Time seemed to crawl painfully slow as Malik's eyelids began to close. His eyeballs, frozen in terror, still reflected the gleaming image of deadly claws descending upon his head.
Malik knew he couldn't escape this.
He was going to die here.
Even his Primordial Chaos Physique wouldn't be able to pull him out of this predicament.
Just inches away before the claws could connect, the Alpha Feral Horned Wolf's berserk transformation suddenly ended with a violent jerk.
The curse took effect, wrenching his body back into its original form.
Instead of sharp claws, the wolf's clenched fists smashed into Malik, sending him flying uncontrollably through the air like a ragdoll before he crashed heavily onto the ground, tumbling over and over until he rolled to a stop near a jagged stone.
-300HP floated above his head as his health was brutally chopped by half.
"I didn't die..." Malik gasped hoarsely, his voice barely a whisper as he forced himself up, every bone in his body protesting.
His energy reserves were almost completely dried up. His muscles ached for rest, his spirit cried for sleep. But how could he sleep when death was still stalking him in the form of the Alpha Feral Horned Wolf?
Worse, the Wolf was vulnerable now — weakened by the abrupt collapse of his transformation.
'How did the curse return so quickly? It should've lasted at least 10 minutes...'
The Alpha Feral Horned Wolf gritted his teeth, staring at Malik with a grim expression.
'Could it be... it's his physique that's interfering with my berserk form?'
The Wolf's instincts screamed at him:
Finish it now — or be finished.
Ignoring the stabbing exhaustion in his limbs, the Alpha Feral Horned Wolf charged forward, his remaining strength condensed into his right foot as it ballooned in size.
With a roar, he lifted his massive leg and stomped down fiercely at Malik, who was still sprawled on the ground.
BOOOOM!
The ground caved inward from the impact, the entire cave trembling violently as dust exploded into the air, choking the surroundings into a brown haze.
But something was wrong.
There was no scream. No satisfying crunch of bones.
The Alpha Feral Horned Wolf's frown deepened. "He's not here. Where—?"
Just as he tilted his head in confusion, two fingers stabbed deep into his eyes with a sickening squelch!
"AAARRGHH!!"
The Wolf howled, staggering backward in agony.
Before he could even react properly, Malik's left fist shot forward like a meteor, punching clean through the Wolf's broad chest.
The force tore through flesh and bone like a hot knife slicing through butter, his bloody fist bursting out through the other side.
Both of them froze there — locked in that grim tableau.
Their auras flickered violently, the very air between them humming from the clash of life and death.
'If not for the curse... I would've never stood a chance...'
Malik realized bitterly as he stared at the Alpha Feral Horned Wolf.
'If he was truly at my level, killing me would have been nothing more than a child's play for him...'
The Wolf looked down at Malik, his eyes filled with a strange mixture of regret and admiration.
"Junior Brother Malik... I believe... I believe you're going to rewrite the history of God's Realm..."
The Alpha Feral Horned Wolf muttered as a smile formed on his face.
With those last words, his HP dropped to zero.
He burst into a cascade of light particles, leaving behind his loots scattered on the cracked ground.
"Senior... I hope you can find a good rest now," Malik murmured, clenching his trembling fist tightly.
Ping!
<
<
<
<
SQP: 4250/16000
The crisp notifications snapped Malik out of his haze of exhaustion, but before he could even pull out his status page, another flurry of system messages exploded in his ears.
Ping!
<
<
<
SQP: 4250/42500
Malik's dimmed eyes instantly brightened.
Not only had his reputation skyrocketed, but he'd also gained a Title, an Elite Core, and even a massive free level-up!
He was about to click on the "Wolf Slayer" title to check its effects when—
RRRRRRUMBLE!
The entire cave began to tremble violently.
<
"20 seconds?!"
Malik cursed his luck and immediately bolted toward the loot pile left behind by the Alpha Feral Horned Wolf, sweeping all the items into his system storage without even checking them.
He spared a glance at his boots' skill — still on cooldown.
No shortcuts this time.
He sprinted toward the nearby treasury chamber, snatching up weapons and artifacts as fast as he could.
11... 10... 9...
Malik only managed to grab about five items before he spun around and dashed for the exit.
There were still countless treasures left behind — but his life mattered more than loot.
As he was racing out, his sharp eyes caught a glimpse of something lying about two yards away — a shirt — the same shirt the Alpha Feral Horned Wolf had ripped apart earlier.
"System! Add 20 stats to Agility!" Malik roared mentally.
Ping!
<<+20 Agility added!>> <
In a split-second, a surge of raw speed filled his muscles.
Malik blitzed toward the shirt, grabbed it in a single fluid motion, and tore toward the cave entrance just as it was caving in.
Large boulders rained down from above, massive stones slamming into the ground around him with bone-rattling force.
He weaved left, dodged right — a hair's breadth away from death with each desperate movement.
His body blurred like a shadow among falling rocks, until finally—
FWOOOSH!
He burst out of the collapsing cave just as the entire Feral Cave collapsed behind him in a deafening explosion of dust and rubble.
But Malik didn't stop.
Without even looking back, he sprinted all the way until he reached the outskirts of Emerald Forest, where he finally collapsed against a tree, gasping for breath.
"Aarghh... that was close," Malik panted, clutching his chest as sweat dripped down his forehead.
He looked around, realizing that it was now deep into the night.
The stars glittered coldly above him.
'How long... How long was I inside the Emerald Forest?' Malik wondered with a shiver, feeling the cool breeze brushing against his battered body.
Without wasting any more time, he picked a safe corner, slumped down, and pulled up his system interface.
He needed to analyze his loots properly once he got back.
His finger hovered over the Logout button.
He pressed it.
The screen loaded for a few seconds before a confirmation tone sounded, and Malik's figure slowly dissolved into motes of light — vanishing from God's Realm like he was never there to begin with.