The dark beast approached menacingly, giving light to its figure were its own demonic scales, with a hue of dark scarlet, its body shone of demonic light.
Its appearance was intimidating—it towered over two meters tall with a long protruding horn on top of its head.
As though time had stopped, both Lucas and the beast stared at each other for a second.
Without hesitation, Lucas turned around and ran away quickly.
He was an experienced fighter. If there was one thing he was used to feeling, it was the graze of death itself.
And in one glance at the beast, an instinctive feeling of dread spread through him.
—The beast would kill him.
It wasn't a mere analysis; but the objective truth. He stood no chance, especially now that he was weak as a bug and lacking any sort of information about the beast.
With all that considered, he would die when the beast manages to haul on him.
It would be one thing to be merely weak, but to be ignorant of anything and defenseless as well? It was the symbol of suicide. He wasn't interested in that, fortunately.
In that short moment, he decisively acted and quickly distanced himself from the demonic-like beast.
His figure was quick. After a few seconds, he was already far away. It did help—while his body was oddly not a body refiner as of yet, it was relatively healthy and strong compared to the average human.
The beast with scarlet scales blinked, surprised by the sudden action of the youthful human.
Realizing that its prey was running away from its fangs, the demonic beast roared in anger.
"—GRAA!"
Lucas paid no heed to its anger, simply dashing in rapidly as he darted his eyes, trying to find a path to run away from the beast.
At the opposite ends of the area, a narrow path was openly situated. But beyond the path, he could faintly see a narrow hole.
The hole was perfect. It was fit enough to contain him, but narrow enough to stop the beast.
In another time, he would have thought more about entering random holes without thinking, but with a colossal gluttonous beast chasing after him, planning and thinking was the least of his choices.
—Surviving and escaping was.
The demonic beast was fast and responsive. As soon as it realized that Lucas was running away, it quickly followed and rapidly ran, exhibiting speed unfit for its size.
In mere seconds, its presence already loomed behind Lucas, only a few inches away from devouring the black-haired man.
It was unbelievably fast.
Lucas even doubted if he was seeing things right or not. He was confident in his own physique, afterall if it was his body when he was eighteen—that was the time nearing the end of his world voyage.
But he quickly shook his mind, preventing himself from losing focus. Lucas resolved his mind and concentrated towards the narrow entrance. Even in the throes of death, his expression was calm.
"—GRAA!!"
The demonic beast growled, its mouth opening. Its mouth was full of sharp spikes. Lucas didn't doubt that its teeth were enough to pierce through him.
The demonic beast rushed towards Lucas while its mouth was opened.
On its large mouth, a dark red orb that emitted huge pressure suddenly manifested.
At that moment, Lucas felt a chill crawl over his spine. Reacting as fast as he could, he rolled sideways.
Woosh—!
"—GRAAAA!"
The demonic beast let out an ear piercing roar, blasting the dark red orb away from its mouth. The dark red orb radiated immense pressure, causing the very wind itself to shake.
As the dark red orb flew in speed, instantly it connected to the surface—upon contact, a heavy explosion rang out.
Boom—!
Smoke covered the place, covering the battlefield. Within the blurry smoke, Lucas' figure could be faintly seen moving before vanishing into the shadows.
***
After a while, the smoke fully dispersed, revealing nothing in the area but the demonic beast.
The demonic beast darted its eyes around the area, searching for its prey. However, soon enough it realized its prey had escaped.
The demonic beast let out an unsatisfied growl, its small feet stomping angrily on the ground. Thinking of something, it decided to stay put.
Who knew, maybe its prey would come back…
***
Inside the narrow hole, a black haired man suddenly manifested in the air before falling down on the ground.
Without wasting a breath, Lucas quickly acted and moved away from the narrow hole, hiding from the demonic beast.
After a while of heavy silence, Lucas' mind calmed down and his body relaxed.
He peeked outside of the narrow hole. The demonic beast was still there. Waiting. He needed to think of something.
As much as possible, he didn't want to fight this early. He lacked information to assess anything safely, every fight would be like a gamble.
