In the forest under the heavy rain, Jacob stood facing the skeletal dog. He studied it for a second before he moved in a blur of motion too fast for the human eye to follow. He closed the distance and seized the creature by its bony neck.
But the moment Jacob caught it, he saw no fear in its smoldering red eyes—only a sinister, predatory joy.
The dog instantly bit down on Jacob's forearm. Although its teeth couldn't penetrate his skin, Jacob felt a sudden drain on his energy. He watched, stunned, as the creature in his grasp began to swell, its bony frame groaning as it expanded, its dimly glowing red eyes brightening.
Realizing the creature was draining him through physical contact, Jacob threw the abomination away from him as if it were contaminated. It tumbled through the air before skidding to a halt in the mud.
Thinking quickly, Jacob reached into his pocket dimension, retrieved his phone and opened the Bestiary app, a sophisticated database created by Cogman, and pointed the camera at the snarling beast that was now stalking him again.
The app displayed a few creatures resembling the one before him. Jacob quickly scanned the entries and found the right one.
[Name: Barghest
-Type: Supernatural Predator
-Description: A monstrous black dog, often seen as an omen of death. It can appear as a skeletal dog when hungry, but transforms into a huge black dog after consuming enough magical energy.
-Behaviour: Unlike its hellhound cousin, the Barghest is not a guardian but a hunter of magical beings. It is drawn to and drains the energy of powerful supernatural creatures. The more energy it absorbs, the stronger it becomes.
-Weaknesses: While formidable, a Barghest can be easily killed in its weakened, hungry state with conventional weapons like guns and swords. However, if you encounter it in a stronger state, you must first force it to expend the energy it has stored; otherwise, killing it becomes very difficult.]
Jacob read the entry and a dangerous smirk spread across his face as he pocketed the phone. He looked at the dog approaching him with pure hunger in its eyes.
"What an interesting creature!" Jacob said. "You want a meal? I'll give you a feast. I want to fight you at your strongest. I hope you can give me a good fight."
He raised his hand, palm open, and a stream of fire shot toward the creature. Instead of evading, the Barghest opened its maw wide, and the torrent of fire vanished into the void of its throat. Jacob kept feeding it raw elemental power, and the dog began to grow—its bones thickening, its frame expanding from the size of a large dog to that of a massive draft horse, though it remained a skeleton covered in taut, black skin.
Jacob stopped the fire stream. "Let's test your strength now."
He lunged forward, his fist connecting with the creature's ribcage with a sound like a cannon shot. The Barghest was sent flying, crashing through a thick pine tree with a sickening crunch of wood and bone. But it was on its feet in an instant, shaking off the impact with an enraged snarl. It charged, its mouth gaping wide to swallow him whole.
Jacob sidestepped with effortless grace. "Too predictable." He raised his hand summoning a bolt of lightning that struck the dog in its side.
The Barghest howled—a piercing, unearthly sound of agony—and collapsed to the ground, its body twitching violently, tendrils of smoke rising from the point of impact.
Jacob raised an eyebrow. "So, you can't absorb my elemental attacks if I hit your side. You can only absorb energy through your mouth. You're just a battery with a single port."
As the creature stopped twitching, and struggled to its feet, he saw it had shrunk slightly; the lightning strike had forced it to burn precious energy to survive.
Enraged, the creature attacked again, and this time, Jacob beat it ruthlessly. He became a whirlwind of devastating force. His kicks shattered its legs, his punches cracked its bones, and with precise, controlled gestures, he called down bolt after bolt of lightning, striking its limbs and back. The forest echoed with the creature's pained screams and the crackle of ozone until, finally, it shrank back to its original, pitifully small form, whimpering in the mud, looking up at Jacob in sheer terror.
Jacob smirked down at the whimpering creature, his expression one of cold amusement. "Don't look at me like I'm the villain here. You started this." He cracked his neck. "Now, let me feed you again. Let's see how far you can grow."
He unleashed another, far more massive stream of fire, this time aiming it directly into the creature's mouth. The Barghest, driven by its base instinct, had no choice but to open its jaws and swallow the flames. Jacob didn't stop this time, pouring a staggering twenty percent of his vast energy reserves into the creature's mouth. Finally, the beast, unable to contain any more, scrambled sideways to escape the stream of fire.
He looked on in surprise as the dog underwent a dramatic transformation. The skeletal runt was gone. In its place stood a true monster, four meters tall at the shoulder, with a body length of six meters. Its front limbs were elongated, ending in wickedly clawed paws, and its entire body was now covered in a pelt of sleek, shadow-black fur. Its eyes blazed like two miniature red suns.
