"Aurianna, I'm dropping you off here," Carol announced, and Aurianna nodded.

Her claws released Aurianna's waist, sending her plummeting from the sky. Aurianna yelped with excitement at the rush of free-falling, landing comfortably on her feet amidst the soft marshland mud.

"Do your best to kill and eat as many monsters as possible!" Carol's words trailed behind her as she flew off with Leila.

"Ugh, why did Carol have to leave me here?" Aurianna muttered, grimacing at her surroundings.

A dark green miasma blanketing the shallow, murky waters beneath her.

She wrinkled her nose at the putrid stench permeating the air. "It smells awful here, like something is rotting!" she complained.

Hoping to encounter some monsters, Aurianna began to move around, only to be met with a burning sensation in her throat. The toxic fumes clawed at her lungs, leaving her gasping for breath. However, after a few breathes she managed to stabilize her breathing.

Observing her surroundings, Aurianna noted the towering trees with blackened bark and gnarled, bare canopies, their twisted roots suffocating one another. Despite the unsettling presence of scattered skeletons, she remained undeterred from what she had come to do.

"Well, if this Kisho guy Chumura mentioned is his student and he's here, it would mean he's the most poisonous being around, so every monster would avoid his territory," Aurianna speculated to herself.

With her three sixty degree vision, she noticed pairs of eyes peering from behind trees.

"For now, I'll deal with some monsters!" Aurianna declared with excitement.

Summoning dual crystal sabers into her hands, she assumed a battle-ready stance. Behind her, a giant, gruesome snake-like entity emerged, accompanied by smaller versions of itself, but they waited behind as they watched the larger one approach her. Upon closer inspection, it became apparent that the creature was a monstrous amalgamation, than Aurianna initially believed.

It had a hundred sharp teeth and drooping black eyes that oozed a black liquid that melted into the water with a bubbling and fizzing reaction. It walked on twenty legs that resembled various creature’s flesh stitched together to create whatever this unholy aberration was.

As it approached Aurianna its many legs churned through the water creating an impossibly loud warcry of sorts that grew evermore intense and frantic as the creature closed the distance between itself and Aurianna. Aurianna could feel the roar reverberating within her skull and piercing deep within her stomach. The fearful sound suddenly stopped and the great beast reared as far back as it could, its head blotting out the little light the sun provided through the thick mist.

It launched at Aurianna aiming to bite her body. Luckily, Aurianna raised her sabres, blocking the attack, the beast’s head bounced off from the force of both of their attacks and it toppled backwards crashing through the trees, snapping and crushing through them without any resistance to its large mass. It fell onto its back, sending a torrent of murky water into the sky.

It's hideous legs wriggled in the air. It rolled back over and turned to face its prey once more as it had regained its footing, the creature launched another assault, as Aurianna aimed to slash its neck. But this new attack was much faster than what Aurianna had predicted.

She was intercepted by the whip of its tail and the clean air she had left in her body left her already empty lungs. The force of the tail attack caused her to slam into the tree with the crack of both wood and bone.

"The beast is strong," Aurianna remarked, struggling to get up amidst the throbbing pain.

Coughing up a mixture of white blood and black ooze, she clambered to her feet, readying herself for another attack but made a mistake of bending her back, only to be overwhelmed by a sharp pain in her back, sending her collapsing once more to the ground.

Her face fell into the mud that tried to seep its way into her mouth, she sputtered and coughed the mud away and felt a rush of excitement run through her body like a cold knife running through her veins, slicing them open. She watched as the creature slowly approached her, that war cry echoing out into the nothingness of the swamp. The system made a slight dinging sound.

[New creature identified - Bestiary updated]

The system illuminated the beast, accentuating the hungry tongue sloshing around in its salivating mouth and revealing a tag above the ophidian head.

[ Level 400 Young stage, Coison Snake]

Aurianna watched the notification before her fade away. A spiteful anger filled her. “Only level four hundred? I won't let myself be bested by a level four hundred! Someone at my level!”

She stood up with fierce determination and could feel a weight fall away from her back as something splashed into the water behind her. She turned around and saw part of her back submerged into the water, the blood slowly spreading and discoloring the already disgusting marsh. Aurianna realised she must have been infected when she took a blow from the Coison and looked back at it, she could see sharp scales raised on the end of its tail that dripped with blood. Her blood.

“The Coison’s poison causes skin to melt!” She realized as her eyes trembled.

The Coison coiled its head before snapping it forwards at lightning speeds toward Aurianna, but her spite would not let her die like this. She managed to dash out of the attack’s way, a whoosh of air and water from the force of the attack pressed against her sending her flying backwards.

She dug her feet deep within the mud, bringing herself to a stop. She casted aside the sabres still in her hands that dissipated before they struck the ground and dissipated.

