Monsters were usually vicious when they were hungry—desperate, aggressive, reckless.
So why didn’t it attack ?
Curiosity nudged forward—against every survival instinct I had. Slowly, I opened my inventory and pulled out the dead hare I’d caught earlier. My hand hesitated for a mont.
"This is either kindness," I muttered, "or the dumbest decision I’ve made today."
[Bold words considering your track record]
I ignored the system and gently tossed the hare toward the Tigara’s side.
The body landed softly against the cave floor.
The Tigara’s good eye opened again, tracking the movent. It looked at the hare.
Then it looked back at .
For a mont, nothing happened.
Then it snorted.
Not angrily. Not threateningly.
Dismissively.
As if I’d just offered it sothing mildly insulting.
"...Excuse ?" I muttered under my breath. "You’re starving and you’re still picky?"
The Tigara turned its head away, uninterested, its eye closing once more as if to say take your pity and leave.
I stared for a second longer, then let out a quiet, incredulous laugh.
"...Wow," I muttered. "Even half-dead, you still have standards."
The Tigara didn’t respond. Its eye slowly closed again, dismissing both and the hare like neither mattered.
I took that as my cue.
"Right," I said softly, already backing away. "I’ll... be leaving now. No hard feelings. Thanks for not killing ."
The monster didn’t so much as twitch.
I slipped out of the cave, my heart only calming once the entrance disappeared behind . I exhaled deeply and ran a hand through my hair.
"...I just offered food to an Elite Grade monster and got judged for it," I muttered, rubbing my temples.
[You’re just gonna leave?]
I paused mid-step. "Why wouldn’t I? I got what I needed. Treasure map secured. Fang acquired. Emotional damage received. Now let’s go find that treasure."
[You do know that was your chance to kill that monster, right?]
I scoffed. "It’s dying. Let it die in peace. You heartless system."
There was a brief pause.
[...Wow. And I’m the heartless one.]
"Don’t turn this around on ."
[Don’t you want to relieve it from its suffering?]
I stopped walking.
"...And why would I get myself killed?" I replied flatly.
[You won’t be killed because the monster doesn’t care anymore!]
"That’s what people say right before becoming monster chow."
[You’re impossible.]
"And you’re pushy."
[Let spell it out for you. That Tigara is weakened. Severely. You could’ve ended it cleanly.]
"I don’t even know its weak spo—"
[THE OTHER EYE, DAMN IT.]
I froze.
[Its weak spots are its eyes! Both of them! It’s weakened because the other eye is already gone and— Player? Player?! WHAT THE HELL?]
The mont the words weak spot: eyes registered in my brain, my body moved on instinct.
I bolted.
"THANK YOU FOR THE INFORMATION—BYE!"
[HEY— WAIT— YOU LITTLE—]
The system’s screen flickered angrily behind as I sprinted straight back toward the cave, feet slapping against stone and water splashing everywhere.
I slid to a stop at the cave entrance and took a steadying breath.
"...Okay," I whispered to myself. "In and out. One eye. Clean. Fast."
[You’re unbelievable.]
"Correct."
I stepped back into the cave.
The Tigara was already awake.
Its remaining good eye was fixed on the mont I entered, sharp and knowing—like it had been expecting to return.
"...Yeah," I muttered. "I figured you’d notice."
For a brief mont, we just stared at each other again.
The cave felt impossibly quiet, as if even the dripping water and the air itself were holding their breath. I took one slow step forward.
Then another.
The Tigara didn’t move. Its massive body remained coiled against the stone, scales dull and worn up close, no longer gleaming with the vitality of a true apex predator. Its single good eye followed calmly as I closed the distance, until I stood right in front of its head.
Face to face.
I swallowed.
"Don’t worry," I muttered under my breath, more for myself than for it. "I’ll make this quick."
The Tigara released a low, weary huff through its nostrils.
It sounded... tired.
