There are much fewer of them this time. I count only 10, and I donât see the Named one anywhere. However, their weapons are a little better this time. Not by much, but I notice that the swordfish bone swords seem to be sharpened.
I wait in the tree as they shuffle across the beach, each going in a different direction. It looks like theyâre doing a sweep for survivors, so theyâre all splitting up. Perfect! Easy food!
They move in pairs, which is annoying, but I think I can handle them. And if not, I can definitely run away. They move about as fast as crippled old men.
I single out one pair that looks particularly clumsy thatâs heading straight to the center of the island, and once all the fishmen have disappeared into the trees, I climb down from my perch and start stalking them.
I take great care to be as quiet as possible, but I honestly donât think I need to. Theyâre so loud I can barely hear myself think, let alone my footsteps. Thereâs no way they can hear me. Their hearing doesnât even seem to be good in the first place.
I follow them until theyâre right about at the dead center of the island, close to where Johnny died before I make my move. I canât hear the other ones in the distance anymore, so hopefully, this should be far enough away that I can avoid reinforcements. I draw closer, just a couple meters away from the leftmost one, and when there comes a time when they split up, each going a different direction around a tree, I strike.
Scratch!
Blood sprays onto my face as my claws cut deep into the back of the fishmanâs leg. The attack was strong enough that the foot is almost completely severed, which surprises me, but not enough that I fail my followup attack on the other leg. Before it can even cry out, it faceplants on the ground, its legs mutilated.
I dart backwards into the underbrush and move sideways as the other one peers around to see what happened to its comrade. It makes a gurgling noise when it sees the blood and raises its sword, but it doesnât spot me in time to do anything before I cut its ankles out from under it as well. With both of them grounded, it barely takes more than a minute for me to finish off both of them.
[ You have defeated Ichthyoid, lvl 2! ]
[ You have defeated Ichthyoid, lvl 3! Bonus experience for defeating an enemy above your level! ]
[ Spatial House Cat, 2 â 3 ]
[ +2 Power, +6 Finesse, +3 Resilience, +4 Memory, +5 Willpower, +5 Sensitivity ]
A warmth flows through my body, and I instinctively stretch out, extending and retracting my claws. I feel good. And hungry.
I rip off a sizable chunk of flesh from the nearest dead fishman and start chewing while I think about the fight. Well, it wasnât really much of a âfight.â It was pretty one-sided. I canât believe I was ever scared of these scrubs. I mean, if I actually fought them head-on, they might be trouble, but why would I do that? Too much work.
The Scratch skill is really strong. Or at least, it feels really strong. Itâs definitely a huge improvement over what I had to do the first time I fought one of these guys. I wonder how good it will be when I upgrade its Proficiency again. Will I be able to take their whole foot off with a single swipe?
[ Youâll be able to do that if you just level up a few more times ]
Really?
[ Yes. Your stat growth is high compared to the average monster, and these ones are fighting outside of their natural habitat. Itâs honestly not fair for them. ]
But great for me! Letâs go get some levels!
I pull the two corpses I just made into my Stomach and then run off toward where the nearest other pair of fishmen probably is. It doesnât take long to find them. The island isnât that big, and as I mentioned earlier, these guys donât really do stealth.
I take out their legs the same way I did the first pair, but rather than immediately finishing both of them off, I decide to try something different. I focus hard on one of them while ignoring the other, and once that one is dead, I turn my attention to the still crippled one who is gurgling for help. It tries to swing its sword at me, but misses badly. I donât even have to dodge.
It tries again, and this time, I Scratch its hand, making it drop itâs weapon. Then, I pick up the sword in my mouth and run a few feet away and set it down. It flops around a bit, trying to get to its knees, but I take a flying leep at it, scratching its face and knocking it back to the ground. Then, when itâs flailing around, I run around to its leg and sink my fangs into it.
Into my Stomach you go!
â¦
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Damn, I was really hoping that would work. I felt the skill try to activate, but the fishman is still here and squirming. Rats. I think I kind of instinctively knew it wouldnât work on living creatures, which is why I hadnât bothered to try it before, but it still kinda sucks. Oh well.
I spend about thirty seconds finishing the fishman, and check the System notifications expectantly. Unfortunately, I donât level up.
[ Well, you canât expect a level every fight. Youâre probably close though. Youâll get it on the next one! ]
And I do. The next pair of fishmen gives me yet another level! The one after doesnât, but the last one does, and with all the fishmen dead, I stop for a second to admire my progress. I feel like I have way more control over my body, and my head feels much clearer. I feel like Iâve gotten smarter.
