Ethan was preparing himself to face the Hollow Hounds. There were four of them before him, growling in his direction.
’How did I not notice them?’
He did not dare be careless for even a second after falling into the Abyss, and yet, there were monsters before him that he had not noticed beforehand.
’It happened when that cat released that pressure... Forget it. There is no point in nit-picking now.’
Ethan calmed himself down. The more he was in control of his emotions, the more helpful it would be for him.
’It’s been decades, and yet, my heart is still restless. Anyone who heard that might think it’s such a cowardly thing to happen.’
Forty years on the battlefield. He faced countless monsters, killed, absorbed, and killed again.
The same cycle went on and on for such a long time. And yet, even now, his heart skipped a beat when facing such a weak monster.
’It has always been like this for me. I ran away so many times. The fear lingers even after so long. A small mishap and I will be gone. No matter who the opponent is, I cannot afford to make a mistake, especially not anymore.’
He always felt this way. It didn’t matter who he was up against, whether that be the Demon King or a weak goblin.
’Maybe because I had to get so close to them. It wasn’t like others, who can attack from a distance. I had to get close to them to make use of my strength.’
It became even more true when he went up against monsters so huge that he wasn’t even the size of their eyes.
The fear of failure always remained. That was how he was able to survive.
Being afraid wasn’t a sign of cowardice. It was the sign of not having the leverage to lose.
The brave aren’t those who aren’t afraid of anything, but instead, they are those who, despite being afraid, don’t back down.
’Here they come.’
One of the Hollow Hounds jumped at him. They didn’t have exceptional strength, but their speed was their biggest asset.
The hound jumped at him with incredible speed, but instead of attacking Ethan, it jumped over him and went towards Zerakh.
Its action surprised Ethan as he watched the hounds surround Zerakh one after another.
’What? Wait... Are they after him?’
It didn’t take long for him to notice what was happening here.
It was already surprising that the Hollow Hounds reached them so soon. They did have great speed and high mana sensitivity, but the way they all came here so soon after Zerakh released his mana pressure was weird.
’They didn’t come here after he showed his mana. They were chasing him before this.’
He also noticed some wounds on its body, which further solidified his reasoning.
Hollow Hounds were attracted to beings with mana. They loved their meat. So someone like Ethan wasn’t even worth their attention.
Ethan felt skeptical watching this. His alert stance was gone. His eyes didn’t have any emotions as he watched Zerakh about to be killed and turned into their food.
’Since they are after him, I can simply walk out from here.’
His main priority was to find his sword. He wasn’t here to save anyone to begin with.
He didn’t care about other humans, much less a beast who was about to attack him just now.
Surviving was the biggest key in life. What’s the point of sacrificing your life for others?
’It’s not like this is the first.’
His feet began to move back. Following his instincts, he was going to run away again.
However...
’Fuck this shit. I might be going insane.’
His body moved by itself. He didn’t know the reason for that. He didn’t know why he would do something like this for anyone besides Eleanor.
Still, he did.
[YOU HAVE USED THE SKILL ’SEVERANCE’ (Lv.1)]
[YOU HAVE USED THE *** ’BASIC INTENT OF SWORD’]
He immediately used everything in his arsenal and lunged at the beast that was the closest to him.
It happened purely out of instinct. He did not think about how he was going to attack. He did not even plan that for a second, and yet, his body moved, following the red thread that was guiding his attack towards the neck of the hound.
He hadn’t even used his Sword Intent after his regression. He didn’t even think if he could use that on a mere branch or any other weapon. Before he could figure anything out, the small branch of the tree pierced through the hound’s neck as if it were poking a hole in butter.
SPLSH~
The branch pierced its body easily. Soon, blood gushed out from that hole along with the hoarse howl of the hound.
[YOU HAVE KILLED A HOLLOW HOUND.]
A voice rang in his head. A notification of his kill.
’Wait? It’s gone? Just like that?’
He expected for it to take a while, but it didn’t.
One of the Hollow Hounds was gone within seconds.
’Severance and this Sword Intent... They are too powerful. I was able to do this with just a branch. What will happen once I get my sword back?’
For a second, he was happy about the skills that he got with his path. However, it was short-lived, as the moment he tried to move the branch, it broke into pieces.
The branch did not have the endurance to handle his skills.
The other hounds that were still circling Zerakh noticed the fall of their companion.
Revealing their fangs, they growled towards Ethan, their eyes now locked on him rather than Zerakh.
’Ah, fuck.’
Ethan did not waste a single second and ran away from there. The hounds immediately chased after him.
’Shit, shit, shit. This is what I wanted to avoid. Why did I even try to help that beast?’
He ran into the forest from the open area. His speed was much slower than the hounds, so it went without saying that he would die if he stayed there.
Alas, it wasn’t going to be that easy for him.
The beasts soon caught up to him, but he moved to his left and kept on running.
He continuously used the skill Severance to keep track of their movements too. It made it a little easier for him to distract them.
’I need to kill one more soon.’
But simply knowing their path wouldn’t change anything. It was three against one, and they were superior to him in every aspect.
One of the hounds jumped at him with its jaw wide open. Its sharp fangs moved towards his head with the only intention of ripping it apart from his body.
Ethan gritted his teeth, throwing his body onto the ground.
The hound missed him by only a few inches.
"Fucking shit." He roared and ran to his right again.
He was only a few meters away from the forest. He was about to get to it, but before he could, another one of them reached him. This time, however, it didn’t miss.
Its claws reached Ethan. He tried to dodge it too, but sadly, he couldn’t escape in time.
He was too slow compared to the hounds.
It grazed his back, the impact pushing him further. He fell flat on his face.
"Agg~"
He groaned, cursing inside his head. The pain on his back made it hard for him to move normally.
The hounds, however, did not stop at just that. The one that clawed him went ahead to claim its prize.
It slowly moved towards Ethan. He was its prey now. Taking its time, it was going to enjoy devouring him.
Unfortunately for him, that time never came.
[YOU HAVE KILLED A HOLLOW HOUND.]
Ethan was waiting for it to get close before he killed it too.
The moment he fell, he grabbed hold of another branch that he was already aiming at. He matched the timing perfectly and pierced the hound into its neck again with that branch.
Two of the hounds were down. Only two remained.
"Ah, fuck. It burns like hell."
The branch was gone again, but this time Ethan didn’t mind that much.
He was already holding another one in his hand.
"Lucky me, I guess. So now, which one of you would like to die first?"
’I need to make good use of this. I took the two down because they were careless, but now, I can’t do the same again. And I only got one branch with me. I cannot miss.’
He did have the confidence to take down one of them. He might not be fast, but he could determine where to attack.
The difficult part would be when he killed the third hound. He would have to run again. However, it didn’t seem like the last remaining hound would let him do that easily.
’They seem terrifying after I took down two of them. It’s gonna be a pain.’