6 Chapter 6: Eat and Grow Strong

I had no idea what to do next. It was a pity that I wasn't a synergist, or I could start crafting weapons. On the other hand, it was good that I was a zombie, because it seemed that I was regenerating my lost arm.

No need to replace it with a cybernetic prosthetic or something. Same went for my eye. Admittedly, being a zombie wasn't exactly a commonplace job (arifureta shokugyou) but I might just be able to become the strongest with it.

Unfortunately, I had to escape the cave first.

"Where the hell is the exit?"

I had been walking around for what seemed like hours, but I saw no sign of any exit. Hell, there was no sign of any living things, not even bugs. It seemed that the whole cave had fossilized into limestone or something. Stalactites hung from above while stalagmites loomed from below. I navigated through the jagged terrain, wincing as water splashed down on me from above.

Come to think of it, I hadn't been drinking a whole lot of water. Probably a side effect of being a zombie? Well, it was good that I didn't have to worry about dehydration.

But I didn't want to be stuck in a cave for eternity. I would begin to cave in to insanity!

Should I wait for the cockatrice to leave before I attempt my escape?

I chewed my lip as I considered that option. Even if the cockatrice grew impatient and left the entrance open, there was no guarantee that I wouldn't be able to escape it if I ventured into the forest. The damned chicken would be waiting for me in the open. And this time, I would have no place to escape to.

No, I needed to kill the cockatrice. It was eat or be eaten, kill or be killed.

But how?

I wasn't a synergist, and I knew I wouldn't be lucky enough to run into some wuxia technique scroll or a legendary weapon in this cave. It would be great if reality worked like light novels and I get happy coincidences, but in the end I had to rely on my wits to survive.

"Okay. So what exactly am I capable of?"

I reviewed my special abilities again. Adamantium Will. Regeneration. There wasn't anything that was combat-orientated. Sure, my Regeneration was going to help me survive, but it wouldn't help me win. I needed something that would actually help me win.

As for tools, I only had the box of matchsticks. I wondered if I should have taken the farming tools after all. No, they wouldn't have helped me. Kureha would have sliced them apart when she attacked, and I would have dropped them. As much as I regretted and fretted over not taking at least a shovel with me, hindsight was always twenty-twenty.

"I need to get out of here, though."

Even if I could see in the dark, that didn't help ease the claustrophobia that threatened to overwhelm me. The walls and ceiling seemed to close in on me, suffocating me. I found it weird that an undead like me needed to breathe, but I guess the undead in Restia was a completely different kind of undead that I was used to in fictional stories back on Earth. Now that I thought about it, I should stop applying common sense of my world to this world.

That said, I was sure some things still applied somewhat. Navigating through the cave, I stumbled over the stalagmites and threw out a hand to stop myself from falling. When I did so, my hand brushed against the wall and I felt a rough, powdery sensation.

"What the hell is this?"

I raised my hand to study it. A flimsy film of black powder was smeared across my hand. Frowning, I turned my hand over, trying to make sense of what I was seeing, and was suddenly reminded of the black stuff my grandparents used to cook food back in the rural areas of Japan, when I visited them during the summer.

"This is coal?"

Scratching my head with my other hand, which had freshly regenerated when I stumbled my way around, I stared at the powder coal on my hand. Hmm, if I wasn't mistaken, then this was a coal mine. Abandoned, perhaps, given how it was deserted.

Wow, I was really lucky. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized how close I was to blowing myself up with my matches. Having read somewhere back on Earth that coal mines were filled with methane gas, lighting a match in this environment would have proven catastrophic. I didn't know whether to be amused at the fact that I was relieved that I was a zombie.

"Yeah, well…not that it's going to help me…wait!"

I blinked when I suddenly realized something. If this was a coal mine, then there had to be an exit somewhere. Or at the very least, something I could use. A pickaxe, mining tools, anything. I remembered how the legendary Isaac Clarke fought his way through a ghostly spaceship with nothing but mining tools to dismember deadly space zombies known as necromorphs. I was no engineer, but if I could somehow fashion some sort of weapon from the tools I could find here, I might improve my chances of victory ever so slightly.

To my disappointment, there was nothing. The mine seemed abandoned a long time ago, with deposits of coal dug out of the walls and left to rot on the ground. There were a few metal shrapnel here and there, probably from broken pickaxes or power tools, but otherwise it was empty save for the coal deposits.

