Chapter 36: When Will It End?!
Considering he had clearing missions, there’d be a time he’d go outside the barrier (someday, not now, hopefully not very soon), and that wasn’t something comforting.
He could only imagine bleeding while he was outside the barrier. It felt like he was a drop of blood in shark-infested waters, and the image alone made him shiver in goosebumps.
[-1 Defense Point]
He could only be thankful for the barrier’s existence. Even a single monster would’ve mauled him at a single sight, and now he was practically playing with dozens of them.
But, hey, the fact that the panda joked about him awakening meant it was still a possibility, right?
Right?
About half an hour of this passed by, and he endured the sting in his arm the entire time. He prepared sunberry leaf paste to place over it, but he didn’t dare for now lest it reduce the agitation effect. He wouldn’t want to have to stab his other arm.
He continued to run like a pendulum between two spots a few meters apart every so often, and then he threw the sap-coated stones in the middle, exacerbating the chaos.
He would also squeeze his wound more occasionally, splattering some of his fresh blood on random monsters nearby.
As expected, it caused the monsters to attack each other, puncturing and pulling each others’ skins and scales, wounding each other in the process because the human certainly couldn’t.
Finn also watched as some of the monsters started stepping on each other, which caused a few conflicts. They were brainless creatures who just followed his scent, following their instincts to get to him regardless of what they stepped on—literally.
Soon, one of the monsters was crushed under three others. It wouldn’t die, but its mobility certainly got limited. Its face was also pushed smack against the barrier, making Finn flinch.
This was his chance!
It was probably his knife skills, especially using a kitchen knife, but his movements were particularly fast. He had always been quick with the kitchen knife, but this was a different level altogether.
He stabbed its eyes several times in the blink of an eye (no pun intended), all with swift movements that his audience on Earth would’ve had trouble following.
Squelch! Squelch!
STAB!
More, just a bit more—
ROAR!
[Killed Glecksmar (Awakened)]
One down!
There was something that felt especially liberating to go against the monster that almost—almost—got him to pee his pants when he arrived.
Finn cracked his knuckles.
It’s not so hopeless, after all!
...
He couldn’t do the exact same strategy for long, sadly.
One, he did not have enough sap to throw carelessly anymore. The trees could only produce so much, and he wasn’t sure when they’d recover yet.
Another...he did not have enough blood. At least enough blood to keep his mobility and his consciousness.
He took deep, deep breaths and took this chance to look around for inspiration. He was running out of ideas that wouldn’t kill him, and he was in dire need of another strategy.
His amber eyes landed on the used traps splayed out. They were not set up, and there was nothing inside, but it did remind him of something else: Food. The food he made.
It wasn’t proven, but it was worth testing. Definitely better than bleeding to death. He took out a piece from his space and watched the changes.
There was minimal reaction. At least not nearly as much as the reaction to his blood.
Then he remembered how the trap inside the barrier only had one rabbit versus the three in the one outside.
At this, he threw the jerky out, straight to a random monster, which was quickly barraged by claws and bites from other monsters, causing a bit of chaos.
Of course, like before, they would still be more attracted to him somehow. So after damaging a few of their brethren and pulling a bite-ful of skin and muscles, their attention would be shifted back to him. It was annoying, but it is what it is.
It also meant that he could only rely on blood and jerky to weaken them. The actual finishing shots had to be from him.
This process took even longer and he had to waste several pieces of jerky. He had to make sure the monster he targeted was squeezed against the barrier.
This way, not only could his short weapon reach out, but the other monsters wouldn’t be able to bite him because there was no space to do so.
Awakened monsters were no joke. Even if he managed to stab their eye twice or thrice—which was not an easy feat considering how manic they were—it might not necessarily kill them.
And because they were so sturdy compared to him, he had no choice but to use everything he had, as if he were in the last few meters of a marathon, even when he was just starting.
Eventually, after a while, he managed to find a target. He stabbed at the monster, parrying and slicing, over and over, until he finally managed to end another life.
[Killed! Brindlejaw (Awakened)]
Then he shifted to the next monster, the Hissmal, which was also squeezed along with the brindlejaw, but just beyond his arm’s length.
The hissmal was the short-length snake-critter he met along with the Glecksmar. He had watched the latter defeat it before, and he vaguely remembered that the Glecksmar’s teeth (which he thought were really ’realistic’ for an animatronic at the time) buried into its length, but stabbed further in on a certain area in its underbelly.
Thinking of this, Finn took out another jerky and threw it at the snake’s back, causing it to bleed from there, courtesy of its own teammates.
HISSSSS!!
Like this, the hissmal was pushed further against the barrier, exposing its underbelly to him. It was a bit high and he had to raise his arm high, thereby needing more effort into the stab.
Fortunately, it was squeezed in and whenever it loosened as it struggled, he’d just throw another jerky (the last one in his space) in this direction to keep it there.
He slashed and stabbed at its weakness, over and over, with his unranked kitchen knife. He only caused damage to a particular spot on its underbelly, and he had to stab it several times and use much of his strength before actually causing damage, but there was damage, and seeing the scratches build up was enough of a sign for him to continue.
Slash! Stab! Slash! Stab!
[Killed! Hissmal (Awakened)]
Like when killing the Glecksmar, he felt special satisfaction with killing this one. He felt a prideful momentum overcome him, making him feel a bit more confident despite not having a particularly good weapon on hand and despite the fact that he could barely grasp its hilt.
"More!" He gasped, huffing.
But then he was quickly reminded that after all this time...he had only taken down three.
And there were still nearly two dozen left to go...