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[Main Mission: Survive for 14 days. 8:42:33 Remaining.]
Two days had passed since Yeoman had zombified himself. He hadn’t gotten any sleep, but he hadn’t felt the need for any either. It was a good thing his body didn’t feel tired; if he stopped moving, the flock of vultures would probably devour him within seconds. There were hundreds of those birds following him, circling above his head. Whenever he stopped walking, the birds would fly down, occupying the branches in the trees around him.
During the past two days, Yeoman had encountered multiple shadow panthers and moonlight wolf packs. The panthers hunted the vultures, and the wolves hunted the panthers. With the number of vultures following Yeoman, it was only a matter of time before he encountered a fight between the two predators. Yesterday, he killed a weakened shadow panther, and shortly after, he killed a moonlight wolf too. The rest of the wolf’s pack smelled the rot on Yeoman, so they left him alone. As for avenging their fallen companion? The wolves just wanted to survive, and fighting Yeoman was a lose-lose situation for them.
Now, there was only one thing left for Yeoman to do: kill a thick-skinned crocodile. However, there was no sign of water anywhere! Counting the time he had spent with Lucia, Yeoman had walked for nearly two weeks in the forest, but he hadn’t seen any water. Snow had always gone out to get some, but Yeoman had no idea from where. He couldn’t hear any water flowing. He had tried following some animal tracks, thinking they’d lead him to water eventually, but it turned out he was a shitty tracker. Yeoman sighed. How was a forest this green without any water source? It hadn’t even rained in the past two weeks.
Yeoman stared at a tree. He had always been afraid of heights, and even though he was a zombie, he was still afraid of them. If he fell out of a tall tree and landed poorly, he could die. Heck, if the tree was tall enough, it didn’t matter how poorly or not he fell; he’d die. He had obtained the scavenger crow gene, but would he even be brave enough to grow wings and fly? Yeoman exhaled, even though he didn’t have to breathe, and grabbed the tree in front of himself. He gripped it and stepped off the ground. Yeoman found it a bit surprising, but climbing was a lot easier than what he had imagined. He found it easy to pull himself up. It must’ve been due to the gorilla and chimpanzee muscles.
A few vultures were baffled and flew out of the tree Yeoman was climbing, landing on the ground to watch him ascend. Yeoman gripped and pulled, occasionally digging his toes against the bark. He weaved past the branches, using them to pull himself up, contorting his body to snake through the gaps. Whether it was the chimpanzee muscles or the fact he couldn’t feel pain, climbing the tree came naturally to Yeoman, and soon, he was at the top. When he looked down, he couldn’t see the ground. There were too many branches in the way. When he looked up, he saw the vast sky. There was a very faint and small plume of smoke in the distance, presumable Wilderness Town. Yeoman didn’t think he’d make it there even if he had several days to walk.
As for Yeoman’s original goal of finding water, climbing the tree didn’t help. All he could see was a sea of green, trees in every direction. The tree he was on was of average height; it didn’t help him see over the others. However, he did see several flocks of scavenger crows. Those birds were likely following bears, trying to trick mercenaries into going to them. There was an area that was slightly devoid of trees. Would there be a river there? Yeoman climbed down the tree, but while he was still standing on the branches, an idea sprung to mind. Monkeys traveled via branches. Was it faster than traveling on the ground?
Soon, Yeoman discovered swinging on branches, in fact, was not faster than traveling on the ground. He grabbed a branch, transferred his weight over to it, and flailed his limbs as the branch snapped. Several branches broke his fall, slowing his descent, but he still hit the ground, hard.
Poke, poke.
Yeoman batted away the stick, and the vulture waddled away before flying into a nearby tree. Yeoman grunted and sat up. A bone was sticking out of his leg; it was a bit eerie, but it didn’t bother Yeoman too much. He pushed it back into place, and tried to keep his leg straight. He kept his leg still, batting away any brave vultures, and let the fungus do its work. Soon, his leg was in working condition again, and Yeoman rose to his feet, heading in the direction of the clearing.
