My arm healed far slower than I wanted it to, and far slower than it should.

The blood had already begun to dry up around the puncture points, but the actual wound itself was still there. A set of an abnormal amount of teeth marks, leaving my arm looking far too disgusting to bear. It was confusing to say the least, but it took me a few moments to come to the conclusion that something about the beast itself was slowing my recovery abilities down.

But how?

Fortunately, the beast didn’t seem to find any enjoyment out of fighting against a crippled opponent, as it simply circled me as I healed. It’s pack still surrounding me with watchful eyes glued to me. When my bones had finally mended and the pain from the bite was more or less ignorable, I raised my fists once more. The disadvantage of having no weapon was really dragging me down.

‘Aren’t you forgetting something?’ Hadeon questioned, his voice more annoying than ever.

It took me a second to remember, but it was a damn good thing that I did. The sword was pulled out from my ring, and its hilt sat tightly in my palm. The weight suggested that it was a one-handed sword, though the amount of hands I needed weren’t going to help all too much. Though the difference between the Weaver and the sword wasn’t all that big, I could immediately feel the changes.

My confidence in wielding the weapon was abysmal to say the least, not to mention that my first time wielding one was in a very unsafe and uncontained environment, so this fight would mainly just be me swinging around the sword, praying that it hits its mark. Though my prayers weren’t usually answered.

I twirled the blade around in my hand, getting a feel for the weapon. The mere presence of the hilt and blade proved to be a hindrance, as my last-ditch efforts of dropping my Weaver before swiftly grabbing it in my hands and thrusting it, was no longer an option. Unless of course I planned on cutting open my hand over a very small chance that the strike works.

The beast growled, growing restless from a lack of action. I wanted nothing more than to kill it, or maybe run away with my life. But its own attack power, combined with the encirclement of the other beasts, would put a stop to both of my plans. So I had no other choices but to face the freakishly strong and hideous beast, and just hope that by some miracle, I could win.

The sword swung down with all the force I could muster as I surged forward, hoping to catch the beast off guard. But, to no one's surprise, my plan failed miserably. The creature was quicker than it looked. It raised one massive arm in defense, swatting my blade aside like it was nothing more than an irritating fly. In a fluid motion, it lunged at me, claws extended and aiming for my throat, the kind of strike meant to end a fight in one clean blow.

In that fleeting second, regret surged through me. I should have taken the brief lull in our battle to put my armor on. The thought of its protective embrace had crossed my mind, but now it was too late. I was exposed. But there was no time for regret, though I did truly enjoy regretting things, I had to move. I hopped back, barely escaping its deadly swipe, my heart hammering in my chest as I reset my stance.

My sword was already back in position, centered defensively before me, just in time to meet the next attack. The beast struck hard, but my blade held firm, vibrating under the impact but remaining intact. Finally, a good sign. The first one since this nightmarish battle began.

But the creature wasn’t done. Not by a long shot. It swung its free arm upward in a brutal uppercut, fast and vicious. Without thinking, I did something incredibly stupid—I brought my forearm up to block it. The sheer force behind its blow nearly sent my arm flying off. I could almost feel the bones tearing from my flesh, the searing pain a familiar and very unwelcome friend. But I had no time to wallow in the agony. Using my sword arm, I swung at the beast’s now-exposed head, hoping to land a decisive hit.

For once, something went my way. The creature, in its frantic attempt to defend itself, turned its body, trying to block my strike with its chest. But it wasn’t fast enough. My blade sliced cleanly through its torso, carving a deep wound as a spray of greenish liquid erupted from the gash. The beast shrieked, leaping back in pain, its cries echoing through the night. The rest of the pack howled in unison, a haunting chorus, but none of them moved forward to help their wounded comrade.

I dropped into a low stance, sword raised high above my head, confidence swelling in my chest. The beast, now on all fours again, bared its teeth at me, snarling like some twisted, feral nightmare.

God, it was ugly.

We both roared at the same time, surging toward each other with reckless abandon. My sword collided with its skull in a bone-rattling crash that sent us both stumbling back, neither gaining the upper hand. But there was no pause, no reprieve. We lunged at each other again and again, exchanging a relentless flurry of blows. The sound of metal meeting flesh and bone echoed around us as cuts, bruises, and gashes multiplied across our bodies, each one deeper than the last. But neither of us yielded.

Time blurred as we fought. Ten strikes. Twenty. Fifty. A hundred. We were both nearing our limits, exhaustion clawing at the edges of my mind, my muscles screaming for mercy. But still, we fought on.

And then, it happened, the beast stumbled. Just as it was about to launch another attack, its foot caught on something, and it nearly toppled over. It tried to recover, but that brief moment of imbalance was all I needed. My body moved on instinct, darting in close before the creature could fully right itself. In that split second, I had already positioned myself beside it, every ounce of my remaining strength channelled into a single, desperate strike.

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The beast saw it coming, its eyes wide with terror. It tried to raise its arm in a feeble attempt to block, but it was too late. My sword came down hard, cutting through its arm as if it were nothing. The blade pressed into its skull, slowly but surely, carving its way through bone and flesh. The beast howled in agony, its remaining arm flailing wildly, its clawed stump scraping against my blade, trying to push me away. It was a pathetic attempt at a block, as was the sight of the seemingly unstoppable-creature reduced to a panicked, writhing mess beneath me.

