I held my breath and stared straight into its eye. Its burning gaze felt like it pierced through my entire being.
Instinctively, I knew.
The moment I broke this gaze, I would be marked as easy prey. In the taut tension, my gaze and that of the white monster intertwined, seemingly on the verge of snapping.
'Slowly... slowly...'
Matching my shallow breaths, the tip of my foot cautiously moved forward. My upper body remained completely still, only my foot moving slowly as if trying to seize time, finally reaching above the eyeball. I swallowed a short breath and, in that fleeting moment, widened my eyes.
"Hoo... Hup!"
Without hesitation, I brought my foot down with all my might.
*Crunch!*
The sharply modified sole of my boots, designed specifically for the Devil's Fangs to provide firm footing even on slippery ice, crushed something soft, emitting a gruesome cracking sound.
The moment the eyeball burst, an indescribable, immense force enveloped my entire body.
My body curled up until my knees touched my chest, then violently recoiled. Helplessly, my body was thrown and slammed into a tree.
"Uwaaaaaaagh!"
Even with the backpack on my back, a burning, heavy impact struck my entire body.
Perhaps because I was overwhelmed by an uncontrollable surge of intense emotion driven by survival instinct, I was able to stand up abruptly without even feeling the pain.
Without hesitation, I drew the dagger from my waist. The Mutans, covered in white fur, glared at me with murderous intent from its remaining eye, as if it would tear me to shreds at any moment.
'I'm... going to die...!'
Red warning lights flashed incessantly in my mind.
The sensation of the cold wind, the tearing pain, even all the surrounding sounds faded faintly into the distance.
Only the white shape before my eyes, and my gaze tracking its movements, became extremely sharp. In an instant, the surrounding scenery froze and disappeared like a black and white still frame.
It felt as if I had been thrust into a strange and solitary space where only I and that monster existed.
Suddenly, the small dagger in my hand, barely caught in the corner of my vision, came into view. It looked pathetic. I doubted whether even a deep stab could properly penetrate that thick fur hide.
On the other hand, even a graze from its bulging, muscular arms and sharp claws would shatter my body.
From its short but seemingly sturdy legs, I could sense the rapid movements generated by its powerful muscles. An explosive force was coiled there, capable of closing the distance and pouncing on me in an instant.
'One wrong judgment, and my life is over.'
The Mutans, enraged at losing an eye, charged at me with ferocious speed as if it had been waiting for this moment.
'Fast!'
With breathtaking speed, the Mutans' massive body filled my vision in an instant. Charging with fierce momentum, it leaped low and swung its sharp claws.
I flattened my body and managed to evade the claws by a hair's breadth.
The spot I dodged to was right next to its wounded eye.
'Its strength, its speed, in every aspect, the Mutans is overwhelming! The moment I enter its field of vision, I'll be attacked!'
When the Mutans lost sight of me, it took heavy breaths and twisted its body to find me.
But at the same time, I sprinted along its flank, moving out of its sight. Again, the Mutans turned its body to chase me, but I circled around it, constantly disappearing from its view.
The crushed eyeballs scattered in the wind with my footsteps, swirling in the air in a circular motion.
As the same situation repeated, the Mutans finally seemed to momentarily give up trying to fix its gaze on me, who was chasing it like a persistent shadow.
Only its rough breathing filled the empty space. In that moment, what rose before my eyes like a giant mountain was the Mutans' broad back.
'Now!'
Without a moment's hesitation, I threw myself with all my might onto its back. Violent thrashing and roaring howls struck my ears, but I barely managed to wrap one arm around its thick neck and cling on.
The Mutans' unimaginable brute strength and the strange centrifugal force I felt whenever it shook its body violently pulled taut every muscle in my body, pumping them intensely as if they would burst.
'If I fall off now, it's really over!'
It was incredibly fortunate that my short arms prevented its arms from properly reaching my back and neck. Ignoring the sensation of cold, sharp ice particles embedded in its rough fur brushing against my cheek, I relentlessly slashed around its neck with the hand holding the dagger.
"Die! Dieeeeee!! Just die!!"
The sharply honed blade, aimed at what I hoped was a vulnerable spot, only managed to dig in dully before slipping out repeatedly.
*Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!*
Perhaps it was after the sixth stab. A hot, sharp pain spread through the forearm wrapped around the Mutans' neck, as if it had been raked by its claws.
"Kuh-ack!!"
Instinctively, my grip loosened, and I was flung from its massive body, tumbling onto the snowfield. Above my sprawled form, its gaze locked with mine, the Mutans' sticky blood and saliva dripped onto my stomach with a *thud*.
"Ugh... Uwaaaaaaagh!!"
Seized by a terrifying fear that it would immediately bite down and devour my stomach, I rolled my body with all my might, crawling backward. Without looking back, I ran away with every ounce of strength I had.
