Is it Wrong to Copy Abilities in Apocalypse?

"Screech!"

A rodent-like monster with oversized, razor-sharp teeth capable of biting through steel jumped out of a 50-centimeter-wide hole.

It had earthly brown fur covering its body, and its red, feral eyes stared at its target with hunger shining in them.

Its eyes reflected the red hair and shining golden eyes of its human enemy, but before it could even come close to the human...

*Swish**Pierce*

An arrow pierced right through its head, creating a small hole in its head.

"Squeak-!"

And with a final squeak, the rodent fell to the ground.

*Thud*

But as it did, the scenery of the surroundings became clear.

Just like the hole this mouse-like creature came out from, there were tens of holes of varied size in the vicinity, and just like this beast fell right beside the pit it came out of, those openings had at least one such rodent lying dead next to them.

*Woosh*

The only sound that could be heard after the final squeak from that rodent's mouth was the sound of the arrow whistling through the air before…

*Grab*

It was grabbed by a red-haired and golden-eyed boy.

The next moment, however, the arrow in the boy's hand vanished like it was never there.

'Then why is the 'basic royal medical art' still there?'

The boy, Alex, on the other hand, wasn't even focused on the beasts lying dead on the ground.

After the arrow—that had somehow disappeared from his hand—was retrieved, he started to walk out of this area.

As for what happened to the arrow, well, it was transferred to the storage provided by the system.

There was an inventory function in the system with 10 slots in it.

Each slot can only hold one type of item, but its capacity is unlimited.

For example. if you have 10 loaves of bread, you can keep them all in one slot without a problem. But if you have 5 loaves of bread and 5 packets of jam, then you will have to use two slots to keep them.

For now, Alex only had 5 arrows and a bow in his storage; his dagger was still in his hand, ready to strike if an opponent were to suddenly jump at him.

Alex, who heard the answer from the AI, now wore a contemplative frown.

'So the system can't see the new abilities that I have, right?'

Alex questioned the AI again, even though it had already assured him about it.

The AI, however, replied to Alex without a hint of frustration or irritation in its voice.

Right now, Alex and the AI were discussing the absence of Alex's 'Beast Liaison' and 'Wind's Whisper' in the status window.

'Hm…'

Alex hummed as he recalled the second ability that the skill 'Analytic Eyes' provided him with and couldn't help but wonder what rank that ability was at.

The status guard was a very useful ability, especially for Alex, who would gain new abilities every now and then, but it had a condition that anyone with a higher rank inspection ability could still look at his status.

But the 'Analytic Eyes' is ranked (???), and neither Alex nor the AI knew what it was.

So, he decided to ignore it for now.

His gaze then fell on a rodent much larger than the others, and it seemed to be breathing even now.

It was almost twice the size of the other mouse-type beasts—also known as Gnawfien—lying dead around him.

[[Name: Unnamed Screecher Gnawfiend.

Race: Gnawfiend.

Stats:

→ Strength – Level 5 (Tier 1)

→ Defence – Level 3 (Tier 1)

→ Agility – Level 5 (Tier 1)

→ Stamina – Level 4 (Tier 1)

→ Mana – Level 5 (Tier 1)

Skills:

- Sonic screech: an ability to amplify their screech by using mana; the screech can cause effects such as stunning, bleeding, and dying.

- Group coordination: being higher rank than other Gnawfiends, it has the ability to order the low-ranked ones.

- Enhanced gnawing power: unlike the normal Gnawfiends, this beast has larger and stronger teeth, making it better at gnawing.

]]

This beast was the leader of this area, the boss monster of this level 5 zone.

At first, it didn't even come out; it just kept attacking from inside the large hole, forcing Alex to use 'Death's Command'.

The death's command was an ability that let Alex control the body of his enemy if they had weaker willpower than him, and a beast that didn't even have humane intelligence like the Gnawfiends could never compare to a normal human when it came to willpower, much less Alex.

Yeah, it was a bit weird for Alex since he had to control a mouse, and it was way different from controlling a human because the body of a rodent was way different from a human's in structure.

In the end, he did bring out the beast from its pit, and the beast, who had been horrified by the fact that Alex could control its body, just rushed toward Alex with its teeth ready to bite off his legs.

But before it could even reach Alex…

*Pierce*

Just like the other Gnawfiends, it had its head pierced by the arrow, but now it seemed like that beast had somehow avoided the arrow from hitting its head; instead, it let the arrow pass through the thick fur around its neck.

"Kreeecchh…."

The blood loss, however, was still a lot, clearly indicating that it wasn't going to survive for long, yet the beast kept dragging its oversized body toward the pit it was pulled out of.

*Step**Step*...

But then it heard the sound of steps nearing, and it panicked.

"Screech-!"

It tried to use its mana, which it hadn't even gotten a chance to use, to attack the human that was inching closer to its body, but its screech was cut short by Alex.

*Squelch*

He drove his black dagger right through the large head of the Screecher Gnawfiend, causing the light in the beast's eyes to go dim before it completely vanished.

*Shluk*

He then pulled out the knife with a sickening schlick, the blade scraping against bone as it came free.

*Slash* X2

Like always, Alex slashed the blade in the air, flicking away the green, greasy blood that was stuck on his knife.

Alex opened the map from the system and stared at it.

'Almost there…'

He muttered as he looked at the distance left between him and Dehradun.

He hadn't traveled much, nor had he raided many level 5 zones, and it was already evening, but he still said that as if assuring himself that everything was going to be all right.

'Almost there' was a way of him trying to convince himself that nothing would happen at such a small distance.

*Inhale**Exhale*

He took a deep breath, and then he looked up at the sky.

[A certain god is scrunching their nose and saying that you stink.]

[A certain god is asking you to take a bath.]

[A certain god wants you to clean your hair with care so as not to spoil it.]

[A certain god...]

[A certain….]

[...]

.

The stars looked more enchanting in the night sky, yet Alex sighed in resignation as he saw the notification he was receiving from a certain entity within one of those stars.

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