Chapter 7: The Double-Headed Monster Twinheads
Chapter 7:
The Double-Headed Monster Twinheads
PART 1
“GSSH, gssh…”
The sound of light snoring drew me out of a hazy sleep.
“Gssh…”
The black lizard dozed right by my nose. Its tail gently petted me in its sleep.
Wow, this lizard has terrible sleeping habits. It was the day after it followed me home, and the little creature had been clingy the whole time. I’d tried to move away from it since one lazy nip could kill me, but it insisted on sleeping like this.
I was pretty sure it had fallen asleep on the opposite side of the cave. How in the world had it survived out in the wild? Did it try to snuggle up to other monsters
in their caves? I wonder if it dug a hole in the ground and slept there. Maybe I should dig one in here?
I didn’t want it to knock over my pots in its sleep. I worked so hard gathering and drying and crushing all that piperis, I couldn’t risk it getting mixed in with the poison. I’d pretty much gathered the carnivorous flowers to the point of extinction by now, so I didn’t want all that salt to go to waste, either.
Maybe I needed to make something for the black lizard to sleep on, too. A bed with a fence around it or something. A baby’s crib.
I looked at its sleeping face. It was practically clinging to the carpet, drifting deeply and peacefully. No wonder it was so comfy, if it had been sleeping on bare earth this whole time. Its scales weren’t as thick as mine.
After the lizard woke up, we went down to a nearby lake to drink. I checked both of our statuses to see how we were, health-wise.
Species: Young Plague Dragon
Status: Normal
Lv: 33/40
HP: 149/149
MP: 143/143
Species: Venom Princess Lacerta
Status: Normal
Lv: 20/35
HP: 110/110
MP: 131/131
No negative status conditions, and our HP and MP were full. The black lizard had even gained a level, probably from when we fought the graywolf pack yesterday.
The Little Rock Dragon had a title skill called Final Evolution, but there was no sign of anything similar on my lizard friend’s skill list. It could still evolve.
I really needed to get moving on that, too, so I could be done with this Plague Dragon form for good. If the lizard and I worked together like we had yesterday, I’d level up in no time.
Unfortunately, neither of us had recovery magic. That would open up so many more possibilities as we fought together and act as insurance in a worst-case scenario. If only I hadn’t chosen this evolution path, I might have finally learned Rest.
Every time I went through the forest and found a new plant, I’d used View Status. Today I located a patch of some colorful grass. I ran over and picked some.
Rainbow Clover: Value F-. Clover with rainbow colored leaves. Used to transfer MP to a member of the same species.
Hmm, this would really brighten up the space around my home and give me something nice to wake up to every morning. When I have more free time, I should come back, dig up a bunch and transplant them.
A favorite food of darkwyrms, who will often completely devour an entire patch.
Huh, in that case, I’ll need to figure out a pesticide first. I could work with the black lizard to develop a poison that only kills bugs. I glanced over at my new friend, who blinked at me curiously in response. Despite our language barrier, it seemed to sense my high hopes and gave me an enthusiastic “Gssh!”
Oh, a four-leaf clover!
I wasn’t going to do anything with it, but I went ahead and picked it out of habit from my previous life. I wasn’t even sure if it was considered good luck in this world.
Blue, red, yellow, white, and a shiny gray. If I transplant all of these, I can make a colorful garden of rainbow clovers! Then I bet I’d get a whole swarm of darkwyrms to happily visit my house. I have a feeling they’d really have a blast.
I put the four-leaf clover down on the pile. Then I saw one with five leaves. I wondered if, true to their name, they went all the way up to seven leaves for the seven colors of the rainbow. But my excitement from finding a four-leaf clover was starting to fade, so I decided to come back to them later.
“Gssh?”
The black lizard looked up at me as if to say, “Are you finished?”
I nodded and we kept walking.
Smelling a sweet and tempting fragrance, I picked a nearby flower, only to check its status and realize it was poisonous. I passed it to the black lizard. I found a pretty red flower and checked its status: A flower that blooms on top of human corpses. Often grows around battlefields and cemeteries. I immediately jumped away. The rest of the walk was a bust.
“Gssh, gssh!”
The lizard came to an abrupt stop and turned towards me, making an angry noise. I sensed caution in its voice, which put me on edge.
