The cannibal was draped in crude burlap clothing, looking more like a savage beast than a human.
Beneath his greasy, sparse long hair was a grotesque face covered in tumors and uneven growths. His jagged, exposed gums made his appearance utterly terrifying.
A monster with such a visage, combined with a physique far surpassing that of an ordinary human, would spell death for almost anyone who encountered it.
Jessie, standing nearby, saw Mike face off against the cannibal and was about to scream a warning.
But before the words could leave her lips, she watched the handsome young man subdue the monster in just a few moves.
The scene was straight out of an action movie—a true hero moment.
"You actually defeated it..."
If the circumstances weren't so dire, Jessie might have swooned right there.
"There are two more monsters like this in the forest! My friends are trapped near the signal tower... Please save them!"
Recovering from her shock, Jessie remembered her companions and limped over to Mike.
Looking at the cannibal pinned beneath Mike's foot, she seemed to overcome her initial terror.
Maybe this monster wasn't so invincible after all!
Previously, after their car broke down in this remote area with no cell service, Jessie, her four friends, and Chris (the office worker whose car collided with theirs) had set out to find help.
That was when they encountered the bloodthirsty cannibals.
With their terrifying appearance and expert hunting skills, the cannibals launched a surprise attack. Jessie's two friends were killed instantly, offering no resistance.
Terrified, the remaining four fled deeper into the forest, eventually stumbling upon the cannibals' lair.
There, they witnessed a living hell...
Human remains were being treated like animal carcasses, boiled in a giant pot for food.
Horrified by the gruesome scene, the four fled again.
After a desperate game of cat and mouse in the woods, the group lost another member.
The remaining three managed to escape the lair and luckily found a fire watchtower/signal tower in the forest.
When they used the radio in the tower to send a distress signal to the nearest police station, the cannibals tracked them down.
Unable to break down the reinforced door, the monsters decided to burn the tower down.
Faced with being burned alive, Jessie and the others had no choice but to jump from the tower to escape.
Fortunately, the tall trees surrounding the tower offered a landing spot.
However, Jessie failed to grab a sturdy branch upon landing. She tumbled down, hitting branches along the way until she crashed onto the ground.
Before the encroaching cannibals could kill her, sheer will to survive drove her to drag her injured body back to the road.
And that was where she ran into Mike driving through the night.
At this moment, Mike realized that the monster beneath his foot was operating purely on animal instinct—struggling, raging, but incapable of human communication.
It was just a beast that knew how to use tools.
Facing a dangerous animal, Mike didn't hesitate. With a swift swing of the giant axe he had seized, he decapitated the creature.
"Lead the way. Let's go save your friends," Mike said to the girl, who looked like she was about to scream at the bloody sight.
"Oh... R-Right. Carly and Chris are in danger. We have to hurry..." having survived multiple perils, Jessie's mental fortitude had clearly hardened.
Calming herself, she immediately led Mike deep into the forest toward the signal tower.
[Giant Strength]: Under equivalent physical constitution, exert force far surpassing normal limits. (Maximum output: 2x multiplier)
This was the ability orb dropped by the monster he just killed.
For an ordinary person, this orb might just make them a strongman.
But for Mike, whose base stats were already superhuman, this was a god-tier skill.
Crushing the orb and feeling the surge of power, Mike hefted the giant axe, suddenly looking forward to what loot the remaining two monsters might drop.
On the way to the signal tower, Mike noticed numerous traps hidden in the forest—bear traps, snares, and tripwires.
The dark, reddish-brown stains on the traps indicated that the monsters inhabiting this forest had hunted passing tourists frequently.
---
Meanwhile, at the burning signal tower, Chris, the surviving office worker, had jumped from the tower onto a large tree.
"Don't be scared! Jump! I'll catch you!" Standing firmly on a branch, Chris turned and shouted to Carly, who was still hesitating.
The two remaining cannibals didn't seem in a rush to kill their prey.
They were toying with them like cats with mice, savoring the screams of fear before the kill.
It proved that these creatures weren't entirely mindless.
Below the tree, a tall, pale-skinned cannibal had an arrow nocked on his bow, aiming at the two humans to prevent their escape.
The other cannibal, smaller and more agile, had already climbed onto the branch where Carly was perched. He bared his jagged teeth, getting right in her face to terrorize her.
Trembling at the end of the branch, facing the horrific visage of the monster inches away, Carly lost all will to survive.
"I can't do it..."
Despite Chris's shouts, Carly was crying uncontrollably, paralyzed with fear. She looked ready to fall at any moment.
This was the scene Mike and Jessie arrived upon.
Before Jessie could even speak, Mike swung the giant axe and hurled it at the cannibal aiming the bow below the tree.
Whoosh—
The axe spun through the air and struck the pale cannibal square in the chest.
To Mike's surprise, the axe didn't cleave the chest open; it sounded like it hit solid rock.
Fortunately, the force of the throw was immense. Although the cannibal didn't bleed immediately, the impact launched him backward.
Twang!
Due to inertia, the cannibal released the arrow just before he hit the ground.
Up in the tree, the already terrified Carly heard the bowstring snap. Her nerves finally shattered. She swayed and plummeted headfirst from the tree.
Her scream pierced the night sky.
"Stop screaming, beautiful. You're safe."
Mike spoke to the girl who was shrieking in his arms.
"Huh?..." Carly tentatively opened her eyes to see a handsome man's face.
She realized she was lying in his arms in a rather intimate posture.
The feeling of snatching life from the jaws of death was surreal.
"Th-Thank you... You saved me... How did you..."
Now safe, her mind started to wander. She was confused about how he had caught her when he was over ten meters away just moments ago.
From throwing the axe to catching the girl, the entire sequence took less than three seconds.
Under normal circumstances, an average person couldn't possibly cover that distance.
Luckily, Mike wasn't average.
His superhuman neural processing speed allowed him to assess that the downed cannibal posed no immediate threat, giving him the luxury of prioritizing the girl's rescue.
"The enemies aren't neutralized yet. Talk later." Mike set the girl down and turned toward the fallen cannibal.
The look of adoration in the girl's eyes was a textbook example of the suspension bridge effect. However, given her current state—covered in snot and tears—she wasn't exactly presenting her best self.
Besides, with loot orbs on the line, the attraction of the girl paled in comparison to the attraction of the cannibal.
On the ground, the cannibal Mike had struck was struggling. His chest was visibly caved in, and bloody foam bubbled from his mouth. His bloodshot eyes glared at Mike with intense hatred.
Clearly, this monster held a grudge.
Jessie had picked up the giant axe and was engaged in a standoff with the wounded creature.
"Let me handle this."
Mike returned and took the axe from her hands.
Clang!
He brought the axe down on the cannibal's neck, but once again, it sounded like he was striking stone.
This monster had incredibly tough defense. Not only did the axe fail to kill it, but the pain seemed to trigger a berserk state.
A tough nut to crack!
To be safe, Mike turned the axe sideways, using the flat side like a hammer. Applying brute force ("Giant Strength"), he began to pound.
It didn't take long before he smashed the monster's head into watermelon juice.
[Stone Skin]: Skin as hard as rock, impervious to sharp blades.
Good stuff.
Mike put down the axe, a satisfied smile on his face.
Having acquired another ability orb, he decided that taking this shortcut through the woods wasn't such a bad decision after all.