Not to mention his strength. Although he possessed his body when he was eighteen, oddly enough his body refining abilities were removed.
He didn't even have aura…
But nevermind that, first, where was he—?
Lucas calmed his mind before looking at his surroundings. The space he jumped on was small, and in the middle of everything was a small, overflowing luminescent pond.
It seems he was inside a cave. The good of the situation is that there's a source of water. But upon closer inspection, he realized it wasn't really water.
Lucas furrowed his brows.
Thinking of something, he kicked out a nearby pebble to the water.
Woosh—!
A toxic, sizzling sound echoed as the pebble fell into the pond, evaporating into dust. Lucas widened his eyes in surprise.
'...That was close.'
The pond was acidic. Not only acidic, but towards the extreme side too. He had no doubt he would be reduced to skeletons if he really touched that.
That just ruined all his plans of staying here until the beast gets tired of him then. Now, he needed to escape here fast.
Lucas shook his head, calming his own nerves. It was an awful situation all around.
On another note, the demonic-like beast was an interesting specimen. There was nothing similar to its kind in his previous world.
The feeling the demonic-like beast gave off was also terrifying, even for him. He was sure if he wasn't able to act decisively and run at that time, he would've died from the demon-like beast assault.
'Perhaps its a native in this world?'
Lucas guessed, shrugging. Or perhaps not. Then again, knowing about it wouldn't change the fact it was hostile.
He could think of this world's civilization and state once he escapes this dire situation of his. Looking at his surroundings once again, he sighed.
'... I obviously can't stay here, so I have to find a way out.'
But the question was, how could he escape either way if the demonic beast was preventing him from escaping?
If the demonic beast reaction was anything to go by, it was obvious that it wasn't going to just get tired of waiting. It was going to wait.
In that case, his only choice was the most primitive one; fight his way out to escape this deathly situation.
Lucas chuckled tiredly. Talk about a new life if every sign points to his immediate death.
"Very well then. I'll play this unfair game again,"
Lucas muttered, looking at his own reflection from the pond. The game of death—he would play it again.
Well, not before...
"But before that, I have to do something first. I have zero chances of surviving in my current state."
Lucas mused, letting out a deep breath. He distanced from the pond. It was dangerous near that thing.
After he was away from the acidic pond, he sat down on the ground in a meditative position. He cleared his mind of unnecessary thoughts as he stilled his body.
Going through his memories, he searched for the body refining manual he used in his last life.
"Ah, found it."
"The body is the universe, the flesh is the chaos, the bones are the stars, the blood is the energy, with oneself as a medium..."
Lucas chanted a mnemonic. Each syllable and word from his mouth shook the wind around him.
The wind from the surroundings gathered in front of him, appearing like a whirlwind. Suddenly, the whirlwind blasted at his body without warning.
Shin—! Shing—!
The wind tore apart his flesh, making heaves of blood drive out from his body. Despite this, Lucas didn't budge as he allowed the chaotic winds to tear him apart.
It continued for a long period until the wind finally showed signs of calmness.
After a while, the chaotic winds finally dispersed and revealed his body. His body—to put it mildly was in a terrible state—all over it were countless wounds deep enough to show his bones beneath.
However, if one looked closely, the wounds formed a symbol of a major star. The star of Ursa Major.
"Starry Body Art..."
Lucas muttered out. It was the body refining technique he used in his previous life—it was a technique he obtained from his ancestral house.
In his previous life, there was no shortage of body refining techniques. But compared to all of those he had seen, his technique was incomparable and peerless without a match.
While he was thinking, a formless energy suddenly surged through him. This energy had no form and encompassed purity. The energy spread throughout his body, healing his wounds.
Lucas stared at his healing body and nodded. The energy was called 'aura', an inexplicable, mysterious energy formed from within the body. It was the true power of a body refiner.
Using this energy of aura, one can heal their own wounds as they will and strengthen their body like ferocious tigers and bears.
"I wonder if the strength of an Accolade is enough for that demonic beast?"
Lucas wondered. The first rank of body refining was Accolade.
"... For necessary precaution, I'll try to advance to the next stage."