Hm? What’s going on? Did I accidentally step on your tail?
“Gssh, gshh!”
I didn’t know what it was trying to tell me so I just stood there as its cries grew higher and higher pitched.
Is it mad because I tossed that poisonous flower over to it or something? Nah, it looked like it really enjoyed it. Maybe assuming it would eat it was insulting somehow?
“Gssh!”
Suddenly a light enveloped the black lizard and several yellow clay lumps shot out. It was using its Clay Gun skill.
That was when I finally realized that something was very wrong. I jumped aside and hit the ground, rolling and leaping to my feet to get out of the way of the gun’s path. Several clay bullets blasted through the spot where I had just been standing.
A bizarre creature leapt out from the brush where the lizard had aimed the Clay Gun bullets.
“Ga-woof, ga-woof!”
It was a huge two-headed dog.
The faces had creepy, squashed-in noses. Not only were the two heads totally freaky, I could feel an intense mental pressure as it squared off against me. But the scariest part by far was the contrasting expressions on the two faces.
The left one had an intimidatingly angry face, and the other one had such a sad crying face that it almost made me feel sorry for it. Both were so expressive that it was hard to believe it was a monster. The dichotomy threw me off balance and, frankly, scared the crap out of me.
I didn’t even have to check its status to know that this guy was bad news.
PART 2
“GRRR…grrr…”
“Bow-wah! Bow-wah!”
The right head, the crying one, looked like it wanted to run away, but the angry one was ready to fight.
Is this a bit, you weird monster?
At any rate, I backed up and checked its status.
Species: Twinheads
Status: Fury + Fear
Lv: 39/45
HP: 155/155
MP: 210/221
Attack: 135
Defense: 94
Magic: 135
Agility: 138
Rank: D+
Special Skills:
Smell: Lv 4
Acid Drool: Lv 5
Stealth: Lv 4
Twinheads: Lv —
Split Personality: Lv —
Resistance Skills:
Confusion Resistance: Lv 3
Hunger Resistance: Lv 5
Normal Skills:
Rest: Lv 4
Gravity: Lv 2
Gravidon: Lv 3
Bite: Lv 3
Beast Tackle: Lv 4
Scorching Breath: Lv 3
Marking: Lv 3
Sacrifice: Lv —
Title Skills:
Delegator: Lv 5
Gravity Master: Lv 3
Tenacious: Lv 5
Infighter: Lv 3
Ravenous: Lv 4
Chaser: Lv 2
It looked almost funny with its mad and sad faces next to each other, but its stats were super rough. It was definitely not something I wanted to take on unprepared. Looked like the Little Rock Dragon wasn’t the only dangerous monster out here.
Lately I’d only come across super easy monsters; I’d let my guard down. I even let some really low level guys get away. I kept checking monsters’ statuses from afar, and if their stats were too high, I ran. But that tactic only worked if I spotted them first.
The dog had skills to detect its prey, stealth to hide itself and guarantee first strike, and enough agility to ensure its prey wouldn’t escape. My usual battle tactics weren’t going to work here. It had all the skills a hunter needed to survive in the wild.
Its skill Tenacious sounded familiar. I was pretty sure the giant taranturouge spider had it. So just how long was this thing going to chase me around?
Even if I ran, escaping wouldn’t be easy. I bet Marking was some kind of tracking skill. If it were just me, I might be able to escape with Roll, but the black lizard’s Roll would lose too much speed navigating through this maze of trees. Besides, the dog’s Scent skill might mean it could follow me all the way back to my cave. I’d just have to break my usual rule and fight it here, then try to avoid this area going forward. Not even interesting plants could tempt me back to an obviously dangerous environment.
I was happy that it was a monster I could theoretically beat, at least. If it had been another C Rank dragon, it would all be over. Still, if I wanted to get out of here alive, I needed to come up with a plan.
All of the twinheads’s stats were ridiculously high, and all of its skills looked stupidly dangerous. There were a lot of skills I’d never even seen before, but their names were pretty self-explanatory. It had a formidable balance of mid-range attacks, close-range attacks, and recovery skills.
I looked over at the black lizard just as it glanced up at me.
“Raaar.”
“Gssh.”
I could tell by its voice that it had come to the same conclusion I had. If we both wanted to make it out of this one alive, we would have to work together.
