Heavy footsteps echoed through the forest, crushing bushes and toppling trees, causing a thunderous crash as they hit the ground.
The giant monster continued to walk with its neck hunched, its green eyes glowing and scanning the surroundings, still searching.
Sief watched from behind a tree, trying to control his breathing despite being breathless from the chase. The hot air from his breath was clearly visible.
He quickly covered his mouth and hid as he heard the monster stop, gritting his teeth and thinking.
'It's too strong and too big, much bigger than any I've seen.' A terrifying silence filled the area as Sief subtly moved to peek. 'Even though the trees are hindering it, eventually, this will-'
His thoughts were interrupted as he saw the monster's head advancing towards him. Sief's eyes widened, and he tried to retreat, but the impact struck the tree, hurling him away and into the bushes. He grunted, realizing another tree had been uprooted and snapped in half by the monster, which still had its glowing eyes fixed on him. Sief gritted his teeth and ran again, seeking protection among the trees.
The loud footsteps continued behind him, and he could hear the trees being knocked down. He zigzagged and hid behind a tree, but it was also uprooted and split in half.
Sief grunted and looked back, his eyes widening at the sight of a piece of the tree being swung by the monster's elongated neck.
In an instant, it swung the trunk towards him. Sief braced himself, knowing he would be hit.
The trunk collided with Sief's body, and he used both arms to shield himself, but he was still thrown, landing among the bushes again as the monster let out a monstrous roar that made even the trees tremble.
In moments, its shadow loomed over the bushes, and its jaws lunged, biting and shredding the leaves.
Despite being breathless, Sief covered his mouth and nose, trying to recover in the tree above the monster.
Blood dripped from between his fingers, revealing his injuries. He clung to the tree with his dagger, still nervously watching and concluding.
'This can't be the alpha here, it's too strong... stronger than all of them...'
He gritted his teeth, his breathing heavy and blood dripping onto his chest. He clenched his fist, noticing a faint glow in his eyes that slightly illuminated his fist.
However, the monster rose again, making Sief stay alert.
'Is it leaving? Why was it chasing me from the start? Why did it kill the monsters that summoned it?...' He gritted his teeth, still trying to control his breathing. 'It wanted those monsters, but not these trees... it wants to eat mana?'
The monster didn't move and continued to scan the surroundings, its glowing eyes seeming to intensify, making Sief squint and wonder.
'Is it using an ability?'
Slowly, the monster turned its face towards Sief's location, making the assassin's eyes widen as he leaped back, again seeing the jaws snapping towards him.
In an instant, he was surrounded by the monster's mouth and quickly turned in mid-air, realizing he was about to be swallowed.
However, he extended his arms and pushed off, stopping near the monster's beak and throwing himself again, narrowly escaping the bite that devoured all the leaves of the tree.
Sief hit the ground face-first and rolled, colliding with a tree and grunting as he coughed up blood, realizing the monster was still watching him.
On the ground and breathless, Sief tried to stand, but the monster's neck lunged again, forcing him to lie down quickly, barely avoiding the attack.
With a burst of movement, Sief spun and slashed, escaping from under the monster's neck and standing, raising his dagger with a green aura, but he clicked his tongue when he saw no blood and frowned, feeling pain all over his body.
'It's too hard... it felt like cutting a rock...'
Despite his whole body aching, Sief knew he had to move or he would die. He quickly turned to run, but something passed by him, making his eyes widen, realizing someone else was there.
"If you run, that thing is mine."
Sief stopped and turned quickly, seeing something the giant monster was also staring at: a human, as young as Sief, but with a very different appearance.
His skin was tanned, and his hair was short and messy, with a longer part tied back like a ponytail.
His clothes were nothing more than a common shirt with torn sleeves and large pants, along with leather boots and iron knuckles, but the main feature was his red, glowing eyes, as if a skill was activated.
Sief turned quickly, and their gazes met, giving Sief a strange feeling, but he soon focused on the monster, which was still watching them with glowing eyes.
"If you don't want it, I'm going."
He walked towards the monster, which watched him, and before Sief could react, the stranger charged at the monster with a sharp look, while Sief thought.
'He's fast, is he an assassin too!?'
