The dark-furred ape broke from the brush at a full sprint, knuckles hammering the ground, and Luke went after it without thinking twice.

He knew better than to take the bait the moment he heard the others.

Three came from the left, bursting out of the ferns like they’d been coiled there waiting.

Two more dropped from the branches overhead, landing so hard the ground shuddered. Another pair circled wide to cut off his retreat, and somewhere behind him a seventh screamed, a sound like tearing metal.

Seven of them.

’Nice haul.’

The closest one charged with its arms spread wide, mouth open, canines yellowed and long.

Luke called the steel claws into his right hand and sidestepped the rush entirely, letting the ape’s momentum carry it past him.

He dragged the claws across its back as it went. Not deep enough to drop it, deep enough to register. It screamed and stumbled forward into a tree and he was already moving.

The two that had dropped from the branches came at him together, which was a mistake. He recalled the claws and pulled the hammers free, one in each hand, the warmth in them bleeding up through his palms and into his arms.

He let the first ape grab at him and ducked under the reach, drove the left hammer into its knee, felt the joint go sideways.

While it was falling he stepped into the second one’s charge and met its skull with the right hammer mid-swing.

*Thunk* *CRACK*

The crack of it rattled through the trees and the ape sat down hard in the dirt and didn’t get back up.

Four left standing, five counting the one still howling into its back wounds somewhere behind him. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The pair that had flanked him arrived at the same time the dark-furred one from the start came circling back. Luke put a tree at his back before they could surround him.

’Let’s see...’

He recalled the hammers and called the dagger into his left hand and felt the heat climb immediately up the blade, the air around it going dry and thin the way it did before it ignited.

The dark-furred one hung back. Smart ass. It had seen the others go down and something in its eyes had shifted from aggression to calculation.

The flanking pair didn’t have that kind of patience. They came in hard, one high and one low, and Luke threw himself to the right, let the high one rake air above him, and buried the dagger into the low one’s shoulder as it passed.

The ape shrieked, a high broken sound, and the burning did the rest, spreading fast through the entry wound, forcing it to the ground where it rolled and clawed at the dirt.

He pivoted back to the tree. Five apes accounted for, two still circling.

The dark-furred one made its move then, fast and low and committed, and Luke saw it was smarter than the rest because it wasn’t going for him.

It went for his weapon arm, both hands reaching to pin his wrist and pull the dagger away from the fight.

He recalled the dagger before it touched him.

The ape’s hands closed on empty air and for half a second it stared at the nothing between its palms, confused in that deep animal way where the body doesn’t know how to respond to something the mind can’t process.

Luke called the claws back into his right hand and stepped in close with a grin on his face.

*SQUELCH*

That one dropped fast.

The seventh came at him from the brush still bleeding, half-committed and already slowing. He met it with the left hammer, one clean hit, and watched it fold—

*CRACKLE*

—with some thunder added to the mix, causing its body to shudder and rupture.

The forest went quiet except for the sound of breathing and leaves settling back into place. Luke stood in the middle of it all and rolled his right shoulder, checking for wounds, finding none.

For lord’s sake, not a scratch.

He recalled both weapons and looked at what he’d put down.

[Kill Level One Beast: 23/50]

Eight, actually. Fifteen before and the rest now.

He’d miscounted somewhere in the middle, which meant the dark-furred one had brought a friend he hadn’t spotted.

He crouched beside the nearest corpse and pulled out his knife, carefully inspecting the body.

Hunting was like that sometimes.

The forest often gave more than you asked for.

"Haah..."

Letting out a long breath, Luke lowered his arms and decided it was time for a short break.

There was nothing worth harvesting from the ape.

Just like the bear he had hunted earlier.

At that moment, the system’s notification appeared.

[Host, it depends heavily on the creature’s lifespan. The bear and wolf the host hunted during the previous trials were significantly stronger and had lived far longer than the monsters hunted today.]

Luke let out another sigh.

"Figured as much."

Shaking his head, he cleaned the blood and grime from his body with water before deciding to rest for a while.

Finding a tree with a broad trunk, he settled beneath its shade and pulled a snack bar from his inventory.

Unwrapping it, he began to eat.

It felt strangely normal.

Around him lay a small graveyard of torn flesh, shattered bones, and drying pools of blood. The metallic scent of slaughter still lingered in the air, yet he chewed without the slightest discomfort.

A few weeks ago, the sight alone would have been enough to ruin his appetite.

Now, it barely registered.

Maybe it was a side effect of becoming a hunter.

Or perhaps he had simply grown accustomed to the brutality of this world far faster than he cared to admit.

Regardless, once he finished eating, Luke turned his attention to the map.

He had encountered far more monsters in this area than he had anticipated.

Perhaps it was because he was closer to the deep forest, a region marked by the system as a red zone.

The boundary of the safe area was only about five kilometers from his current location.

Glancing over his progress, Luke realized he had already completed nearly half the task.

Twenty-seven more Level One monsters.

And only four more Level Two monsters.

Considering he still had more than four hours remaining, the objective no longer seemed particularly difficult.

In fact, if the monster density remained the same, he might finish well ahead of schedule.

The thought eased some of the tension in his shoulders.

For now, there was no need to rush.

Leaning back against the tree trunk, Luke studied the map a little longer, tracing possible routes through the forest while mentally marking locations where monster activity appeared highest.

Once he had a rough plan in mind, he rose to his feet.

His break was over.

However, this time, he wasn’t only looking for monsters to hunt.

’Let’s see if I could come across some useful herbs here.’

••••••••

A/N:- I hope you liked the Chapter.

I am trying to speed up the action oriented Chapters while keeping it meaningful for those who don’t like it and for those who do.

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