The First King of Beasts

"If that's the case, then at least take this, it will help a lot-'

'Ah? This is..'

Elsa just handed Dustin a map of the area outside the town that had many detailed markings. It wasn't a map that showed the deeper parts of the forest, but no matter how little it still helped.

As soon as Dustin opened the map, the system rang a notification asking if Dustin wanted to scan the map. He agreed, and immediately the map disappeared from his hand.

[Analyzing the map and incorporating it into the one already possessed]

'Oh yeah, the other one also disappeared just like this. Good thing no one saw that.' 𝒇𝗿𝙚ℯ𝑤ℯ𝑏𝒏𝑜ѵe𝙡.c𝐨ｍ

After Elsa handed Dustin the map, she turned to do something else, and by the time she returned her focus, the map was already gone from Dustin's hand. Of course she would expect someone who just received something like a map to check it out first before putting it away, but then there was nothing that could be done, was there?

Dustin stayed there for some more seconds before leaving. He had gotten what he came there for, and seeing as he wasn't exactly a close buddy with Elsa, he thought it better to just leave instead of staying there and distracting her. She was headed to the city lord's office after that, so he made sure to send his regards to the city lord through her.

Dustin returned home for a bit, and since it was already late for the day he postponed the trip to the forest for the next day.

After everything became normal, the food being delivered to Dustin's house also stopped, but with a standard kitchen and utensils coupled with his impressive cooking skills, Dustin prepared his own meals easily, and living there was not at all a problem. Today however, Dustin went out to get food since he forgot to buy food stuff the day prior. He readied everything he would need, like weapons and the likes before leaving the house so that he would just leave from whatever restaurant he eats his breakfast.

Dustin found a good place to eat, and along the way he made sure to buy enough snacks and other things that he could use to fill his stomach. "This should be enough, right?"

Dustin departed the town and left for the forest after that. After passing the gate, the guards there were a bit surprised that somebody was heading towards the mountain, "Is that guy climbing it? Is he a stupid one?" They said.

It was quite clear that even the people that were in the town before the others from earth came didn't make light of the forest around the town, but here was someone speedily heading to his death. Dustin couldn't care less about what the norm was to begin with, so it was useless.

After some concrete minutes had passed, he finally got to the top of the mountain, and looking from there he could once again see the amazing view he once saw, and also survey the forest area he was about to enter. Though that was something he could do, it was impossible to see much from above as the entire forest below was covered in branches and trees making it impossible to tell what lay beneath.

Dustin began his descent to the mountains feet, and from what he could see, there was no single monster in sight. Dustin didn't worry though, as he would just use his skill after he gets down proper.

At the bottom of the mountain, Dustin could feel no presence there except for him, so he could only use his skill to find monsters and wild beasts and bring them towards himself. 'Actually..'

If he used his skill, then the whole experience would be too boring, he thought. He can result to using his skill after he can no longer find any beast or monster to kill naturally. Besides, he noted that he needed to have some battle experience for the times he would have to face off against creatures he won't be able to control.

Dustin brought out the map from his system, the one the system had, and as it would happen, the system map had been updated to incorporate the one he received earlier the other day that detailed out some places and monster territories.

The first one Dustin was going to visit was the one labelled Beast Cattle territory. Going by just the name, Dustin could pretty much guess what kind of monsters would be in the area.

'If it said cattle, it would probably be a bunch of muscled bulls on steroids.' Dustin said in his mind, as he ran towards the location.

It wasn't difficult, and it only took some time before he got to the place. Some minutes went by after he got there, and he still hadn't seen any muscled bull. Just when he was about to start utilizing his amazing tracking skills, he spotted a drove of the so called Beast Cattles walking by some distance away.

"Those are the muscled bulls? They sure looks..." Dustin said, as his words trailed off at the end.

The description the name gave was no joke at all, the cattle before him truly looked beastly. If he had to describe them in the best possible terms he could, he would say that these animals looked like buffed minotaurs that walked on all fours. It was as though someone took them, turned them into minotaurs and trained them for a hundred years, then turned them back into cows. 'Really impressive indeed.' ｆ𝘳e𝒆w𝗲𝐛𝘯𝐨νe𝚕.cｏ𝓶

At this point, the only thing on Dustin's mind was if he would be able to kill these things, and how easily. The muscles they carried on their bodies didn't look like it could be cut with just a single strike.

"How can such powerful beasts live just outside the border of the town? No wonder they don't allow us to leave the the town area." Dustin said.

Among the weapons Dustin bought, he had a pair of twin axe, a great axe, a staff, and a long blade. The blade he bought was if he needed to fight seriously, then he wouldn't hesitate to use it since the title of slaughterer would affect it. That title also comes into effect whenever he holds a cutting weapon or item, so if he had team mates, that might affect them negatively. He still wasn't sure at the moment, and there was also the fact that everyone were different. If he had someone else at home, they would probably freak out whenever he held the kitchen knife.

For these muscled cattle on steroids, Dustin brought out his twin axe first to test how it would fair against the beasts, or, should he call them monsters.

Dustin charged forward, this time with no clear plan on how he was going to fight against the cattle herd, and without a plan B if the first should fail, he simply ran towards them guerrilla style. Surely, he was faster than them, and the first strike he landed was aimed at the leg joint of one of the cattle. Sure enough, unlike he had thought, the axe actually managed to cut some centimetres into the animal's skin, but it still wasn't enough to completely cut off its leg.

'Not enough force,' Dustin said in his mind as he drew out the axe and sent the second one using his right hand into the other side, this time crippling the animal.

The whole action was fast, so before the cattle could react properly, Dustin was done taking off one of its legs.

He needed no one to tell him that the weapon he was holding at the moment was not strong enough, and was definitely weak for these guys, so he immediately put it away and and brought out the great axe. At this moment, Dustin was quite ready to bring out the blade if this axe didn't work either, but with its size and everything, he was sure it would do the job.

'I fucking got scammed. I have to get better weapons when I return to the town.'

Around Dustin right now were about ten of these bulls, and they looked really unpleasant. Though he had rushed in without much of a thought, there was still some done. From what he could see, these muscled guys would not be too fast on their feet, and their reaction time would also be slower than his. If they possessed any speed, then it would be their explosive speed and the one they would gather over time after running for some time.

The point remained that after the initial motion, the bulls' bulky bodies would unable to make quick and sharp turns easily, therefore giving him the advantage.

'Alright muscle beasts, come at me.'

..

The question of whether Dustin would have to pull out his blade was quickly answered as after a few minutes had passed, the entire cattle herd could be seen lying motionless on the ground with Dustin standing over one with blood covering some parts of his body.

"Seriously, how do I keep getting blood all over my body?"