Qin Ming's short knife clashed with the creature's massive claw, producing a crisp, vibrating ring. The donkey-headed wolf stood upright, its eyes blood-red, trying to grab and tear him apart.
Qin Ming moved like lightning. A flash of the blade, and blood gushed from the beast's mouth, its fangs chopped clean off. He immediately followed up, his right leg swinging like an iron whip, slamming heavily into the creature's side. Accompanied by the sound of cracking bones, the beast let out a piercing, anguished scream.
Qin Ming pounced, pinning the four-hundred-pound donkey-headed wolf to the snowy ground, raining punches down upon it. Crack! Its neck broke under the force, twisting unnaturally, then it lay completely motionless.
It was a mutated creature, and its oily black pelt was extremely valuable, now preserved relatively intact. Had anyone else been present, they would've been stunned. A violently ferocious, mutated donkey-headed wolf was beaten to death by Qin Ming's bare fists.
Soon, Qin Ming discovered a broken iron arrowhead embedded in its body. He was now certain that this was the same mutated creature that had ambushed him on the road when he'd returned from raiding the red squirrel's nest.
Back then, the distance was too far to see clearly, but he had shot it with an arrow.
Qin Ming touched his shoulder. The wound wasn't deep, and the bleeding had already stopped. Still, it had been a close call. Had his reaction been a second slower, not only would both his shoulders have been torn open, but his neck would likely have been bitten through as well.
He had consumed a lot of energy. His stomach was growling like a drum, and he felt lightheaded with hunger. He was dying to roast a deer leg right there and feast. However, starting a fire at night was like lighting a beacon in the fog, a signal to every creature in the forest. That's far too dangerous.
He looked at the donkey-headed wolf beneath his feet, then at the blade-antler deer nearby, and finally at the low mountain ahead. Carrying both massive beasts over that would be a pain in the ass.
He decided to "lighten the load."
The blade-antler deer and donkey-headed wolf had only just died, so their bodies are still warm. Qin Ming quickly skinned them with his short knife, blood gushing out and staining the snow red.
Though he looked like a refined youth, his survival skills in the wild were exceptional as he'd always relied on himself to stay alive. With swift and efficient strikes, he cleaned out the innards of both beasts and buried them in the snow right away to mask the scent of blood.
"Hopefully no dangerous beasts nearby," Qin Ming murmured, thinking it shouldn't be a problem, after all, this was just the outer edge of the forest.
But just as he reached the mountain's midpoint, he heard a massive disturbance in the distance. This wasn't just noise. It startled many birds into flight, and numerous mountain beasts fled in panic.
"Did the scent of blood draw a giant beast?" Qin Ming frowned deeply, looking toward the distant forest.
The rumbling grew louder, accompanied by furious roars, snow churning, and the snapping of branches. Soon, he saw it. A towering, muscular behemoth, like an armored war machine barreling through the woods, smashing aside every obstacle in its path.
It was wounded, with blood on its body. Clearly, it was a defeated giant beast that had escaped to this region, not something hunting Qin Ming. He sucked in a sharp breath. It was a wild boar, an enormous one, weighing at least a thousand and five hundred pounds.
For context, a six-hundred-pound boar could become a king among its kind. This one far surpassed its peers. Its body was covered in thick, bristle-like fur as hard as steel needles, and its snowy white tusks were longer than a grown man's forearm—an utterly fearsome appearance.
Qin Ming felt uneasy. If such a powerful boar king had been defeated… what kind of creature was hunting it? He had thought the beast would pass by below the mountain and leave, but to his surprise, its nose twitched, and then it charged up the slope. Its injuries had made it highly sensitive, and the scent of blood in the forest had agitated it.
Qin Ming realized this was serious. Not only was the giant beast extremely dangerous, but the mysterious predator chasing it might follow its trail here as well.
He could already faintly hear sounds coming from the distant woods. The wind gradually died down, fading to silence.
The mountainous boar king charged up, wild and fierce, sending snow flying with each step, barreling through branches and even snapping some trees clean in half.
Qin Ming's expression changed slightly. He climbed a massive tree that would take several people to encircle, gaining the high ground and preparing to shoot its eyes or heart with his bow once it came near.
The massive boar king approached, its coarse black bristles standing straight. As it looked up, its face came into view. Covered in a layer of black scales that gleamed with a cold, metallic light, making it look even more savage and terrifying.
Qin Ming frowned, realizing he was fully locked in the beast's sights. He nocked an iron arrow and aimed downward. Suddenly, something felt off. The entire forest fell utterly silent. All the birds and predators that had been fleeing into the sky moments ago were gone. The vast forest no longer made a sound, giving off a deep, unnatural stillness.
At the same time, Qin Ming saw a glow rising from a distant mountain peak. At first soft, then it quickly grew brilliant, climbing steadily into the sky.
In that moment, the violent boar king dared not make a sound. It silently retreated, careful not to break any branches. Cautious as a kitten, it slipped into a dense patch of forest and eventually burrowed into a hollow, covering itself with snow.
In the Era of Eternal Night, the sky was never supposed to have anything, not even a trace of light. It was always pitch-black.
But now, in the night sky, the glow was getting brighter and brighter, like a radiant full moon suspended overhead.
Qin Ming's heart pounded with shock because he knew that that was no moon.
It was an insect.