By the time Yeoman got there, there were only a couple hours left before the end of the stage. The clearing wasn’t created by water. It was understandable that he thought it was. Trees were pressed down to the ground, and the path of destruction was very similar to a river. If Yeoman had to take a guess, he’d say a gigantic snake had passed through, destroying all the trees in its way. Even the grass was rubbed away, leaving behind rounded pebbles and smooth stones. Wouldn’t a snake like this be able to drink a whole river on its own? No wonder why Yeoman couldn’t find any!
Now that his final hopes were dashed, he’d leave it up to luck, walk in a straight line for a few hours; if he encountered a thick-skinned crocodile, great. If he didn’t, oh well. It pained Yeoman’s heart a little to see a single uncompleted mission in his list of completed ones like a giant beacon broadcasting his failure. Or maybe it was because he put his heart back inside his body incorrectly that it was causing him pain. Yeoman shook his head. That shouldn’t have been it; he didn’t feel physical pain anymore.
Yeoman took a step towards the destroyed trees, and one of the vultures let out a squawk. Of course, he ignored it; the vultures always squawked. As he walked across the path of destruction the giant snake had left behind, he couldn’t help but wonder what it was made out of. The stones in the path had been eroded and polished. His feet didn’t hurt, but if he were still human, he would’ve found these rocks comfortable to walk on. It was strange. There didn’t seem to be dirt either. Was there just a layer of stones underneath the ground? Yeoman once saw a geology class he could’ve signed up for, but he chose not to take it, picking a course about medieval literature instead. At this moment, he regretted that decision a little.
The vultures’ squawking got louder, and Yeoman glanced up at them. Usually, they would land on anything nearby when he walked slowly, but they were circling overhead. They only stayed in the sky when a panther was near. Yeoman wasn’t afraid of shadow panthers. They were huge, and he had been knocked down by a few of them, but once they realized he wasn’t edible, they had left him alone. The trees that had been knocked down were larger than the trees in the forest. Having tumbled from an evil tree earlier, Yeoman took a detour around the fallen logs instead of up and over.
There was no warning. One moment, Yeoman was walking; the next moment, he was in the air. Teeth dug into Yeoman’s torso and back. His arms and legs dangled uselessly. He was tossed up and clamped again. He figured it out. Those weren’t crushed trees he had seen; those were thick-skinned crocodiles! It was great that he knew; however, knowing didn’t help him with his current predicament. The crocodile had eaten him. Thankfully, crocodiles didn’t chew. The big animal merely used its teeth to reposition him a few times, so it could swallow him properly.
It was dark, impossible to see. However, Yeoman didn’t need to see to tell the insides of the crocodile were much different than the bears. Crocodiles didn’t chew, so how did their food get broken down? It was simple. Crocodiles swallowed large rocks all the time, and the contractions of the gizzard would grind the rocks against the swallowed prey. Luckily for Yeoman, he couldn’t feel pain. Unluckily for Yeoman, sharp rocks were scraping against his body, tearing off bits of flesh with every graze. Although he was caught by surprise, Yeoman had been prepared to hunt a crocodile, and his plan A involved entering the beast’s stomach. Since they were thick-skinned, the only way for him to kill it would be to do it from the inside.
Yeoman couldn’t enter a proper stance, so he hugged his spear and stabbed it upwards. Even though Gae Bulg’s spirit was no longer inside the spear, it was still a well-made weapon. The spearhead pierced into the animal’s stomach lining. Yeoman’s hands were slick with whatever juices were found inside a crocodile’s stomach, so he cupped the bottom of the spear with his hand and pushed against it, forcing the spear in even further. The vibrations in the gizzard increased in intensity, but that didn’t stop Yeoman from pulling his spear out and stabbing it into the beast again.
