With my daggers gripped firmly in hand, I braced for the upcoming fight. My opponents were of similar skill and level, but I had something they lacked: a deadly weapon.

While it might have been a mere mixture of hope and prayer, I was confident that, at the very least, I would survive.

Two of them noticed me as I approached, they must have had keen senses because it's not like I dropped my dagger and alerted them or something.

They charged at me as they moved in for an attack. My heart leapt in my chest as I saw them coming at me. However, the lion had been scarier. So gripping tight on my dagger I prepared to defend myself.

Just before the one in the lead reached me it jumped. Numb to the fear in my stomach, I ducked just in time as its teeth grazed my head. Feeling the saliva of the fierce creature was terrifying, not as much as looking up to see the other beast’s fangs close in on me.

Swallowing my scream I brought both daggers into its neck, growing at the strain as my arms were wrenched back toward me. I felt something give as the jackal was now laying on me.

It took a few breaths to realize it was no longer moving and I opened the eyes I didn't realize had closed to see that my attack had struck true. Both daggers had torn its neck and the warmth of the blood sent a shiver down my spine as I struggled to get out from underneath the now-dead creature.

Thankfully, though I would rather not think about it, I was easily able to slide out from underneath it due to the fresh lubricant pouring out of it.

A sharp yip caused me to jump as the other jackal called to its friends. Getting to my feet I glazed over at the others to find them looking over at me. Desperately I ran to the jackal hoping to kill it before its friends could join it, jamming my blade deep inside its skull. Holy shit that worked. I mean, just as planned. Unfortunately, I was now down one knife as it was stuck inside. Trying to pull it out I turned to face the others. They had not advanced, instead the wanna be wolves stared at me.

The movement caused me to jump away as I turned to find that the jackal I thought I killed was, in fact, still alive. Unable to fathom how the jackal was still alive with a dagger embedded in its skull, it scampered off taking my weapon with it! “Come back!” I wanted to give chase, but couldn't. I only defeated two out of the 10 and it seems this was the moment the leader was waiting for.

It howled and the pack surrounded me. It was fine. I still had a dagger. I could take down a few of them before the inevitable happened.

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CRASH!

A sudden sound echoed from the forest. The ground shook gently and the dogs’ ears perked up. A couple of yips from the leader was enough for them to scamper off. Not before they grabbed the meat. That wasn't fair! I wanted to complain but the noise had also caused the hair on the back of my head to rise.

Soon I was alone with only one jackal, running around with my bone dagger in its skull. Huh, must have caused him some brain damage. I didn't stay around to find out, instead, I crossed the forest floor to the corpse of my mr lion man. With some strength and wiggling I was soon safely underneath it and just in time too.

For death entered the clearing.

It had crimson-red eyes. As tall as a tree a flesh like corpse wandered into the clearing. It had different skins attached to its twisted form until it made its way into the clearing. Its face was twisted and decayed; nothing was in its proper place as if this creature didn’t know the meaning of the words subtle tea.

Analysis revealed something far worse;

Undead Spirit: Stitched Behemoth Abomination

Level 83 | Undeath

Life Stamina: Unknown

Mana Flow: Unknown

Strength: Unknown

Dexterity: Unknown

Constitution: Unknown

Arcana: Unknown

It was clear even without analyzing that this thing wasn’t for me to beat but it showed how far it truly was.

Seriously what the hell was wrong with this forest!? It wandered into the clearing before looking around it. It soon found the jackal running laps and with speed greater than it should have, it plucked the poor pup up with a stitched, leathery hand. It looked at it with its massive eye.

The dog flaked madly and I didn't blame it. After a moment of staring it placed it at an open patch of skin. It then absorbed the jackal as bone-like tread sewed it to the creature. The Jackal’s cries of pain echoed around the clearing and inside my own heart. I closed my eyes and covered my mouth. I wanted to scream but I knew I would be killed if I did. I closed my eyes and held my breath.

I don't know how long I stayed there, silently weeping with every fear of being found. It was long after I heard it step away. Long after I knew its footsteps had left my clearing. But I stayed put, eyes closed and mouth covered. Shaking from the fear of that ungodly creature.