The hound burst out from the rubble, shattering it with sheer strength.
Shin maneuvered just in time before being caught in the explosion. He landed several meters away, his boots skidding across the fractured rocky ground, a grim expression settling on his face.
The beast threw back its head and roared.
It wasn't merely loud.
It was overwhelming.
The roar exploded throughout the valley, sending a violent shockwave tearing across the battlefield. Dust and shattered rocks were blown away as the rocky terrain trembled beneath the overwhelming force. Loose boulders rolled across the valley floor while countless fragments of stone were hurled through the air.
And then...
Shin felt it.
An overwhelming bloodlust.
It crashed into him without warning.
His entire body froze.
Completely.
"...!"
His pupils contracted.
Every muscle in his body became rigid.
His fingers refused to move.
Even breathing suddenly became difficult.
"W-What..."
His voice trembled.
"What... is this feeling?"
His heartbeat became erratic.
"It's like..."
His knees weakened.
"...gravity increased a dozen times."
He tried to lift his sword.
Nothing.
His arm refused to obey.
"I..."
He gritted his teeth.
"...can't move."
Fear slowly tightened its grip around him.
His body began trembling uncontrollably.
The aura emanating from the beast was unlike anything Shin had ever experienced.
It felt as though every dangerous monster he had fought since entering the dungeon had gathered into one existence.
Every desperate battle.
Every brush with death.
Every terrifying encounter.
All of them...
Compressed into the creature standing before him.
His breathing became shallow.
This...
This isn't normal...
Escape felt impossible.
His legs refused to move.
His sword suddenly felt impossibly heavy.
Even thinking clearly became difficult beneath the crushing pressure surrounding him.
Slowly...
The dust raised by the shattered rubble began to settle.
Fragments of broken stone rolled across the valley floor as silence slowly reclaimed the battlefield.
Shin swallowed hard.
This bastard...
His eyes remained fixed on the fading cloud of dust.
How did it survive my attack?
That final strike had contained everything.
Every ounce of mana he had carefully suppressed.
Every calculation.
Every risk.
Everything had been poured into that single thrust.
No ordinary monster should have survived it.
At the very least...
He forced himself to think despite the fear clouding his mind.
It has to be severely wounded.
If I can just regain control over my body...
His grip tightened around the hilt of his sword.
...I can finish it.
The final veil of dust drifted away.
Then...
Shin's eyes met the beast.
Time seemed to stop.
His expression froze.
"...What?"
Disbelief filled his face.
Not a single wound.
Not one.
The deep stab wound that had pierced its chest...
Gone.
The torn flesh...
Gone.
The blood...
Gone.
Every injury from their brutal battle had completely disappeared.
It was as though nothing had ever happened.
Cold sweat trickled down Shin's face.
"No..."
His voice barely escaped his lips.
"That's impossibleThen...
Its body began to change.Dark mana erupted from the monster, raging violently as if it had finally broken free from its restraints.
The surrounding air distorted beneath the overwhelming pressure. Fragments of broken rock trembled before slowly rising from the ground, suspended by the torrent of mana pouring from the beast's body. The rocky terrain beneath its feet groaned under the unbearable force before cracks rapidly spread across the valley floor.
Shin could only watch.
His breathing became shallow.
His heartbeat pounded violently against his chest.
The monster lowered its head as the dark mana continued to surge around its body.
Then...
Its transformation began.
Every muscle in its body convulsed.
The already massive frame became even denser as thick muscle fibers compressed around bones that had already been strengthened countless times through mana reinforcement. Instead of growing larger, its body became more compact, every inch refined purely for explosive power.
Its once-dark fur gradually deepened until it resembled the endless darkness of a moonless night.
Veins pulsed beneath its skin like rivers of molten energy.
Each pulse released another wave of oppressive mana that spread across the battlefield.
The transformation wasn't violent.
It was calculated.
Natural.
As though this had been the creature's true form all along.
Its reconstruction slowly came to an end.
The beast lifted its head.
Two crimson eyes opened.
They glowed like blood beneath the darkness covering its body.
Its mana continued rising.
It didn't stop.
It simply kept climbing.
Higher.
Denser.
Heavier.
Dark lightning began dancing around its body, crackling across its fur before leaping into the surrounding air. Every arc released a sharp hiss that echoed throughout the valley.
For a brief moment...
Shin forgot how to breathe.
His eyes remained locked on the creature before him.
What... is this...?
His thoughts became sluggish.
Every cell in his body screamed that the existence standing before him was dangerous.
No...
Dangerous wasn't enough.
This creature was death itself.
"Calm down..."
Shin whispered to himself.
"Calm down..."
He repeated it again.
His breathing became uneven.
His grip on the sword tightened until his knuckles turned white.
Move.
Just move.
His body refused.
The fear gripping him wasn't something his mind could simply suppress.
It was instinctive.
Primal.
An uncontrollable response to a predator that existed on an entirely different level.
No matter how many times he ordered his body to move...
Nothing happened.
It was as though his body had entered complete panic, refusing every command his mind gave it.
Then—
The monster disappeared.
A violent explosion erupted beneath its feet as the rocky ground shattered apart.
Shin's pupils contracted.
It wasn't teleportation.
It was simply...
That fast.
Its crimson eyes remained locked onto him with terrifying precision.
The distance between them vanished in an instant.
Immediately, Shin tried to move.
Damn it...
