And (N)one Shall Remain

 

A large beast calmly munched on the low-hanging pear-like fruits from a tree deep in the forest. The beast, which looked almost as if someone had copy-pasted the head of a giraffe on the torso of a small elephant, with a set of antlers that would have driven most stags to deep-seated envy atop its head and eight sturdy, hoofed feet not unlike a horse, was one of the most dangerous creatures in the deep forest.

 

And that was despite how it was mostly herbivorous. 

 

Its solid hooves were capable of landing kicks that would pulverize bones, its eight legs allowing it to strike in every direction at will, with equal ease. Many predators had met their end atop its sharp antlers, the many branches piercing through hide and flesh like sharp spears and skewering its foes with ease. As if those were not enough, the creature’s long, whip-like tail ended in a thagomizer-like arrangement of eight bone spikes, at the ready to lash out against all comers.

 

It was a [Spike-Tailed Grazer Lvl39], a beast that most in the region of the forest stayed away from. Not even the [Tyrant-Claw Ursine] Esperanza had killed in the past messed with it, as the Grazer was nastier than what its levels indicated. The Grazer had survived in the deep forest despite the many predators by simply making itself not worth their while to prey on.

 

Besides its obvious defenses, there was another point that the beast seemed to advertise to everything watching. Its short fur was of an odd greenish-yellow-blue color gradient, somewhat reminding Esperanza of a peacock’s tail in part. Such vibrant hues in nature often meant something else altogether, however, namely as a sign of toxicity.

 

The Grazer mostly fed on poisonous plants and fruits as part of its diet. Even the pear-like fruit it consumed now was a highly toxic one, one that Esperanza learned about the hard way. The toxin contained by the fruit was so powerful that it even killed her back when she was low leveled, necessitating a use of [Respawn].

 

Yet the beast just munched on it like it was a delightful snack. Something about its biological makeup allowed it to digest all the poisons and make them part of itself. As a result, its own flesh was horrifyingly poisonous, which was the main reason most predators simply left it alone. It was simply not worth the time and effort needed to defeat it, and wasn’t even edible to them.

 

Esperanza thought otherwise.

 

She was on a jaunt into the deeper regions of the forest, in order to level up some more. Before her departure, she had her pets clean up the area around the village, so they ought to be fine without her. Besides, they had lived just fine for generations without her aid anyway, so it wasn’t like they needed her help all that much.

 

The Grazer was one of the beasts Esperanza kept in the back of her mind when she left the deeper regions to head towards the village a while back. She kept note of them for their high levels, which would be valuable for her when she needed experience to level up with. By dint of fortune, she had encountered it merely two days out from her little hut.

 

It was probable that the beast had wandered and followed her trail out of curiosity, as she saw little reason for it to move so far towards the forest outskirts otherwise. As such, Esperanza planned to take it down, both to prevent it from reaching Navef – its presence would be equivalent to a disaster to the small village – as well as to gain herself some experience.

 

Esperanza was perched atop a tall tree a short distance away from the Grazer, while Dali and Gordy hid themselves in the underbrush nearby. All of them waited for the beast to move a bit closer, silent and still as they did so. They had time, so they were in no rush to take it down and instead favored making sure they got a good first strike in before it could react.

 

Eventually their patience paid off. After an uneventful hour during which time the Grazer munched on the fruits off the tree, the creature moved away towards another tree closer to where Esperanza, Dali, and Gordy were located. It was completely unaware of the danger stalking it as it contentedly started munching on the thick, juicy leaves of the next tree.

 

There was no need for words.

 

With [A Glimpse of Understanding] at its current level and their bond, Esperanza could convey simple thoughts to Dali and Gordy without making a sound. Both of her dogs received her command, and they burst out from the underbrush, pouncing towards the surprised Grazer which reacted far too late to the unexpected ambush.

 

The beast was far too tall for Dali’s small form to reach for its vitals, so instead the dog’s slender form moved swiftly between the Grazer’s legs and he used his fangs to nip on the heels of the beast, causing small bloody wounds that cut deep into the tendons to form as he passed. The Grazed bleated in pain and surprise and tried to trample down on Dali with its uninjured legs, but the small dog was too fast for it to catch.

 

Before it managed to recover from Dali’s sudden strike, Gordy’s larger form barreled against its side and nearly pushed the Grazer over, while her fangs clamped down on the flesh at the side of the Grazer’s abdomen, doubling its pain. The Grazer swung its thagomizer-tipped tail at Gordy, but she saw the blow coming and had let go before it arrived, the spikes only brushing against her thick fur as she retreated.

 

That was when Esperanza made her presence known as well and further distressed the Grazer.

 

From high in the forest canopy, Esperanza leapt down, creating a film-like structure between her extended arms and her torso that she used to glide and control the direction of her fall. She dropped down feet-first, her feet clasped together and pointed down as she formed a sheet of bone-like material over them, creating a wedge-shaped awl of bone to land on.