Desperation took hold of it. It wrapped its leg around my waist, squeezing with all its might, trying to crush my lower abdomen in a last-ditch effort to stop me. The pressure was excruciating, my ribs groaning under the strain, pain flaring up like wildfire across my body. I could feel my organs being squeezed, threatening to burst under the beast’s crushing grip. But I was too close to victory to stop now. I refused to stop.

With a roar of defiance, I yanked my sword free from the beast’s skull, blood and green liquid splattering everywhere. Without hesitation, I swung down again, pouring the last of my strength into this final strike.

The blade cut deep. The beast let out one last, pitiful scream before its body went limp. The fight was over.

I stood there for a moment, panting, trembling, blood dripping from my wounds, my vision swimming. I really needed to get stronger.

The beast's head split open, a putrid green liquid oozing out from every direction, some even spraying on me. I retracted my blade, chopped off the beast's legs to free myself, and instantly spun around. Now that the first one had been defeated, that still left four more. My body was healing the cuts, but the internal injuries and bite marks would take longer.

I panted heavily, waiting for an attack to come. But the remaining beasts merely stared at me, each one mimicking my breathing. I let my guard drop for a moment, rising from stance and returning a confused look to them. Why weren’t they attacking?

“I thought I was going to have to step in once the sword came out, but you actually pulled through. I thought you said the sword wasn’t your weapon?” Alexia stepped forward, the beasts spreading to make a path for her.

Her previous actions still left a bitter taste in my mouth, but holding on to the past wasn’t going to benefit me currently. I looked down at the smelly and filthy blade in my hands, its weight feeling almost utterly negligible, as if it too were nothing more than just an extension of my hands. It did feel much easier to wield compared to when I had used one against Goblin, but the skills I'd shown in the fight were nothing to write home about.

It was all basic swinging and jabbing, basic moves that could probably be recreated with just about any weapon. Though, the fight had allowed for my confidence in wielding the weapon to rise significantly, making me rethink my words about holding off on changing a weapon. It’s durability compared to my Weaver was certainly one of the greatest aspects. Though it was still disapointing to lose a weapon so soon after obtaining it.

“It’s not that different from using a Weaver,” I replied, “more importantly, why aren’t these guys moving?” I waved my hand around in the general direction of the beats, who still hand’t moved an inch.

Alexia nodded, and turned her gaze towards the beasts as well. Her eyebrow shot up in confusion for a moment, but as she turned to face the fallen beast and back to the rest of the pack, her expression lit up. A wide grin spread across her face as she turned to me once more.

“Well would you look at that, you might just be the luckiest person alive.” She stated a blatantly false and chilling claim. There were probably none, unluckier than I. But it wouldn’t hurt to hear her out.

“What do you mean?” I asked bluntly.

“What you just slayed my incredible newbie, was the leader of the pack. Meaning those little guys,” she waved her hand at the pack, “are now yours to command.” She was obviously holding back a laugh.

“...”

“What?!” I shouted, the beasts jumped back in fear.

“You heard me. You’re the top dog now because you killed their leader, and clearly since none of them have the confidence in challenging you and winning, the leadership has been transferred to you. Simple law of the jungle.” She explained.

“And you deduced that from simply looking at them?” I questioned, not even trying to hide my skepticism. There’s no way killing one little beast forced me into having to look after a whole pack of hideous copies.

“Hey, who’s more experienced? Learn to ask less questions.” She tried to put on a serious face, but her tone betrayed her. She was having the absolute time of her life right now. Whereas I was regretting all of my life choices.

I stared at the beasts, unsure of how to go about the newlyfound and unwanted information. Do these guys understand Oculat? Or would I have to speak in incoherent gibberish to communicate with them. Not to say Oculat wasn’t borderline gibberish, it was just gibberish I could understand.

I approached the pack slowly, my hand outstretched to show that they had no reason to be afraid. Though I guess maybe killing one of them already instilled a decent amount of fear in them, but it wouldn’t hurt to try and seem nice. Maybe they’d see I’m too weak to lead them and just run off into the dark abyss, far far away.

I arrived in front of the beasts, my hand slowly retracting to my side. They were truly ugly creatures and even accidentally touching them would have me washing my hands a hundred times before I could feel clean. Their breathing grew softer as I approached, all of them falling onto all fours like cats. Which would have been cute, had they not looked like lab experiments gone wrong.

“Go. Get. Leave. Get a move on. Shoo. Please go away.”

I tried every possible iteration of shooing to try and get the beasts to leave, but the remained sat. At first I thought that maybe they weren’t listening to me. But as I turned to walk away, they all stood and began to follow behind closely.

“Great. I was supposed to go out and collect plants, and now I’m returning with God’s least favourite creation. What a wonderful day.” I grumbled.

Now I had to walk around the forest with a bunch of abominations. Hopefully they’d at least help in keeping the other beasts away. Hopefully.