The tainted gray wolf responded to my glare with an attack, lunging at me with frightening speed. I immediately moved away, dragging my exhausted body just in time and making it crash into and split the tree I had just collided with earlier.
Swoosh!
Crash!
Thud!
After I moved away, the aftermath of the beast's impact caused me to instantly fall face-first to the ground. The previous crash, combined with my sudden maneuver, proved too taxing on my injured and exhausted body, but this wasn't the time to be lying there.
'Sh#t! There are still other gray wolves present! I have to stand up!!'
I immediately raised my head and faced the gray wolves surrounding me, expecting them to take this opportunity to attack while I was in my most vulnerable state. However, the moment I looked, I saw them still stationed in their positions, not moving a single bit.
I interpreted this as them choosing not to attack. As for the reason, I suspected it was their way of respecting the tainted gray wolf's authority, by not interfering in its hunt for me, its prey. Interfering could be seen as disrespecting or doubting its strength.
"…"
'Well, if you're all just going to stand there and watch, then watch me kill your leader right in front of you.'
I immediately stood up and grabbed the other half of my broken spear, gripping it tightly while waiting for the tainted gray wolf to recover from being stunned by its crash into the tree and continue this fight to the death.
Although I confidently said I was going to kill the damn beast, actually doing it was a completely different story. That statement was only to hype myself up and boost my fighting spirit so I wouldn't give up when the situation looked so dire, but I planned to make sure that statement came true.
Step! Step! Step!
'Here it comes!!'
Swoosh!
The tainted beast returned and wasted no time attacking, lunging at me with its mouth wide open, clearly intending to bite me to shreds in one go. I wasn't going to let that happen, so I immediately moved out of the way, letting it pass by me.
Before it could fully pass, with its side exposed right in front of me, I seized the chance and stabbed with all my strength using the pointed edge of the broken spear. In the end, it failed to penetrate its tough hide, forcing me to retract the spear and let the beast pass by.
'Damn! I can't penetrate it!'
Swoosh!
This outcome was only natural. A carved wooden spear, no matter how hard you tried, couldn't penetrate a tainted beast's hide. Their hide was far tougher than that of normal beasts, requiring real weapons to tear through it. Not only that, killing a tainted beast required being a true martial artist if one even hoped to succeed.
After the tainted beast passed by, it became confused as to where I had gone, beginning to look around frantically. After a moment, it spotted me, and at that instant, I realized that because of its bleeding eye, it had gone blind on one side and hadn't seen me move away from its attack.
'Maybe I can utilize its blind spot until I find a way to kill it.'
Swoosh!
The tainted gray wolf attacked again, but this time it used its claws instead of its fangs. I immediately stepped back, dodging the claws that came within inches of my face, then moved into its blind spot, causing it to once again lose track of me.
I took that opportunity to stab another part of its massive body, hoping to find a spot my spear could penetrate and deal some damage. However, against my hopes, I still couldn't pierce its tough hide. I wanted to stab again somewhere else, but the tainted gray wolf had already noticed me, forcing me to retreat.
'Damn it!'
Step! Step!
Swoosh!
Although it was unfortunate that I failed, by using the beast's blind spot, I could at least guarantee my safety to a degree. I could try again and again until I found a way to penetrate its skin and kill the damn beast. The real question was whether I could last long enough to do so.
Some time passed as I continued exploiting the tainted gray wolf's blind spot, stabbing it in all kinds of places but with no results. I even targeted its private area, but that didn't cause the kind of damage I needed, though it did make the beast even angrier.
'Just how am I supposed to kill this damn beast?! Its skin is practically impenetrable at this point!'
As I continued to fail, doubts began to surface about whether I could even succeed in killing this beast and survive. My body was on the brink of collapse from exhaustion; with a single misstep, I could fall. That realization only made things worse.
Moreover, the tainted gray wolf was slowly getting used to its blind eye. Its disoriented vision was becoming clearer, making it harder for me to exploit its blind spot. It was beginning to figure out the trick I was using.
'I have to find a way—quick! Before it completely figures it out!'
