Episode 4: systema

The runes appeared before my eyes again, some of the runes that could not be translated before were now.

[Kurai Kioku]

[Echo of pure darkness: 0/100]

[Combat]

-combat proficiency 

I directed my attention to the description of combat proficiency but it did not appear. There was a subtle difference in how the runes were shown too, combat and the echo were shown with bigger runes and had a purple glow around them. However combat proficiency was smaller and had no glow at all.

‘Is it supposed to be some kind of sub category?’

After thinking for a few more moments my attention went back to the echo, the number next to it specifically. The number hadn't increased yet even after a battle.

‘What am I supposed to do to increase it?’

Not letting it confuse me I dismissed the runes and turnt to Ben, he was already stripping what little meat the creature had left on its body and placing it in his pouch, not nearly being enough to refill it. 

“We need to find some more meat. This isn't going to cut it.” Ben said with a slight frown on his face. He then looked at me and smiled. “congrats on your first kill. That was some good skill for someone in their first fight with a creature, I'm impressed.”

I shrugged, it was only a hatchling after all. From what I had seen Ben could have killed it before it even had a chance to get close. I started to understand just how far we were from each other. Ben was in a completely different world.

***

We had packed up camp early today, Ben planned on travelling throughout the night which was considered highly dangerous. It didn't take a genius to understand why.

Monsters thrived throughout the night, they came out of their nests to hunt and get food for themselves, not just that but it was pitch black. We could only rely on our mana to know our surroundings, which proved hard for me. Despite all this, we needed to replenish our food. This was the only way.

I felt something cling onto me, using my senses I saw a thin string on golden mana connecting to mine. I moved forwards without a sound, scared that talking could attract something big enough to kill the both of us within seconds. If even Ben had to be cautious then I didn't want to find out what was hidden behind the curtain of darkness surrounding us.

Suddenly Ben stopped and I ended up walking into his back, he grabbed me by the hem of my shirt and pulled me into a bush made up of small plants. I pushed my mana sensing to the limit to try and figure out what it was Ben was hiding from. However the only mana i could read was Ben’s and my own, my eyes were unable to use mana to sense our surroundings and objects without mana. Which was why I was unable to sense the creature which had no mana.

I kept as still as possible, my joints numbing slightly. The creature was still not in sight and I had doubts about hiding between thin plants. But moments later the doubts were swept away by a strong sense of fear that almost made me tremble despite the need to stay still. A low growl echoed throughout the waters, and a large hunger-filled eye could be seen in the darkness.

‘What the fuck is that?!’

The presence of the monster was suffocating and I ended up freezing in place like a statue. The large eye was surveying the area looking for its prey. I couldn't help but reel back slightly as its eye focus on the bush. The large eye honed in on meafter my sudden movement

I could feel its thirst for blood. It began moving forward, dragging one of it's feet through the sand. It was so close at one point that I could see it clearly. The foot had multiple small cuts along its surface however that was not its biggest injury. A large bite could be seen further up its leg, blood oozing out from it. 

‘How the hell did something this monstrous thing get injured this much?!’

After a while the monster passed. Despite my urge to jump from the bush and move one, Ben hadn't moved yet. I waited for Ben and eventually he did move, brushing aside the small plants and stepping out into the open once again. I followed behind him and without a single word between us as we continued travelling.

***

It had been countless hours from what I was aware. We were still heading in the direction of the nearby town with hopes of coming across weak monsters to kill. I had started to give up and felt a need to sleep but before I could shut my eyes Ben called out to me.

“There's one! Kurai, stay behind me! This one is too much for you!”

I redies myself and a howl sounded out like a war cry, signifying the start of a fight. I focused on sensing Ben’s mana, I saw a burst of golden mana flowing from the man's hand, forming the shape of a sword. After that, one powerful slash was flying towards the enemy at an insane speed.

However the mana crumbled apart, the monster had deflected it. The ensuing battle became hard to perceive, only seeing flashes of the mana due to both Ben and the monster's high speeds. Ben was forced into only using flow, his enemy had closed the gap before he could fire off any more powerful projection moves.

It had intelligence. The idea of a monster strong enough to fight Ben toe to toe having intelligence sent a chill down my spine. It lasted a short while as the sound of reverberating steel could be heard from far away. The fight was accelerating, Ben began speeding up, exhausting just a little bit more then before to overpower his enemy. 

‘He’s planning to end it soon?’

Surely enough after another loud clang of metal Ben raised his output to a higher level and flashed forward with a single strike. His enemy shrieked and a loud thump followed.

“Ben, are you okay?” I ran in the direction of the fight, stumbling and almost tripping over my own feat as I found the corpse of the monster. Ben was breathing heavily as he sat down next to it. His mana was simmering down, returning to a controllable level. 

“I’m fine Kurai, just give me a second. While I catch my breath, can you carve out its meat for me? It's fine if you don't want to.”

His hand was outstretched toward me, holding the carving knife he used to carve up many creatures in the path. I took the knife without a single bit of hesitation, something in my head pulled me towards it, the runes shimmered above the blade.

[carving knife]

The runes were glowing, somehow I knew it was due to the echo I had received from this god of shadows. Suddenly the blade vibrated and a piece of my shadow slowly creeped up my body devouring the blade in darkness. Once the shadow was fully wrapped around the blade, taking its shape, I could feel it strengthening the steel but it was draining my energy.

My head became dizzy as I climbed up the monster's leg. Reaching its stomach, I pulled the knife out and stabbed it into the monster's flesh, if the blade hadn't been strengthened by my shadow. It wouldn't have cut through the beast's flesh, even with it strengthened it had been like cutting a rock.

Before I fully removed the hide of the furry beast I decided to have a look at it fully since the morning was forcing the shadows into hiding slowly.

‘Holy shit!’

I was standing on top of a large wolf, except multiple of its joints were covered in a material that resembled metal. The maw of the beats was also full of it, teeth sharper than a shark hanging from its mouth.

The soothing voice filled my head with a notification. But I was too in awe to hear the exact words. It took me multiple moments to compose myself again and get back to the task. I had learnt, and I mean truly learnt, just how powerful Ben was.

“Kurai! Why are you just standing there?! Do you need help?!”

Ben’s shouting returned my consciousness to reality and I turned to face the man. I wasn't fully able to see how he held out last night but had assumed he was fine. I was wrong. The man had terrible wounds on his left hand, it looked as if he had bandaged them to an extent but as I had learnt before he was very good at it. Luckily for him mana worked well as a makeshift one, most of the blood was kept inside his body, with only small amounts falling from his arm.