Tim knew the situation had gotten much more complicated. He wished the system would come with a damn warning manual or told him how this Dao thing worked.
The only silver lining was that the claw was a very simple weapon to use, not requiring any complex techniques or skills, just a correct angle and momentum.
The second dog was half way up already, his intuition had done him well, having finished off the first one in the shortest possible time possible. The pain was driving him insane, but it would serve it's purpose by letting him know if he was still alive or not. The odds didn't appear to be in his favor.
Steeling his nerves, he moved forward towards the direction where the second dog was coming from, but keeping his distance from the path of ascent, not wanting to make the same mistake twice.
For a while now, he was wondering if he could channel the wind energy for defence. He really couldn't keep this up, these things had ridiculous defences. He wondered if there was something like weak points he could focus on, but he didn't exactly have the convinience of examining the dog in detail. From the exterior, there was nothing that even gave a hint of weakness, and the thing's defences were ridiculously tough.
Even if the creature took a single bite out of him, with those oversized, wickedly sharp teeth, he would be done. He was close to grasping it, but it felt as if he was making a conceptual mistake at the last step.
His second adversary landed on the ground, looking around warily at first then focusing it's gaze at Tim with a radiating intensity, as if it realized it's breathern had been slain here already.
The creature charged at Tim, aiming to bite his throat out. Thankfully, his high agility gave him enough leeway to dodge, the creature snapping at nothing but air. It seemed unfazed by it's failure, stablilzing itself and charging in Tim's direction again.
This couldn't go on. He could dodge it for a decent while, but eventually he'd make a mistake. One slip, one lapse in concentration and it was the end. And the dog's reinforcements was on its way, only a few minutes away at best.
He realized that maybe he was being too ambitious. How could he use the wind to defend himself? That was too ridiculous a target, too difficult to make the wind obey and form an impregnable wall around him. But what if he could slow down the creature, even if for a very short amount of time? It won't provide him with any real defence, but it would give him an opening. If a fierce gale is blowing against you, your speed will be affected, even if it's only by a little. Conversely, if the wind is at your back, blowing in your direction you feel like the fastest man on earth, as if a gentle, guiding hand was supporting you from behind.
Tim resolved himself to give it a shot, while channeling the sharpness aspect into his claws, hoping that if his attempt failed it would stun the beast for a while, enough to create some distance.
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He stopped dodging around, and simply stood there as if he had given up and lost the will to fight. The dog jumped up at him, aiming to take a chunk out of his jugular, only 2 or 3 meters separating them at this point.
"SLOW!" yelled Tim, and focused at the flow of the wind around him. The dog was dumbfounded at this sudden development, it was as if the wind around him was all aimed in his direction, nowhere near enough to blow him off, but instead reduced its speed by over half. It was already suppose to have bitten the human by now, but it's jaws only clamped at the wind yet again. It's calculations had been completely thrown off by the human's bizzare attack, and it saw a razor sharp claw fly in it's direction.
Tim knew that he had no way of killing the beast instantaneously. So, he did the next best thing.
Channeling all his strength into his left arm, he pummeled the beast with his claws.....aiming at it's teeth. A piercing sound that resembled metal grating against metal came from the impact, along with some crunching. Even if the claws were used, the momentum was still channeled from Tim's claws to the dog, and it went flying away into the malleable sand.
Tim moved towards the dog, wondering if his ploy had worked. He heard screeching sounds, and looked inside the mini crater in which the dog lay.
It's intimidating teeth were now a mess, littered around it along with a pool of blood. Either missing, shattered or fragmented, it had clenched it's teeth so hard after it missed that Tim had knocked them out in one go.
Removing his claws and tossing them aside, he walked next to the beast, and put his foot down in a section of the beast's maw where all the teeth were missing, while using his left hand to prevent it from chomping down. Even in the beast's current situation, if it bit at him it would definitely tear through his foot and leave nasty incisions. He raised the beast slightly with his left arm, then used his leg to channel his body weight and strength downwards.
With a loud snap and pop, the dog's jaw broke. It seemed to be in shock, the pain not registering. This was too much, even for Tim, he didn't want to see the creature in further pain. Unsheathing his rapier with his left, he stuck his head inside the creature's maw, climbed till he was about a fourth of his body was inside it. He saw a shimmering, round orb that was glowing slightly, and immediately struck it without any hesitation.
The notifications trickled in, and he heaved a sigh of relief. Now the creature would not need to suffer any longer. He felt angry to be forced to use such methods.
"FUCK OFF! FUCK ALL THIS BULLSHIT! WHY WOULD YOU BE THIS CRUEL? WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS? WHAT WAS I SUPPOSE TO DO, ROLL OVER AND DIE!?" Tim vented his anger at the system, he didn't know what degree of sentience these animals possessed, but harming them was not something he could find pleasure in, and he felt a shred of guilt.
But right now, he could only stifle his rage and give survival precedence. Whatever game the system was playing at, right now he wasn't even qualified to be a pawn.
He had to get himself together, the last dog would be here soon. The sound of moment appeared to be much closer now, perhaps a few minutes away.
He quickly went through his notifications, focusing on one slightly longer.
[ Congratulations, you have gained insight into Aspect of Minor Dao of Wind: Deceleration ]
Re-equiping his claw, he waited for the last beast to arrive. Without the pressure of reinforcements, he could take his time with the beast, the threat had dropped significantly.
It was time to end this nonsense.