Vol. 2 Ch. 14: Feeling bloodthirsty tonight

Author's Note:
Recurring Character:
Peter: The protagonist of this novel.
Mariah: Peter's mum.

Recap:

“…Of course,” Mariah rolled her eyes. “At this point, I’ll be more surprised if you don’t have one.”

‘Lucky bastard,’ she thought, her nose pulled up in annoyance as she gave him a hard stare. ‘Show off!’

...End Of Author Note...

…

Mariah quickly fell asleep after dinner, leaving Peter on watch. He kept an eye on the animals as they grazed, well into the night. Time passed as he circled the camp, sometimes climbing on random trees to sit on a high branch and gaze at the night sky.

‘No bats tonight.’ Peter mused, looking at the moon’s position in the sky. The moons were past their peak in the night sky. The camp was mostly quiet, except for the horses grazing around the campsite. The fire had dimmed, reduced to smouldering embers.

Peter walked forward, leaning down to add dried branches before stoking the flames. As he was about to stand up, he felt tiny vibrations in the ground. He stilled, his head tilted to the side, his eyes narrowed.

Pressing his ear to the ground, he closed his eyes and listened carefully. He felt something move around underground. A pity that Mana Sense couldn’t penetrate deep enough to decipher the creature’s shape.

Somewhere behind him, the horses and sheep made noise. They sensed something, making them anxious. Peter looked ahead and spotted swarms of insects emerging from the cracks in the boulder that was supposed to guard them from the cold wind.

“What’s going on?” Mariah asked, waking up from all the commotion. Her eyes widened in alarm as hundreds of roaches, crickets, and millipedes burst out of the cracks. She swiftly stood up, her hand holding the bedroll in front of her like a shield.

“Something’s in the ground,” Peter said, pulling his sword out of its scabbard. “Don’t know what, but it’s awake now…”

Mariah gulped, her gaze locked on the ground. She took a deep breath to steady herself and steel her heart. “…Alright, what do you want me to do?” she said, gaze snapping to Peter. Behind them, the horses neighed louder.

Peter looked at them from the corner of his eye before fixing his gaze on the boulder. He widened his stance, sword at the ready, but willing to immediately rely on Deathknell if he couldn’t handle the threat alone. He gritted his teeth, picking up a burning branch from the pit before throwing it at Mariah.

“The horses will flee if they get too anxious,” he said, mentally instructing Deathknell to protect her through their bond. “Stay with them, but some distance away,” he told her.

Mariah nodded before grabbing the smouldering branch and rushing toward the horses. She led them away from the camp, near the tall trees in the south.

The sound of the horses faded into the distance, replaced by a tense silence. Peter remained cautious, slowly empowering his body and his sword using mana. Clittering and tapping noises—not rhythmic but scattered—rose from the boulder. Faint at first, but growing louder. Peter stilled.

The sound bounced—tick-tap-tack…scrrrk—making it impossible to tell how many there were. The slope made it echo, amplifying it to travel further.

Mariah gasped as the sound crawled down her spine. She subconsciously retreated a few steps, along with the horses. Her eyes drifted to Peter, who stood ready, intent on tussling with whatever was making these dreadful sounds.

When the creature finally slithered out of the crack, it clung to the wall with unnatural ease. It loomed taller than Mariah by a head, every inch of it encased in jagged, metallic-tinted chitin armour. The creature’s underbelly was covered in what looked like hundreds, maybe thousands, of tiny legs, helping it grip the boulder.

Peter didn’t wait to count. He rushed up the slope, his sword ready to dissect every inch of the abomination before it could approach the campsite. The centipede raised its head, clicking its hooked mandibles at him threateningly.

Peter flooded his legs with mana, preparing to leap and deliver a devastating blow to the giant insect. It aimed and spat out a blob of liquid, making Peter give up on his attack and roll sideways to dodge.

The blob struck the earth with a wet splat, followed by a hiss—like acid biting into stone. Peter spared it a glance before surging toward the centipede. More globs followed in rapid bursts, each one hissing as it hit the ground. Peter zigzagged through them frantically, the stench of burning trailing behind him as every near miss shimmered with heat.

Just as he reached the boulder’s base, the ground gave away, and another centipede crawled out to wrap itself around him. Peter cursed, struggling to stay on his feet as the insect tried to dig its legs under his skin.

The protective coating of Eternal Ward stood strong against the innumerable sharp, hook-like legs. Peter grunted, feeling its powerful mandibles wrap around his neck like a vice—before firing the acid at point blank.

The ward shimmered as it blocked the corrosive liquid. Peter reinforced it by connecting another stream of mana to the skill. He couldn’t afford to take damage to anything vital. Each of them would inflict massive amounts of damage that his healing couldn’t cover.

‘Get off!’ he thought, struggling to swing his sword. From the corner of his eye, he saw the other centipede advancing toward the carriages.

He desperately looked for an opening before he found a small boulder down the slope. Digging his legs into the ground, he jumped sideways and rolled down the slope alongside the centipede.

Both of them slammed into the boulder sharply, and he heard a distinct crunch. The centipede loosened its grip on Peter in pain, allowing him to escape its clutches. The crash had broken its shell.

