After killing the deer and taking its antler as proof, he left the area and the weight of those hard emotions behind, then walked back to their meeting point.
He saw Korr waiting for him, and to his surprise, Yue was already there, holding… He narrowed his eyes—a bird's feather.
"Whoa, already finished?" Rex marveled.
She nodded with a smile.
As the sentence finished, Kai emerged, proudly showing a bear's finger, and stood along with Rex.
Then, after a few minutes, the last to arrive was Shun, holding a rabbit's ear.
"Good, all four of you are here now," Korr said, then turned to Rex and continued.
"Rex, you used your surroundings well and fought bravely, showing great potential.
But… remember not to put yourself in dangerous positions—like when you rolled sideways and threw the dagger, aiming for its heart.
That could have gone either way," Korr said, his tone laced with genuine concern as he warned Rex to be more careful.
Rex nodded in understanding. Even he felt that he would have died if the deer had been able to move back then.
Next, Korr looked at his cubs and gave them feedback one by one.
He acknowledged Kai's brute strength, Yue's swiftness and agility, and praised Shun for overcoming his fear.
Korr praised everyone and said, "You all did a great job on your first hunt. Now it's time to celebrate with a feast!"—pumping his fist in victory.
He was genuinely happy for the younglings; he himself had raised them.
Everyone shouted with excitement. Soon, they started walking back toward the inner region, heading home.
Korr paused. "You guys wait here. I'll hunt some beasts for our feast," and left them alone in search of food.
As Korr disappeared into the trees, Rex took in his surroundings, his gaze halting at the unhappy, almost… angry-looking Kai, in contrast to the happy faces.
Rex frowned and stepped closer. "What happened, Kai? You look unhappy," he asked with a serious expression.
Kai was usually a happy person unless something or someone hurt his pride.
As he inquired, Rex heard the bushes rustle behind Kai. The next moment…
A beast lunged at Kai from the bushes, aiming straight for him.
Rex, who was standing opposite, facing Kai, held Kai's hand and pulled him toward himself hurriedly.
The beast landed right where Kai had been moments ago. Using the momentum, Rex sprang forward and delivered a powerful kick square to the beast's face.
Everyone snapped to attention, eyes locking on the attacker.
It was a hound with dark bluish fur, a single small horn on its head, its ribs sticking out from its back, and eyes glowing cyan blue.
ROAR!
Kai let out a raging roar.
Rex was standing in front of the hound, having just kicked it in the face.
He quickly checked its status using [Eye of Tamer].
[Name: Hydrofang
[Entity: Beast]
[Species: Hound]
[Bloodline: ~]
[Rank: Spirit Rank 1-Star]
[Potential: Limited]
[Would you like to tame {Hydrofang}? - Y/N]
This beast was nothing like what Rex's party had faced. It was much stronger—a ranked beast at Spirit Rank 1-Star.
He almost missed an important prompt in a hurry, only to go back and check it again.
Can I tame it just like that? Whatever… Yes. System, tame the beast.
[Progress 1%]
The hound opened its mouth, and one could see a small water bubble forming inside. Increasing in size as moments passed, the water bubble had fully grown to the size of a fist.
The beast shot the water bubble toward the one who hurt it—toward Rex.
Rex had just landed on the ground after delivering a solid hit to the beast.
As he checked the beast's status and agreed to tame it, a water bubble came hurling with great speed.
Distracted and careless, he failed to dodge it in time, and the water bubble slammed into his stomach.
Due to the sheer force, he was pushed back, lunging onto Kai.
[Progress 5%]
Rex gritted his teeth and quickly balanced himself. "Yue, Shun, let's surround it from all four sides!" he ordered.
They both nodded and moved slowly from behind. Rex looked into the beast's eyes, not letting it focus elsewhere.
The beast also focused on Rex, not caring for the others as if they didn't matter—too weak for it to care.
The hound's instincts could tell, for some reason, Rex was dangerous, so it focused on him.
"Now!" Rex shouted.
He, Kai, and Yue charged from three directions—except for Shun, who had disappeared.
The hound swiped its claw, releasing two sharp water blades. One hurtled toward Rex, the other toward Kai.
Rex and Kai dodged the water claw, but the powerful projectiles continued past them and sliced clean through a thick tree. This attack slowing them down.
Yue, however, was undeterred. She lunged forward. She was almost near enough to tear into the hound's flesh.
But the beast was quick. Sensing her approach, it fired another water bubble at point-blank range.
Yue barely missed the beast as it shot its attack, giving her little time to react.
The attack struck her square in the chest, sending her crashing into a tree. She slumped to the ground—falling unconscious.
Shun… was nowhere to be seen.