Lunar Legacy: Rise Of The Beastlord-Chapter 291: Stress Hunting

The next day,

The morning sun was barely cresting the horizon when Jayden left the house, dressed in dark athletic wear and running shoes. He closed the door behind him and started jogging, having decided not to take his bike.

It was just him, the open road, and the forest waiting beyond the city limits.

The jog to the forest was part of his daily quest anyway—a few kilometers of continuous running. His legs pumped steadily, eating up the distance as the city gradually gave way to suburban sprawl, then rural farmland, and finally the dense tree line of the northern wilderness. By the time he reached the forest entrance, his daily quest notification had chimed:

[Daily Quest Complete(1/3)

*Run a total of 3km]

"One down," Jayden muttered, barely winded as he transitioned from jog to predatory prowl. He completed the rest of his quest and got his rewards.

[+10 Stat points Received]

[Total Stat Points: 120]

[+10 Exp Received]

[Exp: 2230/6700]

Jayden read the notifications briefly before closing the tab. Then he took a deep breath. His senses expanded immediately—the Lycan blood in his veins making him hyper-aware of every scent, every sound, every hint of movement in the undergrowth.

"Alright," he murmured. "Let's hunt,"

Jayden moved through the forest like a phantom and began searching for the unlucky beasts that would become his prey.

The first beast he encountered was an F-Rank Wolverine stalker rooting through fallen leaves near a stream.

It didn't even get a chance to think before Jayden attacked.

He moved like liquid shadow, closing the distance in three silent strides. His fist drove into the beast's skull with just enough force, killing it instantly.

[+20 Exp]

Jayden put the beast corpse in his inventory and continued moving deeper into the forest. He needed more experience points.

As he passed by a clearing, an E-Rank Howler tried to ambush him from the canopy. Jayden sensed it coming, sidestepped the pounce, and caught it mid-air by the throat.

The beast thrashed, claws raking uselessly against his enhanced durability. Jayden slammed it into a tree trunk, snapped its neck, then dropped it.

[+30 Exp]

Jayden exhaled sharply. "I need to find stronger beasts." Then he kept moving.

Upon getting to a swamp, he found a single D-Rank Tremor Gator just sitting there, waiting to be hunted.

Jayden didn't even bother trying to engage the beast and savor the fight—he just flipped the damn thing over before it could even process anything... then he punched its exposed underside with his clawed fist, tearing directly into its core, grabbing its crystal, then ripping it out.

The beast let out a low growl before going perfectly still.

[+40 Exp]

Jayden put both the corpse and the crystal in his inventory before walking away.

Just when he stepped out of the swamp, a twenty-foot E-Rank Serpenthis leapt from a tree, trying to constrict him. Jayden turned at the last second and caught it behind the head. He squeezed the skull of the large snake until he heard the sound of vertebrae snapping, then tossed it aside.

[+30 Exp]

Jayden didn't even bother storing the beast in his inventory. He just wanted to hunt and keep hunting... as if trying to forget about something.

Luna noticed this. [You're frustrated, and angry] she stated. [That's why you came here today. To let it all out by hunting]

"I don't know what you mean," Jayden shot back, wiping the serpent blood from his hands. "I'm hunting cause I need the exp,"

Then he continued into the forest without waiting for Luna reply. She was right about him hunting out of frustration, but he wasn't going to admit it. While others go to bars to get drunk and temporarily forget their problems... Jayden on the other hand found that type of solace by hunting aggressively. It was his own way of drowning his sorrows.

After walking for several minutes, he eventually found a small pack of E-Rank howlers... four in total, feasting on what looked like the corpse of a lesser wolverine stalker. Probably F-Rank.

As soon as they saw him, all four beasts paused their meal, studied him for a moment, then charged all together.

Jayden let them attack first, dodging several consecutive slashes before catching one of the howler's limbs mid-strike. He twisted, heard the bone snap, then drove his knee into its skull. The beast head got crushed by the impact and it died instantly.

The other three were furious now. They howled and lunged in unison, their jagged claws slicing through the air like scythes in a storm.

Jayden's eyes narrowed. He sidestepped the first howler's wild swipe, his foot lashing out to hook its ankle. The beast stumbled forward, off-balance, and Jayden seized the opportunity—his fist hammered down like a piston, shattering its spine with a sickening crack. It collapsed in a twitching heap, spine fragments piercing through its mangled fur.

The remaining two didn't hesitate, circling him with primal cunning, one feinting low while the other leaped high, aiming for his throat. Jayden anticipated it all. He dropped into a crouch, evading the aerial assault, then exploded upward, his elbow connecting with the leaping howler's jaw. The impact was catastrophic; teeth exploded from its maw in a spray of blood and bone, and its neck snapped backward with the force of a whip crack. It hit the ground limp, eyes glazing over in death.

The last howler, sensing doom, went berserk. It charged headlong, jaws gaping wide for a fatal bite. Jayden met it head-on, no fear, no mercy. He grabbed its upper and lower jaws mid-lunge, his muscles bulging as he wrenched them apart. The beast's agonized screech echoed through the woods as its mandible tore free in a gory rip, exposing raw muscle and splintered bone. Jayden finished it with a brutal stomp to the throat, crushing its windpipe under his boot. Gurgling blood, it thrashed weakly before going still.

Jayden stood amid the carnage, breathing steady, not a scratch on him. These beasts were nothing but mere warm-ups.

[4 E-Rank beasts eliminated]

[+120 Exp Gained]

Jayden barely acknowledged the notification. The dopamine hit was there, but it felt hollow. Temporary. It didn't fill up the hole of chaos in his mind. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

He glanced at the wolverine corpse they'd been devouring, then pressed on deeper into the forest to look for something more challenging.