It was my second night here. I pushed myself to exertion. Even after all the growth, my endurance didn't last. On the other side, the completely unphased Liu was settled on top of me using me as a mattress. In her tiny fairy-like form.
"You made some good progress today. I was expecting a decent yield, but to kill fifty wolves in a single day... It was impressive." She was flipping through the grimoire. She used it more than I did at this point. It was like her journal of sorts.
"I wouldn't exactly say that. The more I fight the easier it gets, but at the same time, their numbers kept going up too the further into the forest we got." The last pack I fought had ten of those beast wolves in it. "If I fought the last one earlier today, it would've been more difficult, but I could have gotten the number way past a hundred."
It seemed like a misjudgement on Liu's part.
As soon as I said that, I heard a sigh.
"That's what you get for growing this fast. You already started overestimating the 'you' from this morning. If you fought the pack first, you would've definitely died."
"I wasn't that wea-"
"You didn't have foresight, this morning."
.
.
.
"But still-"
"Just sleep for now, and sleep well. You did well."
She flicked the grimoire around at me.
{ Strength - Five/Ten - B }
{ Agility - Ten/Ten - B }
{ Endurance - Nine/Ten - C }
{ Dexterity - Six/Ten - C }
My skill tree was almost unrecognisable.
Not to mention, my Peak Predator was now a B instead of a C. It was good progress, but pushing my numbers up was getting harder and harder as the number kept wracking up. It wasn't linear anymore.
I needed to step up my game. I needed to think of Liu's expectations of me as the bare minimum for me to kill that God.
I had to grow quicker than it was even humanly possible. Even if it meant diving head first into death.
Tomorrow for sure.
###
I woke up to a girl with peach hair and peach skin and closed eyes using my torso as her bed. She fit snugly in me, but I didn't feel her.
One day was all it took to get used to it, huh?
I jumped off the tree and went over the usual routine. The sun was still far from up, I had a couple of hours.
So I took a shower and had my breakfast. Realising I had some time, and that she wasn't up, I decided to pick up the grimoire and do something reckless.
###
"You could have woken me up, you know?" Liu flew down the tree as the sun couldn't stop itself from waking her up. I was sharpening my machete between two rocks. Yesterday did quite the number on the blade.
"Why? Did you want to see me take a shower and eat food."
"Not a single ounce of delicacy I see."
"I'm done with the morning routine, now take me to the wolves." Not that I needed to ask her, I already checked for their locations this morning.
Well, I couldn't let her catch air of what I did.
Liu's emotionless face turned more professional. She fixed her attire up and decreased in size.
"Alright, let's go." She landed on my shoulder and we walked deeper into the forest. "Today, we'll be hunting even more wolves."
"Okay."
"I spent the night marking the locations I think they'll be in today." She handed the grimoire back to me as we came across the first group. Right where I expected them to be. "Defeat them."
I stopped in place and extended my hand out to draw their attention. Fifteen wolves.
"Peak predator."
None of the wolves tried to give in to the murderous aura I was exuding.
"Come." With one word, all of them jumped into action.
Alright. Let's do this.
I swung around my foot such that my back faced the wolves, and my front... faced the direction where the next closest pack was.
Run.
I started building up my speed. I was faster than the wolves. None of them could catch me even at my worst anymore.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Liu yelled. "DON'T JUST RUN AWAY!"
"It's more efficient this way."
After a minute or two, the other pack came into sight. I predicted their movements. At rank B my skill narrowed down the possible trajectories to three. It was still a gamble. But nothing I couldn't work around.
At my speed, I was already right in front of them. Fifteen wolves behind me, sixteen right ahead. I headed into the other pack as they were all in the position to leap and pull the flesh off my bones.
But nothing I couldn't work around.
In the direction I was heading in I put a spike up and delayed my dodges so that I could make more educated guesses as to where they were heading. It was nerve-wracking and high octane. But as usual, I wasn't scared.
I got through them and this pack merged with the last one. Right on my tail.
Next.
I headed in the third one's direction.
And then the fourth.
There were at least 50 wolves chasing me. As much as yesterday's harvest. And yet none were stopping. The tenacity of the wolves was on full display. Even if they knew they didn't have a chance of catching me, they continued down this pointless path because of their pride.
But that could only get them so far.
I merged with the fifth group and now there were around Sixty something wolves behind me.
"What are you going to do now?" Liu flew right beside me. She took five whole packs to calm down.
"One more."
"Huh?"
I sharply turned to my right, as the wolves at the back started to turn earlier than the ones ahead. That meant they had a smaller distance to cover. But I could still go faster.
I lowered my neck and extended my dash even further.
The final pack in the area was in front of me. So I burst ahead. And dodged like the usual. It was simple once you got the hang of them.
"There we go."
Preparations were all complete.
With the hellpack of wolves behind me, I headed deeper into the forest, and my destination came into sight. The place where I wandered off to in the morning.
The sound of the wolves' feet hitting the ground in unison was reverberating through the forest. The only thing louder though was my heartbeat. I had never gone this fast for this long a duration.
But it was almost over.
In front of me, there was a tunnel. One you could see right through. Barely Fifty meters long. But that was enough. I ran straight into it faster than before. I didn't need to keep them interested in me anymore.
I gained distance.
The thumping echoes throughout. It was dark but my heightened senses were more than able to see through the tunnel.
Moss, stones, gravel, and my trap.
"Hardening." Two spikes extended from my elbows. I only had one shot at this. I broke off either of the spikes and threw them at the ceiling as I jumped outside the other side of the tunnel, to the ground, rolling over before turning back and looking at the tunnel.
Nothing happened for a second.
But then the rumble coming from the stunned got stronger and stronger. The tunnel got filled with dust and the gravel started taking the air. And then it happened.
With a crash, the entire ceiling came falling down! Louder than the march of the wolves. The sound of a small hill crashing down.
Crushing every wolf underneath it. Blood got splattered all around the forest.
More than seventy wolves in one attempt. All dead. Not a singly whimper. They confirmed their death the second they decided to chase me.
"Phew." I pushed myself off the ground and slowly went to inspect the remnants of the massacre. Even from up close, it was as brutal as from afar.
"What even was that?" Liu gasped while floating next to me.
I pulled my left hand out as it started to draw the blood from within the cracks of the broken tunnel.
"I wasn't happy with how you called me dumb yesterday."