Slowly, its head lowered, the weight of it scraping faintly against the cave floor. Then, as if making the decision for both of us, it closed its remaining eye.
My chest tightened.
"...Damn it," I whispered.
I drew in a deep breath, steadying my shaking hands. I would have liked it more if this was a battle and not an execution instead.
Still.
I raised my hand and activated my Spectral Seal.
The air around warped instantly, pressure crashing down like an invisible wave. A sharp, familiar hum filled my ears as power surged through my veins.
The system exploded into existence.
[WARNING! WARNING! UNAUTHORIZED USE OF FOREIGN POWER!]
Red flooded my vision.
[SHUT IT DOWN WITHIN TEN SECONDS OR SERIOUS PUNISHNT WILL BE FORCED UPON THE PLAYER]
The cave trembled.
[WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! You know that whatever you’re releasing is basically a cheat system!]
I clenched my teeth.
"Yeah," I muttered, eyes locked on the Tigara’s closed eye. "I know."
Power burned through my arm, heavier than it ever had before. The Spectral Seal strained against the Vision’s restraints, screaming silently as if both systems were trying to tear each other apart inside my body.
[SEVEN SECONDS]
My vision blurred.
[YOU’RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF ERASED—]
"Shut up," I said quietly.
[FOUR SECONDS]
I focused everything I had.
"For what it’s worth," I whispered, voice barely audible, "I’m sorry."
I drove the power forward.
The world narrowed to a single point as my blade pierced through the Spectral Seal’s distortion and plunged straight into the Tigara’s eye.
There was no roar.
No thrashing.
Just a sharp, wet sound—and then silence.
The massive body went slack, its breath fading into nothing. The pressure in the cave vanished all at once, like a storm breaking apart.
My legs gave out.
I staggered back, gasping as I imdiately deactivated the Spectral Seal. In a split second, the red warnings that were flooding my vision were instantly gone.
[YOU— YOU ABSOLUTE MANIAC—]
I dropped to one knee, panting, sweat dripping from my chin.
"...Worth it," I muttered weakly.
The Tigara finally laid at rest.
The system flickered one last ti, clearly furious.
[...You’re impossible.]
I looked at the fallen monster and slowly pushed myself to my feet.
"Yeah," I replied softly. "But at least it didn’t die alone."
I took a step forward but before I could, my legs gave out.
My vision tilted violently as the ground rushed up to et . A wave of dizziness crashed through my skull and my body felt impossibly heavy.
"...Huh?"
My fingers twitched uselessly against the stone floor. I tried to push myself up, but my arms refused to cooperate. Nausea churned in my stomach, and a cold numbness began creeping up my limbs.
’What...?’
The last thing I saw before the darkness swallowed my vision was my own arm.
There—right above my wrist.
A bite mark.
One neat puncture. Still faintly glowing.
I let out a breathless, almost amused huff.
"...You sneaky bastard," I murmured, a smirk tugging weakly at my lips. "So you got after all."
That snake had managed to bite without ever noticing. Even at the end, it still had claws left to bare.
The darkness closed in completely.
I didn’t know if I died.
I didn’t know if I passed out.
All I knew was that everything went quiet.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was the cold.
Stone pressed against my back. The familiar damp scent of the cave filled my lungs as I sucked in a sharp breath and jolted upright.
"...I’m alive?"
My voice echoed weakly.
I looked around.
The cave was the sa but the Tigara was gone.
Only an empty space where it had once rested.
My heart skipped. "What... happened?"
Before I could process it, the system slamd a window directly into my face, so close it might as well have punched .
————————————
Tigara’s Blessing (The Untad Spirit of the Beast)
You are now imbued with its primal essence, awakening the Tigara’s Aura within you.
• Grants you strength akin to the legendary predator. Your attacks hit harder, and your endurance surges.
• Your eyesight sharpens to pierce darkness and see over great distances. You can detect subtle movents and faint details that others cannot perceive.
