Chapter 11 : I almost died!

“Hheup..!”

There’s no need to approach first.

But that doesn’t mean I should just stand still.

Dire wolves tend to surround their prey.

I quickly kept watch on the rear and ran back around.

Two dire wolves running from the left.

If I keep running, I’ll only waste my stamina.

I have to hit them first before they catch me from behind.

I charged toward the ones that were running away from me with some distance.

The ones on the right started following my back.

I have to deal with these before they latch onto me..!

“Come!”

The forest here is the same as the 4th floor, with thick trees growing, which gives me a slight advantage.

Passing by a tree trunk, I quickly closed the distance as they lost sight of me.

Bboong!

With boots reinforced with iron, I kicked the left one’s abdomen.

Then I immediately raised my sword towards the face of the remaining one.

Squeak-

Twisting my whole body quickly towards the two on the right,

I struck the running wolf’s nose with the edge of the shield tied to my left hand.

Leaving the one that fell back with a yelp behind, I was about to swing my sword at the remaining one when—

“Ahh!!”

One dire wolf jumped from behind and bit my shoulder.

I removed the shield from my left hand and quickly grabbed its hind legs with my hands on my back, but—

“Let go, you crazy bastard..!”

It bit my shoulder firmly and didn’t let go.

I had no choice.

“Hheup..!”

Running like hell towards a place without wolves,

I twisted my upper body to the left and scraped my back against a tree trunk at the running speed.

-Screech!!

The wolf biting my shoulder fell off from the heavy impact.

I grabbed the tail it was holding and wildly swung it, hitting its head against the tree trunk.

Thud-!

“You should’ve fallen more gently..!”

Thanks to the gambeson, the teeth didn’t pierce my shoulder.

But due to the biting force pressing beyond the gambeson, I think I got some bruising.

No big deal.

While spinning, one of the three dire wolves that came close aimed for my shin, but my leather boots were tough enough to scrape off its teeth instead.

However, the tightly tied lace broke, and my right boot was at risk of coming off.

While fending off their threatening kicks, I pulled out the shield from my left hand again and struck the approaching wolf’s snout.

“Krrk..!?”

I took too much time.

The dire wolves had already surrounded me.

The leader was growling low, staring at me.

What’s the safest way?

No, I shouldn’t look for a safe way.

‘What’s the way to survive?’

They’re living creatures too.

Think carefully.

A way to create a weak point…

The best way is, of course, to get rid of the leader.

Four wolves, including me, were already down.

There were ten left, including the leader.

If only that bastard is gone, it’s worth a try.

If the leader dies, they might get scared.

Yeah. Nothing else matters.

Clack

I stretched the sword in my right hand forward and pointed at the leader.

“I’ll kill only you. Got it?”

The leader bared its teeth and started growling low.

Did it understand?

‘It has wounds.’

There were some wounds on its right hind leg.

So that’s why it didn’t join the fight.

‘Then… it won’t be so hard.’

I wanted to say it was easy but stopped myself.

No matter the wounds, it’s not an easy opponent.

“Ssseup…”

I took a breath and quickly lunged at the leader.

No need to worry about the dire wolves running around.

I didn’t have the finesse to bite precisely at the running legs.

I swung my arms side to side to shake off the wolves and stabbed the leader immediately.

“Die already..!”

The leader’s fast evasion made the blade only graze its snout.

It retreated, and other wolves started to latch onto me.

I swung my sword to slash its neck and kicked its head.

I slammed the shield down on the back of its head and grabbed the front paw of a wolf trying to cling on and threw it off.

I got bitten on the right forearm but luckily the new gambeson effectively blocked the teeth.

I got bitten once on the thigh, but luckily it wasn’t a major bleeding area.

At the moment I was about to be surrounded by wolves, I shouted loudly, lay my sword flat, spun around once, and shook off the wolves nearby.

“Come on, you damn bastards!”

The number of healthy wolves dropped to four, and I bled heavily from bites on my right thigh and left shin.

As my wounds deepened, the leader opened its huge jaw wide and lunged at me.

Thud-!

Its massive body shoved me to the ground.

I desperately defended myself, but a wolf nearby bit my right arm that I swung to stab.

-Crack

The stitches tore, and the gambeson ripped open.

What was visible inside was an unprotected arm with only a thin linen shirt.

As the gambeson was torn, I dropped my sword.

While struggling, my right boot got kicked off, and another wolf bit my right shin.

With my left hand, I firmly grabbed the leader’s lower jaw.

But soon the leader shook its head, loosening my grip, and its mouth closed on me.

Crunch

“Grrk..!”

My entire left arm went inside its mouth.

I felt the sharp canine teeth piercing my upper arm painfully.

Because another wolf was biting and hanging on my right forearm, I couldn’t use my right hand.

Thanks to struggling fiercely with my lower body, other wolves couldn’t easily approach.

But the wound on my thigh reopened, and the bleeding worsened.

Just as the leader put my left forearm in its mouth and started shaking its head side to side—

‘That’s it..!’

My left hand was deep inside its throat.

I infused magic into the ring on my middle finger and summoned a shield.

-Kek! Keek..!

A round shield reinforced with iron slammed into the leader’s thin throat.

Its neck visibly swollen, the leather tearing sound came along with blood pouring out.

Chwak-

The shield stuck in its throat made the leader fall sideways with a yelp.

Thanks to that, its jaw relaxed and my left hand escaped.

I immediately got up and grabbed the sword I had dropped with my right hand.

Both my arms were crippled and I had no strength in my hands.

My right hand was the least bad.

I jumped into the air to shake off the wolf clinging to my back, then fell onto the ground on my back.

