The red moon hung in the sky...
Appearing like a pearl painted red with blood...
It was bright... but...
It couldn't eliminate the darkness that covered the forest...
The wide and tall trees... veiled the whole ground with their shadowed leaves...
Not letting a single ray of light escape to the surface...
Yet, an open ground was located in the middle of the forest...
The sound of flowing water could be heard...
And a menacing cry echoed from there...
Shaking the soul of anyone who heard it...
"grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"
I looked at the towering beast standing near the trees behind me...
The distance between us was quite far—yet near—from that beast's perspective...
The beast's deadly red eyes glowed in the moonlight ~ Thick crimson fur cloaked its entire body...
Two sharp, massive fangs unveiled themselves from the shadow, attached to its upper jaw ~ appearing as large as human arms... and sharp enough to pierce steel, yet still hungry for more...
Its colossal figure stood as tall as an electric pole ~ though still dwarfed by the surrounding trees...
Its muscular build looked imposing ~ standing upright on its legs like a human...
It still maintained its distance from me... like a hunter waiting for its prey to step into the trap...
Having no info about it, I activated my Information Analysis skill...
"Analyze."
[Analyze]
Name: Crimson Fang
Race: Beast
Height: 12 meters
Mental State: Aggressive
Stats
Strength: High
Speed: Above average
Intelligence: Low
Defense: High
Skills
Terror Howl – Emits a fearsome cry capable of stunning weaker enemies and disrupting their focus. Effectiveness increases under the red moon.
(Other skills hidden due to a significant power gap)
Abilities
??? – Unable to display. The power discrepancy is too large.
Notes:
Caution. Avoid direct confrontation. Subject displays abnormal regenerative capacity and enters a heightened berserk state under lunar influence.
Probability of survival: < 5%
My eyes narrowed on the information window with curiosity...
So its name is Crimson Fang ~ race is Beast...
Nothing seems surprising in its stats, which is clear just from a single glance at it...
And judging by the power gap between us, more information was expected to be hidden...
But it didn't hide much, except its abilities. Which means the evaluation considers all stats collectively...
Since there's a clear contrast between our intelligence, some additional information was revealed...
Other than that, howl from earlier, its skills are currently unknown, so I have to be more careful...
And that note… now that is some real information. So this Crimson Fang, or whatever it is, has its abilities amplified under moonlight—which is quite dangerous…
But since it also makes him aggressive, I can use that against him... because I'll be no match for him in anything other than intelligence...
And the information window has already made it clear: the survival rate against this beast is the lowest possible. I already have to fight for my life right after landing in this world...
My fist clenched tightly as this thought popped into my mind...
I am going to survive, no matter what. And I am going to tear that scumbag apart...
My lips curved into a slight grin when I had that thought...
It was like I was smiling like a maniac in the face of approaching death...
The air flowed colder ~ which, in contrast, made my blood boil violently.
The sound of falling leaves and snapping branches echoed through the forest.
I was standing, staring straight at the beast. Any disregard or even blinking could cost my life.
The beast was glaring back at me, standing ~ like it was waiting for me to run so it could get the pleasure of hunting me down...
I need to survive at any cost ~ I already looked around the whole place, just to find a muddy swamp beside me, formed from the river. Some sharp rocks were present near the river.
I can't run into the forest when it is unknown to me. It can also contain more terrifying beasts than the one I am staring at.
Even if I run, I doubt it will let me. It is faster than me. My instincts are sensing even greater danger than this beast in the jungle.
I was unknowingly perspiring a bit. No matter how smart someone is, there are only limited things they can do in front of absolute might.
And unexpectedly, I made a big mistake when I took a step back due to the instinct of fear in front of this beast. Because in the end, I am also a human. No matter how tough a human acts, there are things they get scared of.
A leaf was falling from a tree and~
In that split moment when fear was emitted from my body and I took a step back instinctively, my eyes were diverted from the beast.
At that moment...
The beast disappeared from its place and appeared before me in a split second... My eyes couldn't track its speed.
I could sense the approaching death... as that towering figure reappeared before me ~ swinging its large, sharp claws at me ~ which could tear apart even trucks...
My eyes widened, muscles tensed, my body braced for the impact...
As the lightning-fast claw approached, my eyes closed. I bounced three meters back, landing on a big rock near the river. My whole body became numb, unable to feel anything.
I opened my eyes in a hurry. And I saw intestines exposed. Some of my skin was torn apart by that claw. I put a hand on my belly, just to see it covered in blood...
I felt a sudden surge of pain rushing in as blood started spilling from my stomach onto the ground...
An agonizing scream left my mouth, resonating through the whole forest...
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY STOMACHHH!"
Some of my bones were also broken from landing on the rock. As the pain struck me, my eyes filled with tears, my mouth spilling saliva, nose became runny. Gasping aggressively, not able to breathe. My face turned red instantly.
I rolled on the ground, pressing my hands against my belly, attempting to lessen the pain. My eyes became weary, my vision started blacking out. Only able to look at the red beast...
