The five of them were still running for their lives, with Arven's breathing growing haggard, he was clearly running out of breath.
"Let me carry Toby, so you can conserve your energy," Andrew suggested, and Arven didn't argue.
He carefully passed Toby over and slowed his pace.
"Where's the way back to the orphanage, Arven?" Damien asked, looking around anxiously.
"Run here," Arven shouted as they directed to the left.
After running for about an hour, the road started to look familiar and they knew they were close.
But just as hope returned, a loud growl echoed behind them. When they looked back, they saw the same beast that had been chasing them earlier.
"Oh no it appeared James failed to stop it," Garfield said in an anxious voice.
Their faces were filled with despair at the sight of the beast. Damien gritted his teeth and came to a sudden stop.
Ariana, noticing this, also stopped just as Damien tossed the basket toward her.
"I'll buy you some time. Even if it's just a few minutes, it might be enough for you to reach the orphanage safely," Damien said.
The other four wanted to protest, but they knew deep down they had no choice. There was no time.
"No, I'll stay with you! You'll die!" Ariana shouted as she picked up the basket and walked toward Damien.
But before she could reach him, Arven grabbed her and held her back.
"Let's go," he said firmly.
"You coward, Arven! Let me go!" she screamed, struggling frantically in his arms.
But this time, Arven didn't let go, he held her tightly, refusing to give in.
"I don't want to see more of my friends die in front of me," Arven said, a tear sliding down his cheek as he pulled Ariana away forcefully.
They need to find someone for help. So, the four of them ran, leaving only Damien behind.
Damien was afraid of death, but there was something he feared more than anything. It was the thought of watching his friends die.
That kind of fear was even greater.
Even though being heroic felt stupid to him, dying for a good cause wasn't so bad. But if he was going to die, he would make sure this beast felt pain.
He picked up a rock and took a stance, ready to counterattack. The beast, seeing this, licked its lips with a crazed and frenzied look in its eyes.
Then it leapt, its paws stretched forward, aiming to pounce.
Damien ran straight toward it, then suddenly slid down beneath the beast as it soared over him.
Coming out from the other side, he quickly turned and slammed the rock with all his strength.
As the beast turned to face him, the rock slammed into the right side of its face with a loud, crunching smack.
Crk!
Blood splattered as Damien swung his hand again, striking the wolf's head and making it flinch to the side once more.
On the third strike, the beast finally reacted. It lowered its head, opened its massive jaws, and lunged forward, aiming to tear his ribs open.
Prepared for the attack, he kicked his knee upward, hitting the beast's jaw. But the force wasn't strong enough.
The beast responded with a claw strike from the side. Damien raised his right arm to block it, and the claws tore through his flesh, leaving a deep scar running from his shoulder down to his forearm.
Blood poured from the wound as he gnashed his teeth in pain, his body flung to the ground by the force of the blow.
"Damn.. that hurts!" he growled.
As he rolled and rolled as his back exposed his eyes was blurry for a moment, looking up he saw a giant shadow descending as he rolled to the side to dodge.
As he hit the ground, the Direwolf landed where he had just been, causing the ground to tremble slightly from its weight.
Seeing this, Damien realized he was in a serious dilemma.
If he hadn't dodged in time, his bones would have been shattered and what awaited him after that would have been nothing but death.
Gritting his teeth, he stood up and swung his arm, as he launched the rock in his hand with a powerful twist at the end.
The rock hurled through the air, aiming straight for the beast. But the Direwolf's instincts and agility were not to be underestimated.
It dodged the attack effortlessly and dashed toward him in a straight line. Seeing this, Damien panicked and threw a desperate punch.
But what met him was the beast's open mouth, filled with razor-sharp teeth. With a single snap, his right hand was gone.
His eyes froze in shock. Then, as his brain finally processed what had happened, a wave of excruciating pain surged through him.
He kneeled down, instinctively reaching to hold his severed arm with his left hand, but there was nothing to hold.
A guttural growl escaped his throat as the pain overwhelmed him. This was the greatest pain he had felt in his entire life.
The beast stared down at him with a twisted look of satisfaction, its eyes gleaming with cruelty.
Seeing that expression, Damien could only cry out in agony. He couldn't stand. It hurts too much that his entire body trembled.
He saw that his forearm was dangling in the beast mouth showing him to add more misery and fear.
The beast played with the severed arm for a moment before swallowing the entire forearm.
