Throughout the next day and a half I simply focused on killing any beasts I found. Unfortunately with the exception of that first boar-like beast I wasn't luckily enough to gain another core. On the plus side I had managed to kill around 27 of those beasts in total. The hardest part about this whole challenge was actually finding the beasts in the first place.
During the first day I managed to not only stumble upon an undiscovered beast early on, but also gained a core from it. It usually took me a little more than just an hour to find another beast, but I did take a couple rests to re-energize myself from walking so much. The actual battles between the beasts and I usually lasted between 5-15 minutes. They weren't too bad and at the very least I haven't really been hurt yet.
'I wonder how the other contestants are doing? Are these current numbers good or not? I felt like there would be a lot more beasts then there are now. Maybe it's because there's around a thousand participants. The fact that they cheered for 10 beasts a stone must have gotten to my head. It gave me the idea that these beasts would appear in droves and there would be more than enough to go around.
How valuable are one of those Spirit Stones? If I were to turn in my numbers right now, I would get two of those Spirit Stones. People were really excited for that ten to one exchange though, does that mean everyone is confident in getting a lot of those stones or are the stones just that valuable?
Whenever I meet people in this stupid forest they only ever want two things from me! The first being to build connections with me and the other were more lustful gazes which eyed up my body, though the latter was exclusively from men.
Did I perhaps use all of my luck on the very first encounter I had!? '
Throughout the day and a half of exploration through the forest I was approached by people. Those in groups, small and large, along with the loners too. I'm glad that they had all left me alone when I said so though. I bet that if I were to run into that man I would have no escape from him until the event ends.
He's left nothing, but negative impressions on me so far. Compared to Big Brother he's like scum. As long as he continues down his path I'll be safe from him, but what should I do if I do run into him? I'll think about it later, the less I think about him the better. But I do need to do it eventually so I guess I'll think up a simple one.
'For the best case scenario it'll be that I see him first and so I'll leave without him even noticing I was nearby. For the worst case it'll just be the opposite, he sees me first and I don't notice until he's right in front of me. For that I'll just make up an excuse and try to leave, if that doesn't work I'll just hope my movement technique is better than his and dash away!'
*Roar!*
Out of nowhere there was a sudden cry of a beast. The cry woke me up from my thoughts as I tried turning as soon as I heard it, but the beast had already pounced toward me.
Its hulking frame seemed to block out the sun as I hurriedly tried to unsheath my sword. As it was falling toward me I wasn't in complete panic and still used a bit of brain power to try to dodge over to the side.
Although I tried my best, in the end it had still managed to sneak up on me gaining the advantage. Its massive figure fell and before I could become completely safe.
Pain rushed and jolted through my left arm all the while I tried to gain a bit of distance from the beast. I didn't take my eyes off the beast who attacked me, but I did manage to see the result of its attack through the corners of my eyes. It had torn a large slit down the sleeve of my robe, exposing my arm all the way up to my shoulder. My arm itself had streams of blood rapidly flowing down, but luckily the damage didn't seem to immobilize my arm, though there were small jolts of pain every once in a while.
The beast in front of me looked like a large black cat of some kind, looking quite similar to a leopard, but simply larger. Its eyes locked right onto me and it slowly moved its body around to circle me.
'Was it stalking me the entire time!? I was supposed to be the hunter here! How long has it been following me? Was I simply not careful enough just now and it noticed me or was it really stalking me the entire time?'
Holding out my sword I tried to steady my nerves.
'Those questions don't matter right now, for now I need to survive.'
I sucked in a deep breath before slowly exhaling. With that simple move I felt my head clear up a bit and the confusion from moments prior dispersing.
It finally decided to lunge at me as I gripped my sword with both hands. I activated that movement technique and ran a bit to my left side. I held the sword in a way which it would slash at the beast while I ran by, but the beast didn't just accept my attack. It swiped its claws at me which I responded with an extra step or two away from it. His retaliation had managed to redirect my sword away from his vital parts, but it still landed creating a laceration along its side.
Once it landed we turned to each other at the same time. But it had changed tactics this time and instead of lunging the beast just ran at me on the ground. Quickly I once again had to take note of how large the beast was.
