[The Chasm]

Squeezing out of the Domain was as uncomfortable as getting in. For the Lizards low squat body it must have been perfect, but for me it was too narrow and left me with a very limited view. What changes would let a skill cut through the rock?

Observation and Foresight were silent on the matter.

Stingy system.

Making my way onto the ceiling I headed in the same direction the lizard was heading to. I'd take steps to make sure fate would be better than my meals.

The tunnel wound and split several times, and I had to be very careful to remember my path. it was very likely I'd be coming home hurt even if hunting went well. The demons here were stronger than the Silent Maw, even if there were less of them. I wondered if that's why mother had laid us on the ledge. Being out there gave us the chance to level up from each other before forcing ourselves into the hunt.

I hadn't been traveling long when I saw something I hadn't seen in a very long time.

Blue.

It drifted into the tunnel, the soft blue light fading into the red in sparkling purples. It was like the mushroom cave I saw through the wall. For the first time wind filtered into the tunnel as well. The air smelt fresh. Not the sulfur of the ledge. Heavy and damp. Wet? I don't know why it would surprise me that hell had water but I hadn't felt even the suggestion of thirst.

The cavern that opened up before me was immense. It wasn't even a cavern. It seemed to open right up to the sky, a gash that opened up as far as I could see and ran who knows how long in both directions. Down its center a narrow crack continued, emitting deep orange light. Strange red and blue fauna lined the creases.I waited for a location update but it never came. This must be the true hunting grounds. Openings in the walls near and far outlined the red glows of tunnels. The network must stretch for miles, all leading back here. Did the other cliff huggers find it? More likely they died in their first encounter. I clenched the ends of my arms, a drop of venom seeping down. Part of me had.

I eased out into the open, activating silent hunt. There was movement all about me. Hidden from my sight, but not my observations. Movements in the leafy glow of the underbrush. Movement in the trees swaying against the wind. Movement in the light, playing up from the central fissure dancing like mad shadows.

My venom primed through my stingers and my hunger was rising. No time like the present.

I leapt from the wall at the nearest motion. My plan was simple. Land, Pierce, Run. The creature I landed on burst into motion and stood. Its skin was soft, supple. The same hide that was in the domain.

I gouged down, deep into its back and I felt the venom drain deep inside it. With another leap, I cleared back to the wall and watched my handiwork.

It was Human. Near enough. More a parody of one. Its nose upturned. Its feet were cloven. its hands missed a finger. But the proportion, the wails. It was the same.

[You have poisoned Maddened Boar Fleshman]

It kept screaming. No good at all! I'd have to stay right on top of it with Silent Hunt. It was also taking forever to fight. Something called out in the distance. Something BIG. If I wanted to eat I'd have to do it fast. I leapt back into the fray. I couldn't let the poison finish the job. It was taking far too long. What I hoped would be a killer was acting like a support on these high health demons.

On its back again I bit in deep with my teeth and started gouging as fast as I could free each arm again. Notifications flew by and I didn't care. How much could this creature stand? If only I could hit an organ! The thrashing continued, the pig demon trying to wail through the silent hunt. How had the Lizard carved right into the belly of these?

The belly. The skin was an organ as well. Did it not attack because it's defenses were high enough to survive? That explained the shrieking too. It must rely on other demons. I bet smarter ones even left them alive for bait.

I knew for sure there was at least one place a demon had got in.

I took both arms and wrapped completely around the creature. Using the very tips of my arms I sunk into the soft exposed flesh of its belly. With as much pressure as I could offer I tore the venomous razors straight down.

It opened like a cut fish.

[Fatal Damage done to Maddened Boar Fleshman]

[Experience Gained]

[Soul +1]

[Ignored Notifications Summary]

Finally a system to keep the distractions down FROM the system. It could be that the system wasn't trying to kill me after all. It had stopped giving me wicked titles.

[Your intuition has rewards. Beginners Observation has increased in ability.]

[New Skill Unlocked: Beginners Venomous Slice]

[Your repetition has rewards. Beginners Poison Gouge has increased in ability.]

[Cut from your dominion by the stronger aura of an attacking Demon.]

[New Organ Available: Beginners Fatty Hide]

[Your mobility has rewards. Native Latch has increased in ability.]

Wait what?

The horn plunged into my side and flung me deeper into the chasm. Shock and blossoming pain had me disoriented from my spiraling descent. I was far too far away to leap back to the safety of the cliff. I couldn't even tell for sure which tunnel led back to my domain.

[Your endurance has rewards. Beginners Pain Resistance has increased in ability.]

[Beginners Tough Carapace has prevented status change to Bleeding]

[Health -12]

A single blow had cut my health in half. My Silent Hunt had done the worst and masked my approaching enemy until it was too late. It seems Observation and Foresight became undermined by my own inattention.

What had even done the attack? I'd been flung quite a distance. and buried in the low growth of the strange fauna. How did these ferns even get light? While I could see the sky the cliffs framing the chasm seemed high. The space it peaked through forming a white scar across the vertical landscape.

It was another pigman, completely unlike the first. It's head was broad, a wide boar's snout. Its maned neck bristled at attention. Grotesque legs and arms proved muscled to the point the skin cracked of its own accord. Its back ankles distorted forcing it forward onto its hands. The skin itself, caked in its own dried blood, was black. None of it mattered compared to the sharp heavy tusks that forced its way out of each side of its drooling muzzle.

And it was charging up another rush at me.

Dropping all pretense of silent hunt, I readied a leap and held it. If I took another hit like that there wouldn't be a third. I had to know how mobile it was.

It roared, the deep animal sound I had heard earlier and charged. Its power tore up everything between it and me. I was banking on its forward momentum making a shard turn impossible. As it entered my leaps range I launched, aiming behind it. As soon as I landed I activated silent hunt, moving quick as I could. How was it that my body moved better on a ceiling than a floor.

[Your intuition has rewards. Beginners Foresight has increased in ability.]

Foresight, the great after the fact skill. I was already very much aware that the pigman had careened past me unable to adjust its path in time. I was also overjoyed to see that it seemed to have lost me in the brush. Silent hunt acted as useful now as it had been dangerous moments before.

From my new vantage I tried to size up my opponent.

[Demon Examination: Other]

[Tier: Lesser Form]

[Caste: Lesser Cursed Beast]

[Morphology: Lesser Charging Boar Beastman]

[Stats: Unknown]

[Skills: Unknown]

A name on the Charging Beastman didn't give me anything worth while. I could piece together that its charge was its primary form of attack. It seemed to need to pause between charges, otherwise it would have closed the gap before I had even landed. My leap was able to out maneuver it but I was at a standstill compared to the mobility it could put out.

I couldn't leap forever.

[Your intuition has rewards. Beginners Foresight has increased in ability.]

Choke on a womb system.

Now the cursed part was interesting. The first piggy was almost the perfect example of raw defense. This came at the expense of any ability to defend itself. It was beyond strong, or my tough carapace. I had hammered on it and hadn't managed to do anything to its spongy tissue than apply poison. For how long it was taking to die, I don't know how effective that even was.

This boar, with its broken skin and devastating attack. Was it fragile? If I could get even a single nick into it...

Locked into combat to the death by the boar's strange aura there was only one plan.

It was time to go on the offensive.