[The prey]

▽▽▽

-Hisss...!!-

Without looking back at the snake, Ryu jumped to the side as soon as he jumped onto the tree and rolled through the ground while gritting his teeth.

Its attack pattern was very similar to that of the animals on earth, with them using the slightest opportunity of weakness to attack, so even if the snake was as fast as lightning, he could still survive by tricking it to attack whenever he wanted.

However, Ryu had not only dodged death, but he had also discovered something very important...

'It's pretty slow for such a high power level... As expected, does all that power level come from its enormous body and strength?'

It wasn't really that slow, and it could be considered pretty fast for a beast of such colossal size. However, it was still slow enough for its attack to be dodgeable with a bit of anticipation, which was exactly what Ryu had.

-Boooom!!-

As soon as the snake's mouth struck the enormous tree, it crushed it on half and created an enormous explosion of wood that struck all its surroundings.

"Argh!"

Including Ryu.

Without minding neither the pain nor the monster anymore, Ryu got up from the ground and proceeded to start running aimlessly, hoping to find the end of the jungle soon.

-Gryaaaaah!!!-

The snake roared in anger after noticing its prey escaping and started crawling towards it with an enormous speed.

'Shit, it recovered faster than I expected... I need to escape through somewhere hard for it to move... A narrow space where its enormous body becomes a burden...' Ryu spat some blood he had on his mouth and continued running, his eyes moving back and forth, looking for somewhere where to make use of the snake's weakness.

They were in the jungle, and although it was full of trees everywhere, it still wasn't enough to hold back the snake, he needed something else...  Something to fool it and lose it across the forest.

"Woah!"

-Roar!-

While the mind of Ryu continued working, the snake lunged at him once again, making him roll on the ground once again and crash against a nearby rock.

"Ack!"

-Boom!!-

-Growl...-

The snake quickly recovered from the impact and turned to look at the hurt Ryu, who was lying on the floor with a hand grabbing what seemed to be the part where his ribs were.

As if delighted that its prey was finally within its grasp, the snake moved slowly towards Ryu and started surrounding his body... Probably with the plan to constrict him to death.

-Splat!-

Unfortunately for it, Ryu was far from giving up already.

Before it could react, a great amount of mud struck the snake's eyes, blinding it momentarily as the earth entered the eyes of the beast and caused it great pain.

-Hisss...!!!-

The Snake's body twisted as it swung its head and tail in an erratic manner due to the panic that it was causing it not to be able to see. Destroying several trees in the process, and causing an enormous ruckus in all the jungle.

On the other hand, Ryu was currently crawling away from the snake while gritting his teeth due to the pain. His eyes, which were filled with determination and anger, looked through all his surroundings hoping to see anything that he could use in his current situation.

His nails were broken and filled with blood due to them being the only thing that allowed him to move, and his mouth was repeatedly releasing chunks of blood every time he moved. It was really a miracle that he was still able to move, but even like that, he continued moving forward, not looking back in the slightest at the enormous snake that was roaring furiously.

'It should be opening its eyes soon... Where the heck do I hide?!'

Panic and despair started filling the mind Ryu, as no hope would arise no matter how much he looked. The only thing that his brain had come up with since he began running was to cover himself with mud and hide in the ground. However, he knew that the beast would be able to smell him one way or another. Still, with his only hope being that, he decided to go for it. Even if the chances were close to 0.

'Maybe this fucker's species can't smell... Who am I kidding? I will get eaten as soon as it opens its eyes!'

-Gaoooooo!!!-

"...?"

Suddenly, Ryu heard an enormous roar echo through everywhere, almost shattering his eardrums on the process, and much to his surprise, this roar actually hadn't come from the snake... But from something else instead.

From one moment to another, an enormous shadow covered the sun and made Ryu open his eyes even wider than they were before.

In the sky, an enormous eagle could be seen descending towards the snake with its beak wide open and its eyes full of hunger, just like the snake's eyes had looked like when it looked at him.

▽

°Unnamed Aquila Species°

-Power level: 194

▽

In just a blink of an eye, the eagle swoop towards the snake and grabbed it by the body, making the snake twist even more in pain and confusion.

'Why did an eagle...?' Ryu leaned himself on a nearby rock and looked at the sky where the struggling snake and the enormous eagle were fighting each other. However, soon, his eyes turned to look at the completely destroyed jungle and proceeded to close calmly.

-Cough, cough!!-

Coughing all the blood he had accumulated on his throat, Ryu laughed in a low tone with a grin spread across all his face.

'This is so fucking dumb... Thanks to that stupid snake making so much noise the eagle noticed it and attacked it by surprise while it was still blind... I survived by mere luck... But fuck it, at least I'm not dead...'

Ryu's eyes moved down and examined his own body.

'At least not yet... I will probably die from the bleeding or something else... Who knows, there's probably something eyeing me as food already...'

Soon, Ryu's eyes started closing as his conscience started fading away. However, right as he was about to faint, suddenly an alarm woke him up and made him open his eyes widely.

▽

[Beep!]

≡[Quest completed!!]

▸Defeat the monster that's hunting you or escape from it and conserve your life!

-You have received:

▸+20 of Power level.

▸Capsule with food and water for 7 days.

▸Unlock [Ki mastery] basic knowledge (Special Requirement: Kill the monster).

▽

At that moment, as if feeling raging electricity on his body, Ryu's body soon started spasming and started to squirm right where he was. However, contrary to his appearance, Ryu wasn't feeling pain in the slightest... No, he was feeling ecstatic.

Even though he was still wounded, his eyes were filled with a raging fire that wasn't allowing him to fall unconscious.

All the energy he had lost during the escape was coming back to his body once more... No, it was even more energy than what he had at that moment... Not only that, but soon his brain started receiving a lot of information, making him widen his eyes and smile in wonder.

Soon, his status showed once more, making him give a hollow laugh while looking at the numbers below his name.

▽

≡[System bearer: Ryu Kain]

-Power Level: 26 [+20]

≡[Abilities]

-Ki mastery (F): 0% [New‼]

-Martial arts (-): 0%

-Magical arts (-) 0%

≡[Skills]

▷Journey of the traveler (Passive)

▸Fate will bend against you.

▷Power level scan (Active)

▸Scans the power level of any being that is within your eyesight. Please note that Gods cannot be scanned unless the host possesses divine Ki.

▽

'So it feels like this to just have 26 mere points of power level...? I can't imagine how those with millions might feel...'

Ryu stood up from where he had been moments ago and looked at the departing eagle that was carrying the corpse of the snake on its beak with a strange look on his face.

'Strange... I didn't kill it. So why did I receive the basic Ki mastery knowledge...?'

"Ugh...!"

Just as he was wondering about such a thing, suddenly a sharp pain struck his ribs, as he noticed that they had been broken during the escape.

"I just escape from one problem to fall into another... How the fuck am I supposed to leave this jungle in this state? I will become the food of any animal with wounds like these..." Ruy touched his ribs and winced in pain as he tried walking, making it obvious that escaping from any monster would be impossible in his current state.

However, he gritted his teeth and started walking far away from there, not looking back in the slightest at the destroyed landscape behind him... Still oblivious to the fate that awaited him. Ryu was grinning at the fact that he had survived, not knowing that what was the first day in that jungle, and the most dangerous day in his entire life could soon turn into an everyday occurrence.

...

-End of the chapter-