I dashed forward, my feet pounding against the dirt. The wolf lunged at me, jaws snapping with terrifying speed. I dodged left toward its injured side, but its sheer size clipped me mid-motion, sending me stumbling. My balance wavered, but I didn’t fall. I righted myself quickly as the beast snapped at me again.
This time, I leaped back just in time, narrowly avoiding its teeth. Before it could recover, I sprang forward and landed on its back. The thing was massive, the size of a Great Dane but bulkier, its decayed muscles rippling beneath my weight.
I tried to straddle it, but the wolf thrashed wildly, bucking like some grotesque, undead mechanical bull. My grip faltered, panic clawing at the edges of my mind. Thinking quickly, I morphed my hands into barbed spikes and drove them deep into its rotting flesh. The creature howled in fury, its rancid stench nearly overpowering me as it fought to throw me off.
My hands were occupied, and I was running out of options. Desperation fueled my next move. I did something insane. I grew a spike from the top of my head and started headbutting it.
The first impact sent a wave of decayed flesh and congealed blood sliding down my face. It seeped into my nose, my mouth, everywhere. I gagged, my stomach lurching, but I didn’t stop. I squeezed my eyes shut and kept going, slamming my spike into the back of its skull over and over.
The wolf’s struggles began to weaken. Its thrashing slowed, the snarls fading into wet, gurgling sounds. My arms screamed in protest, every muscle burning as they threatened to give out. With a final, desperate headbutt, I felt a sickening crunch. The spike broke through its skull, and the massive beast collapsed beneath me, lifeless at last.
Mature Rotwolf (Level 12) killed!
+12 EXP (+10 EXP due to level difference)
A rush of energy surged through me as I sprawled across the corpse, panting heavily. My entire body ached, but the sensation was drowned out by the adrenaline flooding my veins.
Level Up! Level 3 achieved! (78/100 EXP to Level 4)
I barely had time to savor the achievement before a violent coughing fit overtook me. I rolled off the wolf’s corpse, hacking and spitting as smoking decay billowed out of my nose and mouth. The putrid taste made me gag all over again.
I wasn’t squeamish, at least, I didn’t think I was. But this… this was beyond disgusting.
It almost made me regret the whole thing. I never imagined it would smell this bad.
Sure, my life was boring, I've always known that. But I never truly appreciated what it meant to be clean, to not be covered in decayed flesh and blood. And why was I culling an entire species on an alien world?
The question nagged at me, but I pushed it away. This was my chance. My chance for true meaning, a real purpose, instead of just going through life like a drone. Hell, I was probably doing the Rotwolves a favor. What kind of existence was that, rotting away on a broken planet?
I didn’t have time for philosophy now.
There were still three wolves left, and they seemed done with their cannibalism.
I slowly backed away, putting my back to the river. It wasn’t a perfect escape plan, but it was better than being eaten alive.
The creatures, having finished their grisly meal, turned toward me, hackles raised and teeth bared. The biggest one began to speed up, but the other two bit into its thighs. It seemed they still kept some of the instincts from their previous lives, scrambling to fill the void left by their fallen leader.
A fight broke out between them. I watched from a distance, deciding to let them tire themselves out.
The struggle was a chaotic cluster of claws, fangs, and decaying bodies. The biggest one was crippled, the other two circling each other, looking for the opening to strike.
One lunged, swiping at the other, but stumbled forward in its haste. The second wolf took the opportunity, pouncing on the first and clamping its jaws around its neck.
I couldn’t afford to miss this. The fight would soon be over, and I wasn’t about to let the exp slip through my fingers.
With a surge of speed, I rushed toward the crippled wolf. I jumped and shaped my feet into vicious spikes, landing squarely on its head.
There was a sickening squirming sound as it exploded like a rotten watermelon.
The rush of energy hit me, but there was no time to savor it. The battle wasn’t over yet.
One wolf was about to tear into the other’s throat, and I wasn’t about to let that kill go to waste.
I leaped forward, grabbing the winner’s jaw and pulling it upward, my other hand slashing its throat open in one clean motion.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Even with death looming, the wolf didn’t let go, blood pouring from its neck in a steady, smelly stream.
I waited for a few seconds, the struggle fading in the creature’s final moments. Then they both died.
Welp. That sucked. Nothing I could do about it now, though.
I took a deep breath and opened my notification log to focus on my gains.
Level up! Level 4 achieved!
(102/150 exp to Level 5)
I sank onto the spongy, blackened ground to take stock of what I’d earned from this fight. Now that I wasn’t fighting for my life, the environment pressed in on me. The bark was crumbling off the trees, the brittle undergrowth breaking under the slightest weight. A sweet, sickly smell of decay hung in the air like a heavy curtain.
The world felt muted, its colors faded, its vitality drained. Even the distant pink sun, high in the cracked sky, offered no warmth.
Something was fundamentally wrong with this planet. It was like life itself was being siphoned away, leaving behind a hollow shell. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but the thought left a deep sadness in its wake.
Could this happen to Earth?
A shiver ran through me at the idea, humanity turning into shambling monsters, our history vanishing into obscurity, leaving nothing behind but ruins and rot. I needed answers. Killing monsters and leveling up was exhilarating, but what was the point if I didn’t have a home to return to?
Sure, I didn’t have a lot tying me back to Earth. My parents were gone, and I’d drifted through life with shallow relationships and casual outings. But it was still home. Whatever happened here…I had to know if it could happen to us.
