My eyes felt too heavy to keep open.
Above me, an open jaw lowered slowly, rows of sharp fangs glinting as they moved closer to my head.
I could feel the end coming.
Death hovered inches away, looking down at me with what felt almost like a smirk.
My body was cold, yet my lips curved upward.
I kept smiling, accepting it.
That was when the system window appeared.
[Imminent death detected.]
[Force-activating Predator's Instinct.]
[Predator's Instinct has been upgraded to Lv. 5 due to extreme urgency.]
My heart raced once in fear at the mention of Predator's Instinct.
But the fear didn't last.
I had already accepted my end. I was satisfied. I had protected the woman and the child. That was enough.
Then I realized, sharp and clear.
So that's why Blink failed. My smile widened slightly as the truth settled in.
"Damn…" I muttered weakly.
"I was playing with my skills too much."
My gaze drifted inward.
"My MP is zero."
"So Blink and Helion Breath consume MP, huh…"
The foul stench of Leonia's breath washed over me, thick and suffocating. My stomach twisted violently, as if I were about to vomit.
Then… The world turned red. And I lost control of my own body once again.
A primal bloodlust ignited through my body from the core.
Leonia felt it too.
Because the colossal leopard that had looked like death itself only a moment ago suddenly leaped backward, landing far away with a heavy crash. Her fur spiked, every strand raised straight upward as violent yellow lightning crackled around her body like a living shield.
Those emerald eyes…
They no longer belonged to a predator.
It was not caution or alertness. They were filled with pure and shivering fear.
"The hell…?" a thought surfaced faintly inside me.
"How terrifying do I look from her perspective to make her react like this…?"
The curiosity flickered only for an instant. But I couldn't explore it. Because once again, I was no longer in control.
I was a prisoner inside my own body, watching myself from a third-person view.
Then I felt it.
The blue particles.
They were everywhere again. Drifting freely through nature, unrestrained, endless. But this time, my body didn't move toward them.
They came to me.
No.
That wasn't right.
They were consumed.
That was the only word that fit.
My cells pulled the blue energy particles in from the surrounding world like a starving vacuum.
I could feel it clearly through my muscles, veins and bones. Every part of me was filling with that energy at terrifying speed, as if nature itself was pouring into my flesh.
The cracked bone in my left shoulder began to knit together, slowly but precisely.
The pain faded as my ribs healed next.
The blood dripping from my wounds stopped and pulled back into the wounds as the skin stitched itself shut with an itchy heat.
And then my body stood up.
On its own.
[Skill Unlocked: Helis Recovery – Lv. 1]
For the first time since waking up in this world, I heard my own voice as a monster.
It roared.
KRRRRRHAAAAA!
The sound tore through the jungle, a piercing and high-frequency cry that shredded the air itself.
That's when I understood.
"So… that's what she heard when I told her to run."
No wonder she fainted. Anyone would.
And Leonia…
The Queen of Thunder Leopards.
The gold-furred nightmare, whose roar had shaken the forest moments ago.
She stood frozen. Her muscles locked. Her instincts failed. She forgot even how to flee.
All because of a predator, ten times smaller than her, was staring back.
A rush of emotion tore through me from head to toe. My blood boiled as my veins felt like they are about to burst. Every cell in this small body screamed the same word.
Kill.
My body began to move toward Leonia on its own, slow and deliberate. And I felt it then…not rage, not hunger, but something colder swirling in my gut.
Disappointment.
Disappointment at being cornered by a lower-class predator. Disappointment at having to injure myself to protect others.
This was the brutally honest mentality of an apex predator.
Its truth was simple.
I come first. The rest of the world comes after.
My cells screamed it, over and over, as if trying to carve that law into my existence.
And then, everything vanished. The jungle dissolved, replaced by a vast and clean white field.
There were only three things left in that space.
Me.
My body.
And Leonia.
I could see it clearly.
I existed as a blue-outlined silhouette, formed entirely of flowing energy particles.
My body stood in front of me, outlined in red, dense and violent with the same energy.
And Leonia, outlined in yellow, stood opposite us.
None of us had mass.
Only outlines.
Only intent.
A completely different sense of space and a different awareness altogether.
My body stepped forward, intent clear.
Leonia gathered what little courage she had left, thunder crackling weakly around her claws.
And for the first time…
I reached out.
I reached out to myself.
"Is this because Predator's Instinct levelled up?" the thought crossed my mind.
Before I could analyze it, my hand touched my body's shoulder.
