Monster Evolution System: I became a Rat-Chapter 90: Into the Beauty

Rosacer quickly stripped the grass camouflage from his body and brushed the dirt from his coat, restoring its neat, dark finish. Without wasting time, he activated the Grafted Sigil, his features shifting subtly as his appearance altered.

He knew it would not be enough to fool an assassin, let alone a disciple of the Head Hunter.

But that was not his target.

The farmers were.

With his new face formed, Rosacer began descending the hill. This time, he wore the guise of a young man, his face marred with pale scars resembling the claw marks of a monster attack.

As he reached the foothill, he moved toward a nearby farmer who was tending to the trees. He adjusted his gait as he approached, dragging his right foot slightly with each step, forcing a limp into his stride.

"Hey, old man!" he called out while approaching.

The farmer, who had been watering the trees, slowly turned. A hose rested loosely in his hand as he squinted toward the voice, trying to make out the stranger through the afternoon light.

Soon, he saw him clearly. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

A young man stood there, black hair resting unevenly across his forehead, brown skin marked by white, claw-like scars stretching across his face. His deep blue eyes contrasted sharply against his rugged appearance.

The old farmer studied him for a moment before speaking, his voice cautious but not unkind.

"Young man," he said slowly, "what are you doing here?"

Rosacer gave a gleeful smile. "I am a traveler, passing through Vermis."

The old man let out a hearty laugh. "A traveler, eh? Good. But take care of yourself. Why are you alone? There are monsters roaming near Vermis City, and don’t even get me started on the Darda Dungeon. I do not know why we still choose to stay here."

His laughter faded into a sigh. He cast a regretful glance toward the fields.

"Young man, it is better not to travel without company. The monsters grow stronger day by day. The dungeons are not going anywhere..." He paused, his voice lowering. "I believe our time here is slowly running out."

Cutting the conversation short, Rosacer asked, "What is happening at Kial’s Farm? I heard a monster has been rampaging. Did the Adventurer Guild send anyone?"

The old man fell silent for a moment, as though weighing his words. After a brief pause, he nodded.

"Yes... an assassin, from the looks of it, was sent by the guild. But his master, or perhaps his senior, has not arrived yet." The old man glanced toward Rosacer, studying him carefully.

"Are you him? He was also said to be wearing a black suit."

Then, suddenly, the old man broke into laughter.

"I am joking," he said, waving his hand dismissively before turning back toward the tree. "Would you like an apple?"

Rosacer shook his head firmly.

The old man nodded to himself and resumed tending to the tree.

Rosacer did not linger long. He continued asking a few more questions, some related to the assassin, others deliberately random, ensuring he appeared nothing more than a curious traveler passing through.

Soon after, he excused himself and left, his mind already piecing together the fragments of information he had gathered.

The smell of poppy fields mixed with damp soil, and the fresh scent of apples mingling together, sent an alluring fragrance throughout the whole farm. If not for the carnivorous monsters roaming the nearby forests, which hunted alluring prey, the entire farmland would have been infested by them.

Rosacer kept this in mind as he surveyed the farm from outside. He deliberately tried to stray off the path Gringha was on. He was sure that, in a direct confrontation, he could easily overpower him, but he still chose to stay away.

His intention was clear. He was afraid of the head-hunter behind Gringha.

Darious and Kirata. Every head-hunter he had met was strong and deadly enough to kill him like a bug.

Rosacer was still on the outskirts of the farmland when he suddenly noticed Gringha. The sun was already setting, and night was about to fall. Gringha was running toward the forest, and soon disappeared within it.

"What is he up to now?" Rosacer muttered to himself as he readied the Grafted Sigil, slowly turning himself into a rat.

He was going to follow Gringha.

There was something crucial Rosacer had learned after using the Grafted Sigil for a while: transformations into permanent features, or bodies he already knew how to move and control, were easier and less costly to maintain. Temporary features and things that were somewhat extraordinary were much harder and costlier to conjure, sometimes even causing drawbacks.

For now, he was confident in maintaining a rat and a human form. In the future, he thought to adapt himself to more forms.

Now, in his rat-like form, he dashed toward the forest, tracing the steps of the assassin, Gringha.

With darkness encompassing the inner forest, with the rattling of serpentine scales and the squeaky noises of prey being hunted and taking their last breaths, the whole forest sent dreadful signals to Rosacer’s rat form. He noticed, too, that in his rat form, his senses grew exponentially sharper than in his human form.

Perhaps the transformation was not merely of flesh. It was of nature as well.

"In the modern day, it would be genetic change," Rosacer nodded to himself as he commented inwardly.

The scent and the footsteps were already very faint and weak, as Gringha was an assassin, but they were not completely nullified.

Rosacer, in his rat form, could still track him. But there was a far more serious and important question. Why was the assassin running into a monster-infested forest?

As the forest grew darker with night falling completely, and the fauna grew denser, Rosacer stumbled. Now even his senses were not enough to pinpoint danger. He was completely surrounded by darkness.

"Shit!" Rosacer muttered. He was losing the scent.

Barely able to keep track, he began to notice something wrong. The gaps in the tracks were growing larger and larger.

"When will he stop!" Rosacer cried to himself, but still he did not stop.

There was not much risk to himself. He could always revive, even though it would take a toll on him. He still had ways to live. Moreover, he had already registered and felt the presence of the old farmer. Hence, whenever he desired, he could move here through teleportation via Oblivion.

But still, if possible, he chose not to die.

With the leaves growing in bizarre patterns, Rosacer’s luck eventually ran out, and he began to see the monsters of the night moving.

He had lost the scent and the tracks. The last trace was already miles apart. Now there was no way for him to even guess correctly.

He cursed inwardly as he hid inside a tree trunk.

A monster with heavy eyes and jaguar-like movement appeared. It was four-legged, with a tail bifurcated into two. Its body was completely covered in blue dots, its dark blue skin glistening as the moonlight fell upon it.

It looked beautiful. Majestic.

Still inside the trunk, he looked at the majestic beast. It roared into the night, announcing its presence as an apex predator.

Rosacer’s eyes fixated on it. The beauty of the beast was too marvelous for his greedy eyes to resist.

But that was a mistake.

The monster immediately turned. Its fangs opened as it charged and bit into the tree Rosacer was hiding in, snapping it into two.

The silence of the night cracked open as the door of chaos was lit by the beautiful monster.

Rosacer quickly used Blight Burn, scorching the monster’s fur, but it soon extinguished.

"Wha—" Before he could complete his sentence, the monster slashed the air before him, its claws tearing through space itself, grazing his face.

Just then, as he was dying, he flicked his wrist. His body moved, shimmering into a void.

Inside the darkness of the void, his body slowly began to morph. This time there were no flowers, only flesh shifting, moving slowly as it joined itself together and repaired the damage.

Within seconds, he was awake.

He quickly stood upright and looked upon the world before his eyes.

With a swift motion, his body shimmered again. This time, in the farmland, his form appeared out of thin air.

After emerging from Oblivion, he turned his gaze toward the forest, his eyes dull.

"This is the same monster," he muttered to himself.

Its presence was exactly the same. Rosacer had not been mistaken. It truly was the same creature that had been hunting in the grasslands that morning, the one that had torn open an immortal.

Fear shuddered through him. He chose to abandon the idea of pursuing Gringha into the forest again. He had already lost the trail. There was no way to locate him now, even if he returned to the forest.

He sighed inwardly and muttered, "I will get you next time..."

He promised himself he would deal with Gringha and the farmers problem the next day. Lying low was not going to get him anywhere, and the longer he waited, the more the farmer would suffer.