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墨書 Inktalez
The sound of the gun's "Stuck" echoed in my ears.
With that crisp "Stuck" sound, my heart sank.
In my current state, even if I were completely healthy, I wouldn't have the slightest confidence in grappling with this thing.
I can't describe my feelings at this moment; it should be despair. Yet, strangely, I felt a sense of relief. After enduring so many hardships and watching my teammates and comrades fall around me, I wasn't numb, but I had grown less fearful of death. In fact, the moment Li Squad Leader's blood splattered on me, I had already prepared myself mentally.
Is this finally it? I felt my face relax instead of tensing up or twitching. At the same time, I drew the dagger from my waist.
"The American Guy can take you down with his bare hands; with a knife in my hand, I can at least fight you to a standstill. Don't go easy on me; I… don't want American Guy to look down on me."
Of course, the monster in front of me couldn't understand my mutterings, but to my surprise, an expression appeared on its face—unbelievably, there was fear in that expression. This left me bewildered.
When I first entered the Underground Cavern, I had faced off against these Monsters several times. Their blood-red eyes and rock-like faces had always given me a chilling sense of terror. There was never a hint of expression. Fear was something they simply did not possess.
This gave me a bit of a lucky feeling. Could this thing recognize a knife? The Hakka People have entered this Underground Cavern for thousands of years, and they have always used cold weapons, so they must have used knives to deal with these monsters. Therefore, the Long-Tailed Monster must have suffered from knives before.
However, my knife was too short and could not compare to the Hakka People's Straight Blade. Fortunately, the dagger was made of good material, shining brightly in the firelight.
'If this thing recognizes and fears knives...'
Thinking this, I slightly adjusted the angle of the dagger I was holding horizontally, turning one side toward the Long-Tailed Monster so it could see the weapon in my hand clearly.
Throughout this process, I kept my eyes locked on its gaze. What made me uneasy was that the Long-Tailed Monster was also staring directly into my eyes, not even glancing at my dagger—not even a fleeting glance.
I moved my right arm holding the knife dramatically. I even switched from holding the dagger horizontally to a more conventional grip. But this did nothing to attract its attention; its enormous pupils remained fixed on my eyes.
If my actions had any effect at all, it was that suddenly this creature went berserk, as if my movements had provoked it.
The Long-Tailed Monster let out a low growl, a sound reminiscent of a cat's throat making a 'gurgling' noise, but this 'gurgle' was far too loud. I could even feel the sound waves hitting my face, along with its terrible breath that lacked any sense of personal hygiene.
This low tone triggered an uncomfortable sensation in my eardrums and heart. Coupled with the foul stench almost directly assaulting my face, it caused a momentary dizziness and nausea. However, there was no time for dramatics. Despite wanting to curse this creature out, it was time to face it head-on—after all, it had brought biological weapons into this duel.
As I let out a low growl, the crouched form of the Long-Tailed Monster suddenly lunged forward, almost instantly pouncing right in front of me. Its forelimbs were longer and sturdier, with bare gray limbs and shiny black claws reaching directly for my face.
Despite knowing that my strength and body could not match its power, I did not back down. I charged straight at it.
The weakness of the Long-Tailed Monster lay in its neck. Jack had once snapped the neck of a Long-Tailed Monster in one swift motion. Although that battle nearly cost him his life, the outcome was clear: the monster had been killed by Jack.
I was prepared to pay a price to achieve a similar result. At the very least, I intended to severely injure this creature. I decided that the price I would pay was one of my arms.
I opened my left hand to meet its claws that were now just inches away, while my right hand gripped the dagger tightly to evade another claw and aimed for its neck.
The moment my left hand made contact with the Long-Tailed Monster's claw, I felt my wrist bend backward as if it had broken. I was mentally prepared for a heroic sacrifice, and although the severe pain caused a flash of white light before my eyes, I did not retract that now useless hand. Even though it was impossible to grasp one of its claws, I still slightly curled my arm, using its strength to push against that claw.
At the same time, my right hand drove the dagger toward its neck as intended.
Thud.
I had overestimated my own strength. My encircled left arm could not withstand that claw; instead, I felt a sharp pain in my chest where my heart was located, as if struck by an iron hammer or pierced by a blade. Then I lost control and flew backward, my vision swirling with black, white, and fiery colors.
Fortunately, the chaos in my mind did not last long. I quickly realized that I had been defeated by the Long-Tailed Monster, lying about ten meters away from it. My right hand still clutched the dagger, while my left arm was completely useless, hanging limply at my side. This was somewhat of a relief; at least the pain in my left arm wouldn’t hinder my ability to defend myself.
I crawled to my right side. Aside from my left arm, which felt nothing and dangled uselessly, every part of me ached. I gritted my teeth to keep myself from passing out.
It shouldn’t be considered a total defeat. I noticed that one of the monster's forelimbs had a long gash cut into it, extending all the way to its chest. Green blood poured from the wound, staining one side of its body and splattering across the ground.
“Come on!” I shouted, a hint of madness in my voice.
I had initially thought I was completely defeated, but seeing it wounded excited me. While it would be better to prolong the fight, with all that bleeding, it wouldn’t be long before the Long-Tailed Monster bled out. The problem was that I couldn’t hold on much longer either; the pain throughout my body made it hard to stand for any length of time, and blood was also pouring from my chest.
Just moments ago, it had clawed and struck at my chest. I estimated that my dagger must have hurt it; otherwise, it would have ripped out my heart in one go. But now there were several finger-sized holes in my chest, one of which was gushing blood. It was a miracle I hadn’t died on the spot.
I didn’t even have time to staunch the bleeding; instead, I hunched forward and charged at it, letting out a sound that resembled a beast’s roar. It was born from pain; I couldn’t help but scream.
Miraculously, I managed not to run in a zigzag pattern. My speed wasn’t fast by any means, but that didn’t matter; we were too close for speed to make much difference. What mattered more was that the Long-Tailed Monster had another weapon.
I stumbled a few steps when suddenly, I felt a tightness around my waist, as if a belt had been fastened around me. The pressure was so intense that it nearly crushed me in half. The pain had already numbed my senses, but the air in my lungs was instantly squeezed out, leaving me almost powerless.
I knew all too well that it was the tail of the Long-Tailed Monster wrapping around me. Gritting my teeth against the weakness and severe pain, I raised my dagger and swung it at the gray Long-Tailed creature. To my surprise, the tail suddenly whipped, throwing me into the air.
In an instant, I lost track of the dagger in my hand. (To Be Continued...)
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