Zach continued to walk in the thick forest, the man he had just kill was in fact a newbie only being doing this job for a few weeks, and his superiors thought that Zach could be a problem but never would they expect that this boy would be able to survive and even kill the newbie they launched on his track.
Zach decided to be as stealthy as possible, he didn't know if there was powerful beasts in this forest. Unbeknownst to him this time it was him the prey, not far away from him was a peculiar beast, a predator which loved to play with his prey before eating it.
This beast was a huge bear, contrary to what one could expect this bear's movements were very light and didn't make any sound.
If one looked in its eyes, he could see some wisdom, it was what made it a very dangerous predator, it was not a brainless, instinct guided beast. It could have some reflexion and this time it decided to make Zach its snack and even to have fun with him before enjoying it.
The bear followed Zach all day long and Zach finally decided to set up his camp and take a break for the night. Seeing this the bear licked his lips, it was happy, it didn't get noticed and it would be able to see the terror in this human's eyes before eating him.
Zach was still oblivious about this bear being around him and following him for a while. He casually roasted some meat, suddenly like in his last life he suddenly felt death was coming.
He turned around and saw a huge bear, almost 4 meters tall, in the air descending on him. The first thing Zach did was to put power in his legs and jump forward to not get caught by the bear.
Indeed, he didn't get caught but the bear had been able to claw Zach left leg just before he could get out off its range. This hit made Zach balance off and he ended his jump bumping his right arm in a tree trunk.
Zach immediatly felt pain coming from both his arm and leg, his arm was certainly dsiloacted as for his leg it shouldn't be clawed too deeply but right now even an injury like this it could led to his death.
Zach looked the bear and this time his face turned grim 'I won't be able to defeat it no matter what, the only thing I can hope is to escape.' Though he still had to find how he would be able to escape, he had a dislocated arm and his left leg was aching and he was certain that even if he was as good as new he would not be able to outrun this bear for long.
Zach looked around him, he was seeking a path or something that would help his escape, unfortunately he saw nothing. The only thing he saw was the bear getting ready to jump on him again. 'I can't get more injured than I already am !' he gritted his teeth.
Zach was paying great attention to the bear's muscles, it permitted him to be able to react as soon as the bear would move. And indeed the instant he saw the bear's rear legs muscles contract he activated his Death Gaze skill.
The bear that was about to jump finally stopped himself from doing it, Zach could see in its eyes fear, he felt relieved and was about to turn around and flee. However this relief turned into horror when he saw that the fear the bear was feeling had already disappeared.
Zach was taken aback, even though he knew it wouldn't be as efficient as when he used it on the assassin when he left the village but never would he have expected it to last so little time. As for the bear it lost a part of its will to play with Zach, it had gotten more serious which was the worst thing for Zach.
The problem for Zach was that this time he had no clue about what to do to escape, Zach was trapped in a deadly situation.
He had to think about something but the bear would not let him this time, suddenly he remembered that when he put points in his spirit his thinking speed improved. 'Put 10 points in Spirit and upgrade Death gaze to level 2 !' He exlaimed in his head.
[Ding ! Spirit + 10 ! Congratulations Host for breaking through low rank 2 in soul cultivation !
Ding ! Death gaze skill upgraded to level 2.]
Instantaneously after hearing this notification Zach could feel that his thinking had gotten faster, he could take in account details that he neglected before. The bear was already in the air coming onto Zach, but for Zach thinking it was slow, he felt like he could find way out before the bear reaching him.
'I'm ready !' Zach thought, if one looked into his eyes all he would see is determination. Zach moved back, just enough to not be crushed under the bear on its landing. A split of second later the bear landed heavily on the ground just at the place Zach was.
Zach looked in the bear's eyes and activated the Death gaze, unlike last time the bear jumped a few meters back and fear was obvious in his eyes, it quickly looked left and right but when its gaze fell again on Zach, who had started to flee deeper in the forest, it understood.
It had been tricked one more time, somehow the human in front of him could cause a bizarre feeling which would make it sweat and feel like it was about to die.
Unfortunately for Zach the sole benefit he got from upgrading Death gaze was a reaction more powerful but it hardly lasted more than last time.
The bear, this time, stopped seeing Zach as a prey he would play with, this human wasn't like the one he had already eaten, this one was too weird. It had to be serious and hunt him to kill him as soon as possible to enjoy a meal, it was no longer time to play around.
Thanks to this small trick Zach was a dozen meter ahead of the bear, obviously it would not be enough to lose it but with those precious meters he could hope to find something which would help him to escape this beast.
Zach was gritting his teeth harder, with each step he took his leg was more and more painful, actually he was gritting his teeth so hard that a bit of blood started to flow out of his mouth.
Zach was running, he was running with nowhere in mind, the sole thing he wanted was to escape this bear, Zach was also enduring the terrible pain coming from his body.
He knew that the small headstart he had built was becoming slimmer, he turned his head to glance at the bear and as he had guessed the bear had reduced the gap between them and it wouldn't be long before catching up to him.
Zach was doing zigzag between the trees, hoping the bear would crush on one and give up its chase. However it didn't happened, the bear skillfully dodged all the trees, seeing this Zach decided to head towards what seemed to be ancient ruins.
Zach started to become nervous because he wasn't sure if he would stumble on something which could help him, he hoped for anything, a cave, a cliff, a small enough rift even a waterfall. They both continued to run and soon enough, as expected, the bear was only a meter behind Zach.
They just reached the ancient ruins and there was still nothing in view for Zach to escape. He was starting to despair, his title effect was on cooldown and even if it was up he doubted that the bear would let his corpse in one piece.
After 10 minutes of running, the invitable happened, the bear was in range to claw Zach's back which he done, in his misfortune Zach was fortunate, he didn't get hit by the claws but only by the bear's paw which made him fall back on the ground.
The bear seeing his prey, defenseless and in a pitiful state, on the ground decided to show its victory before killing Zach.The bear stood tall on his back paws.
Seeing this Zach didn't hesitated and used Death gaze for the tiniest chance to escape, but this time death gaze didn't have any noticeable effect on the bear. The bear then slammed his front legs on the ground with Zach's head in between them.
CRACK ! Crack !
The next instant, the bear paws slammed on the ground, the same ground started to split apart and fall, this was it, Zach's hope to get out alive was there but it was still not done.
After just a few instants the whole ground under Zach and the bear crumbled, Zach took out his scythe so he could injure the bear in their fall, he tried as hard as he could to injure the bear so he would be able to escape it once down, and succeeded, he had plunged it deep in one of its legs.
After 2 seconds of fall Zach landed on something hard and heard another crack, he feared that this would not be the last fall, when he looked around him the bear was nowhere to be found. It was at this moment that he realized that he was on a bridge and the crack was from the bear bringing a part of the bridge in its fall.
'I survived ! However for now I don't know which one is more dangerous, the bear or this place.' After that thought he took a better look at his surroundings and the only thing he could say bout it was : eerie.
ROAAAAAAAR !
Zach heard a huge roar which when he heard it made him unable to move. Just after the first roar he heard a second one, weaker than the first, he knew that the second roar was the bear's one.
After the two roars he heard sounds of fighting and once 10 seconds had passed, the silence came back, but this time it was an eerie silence. In consideration of the two roars he could assume which beast was the winner.
Now he was certain about which one was more dangerous ...