Chương 10: Chapter 9

Silently skulking across the lake was anything but easy. The corpses underfoot were not only slippery, they moved as his weight pressed down on them. Apparently, the mountain range of corpses was not made for a man of muscle. It was a slippery mess, which only worsened as one of the carcasses cracked, his foot sinking into a mess of flesh and organs. Hakon lost balance and nearly fell, his arms windmilling to regain balance. The water all around him certainly did not help him either.

Every step on to the corpse path forced him half a foot deep into the water. It was especially difficult to maintain the silent part. It was like the war drums in the tribe thundered in his ears, yet neither ants nor beetles seemed to take note of him… yet. That reassured him quite a bit. Enough to refocus on the silent part. Every step he made, Hakon was quieter.

Or maybe it just felt like that as his feet dipped gently into the water, his movements careful and calculated to keep the momentum and to avoid slipping. Plunging into the lake would have been the worst. Instead, he received a message, which he promptly ignored as he pressed on. No one noticed his presence for the better part of the journey. He was three-fourth across the path when his senses perked up. His head flicked up to a beetle approaching the island path.

It had yet to release its deadly spit his way, but Hakon didn't plan to become its target either. The empty hand shot toward one of his handaxes, which he threw as soon as the monster looked up to him. By that time, the distance separating them wasn't noteworthy. [Dash] would have been a much better solution, but his footing was a mess. The axe hit the mark, cutting into the beetle's skull, but it didn't stop moving. Hakon accelerated, forsaking his stealthy approach to reach the beetle.

He wasted no time and rammed his blade into the monster's skull. The handaxe must have done a great deal of damage because no spit came for him. The beetle didn't even let out a sound as it succumbed. Only blade hitting and piercing skull rang out. Too loud. Maybe it wasn't, but Hakon was unwilling to risk it. He stored the handaxe with a smooth move and sheathed his sword, bent down to pick up the dead beetle, and hurled it as far to the left as possible.

It landed in the lake with a loud splash, attracting enough attention to rush to a small group of bushes and young trees. His eyes sought suspicious behavior across the island but other than a few ants heading toward the splash there was little to note. Taking a deep breath once it was clear no one noticed his intrusion, Hakon's attention shifted to the latest message. [Skill [Silent Steps] has been learned.] A deep frown plastered his face as he realized what the Skill was all about.

Traces of information coalesced in his mind, revealing all he did to acquire such a pathetic Skill. It was nothing a Barbarian would ever want. Neither was [Reading], but he was overjoyed with that Skill. But [Silent Steps]... Hakon knew how much he'd adjusted his steps from all the skulking around the lake, but for the Ancestors to reward him with something like that… Was that really okay? He froze when something pressed against his back.

It was soft and most definitely not beetle spit or mandibles trying to snap him in half. Still, his danger sense screamed at him, and he spun around, bone dagger smoothly unsheathed, stabbing into the… creature? It continued to wiggle and something viscous ran down the blade, dripping onto his fingers. The effect was immediate. His fingers went numb. His hand wouldn't move or release the blade as the viscous liquid reached the rest of his hand and wrist.

Hakon cursed and struck out with his second bone dagger, severing the… leaf? It was much tougher and thicker than a regular leaf, but it was certainly a leaf. Even if it was large and looked rather impressive. It thudded to the ground with a heavy sound, sap pouring from leaf and stem.

"Shit." He hissed, taking a big stride away from the bushes and other plant life as multiple leaves stirred and moved toward him. The ground stirred as well and roots emerged underfoot, forcing Hakon to step back once more. The feeling in his right hand had yet to return. He pressed the back of his hand and blade against the ground to remove as much of the viscous liquid as possible, but that turned out harder than it should have with a completely numb hand.

Hakon didn't use his remaining hand to help cleaning either, not wanting to touch the liquid accidentally, hence losing his remaining hand. He could not afford that, not now. Not when he stepped out of the relative safety of the island's sparse plant life and into a small beetle. There was no additional strength as he stepped onto the beetle. He stumbled back, head swiveling across the island, [Combat Awareness] screaming at him to look back. The beetle spat at his face a moment later.

Time seemed to come to a crawl. Hakon twisted his body until it felt like he was torn apart. [Evasion] helped him considerably, allowing him to shift a little further than he thought possible, but it was far from enough. The projectile shot toward him from point-blank and struck his shoulder and splattered. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

The smell of burned skin and flesh hit Hakon hard, but the numbness that followed after seconds of pain was worse. Splatters of spit struck his neck and face, turning his right side numb. Worse even, the spit ran down his chest and arm, continuing its carnage. It feasted on his skin and flesh before numbing the rest of his right.