-Kekek..

The wolf crushed under my weight broke its ribs and died.

Three normal wolves remained.

The lace on my right boot was broken and it came off.

The gambeson newly attached to my right forearm was torn off.

Because of the bite wounds, I had no strength in my hands, but I forced myself to raise the sword and stabbed it into the back of the wolf biting my left shin.

The remaining wolves ran away.

Yeah, why fight more when their boss just collapsed?

“Ughh!! Damn, it hurts so much!!”

My limbs were all battered.

With this much blood loss, there was no way I could return through the portal.

“I’ll eat you..! You damn leader bastard..!”

Actually, it was a real bastard dog, so I wasn’t bothered at all.

About half of the round shield stuck in its esophagus pierced through its neck skin and into the outside air.

I grabbed the iron-reinforced edge with my right hand and pulled, taking part of its esophagus out with it.

“You bastard.”

It was huge, and both my arms were shredded, so I couldn’t use my full strength.

I supported myself on the ground with my left foot and kicked its chest with my right foot, making it lie on its back facing the sky.

Snap.

With the sword in my right hand, I mercilessly struck its chest and tore open its thoracic cavity.

“Phew, gonna die now.”

Standing is hard.

I climbed onto my stomach, thrust my right hand between the shattered ribs, and yanked out the heart.

“I’ll make good use of this, you damn beast.”

The heart, as big as my face, was still pulsing. Because of Rubica, even this seems small.

With my barely functional right hand, I swung my sword and tore into the direwolf leader’s body, ripping and biting through its flesh.

My dangling left arm wasn’t cooperating, so the work was slow, but I eventually forced both my legs inside the rib cage, spreading it open and burying my face in the blood pooled within.

“Haah, hell yeah.”

The stench of raw iron assaulted my nose. I tore out its lungs, caked with shattered bone fragments, and shoved them into my mouth, ripping off one of its legs, roughly stripping the hide, and chewing the meat.

The tough tendons caught in my teeth, but I swallowed them whole without chewing.

If only I could make a fire, this would be so much better.

But even so, soaked in the warm blood of a wolf, my body felt surprisingly hot, considering how much I’d bled.

“Grrrk… Delicious, damn it.”

My stomach felt like it might burst.

If I had a combustion acceleration skill, I could eat the whole thing.

“Ah, right. I need to do that.”

While catching my breath, a thought struck me.

It died with its eyes wide open, probably out of sheer regret.

“Hey, I’ll be taking these eyes.”

I shoved my fingers roughly into its eye sockets, gripping the soft orbs gently and slowly pulling them free.

Pop –

I tilted my head back, opened my mouth, and pushed the long, trailing optic nerves down my throat.

The texture was like a tough, jelly-filled ice pack. The lukewarm temperature made it even more unpleasant.

“Whew, I’m full.”

I leaned back, using the half-dismembered direwolf leader’s body as a makeshift pillow, and shut my eyes.

I’m so damn tired.

I should get some sleep.

“Ugh…”

When I woke, a cold liquid trickled from my chin down my neck.

“You’re… awake!”

“Huh?!” I snapped to attention.

“What the hell is this?”

I opened my eyes to a dark sky.

Someone was standing nearby, holding a lantern, casting a reddish glow over the worried faces around me.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

“Hold on…”

I sat up. The direwolf leader’s corpse, which had been propping me up, was gone. I was just lying on the bare ground.

“Wait a second.”

No, someone must have moved my head onto their lap.

“How’s your body? Can you stand?”

“Give me a moment… I’ll try.”

My arms and legs seemed fine. Looks like everything healed as expected.

No significant difference in my left field of vision either.

No dizziness, despite the blood loss.

Seems like the direwolf blood replenished me.

“You’re… really okay?”

“Yes, I think so.”

My bangs, matted with dried blood, crumbled and flaked off as I brushed them away.

I examined my body.

“My left arm moves fine. No problems here.”

“R-really? Are you sure?”

An explorer in front of me looked at me with wide, worried eyes.

“Yes. Do you have any water?”

“Oh, here…”

My throat felt parched and rough, clotted with dried blood.

I filled my mouth with cool water, swished it around, and swallowed.

No point in wasting it.

It seems they found me passed out and moved me to a safe spot.

But in the distance, I saw the scattered corpses of my enemies.

“I took down the direwolf leader.”

“Oh… yeah, it seems that way.”

“What time is it?”

“8 o’clock.”

“Perfect. Just when I feel the strongest.”

Nighttime always energizes me.

I was still a bit groggy from the sleep, but I’d be fine once I started moving.

“I’m heading to the portal. Need to rank up.”

“Rank up…?”

“I need to go.”

All five of the nearby explorers reacted with shock.

“Wait, you’re still at the bronze rank?!”

“Yeah… well, I made it to the fifth floor alone. Time to hit lead.”

“Oh, uh… okay…”

I found my boots, caked with tar and shining in the lantern light, and slipped them back on.

The laces were broken, but they wouldn’t fly off my feet.

“W-wait! Where are you going?”

“I told you, I need to get back.”

“But it’s nighttime…”

“I’m stronger at night.”

I pulled down my lower left eyelid, revealing the yellow wolf’s eye embedded within.

“That’s… a direwolf’s eye?”

“Yeah. It’s part of my rank-up requirement, so I have to do this alone. You get it, right?”

“Wait, what about the body…?”

A female explorer pointed at the direwolf leader’s mangled corpse.

“Oh, right.”

I slowly walked back to the body.

“Still a bit hungry. Might as well get my fill.”

Barely made it out alive. Better make the most of this.