【The Rise of the Ugly Monster】 Everyday Morning's Despair and Shortsightedness Due to Hunger
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Now, about a year had passed since he was thrown out of the nest.
"N'eh..."
Waking up from his slumber and opening his eyes, the wall of the tree hollow he used as a bed was glowing yellow from the light shining in from outside.
(Morning, huh...)
He muttered softly in his mind.
Then despair gradually seeped into his heart.
Today, too, he is an Ugly Poison Bird, not a human.
Not in peaceful Japan, but in a dangerous... unknown forest.
(I hate this... I want to go back to Japannn...)
When he brought to mind the complaints he had repeated tens of thousands of times, poisonous liquid overflowed from his entire body instead of tears.
...Even now, a year later, his body hasn't grown at all.
It might be because he only eats things like grass and fruit.
However, his appearance had changed significantly.
Right now, his entire body is constantly covered in sticky poisonous liquid and with the gravel and trash stuck to him, he looked even shabbier than before.
The stench is also terrible; to put it bluntly, he is a lump of trash.
The more he laments, the more poisonous liquid is secreted, and since there is no day he doesn't lament, he is always in this state.
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Species: Ugly Poison Bird
Name: None
Age: 1 year old
Vitality: 9
Magic Power: 138
Level: 3
Skills: 【Poison Resistance 13】, 【Poison Generation 11】, 【Mimicry 5】, 【Tree Climbing 2】
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Regarding his status, this is the situation.
His level only went up by one in a year, and his Vitality remains low.
Perhaps his Magic Power has increased because it is trained by using it to secrete poisonous liquid... but he doesn't know if this is a lot or a little for the amount increased in a year.
【Poison Resistance】 and 【Poison Generation】 seem to be growing, but now that the numbers have reached double digits, he doesn't know where the upper limit is.
He is pessimistic that perhaps his poison-related abilities might also remain low.
【Mimicry】 is a mysterious skill that was noted on his status before he knew it, presumably reflecting his experience of letting external enemies pass by pretending to be trash.
And as for 【Tree Climbing】... he acquired it while climbing trees to gather fruit or hide in tree hollows.
Because his entire body is sticky with poisonous liquid, he has become able to stick his light body to walls and climb trunks using that adhesive power.
(I'm so hungry...)
Ah, he hates living every day.
It's painful to live every day terrified of giant creatures other than himself... giant creatures worthy of being called monsters, running and hiding.
The hunger is painful.
The pain of a body that is so easily hurt is also painful.
But... he's also scared of dying.
He doesn't want to die.
He wants to go back to Japan...
While sluggishly thinking about such things, he was unable to move today as well.
Before he knew it, the sun had risen high, and light no longer shone into the hollow.
However, it had been three days since he last ate.
It's about time.
It's about time he crawled out of the hollow... and ate grass or something, or he would die.
Therefore, finally, the scales in his heart made a sound and wavered, and he decided to go out to look for food.
"N'eh... n'eh..."
Crawling sluggishly, he moved to the entrance of the hollow and peeked out at the outside world.
He couldn't help but squint his eyes at the brightness.
It's a very nice day today.
His temporary home is a hollow in a giant tree growing in a relatively open area, allowing a good view of the surroundings.
Through the gaps in the tree trunks, he could see a mountain towering alone in the forest, and the blue sky behind it.
The green of the trees and the blue of the sky.
A truly vivid early summer contrast.
His exhausted heart felt no deep emotion at that beauty.
Furthermore.
His completely dropped concentration... failed to notice the abnormality in the surroundings that he wouldn't have been surprised to notice at that point.
CHUDOOOOOOOOOON!!!
"N'EEEEEH!?"
Therefore, it was fortunate that the suddenly echoing sound of an explosion and the skin-tingling vibration of the air conveyed the existence of that abnormality to him before he left the hollow.
He hurriedly crouched flat, shrank his small body even more, and while trembling, observed the outside world again.
Then the true identity of the abnormality became clear.
It was.
A survival struggle between giant beetles and giant bees... so fierce that it could only be called a war.
The mountain visible through the gaps in the trees was actually a giant beehive... and the beetles seemed to be launching an attack on that hive.
CHUDOOOOOOOOOON!!!
"N'EEEEEH!?"
Another explosion!
And this time, the epicenter was closer to his temporary home than before!
The trunk of his shelter shook greatly!
Why do explosions happen when beetles and bees fight!?
It doesn't make sense!
But this is another world where birds breathe fire.
It's not strange for anything to happen.
For the time being, with his fragile body, even being hit by a twig blown away by the aftermath of the explosion would be a fatal wound.
He desperately made himself small, and while clinging to the edge of the hollow, he continued to watch the war outside intently.
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(I-I hate thisss!! I want to go back to Japannn!)
...Having watched the conclusion of that war to the end, he wailed like that in his mind.
The conflict between beetles and bees... but the winner was neither.
A super-giant land whale that suddenly appeared swallowed both of them whole, and the battle ended.
There are many gigantic monsters in this forest.
He had seen a turtle so large it protruded from the forest canopy pushing trees aside to walk, and a tiger just as giant easily snapping a giant tree with a playful swipe of its front paw, and he had been terrified and trembled violently at the enormity and might of both of them...
That whale is no good.
Surely, even if a bunch of giant tigers teamed up, they couldn't beat it.
The size and its rank as a living creature are too different.
Let alone himself.
He sensed that with his instinct.
"N'eh, n'eh... nguu..."
But, however.
His growling stomach scolded him, telling him not to be frightened forever.
Anyway, he is hungry.
It's fine to be terrified of the terrifyingly extraordinary whale, but that's that.
He has to go look for food quickly.
Fortunately, the earthquake-like footsteps of the whale can no longer be heard.
If he's going, it's now.
Surely, other giant monsters must have fled in fear of the whale too.
It should be safer than usual...
(But, where should I go...)
Crawling out of the hollow and sliding down the tree trunk sluggishly using the viscosity of his poisonous liquid, he pondered.
The gathering spot closest to his current temporary home is the fruit tree he calls the mock cherry.
Around this time, the fruit should be bearing soon.
However, the bottleneck is that there is a giant ant nest nearby.
They are merciless berserkers who don't care about their own lives.
If he tries to detour around the ant nest, he will need to travel a considerable distance, and he doesn't know if his current stamina will hold out...
(...Ah!!)
And here.
Just as he finished sliding down the tree trunk and reached the ground, he had a flash of inspiration.
(There might be... honey!)
The war earlier was settled by a whale equivalent to a natural disaster swallowing the beetles and bees whole... but at that time, he clearly saw a part of the beehive fall from the whale's mouth.
He was going to take those literal leftovers.
If it's honey, even he, who hasn't fully shed the sensibilities of when he was human, can eat it deliciously.
Now that external enemies have fled in fear of the whale, it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance!
"N'eh! N'eh!"
Urged on by his own hunger, he started running totteringly.
His destination was the ruins of the battlefield.
His stomach growled, demanding that he eat honey no matter what.
Incidentally.
It was certainly true that many monsters had fled in fear of the whale.
However, it wasn't that there were zero monsters capable of using their wits like him.
Therefore, to conclude... his judgment was shortsighted.
That has to be said.
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