"Huh... huh... huh... huh... ugh!"
Looking down at my arm, which felt like it was constantly burning, a familiar cold piece of metal was embedded deeply within.
"Ah."
It was the dagger I had been wielding.
"Ah... son of a..."
Had I run for about thirty frantic seconds? Only after estimating that I had put some distance between myself and it did I look back.
The white Mutans lay powerlessly collapsed on the red-stained snow. The dagger I had stabbed it with seemed to have severed a thick blood vessel in its neck.
Just in case, I approached it again. Only after staring intently at the motionless, limp white fur mass for over three minutes could I finally be certain of its death.
At that moment, the taut string of tension that had been pulling my entire body snapped. I collapsed onto the snowfield with limp legs like a puppet with cut strings.
"Hah... what is this? If I had made a mistake, I would have died right there."
Had I ever been so close to the boundary between life and death? A crushing pressure weighed down on my entire body.
The fact that a single mistake, a single misstep, could lead directly to death seeped into my bones, rendering me immobile.
"This is a Mutans. Seeing it up close, its imposing presence is no joke. Augh..."
The dagger embedded deeply in my arm throbbed with each pulse, as if a sharp awl was piercing it.
"I have to... take it out, right?"
I muttered the obvious words to myself. But facing the sharp dagger lodged in my arm, I couldn't bring myself to touch it.
"Do I really have to pull it out? What if I accidentally make the bleeding worse...? Dammit! How am I supposed to climb that high mountain in this state! Yeah, I'll just pull it out like a man."
Finally steeling my resolve, I grasped the handle of the dagger embedded in my arm with a trembling hand. The moment I tried to pull it out, torn flesh was pushed back, and red blood spurted out, a searing pain that felt like needles piercing every nerve painted my mind white.
"Ughhh!! Haaah! Haaah! Haaah! Ugh-uh-uh-uh... No, this isn't right."
I grabbed the dagger and let go, applied force and then flinched back, rolling around on the snowfield and struggling three times before finally rationalizing.
"Should I just rip it out all at once? Yeah, that's what I'll do. I'll think about the pain later. Yeah, let's do that. That should work, right?"
I reached out a hand and grabbed the cold snow on the ground, forming a clump. And without hesitation, I shoved it into my mouth and clenched my teeth. Taking a deep breath, I finally yanked the dagger embedded in my arm out in one swift motion.
"Ugh-uh-uh-uh-ooob!"
*Fwish!*
"Umooomoo-uck!! Moo-ack! Moo-ack! Keua! Ptooey! Hah-hah-hack! Ha-ack! Haa! Oho-hoo! O-hoo! O-hoo! Keu keuaaaa-hack!!"
I writhed in agony on the snowfield like a madman for a while. How much time had passed? Only after barely calming down did I take out the emergency medicine from my bag, apply it liberally to the wound, and tightly wrap it with a bandage to stop the bleeding.
Finally catching my breath, I leaned my back against the rough bark of a tree to recover even a little of my depleted mental strength.
My whole body still groaned with intense pain, but a strange sense of relief faintly seeped in. The simple fact that I had survived barely filled the emptiness in my heart.
I suddenly stared blankly, my mouth agape, at the blue sky where white cloud fragments drifted by. As I rested dazedly without thinking anything, the surrounding scenery and quiet sounds faintly tickled my ears.
It was like a lazy and peaceful afternoon on a holiday, basking in the late morning sunlight outside.
Just as I was resting peacefully with an empty mind, a very small but distinct sense of unease crept up on me like a rising tide. That subtle anxiety slowly but surely amplified with the passage of time.
'I think I hear a strange sound nearby. Is it just my imagination?'
This place was the frigid wilderness where even the sound of insects, commonly heard in ordinary mountains, was absent.
If I didn't move, only the sound of the wind blowing and the rustling of leaves swaying in that wind occasionally echoed in the quiet stillness.
It was so quiet that it felt like I could even hear the faint sound of white snow piling up.
*Doo-deuk...*
'Snow sound? Am I hearing the sound of snow right now? Why?'
*Poo-deu-deuk!*
It was a sound that shouldn't possibly be heard at this moment.
Had there been a landslide? Somewhere, I heard a gruesome sound like rough snow being crushed. I reflexively pressed my ear close to the snowfield and frantically turned my head to look around.
Then, far away, from a faint point below the mountain, I saw at least ten white masses rapidly approaching my location.
"Uh... uh?"
This wasn't a landslide. A landslide is a disaster that comes crashing down from above. Then these were Mutans. Once again, the trembling voice of the survivor vividly resurfaced in my mind.
'The second reason is that they have a really good sense of smell for blood. So, if you bleed, those terrifying things will immediately awaken from their hibernation and come after you.'