Chapter 4: Invitation (1)
As the spilled blood of the seemingly human corpse produced chilling wind akin to winter's breeze, the red wolf's suspicions skyrocketed. It no longer wanted to chew on Hunter and just spit him on the ground.
Alas, having immense focus from his sixty years long mountain climbing in the gray world, Hunter had been paying close attention to the wolf's movements, including the sharp teeth lodged within him, which were as painful as before.
Noticing that the muzzle of the monster turned lower, Hunter went quickly to the action. He balled his fist and hurled his punch at the frozen, brittle part of the wolf's fang, cracking it off.
As the broken and sharp part of the wolf's weapon fell into his hands, Hunter loaded his legs with as much strength as he could muster, jumping above the wolf's bemused face.
Feeling free as now he could use all of his hidden strength, Hunter relished the shocked gazes of everyone around him. The best was naturally the wolf's widened red eyes, whose luster was no longer as threatening as before.
Those eyes hadn't felt so liable before, too.
Hunter followed the law of inertia and gravity, plunging at the monster's face with the sharp edge of the broken tooth guiding his way.
'At least one eye!' Hunter put all his belief into that attack, clinging to the broken teeth like it was his precious treasure.
And as his unique blood turned his skin and flesh colder, the tooth became a temporary part of him! No way Hunter would miss that eye, would he?
Alas, he did.
The monster reacted just in nick time, shifting his head to the side.
"You're too fast, bastard!" Hunter complained aloud as he lodged his makeshift sword in the monster's hide.
Although the blood had been spilled, Hunter failed as his weapon lodged itself deep in the monster's nose bridge. That much of a wound could open a way for other hunters… but it wasn't as good as a loss of an eye.
Worse, it was in a distant spot for melee weapons, and this intelligent bastard wouldn't allow for more surprise attacks as well!
As the red wolf thrashed its head, Hunter was thrown away by nothing but the sheer force of its physical strength.
After dropping like a rag doll onto the ground and rolling for a few meters, Hunter clenched his teeth and subsided all the pain coursing through him.
He rose to his feet and shouted, "The monster's wounded! We can do it!"
No one replied to him.
Only condescending grunts of the red wolf reached Hunter's ears, laughing at him. In less than a few minutes, Hunter was alone in the forest, with no one daring to support or help him.
Looking to the side, Hunter found two blood trails extending from the spot on which the hunter leader had fallen. He followed further, finding two other huntresses pulling a limbless woman away from the battle.
That much was understandable… but how come there was no one else around to support him? Where were the others?
"Gone?" Hunter whispered to himself as he faced the harsh truth.
Everyone from the hunter team thought of him as a demon, surely. He'd never died and spent some time faking his death to ambush the monster, then ran and jumped around with wounds no human could ever endure.
Gaping wounds revealed his bones and keen-eyed people would be able to see the wolf through wide holes left by the teeth on Hunter's torso. Wherever Hunter went, blood followed him like a plague, drawing rivers of red.
He was surely an abomination like the monsters.
'I… I can't return to the village, can I? Curses! It's good that I have been hiding my strength all this time! Otherwise, I would have been burned at the cross in the village… but if I were a woman revealed Deathless Skill, would everyone stay behind to support me escape?' Hunter pondered as he felt like he soon would never be able to even think about his life.
The monster was ambling toward him with confidence… and blood boiling from the loss of a tooth… no amount of coldness would halt this wolf's movement!
Hunter weakly smiled, "You can't kill me, can you? If you eat me, I'll rupture you from the inside! Let's call it a draw and go each other's way!"
But the wolf just smiled, revealing its teeth… and lack of one fang had given Hunter the low-down on something rather dangerous. What if he were to lose all of his limbs? He would be utterly at the monster's wish!
What about his organs? That would be pain akin to what he had felt in his previous life, wouldn't it?
'I can live without them… as they will regenerate… sooner or later… but I'll suffer and beg for death in that time! Nah, mate, fuck this shit! I would rather fight to the death or go through another challenge in that gray world!' Hunter screamed inwardly, deciding to keep fighting even if he was alone.
Before he noticed, his hands were already up and on guard.
"Remember, wolf, I'm available for a discussion."
And with that, Hunter threw himself at the monster, engaging in a one-sided battle in which he was thrown around, stomped, and… nearly bitten to another what would have been a death in a normal case.
But just like a cockroach, Hunter slipped from the death situation and weaved around the wolf's hulking frame to create more gaps to survive and to naturally exhaust the monster.
At first, it was nothing but a rash action to survive the threat… but now Hunter was winning over the monster as he drew him into the endurance battle for which he was naturally more suitable. His stamina, regeneration, and endurance were on such a high level that even the unusual monster had to be wary of it.
Which… the wolf seemed to understand.
But… it could do nothing!
Hunter was as though he had awakened the memories of a cockroach from his past life. He kept surviving all the blows… and as he grasped how to slide on the now vast pool of blood, his movement speed increased, surfing across and past the towering monster.
"Remember… I'm available for a discussion!"
Hearing those words, the wolf growled at swept its paw again, only to skid… and fall onto its side.
"Or not!" Hunter pressed his heels strongly onto the ground, then swiveled to elbow the monster's eye!
Like a bullet, he stormed at the monster's eyes… successfully robbing it of half of its vision!
The Deathless triumphantly washed his leather clothes in the monster's blood… "Too hot. I prefer cold showers."