Back in the present, Shen Zuo hurried back to the cave, counting the days in his head.
Thirty-five days had passed, which meant he had 147 days left on this mission.
He laughed when he realized the number of beasts he'd killed matched the number of days exactly: thirty-five days, thirty-five Level One beasts.
He sat down, thinking to himself: "I could pull the same trick on another pack of Shao wolves, but it's starting to lose its thrill... doesn't feel all that satisfying anymore." He flexed his hands slowly and kept thinking: "I should fight a few beasts myself, just to get some real use out of my hands. Ever since they sent me on this mission, I haven't been through anything that actually felt serious... I bet they only gave me this one to let me catch a break."
...
It was late afternoon now, and Shen Zuo moved with light, easy strides, his eyes tracking herds of deer and gazelle as rabbits darted around him through patches of grass, dry yellow mixed with fresh green. The trees were sparse and scattered, giving him a wide, open view of wildlife dancing freely before him, the air carrying the scent of earth, smoke, and wilderness.
After running for a while, he reached the small cave. Even though he'd come across plenty of other caves and spots better suited for living, he never warmed up to the idea of switching. He told himself: "Doesn't matter, it's only half a year anyway. Why bother with something so pointless?" He went through his usual routine of eating and drinking, then sat down to jot a few new notes onto the map. With night falling, he went to sleep exhausted, getting ready for another day.
He woke up early, had breakfast, then headed to the nearby lake to bathe. He put on clothes he'd made himself from beast hides, uneven and rough, the stitching thicker than it should have been, clearly the work of someone struggling through it, but at least they covered him. Afterward, he washed his old clothes and laid them out to dry on the nearby rocks.
He gathered his essential gear and headed south. After a fairly long stretch of walking, his eyes landed on a rhino grazing on grass. It looked close enough to an ordinary rhino, except its horn was jet black and larger than usual, its body carrying a faint bluish tint, and its overall size well beyond normal.
From a distance, Shen Zuo drew his bow. His supply of arrows had grown to six now, one of them handmade, wooden instead of iron like the rest. He picked one of the iron arrows, nocked it on the bow, and settled into a hidden spot well suited for aiming.
Then he fired.
*Swiiisshh*
The arrow tore straight through the rhino's front right leg. The beast let out a piercing scream, one that shook the ground and sent every other animal in the area into a panic. Some fled outright; others collapsed on the spot, suffering severe internal injuries, a few of them bleeding from the mouth.
Even Shen Zuo spat up some blood, and immediately understood that this rhino carried a sonic offensive Phantom, one that spread out with its scream and struck everyone nearby.
He forced himself to stay standing, holding his ground, and drew another arrow. He aimed it at the beast, now thrashing about in a blind panic, and with careful, calculated timing, he loosed the arrow, landing it cleanly in the rhino's left hind leg.
An even louder scream followed, more violent, more devastating, shaking the entire area. Beasts far off, ones that had barely noticed what was happening before, were hit too; some flinched, others staggered or dropped without warning.
As for Shen Zuo, being closest to the source, he spat out a heavy clot of blood, both hands pressed to his chest, struggling to steady his breathing. His vision blurred for a moment, but despite it all, his face broke into a smile, a mix of triumph and frustration.
Triumph, because the rhino's pace was slowing, its steps growing unsteady, until it finally stumbled and crashed to the ground.
Frustration, because he'd been aiming for a decisive hit, a joint, a major nerve, but he hadn't managed the precision he needed.
"I really should've trained harder with the bow," he thought, letting out a breath, then drew another arrow.
The arrow pierced the fallen rhino's belly, followed by a second one that drove straight into the beast's neck, but this time he didn't stop to draw another. With blood still dripping from his mouth from the scream's aftereffects, Shen Zuo charged forward, a direct attack burning in his eyes, axe in hand, sword swinging at his side.
The rhino went into a hysterical frenzy the moment it saw him closing in, charging at him without hesitation. Shen Zuo dodged sideways at the last second and swung his axe to meet the beast's horn head-on, but the axe couldn't even so much as scratch it.
Fast as lightning, the rhino swung its aching neck to the side, slamming its body into Shen Zuo and knocking him hard to the ground. It didn't stop there, pressing its attack, raising its wounded right leg in an attempt to crush his shoulder.