At that moment, I was still exploiting its blind spot while searching for another place to target. It was difficult since I had already targeted practically everything I could think of—even the same blind eye, which I had stabbed before. However, the eye was now tightly closed to prevent further bleeding.
Eventually, I found one final target. The ear. I would try to stab my spear through its ear hole and straight into its brain, killing it instantly. The only problem was reaching it, the tainted gray wolf was taller than me, so reaching that height would require effort.
'There's no other way! This might be my last chance!'
To achieve this, I created some distance, took a running start, and jumped into the air with all the strength left in my legs. I soared upward, now hovering above the tainted gray wolf. There was only one thing left to do.
As I began to fall, I gripped the broken spear tightly and aimed it directly at the tainted gray wolf's ear, intending to stab it straight through and into its brain, killing this beast once and for all. There was no room for failure.
'Time to di—! Wait, what?!'
As I fell closer, the tainted gray wolf suddenly turned around and looked straight at me. I realized I was mistaken, it wasn't that the beast had yet to adapt to its blind eye. It had already adapted and had tricked me into thinking I could still exploit its blind spot.
Now, I was going to pay the price.
Only inches from my target, I still attempted to stab its ear, but not only did I fail, the tainted beast used that opportunity to knock me skyward with its head, sending me flying above the forest canopy. The blow nearly knocked me unconscious, and I came close to falling to my death, but I managed to wake up in time.
'Damn it! What am I supposed to do now?! With it aware of me, there's no way I can get a clean hit!'
With the tainted gray wolf now fully aware of my presence and every move, there was no way it would allow me to land a clean strike. It could simply dodge and counter. Panic filled my mind as the situation became increasingly dire while I continued falling, only seconds away from plummeting to the ground.
Things grew even worse when I saw the tainted gray wolf open its mouth directly beneath me, ready to catch me mid-fall and devour me alive.
'Ah… to think all this ends with me being consumed alive by a damn beast. How pathetic.'
I was completely exhausted, both physically and mentally. Hopelessness crept in as I resigned myself to dying a second time but this time to a mere beast. My mind could no longer gather the strength it once had; the situation felt far too hopeless to even cling to survival.
As I drew closer to its jaws, a sudden and familiar sensation spread through my mind. It was the intense craving, something that had gone silent ever since I began training, now reawakened in my moment of need. It restored my mental strength superficially and reminded me of everything I had done up until now.
'No… I can't die now when I haven't done anything yet! I still have to prove myself!'
The intense craving refused to let me die at the very beginning. It reminded me why I had done all this, what I had staked my life on achieving. Dying now, before accomplishing even a single thing I had hoped for, was something I could never allow.
It reignited my desire to live and my hope to an extent greater than ever before. With this renewed resolve, even as I fell toward the jaws waiting to devour me, I prepared myself to face this dire situation and survive.
'Even if I somehow survive this fall, as long as this damn beast is alive, I can't guarantee I'll live.'
Despite my renewed will, reality remained cruel. I was still falling straight toward my death, with the tainted beast waiting patiently to eat me alive. I had to think of a way, not only to survive the fall, but also what came after.
Earlier, when all my attempts to damage the beast had failed, I had considered blowing the small horn to call Geonu and let him deal with this himself. That would have guaranteed my survival. However, I soon realized that during our earlier collision, the necklace had been torn apart and lost somewhere beyond my reach.
'I was lucky to damage its eye before… but how am I supposed to do that aga—wait.'
As I fell only meters away from the tainted gray wolf, thinking desperately of ways to repeat that feat, I noticed something crucial, something that might allow me to survive the fall and kill the beast at the same time. It was extremely risky; a single mistake would mean death.
But nothing in my life had ever come without risking death. One more risk wouldn't change that.
Without hesitation, I committed to it. I gripped the broken spear and positioned it above my head, ready to stab.
'If this doesn't work, I'll definitely die. But right now, I have to abandon my fear of death—even if only for this moment—to survive.'
I welcomed the fall toward the tainted gray wolf's open jaws, my fear temporarily shaken off by my overwhelming desire to live. As I descended into its mouth, it was finally time to act.
