The Elder Beta Feral Horned Wolf was just seated there, watching how its Junior dealt with the intruder. At first, he was surprised by the strength and speed of the Level 1 player, but it all amounted to nothing in front of his Junior, who was just toying with his opponent.
He was even thinking of joining the fray because it had been long since he had such fun, but he feared he would cause a quick death to Malik and spoil the fun for his Junior, which he didn't want.
"Is this all the strength you could muster?" The Beta Wolf said again as it swiped her paw, which landed on Malik's shoulder, sending him stumbling backward.
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The second notification worried Malik the most. He still needed an astronomical amount of SQP to level up, and if this continued, he was just going to bleed to death.
'No... I can't continue like this. I need to make a comeback. In order to do that, I need to be faster.'
"System... Allocate the 4 stats to agility."
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Although 4 was nothing much, at Malik's current state, every addition brought a qualitative change. Without waiting for the Beta Wolf to decide his fate, he charged at it instead, at first with his normal speed, but then when he got close, his speed increased drastically as he sent an uppercut at its jaw, which caused blood to fly out of its mouth as it was sent reeling backward.
-50HP floated above the Feral Horned Wolf, but it was nothing compared to the 1000HP it had.
Even the Elder Feral Horned Wolf was amazed. "This human is really interesting... He just got faster."
Taking the element of surprise, Malik launched another attack which successfully connected, and then again and again, putting the Feral Horned Wolf in a passive state of defense as he unleashed various different forms of attack at an alarming rate—jabbing, crossing, uppercutting, hooking, and even swiping—but the beast was doing its best to dodge all of this as their HPs decreased. But the beast's was much slower than Malik's.
Malik knew this would go nowhere if he continued this way, so he planned to execute a critical blow before retreating. He feinted a hook toward the jaw of the Feral Horned Wolf, who swiped out its claws in retaliation. Malik weaved through the claw with his flexible body and leapt through the air, gathering strength in his fist and directing it toward the horn of the Feral Horned Wolf.
It was too late before the Feral Horned Wolf could deduce what Malik was trying to do, and as the blow connected, it let out a loud howl as it was sent flying into the air before crashing against the cave wall. Malik landed on the ground and fell to his knees. Every part of his body was bleeding. His black pants had torn at different parts, barely covering his nakedness, and his bare feet and fingers were shaking vigorously.
"Did I do it...? Did I break its horn?" Malik knew it wasn't over yet. But he was hoping he could get to break the horn of the Feral Horned Wolf so that it would be easier to face. But unlucky, Lady Luck wasn't with him.
"I'm really impressed, Human. You managed to crack my horn. For that, I'll show you my true prowess." The voice of the Level 4 Special Common monster was transmitted into Malik's head, and a frown appeared on his face. He wasn't able to break the horn of the Wolf but instead angered it even more. No wonder the Elder Wolf wasn't worried at all.
Knowing fully well that the situation had changed from bad to worse, Malik got up and explosively retreated. He planned to run away for now because there was no way he could win against this monster.
But how could the Wolf let him go like that?
Wolf Charge!
In less than a second, the Wolf was already behind Malik, who had no choice but to skid to a stop and turn to face it. The Wolf swiped out with both its claws.
Malik, depending on his agility, tried to weave between the claws, but it was impossible. One of the claws cut him by the arm, and the wolf raised him high up, then without warning, bit off his other arm.
Malik screamed out crazily as he stared at the terrifying silver light shining in the eyes of the wolf.
His HP was decreasing at an alarming rate as blood was oozing out of both arms and seeping out of his body. He was in intense pain, and at this point, Malik had even forgotten that he was playing a game. The pain was so unbearable that he was praying for a quick death.
But how could the Beta Wolf let him die so easily? A weak Human that managed to crack her horn—that was a setback to her reputation.
After his HP fell to 100, she released him and at the same time activated her AOE skill.
HORN CHARGE!
Her bony horn hummed loudly as it drove itself into the stomach of Malik, causing him to vomit blood as his HP decreased by 50. With just the stomp of its paw, she sent Malik flying away, crashing into the rubble that had been caused by her crash earlier.
"Trash." Her voice was transmitted into Malik's head as he lay there, unable to move... unable to do anything.
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<<1 HP will be deducted every 5 seconds.>>
Every part of his body was oozing blood, and this time he even had less than two minutes before his HP would be depleted. It was as if the Feral Horned Wolf knew about this; that's why it didn't even bother to disturb him. He was going to die, after all.
Malik still couldn't believe it... After everything, he's going to die here... He's going to fail the quest...
The penalty... That's even the least of his worries.
The levels he's just gotten back, is he going to lose that too?
And then the path of cultivation he gained...
What was really going to happen if he died?
"At least I'm about to find out," he said to himself as he closed his eyes, slowly waiting for his death.
As he closed his eyes, he could sense something in his body. His heart was thumping loudly—and faster—for someone that close to death. It was as if his heart was pumping out blood endlessly, preventing it from stopping.
"Is that the effect of Qing'er's heart...? Is it related to my physique?"
As he was thinking about it, his HP had decreased to 10 and in the next five seconds:
9...
8...
7...
6...
5...
4...
3...
2...
"It's Over for you human." The Elder Beta Feral Horned Wolf shook its head in pity.
'Is it really over?' Malik asked when suddenly, the sound of notification suddenly rang in his ear.
Ping!
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"IMPOSSIBLE!!"
The two Beta Feral Horned Wolves cried out loudly as they watched Malik being bathed in a holy light from the heavens, his HP returning to full and all his wounds closing up.