The black lizard used Roll, racing in a straight line right past the twinheads and jumping into the brush, moving at its highest speed. It wouldn’t be able to maintain that momentum through this terrain, but over a short, straight distance it was fine.
Its speed was such that the twinheads temporarily lost sight of the lizard and had to take a moment to reorient itself to its trail. But the black lizard hadn’t run away. It was hidden, waiting for an opportunity to strike. If it used its venom, we’d just have to draw the battle out until it took effect. That was where I came in.
The head on the left focused on the brush where the lizard lay in wait. The sad face was the one looking at me, and since the monster’s attention was split, I figured this was the best chance I’d get. I’d much rather deal with the sad one anyway. It looks way more vulnerable.
My plan was a simple punch, pummeling the twinheads with close-range attacks and trying to find a weakness.
“Ba-wow…”
The right head opened its mouth and howled, and a black light spread out from between the two heads. It spread wider and streaked toward me, too fast to dodge. The light hit me, and immediately my body felt extremely heavy.
That must be its Gravity attack.
With a strange deflating noise, the earth beneath the expanse of light began to sink, giving way under the pressure. The immense weight pressed down on me until I fell to my knees in front of the twinheads.
“Grrr…grrr…”
“Bow-wah! Bow-wah!”
The two-headed dog glared at me as I lay vulnerable in front of it. Then it pounced.
Uh-oh…
The force from Gravity lifted. I managed to stand, but when I tried to settle into a fighting stance, I couldn’t shake the feeling that my movements were still slowed.
“Gssh!”
Bullets from the black lizard’s Clay Gun shot out from the brush, hurtling at the twinheads. The sad face turned to look back and quickly evaded the bullets. The other head, the angry one, opened its mouth wide and stretched out toward me.
Going up against a monster with 138 agility was pretty rough. My own speed wasn’t at a hundred percent, so I couldn’t fend it off. A direct hit from this thing could come way too close to killing me outright. I decided taking a glancing blow to my shoulder would be better than a failed attempt to escape.
Sharp pain tore through me as the angry head’s fangs sunk in. I braced myself against its superior attack power, but it still hurt much more than I was expecting. It seemed intent on ripping off my left arm completely. I needed to shake it off before it had the chance.
“Boww?”
“Raaaar!”
One of the heads swiveled toward the black lizard, and I pummeled it with my right fist. Dragon Punch landed cleanly, bones crunching.
“Arooo!”
It clearly didn’t expect it to hurt that much. Since the left head was the one facing me, the right head was completely unprepared. Everything in its body telegraphed that it had been planning to defend the left head.
I ignored the searing pain in my shoulder and dug my claws into the right head, taking hold of it. That was two for two. Then, suddenly, the black lizard appeared from behind, its cheeks puffed up.
“Raaaar!”
Go, black lizard, go! Poison me too if you have to! You can just cure me later!
Poisonous gas shot from the lizard’s mouth. The sinister-looking smoke spread, enveloping me and the twinheads all at once.
PART 3
THE POISONOUS SMOKE the black lizard shot out obscured my vision. A burning heat spread through my body and I heaved with nausea. On the bright side, the twinheads must be feeling the same.
Now that the left head’s attention was elsewhere, I punched it hard and yanked my shoulder out of its mouth. Its fangs scraped against my flesh, breaking the skin further, but I didn’t have time to worry about further damage. I kicked the twinheads right on the nose and sprang backwards, escaping from the lizard’s noxious cloud.
I pitched to the side as soon as I landed, falling to my knees. I must’ve inhaled a whole lot of that poison. Man, I felt sick. But the twinheads could pounce on me at any moment, so I didn’t have any time to waste. I forced myself to my feet, gritting my fangs against the pain of the bite. I had to check and see how much damage had been done.
Species: Young Plague Dragon
Status: Poison α (Slight)
Lv: 33/40
HP: 69/149
MP: 135/143
My status condition was Poison α (Slight), huh? I guess black lizard’s fangs were worse than the cloud, then. I’d have to wait for an opportunity for it to cure me. I’d stick close by until the twinheads was vanquished.
The fight was definitely leaning in our favor, but it was too early to call a victory just yet. My left arm was useless—when I tried to raise it, it just trembled slightly. The bite wound was deep, and even worse, some of the poison had seeped into it.