Time stopped. Red and blue particles collided at the point of contact, scattering like shattered light.
My instinct turned its head toward me.
Its eyes burned with anger and disappointment.
"KRRRRHAAAA?"
The sound wasn't just a roar. It was a question.
Why stop now?
Tears slipped down my face as I whispered.
"I'm sorry… I know she hurt us. I know she made us suffer. But please—don't kill her."
My instinct roared back, louder this time.
"KRRRHAAA! KRRRRHAAA!"
The fury behind that sound was overwhelming, ancient and absolute.
I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around it.
"I know I'm supposed to be a monster," I said, voice shaking. "But I'm not one. Look at her."
My instinct hesitated.
For the first time, it listened. Its gaze shifted toward Leonia.
I whispered again, almost to myself.
"What's the point of killing an enemy who's already lost… to fear of death?"
The white field shattered.
Time flowed again.
The jungle returned in a rush of sound, smell, and weight. Leaves rustled as the wind howled with the thunder crackling around Leonia on a blood soaked ground.
The strange spatial awareness vanished.
I could still feel the rage in my cells. The bloodlust hadn't disappeared.
But something else had formed.
A connection.
I was still watching from a third-person view, but the distance felt smaller now.
My body remained on guard, claws extended, bloodlust aimed squarely at Leonia.
But it didn't advance.
And Leonia…
She lowered her massive head, just for a moment.
Then, with a single powerful leap, she vanished into the depths of the forest, swallowed by the canopy.
The red haze slowly faded from my vision.
Colors returned, one by one, until the world settled back into its bright, unfamiliar calm. The sun had begun its slow descent toward the west, casting long shadows across the shattered clearing.
Control returned to my body.
I slumped against the base of the broken tree, breathing shallowly. The lingering disappointment inside me faded along with Predator's Instinct, leaving behind an emptiness I couldn't immediately explain.
I checked my status window expecting a good reward but…
No new EXP.
No stat increase.
After everything… nothing. The numbers hadn't budged.
"Oh," A dry, tired laugh escaped my throat.
"So if I don't kill… I don't level up."
The realization settled quietly.
"That's why you were disappointed," I whispered, unsure whether I was speaking to myself or to the instinct still echoing inside me.
And yet… I felt no regret.
I had protected what I wanted to protect.
And for the first time, I hadn't just been dragged along by instinct… I had reached it.
I didn't know it then, but what happened here didn't end with me.
It sent ripples outward and stirred the human civilization of this fantasy world.
South of the Forest – A Small Village
Three figures hurried through the narrow dirt paths of a village clinging to the forest's edge, carrying an unconscious woman and a sleeping child.
They stopped before an old wooden building.
A faded sign hung above its entrance.
| Herbea |
The only medical facility in the village.
The first foothold of human civilization before the forest swallowed everything else.
As night fell, lanterns flickered to life, dotting the village like fragile stars against the darkness.
Later, inside the tavern-
"Did you see that thing, Jacob?"
The warrior rested his sword against his chair, releasing a slow breath.
"Yeah, Lily," he replied quietly. "Without it… we wouldn't have saved Miranda."
Mara scoffed, cutting into her meal.
"After all the warnings, Frank and Miranda still went into the forest. Idiots."
Lily slammed her palm on the table.
"Frank was a carpenter. He needed wood. The capital doesn't care if we starve."
Mara snapped back. "And that desperation killed him. So what now? What happens to Miranda? To little William?"
Jacob hadn't touched his food.
"You both need to calm down," he said firmly.
"They were family. We'll take care of them."
Then his voice lowered.
"But that's not the real problem."
Both women fell silent. Jacob leaned in.
"Did you see that breath? The one that stopped Leonia mid-charge?"
Mara's hand trembled.
"…Yes."
Lily swallowed.
"The scariest thing wasn't Leonia," Jacob continued. "We've known about her for years."
He hesitated.
"But that thing… what was it?"
Lily whispered, barely audible.
"The particles… they felt like…"
Mara finished the thought.
"Helis."
The word hung in the air. Jacob nodded slowly.
"Raw and pure Helis. The energy of creation."
Lily shook her head.
"That's impossible. No one has wielded Helis in a million years."
No one moved. They just stared at the flickering candle on the table surrounded with foods.
"…We've only seen it in paintings," Jacob said. "In the capital's temples. In stories."
He exhaled.
"But I know what I felt."
None of them spoke again.
Whether it was Helis…Or something else entirely.
They all knew one thing.
The forest had changed.