【The Rise of the Ugly Monster】 Time by the Campfire

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(I am Jou! Haruma Jou! Not 'Dokugegon'!)

Thrashing about, he desperately protested the lame naming!

Emi stared intently at him and...

"He's happy... so he does understand words. He is indeed highly intelligent."

Muttering so, she stroked his head, completely unfazed by the poisonous liquid clinging to his body.

(No, no, that's not getting through! I'm not happy! I'm Jou!)

He desperately continued his protest, but... unfortunately, though he could understand human words, he couldn't speak them.

All that came from his throat was the foolish cry, 'N'eeeeh'.

At that moment, for the first time, he realized the greatness of the tool known as language.

Incidentally, the mystery of why he could understand human language, which he should have been hearing for the first time since coming to this other world, without any prior learning, didn't even cross his mind.

If one were to give an answer to that mystery, it would be due to the grace brought about by the authority of the Language God, Bamapama, which pours down ubiquitously upon the world, but... that's a digression.

In any case, he was engrossed in protesting the naming, and that protest didn't reach Emi.

By the way, he also didn't notice that Emi seemed to be "conversing" with someone other than him.

Now then, that's how he was, thrashing about and crying 'N'eeeeh, N'eeeeh'.

"Here, Dokugegon... more food. Eat."

Saying so, the next "food" that Emi pulled out from the darkness beyond the reach of the campfire's light made him fall silent in an instant.

It was probably a rabbit.

After all, its ears were long.

However, as was the case with the giant monsters strutting about this forest, judging from the size of its head illuminated by the campfire, its total length exceeded 5 meters.

In his previous life, he thought rabbits were classified as herbivores... but its front teeth were sharp like canines, and its sharp claws were discolored a dark black as if something had stuck to them.

Its face was scarred and bloodied, but its expression was terribly contorted with anger and intimidating.

Undoubtedly, a ferocious monster.

It possessed a visage that made its nature clear at a single glance.

...However.

"N'eh..."

That's not the problem.

The problem is...

"Pigururu..."

The problem was that this monstrous rabbit... was still alive.

It seems Emi had weakened it beforehand, as it would occasionally twitch and let out a frightening growl, but it seemed unable to do anything more than that.

But...

"Here, eat."

(There's n-no way I can eat that!)

With a mysterious superhuman strength, Emi dragged the terrifying, near-dead monster right in front of him—and then proceeded to force him to eat it!

(H-Hieeeeeh!)

Even now, Emi was pushing the back of him, who was shrinking back... or rather, couldn't move because his legs had given out, with her finger, and was dragging him closer to the monster rabbit.

(S-Sure, I guess I'm a monster too, so... I guess I'm a creature that's supposed to hunt and eat meat!)

However, since he was born, except for the mush fed to him by his mother bird, he had never eaten meat.

Why?

Because his personality was so timid that he couldn't possibly hunt, and because he couldn't hunt prey, he had only been gathering things like fruits.

And... because the sensibilities of his human days always got in the way.

As a wild creature, he can't start a fire.

In other words, if he is to eat meat, he must eat it raw.

Pecking at a corpse with his beak.

He could never bring himself to do such a disgusting act.

Therefore, even if a monster he sprayed with his poisonous liquid happened to die... he had never pecked at its flesh before.

"Pigurururyaaaah!!"

"N'eeeeeeeh!?"

And here, suddenly, the monster rabbit raised its voice in a threat towards him!

He was frightened, and while spewing poisonous liquid from his entire body, he trembled violently.

"...It's okay, it's okay."

Emi gently stroked his head, not minding the poison.

"You are strong. Dokugegon."

And, encouraging him as he refused to move, she... this time, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and lifted him.

And his body, with poisonous liquid dripping—pota, pota—from it... she began to press it against the face of the immobilized monster rabbit!

(W-What are you doing!?)

He screamed in fear, but.

"Pigurururyaaaah!?"

The one who screamed with an even louder voice was the monster rabbit.

His poisonous liquid... had seeped into its wounds!

"Pi... pigui..."

And... the effect of his poison was immediate.

The monster rabbit let out a pathetic cry while its body convulsed, foamed at the mouth... and soon stopped moving.

"See, you killed it, easily."

Emi peeled his body—which had stuck fast to the corpse due to the viscous venom—away from the monstrous rabbit's remains, placed him in the palm of her hand, and gently stroked his head once more.

"N'... N'eh..."

He was terrified, anew.

At the girl stroking his head... Emi.

At her sensibility to kill a living creature so casually.

"...Here, eat?"

That's why he just trembled.

Even when he was placed, *pon*, in front of the monster rabbit's corpse.

He couldn't take any action.

He just, trembled.

"...Was it too big, after all?"

To him, Emi showed even more kindness.

Emi slowly stood up, approached the monster rabbit's corpse, and...

As if handling a soft piece of bread... she tore off the monster rabbit's neck with her insane strength!

(Hieeeeeeeeh!!)

Not paying any mind to him, who was spewing enough poisonous liquid to form a puddle out of fear, Emi next thrust her index finger and thumb into the bright red cross-section of the monster-rabbit's neck and tore off a small chunk of meat.

"Here you go."

And, she pried open the beak of him, who had no strength in him due to fear... and pushed the raw meat into his mouth.

"N'... N'...!"

Spreading throughout his mouth... the smell of blood.

The sensibilities cultivated as a human fiercely rejected it!

However... the instinct as a monster, even more so, was rejoicing!

(Ah... ahh...)

"Is it delicious? Eat more."

He couldn't resist.

He continued to be stuffed with raw meat carried to his mouth one after another.

(Ahhh...)

Caught between the intense discomfort stemming from his human sensibilities and the instinct of a monster.

His emotions became a jumbled mess, and he lost all sense of reason...

Before he knew it, he had lost consciousness.

◇ ◇ ◇

Crack, crack, crack... the sound of something small bursting.

A sound he finds nostalgic.

That was the first element of the outside world recognized by him as his consciousness faintly awakened.

"N'eh..."

Next, slowly opening his eyelids, what lay before his eyes was a wavering, dancing orange flame.

In other words, a campfire.

The surroundings were still night.

It seems he had eaten his fill of meat... and had fallen asleep.

Looking up to the side, Emi was sitting cross-legged, illuminated by the campfire, with her eyes closed.

There was a *suu, suu* sound.

She seems to be... sleeping.

The corpse of the monster rabbit was gone, leaving behind nothing but traces of blood and its lingering scent.

(...? My body feels light...)

Here, he felt an abnormality in his own physical condition.

He felt too well.

(【Status】 Open)

Therefore, he casually checked his own status...

◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆

Species: Ugly Poison Bird

Name: Dokugegon

Age: 1 year old

Vitality: 54

Magic Power: 206

Level: 8

Skills: 【Poison Resistance 13】, 【Poison Generation 11】, 【Mimicry 5】, 【Tree Climbing 2】

◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆

He was utterly dumbfounded by the sudden surge in his Vitality, Magic Power, and Level.

His Level—which had barely budged despite all the suffering and endurance he had endured over the past year...

Had gone up.

Simply by eating raw meat.

However, the item that caught his eye even more than that.

Was that.

The 'Name' on the 【Status】... had been updated to "Dokugegon."

(I'm Haruma Jou, I'm telling you!)

"N'eeeeeeeh...!!"

His scream... reached no one, and was swallowed by the darkness and disappeared.