The battlefield was deathly silent.
Jiang Chen could feel the dull sting of the cuts already littering his body. The thin wounds on his arms and ribs weren't deep, but they were adding up.
Each time he thought he had an opening, the Umbral Strider would disappear like mist in the wind. Each time he reacted, he was just a little too late.
And worst of all? It still wasn't fighting seriously.
His breath was slow, measured. His golden-amber eyes burned in the dim light of Evernight Valley. His fingers tightened around his spear, his mind moving like a raging storm.
This fucker isn't like the beasts I fought before.
The beasts of the wilderness—they fought with instinct, with bloodlust. They charged straight into battle, power and ferocity first, strategy second.
But this?
The Umbral Strider was a hunter.
It was patient. It was toying with him.
And that pissed him off.
Jiang Chen exhaled sharply and forced himself to move first.
No more waiting. No more reacting.
He shot forward, his spear piercing the air in a vicious thrust—a straight, precise strike that cut through the space in front of him like a lightning bolt.
Nothing.
The Umbral Strider wasn't there.
His golden-amber eyes sharpened, instincts screaming—BEHIND!
He twisted—
Too late.
SLASH!
A sharp, silent blade ripped through his back.
Jiang Chen hissed in pain, blood spraying into the darkened air as he stumbled forward.
The moment he caught himself, it was already coming again.
THUMP!
A second strike—this time a piercing stab, aiming for his ribs.
Jiang Chen twisted just enough to avoid a fatal blow, but the attack still slammed into his side, sending him flying across the battlefield.
His back slammed into a rock formation, sending cracks spreading like a spiderweb through the stone.
For a moment, everything blurred.
Jiang Chen tasted iron in his mouth. His vision was spinning. His body felt sluggish, the blood loss making his limbs heavier than before.
This… this bastard…
The Umbral Strider didn't attack immediately.
No.
It was watching.
Enjoying this.
Jiang Chen's breathing was ragged. His fingers trembled slightly as he planted his spear into the ground, forcing himself to his feet.
His golden-amber eyes locked onto the shadows in front of him. He couldn't see it, but he knew it was there.
And he grinned.
"You sneaky, silent, motherfucker…" He spat blood, rolling his shoulders despite the burning pain. "You think you've got me figured out, huh?"
The Umbral Strider finally moved again.
This time, it didn't vanish.
This time, it charged.
Jiang Chen's eyes widened slightly. It was fast. Unnaturally fast. Faster than anything he had faced before.
But he had fought countless battles against things faster than him.
His spear swung up in a defensive arc, aiming to intercept the charging Strider—
But something changed.
The moment it was mid-charge, its body contorted in an impossible way, bending backward at an unnatural angle, completely dodging the spear without losing momentum.
Jiang Chen barely had time to react before—
CRACK!
The Umbral Strider slammed its limb into his chest, launching him skyward.
Jiang Chen's ribs screamed in agony, his body soaring through the air before crashing downwards.
He rolled across the ground, blood smearing the dirt, before coming to a skidding halt against a gnarled tree root.
Everything hurt.
His arms trembled slightly as he pushed himself up, his breath ragged, sharp.
He wasn't just fighting some overgrown beast.
This thing was evolving mid-battle.
It had learned his attack patterns. It had adjusted its movement.
And now?
It had decided to kill him.
Jiang Chen forced himself onto one knee, spear shaking slightly in his grip. He wiped the blood from his lips, exhaling through his nose.
His golden-amber eyes flickered in the dark.
The Umbral Strider wasn't moving.
It was circling him.
It knew.
He was losing.
Jiang Chen grinned anyway.
"Hah… you really are a clever little bastard, aren't you?" He tilted his head, spitting a bit of blood to the side. "Gotta admit, I wasn't expecting this."
The Umbral Strider didn't react.
It didn't need to.
It had already won.
Jiang Chen exhaled slowly. His chaotic energy flickered weakly inside of him.
I can't keep fighting like this.
His mind raced, calculating everything he had seen, everything he had learned in this fight.
This thing's speed, its silence, its intelligence.
It wasn't an unkillable monster.
It was a hunter.
A patient, careful predator.
But every predator had patterns.
And Jiang Chen had just found this one's weakness.
Jiang Chen's grin widened.
"Alright then…"
He gripped his spear tightly, blood dripping from his fingers.
"You wanna kill me?" He lifted his head, golden-amber eyes burning with wild intensity.
"Then come and fucking try."
The Umbral Strider moved.
And Jiang Chen was ready.
The Umbral Strider lunged.
Jiang Chen's body screamed in protest, his injuries weighing him down like iron chains. But he ignored the pain—pain meant nothing. Pain was temporary.
His mind, his instincts, his soul—they burned with clarity.
This was it.
The last exchange.
The Strider's razor-like claws gleamed in the dim light, slashing forward in a blur of motion—faster than before.
Jiang Chen didn't dodge.
He couldn't.
His body was too slow.
Instead—he stepped forward.
The Strider's attack sliced into his shoulder, a white-hot agony exploding through his body—but he didn't stop.
This was the moment.
He used the force of the impact to push himself closer.
His spear, gripped so tightly his knuckles had turned white, pierced forward in a savage thrust.
The Umbral Strider, realizing too late, tried to shift, tried to dodge—
But Jiang Chen had already calculated everything.
The Strider had patterned its dodges.
And this time…
Jiang Chen aimed for where it would move.
THRUST!
His spear found flesh.
For the first time in this entire battle, the Umbral Strider let out a sound—
A horrific, ear-piercing shriek.
Jiang Chen roared, driving the spear deeper, deeper, his chaotic Qi flaring wildly, releasing a fluctuation of force inside the beast's body.
The spearhead burst through the beast's back, piercing its core.
The Strider thrashed, its body convulsing, its claws still ripping into him, but Jiang Chen refused to let go.
He twisted the spear one final time.
The Strider's movements slowed.
Its body stiffened.
Its eyes dimmed.
And then—it collapsed.
Jiang Chen staggered back, blood pouring from his wounds. His breathing was ragged, his vision blurred—but he was still standing.
The Umbral Strider was dead.
The silent hunter had been hunted.
Jiang Chen let out a sharp, breathless laugh.
"Hah… fuck… you… too…"
Then—his body gave out.
He collapsed onto his back, staring at the darkened sky of Evernight Valley, his heartbeat pounding in his ears.
He had won.
But barely.
His entire body was drenched in blood—his own and the beast's. His limbs were like lead, his bones aching, his Chaos Qi flickering weakly.
Jiang Chen's golden-amber eyes remained half-lidded, exhaustion pulling at his consciousness.
His mind swam with one final thought before everything faded to black—
I need to get stronger.
And then, darkness took him.
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