What should I do?

Frustrated, I kicked the wall, causing a bunch of coal to rain down onto my face. Coughing and gagging, I staggered away while muttering curses under my breath.

"Why the fuck am I so unlucky?!" I demanded to nobody in particular. First I was almost murdered by my classmates, then I was killed by a monster, then reanimated as a zombie, then attacked by my classmates who didn't seem the least guilty about their attempted murder. And now I was being chased by a fucking cockatrice that bit off and swallowed my arm. It was just one thing after another, and I was almost reaching my limit.

Why me? Why did it have to be me? And why visit upon me such an unending series of unfortunate events?

"UGH!"

Yelling in rage, I kicked the wall again as I vented my frustration. More coal rained down on me, but I ignored it this time. Swearing, I turned away and trudged deeper into the coal mine. Maybe I would find something deeper down. Maybe…

Crack…

I froze at the sound. Not daring to turn around, I waited, only to hear a louder and longer craaack this time.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

I couldn't believe my terrible luck. Turning around, my shoulders slumping down from resignation, I waited to see what new horrifying monster awaited me this time. I watched as the walls burst apart, revealing a huge monster that tore its way free.

"Oh, it's you again."

I recognized the familiar crowned chicken head of my old friend, the cockatrice. While I was searching for an alternative exit, the damned beast had found an entrance of its own. Well, given how easily the cockatrice broke through the cave entrance, the wall was probably hollow anyway. Did the cockatrice come in from the other side of the cliff?

I didn't know. And now wasn't the time to be leisurely contemplating. I had to go. Swallowing, I started running away. The cockatrice smashed its way through the crumbling wall, clouds of coal dust settling over it, and shrieked.

Then it charged at me.

"Whoa!"

Shards of rock sprayed at me, the cockatrice pulverizing whatever stalactites and stalagmites that barred its way. Despite its immense size hindering it in the narrow, enclosed space, the cockatrice was slowly gaining on me.

"Bloody chicken! You want to get cooked by me?"

Snapping, I dove right as the cockatrice slashed at me. Triple gouges appeared on the wall right next to me, coal dusting me as they fell free. Rolling to my feet, I barely dodged getting stabbed by the cockatrice's hooked beak.

"Damn, but you're really persistent! Don't get cocky, you cockatrice!"

I jumped to my feet and dashed toward the narrow corridor that led back toward the entrance. From my position I could almost see the light. I just had to make it there…

And then what? Back in the open, the cockatrice would have the advantage again. Even if it got stuck in the entrance, it would just double out and emerge from whatever entrance it found. I would be relentlessly hunted down no matter where I went.

No. I had to settle the score with the cockatrice once and for all. I just had to make sure I didn't cock up.

I fumbled for the matches in my pocket. Turning around, I struck the match. I had just barely produced a spark when the whole space in front of me suddenly vanished in a gigantic, deafening explosion, and my world turned into fire and pain.

"Gaaah!"

The force of the explosion hurled me out of the cave, and I crashed onto the ground outside, totally scorched. Meanwhile, the cockatrice screeched inside the cavern as my little spark set off a chain reaction. The methane inside the cave combusted spontaneously, and within seconds, the interior of the coal mind turned into a furnace. The cockatrice flailed inside the mine, screeching as it was cooked alive by the raging inferno.

I wasn't able to cheer in triumph, having been severely injured by the explosion myself. Not only was I suffering from third degree burns, my body scorched and fuming, I had broken several bones from being hurled out of the cave. Even a simple movement was agony. I groaned through my parched, blackened lips, as I tried to move, only for red-hot pain to spike through my limbs. Lying there helplessly, I waited for my Regeneration to kick in.

I didn't know if I was out of energy, or if the damage was too severe, but my regeneration speed this time was slower than usual. I lay on the ground helplessly, praying to whatever God who existed in this world (probably Evelyn) that a monster in the forest wouldn't stumble upon me and feed on me. That would have been quite the pathetic end.

"Guh…"

Closing my eyes, I waited, and then tested my limbs. I could finally move, but I realized that my injuries were far from healed. My flesh remained blackened, and pain continually nagged at me through the blisters or exposed muscle. My Regeneration so far had only healed my broken bones.

It had to be enough.