• Your senses beco acutely attuned, allowing you to pick up even the faintest sounds—footsteps, whispers, or the rustle of leaves—granting heightened awareness.
• The weakest monsters instinctively sense your aura and avoid confrontation, sparing you from unnecessary battles.
————————————
"...Ah."
That was all I managed to say.
The mont I finished reading, everything exploded.
Light flooded my vision, blinding white, so intense it felt like my eyeballs were being ripped apart from the inside. I clutched my head and scread as sound slamd into from every direction at once.
Dripping water.
Air shifting.
My own heartbeat—too loud.
Every tiny noise crashed into my skull like a hamr.
"AH— STOP—!"
I couldn’t tell if my eyes were bleeding or if my ears had ruptured. Everything hurt. Everything existed too loudly. I could hear insects crawling sowhere outside the cave. I could hear my own breath scrape through my lungs. I could see dust particles floating in the air like stars.
It was too much.
Way too much.
I collapsed onto my hands and knees, screaming into the stone as my senses went haywire.
"DAMN IT!" I yelled hoarsely. "THIS ISN’T A BLESSING—THIS IS TORTURE!"
[Adaptation in progress]
"I DIDN’T ASK—!"
My body shook violently as the overwhelming sensations slowly—agonizingly—began to settle. The noise dulled. The blinding light faded. My vision sharpened instead of burning.
I gasped, sucking in air like I’d been drowning.
"...Holy shit..."
I could see perfectly now.
Too perfectly.
Every crack in the stone. Every grain of sand. Every movent, even beyond the cave walls. I turned my head slightly and heard the distant rustle of leaves far outside—clear as if they were right next to .
My hands trembled.
"...I hate this," I muttered weakly. "I really, really hate this."
[You’ll adjust]
"I didn’t consent!"
[Well, the Tigara gave you consent and gave a blessing to you.]
"...That’s not how consent works," I muttered weakly.
My head was still buzzing, but the pain had dulled enough for to finally look down at my arm. I expected to see the bite mark again. Instead, there was a tattoo.
I froze.
Wrapped around my wrist was an intricate, ink-black marking of the Tigara. The head rested near my pulse, horns curved back, its single uninjured eye half-open as if watching the world through .
"...You’ve got to be kidding ," I whispered.
I turned my wrist slowly, watching the tattoo move with my skin. For a split second—just a fraction of a heartbeat—I could’ve sworn the eye in the tattoo blinked.
I sucked in a breath.
"System," I said cautiously, "tell that didn’t just move."
[It didn’t.]
"...That pause was suspiciously long."
[You are now the vessel of the Tigara’s Untad Spirit. The mark is proof of the contract.]
"Contract?" I echoed. "I didn’t sign anything!"
[The Tigara did. And it gave its rest of its life to you.]
"Oh well," I said, forcing myself upright. I clapped my hands together—
Clap!
—and imdiately regretted every life choice that led here.
"OW—!" I winced, clutching my ears. "Okay, noted. No sudden loud noises. Ever. Again."
[Adjustnt period: ongoing]
"Adjustnt period my ass."
I shook my arms out, rolled my shoulders, and took a steady breath. The cave ca into sharper focus again, every sound neatly tucked back into sothing manageable. Painful, but manageable.
"Alright," I said, squaring my stance. "Let’s go find that treasure."
[So heartless...]
I paused mid-step.
"...What was that?" I asked slowly, turning my head.
[I said let’s go find that treasure!]
I narrowed my eyes. "You’re getting really bad at lying."
[...]
I snorted. "Yeah. Thought so."
Before leaving, I glanced back at the empty spot where the Tigara had been resting.
I walked over and stopped where its massive body once lay.
"...Thanks," I muttered, unsure whether I was talking to the cave, the tattoo on my wrist, or the mory of the beast itself.
Then I gave a short, respectful bow.
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