The beast was… massive.
Easily ten feet tall at the shoulders when hunched, but it stood even taller now, rising to full height like a nightmare crawling out of hell. Its frame was bulky with corded muscle, fur as dark as obsidian and slicked with blood, rippling over a body that looked built not for survival... but for domination.
Its eyes, mad red orbs burned like twin suns of hatred, glowing through the mist with an unhinged intelligence that made Jayden's stomach twist. This wasn't just an animal. It wasn't hunting to eat.
It was hunting for sport.
Long jagged fangs jutted down from its upper jaw like ivory spears, too long to fit in its mouth, forcing its lips into a constant, snarling gape. Saliva dripped in slow, ropes onto the forest floor. Each breath it exhaled came out like smoke from a furnace, hot and heavy and violent.
But what truly set it apart… were the claws.
Not growing from its fingers like a normal predator. No. These grotesque blades, each one nearly a foot long... extended from its knuckles, metallic in sheen, curved like executioner's scythes. They shimmered like steel forged in fire, and the tips… the tips were needle-thin, designed not just to slash.. but to pierce deep and rip out vital organs with surgical cruelty.
The claws were adamantine. Indestructible. Lethal. The same kind of material used in advanced galactic weaponry, and somehow, this beast had evolved with it embedded in its bones.
Its legs were digitigrade, built for pouncing... spring-loaded with dense muscle, ending in talons that could cleave bark off a tree in a single swipe. And Its fur was patchy in places, revealing scarred skin
This beast… wasn't just stronger.
It was Evolved. Engineered by nature itself to kill anything that dared to breathe the same air.
It stared down at Jayden with its crimson eyes, head tilted slightly. Its lips peeled back slowly, revealing rows of serrated teeth beneath its larger fangs... two rows, like a shark's.
And then, as if to punctuate its monstrosity, it let out a low, guttural growl.
Deep. Predatory. Confident.
Because in its mind, this wasn't a fight. It was a slaughter waiting to happen.
[Sweet Jesus... it's larger than I thought] Luna muttered in disbelief
Jayden exhaled. "Well, Luna. Now what?"
Luna sighed. [Run. Hide, and keep running]
"That's not helping, Luna," Jayden said
[Okay, fine. Fight it. Do whatever you want] Luna stated. [But you need to keep it wounded. If it heals, it'll disappear again... And that would mean your funeral]
Jayden exhaled. "Okay... Keep it wounded," he said. "That should be easy,"
Then he heard a thunderous step approaching him, the Greater Wolverine Stalker had charged.. no warning, no theatrics. Just a blur of muscle, metal, and pure rage erupting through the trees like a demon loosed from its cage.
Jayden barely leapt aside, wind screaming past his ears as claws tore through the space he'd just occupied. The tree behind him exploded into splinters. Wood. Bark. Gone.
"Shit...!"
He rolled hard, dirt embedding in his skin, vision spinning, but no time to breathe.
The beast was on him again.
Claws raked out, blinding-fast. One grazed his ribs. Agony screamed through his side. The impact flung him backward like a ragdoll. He slammed into a rock, coughing blood.
[-30 Hp]
"Crap!" he screamed in his mind.
[Jayden MOVE!] Luna suddenly yelled
Jayden dove as a claw split the rock in half like it was made of glass. The Wolverine howled... sharp and grating as it missed again, fangs gnashing in fury.
Jayden was fighting a monster built for slaughter. And he was bleeding already.
But he was still thinking. Still adapting. He sprinted through the brush, heart hammering, ducking and weaving through trees as the monster gave chase. The bastard was fast. Too fast. But not silent anymore. Its wounds made it roar, gave away its position.
"Alright, think Jayden. The beast is large," Jayden pondered inwardly as he ran. "Large beasts are easier to injure,"
But he had no weapons, all he had was...
"Tree branches and stones," Jayden muttered, an idea forming in his mind. "Nature's weapons,"
Jayden grabbed a thick branch mid-run and snapped into a sharp, jagged point. He whirled around, adrenaline pumping like a drug, and jammed the branch upward as the beast lunged.
The timing had to be perfect. And luckily, It was.
The branch sank into the beast's abdomen, right under the ribcage. Not deep enough to kill. But deep enough to lodge. Deep enough to stay.
The Wolverine screeched in rage and reeled back, thrashing wildly. Jayden dove again, barely avoiding the return swipe, but a second claw caught his back and ripped through the flesh like paper.
"Arghh!" He hit the ground screaming, biting his lip to stay conscious. Blood surged everywhere, soaking his tracksuit and painting the ground.