My body won't listen.
His breathing became frantic.
I have to do something.
Anything.
Move!
His arm trembled violently as he struggled to lift his sword.
Even raising it felt impossible.
The awakened hound accelerated again.
Dark lightning wrapped around its body like a living storm.
Its figure became nothing more than a black streak tearing across the valley, leaving shattered rock and cracked earth in its wake.
Shin gritted his teeth.
Move...
His fingers finally twitched.
Just enough.
Mana instinctively flowed into his legs.
Not because he consciously controlled it—
His body simply reacted.
His trembling hand tightened around the sword.
Without hesitation—
He drove the blade deep into his own thigh.
Fresh blood erupted from the wound.
Scarlet droplets splattered across the fractured rocks beneath him.
Pain exploded through his entire body.
And suddenly—
Everything became clear.Pain exploded through his entire body.
The sharp, searing agony spread from his thigh to every nerve in his body, overwhelming the fear that had rooted him to the ground only moments before.
For an instant...
The battlefield disappeared.
The deafening roar of the awakened hound...
The suffocating pressure...
The overwhelming bloodlust...
Everything faded into silence.
In its place, an old memory resurfaced from the depths of his mind.
A warm afternoon.
A wooden training sword clutched in the hands of a much younger Shin.
Across from him stood the man he admired more than anyone else.
His father.
The gentle smile on his father's face carried a calm confidence that always put Shin at ease.
"Shin, my boy," his father said, resting a hand on the boy's head, "if you ever enter a dungeon... don't let fear consume you."
Young Shin looked up at him and nodded enthusiastically.
"Okay, Dad."
His father smiled.
"Most hunters freeze when they encounter a monster far stronger than themselves."
Young Shin tilted his head.
"If that's the case..."
He looked genuinely puzzled.
"...why don't they just run away, Dad?"
His father chuckled softly.
"No, Shin."
He crouched until they were at eye level.
"They don't freeze because they want to."
He tapped the side of his own head.
"It's because their bodies refuse to move."
Young Shin blinked.
"So..."
He frowned in confusion.
"...how do they run away, Dad?"
His father laughed once more before holding up a single finger.
"They use a simple little trick."
"A trick?"
"What trick, Dad?"
His father's smile widened.
"The trick..."
He gently poked Shin's forehead.
"...is pain."
Young Shin's eyes widened.
"Pain?"
His father nodded.
"When your body is consumed by fear, your mind loses control. But a sudden burst of pain can shock your senses back into focus."
He clenched his fist.
"It reminds your body who's really in control."
Young Shin stared at him with innocent curiosity.
"Can pain really do that, Dad?"
His father smiled warmly.
"Believe me, son."
"It works like a charm."
The memory shattered.
Reality came crashing back.
Shin's wound had already begun to regenerate.
Fresh flesh slowly knitted itself together around the blade as his regeneration worked tirelessly to repair the damage.
But the brief, searing pain had already done its job.
His breathing steadied.
The fear that had imprisoned his body loosened its grip.
"It worked..."
A faint smile appeared on Shin's face.
"I can move."
Relief washed over him for the briefest moment.
"Dad..."
His grip tightened around his sword.
"...you saved me again."
Suddenly—
The awakened hound's claws were only inches from his face.
There was no longer any time to think.
Mana instinctively surged into Shin's legs.
Every muscle tightened.
Every fiber of his body flexed to its limit.
With a violent burst of speed—
He threw himself sideways.
The razor-sharp claws sliced past his face.
So close that he could feel the wind from the attack brush against his skin.
The beast shot past him before violently digging its claws into the ground, forcing itself to break its terrifying acceleration.
Shin didn't hesitate.
The instant his feet touched the rocky ground...
He ran.
Retreat.
That was his only option now.
He no longer cared about winning.
He only wanted to survive.
But the awakened hound had no intention of letting its prey escape.
The moment it saw Shin flee, dark lightning exploded around its body once again.
It launched itself forward with terrifying force, leaving a trail of crackling black lightning and shattered rock in its wake.
The valley shook beneath every step it took.
In the blink of an eye—
It caught him.
The beast swung its claws.
Shin twisted his body with everything he had.
He avoided a direct hit.
But not completely.
A flash of pain shot through his body.
His left arm spun through the air.
Blood erupted from the severed shoulder.
The beast's claws continued their path before crashing into the valley floor.
BOOM!
The impact exploded with enough force to shake the entire battlefield.
The rocky ground collapsed inward.
A massive crater spread across the valley as enormous chunks of stone were launched into the air.
The shockwave alone sent Shin tumbling across the fractured ground.
He rolled several times before forcing himself back onto his feet.
His severed arm had already begun to regenerate.
Fresh muscle.
New bone.
Skin slowly formed over the wound.
Yet Shin's attention wasn't on himself.
His eyes remained fixed on the devastation left behind by that single attack.
His breathing grew heavier.
"...Its attacks..."
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"...they're stronger."
His heart sank as he watched dust settle over the enormous crater.
"...And even faster than before."
His newly regenerated fingers slowly curled around the hilt of his sword.
A bitter smile crept across his face.
He finally understood.
There was no surviving a direct hit from the awakened beast in his current condition.
Not even once.
The monster before him had completely changed.
Whatever restraint it had possessed before was gone.
Its instincts had taken over.
It had become something else entirely.
A creature that existed for one purpose—
To kill.