Kamcy

  I froze for a moment, surveying the creatures that had surrounded me, the one I'd been trying to snipe finally stepping out of concealment to join its companions. To say I wasn't surprised would be an understatement.

  It wasn't their raw power that caught me off guard. After all, I'd already used my newly acquired danger sense to choose a target I could test myself against. According to what I'd sensed, my original target should have been in the same ballpark as me in terms of strength. And honestly? The creature I was currently facing was around that level.

  So why was I surprised, even though I had already anticipated the power of my opponent?

  Because this wasn't just one opponent anymore.

  I came here to hunt a single target. A pack wasn't ideal, but even that was something I could handle. No—what really pissed me off was the fact that they were masking their presence the same way I did.

  That alone told me a few things.

  They were smart.

  They were coordinated.

  And most importantly, they were hunters.

  Looking back at the other castes of their kind I'd encountered so far, I couldn't help but sigh. Every single one of them seemed to have some kind of hunting gimmick. There was the four-armed one that excelled at nighttime ambushes, possessing strength I wasn't entirely sure I could match even in my current awakened state. Then there was the insectoid one that, for reasons I still didn't fully understand, specialized in targeting horny gooners.

  I honestly didn't want to know how many more castes like that existed.

  Still, jokes aside, I was in trouble.

  If all of them had the same absurd level of regeneration as the sibling I'd fought earlier, then my chances of survival were slim. Masking my presence wasn't going to help either—these castes had eyes. Real ones. I briefly considered the hopeful thought that they might share the same weakness as their daylight-blind brethren, but the look in their eyes killed that idea immediately.

  That kind of confidence didn't come from blindness.

  These bastards were staring at me like I was a steak on a grill, sizing me up, jaws flexing as saliva dripped between their teeth.

  I nocked an arrow and fired as I leapt backward, trying to put distance between myself and them.

  It was useless.

  One of them jumped right in front of its teammate and took the arrow cleanly through its side. Another rushed over to the one that still had an arrow lodged in its head from earlier, yanked it free with its mouth, and let the wound heal instantly before rejoining the hunt.

  That took me aback.

  That was… uncanny.

  They weren't acting like animals. They were acting like soldiers—covering each other, coordinating, communicating in ways I couldn't read.

  The others began to spread out, fnking me, cutting off my escape routes. Somewhere along the way, the game had changed.

  They'd reversed the roles.

  I didn't hesitate. I fired arrow after arrow, but they adapted immediately. Arrows embedded into thighs and stomachs, only for them to be ripped out moments ter by snapping jaws. They avoided head injuries like their lives depended on it—which, technically, they did. Having an object lodged inside them clearly interfered with their regeneration.

  I'd seen this before. The spider-like creature had done the exact same thing multiple times during our fight.

  A wolf lunged at me, teeth bared. I bent backward just in time, loosing an arrow at another that was barreling toward me from my left. The enhanced arrow pierced straight through its open mouth, tearing through bone and brain before exiting the back of its skull. The creature colpsed mid-stride, blood and fragments spttering the forest floor.

  Another raised its massive paw and smmed it down toward me.

  I blocked with my bow.

  The force nearly snapped it.

  From my right, another lunged, mouth wide open, teeth aimed at my hands. I pulled one hand back while still holding off the first creature's paw with the bow. The sudden imbance made the pressure worse, and that was when I realized something.

  Its bite wasn't aimed to kill.

  It was trying to disarm me.

  Peripheral vision fred as I saw another rushing in from the side. I cursed, let go of my bow entirely, and leapt backward to gain distance.

  My eyes never left them.

  I'd bought myself a temporary reprieve, but they didn't press the attack. Instead, they regrouped. As if to taunt me, the one still holding my bow snapped it in half with its jaws. I was almost certain it smiled.

  They formed a solid blockade, cutting off every escape route.

  GROWL.

  Foam flecked their jaws as the vibration of the growl rolled through the ground and into my feet. I watched as energy began coating their bodies, strengthening muscle and bone alike.

  Reaching over my shoulder, I pulled my next weapon free and tightened my grip around it.

  My bone sword.

  Well, this was as good a time as any.

  Time to test every theory I had about this energy I'd unlocked. Time to push myself and see what new things I could actually do with it.

  Like them, I spread the energy through my weapon first, reinforcing it, then through my body. I took a deep stance and released energy outward, testing its reach.

  How far could it go?

  Fifty meters.

  That was my limit. I could extend the energy that far, but my perception didn't match the range. At exactly ten meters, a vivid three-dimensional map formed in my head, wrapping around me in a perfect sphere.

  At first, it was overwhelming.

  Every leaf. Every shift of air. Every growl, every twitch of muscle—everything flooded my mind at once.

  Up to twenty-five meters was blurry, but with focus I could still tell what occupied that space. Anything beyond that was little more than background noise. Still, this would do.

  The creatures sensed the change and attacked.

  I weaved under the first wolf's bite, rose with my bde already raised, and brought it down, severing its head in a single clean motion. Another struck from behind—I barely twisted enough to avoid a fatal blow. I spun and bisected it, cutting straight through its open mouth and down its body. Its yelp echoed briefly before silence recimed the forest.

  The creatures seemed to realize their prey wasn't as easy as they'd assumed.

  They began circling again, gncing at one another as those strange tentacle-like feelers sprouted from their necks intermittently, twitching as if they were conversing. I didn't attack.

  The sphere boosting my senses and reaction time was something I hadn't tried before. I could feel that excessive movement might break my concentration, so I focused on defense and counterattacks.

  I didn't have to wait long.