Jayden dragged himself behind another tree, gasping. His vision blurred. But he forced his focus back. "The branch... It's still in there."
The beast roared again and charged.
Jayden stood, broken but determined, and ran. Not away this time, but rather at it.
He dove low, slid between its legs, grabbed a thick, sharp twig mid-slide, and jammed it into the creature's inner thigh, where the bone didn't protect.
The Wolverine roared, staggered, but backhanded him with such force he flew into a tree.
His head rang. Blood gushed from his nose. His body screamed in protest. He was losing blood fast.
[-45 Hp]
But the beast was also bleeding. The branch was still lodged in his abdomen, twitching with every move it made. But it had managed to remove the twig.
[Jayden you are losing too much blood]. Luna warned. [You need to stop taking hits for your healing to kick in]
Jayden spat out blood. "Nope. Not done yet," he muttered, standing and picking up a large, jagged stone in the process.
Then he grabbed vines from the forest floor, thick, thorned, and brutal. He scrambled up a nearby tree while the beast howled and flailed. He tied the vines around a low-hanging branch and himself, anchoring it like a makeshift swing.
Then he leapt, swinging down in a wide arc like a wrecking ball.
And slammed a jagged stone into the side of the beast's neck.
Blood gushed, hot and furious. The beast screamed.
It grabbed him mid-air and slammed him into the ground, clawing his shoulder, piercing the muscle clean through. Jayden screamed, but used the momentum to jam the rock deeper into the neck wound.
He twisted it.
The beast roared, thrashed.. and threw him off like a toy.
Jayden hit the ground hard. Ribs cracked. His left arm dislocated. His vision fading.
[-100 Hp]
[You have suffered a fatal damage]
[Hp: 50/250]]
[Warning: Critical Health Level]
But Jayden wasn't paying attention to the system's warning. Instead, he looked up... and saw the beast stumble.
The branch was still in its gut. The rock still lodged in its throat. And it's thigh was barely healing. Blood poured from all wounds, heavy and fast.
Jayden smiled weakly. "This would keep it visible for a while,"
[But not for long,] Luna warned. [Its healing's kicking in]
"Then I finish it now," Jayden whispered.
With his good hand, he pushed himself up, grabbing a broken shard of bark sharpened by the earlier destruction. He staggered forward like a drunk man, blood trailing him.
The Wolverine turned to face him, slow now. Tired. Wounded. But still burning with fury.
Jayden charged with everything he had left.
The beast lunged. Claws slashed.
But Jayden twisted under it, leapt, and drove the shard into its eye with precision.
The beast howled a deafening, final scream as it thrashed wildly, blinded and bleeding from too many places.
It staggered back... collapsing against a boulder.
Breathing heavy. Twitching.
Then finally… It stilled. But the system didn't confirm the kill which meant.. it wasn't dead. And it wasn't healing either.
Jayden collapsed further from it, chest heaving, body broken, blood soaking the earth beneath him.
[That was crazy] Luna whispered softly. [But damn… you're alive]
Jayden coughed. "Well, I couldn't let you kill me. Could I?" he smiled wrly as his healing finally kicked in. His bones began to heal and his wounds closed up.
Luna chuckled. [You should go ahead and finish off that thing as soon as you recover some strength]
Jayden nodded, he lay there, body trembling, blood painting his skin in deep, crimson strokes. His breath came in ragged gasps, each inhale burning like fire. But he was alive. Which was a victory.
Across from him, the Greater Wolverine Stalker was down too, black ichor leaking from its wounds. But it refused to die
They were both warriors brought to ruin.
Broken. Battered. Brutalized.
Too wounded to rise.
Too stubborn to fall.
Jayden let out a weak, painful laugh as he glances at the beast. "We're... evenly matched, huh?"
[Not quite, you were simply lucky] Luna murmured, but her voice had a strange edge. Uncertainty... and fear.
Jayden scoffed but didn't reply, he remained on the ground. And after a while, he recovered enough strength to stand up but was still quite weak. He inhaled sharply, gritting his teeth as he rose to his feet.
Jayden's goal was to land the finishing blow on the beast and receive his sweet rewards. But as he stood up, the air suddenly shifted and a eerie feeling washed over him.
He blinked up at the treetops, his vision blurred and colorless. But then... He saw something strange and frightening
A deep, crimson glow began to pulse from the beast's body. Faint at first… but then wild. Alive.
The branch embedded in its gut burned away like ash.
