Awoo!
After the first attack missed, the Hellhound immediately followed up with another attack without hesitation after a short howl.
It couldn't believe that its prey managed to avoid its sudden attack earlier. But that would not happen twice in a row because it would make sure that this prey would not survive the second time.
The Hellhound saw its prey did not back down either. Instead, he bravely charged as well. He was carrying a sword that needed to be held by two hands.
The Hellhound didn't really care whatever weapon its opponent was carrying. Because in the end, he was nothing but a tasty snack to satiate its hunger.
For the Hellhound, there was no way a prey who was afraid to step on the mud could pose any threat.
Swoosh~
The Hellhound's speed was truly impressive.
Their distance shrank in the blink of an eye. The Hellhound opened its large jaw to reveal huge and sharp teeth.
It aimed to bite the head of the prey who was now entering the distance where he could not be able to avoid its attack.
In an unexpected turn of events, the Hellhound was met by splattering… mud?!!
The splattering mud blocked its vision. It didn't expect its prey to use a dirty tactic by using its sword to splatter mud at its face.
Following that, a crescent light flashed behind the Hellhound and it was followed by a gushing of black blood.
The black blood scattered around and then they mixed in the mud.
The monster felt an itch on its tail. But that itchy feeling turned to severe pain just a second later.
GWAAAARRRR!!!
It cried in pain. The expression on the Hellhound's face contorted and it let out a deafening noise with all its might.
It couldn't believe that this prey managed to cut its tail just like that.
Tim was about to follow up with another slash, but the Hellhound's reaction was too fast. It turned around and launched an attack by sending its claws toward him.
Tim's instinct prompted him to retreat quickly. And even though he retreated, he was still hit by an invisible force.
An invisible force tossed his body towards the parked wrecked car that now had a large portion of it consumed by the dark moss.
THUMP!
The roof of the wrecked car that Tim crashed into had caved in. A human-shaped dent was formed. He tasted blood in his mouth at that moment.
He didn't know what hit him but luckily he blocked it with the flat part of his sword.
He immediately got up even though his vision was a bit blurry. He spat blood.
Ptui!
"I need to be extra careful especially to direct hit," he muttered. 'My body presently could not handle the heavy impact. If I had crashed into a more solid object, my injury would be much more severe. Perhaps some of my bones would have been broken by now.'
RAWR!
The monster suddenly roared and Tim noticed the change in it. He saw the monster's eyes gleaming in dark blue. And its body was now enveloped by a dark blue aura.
Chill crawled through his entire body. He felt his muscles trembling as well. He also seemed to be nauseated by a strange pressure that was hard to explain.
It seemed to be the effect of a strange skill that could now be seen on the Hellhound.
But even in such a situation, you couldn't see the fear on Tim's face. Rather, he seemed to be happy to face a strong opponent.
Although Alcryan blood no longer flows in his veins, his nature as an Alcryan still exists.
Alcryans love to fight strong opponents. They felt more motivated and excited when they faced a much stronger opponent. And Tim, like the others, was also the same.
He stared at the monster as if expecting something to happen. And just as he expected, the intense dark blue aura that was surrounding it just now suddenly disappeared.
It was like a light bulb suddenly turned off.
With the loss of the intense aura surrounding the monster, the heavy pressure he felt also disappeared. He didn't feel nauseous anymore and his feelings were back to normal, except for the injury he suffered when he crashed into the broken car.
"Hehe..." Tim suddenly grinned as he stood up. "So it's true that your weakness is your tail!" According to the booklet given by Hunter Eile, Hellhounds had weaknesses. One of them was their tail. When their tail was cut, their strength was reduced by half and it would also prevent them from using the Bloodlust skill. What was written in that booklet turned out to be correct because that was exactly what was happening now. He was secretly grateful to Hunter Eile.
Tim raised the sword and aimed it at the monster. During his flight earlier, Tim made sure to grip the sword tightly, to avoid losing it from his hand, that's why it was still in his hand.
