Just as Yuno dropped into a sprint-ready stance, a low, thunderous thud... thud... echoed through the forest.
The branches rustled, giant ferns were pushed aside, and amidst the thick greenery, something enormous was moving, loud enough to shake the ground, but still out of sight.
Each step landed like a war drum in Yuno's chest.
The three Jaggi immediately straightened up, trying to locate the sound's origin. The next second, they bolted in the opposite direction without even a glance back. When survival was on the line, skipping a meal wasn't that big of a deal.
Yuno reacted the same way, faster, even. He didn't hesitate to dive straight into the nearby woods. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a huge, snarling head crashing through the trees behind him, its eyes locked in his direction as it let out a furious roar.
"Oh no, Anjanath?!"
This thing was infamous for its temper.
Massive. Brutish. A territorial tank of a beast. It didn't just bite, it could breathe fire. A full-blown walking catastrophe.
Yuno didn't care that branches were slicing at him as he ran. He had to get away. If the Anjanath caught him, he'd probably be chewed into spicy, crispy Rathalos wings before he even hit the ground. With that bite force and digestive power? It wouldn't hesitate to gulp him down, bones and all.
All he could do now was pray it wasn't after him.
After all, he started running before the Jaggi and had been farther away. Logically, it should have chased them instead.
Unfortunately, the Anjanath had already locked onto him.
To the Anjanath, Jaggi were just pests that scavenged leftovers, hardly worth the attention. But Yuno? Even as a juvenile, he was a Rathalos.
An invader.
A trespasser who dared prowl around its marked territory like he belonged there. And worse, he had the nerve to eat.
The heavy stomps grew louder, joined by the snapping of branches, the tearing of vines, and the random bursts of bone-rattling roars. Each sound sent chills down Yuno's spine.
Behind him, the Anjanath charged like a living tank, smashing through the dense forest. Trees, rocks, nothing slowed it down. A straight path of destruction followed in its wake.
Yuno, on the other hand, was tiny. He could maybe brush past soft ferns, but everything else, roots, thorns, branches, he had to dodge. That difference meant the Anjanath was closing in fast.
"What do I do? What do I do?!"
The shadow of death loomed above him, literally.
Because of the sun's angle, the Anjanath's massive silhouette was now cast directly over Yuno. If it weren't for the effects of [Acceleration], he would've already been swallowed whole.
But even so, he was hitting a wall.
The trait didn't boost his speed endlessly. His body had limits, and right now, he'd reached them. No matter how long the chase went on, he couldn't get any faster.
"So this is it? I stop being human and still hit a limit? What was even the point of reincarnating?!"
Despair bubbled in his chest. At this point, his legs were moving on sheer instinct, dragging him forward in a hopeless bid to delay the inevitable.
As for some last-minute heroic counterattack? Something like biting off a chunk of meat before dying?
Dream on.
At his current bite force, he'd be lucky to even leave a scratch. His teeth would shatter long before he drew blood.
Better to run a few more steps than waste time on fantasy.
And then, as if fate heard his desperate thoughts,
His vision cleared.
The ground disappeared beneath him.
Yuno plummeted off a cliff.
Below him raged a torrent, a wide, violent river.
Just before he hit the water, he heard the Anjanath let out a frustrated, thunderous roar.
Then, he was gone, swept away by the current.
...
Up on the cliff, the Anjanath skidded to a halt.
Its cold eyes filled with unrelenting fury.
Never, not once, had it imagined that a mere hatchling, a land-bound juvenile Rathalos, could outrun it like this!
It had chased him through half a forest.
It had already pictured the moment it would tear off those annoying little wings, crush those still-soft scales, and gulp down that boiling hot blood.
But at the last second, it missed.
By that much.
And it had been a Rathalos, too!
Fire ignited at the Anjanath's mouth. Its eyes turned bloodshot, nostrils flared like wings, and its signature heat vents unfurled from its back like a jagged crown.
But there was nothing around to vent its rage on.
So, it could only roar again and again from atop the cliff, screaming into the void.
...
In the violent currents, Yuno tumbled uncontrollably. He'd lost count of how many times he hit rocks or branches. His whole body was numb from pain, but he still struggled, again and again, to lift his head and gasp for breath.
Time passed.
The rapids gradually slowed, and the crushing force of the water began to fade.
In a quiet pool downstream, the small body of a juvenile Rathalos floated to the surface. Wings spread, he drifted to the bank and dragged himself ashore with sheer willpower.
Then, with a wet thud, he collapsed on the sand.
He spat out mouthfuls of river water, his body wracked with exhaustion and pain. But he was alive.
He was alive.
He'd survived the jaws of that brute.
Yuno wanted to laugh, but didn't have the strength. All he could do was lie there, wheezing like a deflated balloon.
He was completely spent. Not a drop of strength left.
If something attacked him now, he wouldn't be able to fight back even if he wanted to.
Sure, [Acceleration] gave him incredible speed, but it drained his stamina like crazy. His scales were cracked and bleeding. He looked absolutely wrecked.
So why...?
His first cheat ability.
His first real hunt.
Both had gone right.
Shouldn't that mean double the happiness?
Why did it turn into this?
Yuno couldn't understand.
Shouldn't he have activated his cheat and entered full dragon protagonist mode by now? Wasn't he supposed to rise to the top of the food chain and tame Gold Rathians, Pink Rathians, Molten Tigrexes, collecting them like Pokémon?
How had he nearly ended up as some beast's snack instead?!
...
Rustle, rustle...
Footsteps.
Yuno's heart clenched. He forced his swollen eyes open, and sighed in relief.
"Herbivores. Thank the stars."
No threat. They wouldn't attack him.
But being surrounded by a bunch of herbivores while he looked this pitiful... it stung his pride a little.
"H-Hey! I'm a Rathalos, okay?! A scary one!"
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400 P.S = 2 Extra Chapters