  They charged.

  They moved fast—far faster than before—leaping with such force that cracks formed in the ground wherever their limbs pushed off. Deep holes marked their nding points.

  The first group reached me almost instantly.

  Two came from the front, paws raised, cws glistening as they brought them down with crushing force.

  I vaulted over them into a somersault, swung my bde mid-motion, and cut through both of their midsections. Another lunged and took my bde straight through its open jaw in a vertical ssh.

  Pain fred across my back.

  Warm liquid dripped down my spine.

  I didn't react to that attack. Instead, I focused on the one in front of me, sidestepped, and drove my bde through its skull.

  I knew I couldn't dodge everything.

  So all I could do was minimize damage and deal as much as possible in return.

  Blood, fur, and shattered limbs flew around me as I sshed, parried, and dodged. The force of their paws sent me skidding more than once, but I adapted. I ducked, weaved, and even grabbed one by the jaw, shoving it aside just long enough to stab through its skull.

  The st of the initial twelve fell with a wet snap after I punched it in the neck.

  My breath came in ragged gasps.

  Lacerations covered my arms, legs, and torso. I repositioned and let the energy flow over me, accelerating my healing. I could sense the difference—faster than normal, yes—but nowhere near their level.

  So it really was biology doing most of the work.

  I nodded to myself.

  I took another stance, bde ready.

  Resurrection wouldn't take long.

  I stepped back, creating distance this time, and checked my energy reserves. My core was still rotating steadily. I hadn't expended nearly as much energy as I expected.

  This felt different.

  Before forming my core, I would've had to manage every burst of enhancement carefully. Now? My reserves weren't infinite, but they were leagues above what I'd had before. And like these creatures, I could now passively absorb energy through my body.

  It wasn't much—but it mattered.

  The bodies began to twitch.

  I activated the sensing technique again as the invisible sphere bloomed outward.

  I really needed to name this thing.

  Later.

  What I saw made my stomach sink.

  Limbs regrew. That I expected.

  But the bisected and beheaded ones?

  They regenerated entire halves. Some formed completely new bodies.

  Twelve enemies had become twenty-one.

  My eyebrow twitched.

  Swear to God, whoever designed these things should be burned at the stake.

  Still, I had to adapt.

  They took positions again, feelers waving as they communicated. Growls rolled from their throats, vibrating through the ground and into my bones.

  Seeing as you were made to cheat, I hoped you wouldn't compin if I did the same.

  I wrapped energy around my body like a second skin—but this time, not to enhance my stats. I focused and matched my energy signature to the frequency of the surrounding environment.

  I expected it to be difficult.

  Somehow, it wasn't.

  The effect was immediate.

  They froze. Sniffed. Twisted their ears. Eyes scanned the space where I stood.

  They couldn't detect me.

  I'll call this technique cloaking.

  With the sphere active, the effect stacked—boosting my senses while hiding me from theirs. Unlike the method I'd used against the insectoid creature, this didn't just hide me from energy perception, but from physical senses too.

  I moved slowly.

  One rushed forward, attacking the spot where I'd been standing moments earlier.

  Well, that's a given.

  If someone disappeared in front of me, I'd do the same.

  Growls filled the air as cws swiped blindly. When one got too close, I stabbed through its head. A whimper, then silence.

  They reacted immediately.

  I dodged, parried, stabbed again.

  Another dropped.

  Then they stopped attacking.

  The feelers fred.

  A stronger wave rippled outward, and my cloaking faltered.

  Was that a technique?

  I raised my guard, expecting a follow-up attack—but none came. They just kept "staring."

  That wasn't the goal.

  Realization hit me too te.

  My danger sense screamed as the ground trembled.

  Heavy footsteps.

  I knew that presence.I drew the energy I'd evenly dispersed around my body inward, concentrating most of it into my hands and reinforced bone bde, with the remainder flooding my legs to brace myself.

  It didn't matter.

  The impact still nded like a falling mountain.

  The collision detonated the air around us, a concussive shockwave ripping outward as my feet tore free from the ground. My body was hurled backward, smashing through the first tree in an explosion of splintered bark and pulverized wood, then straight through a second one with a wet crack as my back took the brunt of it. I hit the forest floor hard, skidding and rolling through dirt, roots, and shattered branches as my arms, spine, and skull rattled violently.

  Pain fred everywhere at once.

  I reacted on instinct.

  The moment I felt myself lose control, I yanked the energy away from my hands and legs and forced it to redistribute evenly across my entire body, wrapping my bones, muscles, and organs in a stabilizing yer. The burning force of the impact dulled just enough to keep something vital from snapping.

  Barely.

  I didn't fight it.

  Instead, I let the remaining momentum take me.

  As my body tumbled, I twisted with it, forcing my limbs to align, digging a foot into the ground at the right moment and rolling through the rest. The instant my boots caught solid earth, I converted the leftover force into forward motion, letting it sling me upright instead of stopping me dead.

  I was already moving.

  My feet hit the ground running, speed surging as I leaned into it and let the momentum carry me forward.

  this obviously wasn't working.

  Through my senses, I felt it—three new presences crashing into the battlefield. Heavier. Denser.

  I wasn't winning this fight.

  Survival came first. I could experiment with my newly unlocked abilities another day—preferably one where I wasn't about to get pulped.

  I pushed through the pain, forcing energy into my legs in rhythmic pulses as I sprinted, vaulting over thick roots and shattered trunks without slowing. The forest blurred around me, branches whipping past as my heart hammered in my chest, lungs burning, every nerve screaming.

  But I kept running.