Chapter 73: A Piece to Leave Behind

"Ah." Arthur let out a muffled groan, and despite the severe damage he had sustained, he maintained his composure.

Quickly, he tilted his body at a sharp angle, avoiding more rocky projectiles that were heading toward him. After that, he looked at the invisible thing that had injured him. Because part of it was stained with his blood, he managed to get a glimpse of its shape.

It was more like a thick spear extending toward him from the ceiling, precisely from where one of the question marks had been located.

He did not know exactly the nature of the creature that had attacked and injured him, but he was not going to let it get away with what it had done.

He gritted his fangs, and activated the Regeneration skill at its maximum power, then tightened what remained of his muscles around the transparent spear, trying to hold it firmly in place, as he had done with the hyena before.

Or that was what he thought at first, for unexpectedly the complete opposite happened, a sticky glue-like substance oozed from the invisible spear, and in the next moment, it stuck firmly to his leg.

His pupils contracted, and he realized he had fallen into a serious predicament. Without any hesitation, he put his full strength into his uninjured front leg, extended his claws and swung them, trying to sever the spear and free himself.

But things did not go as he had planned. Suddenly, the spear pulled him upward with great force, causing him to lose his balance and miss. His legs rose off the ground, and he began to be pulled toward the question mark.

He did not panic. He quickly regained his composure and resumed the attack.

He swung his dagger-like claws again, and this time hit the target directly, which turned out to be as hard as metal. No, it was several times harder.

Sparks flew, accompanied by a blue liquid resembling blood, and strangely, the spear became very soft and began to writhe in all directions like a snake. Arthur dangled helplessly from it.

A pained growl sounded from the ceiling, and for a brief moment lasting exactly two seconds, the shape of the monster that had attacked him appeared.

It was a massive chameleon whose body was not of flesh but of semi-transparent crystal, and the thing he had thought was a spear had in fact been its tongue.

With its appearance, the information displayed by the "Evaluation" skill changed.

[ Silercyst – Rare – D-Rank – Evolution Path: Crystal Phantom ]

Before Arthur could absorb what he was seeing, the chameleon suddenly disappeared just as it had appeared. It seemed as though it had never been there in the first place.

The tongue regained its hardness and pulled him upward toward what appeared to be nothing. Several sharp rocky objects soon formed around it. Not only that, but hundreds of sharp rocky objects appeared throughout the cave.

A large number of chameleon monsters had united their attacks, determined to tear him to shreds.

Woooosh!

Suddenly, all the rocks launched toward him like a rain of bullets.

Suspended in the air, Arthur had no way to escape. He was unable to dodge, and he was far too weak to block an attack like this. Yet, despite that, he maintained his composure, as though he were not about to die in the blink of an eye.

In truth, he was desperate. He had thought about many things during the past second and arrived at a single conclusion: a desperate man has nothing to lose.

It was impossible to leave this place in one piece, so he was the one who would choose which piece he would leave behind.

’Here we go again.’ Without a single shred of regret or hesitation, not even remorse, he ferociously bit his shoulder, and tore off his leg that was stuck to the chameleon’s tongue. The moment it was completely severed, he was freed, and fell to the ground.

The air howled, and in the next moment, the rocky projectiles passed over his head while the projectiles launched by the chameleon that had been holding him fell nearby.

He scanned his surroundings in an instant, then fled at his maximum speed toward the exit while limping, as for his leg that remained stuck to the chameleon’s tongue, it was pulled upward, and when it reached the ceiling it disappeared. It seemed that the chameleon had eaten it.

Despite his severe injuries, and the unbearable pain, in addition to the attacks that continued to rain on him without stop, he managed after a long ordeal to get out of the cave.

He did not look behind him at all, but inside he swore that he would return one day to pay these monsters back twofold.

Defeated, humiliated, wounded, he limped through the long passage, he did not think, and did not say a word, he simply followed the breeze of air, until he finally saw some light.

He had found an exit, and the moment he reached it he found himself standing before a high ledge, below it, the forest stretched endlessly, and in the distance the sun of the new day had begun to rise.

[ Alert ]

[ The effects of the Full Moon Frenzy have ended ]

There Arthur fell to the ground exhausted, panting like a lone warrior who had survived the battlefield, or more precisely a lone wolf facing the entire world.

He stared into the distance he had yet to reach, and slowly his consciousness began to drift little by little toward sleep. A small smile appeared on his face, then he lost consciousness.

Time passed quickly, the sun climbed high in the sky, then set on the other side, to be followed by a warm night with a very clear sky, announcing the end of spring and the beginning of summer.

...

On the morning of the third day, Arthur finally opened his eyes, not of his own will, but he woke because his senses warned him of an approaching imminent danger.

Before he grasped what was happening, the first thing he saw was several massive sickle-like claws heading toward him. Startled, he quickly rolled across the ground, avoiding the surprise attack.

His mind cleared, and he saw the creature that had attacked him, it was an enormous eagle, resembling the legendary roc birds he had read about in his world.

The eagle landed on the ledge, and because of its massive body, the cave was too small to accommodate it.

It lowered its head slightly and regarded him with a cold look before flapping its wings, and flying away. It knew that there was no use in resuming the attack, for the terrain was not in its favor this time.

’Has this cursed forest not had enough of trying to kill me?’ Arthur let out a long sigh filled with exhaustion.

His tense body relaxed, and he continued lying in his place doing nothing for several minutes. After resting a little, he stood on his three remaining legs, and examined his body.

"System, if I develop the Regeneration skill to D-Rank, will I be able to make my leg grow back?" He asked with a regretful expression.

The Regeneration skill was his only hope, and if it did not help him, he would be forced to adapt to his new situation. For an ordinary predator, losing a limb was a death sentence, but he did not consider it a major problem.

What had happened had happened, and he had done what he had done, and there was no use in regret.

The system was silent for a short while, then the blue screen appeared carrying semi-good news:

[ Yes, but it will take some time. A few weeks. ]

"Understood." He shook his head without showing any clear expression, he did not feel happiness or relief, not because he was depressed or angry, or in a state of sadness, he simply was far too tired to feel anything.

"How long will this go on?" He sighed again.