As he stood up, Ackster realized that he wouldn’t be able to stop the bull if he continued leaning forward so much since he just slid across the soft ground. But he also couldn’t be too upright since he wasn’t strong enough to resist the bull.

He had to find a balance where the bull would push him into the ground without him sliding backward and plowing a field.

Ackster twisted and dug his feet into the ground in advance to get as much leverage as possible while the bull charged.

His mind cleared itself as everything he saw was the bull and its horns—his handles.

A vision of the bull crashing into him flashed through Ackster’s head. Battlesight activated at this critical juncture.

With the help of Battlesight, Ackster finetuned and adjusted his posture to perfectly match the bull’s charge.

And when the bull finally collided, Ackster was ready.

His feet didn’t move, at least not at first. It was his upper body that bent backward to accommodate the bull’s charge. No matter how ready he had been, there was still a limit to what he could do with his physical strength against the bull.

Ackster could feel himself losing strength as his position faltered. But he refused to fall over or budge, even as the bull pushed him backward. Ackster’s torso was almost parallel with the ground as his feet scraped into the ground, his heels digging in like anchors to try and stop.

Ackster still refused to let go of the bull’s horns or fall to the ground since he knew that would be the end, if not of his life, of his attempt at acquiring Iron Wall. And he could feel that he was at a threshold for the skill, so there was no way he was going to let himself give up. He gritted his teeth and gripped the bull’s horns as tightly as his broken hands would let him. No, he gripped tighter than that.

The fractured and broken hands in his hand and wrist ground against each other as he forced his hands closed around the flat, pillar-like horns. The shards of bone dug into the soft tissue of his hands, and blood ran down his forearms.

But his broken hands were the least of Ackster’s problems.

He used his grip to haul himself up off the ground, and before the bull could swing its head and toss him away, he repositioned his body. Instead of dragging below the bull’s head, it returned to the initial position of trying to block the charge. He threw his feet and legs backward in the bull’s path.

The ground crashed into the balls of his feet and tore away what remained of his calluses. It was proof that he held his position. His stance hadn’t faltered, even as the muscles in his legs, hips, abdomen, and torso twisted and bulged with strength that surpassed what he was capable of unleashing.

Ackster roared in the bull’s face.

The bull didn’t want to stop, but it had lost its momentum due to Ackster’s stubborn breaking. And once that happened, it was only a matter of time before it could no longer push ahead.

Ackster had left two deep trenches of dirt and grass, stained red with blood, in the bull’s path. And it wasn’t for nothing. He had stopped the bull. It was just that it had taken all he had and then some. He had used his Strength, Fortitude, Spirit, and Stamina beyond their limits.

Limit Breaker had shown its usefulness and helped Ackster break through his limits. It had helped him stop the bull. And if Ackster’s hunch was right, it had also helped him acquire Iron Wall during his first training session.

Limit Breaker had shown its usefulness the first fight after he got it, despite being G-ranked. It was far superior to most of Ackster’s other skills, which had only shown a passive effect, even after being at higher ranks.

But Ackster didn’t have time to celebrate how great a skill it was that he had gotten his hands on. He had run himself ragged just to stop one of the bull’s charges. But the bull wasn’t injured in the slightest. It was barely tired.

Even if he had a weapon better than his gauntlets, Ackster wasn’t sure he would be able to defeat the bull.

He had gotten himself into lethal trouble once again, and it was up to him and his luck to get out of it. A thought about getting someone strong enough to bail him out of situations like this flashed through his mind before being replaced by a question of the Guild and whether the ones watching him would do it.

But he quickly tossed those thoughts into a mental trashcan. They had no place here. He only had himself to rely on. Otherwise, he would grow complacent and not give his all.

So, instead of hoping something or someone would save him, he took matters into his own hands.

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Even if he couldn’t defeat the bull in a head-to-head, he could do other things. He didn’t even have to kill it. By now, Ackster would be satisfied as long as he survived.

So, he used the bull’s frantic upswing of its head and followed along. He didn’t let go until he had done almost an entire lap and landed on the bull’s back. He quickly turned around and, before the bull could toss him off, shimmied his way up to the bull’s neck and grabbed hold tightly.

He was too weak and broken to hold on to the wildly bucking bull while simultaneously trying to attack it. So, he settled for just holding on and hoping he could outlast the bull. Unfortunately, it seemed like a pipe dream. His bloody and broken hands were slipping against the bull’s slick fur. And the horns were too thick, especially at the base, which was the only part Ackster could reach, to hold onto.

Only his legs anchored Ackster to the bull as they clamped down on the bull’s neck.

Ackster was at a loss. He could feel the strength from Limit Breaker begin to drain away. Strong Body was out of fuel, and his recovery had started to slow down markedly. His other skills only amplified his strengths. They didn’t give him more. In his current state of weakness, there wasn’t much his other combat-related skills could do.

