[Pigs Feast]

Hunger was my most primal need. I had to leave the domain and go back out into the chasm, damn the danger. It felt good to be away from the boar head. Even covered I could feel it, quiet and waiting. A Demon requiring an offering.

I abandoned the wall altogether. Even if I moved slower, fighting the boar had shown the ferns would provide me some cover. I couldn't wait for prey to come to me. Not if I was going to get strong enough for what was coming. I knew one day I wouldn't be able to slip by on luck.

Even deep under the cover I felt exposed. So low, it was difficult to track motion under the ferns. My target was the pigmen if I could find them. The Lizard had left several skins in the Domain, they must be common. Better, they provided little danger. Even the Demon from the boar head's visions didn't care for them. Its attention came from killing one of its favorite prodigy.

One feeling that had faded with time was the sensation of the boar king watching my every move.

I didn't have to worry about it finding me in the chasm, I didn't think. Not without invoking it. I should have thrown the head into the fissure but the truth was I couldn't discard power. The feeling of greed welled up in me again. It had granted days worth of souls. If I found another I don't know if I could stop myself from going for the kill. Gambling with my existence on the line. After all, where could you go after hell? You became a currency of power for the survivors.

Their sound gave them away before I saw them. The mad pigmen grouped together, foraging into the rot and loam that fed the ferns. I knew why they had the suffix of Maddened now. The higher boar demon from the vision broke them. They would never be able to gain strength. This was the pinnacle of their fight. Foraging in muck until they became prey for the strong.

Rage not my own welled up from the core of my gullet.

Would I have this contempt for the weak forever? When I dropped my guard it seemed to surface with the promise of power. The truth was I didn't hate these pitiable creatures. They didn't choose this any more than I had chosen that leathery prison of my first cocoon. We were the refuse of another world, shadows of its remains thrust into a cruel game. There were rules we didn't understand.

I was mindful of my silent hunt. I didn't want the attention of a demon strong enough to run towards the sounds of death. Not so soon.

The kills were uneventful. Like a giant spider, I would lay in wait until one pulled from the group. They didn't seem to be aware of each other. Whatever had broken in them they never noticed the sounds fading. The movement behind them. The leap.

I tried to make it quick and efficient. If I couldn't free them, I could at least make it end. I'd changed my title to make sure of it.

[You have observed the Last Rite.]

How did it distinguish? There was a difference, to me, between the hot crush of victory and this. I didn't expect such understanding from the system. There was a real chance it wasn't even part of the system. This demon Keres could oversee such sacrifice. Unlike the boar, this rite felt natural. The violent release of a soul into my own collection. There was a purpose here.

The system had begun grouping notifications together.

[Fatal Damage done to Maddened Boar Fleshman]

[Soul +5]

[Experience Gained]

So few of them together was a blessing and a curse. It was easy to work in silence, putting them down one by one. Now I needed to move, further from the safety of my domain.

Once I got close enough to the trees to see what caused the shadows moving through them. Fat insect creatures latched onto open scars that wept onto the chasm floor. They laden the tree like heavy fruit. Fruit that nothing seemed to eat.

Caution kept me away. There were too many and their legs looked sharp and dark. Heavy bodies balanced on black glass. Everything had a price.

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

Everything.

It was only after they were all dead that I dropped Silent Hunt and heard the battle.

It was another boar and it was killing something that looked awfully familiar. Another Cliff Hugger was clinging to life. This one was different, four arms branching from several collar bones. An organ or an evolution? I wasn't the only one changing. One of its arms hung shattered. Bone has pierced the skin. A debilitating break.

[You may collect the special blessing: Rite of the Madonna of the Shrieking Cliff. Change title?]

What even was the blessing. The ledge felt like a fading memory the longer I stayed in the Chasm. My memories of my mother didn't feel real. She was like a hurricane or tsunami. Something seen and endured, but too large to understand in the eye of the storm.

Yes was the easy answer. Solidarity among our own. I remembered how much we needed each other on the exposed ledge. The flash of hope when we knew there was a chance together when there wasn't one alone. And I hated these boars.

[Title Changed: Bonded by Bloods Kinship]

[Protect the daughter of Mariel, Madonna of the Shrieking Cliff]

Daughter?

Bloods Kinship. Observation brought new information to my attention. The Cliff Hugger had short daggers in each unbroken hand. Dagger had survived their first days in the tunnel! Did they have a domain? There was no time to dive deeper into that train of thought.

The Boar readied another charge and its prey was already hanging on to life. I'd survived two by the thread of tough stretched skin. Dagger had a seeping broken bone.

They were standing. Through the pain they were still committed to the fight. I felt a fleeting sense of pride. We were not going to go into the night without bringing our enemies with us. Rearing as high as I could above the cover, I shrieked in challenge. You have another opponent demon and you will not deny me.

It wheeled about, facing me. This demon wasn't as fearsome as the one that had tried to tear me apart. It was hairier, having traded open wounds for a thick defensive pelt. Its tusks looked as dangerous, but it didn't have the horrible wrath that its brother carried. Carried even through death.

My body felt electric. My venom sacs were full to bursting and the excess trailed down in wet rivers. Was this the title or the rush of killing another of my sworn enemies. I shrieked again for the enjoyment of it. If more came let them. Two of us could reign death on everything but their king.

The boar was ready to call me out on that idea. Its muscles were leaner than its brother, but they coiled tight and powerful. With the attention drawn away, Dagger was able to crawl out of its line of sight. Even injured they were so fast on land! The three arms propelled them forward far better than our malformed legs.

The boar charged and I began to run, testing its maneuverability. This boar was far more agile. It turned in sharp corners, never losing me for a moment. So be it. I knew if I had to I could take a direct strike and survive. This time I was not caught by surprise.

I leapt, aiming right between the tusks that were trying to tear me apart. My long arms kept me suspended above its face, tusks gouging at the open air between us. It was only inches from goring into my maw. I screamed, opening the deep cavity, giving it a vision of the jagged death that awaited its corpse.

My stingers had sunk deep into the flesh of its temple, flaps of fur and skin peeling away the scalp. I drained every once of venom I had into the damned beast.

It began tossing its head in wild jabs, jumping into the air and forcing its head down. It was going to pin me between its tusks and the earth. I let myself fall away and it ended up gouging deep into the chasm, tearing it up as it pulled free. It had the same human animal screams as the pigman but I had silent hunt. If help hadn't come it wouldn't be coming now.

Full of stamina and the rush from my title the boar and I circled. I stayed too close for it to prime a charge, leaping away anytime it tried to close the gap with a rush. One of Daggers weapons buried in a long gash to its underbelly. That must have been the hit she had traded her arm for. Each time it tried to turn more blood splashed onto the earth below it. Finally it stopped fighting. It wheezed standing, trying to regain what little stamina it had.

I looked it in the eye. There would be no mercy for you. I reared up and drove the killing blow deep into its brain.

[Fatal Damage done to Lesser Charging Boar Beastman]

[Experience Gained shared through your title]

[Soul +20]

[You have gained a new level. Received 9 unspent ability points]

With the boar dead, I scanned the chasm. I had lost Dagger in the fight.

I found her when she rested the point of her dagger into the soft flesh behind my eye.