[ No, Intelligence isnât one of the stats. You have not gotten any smarter. Clearly ]
Oh, âclearlyâ, huh? Alright, Abbdomen.
[ Thatâs not even a name ]
It is now. Itâs your name. Now, shut up and show me my Royal Status Window!
[ Name: Yona ]
[ Age: 0 ]
[ Species: Spatial House Cat. Tier: 0. Level: 5. ]
[ Class: Locked ]
[ Profession: Locked ]
[ Titles: Second Lifer ]
[ Traits: Cat-like Reflexes, Gluttony, Spatial Affinity ]
[ Stats ]
[ Power: 23 (+13) ]
[ Finesse: 49 (+19) ]
[ Resilience: 29 (+14) ]
[ Memory: 36 (+16) ]
[ Willpower: 42 (+17) ]
[ Sensitivity: 42 (+17) ]
[ Skills: Scratch, Stomach of the Glutton ]
Beautiful! All my stats are over 20! And Finesse is almost at 50! Actually, itâs over 50 if I count the bonus!
[ Thatâs not how the bonus works ]
What?
[ Those stats are already factored into the total shown. Your base Finesse is 30, and you get 19 bonus. It just shows the bonus so you know how much of each stat is bonus ]
Awww. Lame. Well, itâs almost 50, which is still pretty good. One more level and it will be there! Are there any more fishmen around?
I stop and listen. Nothing. Dangit.
[ 3 levels in a single night is already very solid. Excellent work, Princess Yona ]
Thank you, Abby! I guess that means itâs time for another nap.
[ You just woke up ]
And then I worked very hard to make a lot of progress. I deserve a break. And thereâs no such thing as a bad time for a nap.
I trot back to the middle of the island, ignoring Abbnormalâs protests and climb back up my favorite nap tree and start to settle in. However, right as Iâm about to close my eyes, I hear a faint noise on the edge of my range of hearing. Itâs splashing, just like when the fishmen first emerged.
Hmmm, itâs clearer than before. I couldnât have told exactly what it was when I just woke up. I guess thatâs because my Sensitivityâs gone up. Cool!
Unfortunately, Iâm already settled in here, nice and cozy. Theyâre not very smart. I bet I can just lay here and they wonât notice me.
[ I thought you wanted to level up ]
Yeah, but I also want to nap.
[ Leveling up more will make napping feel better ]
How?
[ Have you ever gone to bed after a hard day of exercise or physical labor? ]
No.
[ What? ]
Iâve never gone to bed after a hard day of exercise or physical labor.
[ â¦The only way thatâs possible is if youâve never had a hard day of exercise or physical labor ]
Correct.
[ â¦How? Were you actually just a cat in your past life? ]
Stop trying to pry into my personal life. Anyway, I donât see why I should get up. I already said I was going to nap, so Iâm going to nap.
I close my eyes so I canât see Abbjectâs messages and try to sleep, but the splashing from the beach has turned into footsteps, and the footsteps have gotten closer, and these ones sound different from the last fishmen. Their footsteps arenât clumsy, and they actually sound like theyâre attempting some stealth. That canât be good.
I yawn and stretch, then climb down from my spot in the tree and start stalking through the underbrush toward the source of the sounds. When I get close enough, I climb up into another tree to wait, and a few seconds later, my new friends appear.
Itâs a pair of them, and though theyâre not quite like the Named monster, they are quite different from the other fishmen. These ones are eelmen. They have slimy skin long necks, and very toothy mouths, and they walk much better than the regular fishmen.
[ Encheloid, lvl ?? ]
Interesting. Eelmen. I bet they taste good. Iâve always liked eel.
They walk past without seeing me, and once theyâve made it a few meters away, I silently climb back down and start getting closer. While theyâre better than the fishmen, the eelmen are still no good at moving quietly, so what little noise I do make is covered up by their own footsteps.
While I follow them, I keep my ears open for any others that might be near. There are definitely more of them on the island, and I can hear them stomping around in the distance, but none are close enough to come as reinforcements if this goes badly. Perfect!
Just like with the fishmen, I creep closer until Iâm just a meter or so behind them, and just like before, as soon as they are on opposite sides of a tree, I leap forward and strike!
Scratch!
My claws impact the eelmanâs soft, slimy skin, but rather than tearing straight through, it squishes in, and only at the end of my swipe does the skin break, doing about as much damage as a thumbtack. I look up to see that its neck has twisted all the way around, and it is now looking down at me with dull black eyes and a mouth full of teeth as long as my paws.
Uh oh.