Jason awoke with a start, opening his eyes and glancing around him. Stone walls, pile of materials beside him. A cramped, gloomy space, with only a tiny beam of red light creeping through a slit in the wall.

Right. He was in Hell now. He half expected himself to wake up in his apartment, after a long and wild dream. Sighing, he sat up from where he laid, slowly edging to the stone slab that covered the entrance to his little cave, carefully listening for any sounds. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be out there, and nothing came in to eat him in his sleep.

Still, he formed his claws and braced for battle, as he slowly, carefully, pushed open the stone slab. Despite his efforts to quietly open it, the slab made a rough grinding sound that seemed deafeningly loud in the silence.

Nothing so far. He darted out of his cave, glancing around for any threats. The rocky outcropping he was on was silent, nothing but dark grey stone illuminated by the soft red light from the skies. There seemed to be no change in weather, and the desolate wasteland of rocks surrounding him was empty as ever. He sighed in relief, but did not retract his claws. He advanced to where he had slew the centaur-like devil, checking its corpse for any marks.

He had expected it, but his blood still ran cold when he saw that barely anything was left of the corpse. The remaining meat, entrails and bones he had left had been devoured, with nary a trace left. To think that something had managed to come and eat it without him ever noticing. The notion was frightening.

He kept his soul sense up, with only a hazy perception of his soul appearing in it. Nothing so far, and no disturbances like how the spider devil had hid from his sense.

He sighed, the tension leaving his body, as he went back to his cave to pack his things and continue his journey to the distant gargantuan rock pillar.

Having harvested three devils, he had collected quite a lot of things, and even with leaving a generous amount of material on the bodies, the flesh, bones, and leather he had collected was starting to grow difficult to carry. He gathered some leather and sinew, attempting to fashion a backpack.

He laid down the largest piece of square leather he had on the floor, using his claws to punch some holes in the four corners, before wrapping it up.

It did not seem to work, so he punched some more holes along two of the sides of the square, and then folding the leather and lining the holes with the sinew as string.

What he ended up with was possibly the saddest handbag he had ever seen, but he could tie some sinew and use it as a sling, so he made do with it and put his materials in it.

He felt hunger then, so he ate the raw meat that he had harvested from the bull. He thanked his foresight to keep some instead of eating it all back then, then wondered how long it took for him to become hungry. No matter, he would figure it out later.

He packed up his things and slung his hideous handbag across his back. He gazed at the colossal pillar in the distance. It was so large it seemed to hold up the sky. Jason’s eyes narrowed. That was his goal, his hope to becoming stronger.

He set off into the rocky wastelands. Thankfully, it wasn’t a completely flat plain, so there were many rocks and hills to take cover behind. Though that also applied to potential ambushers. Jason smiled. He would welcome the challenge.

He jogged through the wastelands, stepping over barren rocks and dust as he climbed small hills, ditches and rocks. He kept his soul sense on the whole time, watching out for small disturbances. He suddenly noticed a soul appear at the edge of his sense.

Jason instantly started to form his claws. It was time to see if his dissection skill would help him. He could not help but grin at the thought of a fight. Of hunting down a new devil.

He rushed towards the soul, noticing in the distance a humanoid devil standing still on the peak of a hill. It was a horrible creature, with empty, circular holes where a human would have eyes and a mouth. Its body was pale white like a corpse, lanky and tall with elongated limbs, two legs and four arms. It stood eerily still, not moving a muscle as its head faced towards him, waiting.

Jason shuddered as he gazed at its empty holes, somehow knowing that it was looking at him. No matter. He stared back at it, attempting to somehow ‘invoke’ the Dissection skill. Thankfully, it worked. He had a vague sense of where to cut in order to face the least resistance from its flesh. Now, actually cutting it correctly during battle was a whole other question.

As soon as he reached a certain distance, the devil snapped its head back and screeched a terrible sound, a high-pitched wail like that of hundreds of despairing women.

Jason’s body slowed down as an icy trickle of fear ran down his back. It chose that moment to attack, lunging at him with its long, lanky legs. It swung its arms at him, and smacked him with surprising strength, sending him stumbling to the ground.

He screamed in pain as he felt some of his bones crack from that. If he had ribs, he must have broken them. He gritted his teeth as he felt his body returning to normal speed, dropping low and sweeping his claws at its legs, where his skill told him he would find tendons. He managed to graze its skin and some muscle as it jumped back to dodge his attack. He pressed on, trying to cut through its weak points as it dodged left and right.

Unfortunately, this fight reminded him that he was not a good fighter at all, and this seemingly intelligent devil was as nimble as he was.

Cursing, he used his own skill, . His eyes glowed red as he glared at it, and it froze in its tracks. In the brief window of opportunity, he jumped up and slashed at its neck, sensing that it had some important cartilage there.

His claws barely managed to tear through some tough cartilage as it managed to move again. Black blood gushed out from the wound. It choked out a gargling sound as one hand went to its neck, the other clubbing him in the side for his effort.

He stumbled and fell to the ground from the blow, more of his supposed ribs flaring in pain. Rolling to the side as it struck the ground where he had been, he managed to get up and claw its vulnerable side. This time, he managed to cut deeper, drawing more blood as it gargled and screeched, turning around and smacking at him with a backhand. He ducked as he heard the air whistle from its powerful blow.

As it exposed its center from sweeping its hand to hit him, he took advantage of it and lunged at its chest, digging both clawed hands into what hopefully contained its vital organs. He grinned savagely as he tore into it, meeting tough bone and digging around it or breaking it with a heavy blow. The creature let go of its other hand that covered its neck, letting its lifeblood gush out of the weeping wound as it used both hands to hammer down on his back.

Jason coughed out mist, as he felt what probably was internal injuries bloom, but he used his ability once more to freeze the devil.

The devil froze mid-swing, its two hands in the air, about to hammer at his exposed back. Jason felt a pounding headache as he used the skill again, but he ignored it as he kept digging into it, his skill guiding him to tear apart the devil more efficiently.

He felt its hands hammer down on his back again, the massive force injuring his organs and spine. He coughed out more mist, his sight starting to fade a little. He had to finish it now, or he would die.

He used his ability again, the pounding headache he felt turning into an acute, stabbing pain.

It froze once more, and he could see in its eyes, filled with rage, yet fear was blooming within, it realizing that it could die here.

He smiled madly as he tore savagely into it, before finally grasping a hard object. He grinned as he pulled out its core, as it screeched one final time.

‘Shit.’ His smile faded as the devil toppled lifelessly, falling on him as he fell to the ground.