Stab!
Splurt!
The instant I was face-to-face with its razor-sharp teeth and slimy tongue, I drove the broken spear forward with all my strength, weight, and momentum, aiming straight at the back of its mouth. The spear pierced through its skull and into its brain.
Splurt!
Thud!
My plan had worked. If its hide was impenetrable, then its insides were not, just as proven when I stabbed through its eye socket earlier. With its mouth fully exposed, this had been my only chance.
A torrent of blood erupted from the wound, splashing across my face as the beast expelled me from its mouth and sent me crashing to the ground.
'I did it!!'
As I landed, the tainted gray wolf let out its final screams, thrashing erratically as blood poured from its mouth before it finally collapsed, soaking the grass beneath it in crimson.
Thud!
I immediately forced my exhausted body to stand. This wasn't the time to celebrate as I hadn't forgotten that I was still surrounded by gray wolves. However, after dealing with the tainted gray wolf, which I assumed to be their alpha, the rest of the pack hesitated.
'Huh? Where are they going?'
Instead of attacking, the gray wolves fled in fear, disappearing deep into the forest until they were completely out of sight, leaving me alone with the corpse of the tainted gray wolf.
I stood there in confusion for a moment before realizing the reason. By killing the tainted gray wolf 'the apparent alpha' I had become something they couldn't challenge. Since I wasn't one of their kind, they chose to flee rather than submit.
'That saves me the trouble of having to fight and kill even more.'
I was grateful for this turn of events. If the fight had continued, there was a real chance I would have collapsed mid-battle and been devoured.
I approached the corpse of the tainted gray wolf, which was still bleeding from its mouth, forming a large pool beneath it. I poked it several times to confirm it was truly dead. When it showed no response, I finally allowed myself to collapse and rest.
****
After some time, I woke up to see the sun beginning to set. I immediately stood up, recovered slightly using a qi body recovery technique, and prepared to head back to camp. That was when I noticed a bright red light emitting from within the corpse of the tainted gray wolf.
I moved closer and saw that the light was coming from its mouth. Inside lay a small, pill-like sphere of red light, shining brilliantly, almost blinding, yet strangely enchanting.
'Wait… is that?!'
I quickly realized what it was. A tainted beast spirit core. Upon death, a tainted beast's energy condensed into a sphere, much like a dantian, left behind as an inheritance for others to consume.
This was an incredible opportunity. Consuming it would increase my internal energy. Without hesitation, I reached in, took the core, placed it into my mouth, and swallowed it whole.
'What a great opportunity. If I hadn't noticed it, some other beast would've consumed it and become tainted.'
As soon as the spirit core entered my body, I began cultivating its energy, guiding it toward my dantian. Of course, it wasn't easy since it was tainted, I had to filter and expel the impurities, leaving only a fraction of the energy behind. Even so, the reward was immense.
After cultivating for a while, my internal energy increased from the two years' worth I had accumulated over these few days of training to five years' worth and I wasn't even finished absorbing it yet. However, I needed to return before Geonu came back.
'Alright. Time to head back with my hunt of—…wait a second.'
As I prepared to leave, I realized I hadn't brought any food back from my hunt. I rushed back to where I had killed the deer, only to find nothing but a puddle of blood and bones. Some beast had taken it.
'Damn beasts!! What am I supposed to bring back as food now?!'
This was bad. I had wasted too much time and even passed out. There was no time left to hunt again, not even fish by the river.
As panic set in, I searched for alternatives during my search was when I noticed one of the gray wolf corpses. An idea formed.
'…Maybe this could work.'
****
Back at camp, the sky had already turned dark. The campfire crackled as roasted "boar legs" finished cooking. Geonu and I sat waiting.
I handed one leg to Geonu and bit into mine, watching his reaction nervously as sweat trickled down my face.
"Hmm… this boar meat tastes a little different. Did you do something to it, young master?"
"...You're better off not knowing."
Refusing to elaborate, I continued eating in silence, leaving Geonu confused as I pretended nothing was wrong while only I knew the real reason behind the taste.
****