Wounded beasts are often the most dangerous; when their lives are threatened, they launch desperate, frenzied counterattacks. Facing this dying Anjanath's final struggle, Logan chose once again to temporarily retreat and avoid its peak fury.
Moving with agile steps, he constantly circled the Anjanath, striking whenever he saw an opening. He never faced it head-on, nor did he give it a chance to breathe. This was the classic "wolf pack" bleeding tactic—wearing down large prey by exhausting their stamina and draining their blood.
The high-temperature resistance he had evolved previously played a crucial role now. Even as the Anjanath sprayed flammable liquid and the surrounding fires spread, it couldn't stop Logan. As long as he wasn't scorched for long periods, he could move freely even across ground covered in glowing red embers.
A tall tree, already hollowed out by insects and ants, finally succumbed to the fire. With a series of sharp cracks, it slowly tilted and crashed down. The trunk, nearly a hundred meters tall, slammed into the earth, its dense canopy acting like a giant umbrella and sending sparks flying everywhere.
The violent tremor made the Anjanath stumble. Logan seized the moment, lunging forward and pouncing onto its side. This force was the final straw; the Anjanath's body tilted sharply and hit the ground with a massive thud.
Between its injured hind leg and sheer exhaustion, the Anjanath couldn't get up. Every time it tried to lift its head, Logan slapped it back down. Simultaneously, Zhu Peiniang endured the heat and pounced, pinning the Anjanath's back with her claws and biting into its extended wing membrane, tearing backward with all her might.
Though tough, the thin membranes and delicate bones of the wings couldn't withstand the raw power of a giant beast; they began to tear away from the base.
The piercing pain made the Anjanath's body shake violently. It opened its mouth to roar, but a sharp tail stinger suddenly drove deep into its thick throat.
The strike seemingly severed a major neck vessel. A torrent of blood surged out, mixing with air leaking from the trachea to form a layer of pink foam.
Feeling its life slipping away, the Anjanath began its final struggle, flailing its legs and tail in an attempt to rise. But the two beasts pinned it down firmly. As time passed, its movements grew feeble, its strength ebbed, and eventually, it went completely still.
A pale blue notification flashed before Logan's eyes:
Hunt Successful: Anjanath. Evolution Points +10.
Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and jump off the carcass. The creature's strength was formidable, leaving his limbs feeling slightly numb.
But then came the problem: how to handle such a massive carcass?
The plants in the Ancient Forest were rich in moisture, and without new fuel, the surrounding fires were gradually dying out, so a forest fire wasn't a concern. Logan stood atop the dark red embers, pondering his options.
Since there was no better way, it seemed the only choice was to eat as much as possible.
He dragged the Anjanath's body to an open riverbed by a stream and called out to Zhu Peiniang—who was currently cooling off in the water, her fur badly singed—to prepare for a feast.
Using his wrist blades, he slit open the Anjanath's belly, starting with the most nutrient-rich internal organs. After the heart and liver were consumed and partially digested, another notification appeared:
Consumed: Anjanath. Evolution Points +8.
Logan already had a plan for these points. The previous battle had shown him that he lacked a "one-hit kill" finishing move. Now was the perfect time to fix that.
As 10 evolution points were consumed, a familiar warm current surged, gathering at the tip of his tail. Originally, he had a meter-long tail stinger made of enamel, calcium, and silk protein, resembling a smooth cone.
Now, a vast network of capillaries began to spread across the surface of that cone, expanding and widening its volume.
This wasn't a change that could be completed instantly, but with an abundance of food and time on his side, Logan wasn't worried.
After finishing the organs, his gaze fell on the Anjanath's thick tail. According to game descriptions, this was a high-quality ingredient with a delicious flavor.
Before eating, however, he peeled off the layer of blue feathers and skin from the Anjanath's back. Soft and heat-resistant, it would make a perfect natural mattress for his cave as the temperature dropped.
The beast weighed roughly 30 tons, with the tail alone weighing five or six. When Logan sliced into it, he found pink muscle marbled with snow-white fat, looking much like premium beef.
The sight sent his appetite into overdrive. He and Zhu Peiniang gorged themselves, though they were still too small to finish the entire tail.
They didn't let it go to waste. They dragged the remaining tail, the two thick thighs, and large chunks of back loin back to their cave.
With the current cool temperature and the rich bioenergy flowing through the flesh of powerful monsters, the meat would resist rotting for a while.
The following days were spent in a cycle of eating. The excessive intake caused a surplus of nutrients, which secreted from Logan's back as a layer of white crystalline residue. The wooden jar he had made previously began to fill with these transparent crystals.
Meanwhile, the transformation of his tail proceeded as planned. The conical stinger widened into a thick, sword-like shape. At the base where it joined the tail, bone and vessels proliferated, and layers of transparent fluid secreted and hardened into two wide axe-blades. Together, the structure looked like a massive halberd.
This was the unique weapon Logan had evolved, modeled after the Glavenus. While smaller than a true Glavenus's tail, his meter-long tail-blade was more flexible and faster.
When he swung his tail at supersonic speeds, the blade was capable of unleashing power comparable to an artillery shell.
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