Anyway, even though he cut off the Hellhound's tail and reduced its strength, it didn't mean that he already won the battle.
The Hellhound was still strong after all.
The Hellhound rushed once again. Tim leaped from the broken car and landed on one of the debris and kicked it so hard to launch forward as well. You could see in the Hellhound's eyes that it wanted to immediately kill the daring person who cut off its tail.
Using his sword, Tim fearlessly blocked the monster's sharp claws and fangs.
Claws flew towards Tim's chest. His sword blocked them on time, causing small particles of light to fly around.
Ting! Ting! Ting!
The sword and claws collided one after the other.
Using his fighting experience, he was able to defend himself well while scoring a hit now and then by taking advantage of the gap in the monster's defense that he was patiently waiting for.
But that didn't mean Tim was unscathed. It could be seen that some parts of his coat were torn. Even his jeans have cuts. It could also be seen that some blood flowed from those cuts. It means that he also sustained damage in this encounter.
As the Hellhound leaped up and down while relentlessly unleashing fury of strong attacks at him, Tim watched calmly. Regardless of the increasing wounds on his body.
To avoid fatal injuries, he made sure to maintain proper distance by jumping around. He also was very careful not to step on the mud because it would slow down his movement for sure. Aside from that, mud could be slippery. It could cause an error that could be fatal, so he also needed to be mindful of that.
All of these calculations and field awareness were done masterfully, reflecting his experience in battle as the former strongest warrior in the empire of strong warriors.
But as he expected, the level of his new body was very low. He couldn't execute high-level techniques. Otherwise, this battle would have already ended long ago.
With this Hellhound's strength, all he could do was defend, dodge, and parry its attacks until he found an opportunity to land a powerful counter.
He cannot waste energy on movements that were uncertain whether they were helpful to him. All he could do was wait for the right moment.
Ting! Ting! Ting!
As the battle continued, the debris around continued to decrease because they were crushed by the power of the Hellhound's attack.
This was bad for Tim if this continued because it meant he had nowhere to run and he would be forced to step in the mud.
The battle continued and it reached the point that there was only one left that could serve as a stepping platform. Even the trees around them were all destroyed. They were crushed by the Hellhound's sharp claws.
Rawr!
Now he was standing on a single piece of debris and the monster was rushing to finish him.
"Oh, you can't wait?"
"Wha--!!"
Because of its speed, Tim was surprised that it was already a centimeter away from his face.
GWAR!!!
With the strong bite of the monster, blood rained all around.
RAAAWWRR!!!
A horizontal wound appeared on the Hellhound's head, across its third eye.
It backed down suddenly.
But that was when Tim started his comeback.
In fact, he just waited for all the debris around him to crumble so that the mud would harden and he could step forward without reducing his speed much when he stepped into the mud.
That's why when the beast bit him he simply avoided it by stomping on the mud with a slight step back, after avoiding its bite he immediately sent a horizontal slash forward.
Seeing the Hellhound hurt, he didn't let go of the opportunity and took advantage of it. He bolted forward and cut its left front leg. The Hellhound continuously cried in pain as its body started to fall.
But that was only the start of his comeback. He jumped above it and stabbed its massive sword into the Hellhound's back. The sword sunk into its body and blood flowed. He continued stabbing it until it finally stopped breathing.
When finally it stopped breathing.
[+2 Exp!]
[Level Up!]
The notifications surprised him. But before checking it, he needed to try something first. He jumped down from atop the Hellhound's corpse and landed beside it. Then he used his active skill.
"Devour!"
A swirling shadow appeared around the Hellhound's corpse, then a large mouth swallowed it.
Even Tim widened his eyes in surprise when the whole corpse that was two times bigger than him disappeared in front of him.
Then suddenly, another notification appeared.
[Agility increased!]
[Strength increased!]
[Constitutions increased!]
[Beast Blood awakened!]
"Beast Blood?!"