With a ground-shaking roar, the colossal Barghest swiped at Jacob with a massive, clawed paw. Jacob blocked the attack, resulting in a shockwave that rippled outwards, shaking the trees around them, flattening ferns and sending a spray of water radiating out in a circle.
The creature then inhaled, its chest swelling, and unleashed a torrent of fire—Jacob's own fire—back at him. Jacob simply waved a hand, and the stream of flame parted around him like water around a stone. He sent it back to the creature, but it didn't cause any harm to it.
Jacob raised a brow. "So, you're immune to the fire you consume. But if you are immune, why did you dodge earlier when you had eaten enough fire element?" But seeing the dog growling at him, he shook his head and said, "I guess I won't be getting an answer, huh. Anyway, you are definitely stronger than an alpha like Peter, but you're still too weak to give me a good fight."
He lunged at the dog, adding, "But I still want to have some fun with you!"
What followed was not a fight but a brutal demonstration of power. Jacob weaved between the Barghest's savage swipes, answering every attack with a devastating counterblow. He shattered its fangs with an uppercut, used his claws to leave deep, gaping wounds on its body, and drove a fist wrapped in crackling lightning into its sternum, making the massive beast stagger and roar in frustration and pain.
Jacob was having fun and testing the creature's limits, while the poor dog, for all its terrifying power, was utterly outclassed and howling in rage and pain.
---
Meanwhile, somewhere else in the forest...
The hunting party moved like ghosts through the downpour, their tactical gear shedding water in sheets. At their head, the wizard Charles suddenly froze, his head cocked as if listening to a distant commotion. His glowing eyes narrowed.
"We must hurry!" He hissed, his voice a dry rasp that cut through the storm. "The kid has found my Barghest and is fighting it. And the hound won't last long."
The group broke into a swift, practiced jog. The bald leader, Marcus, fell in beside Charles, his voice low and tactical. "Sir, can you tell us what that kid is? If we knew what we're hunting, it would help. Knowing a target's weaknesses is the difference between a clean kill and a body bag for my team."
Charles didn't bother to look at him. "I do not know what he is. I didn't dare get too close and alert him. All I know is that he possesses a tremendous amount of magical energy unlike any I have sensed in a century. I want his body for my potions. So do your job, Marcus, and make sure to kill him. I will assist if necessary."
Marcus's jaw tightened, but he said nothing more, falling back to discuss strategies with his hunters.
Charles thought to himself. 'This isn't going to be an easy hunt. If that kid is really the one who created that lightning storm a few days ago, then he is immensely powerful. I'll use these idiots to kill him, or at least delay him long enough for me to cast a powerful spell.'
---
Back with Jacob...
Seeing that the monstrous dog was exceptionally good at taking a beating, Jacob kept playing with it, enjoying himself a little too much.
From her seat on the rocky bench, Malia watched the one-sided battle, almost feeling sorry for the creature. It was like watching a cat toy with a mouse the size of a truck.
After about twenty minutes of toying with the Barghest, Jacob was finally ready to finish it. But just as he moved to strike, a loud gunshot echoed through the woods. He felt something fast approaching from behind—a bullet. He smirked, confident it wouldn't penetrate his tough skin; after all, he had tested his own S&W 500 revolver against his skin and it hadn't penetrated.
How wrong he was.
A searing, excruciating agony exploded in the right side of his chest a fraction of a second later.
The bullet shot straight through his right chest, dropping him to the ground. Jacob lay in the mud, so shocked that the bullet had penetrated his skin that he even stopped feeling the pain.
His accelerated healing kicked in, and the gaping wound closed in seconds. As he came back to his senses, he thought. 'This is a humbling experience, I guess. I thought my skin was impenetrable, but apparently I'm wrong. And it seems I was enjoying my fight with that stupid dog so much that I didn't even realize I was surrounded. Or maybe the heavy rain masked their approach... Well, that's just an excuse. I was careless.'
Voices now cut through the rain as figures emerged from the tree line, their rifles aimed at him.
"Nice shot, Jack! The kid didn't even know what hit him!" One of them laughed.
Marcus's voice, cold and professional, cut through the celebration. "Jack, you used the Kanima venom-tipped rounds like I ordered, right?"
"Affirmative, Boss." Jack called back, reloading his high-caliber sniper rifle with a smug grin.
Marcus nodded with grim satisfaction. "Then that kid is done for, even if he's still breathing."
To be continued... 😊