The moon was unusually bright that night.
Beneath its silver glow, a lone figure raced across the hills at a speed far beyond what ordinary human eyes could follow.
Kyle was simply... too excited.
Launching himself from the ridge of a nearby hill, he shot toward an incoming wolf.
The beast’s instincts screamed in alarm.
Within half a blink, the two were already inches apart.
Kyle thrust his palm forward.
Before the monster’s claws could rake across his body,
Thump
His palm crashed into its chest.
Bones shattered.
Its ribcage caved inward before the enormous wolf was blasted backward at twice the speed of its charge.
Kyle landed lightly on the ground and turned around.
More than eight wolves stood before him.
Their eyes burned with bloodlust as they bared their fangs, ready to tear him apart.
Despite witnessing what he has caused to their comrades, they were not ready to back away. Maybe they are simply designed that way?
Designed might not be the best word, but yeah.
[Name: Earth Wolf]
[Rank: C]
[Str: 22
Spd: 25
End: 20
Int: 11]
They were roughly comparable to Second Grade Nightwalkers.
Their strength and speed were far superior to their intelligence, that’s why they were still so eager to fight.
In his normal state, Kyle would have struggled against even two of them, unless he was using Aquilla and God’s Eye.
But now...
"Come at me!"
His shout echoed through the valley as he welcomed every single one of them without the slightest hint of fear.
Adrenaline surged through his veins like a raging storm, setting every nerve in his body ablaze.
Just then,
[Viewer <SnakeQueen> has assigned a quest.]
[Quest: Defeat all targets within thirty seconds.]
[Reward: 1000 SP]
His grin widened. At the moment, he could hunt them even for a candy. So these points were nothing short of bonus.
[30...29...]
The timer started ticking in the corner of his vision.
Thirty seconds.
Kyle’s eyes narrowed.
’Let’s use this...’ He activated one of the spells he recently received.
A sensation surged from somewhere behind his sternum, a cold thread spreading out from his pupils like frost crawling across glass.
The wolves froze mid snarl.
Eleven bodies, locked stiff as statues. Eyes wide. Muscles trembling but unable to move a single inch.
Kyle nodded. "Nice."
He pushed off the ground.
His legs gave him a stronger burst than he expected, the new strength launching him forward at a speed his own nerves hadn’t caught up to yet.
He overshot the first wolf by half a step, stumbled, twisted his hip to correct it.
Damn, too much strength, need more control.
He’d figure it out fast or he’d figure it out never.
His fist crashed into the first wolf’s skull. Bone cracked under knuckles that weren’t supposed to hit this hard yet. But fuck it.
The frozen body didn’t even rock from the impact, Hunter’s Gaze holding it locked in place like it was bolted to the earth.
Good. That meant no wasted motion and no requirement to brace for recoil.
He spun, palm catching the second wolf under the jaw, snapping its neck sideways. The motion carried him too far, his foot catching on a root he should have seen and avoided.
He hit the ground in a roll instead of a stumble and used the momentum to launch back up, a blade in his hand he picked from the ground.
Three seconds gone.
He drove the blade through the ribs of the third wolf, then yanked it free without slowing, already turning toward the fourth.
His body was faster than his thoughts now. That terrified him for half a heartbeat and thrilled him for the other half.
Fourth wolf, throat opened in a single slash.
Fifth, a knee strike that folded its leg backward at an angle nature never intended.
He miscalculated the distance to the sixth, crashed into it shoulder first instead of striking clean, sent them both tumbling through dirt and dead leaves.
He recovered before it did, because it couldn’t move at all, and drove his elbow down through its skull.
Eight seconds.
The chat exploded somewhere in the back of his mind, a flood of comments he didn’t have time to read. And thankfully, the system kept it blocked for him.
He caught one word, drowning, before he shoved his focus back to the battlefield.
Seventh wolf. Eighth.
His strikes were getting cleaner now, the new strength settling into his bones like it finally belonged there. He stopped stumbling. Every movement chained into the next like a current finding its riverbed.
Ninth wolf, palm to the chest, ribs collapsing inward.
Tenth, a kick that nearly took its head clean off the shoulders.
The eleventh wolf was the only one his Gaze hadn’t quite locked all the way, a small flicker of motion in its paw.
Kyle noticed but does it matter?
He closed the gap and ended it with a single downward strike before it could so much as twitch further.
Twenty seconds.
He stood in the middle of eleven frozen corpses that weren’t corpses yet, chest heaving, blood splattered across his arms, grin still plastered across his face like he’d just gotten off the best ride of his life.
Then Hunter’s Gaze shattered.
The invisible grip holding their bodies upright vanished all at once, and eleven wolves that had been standing dead but undetected collapsed to the ground in a single wave, the damage finally registering as their nervous systems caught up to what had already happened to them.
[Quest Complete]
[Reward: 1000SP]
[Viewer <SnakeQueen> has donated 500SP]
[SnakeQueen: That was disgustingly efficient]
Kyle wiped the blood off his palm against his pants, breathing hard, the adrenaline only now starting to ebb.
"Disgusting," he muttered, glancing at the system notification still glowing faintly in his vision. "I’ll take it as a compliment."
Exhaling deeply to stabilize his breathing, he muttered, "Didn’t Hunter’s Gaze last a little too long? I wasn’t expecting them to stay frozen for more than five seconds."
[It’s because the host kept releasing Hunter’s Gaze instead of using it only once. Normally, the Gaze immobilizes a target for only three to four seconds, Host.]
"..."
Oh.
Well... he had an absurd amount of Genesis, so it was fine... right?
Just then,
Rumble
The ground shook violently, nearly throwing him off balance.
Kyle’s smile disappeared.
Every instinct in his body screamed at him.
Something was watching him.
Slowly, he turned around.
On the tallest hill behind him sat a massive shadow.
No...
Its fur was simply so black that it blended perfectly with the darkness itself.
Only its halo-like white eyes remained visible, locked onto Kyle with endless fury.
[Temple of Tsuhimi]
[Act II: Final Step]
[Quest: Defeat the Alpha]
[Name: Noir]
[Rank: A]
[Str: 45
Spd: 48
End: 40
Int: 40]
Kyle’s lips curled into a grin.
Now this...
This was an opponent worthy of him.
Aquilla instantly materialized in his hand.
His eyes sharpened, every muscle in his body tensing as he fixed his gaze on the gigantic wolf.
However, much to his disappointment,
[Host, you have a guest.]
"Tch. Who is...?"
His expression froze.
"...Oh, fuck."
He suddenly remembered.
Amanda!