ART Of Survival - Chapter 27

“I Love Caves!!” Mal screamed as he jumped inside the cave.

‘Before entering the cave, I should first sort out my status…’ Mal thought and he ordered the system to open his information panel, “Palette Open!”

Stats:-

HP:- 250/250 MP:- 225/225

Strength:- 13

Mana:- 7 (1 mana point = 50 Mana)

Speed:- 16 Dexterity:- 12

Defense:- 10.2 Mind:- 8

Luck:- -10(+5)= -5

Charm:- 4.4

Null Stat Points- 3 (If a certain number of these stat points are reached then the host can unlock a separate ‘Unique Stat’. The stat is based on the host’s unique skill or method of fighting.)

Equipment:- Admantanium Katana (SS), Ancient Brush (Sealed, currently E- grade), strengthened toolkit

(Auth:- I have changed how the stats were viewed before, this seemed better to me. I can change it back to those big numbers if a majority of you guys like that.)

After looking at the new and improved stats, a smile broke out on Mal’s face. “I am getting stronger…” Mal softly sighed and got up.

‘Let’s see what is inside this cave. It would be great if I am able to find something valuable like the stone I found in the sabertooth’s cave.’ Mal was expecting to find something special in the cave but, he was also somewhat scared of going inside. ‘There could be a Beast King inside and I am sure that this time I won’t be lucky like last time.’ Mal mumbled as he hesitated for a second.

‘What am I even hesitating about? I don’t have any other choice in this one…’ Mal slapped both of his cheeks (Auth:- Not that cheek…I should just stop). After eating a light meal, Mal started walking to the inner part of the cave.

“According to the novels I used to read and what happened to me before in the ‘sabertooth cave’, there should be some treasure inside, but also a boss level beast king or something.” Mal was thinking about the various things that could be in the cave and also he was a bit scared this time because he was not an ant now. His stats were equal to a level 2 player.

“This time monsters aren’t going to ignore me!” Mal was happy and sad at the same time. “I should probably plan things out before going to the deeper part of the cave. I am not the main character therefore, I don’t have plot armor,(Auth:-Welp…) I am not going to do stupid things and make my life difficult for no apparent reason.”Mal shook his head bitterly and took out a piece of paper and a pencil from his bag and started jotting down the things that he had to keep in mind.

-Half an hour later-

“After planning things out, I feel a bit more confident about my chances of survival.” Mal patted the dust off his pants as he stood up.

“skreeeeeee!!!” As Mal stood up, he heard a thunderous screeching noise coming from the entrance of the cave. (Auth:- He was saying something a para before…)

“Shoot! I wasted too much time!” Mal ran towards a large boulder and hid behind it. “I can only hope that the beast wouldn’t notice me.” Mal thought as he sweated profusely.

But alas his luck (bad luck) was pointing at something else altogether.

The screeching stopped, but there was a different sound coming towards Mal now, “shoot! it is coming closer!” Mal squeezed himself by the boulder.

*Thump* *Thump* The sound of heavy footsteps was coming closer and closer to him.

“I shouldn’t have wasted my time here.” Mal sighed as he took out the adamantium katana from its scabbard.

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump* *…*

“Huh?” The thumping sound that was coming closer and closer suddenly vanished, as if the shaking of the ground and the echoing voice of those heavy footsteps was an illusion.

“Did it left?” Not hearing the voice of the footsteps, Mal became a bit confident and he slowly raised his head to take a peek at the surrounding. Right after Mal raised his head he saw a deep black gem in front of his face, looking at the beautiful gem in front of his eyes, Mal got lost in his thoughts. It was as if his reflection was looking right back at him, but with much more intensity and pressure.

*ROAR!!* After a moment of silence between the two, a shrill roar woke Mal back to reality. Stunned by the roar, Mal reflexively slashed his katana at the gem-like eye.

*Puchi* The eyes slip into two and a fountain of purple blood gushed out.

*Skreee!!!* The beast roared in pain as it took a step back. That distance was enough for Mal to see the huge monster that was in front of him. It was 20 feet in height and it looked like Microraptor with steel-blue wings and a long beak.

*Fuck!* Mal cursed and without wasting any more time, he started running inside of the cave, this was because the huge monster was standing in the way of the exit and also even if he goes out, he would have been blown away by the wind, so the only option he had was to run to the deeper part of the cave and wish for the best.

“I need to find a way to lose this bastard.” Mal was thinking about a way to escape the cave or lose the beast because he know that it is very difficult to lose a beast king from your tail once it was seen you or locked onto your mana.

After running from the beast that was still following him for a good 10 minutes, Mal came across a ravine that was breaking the path ahead and the ravine was almost 10 meters wide which made it impossible for Mal to go to the other side.

“That negative luck is acting up on me again!” Mal was sweating bullets, not because of running but because he knew that the beast could be there any second now.

–

It didn’t take long for the beast to arrive there. It looked at Mal with ferocious eyes which were also filled with madness and humiliation. Humiliation because it had been injured by an ant. It roared and rushed towards Mal with its mouth wide open.

“Want to eat me? It won’t be that easy!” Mal screamed and strengthened his grip which was holding the katana.

*Clink!* Mal and the beast king collided which threw Mal in the endless ravine. The beast king did not want to let go of its prey so it also jumped down while flapping its wing in the direction of Mal.

Mal raised its head and looked at the beast which was flying in his direction at an insane speed.

“Shit!!” Mal cursed as he slashed in the direction of the beast.

The beast sensed danger and it tried moving out of the way of the katana but was moving very fast to completely move out of the way of the slash and in the end, it lost a wing.

“Hahahahaha!! If I go down, I will take you with me to the depths of hell!” In the silent void, the sound of the crazy laugh resounded.

-To Be Continued-