O’Neill hesitated. The Earth Tiger before him—a Level Three Apprentice demonic beast—gave him a very bad feeling.
Sensing the immense threat O’Neill posed, the beast suddenly let out an ear-splitting roar.
Then, in a burst of fury, it charged at him like a brown whirlwind!
“Damn it! I don’t have time to think!”
Its speed was overwhelming—O’Neill didn’t even have time to process a single thought.
Relying on the quick reflexes granted by his racial talent, he narrowly dodged the first strike. But before he could catch his breath, the Earth Tiger lunged again.
“Oh no…” O’Neill thought as he realized how dangerous the situation truly was.
Almost at the same moment, the sharp horn above the beast’s head shot toward him at such terrifying speed that it was impossible to evade completely.
Acting on pure instinct, O’Neill twisted his body mid-motion and miraculously avoided having his chest pierced.
Some of the girls from the Barbrose Clan screamed, while Ulric and Rebus immediately began arguing!
“Damn it!”
Before O’Neill could even rise from the ground, a searing pain tore through the muscles of his back—the second strike. It lasted only an instant, yet it blasted him into the air as if he were soaring among the clouds.
“The gap between Level Two and Level Three is enormous! I was too careless…”
It was the first time O’Neill had been seriously injured, and the pain was excruciating!
Ulric, seeing his son gravely wounded by a Level Three Apprentice beast, tried to stop the match at once.
“Get out of my way, Rebus! Do you have a death wish?!” Ulric roared as Rebus blocked his path.
Behind Rebus, Ail had already collapsed from the earlier impact.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“According to the rules of the Selection Trial! No one is allowed to interfere, no matter what happens in the arena!”
“These are the rules of our ancestors! The rules of our clan!”
Rebus coldly stood his ground, preventing Ulric from rescuing his son.
It was rare for Ulric’s brat to challenge a Level Three dangerous species—and now he was likely to die.
Of course Rebus wanted to see that happen.
As Ulric moved, the second warrior of the Baltos Clan stepped forward as well, aiming to stop him.
“Move aside! Or I’ll truly kill you!”
Although Ulric’s killing intent frightened Rebus, he did not retreat.
From afar, the clan leader watched everything silently. No one knew what he was thinking.
Seeing that his son might truly be killed by a Level Three beast, Ulric could no longer restrain himself.
With Rebus blocking his way, he attacked!
Meanwhile, before Ulric could intervene—and while O’Neill was still airborne—the Earth Tiger opened its mouth and unleashed a brown beam of light that struck O’Neill midair.
A sharp pain exploded across his back. His vision went dark. His lungs convulsed. Blood spilled from his mouth, and the dagger slipped from his grasp.
The moment he hit the ground, he nearly lost consciousness from the agony.
He knew the horn had pierced his back—perhaps even damaging his lungs.
Then the massive, hideous head of the beast loomed before him again.
He could hear Ulric and Rebus fighting fiercely in the distance. At last, the clan leader made his move and swung his mace viciously—but the savage beast did not take him seriously.
With a right-angled deflection, it blocked the patriarch’s strike, then stepped down with its front hoof onto O’Neill’s left shoulder blade. Its eyes were filled with disdain as it pressed down harder.
Crack!
A bone-shattering pain flooded O’Neill’s mind.
“No one can save you. You’re dead, little one.”
Rebus’s voice echoed faintly from afar.
O’Neill felt an unprecedented threat of death. On the verge of losing consciousness from the pain, he clenched his fist tightly.
A surge of heat rose from the fingertips of his left hand, as if something within him had suddenly opened.
The connection between two Life Energy channels in his left arm and the Sea of Life at his navel was fully activated.
Life Force—Blood Energy—the power he had recently obtained, flooded through him!
With intense focus, the Blood Energy coursed through his ethereal life channels and flowed into his right arm.
In an instant, his arm thickened visibly.
The beast immediately sensed the change in the enemy beneath it. Impatient, it raised its claw to stomp down again.
But this time, luck was no longer on its side.
Expressionless, O’Neill moved in a strange motion.
His right hand seized the beast’s brown forelegs that were pinning him down, while his left—slick and extended like a serpent—gripped the unicorn-like horn.
Then he stood up.
Taking a deep breath, he released a terrifying roar.
A horrifying smile spread across his face—as if it had crawled out from hell itself.
The moment the creature saw that smile, fear flashed in its eyes.
It struggled violently, trying to free its captured horn, but an endless torrent of strength surged from O’Neill’s body.
No matter how it twisted, kicked, or thrashed, it could not escape his grip.
Then—
Boom!
A savage scene unfolded in the arena.
The sight was indescribable.
Crimson blood sprayed everywhere, chaotic streaks staining the ground and trees.
Shattered bones, torn flesh, and scattered entrails littered the surroundings. Some pieces of meat still twitched on the ground…
The beast’s brown, mangled head lay wrapped in its own intestines—its eyeballs gone… its horn torn away…
And there stood O’Neill, drenched in blood.
Terrifying O’Neill.
Laughing O’Neill.
O’Neill, who had torn apart a Level Three Apprentice dangerous creature with his bare hands.
Silence fell upon every member of the Barbrose Clan.
Not a single person made a sound.
Until O’Neill let out a strange laugh.
He casually tossed aside half of the horn he had bent with his bare hands, then raised something bright red in his palm—still bleeding, still beating.
Bang… bang… bang…
It was the heart of the Earth Tiger, the Level Three Apprentice demonic beast.
It pulsed as though it were still alive.
“Pff…”
With a soft sound, the heart was crushed, turning into a pool of blood.
…
