The inside of the "Land of Jackals" was even gloomier than Jasper had imagined.
Twisted trees blotted out the sky, allowing only mottled patches of sunlight to filter through the gaps in the leaves. The ground was covered in a thick layer of decaying leaves that rustled with every step, a sound that was unnervingly clear in the dead silence.
Jasper gripped the fruit knife tightly, his palm slick with cold sweat. As a Sequence 9 Extraordinary One, his physical abilities were no different from an ordinary person's. Here, any mistake could be fatal.
"Hiss—"
He had ventured less than a hundred meters into the woods when a sharp hiss exploded from the darkness without warning!
A black shadow, as fast as lightning, shot out from a bush to his side!
A Crypt Jackal!
It was a vicious beast the size of a hound, covered in filthy, grayish-black fur. A pair of blood-red eyes glowed with a bloodthirsty light in the dimness, and its claws, glinting with a metallic sheen, could easily tear open an adult's throat!
Too fast!
Jasper's pupils contracted. The shadow of death enveloped him in an instant! He didn't even have time to think, rolling clumsily to the side purely on survival instinct.
Rip!
The sharp claws grazed his shoulder, tearing through the fabric of his school uniform. A searing pain shot through him.
A hot, foul-smelling wind rushed at his face. Having missed its first strike, the jackal immediately readjusted and launched another deadly pounce!
It's over!
Jasper's mind went blank. He knew that with his speed and strength, there was no way he could dodge this second attack!
At that critical moment, a barely perceptible black shadow shot out from his shoulder like a bolt of lightning!
It was Nidhogg!
Its tiny body traced an arc through the air. Before the jackal's gaping maw could clamp down, it opened its own mouth and spat out a small stream of black, foul-smelling liquid!
The liquid accurately struck one of the jackal's eyes!
"Awooo—!"
The jackal let out a horrifying, shrill cry. The black liquid was highly corrosive, not only instantly burning away its eyeball but also causing its movements to freeze for a fraction of a second!
An opening!
For Jasper, struggling on the line between life and death, this brief flaw was more than enough!
All his fear, all his hesitation, transformed in that moment into the most primitive desire to survive! He didn't retreat. Instead, he charged forward into the foul wind!
He clung desperately to the struggling jackal, letting its sharp claws tear bloody gashes across his back. Then, with all the strength he could muster, he plunged the fruit knife in his hand viciously and precisely into the jackal's other, unharmed eye!
Squish!
The sound of the blade entering the brain was clear enough to make one's scalp tingle.
The jackal's body went rigid, its frantic struggles ceasing abruptly. It let out a faint whimper, and its massive body crashed to the ground, its life force rapidly fading.
"Hah... hah... hah..."
Jasper collapsed, gasping for breath. The intense pain wracking his body and the relief of surviving made him tremble uncontrollably.
He had won. A dirty, bloody, and utterly inglorious victory.
He turned his head and looked at Nidhogg nearby. The little creature seemed a bit drained from its all-out attack, but it didn't retreat. Instead, it walked on its short legs, step by step, to Jasper's side, extended its forked tongue, and gently licked the wound on his shoulder.
A cool, slightly numbing sensation spread from the wound, and the pain actually subsided a little.
Jasper was stunned.
He looked at the small black lizard before him, and the high wall in his heart, built of hatred and disgust, for the first time... developed a crack.
['Beast Tamer' potion digestion +5%]
[Acting Hint: A bond is forged in the crucible of shared life and death. You have taken the first step.]
The cold system prompt sounded, but Jasper seemed not to hear it. He simply reached out his hand and, for the first time, voluntarily and gently stroked Nidhogg's cool, hard scales.
Just then, a rustling sound came from all directions.
Jasper's head snapped up. In the surrounding woods, one pair, two pairs, three pairs... a total of five or six pairs of blood-red eyes slowly lit up.
A pack of jackals had surrounded him.