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Chapter 4 - Chapter 0004 「The Predator's Craft」

The Ghoul kept the eggs buried. He wasn't worried others would find it. This was another advantage of being in Velmogar. The dragon's eggs resonate with human beings. Humans once worshiped dragons as Gods. So, if a human who is a descendant of the worshippers were to come near the eggs, he would feel a sense of resonance.

Beasts or Demons, however, are creatures of instinct and chaos. Even as just eggs, dragons are powerful enough to hide their presence from such creatures.

The ghoul leaped and jumped across the dead trees.

Sniff!

Wolves hunted in packs. It would be difficult to slaughter a huge pack alone. That is why the ghoul was currently scounting.

Meanwhile, he also stopped at several places and began digging. While digging, his finger would extend long and sharp like claws, making it very easy to dig.

Chomp!

The ghoul chewed at his shoulder and tore his right arm.

[Regeneration In Progress. Estimated Time: 100 seconds.]

All beasts have different strengths and weaknesses. Ghouls' weakness was their head, neck, and stomach. Those were the only places where a Ghoul could truly be injured. As for their limbs, even if they are torn or broken, they will heal almost immediately as long as they have eaten enough flesh. The ghoul had just consumed a lot of wolves' flesh. Although it did not provide any EXP, it still had other uses.

He used this to his advantage. He ate the flesh from his right arm, while he took the remaining bone and kept it aside. After repeating this process a few times, he used the bones he gathered to sharpen each other. And created something akin to spears. Ghouls, and also other beasts, could turn their limbs and modify them into sharp claws. That's why even though the ghoul's frame was small, the spears he created were long.

The ghoul made a small pit by digging and planted the spears vertically on the bottom. After that, he covered the pit with tree branches and soil.

After making 10 more similar pits, he left to scout again. Of course, it took a lot of days to dig those pits. The most enormous pit was around 10 meters long and 15 meters deep. During that time, wolves spotted him, but he simply lured them to another pit and killed them. If their numbers were not significant, he killed them himself.

Thud!

The ghoul suddenly stopped atop a tree.

[You have experienced blood drain.]

[Your EXP and STR are being drained.][Current Exp 22--->19]

It looked at his feet, and there was a small creature. So small in fact, almost akin to human hair.

'When did it get on my body? During the digging?'

There were no creatures like this before.

"Detect."

[Detect(Locked) Please try again after reaching level 5. If it fails again, please try again after reaching level 200.]

"5 to 200? What a ridiculous leap!"

Ghouls don't have body hair; if not for that fact, finding the creature would have been difficult.

'Annoying bug.' He tried to grab it, but the slippery hair was too small and thin, and his claws were not ideal for grabbing.

His mouth expanded as he gobbled, the entire left foot below the knee at once.

Chomp!

Chomp!

He waited for a while before finally feeling the digestion.

[You have killed a rare parasitic beast. +10 EXP]

[Regeneration In Progress. Estimated Time: 100 seconds.]

The ghoul smirked. 'How nice it would be if there were also other creatures that were not present a millennium ago.' He waited before his innate healing factor completely healed his legs.

Boom!

His ears flinched. 'A fight nearby.'

Here, battles between beasts were widespread in the outerskrits.

He leaped to get a closer view.

The battle was already over. There was a large black hound, with scars glowing akin to lava, around 5 meters tall and 6 meters long. It's sharp, long red teeth feasted on the corpse of the wolves. Some of the wolves' corpses showed signs of a humanoid figure, as if they could walk on two feet, while being covered in red fur. 'Half-Demons.'

A drop of drool dripped down the ghoul's mouth.

Drip!

An urge of hunger spread in the forest.

Syaa!

The hound flinched as it sensed the hunger of another beast. It looked up at a distant tree.

The ghoul's eyes met the hounds.

The hound charged with a roar.

'It certainly is strong. It killed the half-demons,' the ghoul smirked and fled.

Thud!

The hound destroyed all of the trees in its way as it charged.

"Kukukuku."

