【The Rise of the Ugly Monster】 The First Battle of the Poison-Covered Ugly Monster

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"N'EEEEEH!?"

Faced with a lizard he had never seen before, roaring while menacingly slamming the lump on its tail against the ground with a *bashin, bashin* sound, he did neither.

He didn't stand his ground, nor did he run away.

He just cowered, screamed, stood frozen, and curled up his body.

That fear stimulated his instincts, and more poisonous liquid welled up from his body surface.

The poisonous liquid, which until earlier was about the amount of large drops of sweat... had at some point covered almost his entire body surface... and his appearance had changed from an ugly baby bird to an ugly, bluish-purple, gooey lump.

The stench of that goo was incomparable to what it had been before!

"GYOAAAAAH!!"

The lizard, which had been flicking its tongue in and out, sensed the smell and let out a voice of agony!

And in a fit of irritation, it swung its tail around... and aimed at him again with the lump on its tail!

"N'EEEEEH!?"

In his panicked state, he couldn't dodge that blow, and this time he received that pain around his left wing.

(I-It hurts... it hurts!!)

He rolled around wildly from the power of the lump's blow, scattering poisonous liquid, and lay there limply.

(Why!? Why do I have to go through this!? Somebody help me!!)

And he wailed wildly in his mind.

However, help didn't come.

Naturally.

There was no one around.

In the first place, one's inner voice doesn't reach others.

(Ah, my head is getting hazy again... I'm going to die for sure this time...)

After wailing for a while, what appeared next was resignation.

(Haha, it can't be helped... I'm just me, anyway. A dropout is a dropout even if they become a monster...)

Laying his body limply, he immersed himself in an empty... but sweet and comfortable feeling of helplessness.

(Whatever I do, it won't work out anyway. No one expects anything from me. If that's the case, it's fine if it ends here. Even if I'm alive, it won't amount to anything. It's surely easier if I die now...)

Demeaning his own worth, he sluggishly spewed poison.

Then, poisonous liquid violently gushed out from his body surface, turning the surroundings into a gooey mess.

His consciousness became even hazier...

(............?)

Now, like that.

He had been spaced out for a while.

Suddenly, he realized.

The finishing blow from the lizard wasn't coming at all.

"N'eh...?"

He staggered up and turned towards the lizard.

Then, what was there.

It was the corpse of the lizard, flipped over and not moving a muscle.

(Eh...!? It's dead!? Because... my poison touched its tail...?)

Here for the first time, he realized the danger of the poison he produced.

Come to think of it, didn't this poisonous liquid welling up from his entire body get into his mouth when he rolled on the ground earlier...?

"N'eh! N'eh!!"

Though it was late, he hurriedly spat out the saliva in his mouth.

Then, what came out was not saliva mixed with poisonous liquid, but poisonous liquid itself.

"............"

Even his saliva was poisonous liquid.

Even if the poisonous liquid that welled up like sweat entered his mouth, there was no way it would do anything to his body.

(I-I'm saved...)

Realizing that, he finally felt relieved and exhaled deeply.

(...Ah, 【Status】!)

The next thing he did was grasp his own situation.

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Species: Ugly Poison Bird

Name: None

Age: 5 days old

Vitality: 2

Magic Power: 5

Level: 2

Skills: 【Poison Resistance 5】, 【Poison Generation 2】

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(V-Vitality, 2 left!? That was closeee!?)

Summoning the thin, semi-transparent blue board that had disappeared at some point, he felt dizzy looking at the numbers that unmistakably indicated he was "near death".

(And, Magic Power with 5 left is...)

Furthermore, he pondered about the Magic Power, whose numerical value had significantly decreased compared to the previous check.

Perhaps this is... the effect of unnecessarily secreting poisonous liquid.

Whether secreting poisonous liquid reduces Magic Power or not.

This will probably require investigation in the future.

Perhaps, the reason he had been spaced out until just now... might be due not only to Vitality, but also the decrease in Magic Power.

(...Ah, this is bad.)

At this point.

He finished checking his status and looked around restlessly.

The forest was beginning to get darker and darker.

Night was approaching.

A forest at night is terrifying.

Having listened to unidentifiable growls echoing in the night forest and the footsteps of something giant striding under the tree while in his nest up in the tree... he understood that well.

He hurriedly pecked at the mock strawberries rolling around to fill his stomach, and then looked for a place to hide.

On the way... although his appetite was piqued by the lizard's corpse rolling in the corner of his vision... his remaining human consciousness got in the way, and he didn't eat it.

Anyway, he was lucky enough to notice a hollow at the base of a giant tree hidden by the undergrowth, and tumbled into it, covered in poisonous liquid.

There, trembling violently... he prayed to a god he didn't even know existed that nothing would happen... and there, his stamina ran out.

He instantly let go of his consciousness and fell asleep.

...Late that night.

A giant raccoon dog the size of a car, having noticed his presence, stuck its snout into his bed... and retreated due to the sheer stench of it.

But he was so sound asleep that he didn't notice this.