Feathers immediately go flying. Streaks of glistening black rocket towards the snake’s scaled body.

  Clink, clink, clink!

  The snake does not even bother to dodge. The durability of its hide far outstripping the damage a few measly feathers can do. Undeterred, the chickens charge forwards to peck at their enemy with all their usual mad hatred. A moment later the clearing is quiet. The loud squawking ending before I can even process what happened. The snake just swallowed them freaking whole?! Wow, I mean just what?

  Six chickens, gone in an instant. Well, that was anticlimactic. I didn’t even get to pull out any snacks! As I muse inane thoughts, a pair of sparkling crimson eyes lock on to me.

  That can’t be good. But hey, I am in a tree and the snake doesn’t have any legs! I should be fine to just chill here and blast away. It’s over snake-kun, I have the high ground!

  Slam!

  Oh fuck! The thing is going to take the whole tree down and me with it! Slamming into the base of my perch over and over again, the snake begins to rip the whole tree out of the ground bit by bit. How is it moving so fast?! It’s a goddamn snake! I quickly fire a bolt of lightning at it but it just twists its body out of the way.

  Dirt and grass fill the air as the ground burns black. I am starting to panic. If it can dodge my lightning that easily I really should have tried to figure out how to conceal my Ether movements before leaving my new cave. [Concealment] is kind of useless if the enemy already has their eyes on you.

  Ughhhh, what do I do? What do I doooo? Staring down at the snake I see the bulge in its body from where the chickens must be. Ah ha! That might work.

  Burst.

  I feel the blood of the chickens tear itself free and flood the inside of the snake. While I may not be able to affect the snake’s blood, the chicken’s have much lower defense in the magic department. With my newly evolved [Blood Magic] I can shred the chickens with ease.

  Pulling on the blood inside the snake I maneuver the fluid though its body and up towards the mouth. Even snakes need to breathe! Or at least they should, if they don’t I am going to file a bug report.

  It is a bit difficult as the snake’s Ether presses against my own, attempting to tie down and make the blood its own, but I manage anyway. A crimson flood flies out of the snake’s mouth and starts to bury itself in the creature’s eyes, nose, and basically entire face.

  Smothering the snake’s face with half a dozen chicken’s worth of blood, I am freed from the relentless tree slamming as the monster begins to thrash in place. Time for the usual method! As they say: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

  I fire another bolt of lightning right at the partially immobilized snake, only to realize I don’t have enough Ether left in me to actually do so. Oops! Making the magic circle, firing the lightning before, and controlling all the blood now… I am almost tapped out. Shit. I can probably manage a single small discharge if I get in close, but with how strong the snake seems to be, I will be crushed the moment I actually get near it.

  Ugh, but I don’t have enough Ether to play the long game either! I will run out before it suffocates.

  Kowabunga it is then!

  I yeet myself off the tree branch I had been watching from, and fall directly on to the writhing snake. Sharp black claws flexed towards the smooth scaled neck. My claws bury themselves in the creature, digging past the scales and right into the flesh.

  Let’s try some taser claws!

  Letting out a flow of electricity through my embedded claws, the snake begins to twitch rapidly, even more so than its struggle-to-breathe dance.

  Die! Die! die!

  As the creature collapses to the ground, I move in for the kill. Putting all my remaining force into [Physical Enhancement], I brace myself against the ground, digging my clawed feet into the dirt.

  Squelch.

  My claws bury themselves in the snake’s spine, killing it instantly. Phew! That was a close one. I am completely out of Ether. Looking over the snake corpse I realize that I have never had snake before, I never even tried any of the snake tails on the chickens. But… I can’t cook it right now. I need to head back to the cave to recharge.

  Just as I am about to turn towards my cave, I faint rustle of leaves. Instincts I didn’t know I have start to blare an alarm in my head. Twisting my head around I spot an elf watching with a hard glare.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Fuck…

  A small knife comes flying out. I try to dodge out of the way, but it just changes trajectory mid air and embeds itself in my shoulder. Owwww!!! I can’t move that limb anymore, I am out of Ether, and if I head to my cave I will just be giving away its position for no reason!

  What can I even do?!

  Let’s see. Option 1: Fight!

  Yeah, no I would die!

  Option 2: Plead for my life!

  No one is going to just let a monster get away scott free, even if they grovel. And besides, I can’t speak!

  Option 3: Run like hell!

  Ding! Ding! Ding! Winner winner, angry chicken/snake hybrid dinner!