The turtle monster lunged with its neck, quickly reaching the stranger, but Sief also noticed the ground beneath the human's feet sink, and in an instant, he jumped to the side, leaving only the red trace of his eyes, dodging the turtle's charge.
Again, the monster went after the assassin, who gritted his teeth and jumped back, retreating. The turtle's head lunged, and Sief used it as a base, jumping again and spinning in the air, dodging the monster's attack.
As he landed, Sief saw the stranger on the monster's side, positioning himself.
'Is he faster than me? That wasn't speed...'
When he looked at the stranger, he was positioned again, but this time with his hands and legs on the ground, digging all his limbs into the soil, hitting the monster's neck, which let out a shrill sound as its neck was thrown to the side.
'It was strength!'
Sief's eyes widened again as he saw the monster's head fly to the side, but the stranger relentlessly jumped in the monster's retreat, digging his fingers into its neck and then opening his mouth, advancing his face.
Again, Sief was surprised to see blood spurting and the creature screaming. When he realized, the stranger had torn a small piece of the monster's neck with his own teeth, making the giant monster thrash.
However, the stranger lunged again and tore another piece, leaving only the red traces of his glowing eyes while making several points of the turtle bleed.
More attacks followed, and the monster continued to scream, retracting its neck to minimize damage, but was blocked by the stranger, who raised his fist and struck, pushing the monster's neck slightly outward as the blow sent a strong wind through the forest, causing the surrounding leaves to fall along with the screaming monster.
It was the first time Sief saw a monster in so much pain without lethal blows, but the turtle's eyes glowed even more intensely as it extended its neck as far as possible.
With its huge body, the monster spun, colliding with nearby trees, knocking them down with its strength, but also hitting the boy who flew amidst one of the strikes. However, when Sief noticed, he kept looking down with a mouth full of blood.
The turtle quickly lowered its face and retracted its neck as the boy retracted his fist in mid-air. In an instant, the monster's head lunged, ready to swallow the stranger, who showed a slight smile, saying.
"This is going to hurt."
Sief saw an enormous amount of energy being concentrated, and when he noticed, it was all around the stranger's fist, who twisted his torso in mid-air.
The monster's beak opened, already close to the stranger, who, still smiling, murmured.
"Teppou."
An impact occurred, and before the turtle reached him, the stranger struck, sinking the monster's nose, which was pierced by the punch that caused the crash, but in an instant, he saw the entire neck of the turtle tremble.
All the monster's skin shivered as if an internal shockwave ran through its body, from the tip of its nose to the end of its neck, but as quickly as that, the monster's head sank into its own neck as the blow's impact echoed through the ground, causing the soil beneath the monster to collapse along with its body.
Having its legs momentarily lifted off the ground was enough for the monster to fall, no longer resisting, letting its enormous armored body hit the ground, and after a few moments, its neck also gave way.
The stranger landed, followed by the monster's neck touching the ground with a dry sound, raising dust that blew over Sief's face, who watched, still stunned.
Seeing the monster's eyes slowly dimming, the stranger approached its head and gently stroked it, making the monster look at him while he concluded.
"You fought very well, thank you for the meal."
And slowly, the monster's eyes lost their glow as the stranger smiled, climbing its neck while Sief could see from afar that his eyes were shining as if he was about to cry. But before anything could happen, he crouched again and bit.
Even from a distance, Sief could hear the sound of flesh being torn apart, but the main thing was that when the stranger lifted his head, there was a transformation in his face.
His cheeks were much larger than they should be, and his throat was expanded beyond his body, but the main thing was his prominent teeth, which stood out almost like fangs in his mouth.
Slowly, Sief approached and listened more closely. The sounds of flesh being bitten and torn apart seemed to echo through the area, which had suddenly fallen silent thanks to that display of strength.
Sief watched, still unsure how to react, seeing that the monster's neck was slowly disappearing due to the bites and chunks the stranger was tearing off.
Even though he was close, the stranger didn't seem bothered by his presence, and Sief could see clearly, but he still wondered.
'Is he crying?'
Note: Maybe you are wondering if the chapter is right, from here on I will rewrite some chapters that I thought could have been improved, from 23.1 to 24.1, from then on it will return to normal.