"Little fucker." Hakon cursed, stomping brutally on the beetle. It stood no chance and its carapace caved in easier than before: the physical boost of his increased Level doing its work. His physical gains should have increased his natural regeneration as well, but the numbing in his right hand had yet to fade, let alone the rest of his right shoulder and chest. The damage was done.

Hakon used his left to unsheath his sword and held it tightly, relying heavily on Enhanced Comprehension to quickly adapt his [Sword Mastery] proficiency to his weak arm. Even though his father taught him to wield weapons in both hands, his left was still a little weaker. Barbarians were forged to turn every part of their body into a weapon, however, they all had their preferences. Hakon's was his right arm, which dangled uselessly from his numb shoulder.

Dozens of heads turned to him and a barrage of beetle spit whirled through the air. His full attention was aimed at avoiding the numbing projectiles, which did not stop the ants, small and large, as they skittered toward him. They avoided the bushes, but that hardly helped Hakon. The small island's plant life was as deadly as the monsters. Worse possibly. He used [Dash], relying on [Combat Awareness] to decapitate one of the approaching ants but it was soon replaced by two.

The monsters closed in on all sides, leaving him with little choice. The lake was an option but his right side was numb, and he couldn't be certain if the entire lake was monster free. For all he knew, there could be a few powerful monsters at the bottom of the lake, each enjoying the snacks the ants and beetles provided. He'd be unguarded in the lake, offering a great target for the beetles as well. The lake was not a good option. Neither was fighting dozens of ants with his strong arm numb.

Hence, he triggered [Dash] a second time. Hakon used more mana this time, ignoring the burn racing down his legs as he breached the encirclement with speed rather than brute force. He didn't stop there either and activated [Dash] again, while adjusting his running stance as much as possible. He felt faster than before, his movement smoother, his legs carrying him further than before. Embracing the sensation, Hakon continued, pointedly ignoring the monsters around him as he neared the Fracture.

It crackled with immense power. Power unlike anything he'd read about in the hide scrolls. The Fracture was far more than the scrolls made it out to be, yet he plunged right into it, hoping the other side looked a little better than the island. The space around him twisted and distorted as he rushed into the violet vortex, and the last things he saw before darkness consumed him were a large ant stepping out of the Fracture and a message he couldn't discard.

[Fracture – The Crawling Expanse(Miasma Overflow) Rarity – Uncommon Recommended Level – 9 15(Overflow detected) Slots – 0/10] Hakon had no idea how much time had passed when he regained his senses, but his body's condition was still as bad as before, so it couldn't have been too long. He was lying on the ground surrounded by knee-high grass. The smell of nature was strong if one got past the scent of beetle spit and burned flesh.

Suppressing a groan, he raised his head and looked around, only to find himself in an open field. The Fracture's vortex hummed somewhere behind him as he was dragged away. Dragged away?

Hakon looked ahead and found a large ant dragging him somewhere. It didn't kill him nor did it eat him. The monster just dragged him somewhere. He was just about to come up with several plans to crush the ant when the scenario took a sharp turn. Something descended from the sky. It shot toward the ground with blinding speed and struck the ant. Its skull burst apart, sending fragments of all sizes everywhere. Hakon needed a moment to realize what had just happened.

A monster, a bird, dove to the ground a moment ago, killing the ant. Its talons carved through the ant's exoskeleton with ease, its majestic wings flapping as it shot back into the sky, carrying the ant in its talons. Yellowish-green masses whistled through the air from all directions, their velocity taking Hakon by surprise. The bird – an eagle now that he studied it – was not particularly surprised. It spun in the air and smoothly avoided most projectiles.

Only one struck the eagle, barely hitting one of its talons. A screech rang out one moment, and in the next the ant carcass plummeted to the ground. Angry, the eagle dove down once more, a series of cracking noises hinting at the terror unfurling in the distance Now! Hakon scrambled to his feet, [Silent Steps] used to its very limits. He searched for his sword in a hurry, grabbed it tightly when he found it after a moment and left the battlefield as quickly as his worn-out body could move.

The surroundings were a mesmerizing field of flowers of hundreds of different shades. Their tips jutted from the knee-high grass that seemed to change color in accordance to the surroundings. But as beautiful as it was, the open field was also crowded with ants and beetles – way too many for him to deal with in his current condition. It was a disgrace, and his father would be furious, but Hakon abandoned the battlefield.

His hair stood on end as dozens of yellowish-green masses shot past him rather than hitting him, but fortune left him as soon as he skulked right into a beetle… for the second time. Or was it the third? The monster was hidden within knee-deep grass and invisible to Hakon until it was too late. But he reacted fast. Hakon shot toward the monster and crushed it with a quick but impactful stomp… or tried to. The beetle's carapace didn't budge in the slightest, its pitch-black eyes lingering on him, promising death.

That was when he realized that the beetle was nothing like the ones outside the Fracture.