Finally, the cloud cleared and the twinheads came back into view. I checked to make sure the poison had affected it as well.
Species: Twinheads
Status: Fury + Fear + Poison α
Lv: 39/45
HP: 113/155
MP: 190/221
Hm? It doesn’t say (Slight) after it. Mine must be a light case since I have Poison Resistance. Yet another advantage in my column. I did some damage, but it had Rest and plenty of MP. It still had me beat in stats, and its abilities made it difficult to attack.
“Arooo!”
The right head let out a howl. The other head—the one I’d punched and kicked—began recovering HP. I would’ve liked to use this opportunity to punch it again, but the left head was keeping a close eye on me. Yeah, you’d better recognize my power. If I went by their expressions, I’d guess that the left head was the attacker and the right head was the magic user. The right had been the one to use Gravity.
Regardless, one of them was distracted, and it would be a waste to let the opportunity slip by. I wanted to do some real damage, so I aimed Baby’s Breath and fired.
The left head drew in a deep breath and shot a gout of flames from its mouth, the force of it extinguishing my Baby’s Breath and rushing towards my unprotected body. So not only did it have recovery magic, gravity magic, and close-range attacks, but also had a breath attack?! What can’t this guy do?
I spread my wings and retreated, putting some distance between us.
“Ba-wow!”
Before I could get away, the twinheads charged me. Clay Gun shot off in its direction again. It sped up but couldn’t evade the attack, so it took the rock bullets in the back of the leg, knocking it off balance. I expected it to collapse right on the spot, but it just froze.
Nice, black lizard! Great job!
The twinheads used its special skill Scent to sniff out the general direction of my friend, but the lizard was pretty quick. The twinheads was struggling. It knew vaguely where Clay Gun was coming from, but it couldn’t pinpoint the exact location, and so couldn’t predict its trajectory.
It moved so quickly that for a moment I wondered whether the poison was really working.
“Ba-wooow.”
The crying head howled, opening its mouth wide. A black light spilled forth, swirling and growling bigger and bigger, forming a sphere.
What the heck was that?
I double-checked its skills.
Normal Skills:
Rest: Lv 4
Gravity: Lv 2
Gravidon: Lv 3
Bite: Lv 3
Beast Tackle: Lv 4
Scorching Breath: Lv 3
Marking: Lv 3
Sacrifice: Lv —
By process of elimination, I figured it was Gravidon. The longer charging time probably meant it was even more dangerous than Gravity. I was surprised it would use such a slow-acting attack right in the middle of a battle, but maybe it was used to using its other head to defend while the magic head gathered power. Still, I couldn’t just throw away an advantage against an enemy with such incredible sensory skills.
My best chance was to strike now, while the right head was frozen and its field of vision was narrow. Now was the time to use an attack that would do guaranteed damage. I was in a pinch, but this was still a great opportunity.
“Raaaar!”
I blasted it with Baby’s Breath. If it used Scorching Breath again to counterattack, that would tie up both heads, and the black lizard could take care of the rest.
The twinheads’s left mouth twitched slightly, and it casually stepped aside, ignoring my attack. Heh. So you’re not gonna fall for it, huh?
I circled around to the monster’s right side, trying to get closer. The left head strained toward me. I was blessed with poison resistance, but this monster wasn’t. A direct hit from the black lizard’s Venom Fangs would probably take it down.
“Gsssh!”
Even as I thought this, the black lizard appeared from the brush and blew a spray of mist towards the twinheads. That was its second use of Poison Belt today.
“Grrr…grrr…”
“!!!”
The right head stayed silent. I had a feeling that if it lost concentration, its half-charged Gravidon would fail. The twinheads scrambled to get out of the cloud of poisonous smoke as quickly as possible. I jumped right through it, aiming a Dragon Punch right at its torso.
The black lizard followed me into the cloud and leapt at the twinheads.
“Awwooo!”
The right head cried out. The black light inside of its mouth burst with a sound like an explosion. Gravidon must’ve failed. The smoke dissipated, revealing the twinheads with both tongues hanging out, struggling for breath. They stared me and the black lizard down, eyes glimmering dangerously.
Both the angry face and sad face had the look of wounded beasts. The creature’s eyes were red and bloodshot from the poison. The failed Gravidon skill had busted the right head’s fangs right out of its mouth. Its fur was torn off in patches, and it sluggishly dripped blood. A huge scratch painted one of its eyelids, swelling the eye firmly shut. The black lizard must have gotten a hit in while we were in the poison cloud.
