Blackstone Ridge
"What do we do now?" The six men stared in panic at the monster before them, a creature they had never seen before. It looked like an ox, but its skin was dark bluish-black, and its back was covered in sharp spikes.
"What else can we do? Run!!!" The men scattered frantically, the monster chasing furiously behind them. Luckily, they were in the forest, surrounded by dense trees. It looked like they were about to reach the foot of the mountain without incident when Damian suddenly stopped, shouting loudly, "We can't run anymore! Our village isn't far from the bottom of the mountain! We can't let this beast reach the village!"
Hearing this, the other five men skidded to a halt.
"Right! My wife is still in the village!"
"And my parents!"
"For my family, we absolutely cannot let this monster get down!!!" Even terrified, the men raised their makeshift weapons.
Damian climbed a tree trunk, surveyed the surroundings, then pointed to the left front. "There's a patch of thorny bushes ahead! Let's lure the monster there!"
"Thorny bushes? Great!" The men's eyes lit up. The thorns, though maybe not lethal, could at least injure the monster, and the vines might entangle it. "Let's go! Lure it over!"
"Bill and I are fast. We'll draw its attention from the front. You guys help from the sides, keep it from straying." Damian slid down the tree, volunteering for the dangerous task of baiting the monster...
Though terrifying in appearance, the monster wasn't intelligent. Soon, the men lured it into the thicket of thorns. The sharp thorns dug into the monster's flesh, causing it immense pain and making it thrash violently. The more it struggled, the deeper it became entangled, quickly covering its body in wounds.
"Success!" The men cheered.
However, the thorn patch was ultimately too small. Before their celebration could last long, the monster tore itself free, covered in wounds, and charged at them again.
"Run! Towards the marsh in the valley!!" Damian reacted instantly, sprinting off first!
The marsh lay in the valley between the main peak and the side peak, about an acre in size. Everyone in the three villages knew about it and usually avoided the valley entirely. This time, however, to kill the monster, they had no choice but to head there.
"Everyone be careful! Don't fall in!" Damian broke off a branch and carefully picked his way along the edge of the marsh. "You guys hide. I'll lure it over." He had explored this mountain the most and knew the edges of this marsh well; he was the best suited for this task.
Having learned from its previous painful experience, the monster was more cautious this time. No matter how Damian tried to lure it, its nose seemed to sense the danger. It stood stubbornly about a meter away from the marsh, refusing to get closer.
"What do we do now?" The men hidden in the trees watched Damian and the monster anxiously, wishing they could go down and push the beast.
"Maybe... I should go down?" Leo, the youngest of the group, said worriedly, looking at Damian below.
Bill Gable quickly stopped him. "No, no, no! We have to trust Damian."
The others chimed in, "Yeah, Leo, don't cause more trouble."
"But... are we just going to let them stay deadlocked like this?" In his anxiety, Leo's voice rose slightly. The monster seemed to hear them and turned its head towards their hiding spot.
Crap! Everyone's heart sank.
Damian acted decisively. He took out his dagger and slashed his own arm. The smell of fresh blood drew the monster's attention back. It hesitated, then finally began to approach Damian step by step.
There's hope! The men watched the monster with shining eyes, praying for it to step into the marsh. However, to their disappointment, just one step away from the bog, the monster stopped again...
Go on! The men's hearts were in their throats.
Seeing the monster halt, Damian raised his dagger again and ruthlessly cut his arm deeper. Bright red blood flowed down, making the metallic scent in the air even stronger.
"Roar!" The monster let out a low growl, its eyes becoming frenzied. After confirming one last time that the small creature before it posed no threat, the monster lifted its foot...
.....
In the village, at Damian's house...
"Ding! Host's husband detected injured. Please proceed to rescue." The voice in his head interrupted Ethan as he was ordering the kids around.
Damian's injured? Ethan froze for a second, then jumped up, scooped up a child under each arm, and ran towards the home of Bill Gable, who was friendly with Damian's family.
"Mrs. Gable! I need to go up the mountain for something! Could you please watch the kids for me?" Without waiting for a reply, Ethan disappeared in a flash.
"For goodness sake~ Why is he going up the mountain again?" Mrs. Gable watched Ethan's retreating back, slapping her chest in dismay.
"Damian sure is unlucky, marrying such a drama queen," Bill Gable's sister, Annie, spat in Ethan's direction. This earned her a sharp slap from Mrs. Gable. "Annie Gable, are you looking for trouble! An unmarried girl acting like that? What disgraceful behavior!"
Annie, afraid of her mother, lowered her head and mumbled resentfully under her breath, But I'm not wrong, hmph! Always running up the mountain, making Damian go find him. Isn't he afraid of getting eaten by a wild beast one day!
Unaware he was being cursed, Ethan ran familiarly to the foot of Blackstone Ridge. "Little Pixiu, which way is Damian?"
"To the left, towards the marsh in the valley," the Little Pixiu flew out from his mind, pointing the way.
"The marsh? What are they doing there?" Ethan frowned worriedly. "They didn't fall into the marsh, did they?" He was, nominally, Damian's husband, and Damian had saved his life (or at least, this body's life). Ethan was genuinely concerned for his safety. He subconsciously started searching his memories for marsh rescue techniques.
"No, they didn't."
Didn't fall in? Good. Ethan breathed a sigh of relief and continued running, asking, "Is he badly hurt then?"
"...Not badly, but he's bleeding."
Bleeding must hurt, Ethan thought, glancing towards the summit of Blackstone Ridge. "Injured by a wild beast?" he asked softly.
"No... he cut himself."
"...." Ethan instinctively stopped running, looking speechlessly at the Little Pixiu floating in the air. "So you asked me to come because...?" Damn it! Why call me over if he hurt himself?
"Uh~ To offer concern to your injured husband," the Little Pixiu stated matter-of-factly.
"..."
Seeing Ethan's face darken, the Little Pixiu quickly tried to appease him. "There's a pair of wild pheasants at your three o'clock! How about we go catch them first?" The male lead wasn't in immediate danger, anyway.
Ethan hadn't had meat in ages. Hearing this, his eyes instantly lit up. "..... Send me the pheasants' location." As for Damian, since he was capable of cutting himself with a knife, he probably wouldn't die anytime soon...