The ghoul gave a twisted laugh as if mocking the hound.

Thrash!

Branches broke when one of the hound's feet landed on the fragile soil over the pit. The hound was charging too fast to stop suddenly, so it fell on its back. Spears pierced its skin, and red, flaring blood flowed out of it.

Syaaa!

The hound screamed in both pain and fury. Its blood started to melt the bone spears.

"Kukuukukuku."

The ghoul jumped into the pit with two sharp tree branches on its arms. Being upside down limited the hound's moments. The ghoul didn't hesitate and landed atop the hound's stomach. It used the tree's branches and penetrated the scars. The ghoul traced the scars using the branch. Red, flaring blood erupted from the scars. The branch burned and turned to ashes.

"Kukuukukuku."

The ghoul's laugh grew louder as its arms mutated, and it began stabbing the hound's scars rapidly.

"More. More. More!"

[You are experiencing critical damage. (HP----->1000(-200)---->800(-300)---->500(-250)]

The hound's blood splattered as the ghoul stabbed, causing the ghoul's skin to melt. His arms were already half melted, yet he kept stabbing. The flaring blood reached his face, neck, and stomach, but the ghoul continued.

Sy..aa!

The hounds' scream grew softer.

[You have killed a LavaBlood. Exp +200]

[Level 2 Reached][All Status +10 Points]

As soon as the hound died, its flaring blood lost its glow.

A Redhound is a powerful beast. Their strong point is their maws and brutal strength. Its forehead is considered the strongest among all the Upperbeast or Halfdemons. Too bad falling into a pit neutralized all of its strong points. Its weakness is its glowing scars. The only way to kill it is to sever its head or cause it to bleed out by puncturing its scars.

'Only 200.' The Redhound was two steps ahead of him in the evolution chain.

Currently, he was a Beast. Following that would be HighBeast. After Highbeast, a creature can choose to be either half-demon and gain humanoid form or choose to be an UpperBeast and evolve into a giant beast. This Redhound probably came here to hunt wolves to grow further into a three-headed Redhound.

Of course, different creatures had different names for their routes.

Redhound(Beast)--->Scar(HighBeast)-->LavaBlood(UpperBeast) or Chaser(Half-demon)

Grey Wolves(Beast)--->Fanged(HighBeast)-->Three Eyed(UpperBeast) or Beta(Half-demon)

The ghoul used the knowledge he had to his advantage. In a fair fight against the Redhound, he would have lost in his Beast form.

Creatures, except for those who reached half-demon or Monster stage(the stage after UpperBeast), were dull. It was easy to trap them. That is why the ghoul decided to come to the outskirts and grind.

He may only be in the Beast stage, but his intelligence and knowledge were beyond the likes of the creatures here.

He ate the hound's flesh. Consuming flesh caused his flesh to recover rapidly. He left the bones of the limbs. Redhound's bones were stronger than his and could be used to make proper tools or weapons.

Carrying the long limb bones, he returned to the place where the hound had killed a pack of wolves.

It was a pack led by Betas; if an Afla had led it, the hound would have lost. UpperBeasts are stronger than half-demons. Although they are both 1 stage above Highbeast, Half-demons gain a humanoid form and intelligence, whereas Upperbeasts experience a mutation in strength and size.

The Ghould brimmed and continued its feast.

[No change in attributes]

[BoodCraft: High]

'Tsk." He had consumed a lot of wolves till now, yet did not gain any skills or attributes. BloodCraft point was his sustenance of all the flesh he consumed. The higher the BloodCraft, the faster his regeneration and suppression of his hunger. Also, BloodCraft was the most important thing needed for evolution.

The ghoul continued its tactics for weeks. Finding prey, luring them into a trap, and eating them. Although most creatures here barely gave one exp, points started to accumulate over the weeks. Sometimes, he would also encounter Fanged or Three-Eyed and gain 200 exp each.

After a few more weeks.

