Chapter 10: Testing Skills in Real Combat Situations

Mamadou was annoyed.

The Lesser Mouse stood no chance against him, but he had not expected it to take so long to finish it off.

He had successfully limited its mobility, yet none of his attacks so far had been fatal.

"I should have brought my axe instead of those two knives."

Still, he had seriously injured the beast, which was now struggling to walk.

It was only a matter of time before it collapsed.

But in this dangerous place, time was a luxury Mamadou could not afford.

"I need to improve my base stats to the point where killing this kind of monster becomes instantaneous."

Mamadou rushed toward the Lesser Mouse with his claws sharpened and ready.

He slashed the Lesser Mouse.

The moment it turned around to crush him, Mamadou immediately changed position and slashed it again.

All of this was possible because he had already destroyed both of its eyes.

This time my Health Points haven’t moved at all, haha.

Finally, a fight where I’m not the one in danger.

"One more hit and I can finish it."

The exhausted Lesser Mouse eventually stopped moving.

The moment Mamadou was certain it was safe to approach, he advanced and sank his fangs into its throat.

He tore apart the Lesser Mouse’s neck.

The beast’s blood flowed into Mamadou’s mouth.

His control over his body had improved, and so had the way he used his claws.

He was quite satisfied.

"Next time, I should try fighting in the trees."

"The more environments I’m comfortable fighting in, the better."

Mamadou finally defeated the Lesser Mouse and began devouring part of its body.

He did not realize that this behavior had become natural to him compared to before.

At first, he would have dismembered it, brought it back to his hideout, and only then eaten it.

Now it was the opposite.

He ate first and only afterward thought about how to bring some of it back.

He then removed his knives from the Lesser Mouse’s eye sockets.

"Should I try to recover its fur?" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"But doing it here in the open will take time and expose me to danger."

"I can’t exactly drag this Lesser Mouse back home either."

"That would be like announcing to everyone where my hideout is."

It did not take him long to find a solution.

"I’ll just do it here."

"But first I’ll tie it down."

"Covering it with leaves would also be a good idea."

"Then I’ll go finish what I came here to do."

"When I return, I’ll see whether I can remove its fur."

"Afterward, I’ll bring back some pieces of its body."

No sooner said than done.

Mamadou immediately put his plan into action.

Eventually, he left the Lesser Mouse’s body where it was.

After all, his objective had been to test his skills in real combat situations.

He ventured even deeper beyond his hunting area.

This forest was enormous.

So enormous that Mamadou could not even estimate its size.

That was why he did not naively believe that he would simply stumble upon the forest’s edge and escape by pure luck.

Still, the thought lingered in the back of his mind.

I need to become stronger before returning to that mountain.

There are limits to being alone.

I can’t cover as much territory as I want, and I’m constantly exposed to danger.

Despite the fact that all his senses were on alert, Mamadou suddenly felt pain.

Of course, it lasted only for an instant before his resistance skill reduced it.

He looked toward the source of the pain.

A long object had pierced his side.

It looked like a long pink stake.

Blood had already begun flowing from the wound.

Mamadou stared in disbelief toward the direction from which the attack had come.

What he saw looked like a frog.

More specifically, a frog that had launched its tongue at him.

Mamadou could hardly believe his eyes.

There really aren’t any normal animals around here, he realized with horror.

The creature’s tongue instantly retracted before Mamadou could react.

[Frog Level 2]

"How is that supposed to be a frog?!" Mamadou shouted.

At the same time, he threw his knife.

The weapon ended up embedded in a tree instead of the frog.

The frog had dodged it.

A moment later, his left hand was pierced as well.

It immediately went limp.

Mamadou completely lost feeling in it.

He retreated at once.

The attacks he had managed to land so far seemed harmless by comparison.

His health had decreased.

Not as much as during his fight with the goblin, but what worried him was that his Health Points continued to drop steadily.

Is this some kind of poison?

"I wasn’t prepared to deal with something like this," Mamadou grumbled.

When the frog launched another attack, he dodged it, widened the distance between them, and climbed a tree.

From his position, Mamadou threw his second knife and leaped toward the frog at the same time.

He knew the frog would avoid the knife by jumping.

The moment it landed, he intended to strike it with his Claws skill.

As expected, the knife missed.

Mamadou activated his skill before landing.

It was also a failure.

The frog had dodged.

Upon touching the ground, Mamadou rolled to soften his fall, picked up his knife, and ran toward the location of the second one.

This is a terrible matchup.

This time, the size difference isn’t working in my favor.

That was true even though the frog was large.

It was still smaller than Mamadou.

If it were acid, the wounds where I was hit wouldn’t look like this.

So I suppose it’s some kind of poison.

After all, my health is visibly decreasing as if it were continuously attacking me.

I’m going to have to run.

Mamadou dodged another tongue strike.

The attack punched a hole into a nearby tree.

That tongue...

Not only is it ridiculously long, it’s ridiculously powerful.

And now I’m learning that it’s venomous too.

Don’t I have a skill that can counter poison?

Some kind of resistance?

If I had one, I could flee without worrying.

[You have not fulfilled the conditions required to unlock Poison Resistance.]

Oh, damn it.

Mamadou had never imagined that a frog would give him this much trouble in his life.

He was trapped.

If he fled, there was a real possibility that his Health Points would eventually reach zero because of the poison.

If he stayed, there was also a real possibility that his condition would worsen even faster.

"I need to unlock Poison Resistance."