Deep in the forest full of dangers and the unknown, a gentle breeze of fresh air blew, moving the lush green grass, and making it emit a faint rustling sound.

The flowers which had a little morning dew on them danced, and from between their petals of various colors and shapes some bees flew carrying pollen.

On the ground, ants worked hard to secure food, while beetles rolled the dung balls they had collected, caterpillars climbed leaves, and greedily nibbled at their tender edges. As for the spiders, they waited patiently in the middle of their webs.

Life spread among the grass, small life, that did not care about what existed in the big world around it, it had its own conflicts, its own struggles, and even its own laws.

But this did not last long, for suddenly, death began to swallow this small world, the flowers and grass withered. Life left the bodies of the insects, and they turned into dry husks.

A little blackness appeared on the trunks of the nearby trees, and yellowness spread among their leaves, the nearby birds sensed impending doom, and flew away.

Within just a few minutes, a large area of the place turned into barren land, in the middle of which Arthur lay motionless like a lifeless corpse.

He was not dead, for after life left the bodies of the living creatures around him, it flowed into him, forming a thin red aura around his body, from which a faint buzzing sound emanated.

His wounds healed slowly, and little by little, fat began returning to his emaciated body, his heart beat like a war drum, while his blood raced through his veins like wild horses.

He breathed deeply, and with every exhale he released, a strange black vapor came out of his mouth, his bloodline worked at its maximum capacity, and within just a quarter of an hour, he regained 15% of his HP.

The moment he passed the danger of death, the Primal Predator bloodline stopped working, for despite its great power as a legendary bloodline, it was impossible for it to return his full strength.

In addition to that, its ability to drain life energy from his surroundings, and inject it into his body, was not without a price, and side effects, in exchange for saving his life, his bloodline entered a state of temporary dormancy.

After a short while, Arthur suddenly trembled, twitched his ears—or rather, his one remaining ear, for he had lost the other one during the fight, then opened his eyes.

He stared at the wilted grass before him for a moment, and when a little clarity returned to him, and he regained sensation in his body, he let out a muffled groan.

Pain overwhelmed him, and he struggled to keep his thoughts clear.

’Damn, I am in a terrible state, I am tired, I want some rest, I will sleep just a little, just a little.’ His eyes slowly closed, and again, he began losing consciousness.

"No, I cannot." He suddenly snapped awake, and without sparing himself, stood up, he felt hellish pain, and strange cracking sounds came from all parts of his body.

’I cannot stay here, I cannot stop, I must continue fleeing, they will catch up with me.’ He gritted his fangs, and as he always does, endured, and pushed himself to continue.

In truth, he was not certain the wolves were chasing him, yet, he did not think about stopping at all, for what he had gone through during the past night had given him a major shock, and no matter what happened he did not want to clash with the wolves again.

With great difficulty, he moved his legs, which were trembling frantically like the rest of his body, he took a step forward, then two, three. Little by little he increased his speed, but the moment he reached the ninth step, he stumbled and fell on his face.

He let out a pained groan, then stood up, and again pushed himself forward, one step, two, three, and on the fourth he stumbled and fell.

He stood up again, his legs trembled, and the moment he took one step he fell. And this time, he could not stand up.

"I, I cannot." He said hoarsely, panting.

Haziness filled his eyes, he could not see clearly, or think clearly, even his emotions were not clear. At this moment, all he wanted and wished for, was to sleep.

Unfortunately, no matter how great his determination, and no matter how much he endured, there were limits to what he could do, so, whether he liked it or not, he needed to stop for a while, to rest.

He breathed deeply, cleared his mind, then opened the Dimensional Storage, and took out from it the carcasses of three E-Rank wolves.

He looked at them for a moment, and even though he, in all honesty, did not want to eat them, he was forced to do so, for he had no other options.

All the prey he had were either unranked, or at F-Rank, and they would not provide him with enough energy.

Without much hesitation, he bent down and took a large bite of the flesh, at that moment, he felt intense disgust, which did not only stem from his human side, but from his own wolf instincts as well.

His human side considered eating members of his own species immoral even if they were monsters, as for the reason that made his wolf instincts react the same way, it was because eating the flesh of his own species was not safe, and could lead to poisoning, or contracting diseases and parasites.

He endured the urge to spit the flesh from his mouth, and swallowed it, then did the same with the second bite, and the third, and so on, until he had eaten the entire carcass.

[ +7XP ]

He looked at the second carcass. A sick expression appeared on his face, and he nearly vomited. Despite how difficult it was, he forced himself to eat it as well.

One bite, two, and on the fifth bite he stopped, not because he felt full, but because he could no longer continue, for after all, Arthur was, and still is, a person with principles he did not want to abandon.

He let out a long sigh, and returned the wolf carcasses to the Dimensional Storage, and instead took out five F-Rank carcasses belonging to rabbits and burrow squirrels, and ate them willingly.

It was clear that food would not return his strength to him miraculously, but it helped him regain a fair portion of his Vitality, and the two Evolution Points he gained, and the short rest he took, improved his physical and mental condition a little.

It was not practical to stay in one place for a long time, and for this reason, he left the moment he felt he was in a suitable condition.

So as not to tire quickly, he jogged instead of running, and whenever he found a stream, or a swamp, or something that could conceal his tracks, he passed through it.

Little by little, the blood covering him disappeared, replaced by mud and dirt.

After a few hours of continuous jogging, and venturing deeper and deeper into the forest, he had moved hundreds of kilometers away from the area where he had fought the wolves.

Suddenly, his bloodline, which had been dormant throughout, displayed strange activity. He was surprised at first, and felt fear, but he quickly regained his composure, and realized what was happening.

This was not the first time his bloodline had reacted in this way, for it had previously done the same thing when he got close to that terrifying spider’s nest, so, it was clear that he had again gotten close to the territory or lair of some very powerful monster.

Without any hesitation, he changed his course, and moved away from the powerful monster’s area.

This brief threat he had passed reminded him of a bitter truth he had overlooked, he had ventured too deep into the unknown, and who knows what kind of dangers he might face, perhaps he had only fled from the frying pan to fall directly into the fire.

While thinking about the possibility of dangers lurking around him, several thin vines that had been hanging from a wide-trunked tree beside him moved.

"Shit." Arthur panicked, and did not find enough time to escape, the vines grabbed him by his legs, and lifted him high into the sky.

Before he understood what was happening, part of the wide tree trunk opened, revealing a massive mouth full of sharp teeth, or rather sharp wooden stakes.

[ Mawvine Tree — Uncommon — E-Rank ]

Arthur felt an overwhelming surge of anger. He writhed and thrashed frantically, and because of that the vines loosened a little, and he managed to reach the vines restraining his front leg with his mouth, bit into them, and tore them apart with his sharp fangs.

The moment his leg was freed, he swiped with his claws, and freed his second leg. The tree sent more vines trying to restrain him, but he tore them apart, and after a few seconds he managed to free himself, and fell to the ground.

"Damn, damn, why does everything in this cursed forest try to kill me?" He fled at his maximum speed while cursing. He had grown fed up with this forest and everything in it.

Awoooooo!

But unfortunately, the forest had no intention of leaving him alone, for he suddenly heard a loud howling sound coming from somewhere not too far away.