Daniel recognized the creature: One-Eyed Winter. It was a winter beast that only appeared in snowy mountains and wintry regions.
Its eye was blind during the day and only functioned at night, which was why the creature would sleep during the day and hunt at night. Additionally, its eye possessed a unique ability.
This creature could wield the power of the Law of Destruction. Its eye acted as a conduit, channeling the destructive power through it.
A being on par with the strongest of the awakened—those in the B-Rank tier. Beneath the authority of the Holders, this beast was undoubtedly among the most formidable.
This Beast of corruption existed in both the novel and his past life. They were savagely bloodthirsty and merciless.
He could hardly stop himself from cursing fate, how could he be so unlucky as to encounter such a monster? And as a mortal!
"Sniff." The One-Eyed Winter turned its head again, lowering it right above Daniel.
A droplet of saliva fell from its mouth onto Daniel's head. After sniffing him for a while longer, the beast pulled its head back and moved toward the blade.
Using its head, it nudged the blade aside and sniffed around the area. It picked up Daniel's severed arm, then returned to its cave.
With the beast gone, Daniel and the other three exhaled deeply in relief. Although the creature's vision wasn't weak, the scent of blood and the severed arm had distracted its senses.
Daniel slowly stood up, making his way to the cliff's edge. The distance to the ground was at least a thousand meters. In his current state, if he jumped, he'd undoubtedly die.
He glanced at his severed arm. It was still bleeding, but the cloth he had tied around it managed to stem the flow for now.
"Please, save us too!"
"He's right, please! You don't want to leave us here to die, do you?"
"Please, I beg you! Let us go!" Their voices rose, soft yet desperate, the tone of pleading clear.
Daniel ignored them, analyzing the situation instead.
'Even if I escape, that little tiger will find me by nightfall.' He frowned. By night, the entire mountain would become that beast's domain.
By then, his condition would have worsened, and the One-Eyed Winter would easily track him using the scent of his blood.
'Ah, of course.' He suddenly glanced at the other three.
"I'll save you now," he said, doing his best to sound heroic and righteous.
He approached them and began untying their ropes. Given his current state and the need to be cautious not to alert the beast, the process took a while.
"Thank you so much! We're really grateful to you!"
"I'm so sorry for cursing at you earlier!"
"I want to thank you too, but how are we going to escape from here?"
"Pull one of the wooden posts out from the snow," Daniel said, eyeing one of the posts buried nearby.
The three didn't understand his meaning but followed his instructions without questioning. They removed the post from the snow and laid it on top of the frozen ground.
"We're going to use this to get down."
"What? But we'll definitely die that way!"
"The drop is over ten thousand meters! There's no way we'll survive!"
"Do you have any other options?" Daniel gave them a cold stare, silencing them immediately.
He was right; there was no other way to escape.
After some internal struggle, the three eventually climbed onto the post. Before sitting on it himself, Daniel glanced around once more, committing the location to memory.
"We're not going to die, right?" The fear in their voices was palpable.
"Don't worry," Daniel reassured. The cliff face had a slope, and with the snow, it could almost be considered a form of sledding.
"Wooah!" They pushed off, and the post slid down. Gravity pulled at their faces, contorting their features upward as the post began its descent.
The post hit the slope, stabilizing their speed.
Gradually, their fear began to fade. But a dark glint appeared in their eyes as they exchanged glances with each other—and then from the corners of their eyes, they looked at Daniel.
"Oh, right. Don't take this personally—it's just to make sure the beast doesn't come after us," Daniel said suddenly, his tone cold and indifferent.
"Huh? What do you mea—" Before he could finish, blood sprayed from his chest.
"What the hell are you doing?!" One of the other two shouted in horror, his body trembling with fear.
Daniel didn't respond. He pulled the piece of wood out of the man's chest and, in a swift motion, decapitated him. The man's eyes, filled with confusion, stared blankly even in death, unable to comprehend why he had been killed.
Ignoring the horrified stares of the remaining two, Daniel grabbed the severed head with all his strength and threw it to the right. He then hurled the body in the opposite direction.
Blood splattered everywhere, staining the snowy slope and rocky cliffside. Of course, this had been his intention all along.
"It didn't fly as far as I wanted." With only one hand, he hadn't been able to throw the body as far as he'd liked.
"You… you're a monster! Damn it, why did you kill him?!" One of the others stared at Daniel as if looking at a true demon.
What kind of monster could kill someone so coldly, so ruthlessly, without hesitation?
"Are you stupid?"
"To ensure our survival, someone had to be sacrificed. Tonight, the beast will follow his trail of blood instead of ours."
"Would you prefer to take his place? No problem—two would work better than one."
Both of them fell silent. Daniel's reasoning was sound, but the sheer cruelty of killing a human without batting an eye—it was too much for them to process.
They didn't dare speak further, too afraid that Daniel might kill them next.
Meanwhile, Daniel smirked inwardly.
Did these fools really think they were clever…?
They were nothing more than three idiots—no, now two idiots—whom he intended to use to kill that beast.