“Should I do it or not?”

Raymond was back at his usual cave, the next day. He had already failed twice in his attempts to awaken, and was weighing whether to attempt it for the third time.

“There’s a risk to my mana pool if I fail. On the other hand, if it’s a success…”

“Hmm…tough to decide.” He sulked as he recalled the pain he had felt in and after his fight with Rose the previous day. Then a shiver ran through his body as he thought about his upcoming “fight” with Suzanne. “Yesterday was just an appetizer. Aunt Suzy…she wouldn’t hold back either…”

He gritted his teeth and decided to try it anyway. The chances were low, but it may yet happen.

It was mid-afternoon when he regained consciousness. “Fuck, my head’s all dizzy. Ugh…”

He decided to wait for some time before leaving the cave. Still lost in his thoughts about the beating he was about to take at the hands of his aunt, he was alarmed by a loud roar. He rushed to the cave’s entrance, nearly stumbling on the way. His soul almost left his body by the terrifying scene he witnessed.

His horse lay dead by the tree he had tied him to. A Violet Horned Bear stood over the corpse, its paws and snout dripping with blood. Another Violet Horned Bear, which looked a lot older, was circling around, sizing up the younger one.

“Fuck, what are two prime beasts doing this far out?” Raymond cursed under his breath.

He was out of ideas at the sight of two prime beasts, which were about to fight. He wanted to run for his life but was afraid he would be killed as soon as he stepped out. The only thought going through his mind was that he should’ve been nowhere near this scene.

“Maybe they’ll kill each other by the end.” After the immediate shock and fear of the situation lessened a little, Raymond felt much calmer. He slowly and very cautiously returned inside the cave, trying very hard to not make a single bit of noise. Curled up in a corner, he tried to recall every little bit of information he knew about the Violet Horned Bear. He remained completely silent while listening to the growls coming from outside.

“Sounds like its ending.” Raymond cautiously peeked outside after the sounds completely stopped. The bigger, older of the two beasts was the victor. The younger one lay in a pool of its own blood. The surviving one wasn’t much better off. It had wounds all over its body. One long gash across its neck looked particularly nasty.

“Fuck! Fuck! It’s alive.” Raymond could only curse at his bad luck. The surviving bear moved towards the corpse of Raymond’s horse. It tore apart the corpse with its strong paws. Goosebumps ran over his body as he watched his horse being eaten in such a bloody fashion.

“If only I had awakened my attribute… I wouldn’t have to hide here like a fucking rat.” Raymond sighed at his pitiful condition. He wanted to dash out, but he didn’t. He was aware that he could never out-run a prime beast. He prayed for the bear to turn away from the cave after it had its meal.

He waited anxiously, sweat covered his body and made his clothes wet. His throat became parched due to nervousness, and the cold breeze stroking his skin felt like a thorny, icy, whip. The tension had him on edge, and he felt as if his mana would go berserk, leak out his aura, and alert the beast of his position. He gnashed his teeth in frustration of his lack of strength while trying his best to calm down his nerves and control his mana vibration. 

Raymond understood that he wasn’t equipped to deal with the situation, and if he waited too long, it could prove fatal. “There’s no other way. I have to attack it before it discovers the cave.” Steeling his heart, Raymond decided to fight the bear when it was at its most vulnerable. He tightened his armor around his drenched shirt. Pulling his sword out from its sheath, he cautiously approached the bear.

The Violet Horned Bear was busy devouring the flesh of the horse, unaware of the danger approaching behind it. Raymond stopped nearly 10 meters away from it, judging it to be as close as he could get without alerting the bear of his presence.

Raymond channeled all his mana to his right arm. He knew he would get a single chance at this. So he decided to forego any protection and used body strengthening magic only on his sword wielding arm. More! More! Silently, he glared at its back. He had never tried to take his body strengthening to this limit and that too only on a single part of his body.

His arm was vibrating and bulged slightly, looking almost as if it wasn’t his own arm but somebody else’s. It was a thin line between life and death and required impeccable control and concentration to circulate his mana and sneak in behind the prime beast without its knowledge. He had to pierce his sword through the gash at its neck; the beast’s body was too tough for him to aim anywhere else. An immeasurable strength coursed through his arm while he studied the length of the wound, and it made him a tiny bit confident; however, he shuddered at the thought of it still not being enough.

Now, Raymond shouted in his mind. The bear had dived down to tear a chunk of meat and that was the opportunity he had been waiting for. He ran faster than ever before and jumped up to increase the power of his strike.

*Screech*

The beast howled in agony. The sword pierced inside its flesh, and Raymond kept on pushing it deeper, extending the wound. Blood jetted out everywhere as the beast thrashed about desperately and almost crushed Raymond beneath its huge body.

There was a short tussle between them before Raymond twisted his arm, which made another fountain of blood to burst out from the beast’s humongous body. “Fucking die!!!” He screamed with his eyes bloodshot. He had put in every ounce of his strength in that strike and didn’t let up until the beast stopped struggling.

“Huff…” Raymond panted. “Is it over?” Just when he thought it was dead, that he had done it, that he had successfully killed a prime beast, the beast lifted its paw and prepared to slash at him. It was like the flash of the last ember before the flame died down.

Time slowed down around Raymond; everything was happening at a snail’s pace. He thought about dodging the attack; however, he gave up on it quickly. He was very short on stamina and was also stuck in his position. It was impossible for him to dodge its paw in that short duration. He realized at that instant, there was no other option but to double down. He had to kill the beast before the paw could touch him.

“Aggh!” He shouted. The veins on his body swelled and his mana channels shook unstably. Scraping the bottom of his mana pool, he viciously pushed the sword deeper and twisted it around. “Die!!!” He did not stop until the sword finally pierced through the beast’s neck on the other side. Hot blood sprayed out, painting Raymond in red.

*Crash*

The Violet Horned Bear was finally dead. It died before it could kill Raymond.

“YES!” Raymond screamed in joy, though, an instant later he suddenly shut his mouth, afraid to have alerted any nearby prime beast with his delirious roar of laughter.

He vigilantly listened for a while, sighing in relief when he didn’t hear any noise. That… was stupid. He cursed at himself as he tried to pull his sword out of the beast’s body. When the sword didn’t budge an inch, he quickly gave up on the idea. Too exhausted to move away, he lay down on the spot. He had overdrawn his mana pool and his mana was dry. It felt to him like he was completely sapped of energy, and at the same time, it was painful. He knew it was stupid to remain out in the open, however, he couldn’t move no matter how much he had wanted to. His eyelids turned heavy as an unprecedented spell of drowsiness struck him.

“Maybe this was an opportunity,” Raymond mumbled dazedly. “Yes, I’ve decided… I will try again to awaken when my mana recovers. I refuse to believe I can’t awaken, especially after this…”