The following morning Arthur opened his eyes very slowly, and the moment he woke up his face darkened, the familiar system screen appeared before him and brought him a kind of reassurance.

[ You have digested your food, you gained 1 additional XP ]

His features relaxed, and he let out an exhausted sigh. Under normal circumstances, he would have felt happy that digesting the food had provided him with more XP, but, because of what he had gone through in the night, he was not in the right mood.

That thunderous roar had made him realize the terrifying truth of this world, there are powerful monsters that surpass his imagination, and if he were to clash with them one day, he would die without fail.

He looked at the cave entrance covered with shrubs, felt a tightness in his chest, and muttered: "I want to go back home, this world does not suit me."

All his previous optimism had vanished, and he no longer had enough courage to go out into the forest again, just thinking about the possibility of encountering that dangerous monster nearly gave him a heart attack.

’I wonder what Rank that creature is? And are there more like it, who knows perhaps it is not the most powerful monster in this forest, and there is something even more powerful and terrifying than it?’ He smiled bitterly, and could only feel sorry for his wretched fate.

At first glance Arthur may appear to be a rational and calm person, and his ability to quickly accept his new reality is the greatest proof of that, but in truth he is the opposite.

He had not accepted anything, nor had he come to terms with anything, his transformation into a wolf, and his transportation to this forest, had hit him hard, so, deep down, he believed he was living some kind of nightmare, and would wake up soon.

’I can no longer deny it, this nightmare will not end, this is my life from now on, and despite how bad it is, I will not give it up without a fight.’

His eyes filled with determination, and without needing to take the easy path and use his bloodline, he succeeded in suppressing his emotions, and took control of himself.

"It is better that I do not leave the cave today, my stomach is full, I do not feel any thirst, the only thing I must do is empty my bladder."

Slowly he headed toward the entrance and peeked through the shrubs, he carefully examined the area outside, and found that it had become very different from the previous night, for a large trail of destroyed trees and packed earth had appeared in it.

It was clear that the strange monster was responsible for that.

"Everything looks fine." The moment Arthur confirmed the place was safe, he stepped out quickly and headed toward the nearest tree, raised his leg, and relieved himself. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

When he finished, he examined his surroundings once more then returned to his den quickly.

At first, he planned to sleep and rest, for he had not slept well at night, but he quickly felt bored especially since he had no means of entertainment.

To keep himself busy, he cleaned the cave, tidied it up, then gathered the dry grass and scattered straw around the cave, and made a simple and primitive bed, or more precisely a pile of straw.

When night approached, he had nothing left to do, so he went out a little to breathe the fresh air, he stood in the middle of the wide trail left by the monster, and watched the sun on the horizon as it set.

Suddenly his ears moved and his instincts reacted, his heart pounded hard, he slowly turned his head to the right, and at that moment he saw a large leopard possessing a sharp horn on its forehead, silently creeping toward him.

[ Horned leopard — Common — F-Rank ]

When his eyes met the leopard ’s eyes filled with killing intent, he immediately realized what was going to happen next, for it appeared that he was the prey this time.

"Shit." He growled loudly, and as he expected, the leopard bared its sharp fangs and ran toward him, and in the blink of an eye, it reached him, and pounced on him targeting his neck.

His eyes widened, and his body tensed, he did not know what to do, but in that moment, the Primal Predator bloodline reacted automatically, his calmness and rationality returned to him, and bloodlust took control of him, and since he was neither able to flee nor dodge, he decided to do the only possible thing, which was to fight for his life.

He gritted his fangs, and released his full strength, then surged forward, and intercepted the leopard before it could complete its attack, his movement was unexpected, and greatly surprised the leopard , yet it too did not retreat or hesitate, and because of the great force of their charge they slammed into each other hard, like sumo wrestlers.

Bang!

Their bodies shook violently, and the soil flew beneath their paws, and both growled in anger, and began fighting ferociously, the leopard attacked first by opening its mouth full of sharp fangs, and bit Arthur on his shoulder, and began tearing at his flesh.

For his part Arthur did not stand still, he endured the intense pain he felt, and dug his claws into the leopard ’s back, and began tearing its flesh and skin, and at the same time twisted and staggered and kicked hard, wanting to escape from the leopard ’s jaw.

After grappling for a few seconds, the two beasts finally released each other, and quickly stepped back several paces, their bodies were filled with bloody wounds, yet neither of them showed any intention of retreating, in fact they grew even more ferocious and savage.

Both walked slowly in a near circular motion, then after a few seconds of unsettling silence, they pounced on each other again, with one single thought revolving in their minds, which was to kill.

They clashed again and began tearing at each other chaotically, fangs sank into flesh, and claws cut through skin, their blood fell to the ground like rain, and dust and fur flew everywhere around them.

Using his human intelligence, and exploiting his weight, Arthur pushed with his hind legs hard and knocked the leopard onto its back, and pounced on it wanting to bite its neck and finish it off, but it was not that easy, for the leopard rolled and twisted with strange agility and evaded his attack.

In exchange for protecting its neck, the leopard ’s back became exposed, and without any hesitation Arthur bit it on its hindquarters, tearing away a large chunk of flesh.

The leopard growled in pain, turned around quickly, and began swiping its claws randomly, one of its attacks hit Arthur on his face, and scratched his nose superficially which forced him to retreat, and take a defensive stance, and stared coldly at the leopard which retreated in turn.