The punctured eye reconstructed itself before Jayden's eyes.
The shattered muscles knitted back together with unnatural speed.
Jayden's heartbeat spiked. He felt a cold sensation crawl up his spine.
"What... the hell is happening?" he rasped, forcing himself upright.
And Luna, for once, didn't sound like a snarky AI. She sounded like a witness to something ancient.
[It's... ranking up] she said, almost whispering. [It's evolving to a C-Rank beast]
Jayden's eyes widened, this was not good for him at all. He had barely gotten out alive when the beast was D-Rank, and now it was evolving into C-Rank. He wouldn't stand a chance.
Then. the glow intensified, surrounding the Wolverine in a cocoon of blood-red light. It twitched, jolting back to life. Then...
ROAR!
It roared, but not like before. This was primal. Godless. A war cry to death itself.
The ground trembled beneath Jayden. Leaves blew wildly. Trees nearby snapped in half as an invisible force rippled outward from the beast's core, an energy shockwave of raw, unfiltered power. The very air shuddered as the beast grew.
Jayden was hit by this force, sending him crashing into a nearby tree.
[-20 Hp]
"Damn it!" he shuddered. "I need to get out of here,"
But the beast wasn't finished, Its muscles swelled. Its claws, already long... now doubled in length, each one gleaming like forged obsidian, sickeningly curved and humming with energy.
Its fangs protruded past its lower jaw, dripping thick saliva. Its skeleton shifted under its flesh, bones cracking louder than thunder.
The creature stood taller now... almost three meters high, hunched and snarling, its eyes glowing like burning coals.
And then... The forest went quiet. So quiet, Jayden could hear the sound of his own blood dripping onto the dirt.
[Jayden, listen to me. You need to move. NOW!] Luna cried. [You don't have enough HP to fight this thing again. It's faster. Stronger. It's not the same beast you fought. You'll die]
"Yeah, I'm way ahead of you," Jayden gritted his teeth, forcing his limbs to cooperate, even though every nerve screamed in protest. He staggered to his feet, vision doubling, side leaking blood from a gash he no longer felt.
He turned... tried to run.
But the Wolverine was already moving. Slowly. Deliberately. Its claws dragged through the dirt like blades.
Jayden stumbled through the trees, slipping on leaves slick with blood.. his own. Adrenaline surged, numbing his pain, pushing his legs to keep going.
The forest blurred around him, but he didn't stop. He couldn't. Not when the monster behind him had just become a walking apocalypse.
But suddenly, he did. Jayden stopped, something had caused him to stop.
The beast, on the other hand was searching for Jayden, it probably wanted revenge for almost getting killed by him. It knocked down trees, and sent rocks flying, in it's search.
As it moved majestically through the forest, all the creatures... from ordinary insects to actual beasts made sure to stay hidden. The Wolverine Stalker had become a powerhouse.
It was now apparently the only C-Rank beast in the forest, and therefore the strongest.
They was probably a B-Rank beast present in the forest but it would be in hiding... Not from random hunters or daylight... but rather from the EVA.
As soon as a B-Rank beast evolves, it releases a massive amount of energy output and the EVA can sense this energy through their sensors. And once they located the newly evolved B-Rank beast, they would eliminate it before it develops and learns to use it's new abilities.
This was to ensure that the beast would never evolve into an A-Rank beast, because if it did, they were in serious trouble.
A-Ranks were considered national threats, but there hasn't been one in years, thanks to this measure.
And due to the measure, B-Ranks were very rare around the world. And if one were to exist, it would be in hiding. Making sure to stay hidden until it reaches A-Rank and become more powerful.
So this makes C-Rank beasts a literal powerhouse in the beast domain.They were not enough of a threat to the EVA, but they were not a pushover either.
This puts them in the middle, and therefore made them the most dangerous, especially because they were common. The threat level of 1 B-Rank beast was equal to that of 10 C-Ranks.
The C-Rank Wolverine Stalker moved through the forest, expressing it's dominance and showing off it's strength, while still searching for Jayden.
Meanwhile, Jayden who was now far away from the beast, crouched beneath the twisted roots of a collapsed tree, half-covered in mud, sweat, and his own blood. His chest rose and fell like a broken bellows, muscles aching, mind spiraling. He could've run. He should've run.
But the System had whispered otherwise.
*New Quest Available:
[A new C-Rank beast has emerged and claimed the forest as it's own, establish dominance and prove that you are the lord over all beasts: Defeat the C-Rank Wolverine Stalker]
*Reward: Instant level up