Beetle

The sun was already high up in the sky when Bug emerged from the underground place. He must've slept like a baby last night! For the past months, Bug was barely able to sleep, sometimes not at all! The first time he slept well for the past months was when he first bought the skills. Now, Bug felt refreshed from sleeping so well.

He began his 7-hour journey after he finished concealing the metal door with some grass and tree branches. Bug readied his newly bought short sword. Just now, he realized that when the sunlight hit the blade of his short sword, red spots appeared evenly on the surface. "Amazing" Bug said with his eyes wide open.

While on his journey, Bug planned to hunt some monsters or animals to try to produce flames from his short sword. It would be unfortunate if he wouldn't be able to use such an amazing attack.

More than an hour later, Bug spotted a striped jagged dog. Just as the name suggests, its rough fur has horizontal silver and red stripes on it. The dog was 5 foot tall, has a 6 inches long claws. For some reason, the dog didn't have any fangs. Instead, its mouth only contained jagged teeth which were its name also originated.

Bug was at least 30 meters away from his prey, but with the help of his level 2 magnify skill he easily observed his target away from being detected. The moment his analysis skill finished its required 1 minute time, Bug went to action. With his agility, He traversed the trees, bushes, and many other obstacles on his green path easily.

Bug raised his sword as he closed the distance to the unsuspecting dog. The dog didn't even detect his footsteps nearing on its back. Bug attacked with a downward slash on the dog's hind leg which quickly alerted the dog of his presence. It growled in agony from the attack.

The dog easily sustained a long and deep wound on its hind leg, but it still had the strength to jump away from its enemy. Although the dog limped like a puppy from its wound, it snarled and bared its jagged teeth at Bug and still looked formidable.

Bug waited for the dog's attack despite the many green lines on the ground telling him to push forward. He wanted to make use of his sword techniques he learned from his level 2 swordsmanship.

After a few moments of circling each other, the dog lunge at him. A red line headed to his chest appeared as the dog stretched its right front leg and its giant claws. With his incredible agility, Bug easily parried the paw and circled around the dog on its right side and strike its still outstretched front leg with a downward slash. His current strength allowed him to almost amputate the arm with just one hit!

The force of momentum didn't work favorably for the dog. Without its right leg to support it from landing on the ground after lunging on his attacker, the dog landed on its side with a loud whimper.

Somehow, Bug felt guilty as he dealt his finishing blow to the pitiful dog. It was just minding its own business when a madman suddenly attacked it, even though it didn't do anything wrong. But what is done is done, Bug just wanted to try out his magic "I'm so sorry" In the end, Bug failed to reproduce what the Alter did and that made Bug feel frustrated

Just like any other monster he killed, NAP told him the materials that can be extracted from the corpse in the form of glowing body parts.

He wasted a lot of time by skinning the dog and declawing it. All in all, he got ten claws and a pelt from the dog. He immediately decomposed the materials he got.

[DECOMPOSED MATERIAL -STRIPED JAGGED DOG'S CLAW - UNIQUE - CRAFT]

[A CLAW THAT IS SHARPER THAN NORMAL CLAW. CAN BE USED TO MAKE BLADED WEAPONS]

[+5 NUP]

[DECOMPOSED MATERIAL - STRIPED JAGGED DOG'S PELT - UNIQUE - CRAFT]

[A THICKER THAN USUAL PELT. GREAT FOR MAKING SNOW JACKET]

[+10 NUP]

Bug frowned as he read the description of the materials. Although he didn't really expect much from the materials, it still sucked nonetheless. He then continued his journey.

He occasionally bumps into weak monsters which he hunted just so he can try to produce the flame blades, but he wasn't able to do it at all! He became more and more frustrated as he ran through the woods killing every monster stupid enough block his way. He didn't even bother to collect the materials! The only thing on his mind is to produce the flame blades!

Before he knew it, Bug reached the shabby, yet tall wooden walls of his village. It just took him 4 hours to reach his village this time! It might be the fact that he was running at full speed because of his hunting spree. Bug clicked his tongue as he emerged from the tall grasses all bloody. He almost looked like a monster from all the blood that accumulated on his body, even on his face was covered with blood!

Even the guards and the spotters on the watchtowers mistaken him for a monster. The guards at the gate held their spears tightly and pointed it at the bloody man approaching them. While the spotters on the watchtower pulled the strings of their bows ready to release it at any moment.

Bug just saw their reactions and quickly realized why. "wa-wait, wait, wait. I'm not a monster! don't worry!" Bug quickly wiped the bloodstains on his face and placed his short sword on his back. He raised his hands in the air and said "see? it's me, Bug!"

The guards and spotters brought down their weapons after confirming his identity. The guards looked bewildered though. Didn't Bug went out to hunt with Worm and Stick?

Bug dismissed their looks and went inside the village. There, Houses made from wood or bricks stood side by side while a dirt road wide enough for a single carriage to pass through was located in the middle with branching streets on either side of the road. Occasional vendors can be spotted on the sides of the road yelling for any person who walked in front of their stalls about their goods.

There were a lot of people walking around during day time. The village felt very lively despite being in fear that someday the Alters might target their village for their 'fun games'.

