This close, the Alpha Scavenger looked even more scary.
Face devoid of humanity’s glory or beauty.
Little strands of hair fell down its head. Eyes so abnormally large they might as well have been pale balls.
But it was its mouth that truly caught Xander off guard.
Slowly, it opened.
Crack. Crack
Xander heard the intentional dislocation of its lower jaw.
The mouth opened wide, simply held together by stretchy skin.
Within its mouth, Xander clearly saw maggots slugging about in between the long jagged teeth.
The creature’s breath was pungent, and Xander felt himself slowly losing consciousness.
Passing out here was not on his agenda. Nothing good would come out of it.
His fingers tightened around the broken femur.
He gritted his teeth.
Voossh...
He STRUCK—right in the neck.
The Alpha Scavenger screeched in pain as it tumbled in the dirt.
All the other Scavengers were drawn to it.
"Shit!" Xander cursed, as he rushed for the wall.
His legs gave way, and he fell, but the pumping of andrenaline helped him.
The moment he reached the wall, he began to climb.
However, a scavenger launched for him.
SCRATCH.
"Arrh!"
A mix of the pain and force on his back made him fall.
The Scavenger launched for him, claws wide, heading for his head.
Xander rolled to the side, barely evading the strike.
Then he struck with the femur.
Not a perfect strike.
He missed using the pointy edge.
A lack of food mixed with the loss of blood from the beatings had ensured he lost a lot of energy.
The Scavenger SCREECHED at him.
And then another attacked. However, just as it leaped into the air, a wide grip caught it by the neck.
The Alpha Scavenger.
And then using both arms, it pulled—RIPPING apart the smaller scavenger like tearing a piece of cloth.
Blood and guts spread in the air splashing on everything.
Some drops fell on Xander. He raised a hand to protect his eyes.
It sizzled.
Even their blood was toxic.
Seeing the Alpha Scavenger rip apart one of its own, the others did not attack.
They merely watched, circling the place.
Xander took a deep breath in, and then out.
"Oh, I get it now." Xander nodded, voice low, hoarse, still recovering.
"I wounded you, your pride was hurt, and now you want a one on one challenge."
[Ding]
[New Absorbtion Gauge Target Detected]
[Psychological Connection Depth: ▓▓░░░░░░░░ 20/100]
The alerts came but Xander ignored them. Right now, his attention was entirely on the opponent before him.
By now, Xander already understood that this world was cruel. In some ways, even more than his previous one.
Once more, his eyes looked towards the wall—his route of escape.
The smaller scavengers obstructed that route.
Even if, these things could leap incredible distances.
He would be peeled to shreds before he could make significant way to freedom.
Once again, he was in between a rock and a hard place.
He had barely been in this world a few hours and he was already hanging below the jaws of death.
For a moment, he gave a low mocking laughter.
All the while, the Alpha scavenger did not attack. Merely pacing back and forth.
Waiting.
For his challenge to be accepted, no doubt.
Xander’s self–mocking laughter slowly died off. "You know, in my previous life, I died with my head held high.
If I am to die in this one," his gaze settled on his opponent. "It will be the same."
His posture leaned forward.
The moment Xander made up his mind to fight, a kind of calm flooded his mind, as he subconsciously made calculations of his environment.
Lessons of Leopold teaching Alex how to use a sword flowed through his mind.
Another unexpected gift from the dead prince.
Of course, Alex had never taken those lessons seriously, but as crown prince, he was still forced to learn them.
However, implementation required an indomitable mind hungry to survive.
The Scavenger SCREECHED leaping in the air for Xander.
Xander as leaped. But not to attack. But to evade.
Only a foolish man would fight with head on with a creature twice the size of a silver back gorilla, and with as much strength.
The claws of the creature narrowly missed his chest, but four long, deep scars appeared on his left arm.
[Health -1 point]
Blood sprayed in the air.
However, the moment Xander rolled on the ground, he pushed with his toes against the dirt for lift.
Landing on the creature’s back.
The Alpha Scavenger flared around, trying to reach Xander.
"What? You got too big to reach your back!?" Xander gritted his teeth.
[Ding]
[Psychological Connection Depth: ▓▓▓▓░░░░░░ 40/100]
Xander lifted his hand high and brought the Femur for a stab.
Again.
Again.
Again.
The femur came down, right at the neck, as it tried to shake Xander off.
"Die your BASTARD!" Xander screamed.
But no matter how much or how deep, the Alpha Scavenger did not slow down.
It backed towards a pile of dirt, scraping Xander against its surface.
Xander felt a rod stab into his left side.
[Health –3]
[Host is losing a lot of Blood. Health falling at significant rate]
His breath became heavier, and he almost lost his grip. But he persisted.
If he fell off, the Alpha would not repeat the same mistake again.
Even worse, as the creature flared around, it smacked some unfortunate little scavengers.
—breaking their bones, and tearing their skin.
Xander did not stop stabbing downwards.
The Alpha hit another pike of dirt, Xander was about to fall off.
Fortunately, he had dug the femur deep enough for it to hold his weight.
He dangled on the side.
The Alpha launched a strike with the opposing hand for him.
One strike and it was over.
But Xander noticed a hole on the Scavengers neck.
This was the first injury Xander had given it.
No doubt these things were difficult to kill, but at their foundation, they were once human.
Just as the strike was about to land Xander pulled up, swinging and lunging a fist into that wound.
And then he flipped over into its head.
Xander held tight, squeezing the creature’s wind pipe as tight as he could.
Now, close to death, the alpha struggled even more.
At this point, even Xander was merely surviving on will and fumes.
But he held tight.
’Even a monster needs air.’