Now I was sure it had gotten a mega dose of poison. If I hadn’t wrapped up my shoulder in a torniquet when I fought the lizard, preventing the venom from circulating, I most certainly would have died.
If the twinheads wanted to use my strategy, it would have to choke itself. I say go right ahead.
PART 4
THE TWINHEADS glared at me, its tongues dangling out of its mouths.
Frightening, but I was comforted by the fact that it didn’t have much time left. The poison was clearly circulating through the right head. In moments, it would travel from its neck to its torso, then infect its entire body.
“B-Ba-wooww…”
It was using its recovery magic, Rest.
The right head howled, and a few of the twinheads’s wounds healed, but the restorative magic did nothing against the poison raging in its veins. Its breathing was still ragged, its eye still swollen shut.
Species: Twinheads
Status: Poison α (Major)
Lv: 39/45
HP: 141/155
MP: 112/221
The twinhead’s desire to fight was gone. The black lizard’s venom was just that scary. No matter how many times it tried to cast Rest, the poison would just start chipping away at its stamina again an instant later. The fur around the right head’s eye was already starting to fall out.
Honestly, at that point the black lizard and I could probably Roll out of there to wait until the twinheads collapsed. I was poisoned too and could really use the lizard’s cure. But…
“Boww.”
“Grr…”
The twinheads’s two faces looked at each other, nodded, and let out a mournful howl. Then it raised a clawed hand and knocked its own head clean off.
“What the heck?!”
It decapitated the right head—the one poisoned by Venom Claws. I understood it needed to stop the spread of the poison, but that was a little extreme!
If I had two heads…well, even if I knew my other head would regenerate once I evolved, I didn’t think I would do that.
“GRRRRAAA!”
The twinheads’s remaining face glared at me and howled. Wait, now that there’s only one head left, should I start calling it singlehead? Hah! You’re just a little doggy that can breathe fire!
The twinheads was one head down, and we still had the advantage. Although the left head had not gotten hit as bad as the right, it was still in the poison cloud. And it couldn’t use that dangerous gravity magic or its recovery magic anymore.
But I could tell it still didn’t plan to run away. I mean, it was probably too poisoned to consider it, but if giving up was even a possibility in its mind, it wouldn’t have killed its comrade.
The twinheads was ready to fight me and the black lizard to the death. But how did it expect to win?
Will it do something desperate? And why was it staring me down when the black lizard was right there? Honestly, I hadn’t done much in this fight besides draw the twinheads’s attention so that the black lizard could hide.
Maybe it was focused on me since I was standing closer, but now that there was only one head, it really should be paying more attention to my companion.
So, what now?
Should we run away and just wait for the twinheads to die? It was on its last legs, though, so I was sure we could finish it normally. Either way, it would be a fight to death. Maybe it would be safer to take a more conservative approach. What was that saying? “A beast is at its most dangerous when cornered.” And its skills…
Normal Skills:
Rest: Lv 4
Gravity: Lv 2
Gravidon: Lv 3
Bite: Lv 3
Beast Tackle: Lv 4
Scorching Breath: Lv 3
Marking: Lv 3
Sacrifice: Lv —
Hm, so the skills didn’t disappear with the head that died? It probably could no longer use the top three, though. They were magic.
Wait. Sacrifice?
“Raaaar!”
Run away! You’re the one he’s focused on!
I roared loudly to warn the black lizard, who was waiting to attack the twinheads from its blind spot. It heard my cries and gave me a puzzled look, but still didn’t run away.
The fallen right head of the twinheads lay on the ground. Suddenly, its eye flew open. Its fangs dug into the earth and it slowly used its chin to drag itself toward the black lizard.
The black lizard looked bewildered at the grotesque sight, but since I warned it, it took it in stride and quickly used Roll to get away. I was glad it wasn’t caught off guard.
The disembodied head was fast. Faster than its body, which was very weird. I wondered if this was what the Sacrifice skill did. I didn’t want to know what would happen if either of us got caught by that thing. It might have been from the poison, or a side effect of Sacrifice, but every time it moved, its face split and its flesh tore. Blood dribbled, bone was exposed.