Wincing, I endured the pain as I rose to my feet. By now, the inferno in the coal mine had died, slowly winking out into tiny cinders as the cave exhausted its supply of methane and coal. I proceeded toward the interior cautiously, gingerly clutching at my wounds, which were all over my body. It hurt. It hurt like hell.

But I knew I couldn't just lie around, waiting to heal. I was hungry. Very hungry.

Stepping through the soot, I peered warily into the interior. There was a single, blackened corpse in the middle of it all. It seemed that the inferno had thoroughly cooked the cockatrice. At first, I was hesitant about eating such a charred, burned carcass, but the black soot flaked away, revealing succulent, cooked meat.

The cocky cockatrice had cocked up and was now paying the price for it.

"…I see."

The cockatrice must have some sort of resistance to fire. It was a miracle it wasn't reduced to ash and bones. Well, good for me. I had a well-grilled meal right in front of me. Staggering toward the cooked cockatrice, I tore a chunk of meat out and placed it into my mouth.

Amazing. This thing was delicious.

I greedily began ripping chunks of meat out of the cockatrice and shoveling it into my mouth. So lost was I in my hunger that it turned into an automatic, instinctive motion, my hands mechanically reaching out and tearing pieces of the cockatrice and stuffing them into my mouth. I swallowed after chewing, my mind blank from the sheer ecstasy.

It felt so good to be…alive. Plus, I hadn't had such a well-cooked meal in a while. When was the last time I ate something like this? Two days ago? Three?

Before I knew it, I had devoured the entire cockatrice. Feeling full, I slumped down next to the now-white bones. I had picked the meat off so cleanly that there wasn't much traces of muscle or fat left. Everything was now in my stomach.

"Huh, how does that work?"

I was surprised at how I managed to eat the whole cockatrice that was larger than me. Was there a black hole in my stomach or something? How did I fit all that meat into my meager body? Where did it go?

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And then I realized that I was no longer hurting. Looking at my blackened arms, I cleared the soot away to see fresh, pink flesh. The blisters were gone. I had fully regenerated.

"I see…so I have to eat in order to keep up my regeneration pace."

I nodded in understanding as I placed a finger on my chin. This could be useful. If I ever was on the verge of death, all I needed to do was eat and I would regenerate back to perfect condition. There were limits, of course, but it was a much-needed ability to keep me alive.

"Now then…what should I do?"

I was about to leave when I was alerted by a ping. My hand subconsciously swung and conjured the blue holographic window.

Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

Species: Undead

Job/Rank: Zombie/Ghoul

Special Abilities: Adamantium Will, Regeneration, Devour

Now that was new. I had never seen Devour before. Scratching my head in bewilderment, I tapped on the word and read the description.

Devour: Gain a special ability of the target you consumed as food

"Oh…"

This was an interesting, if not macabre special ability. I couldn't believe I gained it right after devouring the cockatrice. Was that the cockatrice's special ability? No…that couldn't be. The cockatrice showed no signs of inheriting any of my skills when it ate my arm, and if it had such an ability, it would have displayed far more special abilities when it pursued both me and slew the anaconda. Hell, it should have gained a special ability from the anaconda…whatever that was.

Or perhaps I was mistaken and it belonged to the cockatrice. But it made no sense that I would gain its special ability, Devour, when I never had it before.

Maybe it's this world's version of leveling up. Whenever I defeat a powerful foe, I would earn new abilities.

That made more sense. I gained Regeneration after I "defeated" and consumed the necromancer so it stood to reason that this was an unlockable ability rather than one I stole from devouring the cockatrice.

Well, whatever the case, I guess I'll find out.

I glanced back out of the devastated coal mine and stared at the fading sunlight that peeked through the scorched entrance. After all the events that had occurred today, it was finally night, huh? It felt like an eternity.

For now, I'll rest up, and then I will start hunting tomorrow.

The forest was full of monsters. I glanced at the cockatrice and snapped off a particularly large rib that curved into a single, sharp point. Not the ideal weapon, but it would do for now. I couldn't rely on finding another coal mine to incinerate whatever monster I ran into out there. At the very least, the makeshift weapon would give me an edge over those smaller, white wolves.

My mouth began to water when I thought of them. I was sure those guys would be absolutely delicious. Furthermore, I wondered what ability they might have…

Pushing my glasses up, I smirked. For the first time ever since I had arrived in Restia, I actually felt a measure of excitement.

Eating would never be the same again.