Even after meeting his eyes, the monkey didn't move, remaining seated there on the tree's branch, tail swishing, not deeming Xenos much of a threat...
Or perhaps baiting him.
A bait that he was willing to make use of once he was sure of one thing.
His Beholding Eyes flickered, peeling the thing apart.
—
Name: Cercopes
Rank: Brephos
Runes: One
—
"Good."
He settled his grip on the sword.
"Dealing with two now would've been trouble."
Xenos slowly stepped forward, his boots crunching in the dirt.
The Cercopes hissed and sat up, its long tail whipping at him.
He didn't flinch, knowing that it wouldn't reach him, and kept walking.
Sure enough, it didn't, and just as the tail pulled back to its owner, he rushed forth and stabbed upward...
Punishing his stab, its tail lashed out again, thinking that it had got him, but it was tricked.
Xenos's attack was nothing but a feint that he used to prepare the next step, the one move he practiced on his way here.
Matching his over-practiced move, he ducked under the tail and stabbed once more.
This time, he fully extended his arm, attacking for real, his blade tearing through the monkey's chest, pinning it against the tree trunk behind.
The Cercopes screeched before going limp and sliding down, most certainly dead.
"And that's why..."
Xenos twisted the blade free.
"We rehearse, ladies and gentlemen."
Ding!
—
{Level: 1}
[Experience: 6/10 → 8/10]
—
He stared at the floating text and chuckled.
"Almost there."
Level two, and likely by the end of this quick session, level twenty was upon him.
Xenos wiped the blood on his sleeve, then dashed deeper into the jungle.
The next ones came fast, three of them this time, swinging from tree to tree, never staying still while constantly lashing out with their tails, even though he didn't get close to them yet, as if they were warning strikes, screaming at him to turn back.
One even threw a rock, nearly tearing his head, which made him bark a laugh.
"Alright, alright, one at a time!"
He baited them out the same way:
Step, feint into step, and real stab.
One monkey swung back into range right as he lunged forward, and the blade caught its ribs.
Another hurled a stone at his skull, which he ducked and sprinted into, allowing it to hit the monkey behind him, dazing it, while he cut the rock thrower down, only to turn around and kill its kin before it could recover.
"Thanks for the assist."
He flicked his wrist, sword dripping blood.
Luck? Yes, that was his Rune Path, and it worked.
But this was just the beginning; the plans he had for his Runes would change everything.
And so he went, these poor monkeys paving the way for that future.
There was no ding sound, as if it was waiting for him to stop, knowing full well that he wasn't going to any time soon.
Four came next, screeching from the treetops.
One slipped mid-swing—his Rune's little push—and slammed face-first into the dirt.
Xenos laughed so hard he nearly missed the swipe from another, but he recovered, stepped in, feinted, stepped in again, ducked the tail, and stabbed again.
One by one, they fell, all against the same practiced motion, a never-changing one.
Five showed up after them, their cries filling the area. They tried swarming him, tails snapping from every direction.
Yet Xenos spun with them, dodging low and rolling through the dirt.
'Who said that rolling wasn't a core of true combat?!'
His strategy burned into his bones with every kill.
Sure, he wasn't perfect; a tail clipped him every now and again, but it was never serious or even an injury.
Each time, he only grinned wider, finding himself going harder and harder.
"Yeah, that's it! Keep me awake!"
He stabbed one clean through the throat, ripped the sword free, pivoted, and gutted another mid-leap.
Blood sprayed his face, soaking his clothes... he looked like a madman, but he didn't care one bit.
Hours bled away, kill after kill...
Cercopes after Cercopes.
Xenos stopped counting, his body moving on instinct rather than thought, the same step, feint, and stab drilled into his muscles until it was less technique and more of a damned reflex.
The jungle floor around him became a graveyard, monkey corpses piling under branches, their blood splattering across the bark, stinking the air with its iron.
Only when late night came, when he could barely see, moonlight covered by what was above, did he finally pause.
With his breath ragged and chest heaving, Xenos stabbed the sword into the dirt and leaned on it, sweat dripping off his chin.
His thin frame looked slightly… fuller now.
Muscle clung faintly to his arms, his shoulders a bit broader.
Of course, this was not natural; no way he'd gain such muscle from this quick workout today; it was the monkeys' Soul remnants.
'Experience' had knitted into him and shaped him, a cheat all Runebearers loved.
Unfortunately, not a single Rune dropped; even his Luck Rune didn't make a difference.
The chance of getting one from Brephos-Class monsters was extremely low.
Runes were of the Soul, so one's Soul had to be strong to retain Runes after death, and that meant that, naturally, the higher the class the monster was, the higher the chance of its Runes remaining intact after it death.
That didn't apply to Runebearers, as while their Souls might be smaller in size, they were tougher and more resistant to death, making the chance of their Runes staying behind an almost guaranteed thing.
And yes, 'almost,' as they could self-destruct, ensuring their Runes would break, or more commonly, Runebearers would lose their all if they were attacked by a much stronger foe; most times, even the mere presence of the strong broke the Souls of the weak.
'Huh... wait, is that why they—'
Ding!
The sound finally came, interrupting his thoughts.
—
╔════════╗
║OVERFLOW!║
╚════════╝
╔═════════════╗
║☆ LEVEL UP X 5 ☆║
╚═════════════╝
[You've Slayed Cercopes X 69!]
[EXP = 58!]
[Level: 1 → 6]
[+ 15 STAT POINTS!]
—
Xenos paused, staring at the glowing words for a long, long moment.
His eyes were wide, his expression blank, and he...
"WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!"
He screamed.