Beneath the dim starlight, the monstrous porcupine—its body cloaked in a forest of white spines over a meter long—came to a halt precisely where Xiao Feng had stopped moments earlier. Its eyes blazed crimson as it glared into the woods where its prey had vanished. With a guttural snarl, it launched itself forward, thick strands of vile saliva dripping freely from its fang-lined maw.
Once inside the forest, the beast's size and quills became a hindrance. Its gargantuan body was ill-suited for the tight confines of the woods, yet its raw strength more than compensated. Trees with trunks nearly a meter thick splintered like twigs before its charge. The creature bulldozed its way through the forest, leaving behind a chaotic trail of shattered trunks capped in pale-white stumps.
Xiao Feng crouched atop a thick tree branch, his crimson sniper rifle—the Blood Ghost—braced against another limb. Through the web of intertwining branches, he peered down and fixed his aim on the rampaging beast.
The dense forest had mercifully slowed the monster's advance, giving Xiao Feng the opportunity to lock onto the creature's eye—its only true vulnerability, unprotected by the tough hide that shielded the rest of its grotesque form.
With a thunderous crack, the rifle discharged. Blood erupted from the porcupine's right eye in a gruesome plume. It howled in agony, thrashing its head wildly and smashing nearby trees to splinters. After demolishing several trunks in blind fury, it abruptly turned—its one remaining eye locking onto Xiao Feng.
From his perch, Xiao Feng smiled coldly, then squeezed the trigger again.
Another deafening blast split the air. The second bullet found its mark, annihilating the beast's other eye in a burst of gore. Now blind, the D-Class monstrosity shrieked with unrestrained rage and barreled forward, accelerating with maddened desperation.
Xiao Feng emptied the rest of his magazine into the charging beast, but to his dismay, the bullets sparked harmlessly against its impenetrable hide. Realizing his shots were ineffective, he swiftly reloaded and fled deeper into the forest.
Though blinded, the massive porcupine continued its relentless pursuit. Xiao Feng knew he couldn't outrun it forever—his agility was no match for the mechanical endurance of a vehicle. He zigzagged frantically through the forest, attempting to lose it among the trees.
But the beast pursued with unyielding savagery, relying not on sight, but brute force—obliterating any tree in its path, reducing the forest to ruin.
At first, Xiao Feng assumed the monster was tracking him by scent. Boars, after all, possessed a powerful sense of smell. Yet even after circling back and crossing his own trail, the creature never faltered. It was as if it could still see him.
Could it possess another form of sight? A hidden eye?
Exhaustion clawed at Xiao Feng. Though his abilities granted him exceptional speed, his stamina remained a weakness. Time and again, he barely escaped, leaping from branch to branch, only for the monster to arrive an instant later and obliterate his perch.
Soon, the once-dense forest was reduced to a wasteland of splinters. Gritting his teeth, Xiao Feng leapt from the trees and landed in an open glade. He slung the Blood Ghost across his back and drew a matte-black alloy blade, its edge gleaming under the moonlight. Panting heavily, he fixed his gaze on the beast that now stalked toward him.
The forest fell unnaturally silent. The lesser beasts and monsters had long since fled in terror, cowed by the D-Class juggernaut. Only a few bold jungle monkeys remained, watching from the treetops with wide, luminescent eyes. They were feeble, not even ranking as G-Class creatures, but their simian intelligence surpassed most other beasts. They murmured nervously, disturbed by the sheer violence displayed below.
Blade in hand, Xiao Feng faced the advancing monster. It loomed like a mountain of bristling quills, its size dwarfing him completely.
"If I don't end you here," he muttered, "you'll be a scourge to every nearby refuge."
His thoughts drifted to the defense walls of the distant Shelter 57. He doubted they could withstand such a force. If even the Blood Ghost couldn't pierce its hide, then what hope did conventional weapons have?
His resolve hardened. This beast had to die. If not here, then hundreds would suffer the consequences.
The porcupine's quills stood erect, flaring outward like the tail of a furious peacock. With a low, furious snarl, it lowered its head and charged, determined to reduce Xiao Feng to pulp.
At such close range, with no trees left to shield him, the monster closed the distance in under a second.
But Xiao Feng was faster.
In the blink of an eye, he darted aside, blade flashing as he drove it toward the creature's neck—hoping to fell it as he had the six-legged panther.
But he was wrong.
He'd underestimated its defenses.
Despite his full strength and the weapon's edge, the alloy blade barely scratched the beast's hide. Sparks flew as if the blade had struck iron plating.
The porcupine, its momentum unchecked, barreled forward. The blade traced a fiery arc along its flank, leaving no wound—only light.
Xiao Feng's brief hesitation cost him dearly.
With terrifying speed, the creature's tail whipped around and struck him squarely. He flew through the air like a ragdoll, colliding with a tree with a sickening crack. The impact nearly knocked him unconscious. Pain surged through his spine like wildfire.
The first clash had ended in complete defeat.
As he staggered to his feet, vision blurred and limbs shaking, the beast came thundering once more. Towering and unstoppable, like a locomotive of living muscle and fury.
Xiao Feng's thoughts cleared in an instant. The final battle had begun.