‘Scythe Nails!’

Her nails began to grow with a sickening cacophony of cracking and popping as her fingers and hands painfully adjusted to growth and weight differential.

‘I’ll activate illusions steps!’ Aurianna thought as she waited for the right moment to strike.

The Coison, frustrated due to the elusiveness of its meal dashed toward Aurianna, its primal urge had become predictable. It was an apex predator, a king of the ecosystem, nothing could challenge it physically. And now, presented with a superior strength, it was not adapted to protecting its weaknesses. The soft underbelly of the beast was exposed and Aurianna capitalised on it. Her nails twisted into the shape of scythes and she slashed, slicing four deep cuts into the flesh of the beast. A torrent of blood burst forth from the wounds, the force of the exsanguination tore away the flesh between each laceration letting blood pore more freely from its body.

The Coison spasmed in pain and lifelessness clouded its dark eyes. It slumped into the water and eventually stopped moving altogether. The smaller Coisons disappeared behind their trees, the champion was dead.

‘The poison isn't healing,’ Aurianna realized as she noticed her breathing became more heavy and the searing pain in her back didn't subside.

The Coison writehed in pain for sometimes before it fell down dead. “This thing is strong, and the poison is still active. Since I'll just die anyway, I might as well eat this Coison,” Aurianna told herself and her body transformed into a slimy form and covered the entire Coison devouring it whole. And seeing a dark floating light before her, she ate that one too.

In a few second she felt a horrible pain course through her body as her skin turned purple and she melted into a puddle.

[ You died. ]

[ You have gained poison magic. ]

[ You have killed an Young stage level 402 Coioson Snake, received 75,000 exp. Poison element absorbed. ]

[ Received 1 skill point. ]

[ Name: Aurianna ]

[Age: 23 ]

[Class: Gunner Mage, Blade Dancer. ]

[Title: Leviathan Slayer, Embracer of Death, Void Reaver Slayer. ]

[ Race: Gemaris ]

[ Level: 461 ]

[ Exp: 603,000 / 140,000,000]

[HP: 600,000 / 750,000]

[Mp: 1,100,000 / 1,610,000 ]

[Stamina: 99 / 16,000 ]

[STR: 37,500 ]

[VIT: 8,500 ]

[INT: 4,926 ]

[Agility: 70,500 ]

[Defense: 12,000 ]

[Charm: 10,000 ]

[Luck: 290 ]

[Skill points: 60,000 ]

[Quest points: 300,000 ]

[ Skills:

{Gunner Mage}

| Skills:

Hardened Skin <80>, Scythe Nails <80>, Illusion Steps <133>, Skill Copy <39>, Psycho <293>, Arcana Wings of Seraphim <310>, Auras Sogen <230>, Absolute Aim <400>, Super Reflex <406>, Whirl Feet <300>, Phantasma <410>, Babylonia <510>, Evasion <205>, Dancing grenade <107>, Shock revolver <90>, Earth Bullets Spikes <89>, Singing Glory <438>, Teleport <176>, Healing touch <230>, Foresight <164>, 360 vision <145>, Barrage kicks <238>, Acrobatics <199>, Deadshot <200>, Deadly Flourish <120>, Reflection <130>, Cubes of light <235>, Light seal <129>, Alpha Strike <230>, Death Lotus <321>, Courtesy call<567>, Artillery Gate <244>, Poison touch <286>, Mind Shatter <237>, Passive Heal <487>, Enraged <300>, Ace Kick <679>, Illusory Reality <230>, Magical Resistance <341>, Quick Dodge <425>, Quick Shot <682>, Night Walker <345>, Crystalline Rose <431>, Crystalline Tears <216>, Initiate Spell Casting<300>, Headshot <691>, Explosive Bullet <530>, Smell Fear <150>, Bond With Elements <700>, Pain Resistance <690>, Underwater Breathe <2>, Choppers <469> |

{Blade Dancer}

| Blade Slash <733>, Twin Blade mastery <220>, Death Blade <236>, Blade Spirit <123>, Blade Spinning <628>, Spiral Blade <579>, Gut Slash <345>, Flash Steps<490>, Skewer <458> |

Others:

| Water Magic <10>, Celestial Magic <12>, Corruption Magic <120>, Ice Magic <70>, Earth Magic <127>, Fire Magic <230>, Wind Magic <243>, Dark Magic <230>, Invisibility Magic <210>, Light Magic <700>, Swift Movement <211>, Poison magic <1>| ]

“Huh I thought I already had poison magic?” Aurianna stated as she stared at the screen in confusion.

[ You only gained the Poison Touch skill from the Spiders. You didn't gain the element from the Goiglers. ] The system clarified.