Dai yaun's pulse thundered loudly in the night, slowly and cautiously he lifted his gaze over the log. And behold the tiger lay their motionlessly, only it weekly rising and falling of its chest tells that it still alive. It scales become dimer, once a dark luster had now dulled with grime and blood.
"It's dying…" he realized.
He swallowed hard. Logic told him to leave, to vanish before the tiger woke again. But another part of him hesitated. The corpses of the assassins were still there. These things could help him survived a few more days in these forsaken forest.
He studied the Tiger again. The beast's breathing was shallow. Every rise of its chest was slower than the last.
Still, he waited. The minutes stretched into an eternity. The forest began to breathe again — distant cries of lesser beasts, the rustle of leaves, the faint whisper of the wind. Slowly, dai yaun began to crawl out of his hiding place, laying prone on the floor as he moved silently like a caterpillar cutting a funny picture with his huge body.
The forest fall back to being silent and quiet.
Only the faint whisper of the wind brushing through the dark canopy, while starring the dust left by the just concluded battle, remain hanging in the air. The scent of blood lingered thick in the air, mingling with the earthy musk of trampled soil and crushed foliage. All around the clearing lay the wreckage of violence, scattered broken scales, shattered trees, gouged bark, and the sprawled corpses of five men whose lives had been snuffed out in an instant.
When he reached the nearest assassin's corpse, he crouched low and worked quickly cutting away the man's pack, as he took away a water skin, a few strips of dried meat, and a short curved blade. Every sound of his movement seemed deafening to his own ears. While working his gaze never leave the motionless tiger behind him, yet the tiger did not stir.
He darted a glance toward it once more. It lay near the edge of the clearing, half its body draped over the Ironclad Python's corpse. Its breaths were now faint, almost imperceptible.
"wow" dai yaun mumbled in awe, a beast that had fought so fiercely, now lay here fading into silence beneath the same sky that had witnessed its fury.
Perhaps there was something cruelly poetic in that.
Tonight is going to be restless, as the fight had stirred the forest; every beast within miles would have heard the clash. The scent of blood would draw more predators soon.
Dai yaun stood among the five corpse, his breath ragged, as he calmly took in the picture of his surrounding, some of the assassins' blood had dried on his hands and terterd shirt. His body trembled slightly, from exhaustion and the weight of realization that he has survived.
Looking at what lay before him, a few scattered coins, and two blood-stained pouches—nothing worth much. These assassins had traveled light, relying more on skill than supplies. Dai Yaun gathered what little he could found from the other corpse, before turning his gaze toward the deeper parts of the forest. The silence there was heavier and denser.
As dai yaun was about to step continue he journey into the forest, he abruptly froze. Then, slowly, he turned around stiffly.
Behind the body of the Blackscale Tiger which which was initially laying down had now squatted into what look like a pouncing movement, though the posture lack any strength. The beast was massive and unyielding even in its dying state. Its chest heaved weakly, drawing shallow, rattling breaths.
Yaun stared at if for a long while, there was fear in his eyes, afraid that the beast would sprang forward, despite the tiger being in it dying moment, it still possess enough strength to send him to his ancestors, if he carelessly confront it
"Brother tiger, You're still holding on… why don't you lay down and rest, while I go on my way" he whispered, stepping back.
"we shouldn't interfere with each others life" dai yaun said, slowing moving away.
The Tiger's golden eyes flickered at his voice. They glowed faintly in the dark, filled not with malice, but a cold, fading clarity. For a moment, man and beast regarded one another in silence.
Dai yaun exhaled softly.
"But… You'll suffer if I leave you like this." dai sprang into a burst of speed waving his axe with both hand upward, in a slicing motion.
Yaun did not wait for the beast to relax as he attack. With a roar that challenged the very jungle silence, he surged forward. The axe, swung in a wide, whistling arc aimed for the beast's neck.
But the Black-Scale was quicker than its broken body suggested. It didn't leap away; it used its last ounces of vitality to spring low and sideways, a maneuver driven by desperation. The heavy axe sheared through the empty air, burying itself inches deep into a rotting log with a wet.
"thwump."
In that split second of dai yaun momentary entanglement, the Tiger drove its good shoulder into his stomach. The impact was like being struck by a boulder, as air exploded from dai yaun's lungs, as went spinning away through the air from the share force of impact, his vision momentarily blurring.
Before dai yaun could recover to his feet, the beast's jaws, dripping with black ichor, snapped inches away from his throat, the scales of its face scraping against his chin. As it come leaping in for a ferocious bite.
Dai yaun roared again, a sound of pain and frustration. He abandoned the axe for a moment, gripping the Tiger's muscular, scaly shoulder. The rough texture was hot and slick with its own blood. The Tiger thrashed, tearing at Dai Yaun's leg with its hind claws, even as the movement sent waves of agony through its wounded flank. Due to the previous injury the tigers has lost a lot of strength which enabled yaun to hold onto it shoulder, for a moment both of them struggle and tumble across the battered ground. A giant man and a giant tiger.
The tigers claws which look like iron spikes constantly brushes across his thigh. Dai yaun let out a grunt of pain, the blows drawing a sickening warmth of blood through his thick trousers. He knew he couldn't grapple with this creature it would only drain his strength while and send him to his early grave.
He shoved the Tiger away with a violent surge of his immense strength, creating just enough distance to tear his axe free from the log.
The Black-Scale wobbled, leaning heavily on its shattered leg. It tried one last charge, its snarl a ragged and desperate sound. This was its final breath—it was committed.
Dai Yaun planted his feet, ignoring the throbbing pain in his leg. He lifted the great axe high above his head, the metal gleaming briefly as a sliver of light pierced the canopy from god knows where.
The Tiger sprang forward, aiming for his torso. Dai yaun allowed the monster to close in before, dropping his shoulder and sidestepped just enough to let the bulk of the tiger attack slide past his dominant side.
Then, with the last, controlled surge of his strength, he brought his axe down. The axe head struck with all of his might directly onto the tigers exposed and injured flank, smashing through the brittle and damaged scales and it lodge deep into the tiger's cavity.
A sound like wet bellows escaping a collapsing chamber erupted from the beast. The Black-Scaled Tiger crumpled mid-air, its snarl freezing into eternal silence.
"thump"
And the tiger's giant body struck the ground in a heavy, lifeless heap of black scales and warm meat, its yellow eyes dimming to dull glass.
Dai Yaun stood over it, chest heaving, the dripping axe held ready for a moment longer. He wiped the sweat and blood from his brow with the back of his large hands
"damn, this feel trilling" dai yaun muttered as he trembled from the thought of committing a slight mistake during the confrontation with the dying beast.
Through his constant practice with other clan members as a punching bag and the tigers own weakness being in it last breath, allows him to come out as the last man standing between the two.
"well, I guess I have something to thank to the WU clans for!"
Dai yaun leaned heavily on on his axe, its blade now slick with the Tiger's dark blood. He gasped for air, dai yaun thought about the way he fought, his ever fist confrontation with a beast, and one way above his level.
He immediately recognized the mistake that had nearly cost him his life. He was too predictable, his first swing was pure power, a single, devastating overhead blow that was easily dodged. He a way to occupy the creature's attention before delivering the real strike. And thank god it was a beast and not a human, for he would have been the one laying on the floor right now.
"Brute force is useless if it hits air," dismissing the faint since of pride rising in his heart, he muttered to himself.
Dai yaun dropped the axe in his hand and and fall on his buttocks, sending shivers of sting on his flesh as he tried to calm his nervous and wildly beating heart.
"boom"
But before he could relaxed something exploded inside of his head..