It even licked its teeth, savoring the taste as it looked at Damien with disgust.
Seeing that look, Damien had never felt so humiliated in his life. In that moment, a seed of hatred and killing intent was planted deep in his heart.
If he ever lived, if he ever managed to survive this, then this beast and every other beast would pay the price.
His heart turned red, and a strange aura began to surround him. The beast suddenly grew serious and prepared to attack.
Direwolves were known for their strong perception of danger and sharp instincts. It was shocked to feel a sense of threat coming from the wounded human in front of it.
With a powerful claw strike aimed at Damien's chest, he was thrown back, crashing into the bark of a tree with a loud grunt before falling to the ground.
This time, he couldn't move. He felt as if the bones in his back were broken. The beast slowly walked toward its prey, ready to devour the human once and for all.
All of a sudden, a rock flew through the air and struck the beast. It turned its head, and there stood a girl with golden hair.
It was Ariana Willow. Her face was filled with tears as she saw Damien's condition. The beast, seeing another target, looked even more delighted and began to move toward her.
But suddenly, one of its legs was pulled back.
"You… are… stay-ing… here!" Damien uttered through clenched teeth.
He was still lying on the ground, his left hand gripping the beast's leg with all the strength he had left.
His eyes were bloodshot, and at any moment, he felt like he would pass out. Blood dripped from his mouth as he pushed his strength even further, refusing to let go.
"Ariana… run," Damien called out, his voice was weak.
"No, I don't wanna!" she shouted back, her voice trembling.
The beast stood there, watching the dramatic scene unfold. But deep down, it knew it had been chased by a strong man and didn't have much time left.
So, it needed to feed his hunger quickly if it wanted enough strength to escape.
So it decided to finish off the dying human first before turning to the girl. Ariana, seeing this, threw more rocks she had picked up earlier in desperation.
But they did no damage.
As the beast's mouth closed in on Damien's head, she cried out even louder, her voice filled with fear and anguish.
Suddenly, the atmosphere turned eerie, and a chilling sensation spread outward, as if the very air had frozen in fear.
"Get away from him!" she shouted.
Her voice echoing through the trees as she raised both hands in a wide outward motion.
A shard of ice formed instantly and hurled through the air with incredible speed. The beast sensed the danger, but it was too late to dodge.
The icy projectile struck its back, piercing through its skin and deep into the flesh.
The beast let out a sharp, pained howl as its back and neck arched from the sudden shock of the attack.
Ariana's face turned pale as paper. Her strength left her, and she lost the ability to stand. Gradually, she passed out from using just that one attack.
Seeing the opening, Damien grabbed one of the rocks Ariana had thrown earlier.
Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to stand, then smashed the rock into the same spot on the beast's head where he had hit it before.
The impact made the beast stagger, its head spinning as if a loud bell were ringing inside its skull.
It collapsed to the ground, falling sideways.
Damien, with what little strength he had left, climbed onto its neck and began pounding it relentlessly with the rock, over and over.
"Die!"
"Die!"
"Die!"
…
He kept uttering the same words under his breath as he smashed the rock again and again, until the beast's skull shattered and brain matter splattered across the blood-soaked grass.
When the beast finally stopped moving, Damien collapsed beside it, his body trembling and drained.
"I… did it…" he whispered, his voice was weak and fading.
He felt his vision turning blurry as he looked at the bright sky. "Am… am I going to die?" he asked inwardly, his vision blurring as the pain overwhelmed him.
Suddenly, his necklace began to glow brightly, breaking apart into particles of soft, blue light.
The light drifted into his body, and in the silence of his fading thoughts, a voice echoed within his mind.
[Condition Met]
[Skill Awakened: Supreme Extraction]
[Target: Direwolf (Low Rank)]
[Analyzing Essence...]
[Extractable Traits Found: Predator's Reflex]
[Extractable Attributes: +2 Agility | +1 Strength]
[Extracted Materials: Direwolf Fang | Direwolf Hide]
[Extractable Memory: Direwolf Memory]
[You havegained: 10 EP]
[Supreme Extraction gained experience points]
Then, a strange suction began from his left hand, the very hand pressed against the beast's stomach.
Since he lost the feeling to move it, so it stays there.
It started to absorb something from the creature, pulling in its essence with a mysterious force.
As Damien's consciousness faded, he saw a shadow, a humanoid figure, slowly forming, growing larger and larger before his eyes.
And then, everything went dark as he passed out.