 

She missed her target slightly – her aim had been to land on the middle of the Grazer’s back to sever its spine in one blow – but still struck the beast’s torso, the force of the fall forcing the bone awl over her feet to pierce deep into the Grazer’s torso. The injury she caused went through the Grazer’s solid form, with the tip of the bone awl even exiting from its underside, a grievous wound to say the least.

 

But not an immediately fatal one.

 

The Grazer reacted by bending its long neck backwards and striking down at Esperanza – who was still embedded in the beast’s torso – with its antlers. The layer of scale-like structures she had formed and hid under her skin did its job and blocked most of the strike, though a couple points pierced into her body nonetheless. Still, the damage they did to her was minimal at best, while Esperanza was in a perfect position to do more to the Grazer in turn.

 

She shifted the part of her body that was embedded in the Grazer’s torso into a multitude of tentacles with either a fanged mouth or a wicked claw at their tips, and sent all those appendages to strike wildly at the beast’s internal organs. The Grazer bleated in pain once more, this time louder and more desperate, as Esperanza ripped and tore her way through its insides.

 

Before the beast could rear its neck back for a second strike, Esperanza grasped its antlers with multiple appendages that shot out from her upper body. Beneath her, Dali continued to nibble on the beast’s heels, while Gordy’s fangs tore deeper into the other side of the beast’s abdomen. The Grazer seemed to have no idea on which threat to deal with for a moment, before it decided to focus on Esperanza first.

 

Esperanza felt as if she had just been ran over by a truck as the beast’s tail slammed into her from behind, hard. Two of the bone spikes even skewered her form, entering through her back and exiting through her chest, though she ignored the painful injuries. One benefit of her amorphous form was the lack of “vital” organs which would kill her quickly, as whatever she fought would need to destroy a good chunk of her form instead.

 

In retaliation, she hurled both of her arms, her fingers tipped with claws, at the Grazer’s large eyes. The claws landed and pierced into the flesh around the eyeballs, while in the center of her palms, a toothy mouth opened wide. A tentacle-like tongue shot out from within that mouth with great force, four sharp fangs at its tip, arranged like a wedge. 

 

Those tongues pierced through the Grazer’s eyeballs, and even cracked the eye sockets behind. She retracted them swiftly, before they shot out a second time, hitting the same spot with greater force and breaking through the orbital bones, the tentacular appendages reaching the bleating Grazer’s brain. Once there, the four fangs opened up and started to bite into the soft, gooey brain tissue without mercy.

 

The [Spike-Tailed Grazer] convulsed wildly as Esperanza turned its brain into so much meat slurry, its violent movements even ripping her out from its torso, with some her appendages dragging out chunks and bits of the beast’s innards as she was forcibly pulled out. The beast’s tail flicked like a whip and hurled her through the air to smash against a tree even as it cavorted and shook in its dying moments.

 

Dali and Gordy had fortunately been smart enough to stay away from it during that time, though, and thus avoided the creature’s final wild lashings.

 

A short while later, the notification arrived.

 

You and your companions have defeated [Spike-Tailed Grazer Lvl39]!

You have leveled to level 3! +2 Free Major stat points gained! +1 Constitution Gained, +3 Wisdom Gained, -2 Sanity Gained!

Class Skill [Flesh is but a Vessel] has leveled to level 2!

 

Esperanza slowly dragged her broken form to the Grazer’s corpse. With the damage her body had taken, it would be a pain to attempt dragging the thing back with her, or even try to dismantle it. Instead, she opted for a course that most would have seen as little other than suicidal. She reverted her form to its original amorphous shape and enveloped much of the dead Grazer’s torso before she made use of [Consume] on it.

 

Her skill worked in conjunction with her many mouth-like orifices as they devoured the Grazer rapidly. Fur, flesh, blood, organs, all were consumed without any regard, with only the clean bones left behind. In a matter of mere minutes, the majority of the Grazer’s torso had turned into gleaming clean skeletal remains, with only its attached limbs, head, and tail spared.

 

Neither Dali nor Gordy chose to partake in the dead beast’s carcass, for good reason.

 

You have ingested poisonous material.

 

You have been grievously poisoned.

 

You have learned General Skill [Poison Resistance Lvl1]

 

You have Died.

 

Please choose where you would like to Respawn:

 

=> Your Current Location

The Nearest Safe Location

 

Because not even her inhuman form was strong enough to handle the beast’s poison, it turned out.

 

Ten minutes later, Esperanza [Respawn]ed in the same area. She first climbed up the tree she had been perched at earlier and collected her clothes – she wasn’t so silly she’d wear her clothes while fighting such a beast – from where she left them. Then she went down and greeted her dogs, which had waited on the spot for her return and welcomed her with affectionate licks and nuzzles.

 

The hunt was a pretty worthwhile one overall. She took down her prey without too much trouble, gained a level in the process, and even earned herself a new general skill. As for the beast’s remnants, she thought that the villagers would be happy to receive its bones, especially the antlers and the spikes on the thagomizer, so she chose to drag the rest of it back towards the village with the help of her dogs.