‘Wait….’

If Strong Body was out of fuel, he just needed to refuel himself, right?

Ackster felt the tight and dense muscles ripple, tense, and relax like a doped-up massage chair beneath the thick hide. It was a crazy idea, especially since it looked like the bull’s skin would be too sturdy for his teeth to pierce it.

But Ackster was in his current position because he was crazy. More craziness might bring him out of it. And since the rest of his body was busy, with both arms and both legs doing their best to chain him to the bull’s neck, his mouth was the only thing left to attack with.

Besides, thick hide, too thick and defensive for Ackster to bite through, wasn’t the only thing on the bull’s body. There were a couple of exceptions. More specifically, there was a pair of exceptions close enough for Ackster to reach if he climbed a little.

The bull’s ears were much thinner and more flexible than the rest of the bull’s skin. So, there was some hope that he could bite them off.

Ackster didn’t even hesitate. He immediately shimmied his way up the relentlessly bucking and jumping bull, which was doing everything it could to get Ackster off its back. Since it was also flinging its head side to side, back and forth, as wildly as the rest of its body, Ackster hesitated before bringing his head close to it. But since he was practically hugging the bull’s neck with his entire body like a baby koala, his body followed the bull’s head’s movements.

Eventually, he managed to nibble on the tip of one of the bull’s ears. It was hard, leathery, hairy, and stubborn, but when he bit down enough to make him fear he would lose his teeth and jerked his head back, he tore away a piece.

It was less than a bite, and it was of the ear, which wasn’t exactly rich in protein. But it was still a part of a strong beast filled with existential power, mana, and nutrients. Even such a small piece was enough to get his metabolism going again and jumpstart his recovery. It made the next bite slightly easier. And the next.

The bull cried out slightly at the pain of Ackster eating its ears, and its jumping grew more frantic. Ackster realized he couldn’t take his time and enjoy this meal since it was only a matter of time before the bull decided to risk it and would throw itself on its back.

Considering its weight and size, doing that probably wouldn’t be comfortable, and it would expose the bull to a lot of danger, but it wasn’t like it would die. And it was certainly better when compared to losing its ears.

So, Ackster hurried and shoved the rest of the ear in his mouth, tearing it off at the base. And then, when the bull had enough and threw itself to the ground with a boom that shook the earth, Ackster pushed himself off the bull’s neck and also threw himself to the ground.

He rolled back while chewing the ear and swallowing it in large chunks to let his Iron Stomach digest it as quickly as possible. He stood up and looked at the bull that was struggling to do the same.

Ackster considered fleeing. After all, there was no shame in surviving.

However, his Strong Body was breaking down his body to heal his injuries. He would only grow weaker and weaker until he ate something. And if the first beast he encountered were this bull, maybe the next one would be something stronger.

Sure, he had wasted most of his strength to learn Iron Wall, but if he didn’t eat and replenish his strength, he wouldn’t regain any level of power that would be enough to defeat a strong foe.

If he were unlucky, he would starve and become too weak to fight and kill anything. He didn’t want to take that risk, especially when his stomach was urging him to partake in the feast contained within the bull.

With a decision heavily influenced by his hunger made, Ackster ran. It was his turn to charge this time. He jumped and stomped down on the bull’s chest before it could get up. He jumped straight on the bull’s chest while wearing his training equipment, but he didn’t even break a single rib.

Trying to brute force his way into killing the bull wouldn’t work. He had to be smart about it and target the bull’s weak points. Unfortunately, it was covered by a thick layer of hide that protected most of its body.

Fortunately, it was slightly weaker in a few places, such as the ears, but also in places that required a lot of flexibility. And one such place was the throat. Ackster didn’t waste any time looking for another weak point since the bull was trying to rise again.

He stomped on the bull’s head, right on its temple, as hard as he could to disorient it. The stunting feeling of the impact told him what he already knew. The most he could do was disorient it. The bull’s skull felt even harder than the rock lizard’s.

But the throat wasn’t that hard, and Ackster kicked it with all his might several times. His legs, weighed down by the rocky training equipment, carried enough momentum to make the bull couch and choke. It tried to bite him in retaliation. It also tried to kick him with its front legs.

Both those attacks would have injured Ackster severely, but only if they hit, which they didn’t. With his hunger whetting his appetite and his appetite narrowing his field of view until all he saw was the bull, Keen Senses and Battlesight guided Ackster through the attacks.

Eventually, he heard a slight crunch. He didn’t know if it was his foot, the bull’s windpipe, or something else, but his kicks were doing damage.

And finally, after several more cracking and crunching sounds, the bull croaked.