Day 31-40/Day 34

Day 34
When my deadly fight against the Red bear - that I started because of my overwhelming appetite to eat it - was finally over, I noticed the sun was already rising.
My body was seriously injured when the Red bear tore at me with his fangs and claws. Moving around and looking for a safe place to rest would be an impossible feat. Moreover, my left arm that was equipped with the gauntlet was cleanly cut off below my elbow.
When I defended myself from one of the Red bear's sharp claws and was sent flying, the cut off arm was then eaten by the Red bear in the middle of the fight, otherwise I would probably have been able to reattach it.
With my left arm lost beyond hope of salvaging I could only make a temporary fix by stemming the bleeding using my thread. To properly close the wound, many recovery abilities would have to be activated for some time. Fortunately, because I already cast [Regeneration] - a passive recovery buffing spell from the job [Druid] - and activated [Rapid Recovery] in the middle of the fight, the possibility that I might bleed to death is low now.
There was a large pool of blood under my body, then why it isn't fatal? You might think so, but the blood that I lost was already replenished by using another one of my abilities. Contrary to appearances, the blood remaining in my body is sufficient.
Well, let’s talk about that later.
The damage to my equipment was also great. The gauntlet was eaten along with my left hand as I said earlier, the round shield I wore on my right arm was also smashed, both of my estocs were broken at the handles and became useless, even a few of my bowie knives' edges crumbled into pieces, leaving only the handles.
The edge of my primary weapon, the halberd, was badly chipped with the long handle greatly distorted from warding off the Red bear’s constant attacks.
It hasn't been destroyed, but it clearly needs repairs.
The armor which should have still looked new before the battle now looks like a shadow of itself, all that remained are a tattered jacket and shorts.
At first glance, all you can see is a beaten dog. 
No, a defeated hobgoblin.
I was in a horrible state.
But, I survived. I survived.
I did well not dying, truly.
[Rapid Recovery] and the recovery spells, if it were not for them, I would have easily died more than 50 times in my current condition as a hobgoblin.
If I didn't have my defense enhancement abilities like [Shell Defense], [Physical Damage Reduction], [Steel Hide], [Scale Armour Charge] and [Strong Frame] and other defense enhancing abilities that had similar effects, it's most likely that this fight wouldn't have ended with me only losing one arm. Without my abilities, even at my my best condition, a graze from one of its strikes would send me flying. That’s how much of a foul play the Red bear’s power was.
Even so, I still didn’t lose.
Utilizing [Venom], [Electromaster], [Hydro Hand], [Spider Thread Creation] and other abilities, using simple combination attacks with various abilities was an effective way to whittle down its vitality.
Actually I would have like to use a spell from the [End] magic system to quickly deal the killing blow, the problem is that right now my spell-casting is so slow that it’s practically useless in the middle of close range combat, because the opening I’d leave would be too big, I’d instantly die if I tried.
Moreover, in the first place, when I tried to hit it with a sneak attack using a black lance it partially dodged it, so chances are that even if I managed to get one off, it's very likely that it would just be a waste of time.
The beast's instincts were fearsome. Well, because it lost its left arm in the initial surprise attack, I was satisfied with that attack.
I was also lucky that my attacks with my halberd were extremely potent when buffed by my strengthening skills like [Improved Slashing Power], [Improved Piercing Power], [Improved Charging Power], [Improved Leg Power], [Pump-Up] and others.
By the way, after using [Triple Stab], I confirmed it. It turns out physical defense really was ignored. However, there seems to be a requirement where the attacks pierce to the same depth as the middle attack.
Furthermore, the size of the hole naturally depends on the weapon used to make it: A hole left by the spearhead of a halberd is going to be larger than one left by an estoc due to the difference in the size of the width of the blade and the strength of the blow.
One of the abilities that helped me the most was [Vampirephilia] that I got from the Seven Colored bats.
This blood sucking action can ignore the target’s defensive strength up to a certain extent, and the sucked blood can be immediately used as my own blood. It is thanks to this ability that I could replace the blood lost from the Red bear’s attacks which went through my defenses, even after I raised my abilities as much as possible.
In short, I was able to replenish my own blood using the enemy’s, and I dealt an amount of damage proportional to the amount I took.
Since I can currently change my body like a slime, if I turned my finger into something like a straw and pierced the Red bear with it, sucking the blood through it means I didn't need to worry about the amount of my own blood lost.
I'll say it again, if I had lacked any of the abilities that I have now, things may not have turned out the way they did.
Ah, that’s right, [Stench]. I guess I was helped by that, too. The very moment the Red bear was about to bite my body I used [Stench] to cause it to retreat holding its nose in anguish. Well, you never truly know what will turn out to be useful in the future.
After reflecting back on the fierce fight for a while after twilight, I turned my eyes in the direction of what was once the Red bear.
In the middle of the trees flattened in the aftermath of a violent fight was a great Red bear that had already ceased breathing. Its whole body was covered in injuries like me, however, carved on its chest was a large scar as a proof of my concentrated attacks.
My scarred figure looking down on it can be seen reflected in its empty eyes that had lost their light, and a bowie knife was stuck deeply between its eyebrows, its scarred figure and dull eyes would induce sorrow in the heart of any observer. I’ll say this over and over again, the Red bear was truly strong.
Using my [Predict] ability I could see its attack trajectory as a red line, but even so, the attack was so fast there were times that I couldn’t dodge in time, it intermingled its special skills - such as its explosion-like roar and its sharp glare that was inhibiting my movements - into its attacks.
Furthermore, this thing is a bear, and yet it blew fire like a flamethrower from its mouth. “Seriously, what kind of bear is this?”
Since I had [Fire Resistance] and [Hydro Hand] I didn’t have that much trouble dealing with the flames, but it was troublesome putting out the fire.
It was really strong. A large part of me winning was due to luck.
However, since I won, I have the responsibility to live on for the defeated.
I extended my right hand like a whip and picked up the Red bear’s hand that was rolling near its tattered body, eating it in order to regain my stamina.
Ability [Peerless Heavy Strike] learned
Ability [Intimidation of the Strong] learned
When I finished eating the right arm, all my exhaustion suddenly caught up to me and I felt my consciousness begin to fade.
During the fierce fighting I lost a lot of stamina, so my body probably judged that the best way to recover was to cut off my consciousness and preserve my stamina. As I speak right now, my [Rapid Recovery] ability and the passive recovery buff [Regeneration] are regenerating my body, so I’m confident that I wouldn’t die even if I fall unconscious. It’s my own body, I can understand that much about it.
However, it’s obvious that I would be too defenseless if I faint as I am now. There is a high chance of getting eaten by monsters during the time I'm unconscious, so to remain alive I mustered what’s left of my strength and sent out my threads to make a wall around me and the Red bear out of the trees which were scattered around as a result of being mowed down during our fight.
It was an impromptu shelter.
In addition to using the trees as a wall, because I doused my threads in poison as I was sending them out, even if something were to break the walls, the poison would kill them. If, for some reason, all of this wasn’t enough, then that would mean the end of me, I thought with resignation.
After I used up the last of my strength to build the defenses, I felt truly exhausted, my consciousness can't...
[ You have exceeded the minimum required Level.
Special requirements «Kingslayer», «Tyrant's Swagger» and «■God■■»cleared, [ Evolution (Rank Up) ] to [ Ogre - Rare Species ] is possible.
Would you like to undergo [ Evolution (Rank Up) ]?
«YES» «NO» ]
—With the last of my willpower I chose «YES» right before I lost consciousness.
Category:Re:Monster Volume 1
Category:Novel