Its body's size has a noticeable difference similar to the first boar-like beast. This leopard was around 4ft tall, just a foot smaller than me and its length was longer than if there were two and a half of me laying down beside it.
Right as it was in front of me it pounced once more, but this time I was a bit unprepared. It got the jump on me, but it was still in front of me so I had my sword to defend against it. I raised my sword just as it had raised its paws and I stabbed forward. I was hoping to end the fight with a single stab through the beast's neck, but somehow as if It realized the danger my sword had to its well being, one of his paws heavily swiped at my sword.
With the force applied my weapon it traveled through the handle and into my left arm. The random small jolts of pain immediately turned into a sharp pain which rendered that arm numb and unable to exert strength for a moment. But in that singular moment, the paw was still pressed against the flat of my sword and forced the weapon right out of my hands.
*Tuk*
My weapon hit the floor and with a quick sideways glance I saw it was around a meter and a half away. Without anything else to protect myself with, I raised my own two arms up all the while inching my way toward my sword. The weapon seemed to close yet so far at this moment, but the leopard beast wouldn't give me the chance and lunged at me. Seeing that it was now or never I made a lunge of my own toward the sword on the ground.
I managed to grab it and turn around just in time, but the beast was already on top of me. Its paws slammed down on me as I braced with my sword.
*Roar!*
The leopard's cry resounded as for the first time during the whole battle the animal attacked with its maws. Four large ferocious fangs appeared in my vision and rapidly approached. Rapid and hurried steps quickly approached me, but I was too focused on the beast in front of me to even give the approaching member a glance. The paws beared down and its head drew near, but just as I was about to move my head to dodge a sword appeared and stabbed into the beast's eye.
*Nhmmm! Ehmmh!*
Whimpers from the big cat sounded in my ears as the pressure exerted on top of me lessened dramatically. Using this chance I used all my force to push a single side of the cat over so I could escape. The leverage was luckily enough, but it still tried to keep me pinned and in turn it managed to tear another part of my clothing. Luckily it was only clothing and I wasn't wounded, but the spot it tore was a bit of a problem.
I still had other things to worry about now though so I pushed that though to the back of my head.
Without looking at the person who saved me I thanked him as I continued training my gaze onto the leopard.
"No problem, it's only natural I should help a Beauty like you. Now let's quickly get rid of this beast."
'Huh? That wording, also his voice seems a little familiar too. It doesn't matter, I have to focus on this first! Then and only then can I properly thank him.'
That one move of his immediately turned the tide of battle. I was on the leopard's left side, which happened to be the side the leopard was blinded on and rushing in I slashed its side causing a few lacerations to appear.
The beast wailed in agony and tried swiping at me, but as I dodged and the beast turned to me my savior on the other side attacked it from his side. The leopard, perhaps realizing its death was imminent, turned away from both of us and tried to run away. But neither I nor my savior seemed to want to let this beast go.
I plunged my sword through its under belly and I assumed that my savior on the other side did something similar as the beast seemed to freeze for a moment. After that it tried running once more, but by now you could see it physically weakening as its legs no longer became able to run and eventually unable to even support its own body weight.
*Thoum!*
Its large hulking frame crashed into the ground and blood gushed out from my sword wound into a puddle.
After the beast was finally slain I was finally able to take a breather. My whole body drooped down a little as I relaxed.
"So this Sister…"
Hearing his voice jolted me awake.
"Ah! I'm sorry! *Ahem!* Th-thank you for helping me with this beast."
Midway through my sentence I got a good look at who it was. That realization made me stutter as it was the one person who I didn't want to meet out of the other thousand contestants. He did help me out of that unfavorable situation though, so I couldn't just forget about that. I would acknowledge his help, but that doesn't mean I would simply forget his past transgressions.
'Damn it! Out of all the other contestants that could have found and helped me, why did it have to be him!'
"I don't think we really managed to get to know each other last time. Let me introduce myself once more, my name is Ye Chen. Could I have the honor of knowing this Sister's name?"
'Damn! I have to give out my name now! He just saved me. If I don't even give out a little thing such as my name after that, what kind of person am I?''
"M-my name… you can call me Miss Xue."