Shaking off the heavy thoughts, I checked my other notifications:
Skill Upgrades:
- Manifestation (Common) has leveled up! (Level 3 → Level 4)
- Levitation (Common) has leveled up! (Level 0 → Level 1)
Active Quests:
Rot and Redemption
- Objective:
- Kill 100 Rotwolves (8/100)
- Kill the Alpha
I assigned my attribute points to Body and Spirit, then turned to my character sheet.
I had seven skill points waiting to be spent. As tempting as it was to hoard them, the tiny bonuses from each point felt worth it. Levitation seemed particularly useful, so I divided four points between Manifestation and Levitation.
Standing up, I focused my aura around my feet. The process felt natural, like I’d always known how to do this. Was it the system helping me, or was this just how it worked?
I jumped, activating Levitation. My energy dipped slightly, but the drain felt manageable. I estimated I could hover for about a minute and a half, provided I didn’t use any other skills.
Activating Astral Sight, I scanned the area. Light threads crisscrossed the ground, faint glimmers scattered among them. I hesitated. Rushing in blind had worked so far, but I needed a safer strategy. These wolves fought amongst themselves after losing their leader, but I couldn’t count on that pattern.
And fighting this close? It sucked. It was terrifying, disgusting, and inefficient. I needed a ranged option.
I had an idea I wanted to try.
I concentrated my aura around my palm until a tennis ball-sized sphere formed. Then I started thinning the bottom until it became no more than a little thread. When the thread broke, the ball separated from me, but I could still feel a faint connection, like something had been taken away from me.
I checked my status.
Energy Level: 150/150 (-30)
I needed to be careful with this. True, a weapon detached from my body offered far more versatility than something fused to my wrist, it could act as a ranged option, a distraction, or even a trap. But the price was steep.
Experimenting further, I morphed the detached ball into a knife, and it worked, though the connection felt muted, not the same as when I shaped my own aura directly. I placed the ball on the ground and stepped back about three feet. Trying to reshape it from a distance, I found it harder but still feasible to form a crude spike.
I waited for the notification about a new skill, but nothing came. Huh, weird. I guess it still counted as the same skill.
I returned to the ball and reabsorbed it into my hand, feeling whole again.
With a new weapon in my arsenal and the potential for safer combat strategies, I started walking forward.
I aimed for a smaller cluster of light, trying something new, no need for unnecessary risks.
My footsteps were unnervingly loud in the oppressive silence. I’d heard there was a technique to walk quietly in forests, but I didn’t know it, so I tried walking on the balls of my feet. It helped a little, but even a whisper seemed like it would carry for miles in this silence.
The area I approached was a small valley nestled between two hills, where the river I left behind branched out. I briefly wondered what had happened to the wolf that fell in earlier, it should be upstream somewhere by now.
When I reached my destination, I spotted my targets. Three rotwolves lounged in the shade of a tree, seemingly at rest. Two of them were noticeably larger than the third. A quick inspection revealed I was dealing with two mature rotwolves and one regular.
They were lying down, seemingly unbothered. Maybe they didn’t need constant energy to survive. Regardless, the setting wasn’t ideal for me. I needed them to come at me single file for my plan to work. Scanning the area, I found a spot between two boulders that might do the trick. It wasn’t perfect, the opening was wider than I’d have liked but it was up a slope, and the muddy, slippery ground could buy me time to react if they tried to surround me.
With my plan set, I circled around to take the long way up the slope, careful to avoid making noise. Once I reached my spot, I shaped two small spikes at the soles of my feet to anchor myself better in the mud.
Then, I formed an aura sphere and threw it downhill in front of me.
The ball began to roll toward the wolves.
“That was stupid,” I muttered, my heart skipping a beat.
About three feet later, the sphere dissolved into nothingness. My energy rushed back to me, along with that unpleasant sensation of reabsorbing a piece of myself. I should have tested this before. I couldn’t afford to take risks like that again.
Now more cautious, I carefully placed another energy sphere two feet in front of me, just close enough for precision.
I shouted, “HEY, MOTHERFUCKERS!”
Three pairs of eyes snapped toward me, well, two and a half. One of the mature wolves had an eye that was little more than a glistening mass of black pus.
They growled, baring their teeth.
One of the mature wolves took a step forward. What once must have been a majestic silver coat was now a patchwork of bald spots, oozing sores, and open wounds. The other mature wolf snarled back at it, both beasts locked in a growling contest. The question of leadership was still unsettled.
Eventually, they seemed to come to an understanding. The first mature wolf led the charge, the others close behind.
Their speed slowed as they neared the slope. I braced myself, focusing on timing.
The lead wolf came within three feet of me, its muscles tensing as it prepared to leap.
I shaped the sphere in front of me into a spike angled toward its chest.
The wolf impaled itself on the spike, its momentum carrying it forward until the spike pierced all the way through its back. The beast collapsed mid-leap, sliding to a stop just inches from my feet.
The two remaining wolves collided with their fallen leader and tumbled into a tangled mess of rotting limbs. They rolled downhill for about ten feet, crashing to the bottom in a heap.
Not wanting to give them time to recover, I leapt after them, morphing my feet into long spikes. I descended upon them like a grim reaper, the spikes driving through the mature wolf’s flank and pinning the smaller one beneath it.
Both were still alive, though barely. A quick stab to each neck finished them off.
“Well! That worked perfectly,” I muttered, catching my breath.