Licking its claw, covered in my blood, while its lips curved in a terrifyingly sinister smile, signaling the pleasure it was getting from my painful scream. Red moonlight radiated on its body, creating an enormous shadow as its body grew bigger.
A single thought came into my mind while resisting the urge to collapse. The smile of that bastard who was laughing at my helplessness surfaced in my mind.
I bit my lip to stay awake and resist the pain.
"I must survive at any cost to let that bastard experience pain worse than this."
I finally understood completely what berserk state meant, which was mentioned in the notification window.
When I saw the beast getting larger and stronger after licking my blood in the moonlight. The notification window only mentioned that—
"It displays abnormal regenerative capacity and enters a heightened berserk state under lunar influence."
Which means one of its abilities is that it gets stronger by consuming blood. I can be wrong, but in this situation, it indeed fills the gap of one of its abilities. And from its current look, it seems to love the smell of blood.
While I was thinking, energy suddenly started to return to my body, and my injuries started to heal. The pain began to lessen. So, the Instant Regeneration was finally working.
I stood up with great struggle.
I glared at the beast while revealing a maniacal smile to it. It stopped smiling when it saw my injuries were already healed, and no more blood was gushing out.
Which confirmed my theory about its ability ~ that it goes crazy when it smells or tastes blood.
In my mind, I knew I only had a single chance to escape. When my body is unable to withstand another hit from that monster.
Now I only had one shot. If I failed, I'd be done. I gripped the sharp stone in my hand tightly, the one I had picked up while rolling on the ground.
It was an unusual stone—shiny like a diamond, yet strong and sharp like a sword. It was black in color, flat, and shaped like a spearhead.
While my earlier plan to test its abilities had been ruined by my instinctive fear and my shortcomings...
Because of that, I had to experience more pain than I originally intended. It was also quite rough—something that didn't suit my style.
In the end, methods don't matter. What matters are results. And I got better results than I had originally anticipated, even if it came at the cost of more pain.
Anyway, through this incident, I was also able to test the Instant Regeneration skill. Even though that voice had given me its word, I still couldn't trust it. If I want to take my revenge and survive, then I must not trust anyone's words.
As the saying goes—
"To fool your enemies, you must fool your allies first."
And everyone is my enemy. The only ally I have is myself. So, to fool my enemies... I must even fool myself when the time comes.
While these thoughts flowed through my mind...
The beast had prepared itself for another attack. Judging from the vibe, it was probably going for the finishing blow.
Both of us were glaring intently at each other.
The whole forest was calm. Everything was silent. The wind had stopped blowing.
Silence surrounded the forest.
Neither the beast dared to breathe, nor I.
Waiting for the other to make the first move.
Blood dripping from the beast's sharp fangs...
Claw covered in my flesh from earlier ~ The red moonlight radiating on the beast's crimson body made it look even more menacing...
The quiet lasted for a while, until the beast finally couldn't contain itself anymore under the effects of the moonlight.
Its body trembled, opening its mouth. It roared.
"GRRRRRRRRRRR"
Shaking the whole forest with its cry. Making the hair all over my body stand.
But holding myself together, I knew it was not the time to be surprised. It was time to act. While the beast was roaring, it was the only chance I could get to make my plan work.
I quickly tore a big chunk of my already torn T-shirt and fit it in my mouth, biting on it tightly.
My body could sense the danger it was in. It braced itself for another impact.
But before that, my other arm was already torn. It was not by any beast... but my own hand holding the sharp stone had sliced my arm, together with the bone, cleanly. It was sharp enough to slice through even titanium easily...
Pain rushed to me as my arm was torn. But I didn't have the time to scream in pain. My eyes were red and watery, as blood came out of my eyes.
And I quickly picked up my torn arm and threw it toward the swamp.
Beast instantly smelled the dripping blood going toward the swamp and rushed towards it.
And it was the only chance I had. As soon as I sensed the beast rush toward the arm, I jumped into the river instantly.
The water of the river was cold. The waves were unforgiving, as they dragged me with them.
While I was being dragged by the water, the beast caught my arm and sensed that my presence was gone. It growled in anger, making the whole forest tremble.
Upon seeing this, I spat the cloth out, and a thought came to my mind.
"I won't forget this grudge. I'll make sure to kill you."
"And don't worry, beast... you're not the only one who'll be killed by me. I'll repay you this favor a hundred times over. And after that, it will be that bastard's turn."
While these thoughts flowed through my mind, my vision started to blur. I had already depleted seventy percent of my energy regenerating from that belly injury, but now, after this one... I wouldn't have any energy left.
Which was quite dangerous—especially when I still needed to get out of here...
I slowly lost my consciousness and continued to flow with the current...
Meanwhile, the water current was getting faster. The sound of water crashing down could be heard—it was nearing a waterfall...
Will Kaal be able to survive and take his revenge after falling from this waterfall...?