[Level 5 Reached]

[BloodCraft: High]

[You May Choose the Following Routes: [Fanged] [Scared] [Leech] [Ghoul(Predator)]]

This was not a benefit given by the system, but this was the main trait of a Ghoul—a trait possessed by no other creature. A Ghoul can evolve and hop into the route of any creature it has killed.

Even if he chooses Fanged right now, later he can again hop onto LavaHound or return to Ghoul. But he had other plans.

"Choose a route. Ghoul."

His original body, the 1st incarnation, used Metamorphosis to turn into a human. He decided to grow stronger as a human in that body.

For the 2nd incarnation, he decided to evolve as a Ghoul to regain all of the power he once had. Also, this was the route he was already familiar with.

[Confirmed.]

[Metamorphosis Initiated]

The ghoul's body started to tremble. Its limbs got longer. It grew from 4 feet to around 6 feet. Its muscle definition also rapidly increased. Its black teeth got sharper and longer. Its senses sharpened. Sense of sight, smell, sound, and touch were all enhanced.

[Screen Updated][Screen Summary]

Character Profile: The Ghoul (Devil's 2nd Incarnation)

Name: Unnamed

Title:

Breed: Ghoul

Stage: Predator

Level: 5(0/450 exp)

BloodCraft: Depleted

Attributes:

HP: 3,000 / 3,000 Strength (STR): 80 Agility (AGI): 85 Intelligence (INT): 80 Endurance (END): 80 Magic (MAG): 50

Skills

Endless Burden (9th Circle Skill)(Auto) Predator's Hunger (Passive) Curse of the Guardian (Sealed)

Status Effects

Trickster

The ghoul fell on its knees. It began to eat some of the wolves' corpses it had gathered. Another weakness of the Ghoul was that every time it evolved, its BloodCraft would deplete. Depletion was a critical stage for a ghoul. If a Ghoul doesn't immediately consume flesh, then first it will lose rationality and instinctively search for flesh to consume. If it fails to find any, a Ghoul will die.

[BloodCraft: Low]

'More. I need more.'

He needed to find more powerful creatures and eat their flesh. A ghoul is only at peak strength when the BloodCraft is High. The ghoul leaped across the trees. Now, with a bigger frame and higher speed.

Sniff!

He landed on the ground and stopped.

"A goblin." A humanoid being covered in grey fur around its back and limbs revealed itself. "In our territory?" It had grey eyes and hair.

"It's red! And look at its face. The mouth is so big, and the eyes are red. Looks closer to an Orc than a goblin." Another similar-looking creature revealed itself. This one was a female.

"It seems to be a strange creature. It noticed our ambush." Many other similar-looking creatures revealed themselves.

The ghoul was surrounded.

"It's a Ghoul." The one who said that was different than the others. He had long, blue hair and blue eyes. He had blue fur, but also wore a blue cloak, underneath which he wore a white shirt and pants.

"An Alfa." The Ghoul's mouth drooled.

The Alfa raised his arm. Some wolves climbed the trees, others bore their arms as their claws and fangs grew bigger and sharper, as if preparing for battle.

"Interesting." The Alfa looked at the ghoul with a smile. "A creature of myths in front of my eyes. Your breed went extinct ages ago, so where did you come from?"

The ghoul did not answer.

"I saw some of the pits you created. Such intelligence, yet I sense you are only a Highbeast. Surely, you can understand me?" The Alpha strolled closer. His stance was casual. But the Ghoul knew the Alpha was prepared to attack and defend at a moment's notice. "My ancestors feared Ghouls, especially after one of the Ghouls was said to have caused the near extinction of our ancestors. But I feel most of the knowledge they passed on was exaggerated. They say a Ghoul can hop evolution routes; they also say a Ghoul can kill creatures one or two stages above it, due to their predatory nature. Shall we confirm those rumors?" The Alpa's fangs shone. 

The ghoul's mouth opened, revealing a massive pair of sharp teeth and a twisted smirk. 

The ghoul had planned to enter the midskirts hunt for Alpas and Betas, yet they came here on their own foot. 

Drops of drool dropped from the Ghoul's mouth.

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