Bug walked for a few minutes before arriving at his destination. He went inside the building on the left side of the road. It was a tiny little house made of wood. It didn't even have a proper door and the floor creaked as he walked inside. It was his house.

After his parents died, Bug was forced to live on his own. When his parents were alive, their house was taken care of by his parents. His mother liked to clean the house while his father fixed anything broken. But after they died, the house was left to their only son who was only 7 years old at that time. At first, his parent's friends and colleagues took care of him, but after a while, they also left him alone.

He lived in this house, alone. He only lived this long without starving to death was because of his charitable neighbors giving him food almost every day. Bug sat on a wooden dilapidated chair in front of his dilapidated small wooden square table.

The spider webs that were on his ceiling when he left was gone. Holes on the roof that let sunlight light up his dim house were numerous. He let out a long sigh as he makes himself comfortable on his otherwise uncomfortable chair.

Looking around for a bit, there didn't seem to be anything missing, not that there's something to steal in his house anyway. There was not a single speck of dust anywhere in his house. "Did Fly cleaned my house again? Well, not that I mind it anyway" Bug muttered to himself.

After an hour of sitting around in his house, Bug left his dilapidated house. It was now the time he visits someone. He passed by a couple of houses and entered a narrow alleyway before long, he reached his friend's house.

Although the path to his friend's house looked dangerous, the area itself at the end of the alleyway looked peaceful. There were trees around, children running around and playing with their friends. Adults sitting in front of their houses while playing chess with their fellow adults.

Bug nodded and smiled at the people around him which they also did back to him. The people around actually knew him for years now as he frequently visits his friend here and they also knew why.

He reached a decent brick house and knocked on its door. A few seconds later, an old woman opened the door. She looked like she's on his mid 60's, her long gray hair brushed her arms. The old woman smiled at him and looked like she was expecting him.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Ant. How's it going these days?" Bug said as he smiled brightly at the old woman in front of him. "How is beetle doing?" He maintained his smile.

Mrs. Ant smiled back at him and answered him with a raspy voice. "Oh, same old" she chuckled for a bit. "He's still sitting in front of his favorite window. I think he would be happy to see you again" The woman signaled him to come inside.

Bug didn't need the old woman to guide him as he already knew where his friend's 'favorite window' is located. He reached the living room and saw the back of his good friend sitting on a chair. Like always, he was staring at the kids from his window.

Bug carried his own chair and positioned it to face his friend from the side. "Hey, beetle. How are you?" Bug said as he placed his hand on Beetle's thin shoulder, but Beetle didn't respond. "you won't believe what I killed for my first hunt!" Bug continued talking. He leaned closer and said in a small voice. "I killed cascas and an Alter" Bug chuckled for a bit as if he was bragging his feats. "I know, I'm amazing. It's just too bad you were not there" Bug's face became solemn as he said those words.

A few hours went by as he narrated his adventures from the moment they were chased by a cascas to discovering the underground place to killing two Alters by himself. Bug was smiling the whole time like he enjoyed telling his amazing stories to his friend, But his friend didn't even respond or at least shifted his gaze from the window to his friend. He just stared outside with his dead eyes. He looked like he isn't even alive because of his pale skin. It was the classic symptom of a person with his soul sucked out of his body.

Bug and beetle were childhood best friends. They liked to go out of their village and traverse the dense forest for their own adventures. Then one day, they got far away from their village. Bug wanted to go further because it was 'boring' near the wall, so they got lost until the night came. The mist quickly blocked their views as they tried hard to find their way back home.

Then, they heard a loud shriek behind them which caused them to run as fast as they could, but this also caused them to get separated. They called out to each other as they tried to follow each other's voice.

A few minutes later, Bug heard Beetle's loud scream. He ran where the scream came from. He ran as fast as he could, his heart started to beat faster and faster. He imagined all kinds of scenarios that might be happening to his best friend right at that moment.

A few minutes of running later, he finally saw beetle. A monster with the body of a child was firmly holding beetle into place. Its long thin neck was bent like it was a tall person looking at a smaller person. Its head looked like it was a cap of a young mushroom which is not yet fully spread out in fact, its head was larger than its body!

It has a large mouth enough to fit beetle's head easily which it was actually doing to beetle at that moment! "NO!" Bug yelled when he realized what was happening. He runs with all his might but, they were still too far away from him. The monster heard his yell and quickly let go of his prey before running away.

The mist quickly dissipated as the monster disappeared from his sight. When Bug reached the lying beetle, it was too late. Beetle's eyes lost its usual bright and lively color, his skin became paler and paler as the minutes pass by. He was not answering Bug's questions as if he didn't even hear them. He just looked at the deep dark sky with his dead black eyes.

The moment Bug described what the monster looked like, they concluded that Beetle was a victim of a monster called 'Higop'. They said that it was a monster that only went out of its hiding during nighttime. The higop doesn't kill its victims though, it instead sucks the soul out of its victim. Beetle's current situation proved their hypothesis.

Since then, Bug never forgave himself. He was trying to atone his mistake by visiting his old friend frequently and telling him his adventure stories which were their favorite thing to do in the old days. The incident also what made Bug more determined to become a hunter.

Bug left Beetle's house after he said goodbye to him and his mother. Although he looked happy, the truth is he is pained to the bone when seeing his friend like a vegetable.