Yeoman repeated the process over and over. Occasionally, liquids would flow into his nostrils and mouth. They smelled so appetizing, and Yeoman was a bit frustrated from his lack of taste. He could smell how delicious things were, but he’d never get to experience their flavor—at least, not until the aliens gave him back his tongue. Still, Yeoman swallowed the liquids pouring into him. Every time he was wounded, his hunger would grow uncontrollably. It made sense; the fungus needed energy to repair his body, and the best way to get energy was through eating.
Yeoman’s body regenerated and decayed in a constant cycle. He stabbed and stabbed, ate and ate. There were a few times Yeoman had almost been vomited out, but he managed to stay inside the crocodile by digging his spear in and holding on tight. Eventually, the crocodile stopped moving, and a light flashed from Yeoman’s wrist. Even though there was a flash, it didn’t illuminate his surroundings at all.
[Bonus Mission: Kill a thick-skinned crocodile. 1/1]
With that, Yeoman had completed all the bonus missions. Only two weeks had passed, but Yeoman felt like it had been years since he had been abducted. There wasn’t much time left, only ten minutes or so, before the stage ended. Seeing as it was pretty safe inside the crocodile’s stomach, Yeoman had no intention of leaving. He touched his head, making sure his skull wasn’t on the verge of dissolving. It wasn’t; however, he had no more hair, and he was pretty sure he was feeling his bones. Yeoman was a bit surprised his eyes hadn’t lost their function, but they only helped him see the screen on his wrist, so they weren’t very useful.
Yeoman lay on a pile of rocks inside the crocodile’s stomach, relaxing without moving. A sigh escaped from his lips. There was a chance of there being a beast core, but he didn’t have the ability to break the crocodile’s skin, and he didn’t think he could crack apart its skull from the inside where he didn’t have much leverage. Instead, he turned over and groped around. In the bear’s stomach, there was a ring. Seeing as the crocodile was worth as many points as the bear, it’d make sense for the aliens to put loot inside of it too. After a few minutes of searching, Yeoman slapped his forehead. He had a ring that dismantled things for him. If the crocodile had a core, he could get it out easily.
Yeoman pressed the ring against the fleshy wall before frowning. In the original story, Lucia had activated her magic tools by saying their abilities out loud. However, it wasn’t a requirement. Did he just have to will it to happen? Yeoman focused on his ring, and suddenly, there was light. The crocodile split open, and Yeoman was dropped to the ground. Four piles appeared in front of him, and dozens of vultures squawked while hopping away. Evidently, Yeoman had interrupted their meal. A few vultures were staring at him with dirty expressions as if they were asking, “Why is it always you?”
Yeoman ignored the vultures. The crocodile had been separated into a pile of skin, a pile of bones, a pile of flesh, and a pile consisting of two small items, a core and a bracelet.
[Obtained Thick-skinned Crocodile Gene Portion]
[Thick-skinned Crocodile Gene Portion: Collect thirty of these to obtain a Thick-skinned Crocodile Gene (Epic).]
[Obtained Bracelet of Fling (Uncommon)]
[Bracelet of Fling (Uncommon): Allows the user to cast Fling once a day. Shares a cooldown with other magic tools.]
[Fling: Flings target from a distance. Does not work on objects greater than three hundred pounds.]
Yeoman equipped the bracelet. It was made of some type of bronze material, and it was only a little larger than the watch he usually wore. It was thin and perfectly smooth. Supposedly, magic tools had arrays built inside of them, but Yeoman couldn’t see any hint of that. His left arm was a bit gaudy now. He had a bracelet and two rings, both of them on his middle finger. After he was done admiring his arm, he grabbed the crocodile skin. It was huge, and it felt more like he was holding tree bark than skin. He gathered some long bones and put them in the skin. Then, he grabbed the crocodile’s teeth, adding them to the pile as well. After a moment of thinking, Yeoman placed a few slabs of meat on top of the bones and skin; then, he lifted the whole thing, making sure to keep a tight grip on it. His left hand held his spear, metal rods, and water flask while his right held the crocodile skin. It should be useful for the next stage. The timer on Yeoman’s fleshwatch counted down, and soon, he found himself standing in the dark dimension aboard the alien spaceship, naked, of course.