It thrashed violently as Peter rose, its underside exposed in the moonlight. Seizing the opening, he hacked his sword in a brutal arc from top to bottom. Blackish gore spilt out, slapping wetly against the earth. Despite being gutted, it refused to die, clinging to life with that grotesque resilience only insects seemed to possess.

Peter turned his head to the carriages and sighed in relief when he saw that Mariah had successfully diverted the centipede's attention by throwing rocks at it. He raised his sword high. Its blade burned blue with mana, sharpening its edge even further.

With a shout, Peter swung, cutting chitin and flesh alike as he separated the creature’s body from its head, rolling down the slope as it stopped struggling.

Peter didn’t waste a second. He rushed after the second centipede, who was halfway to reaching Mariah as she waved her torch to get its attention. Her shadow wobbled unnaturally. Deathknell prepared to rush toward the insect at a critical moment.

Despite having more legs, the creature was still slower than Peter on the ground. He surged forward, his eyes narrowed in concentration. He jumped as he reached it, his hands raised above his head, halfway in a rounded swing. His sword struck true, cutting its antennas.

He landed on its back, his knee slamming into its shell, breaking its balance and causing it to fall forward. Not giving it time to recover, Peter raised his sword overhead, both hands grabbing the hilt, the tip pointed down straight before plunging it into the creature’s head with a shout. Blood sprayed everywhere, and the centipede shivered once before falling still forever.

Peter looked around, checking the vicinity for any other predators besides the two centipedes. He found none. Feeling satisfied, he finally turned to his mother.

…

Mariah looked from some distance away as Peter raised his head and fixed her with a stare. His face was covered with blue blood and a bit of brain matter. She shivered, feeling his manic eyes, a grin on his face. His chest rose and contracted in a fast rhythm. His leather armour was covered with hundreds of tiny holes, but not a blemish on the skin underneath it.

He took a step forward.

Mariah yelped, falling backwards. Goosebumps were travelling down her spine.

“What happened?” Peter asked, stopping in his tracks. His expression morphed into confusion.

“You…seem to enjoy it,” Mariah gulped, her heart thumping loudly in her chest.

“Enjoy what? What are you talking about?” Peter said, chuckling as he spared a glance at his weapon, noting the blue blood covering it. His face twisted in disgust for a moment as he threw it away.

“…you don’t realise it, do you?” Mariah muttered, composing herself a bit. “You relish in it…the killing.” She clicked her tongue, pointing at him, “Just look at yourself. Even now—your eyes…they still spark with mania.”

Peter stilled, a frown taking over his lips as his mind raced. His gaze drifted to her shadow before he fed more mana into his defensive skills, reinforcing the bastion protecting his mental domain. A cleansing wave swept over his mind, calm and radiant. Undying Vitality moved with purpose, dissolving any outside influence over his consciousness. Peter closed his eyes and sighed.

“Are you alright?” Mariah asked hesitantly, lifting herself and straightening her dress.

Peter opened his mouth to reassure her, but failed to say anything and ended up closing his mouth. He nodded, a small, quiet smile on his lips.

Mariah nodded curtly, understanding that he needed some alone time. Leading the horses, she quietly excused herself toward the campsite.

Deathknell separated from her shadow and joined Peter’s again as she walked past him.

‘…shouldn’t be possible,’ Peter shook his head, jaw clenched, hands balling into fists. ‘It shouldn’t be able to influence me. It doesn’t make any sense. All the clauses in the contract…all the countermeasures in the skills…all the restraints imposed by the system!’

He didn’t want to believe it, but Undying Vitality had found murk of outside interference, maligning his personality and cleaned it. Peter had a lot of questions.

‘For a second, let’s just say that it’s able to influence me despite all the restraints…still, how did it do that without alerting Eternal Ward and Spirit of Fortitude?’ Peter started to walk in circles, clutching his forehead.

‘Even if it was somehow able to overpower my protection and resistance skills, I’d still have been alerted.’ The more Peter thought about the issue, the more unlikely it seemed that Deathknell was behind the attempt to make him more bloodthirsty.

He was clear about one thing—he had to find out what was causing it and stop it as soon as possible. Until then, he must actively use Undying Vitality to clean the taint every few hours.

Turning around, he approached the carcass and used Inspect on it.

[

Inspect…

Name: Ironcarapace Centipede

Level: 35

Status: Deceased

HP: 0/1400

Description:

A colossal centipede native to deep sub-forest tunnels, mutated over decades of consuming mana-rich minerals. Its iron-tinted chitin offers remarkable defence, capable of deflecting most mundane weapons. Aggressive, territorial, and known for paralysing prey with venomous fangs.

While primarily a close-range predator, it can also launch a pressurised blob of corrosive fluid from specialised glands to melt armour and kill prey.

]

“Someone might be willing to pay for the chitin,” Peter said, wondering if the horses could take the extra weight. “Nah,” he shook his head, walking toward the camp. “It’s not like we’re lacking in money,” he added, remembering the pouch full of coins stored inside the carriage.

“Feeling better?” Mariah asked once he sat down on the other side of the fire pit.

“Yeah,” Peter said, adding another branch into the flames. His gaze remained fixed on the flames. “Can’t sleep?”

“Yeah,” Mariah chuckled, “I’m afraid I might get nightmares if I sleep right now. I hate insects…absolute worst things to exist.”

...End Of Chapter...

His list of TO DO things just keeps on increasing.