystal Crocodile has managed to kill several Ogres at once.
However, this surprise attack failed since I was aware of its presence the entire time.
Without even the slightest bit of panic, with 【Sense Presence】, I did not even have to look behind me to gauge my opponent. I grabbed my halberd. In an instant, it was thrust in to the mouth of the beast, and the ability [Triple Strike] was activated. Faster than lightning, as if I had used an invisible blade, the monster was drilled with holes and instantly killed. At that point, I set out to collect its materials and began to slowly smoke its meat; the smell of the meat was enough to water the mouth. With the meat already semi cooked from the lightning from my halberd, it was quick to finish cooking.
Since the Crystal Crocodile's materials can sell for a fairly expensive price, I decided I would keep a large amount of it for sales later. Though, recently, I have let Dhammi-chan and Redhead manage it so that they could improve their dissembling skills. After I gathered some materials for myself, I left the rest to them. The meat I took was from the tail, as many reptile's most valuable meat is in the tail.
Yeah, it was amazing. Gravy from the juicy meat filled my mouth, with that, my appetite grew several times greater, my body also feels amazing from the energy gained from such meat.
Ability learned: [Crystal Crocodile's Armored Hide]
Ability learned: [Crystal Crocodile's Sharp Fangs]
Ability learned: [Predator of the Water]
Body and abilities enhanced at once, this is something that I was most pleased about.
I was satisfied and gave off a smile.
In this state, the Princess stared at me with a perplexed face.
It was something due to why I was so interested in hunting down so many different species, and why most of them target me specifically.
My answer was simply because I wanted to kill them, they wanted to kill me. Or something like that.
To kill and be killed, the stronger surviving and growing stronger. If there is a strong enemy, fight and kill that enemy to grow stronger. I eat them because I grow hungry, and that by eating them, I grow stronger. This is the law of nature, to which I comply with fully.
I avoid mentioning the fact that I eat everything to gain new abilities. In a sense, it is my responsibility having killed them to take their abilities. It almost seems like a ritual of mine at this point, no one of the group pays it any mind by now. Though thinking about it, my eating of the shells of my prey does appear weird to a normal eye.
After my explanations, the Princess became silent as if she was thinking about something; she even doned an amazed facial expression. I had mentioned that we all change as we grow stronger. It seemed that she was lost in thought around that point.
Well, it's probably not something along the lines of her growing suspicious of me, because she still happily rides on my shoulder.
For now, we kill any monsters that approach us and proceed through the forest.
Today's synthesis results:
【Dissonance】 + 【Panic Voice】 = 【Death Voice】
【Shell Defense】 + 【Shell Retreat】 + 【Adamantine Spider's Strong Carapace】 = 【Indestructible Castle Shell】
【Conceal Presence】 + 【Recognition Obstruction】 + 【Sneaking】 = 【Recognition Difficulty】
【Surging Combat Instinct】 + 【Survival Instinct】 = 【Berserker Mode】
Category:Re:Monster Volume 3
Category:Novel