I wanted to believe it wouldn’t hold up for much longer. It couldn’t catch up to the black lizard, but I still ran after the disembodied head until I was stopped by the twinheads’s body blocking my path.
“Grr, grr…”
Even though it was riddled with poison and missing its right head, the monster showed no signs of backing down. I couldn’t believe it was still staring me down with such strength in its eyes. I knew all too well how rough Poison α was on the system.
Talk about resilience!
“Raaar!”
I respected its tenacity, but I still wasn’t going to show any mercy. Sorry, but right now I just want the poison to finish you off.
PART 5
“RAAAAAAAR!”
I stared the twinheads down and roared.
It didn’t retreat, just looked at my injured shoulder with ferocious eyes. The Bite wound was so bad I could barely move my left arm. The twinheads was probably planning to rip me apart starting from my left side.
But I was working under the same strategy. If I had to fight the twinheads, best to start by destroying its headless right side first. I’d attack the torso before that huge mouth could get me.
“Raaaaar!”
“Grr, grr…”
We roared and howled at each other, and then we charged.
It tried to bite my left side. I tried to punch its right torso. Honestly, this was probably a stupid plan. If I left it alone, it would die from the poison anyway. I just had to pray that the black lizard could outrun its disembodied head.
I should’ve just pulled back and waited for the twinheads to run out of steam, then checked to make sure my friend was all right. I was poisoned too, after all, even if that wasn’t an immediate concern—keeping still would slow the poison’s circulation in my bloodstream until I could be cured.
I knew all of that. But I just couldn’t hold myself back.
Just before the twinheads and I clashed, it moved to circle around to my left side, and I moved to circle around to its right.
Chomp.
The twinheads didn’t anticipate my sudden movement, so its fangs crunched thin air. I fired off a Dragon Punch to its torso.
“Arooo!”
The impact hurt my fist, which was rough on me considering my current HP and poisoned condition. But finishing it off was the most important thing. I lifted my trembling, injured left arm and dug both sets of claws into the twinheads’s neck, holding on tight while I kicked off the ground.
I shot Baby’s Breath downward to gain more height, then turned an arc and aimed us both back down.
“Gao…gao…” The beast moaned in pain.
But I’d come this far, and I couldn’t back down now. I folded my wings and plummeted at the ground, using the lethal special skill I’d learned during my fight with the claybear: Nutcracker.
The twinheads hit the ground headfirst, and I quickly kicked off it and back into the air, shielding myself from the impact as much as I could.
Normal Skill “Nutcracker” Lv 1 has become Lv 2.
“Raar…”
I pulled out of my dive so quickly that my balance was thrown off. A wave of vertigo overwhelmed me.
My status… I don’t even want to check it at this point.
I looked down at the monster. The back of its remaining head was completely caved in, and its body convulsed. I didn’t know the conditions for triggering the Sacrifice skill, but I doubted this head was in any shape to come after me.
I left the twinheads to its death throes and staggered in the direction the black lizard ran. It’s alive, right? It got away?
My vision was cloudy, but I could walk. My left leg—the one I’d used to kick off the twinheads after Nutcracker’s finishing move—could barely bend. I had no choice but to use Roll. I curled myself up into a ball and moved as quickly as I could. Even though my brain and body felt like they were both being torn apart, I rushed frantically after the black lizard, close to panic.
I pushed the negative thoughts out of my mind and just focused on rolling. But I just couldn’t knock away this dark mood. Instead I tried to focus on why I was feeling so frantic in the first place. I knew if I got there a second too late, there’d be nothing I could do.
Why was I hurting myself by rolling so fast? Because I needed it to cure my poison? No, that could wait.
The black lizard was important to me, that was all.
Even though we’d only known each other for a few days, we’d been through a lot together. At first we were enemies, but after our race we made peace. We defeated those graywolves together, I invited it into my cave, and I even treated it to my special jerky. We drank together at the lake, explored the forest side by side…
I realized suddenly that the only friends I had were Myria and the black lizard. I’d barely met Myria, and the next time I saw her, she’d probably just think I was an evil monster.
The only one I could truly be myself around was the black lizard.
“Raaaaaar!”
I roared, rolling even faster. The price for my speed was the poison ravaging my veins. I was already weak from the battle, but the poison made me feel like my insides were being run through a blender.