  I immediately bolt in the opposite direction of my cave, weaving and twisting at random. All I can manage right now is an extremely low level version of [Detection] by using the dregs of slowly regenerating Ether. The skill is just barely keeping me alert enough to dodge out of the way of the arrows trying to turn me into a lizard kebab!

  Pain arches through my disabled arm with every step. I am running as fast as I can but the elf is keeping up with ease! As I run I find a new problem, a fucking chicken is blocking my path!

  Piss off, you sack of poultry!

  Sliding by the chicken, dodging the feathers launched my way, I carve my claws across its neck. I don’t look back as the chicken’s head slides from its neck.

  [You have defeated a monster!]

  [Your maximum Ether has gone up!]

  Huh, how ‘bout that?

  Suddenly changing direction, I plunge into what I know is the nearest chicken horde, I had spotted it a short while back and noped out of there real quick. But… if I can get Ether from killing them, then I am willing to risk it. Better chickens I know I can beat than an elf who will probably gut me the second I slow down.

  Hereeeee chicken-chicken-chicken!

  Squawking off in the distance fills my ears just as an arrow pierces my tail. Damn it! I yank my tail off the arrow as I keep my pace up, a bloody rod left behind embedded deep in the dirt where it almost pinned me. A few moments later I see the chickens. I never thought I would be so glad to see you little bastards!

  I charge into the flock of fowl and begin hacking away. A familiar ding starts ringing over and over in my head. I just barely get enough Ether in my body to coat my scales in [Physical Enhancement] before the first feathers slam into my side.

  Thump-thump-thump!

  Ha! suck it! You can’t hurt me anymore!

  Slaughtering as many chickens as I can, I turn to where the elf should be arriving any moment now.

  A scream rings out.

  My own.

  My whole arm is hacked off by a long curved pale green knife.

  Where did- No, I see it. A haze of wind rockets past as I yank on the blood that coats the mithril blade and push the elf’s knife just barely out of the way of my neck.

  Without even a hint of shock at my clever use of blood magic, something too clever for a normal monster, the elf whips back around to slash at me again. Fine, sometimes sacrifices need to be made. I slash out with my tail to bat away the knife. The blade embedding itself in my flesh as I ram a full power lightning blast right up the elfs arm and into their chest. Not letting up on my massacre for more Ether, I launch another wide range blast into the remaining chickens at the same time.

  [You have acquired the Unique Skill-

  I hear another notification go off in my head, this time the goddess’ voice plays out, but the sound is too distracting so I block it out.

  Ack! I cough out a mouthful of blood.

  The elf is on the ground, their arm charred black but they are clearly not out of the fight just yet. I am about to strike again when a black feather suddenly embeds itself in the elf’s forehead. I turn around as fast as possible and gut the remaining chicken before it can attack me. Kill stealing shit! At least I still get most of the Ether from the kill.

  Finally, it’s over.

  A field of corpses surrounds me, blood, feathers and a rich coppery smell fill the air. I limp over to the elf and tear out their throat just to be safe. That, and a little bit of spite. Fucker took my arm and my tail is now hanging by a thread! Everything hurts, and the only reason I am not bleeding out is because I am manually keeping my blood inside my body with [Blood Magic]. Though, even that is failing without a new source of Ether.

  My eyes scan the surroundings quickly, not spotting any new foes but I don’t let myself relax. I only have one option if I don’t want to die. I log out as quickly as I can, not bothering to go to my desk and instead searching online with the headset.

  Where is it?!

  I don't have much time, if I bleed out I am done for. Without me actively being in that body I have a minute or two at best. But I already memorized one part of the process a short while ago.

  Got it!

  I scan the image, it is one I have studied before. Keeping the runework fresh in my mind, I log back in and grab as much chicken blood as I can and begin drawing circles in the air. I am going to be cutting this very close with how fast I am now eating through my Ether, but I can get it done.

  Feeding the last drops of Ether into the magic circle drawn in blood, I activate the spell. Tendrils of red energy lash out, skewering the dead chickens and elf, their bodies now dissolving into Ether. I immediately feel warmth rush through my waning mind. The blood loss halts as my arm starts to slowly regrow.

  It is incredible to see the flesh knit itself back together from nothing. Motes of light collecting at the wound expanding and taking shape, energy filling my body. All thanks to the sacrifices around me.

  Question, is it heresy to use [Sacrificial Magic] to power [Holy Magic]?

  [Title acquired: [Heretic]!]

  Well, I guess that answers that.