But Shen Zuo caught himself in time and scrambled away. Still, the edge of the beast's foot grazed his shoulder, tearing a chunk of flesh clean off, and blood began pouring out heavily. Shen Zuo kept rolling quickly, letting go of the axe so his body could tumble freely. Dirt packed into his open wound, but he paid it no mind. With an acrobatic twist, he sprang back onto his feet.
Fortunately, the sword had stayed sheathed, or it would have cut him during the tumble. He drew it quickly and charged forward at the beast, but before he reached it, another wave of screaming tore out of the rhino.
Shen Zuo was thrown backward, as if the air itself had struck him, coughing up a heavy amount of blood, but he planted his feet firmly, the sword still gripped in his hand.
The rhino lunged toward Shen Zuo, but stumbled and fell to the ground. Shen Zuo seized the opening, ignoring his injuries and charging in fast. He raised the sword high, aiming for the beast's neck, but a sudden kick from the rhino's leg sent him flying over its massive body.
The sword lodged itself into the beast's neck, but not with the depth or force needed. Shen Zuo's leg took heavy damage from the kick, coming dangerously close to breaking. The rhino grew even more frantic, kicking at Shen Zuo, now sprawled across its back, in several different spots, heavy, furious blows.
Shen Zuo tried to drive the sword deeper into the beast's neck, his hands bleeding, his breath ragged. Finally, he managed to pull himself up off the rhino's body, but he lost his grip on the sword when a powerful blow caught his stomach, forcing him to vomit, his breakfast and a massive amount of blood coming up together.
Shen Zuo could barely stand, his body shaking from the pain, clear fractures visible along one side of his body, but he ignored them completely. His breathing was heavy, his chest tightening with every step, and yet, he dragged himself toward the axe lying on the ground, hauling his injured leg with difficulty, blood streaming from his shoulder and stomach.
He reached the axe, bent down and picked it up, shifting his weight onto his good leg, then pushed forward with as much force as he could muster, trying to gather whatever momentum was left in his exhausted body.
Meanwhile, the rhino had lifted its head slightly, its heavy horn aimed straight at Shen Zuo, its legs trembling beneath it, but it held its ground in a way that looked almost defiant. It didn't attack, seeming instead to be gathering its last breaths for one final round.
Shen Zuo closed in, the distance shrinking, the collision now inevitable. The axe was raised, the rhino's horn pointed straight at him. In the decisive instant, right before the edge of the axe met the horn, Shen Zuo shifted his weight, twisted his body at a narrow angle, and used the momentum of the charge to redirect the axe, not toward the horn, but toward the beast's flank.
The axe never struck head-on; it slid in against the side of the rhino's body with an almost silent force, piercing straight through the flesh from the sheer momentum behind it.
With one hand, Shen Zuo braced himself against the beast's body, and with the other, he grabbed the handle of the sword still lodged in its neck, wrenching it hard, and with one final, decisive pull backward, tore through whatever tissue remained in the rhino's neck. A faint tearing sound followed, then a heavy gush of blood.
The massive body staggered, then collapsed to the ground like a mountain of dead flesh. Shen Zuo stood over it for a moment, gasping for breath, his body hunched over, the axe still in his hand, blood smeared across everything.
Shen Zuo stood there, staring at the rhino's massive body lying on the ground. The blood around it was still warm, slowly evaporating into the air, the smell of iron filling the atmosphere.
He stepped back with heavy, dragging steps, as though the ground beneath him had grown unbearably heavy, then sat down on a nearby rock, resting his arm on his knee, breathing hard as he thought to himself: "That was close..."
He replayed what had just happened. This beast was technically the same level as the deer he'd fought earlier, but it was clear now that level wasn't everything. Even among beasts of the same rank, body structure and natural traits could make a terrifying difference.
A wide, contradictory smile spread across Shen Zuo's pain-wracked face. It wasn't a smile of pure happiness, more like the kind of smile someone gives after nearly drowning, or the laugh of someone who walked through fire and came out alive. Pain tore through his body, blood still leaking from his shoulder and side, every bone in his body screaming, and yet, despite it all... he smiled.
He smiled because he'd won. Because he was still alive.
Because he'd fought a beast, fallen, risen back up, and killed it.
Deep in the wild
erness, in a place no one else knew existed, that smile was... pure, unfiltered joy.