Still, I kept running.
PART 6
AN IMPORTANT REALIZATION was growing in my mind. The Human Transformation skill wasn’t really what I wanted. What I really wanted was a friend. I wanted someone who had my back, just as I had theirs. Someone to relate to. I was lonely.
I rolled frantically through the forest, but my body wouldn’t move like I wanted it to. My head pounded and swam. I kept running into things, whittling down my HP even more. And yet I still kept rolling.
The trail the black lizard had left gradually grew fainter. I thought I caught a glimpse of blood on the ground. The trail swerved wildly. I kept going, more negative thoughts consuming my mind the further I went.
What if—no, it can’t be.
Please, God. If the black lizard survives, I’ll never ask you for Human Transformation again. As long as I have the black lizard, I don’t need to go to the village. And I’ll stop complaining about everything all the time. So please, please don’t let the black lizard die.
Moving was getting harder. My impatient heart pounded, pumping my poisoned blood through my veins, taunting me. Under normal circumstances, I’d think it was just the venom and fatigue, but I knew that wasn’t all.
I caught sight of a fleshy lump in the distance.
I stopped Rolling, my quick halt tossing me forward. I crashed down hard onto my flank.
My consciousness wavered, but I gathered every bit of willpower and stood back up. I staggered a few steps and picked up the ball of flesh with both hands. An exploded eyeball with viscous fluid and entrails slipped through my fingers.
I glanced around and breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank God, it’s the twinheads’s.
I was holding the top half of its head, and could see the bottom half rolling aimlessly a little ways away. I looked up at the raw flesh stuck in the forest canopy. The decapitated head had already been on its last legs, so to speak, and slamming into this tree had finally finished it.
That meant the black lizard must’ve gotten away! I forgot how much pain I was in and ran after its trail until it abruptly came to an end. I looked frantically into the bushes, but the lizard was nowhere to be seen.
“Raaaaar!”
I squeezed out a roar. I heard a tiny “Gssh” and followed the sound.
The black lizard lay in the brush, covered in bite marks. A shiver ran through me as I realized it was the work of that disembodied head, but at least my friend was still alive. Relieved, I checked its status.
Species: Venom Princess Lacerta
Status: Bleeding
Lv: 20/35
HP: 28/110
MP: 14/131
Thank goodness. After a poultice with medicinal herbs, everything would be all right. Luckily, I knew where to find the right plants. I gathered the black lizard in my arms, relief flooding through me.
“Gssh, gssh.”
The black lizard licked my face all over, just like a dog showing its affection. It was curing my poison, I realized. I had completely forgotten about that.
I checked my status to make sure the poison was gone, then picked up the lizard. I searched around for medicinal herbs; I was sure I’d seen some around here before.
Sawtooth Grass: Value F. Said to be effective against sickness if steeped in liquid, but only has a placebo effect.
Able to absorb small amounts of fluid, and often used as a styptic bandage to stop bleeding.
According to an apocryphal story, a merchant and his friend were in the forest when the friend struck him with a blunt weapon and stole his goods. The merchant happened to collapse onto a patch of Sawtooth Grass and narrowly avoided death. He went on to report his friend to the authorities, who was then taken to the gallows.
Yeah, this is it.
I gently set the lizard down and pulled up a handful of the Sawtooth Grass, knocked the roots off, and wrapped it around the lizard’s injuries. I thought it might fight me, but it stayed perfectly still. I waited until Bleeding disappeared from its status and then collapsed onto the ground beside it.
Title Skill “Protective Spirit” Lv 4 has become Lv 5.
“Gssh, gshh!”
The black lizard licked my face.
Hey, you already cured my poison.
Gained 234 Experience Points.
Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 234 Experience points.
Oh, looks like the twinheads’s body finally gave out.
I was starting to worry the leveling announcement wouldn’t come, but the monster must’ve hung on for a little while after its head was crushed.
I bet the black lizard leveled up a bunch from that, too.
“Young Plague Dragon” Lv 33 has become Lv 37.
Yep, everything is going smoothly.
And now that Protective Spirit was Lv 5, I could safely evolve. I just needed three more levels. I didn’t want to fight any more monsters with weird skills like the twinheads.
Gained Normal Skill “Human Transformation” Lv 1.
Huh…? Wait, for real?