In the dark of the night, under the glimpses of blue light passing through the canopy of the trees, a young man could be seen running for his life.
He was being chased by a group of six creatures. Once in a while, one of them would become visible under the blue night light, and then one could see glimpse of their body structure.
They had similar body structure to a wolf; the only difference was that they had no fur but a black skin with visible blood-red veins spread all over it.
The creature's head was completely similar to a wolf's, with the same dentary structure except for its tongue, which was like a needle; it was red-coloured and a half-foot long.
Karna, who did not even know what was currently chasing him, was running like hell. He had never run like this in his whole life.
While running, he would jump above the bushes and roots of the tree that would cross his path once in a while.
He was like a real-life Ethan Hunt right now, but he was not running to save the world, but himself.
The howls of the creatures were becoming louder and louder as time passed. It was like the beasts were doing it knowingly and were constantly reminding him that they were caching up on him.
Karna couldn't shake them with direction changes; he had to run straight. In this situation, even the system couldn't predict the horrors that might lurk off his path if he changed direction now.
His sole chance was to sprint forward and attempt to evade them once he reached the safety zone.
"Don't panic! Think, Karna, think! How do I escape this situation?"
With these thoughts racing through his mind, Karna exerted even more force on his legs, increasing his speed. Yet, the relentless pursuit of the beasts continued to narrow the gap.
In a matter of minutes, the swiftest and slightly larger of the six beasts closed in on Karna. Just as it was about to pounce, Karna's instincts blared, much like when he had encountered the dagger snake.
Without breaking his pace, he instinctively ducked, narrowly evading the attack, and at last, gaining a brief respite.
His eyes scanned the surroundings, his hope hinging on the other beasts not catching up just yet. Fortunately, the remaining five were lagging behind.
Then, his attention turned to his assailant as he tried to assess the situation. Before him, the attacker came into full view.
Karna could discern its repugnant odor, which clung to it like a vile shroud. Its minuscule red eyes burned with a mixture of fury, hunger, and malevolence, all directed squarely at Karna.
"Ah!"
Once more, the system had drawn upon its connection with him. However, this time, the pain in his head was far more bearable than he had expected.
Now armed with knowledge about the creatures pursuing him, Karna couldn't help but gulp in fear.
These were Bloodhounds, a type of magical beast known for their group hunting tactics. What made them especially menacing were their venomous bites; their saliva had the capacity to swiftly paralyze their prey.
Once immobilized but still conscious, the Bloodhounds employed their needle-like tongues that worked like suction syringes to drain their victim's blood until the prey teetered on the brink of death. Only then did they begin their gruesome feast.
The one that stood before him was a Level-3 Bloodhound.
'Fuck!' '
'The good thing was that they were known for being weak; the bad thing was that they always hunted in packs.'
Karna, who had no other way but to engage this beast that had lunged at him, felt his heart beat like crazy.
The beast only kept on staring towards Karna with the same malice-filled gaze and didn't attack him.
'Shit! This fucker!'
Realizing that the Bloodhound was attempting to hold and corner him, Karna cursed under his breath. He couldn't make the reckless move of lunging forward for an attack.
Instead, he needed to goad the creature into attacking him. That was his only chance to eliminate it and make his escape.
"Okay, let's do this," Karna thought, quickly formulating a plan. With deliberate intent, he turned around, exposing his back to the Bloodhound, and sprinted off in a haphazard direction.
He hoped that, like any wild predator, the creature would seize the opportunity to pounce on its prey when its back was turned.
His intuition proved correct, and as expected, the beast emitted a low growl and surged after Karna, launching itself at him just as before. But this time, Karna was prepared.
With determination, Karna turned to face the oncoming Bloodhound, wielding his spear like a sword and whipping it in a swift, circular horizontal motion to generate maximum momentum.
The improvised weapon struck the Bloodhound's head with a resounding thud, causing the creature to emit a pained yelp and be sent sprawling to the side.
However, being a makeshift spear, it didn't inflict significant damage.
The Bloodhound's relentless aggression was unwavering, as it launched itself high into the air, aiming for Karna's throat.
Anticipating this very response, Karna remained poised and took immediate action.
He surged forward, darting beneath the Bloodhound's airborne body while simultaneously rotating the crude spear 90 degrees upward.
Before the spear could complete its rotation, the pointed end pierced the Bloodhound's chest while the blunt end anchored itself firmly to the ground, impaling the creature in the process.
Under the pressure of the beast, holding the spear his arms screamed in pain. Ignoring the pain Karna used the weight of the beast to allow the spear to go deeper.
The Bloodhound's agonized howls brought a momentary sense of satisfaction to Karna, but that feeling was fleeting.
His jaw clenched in determination as he maintained the spear in its position, hoping to finish the job.
Yet, his moment of triumph was short-lived. In the next instant, the crude wooden spear, having punctured the creature's ribcage, reached its limit.
Under the weight of the Bloodhound, the spear arched like a bow before snapping, sending shattered splinters scattering in all directions.
In less than ten seconds, this brief confrontation had come at a steep cost - Karna was now left without a weapon.
As some of the shattered splinters struck Karna's hands, now clutching a broken, three-foot-long, thick wooden stick, he barely registered the pain thanks to his pain resistance skill.
The Bloodhound writhed on the ground, rolling over in agony. The remaining two feet of the spear still embedded in its chest had gone even deeper due to the fall, shattering its ribcage further and intensifying its cries of torment.
Karna, while not entirely surprised that the spear had broken, had hoped that it would endure long enough to finish off the Bloodhound. Nonetheless, he was now faced with the grim reality of being weaponless.
Observing the still-breathing Bloodhound, Karna's gaze shifted to its remaining HP, which had decreased by 120 points.
Before the stab, it had been at a total of 300. The initial thrust had only inflicted about 50 damage, with the additional 70 stemming from the creature's fall onto the impaled, shattered spear.
"Dang it, I thought with a 10% increase in precision I would have better chances. But... no, I can still finish this." Thinking this, Karna got up from the ground and strengthened his grip on the broken wooden stick. Luckily, the broken end of the stick was quite jagged enough to penetrate the flesh of the beast in front of him.
Karna was about to make his move when he felt a cold chill on his back. He hurriedly turned around, raising the wooden stick horizontally in front of him.
'Crap!'