A Single Bite to Kill!

"What the hell! I'm such an idiot!"

Tylen cursed himself silently.

This was his first fight against a genuine magic-wielding apprentice, and his lack of experience had immediately become glaringly obvious.

He'd been so focused on analyzing his opponent that he'd missed the perfect moment to interrupt the spell.

By now, the other man had finished his ritual.

"Fool! Die!"

The burly man's skin rippled with dense, blood-red patterns as he let out a bestial roar.

His body surged forward like a bull gone wild, bearing down on Tylen at terrifying speed with an overwhelming air of menace.

"So fast!"

Tylen's pupils contracted, but his expression remained unchanged.

The instant the heavy fist came whooshing toward his face, his body reacted on instinct.

He threw himself into an awkward but effective sideways roll, narrowly dodging the deadly blow.

Whoosh!

The burly man's fist grazed Tylen's clothes and struck empty air with a rush of wind.

"Good thing yesterday's intensive training got my Constitution up to two points! That was ugly, but at least I could still react!"

As he rolled, Tylen swiftly gathered Mana in his right hand.

[Magic Thorn Art!]

His hand instantly sharpened like a blade. Using the momentum of his roll, he slashed viciously at the burly man's lower back.

But the man reacted far faster than Tylen had expected.

"Too slow!"

The burly man sneered and spun around with astonishing agility.

Smack!

A huge hand covered in blood-red patterns clamped around Tylen's wrist like an iron vise.

In an instant, Tylen felt a terrifying force crushing his wrist, as if it had been caught in a hydraulic press.

The pressure made his bones creak under the strain, and pain shot through his entire body.

"This guy's strength... it's definitely over three points!"

In the blink of an eye, Tylen acted without hesitation. He cast Magic Thorn Art with his left hand and slashed at the burly man's wrist, trying to force him to defend himself.

But the man's other hand moved even faster.

Smack!

Another sharp crack rang out.

Tylen's left hand was seized as well.

Now both of Tylen's hands were locked in those terrifying "hydraulic presses," leaving him pinned in a spread-eagle position.

"Die!"

The burly man grimaced and tightened his grip. His immense strength cut off the blood flow to Tylen's wrists, making it feel as though his hands were about to explode.

Worse still, the man suddenly leaned back, then slammed his head forward like a battering ram, aiming straight for Tylen's forehead!

He meant to smash Tylen's skull to pieces!

At the crucial moment, Tylen strained to twist his neck and jerked his head to the side.

Whoosh!

The burly man's headbutt grazed Tylen's ear and struck his shoulder. The pain made Tylen grunt.

Without pausing after the missed blow, the man raised his right leg. His hard knee shot toward Tylen's abdomen with a rush of wind.

If that blow landed, rupturing his internal organs would be the least of his worries.

Tylen twisted backward in an awkward, almost contorted posture, barely dodging the deadly knee strike.

He looked completely outmatched now, battered and helpless.

A faint glint flashed in his eyes, but he called out loudly in a pleading tone:

"Brother! We're both low-level apprentices. Why fight to the death?"

"Let's talk this out! There's no need to kill each other."

The burly man's arrogance and contempt only deepened.

"You're a stray dog. Who's a low-level apprentice?!"

"Begging for mercy now? Too late! Die!"

He raised his knee again, preparing to deliver the finishing blow.

But the very next second...

"AAAH!!!"

A shrill scream suddenly rang out across the entire scene.

The burly man, who had just been as fearsome as a tiger, convulsed violently.

Then his powerful body went limp and crumpled to the ground, as if his spine had been torn out.

"W-What... what's going on?"

The burly man's eyes bulged as he desperately tried to make his body stand, only to discover in horror that he'd lost all feeling from the neck down.

Only then did he notice something where he had been standing.

A small, exquisitely crafted Skeleton Dog.

Dense, dark-red runes covered its body, radiating an eerie magical fluctuation.

Thick canvas had been carefully wrapped around all four of its bone paws, greatly reducing the sound of bone striking the ground. It moved as silently as a ghost.

The Skeleton Dog landed lightly, its movements far too nimble for a low-level undead construct.

Warm blood dripped from its sharp fangs.

"W-What is that?"

The burly man stared, his mind blank.

Before he could recover, Tylen had already broken free of his grip.

"Stop!"

Joyce, some distance away, seemed to realize what was happening and shouted urgently.

Thwack!

Joyce's shout had barely faded when Tylen's hand became the sharpest of surgical blades.

There was no hesitation. No fear.

His face didn't so much as flicker.

He was utterly unlike the amiable man who had just been pleading loudly for mercy.

His hand rose and fell.

A massive head rolled across the ground, blood gushing like a fountain and staining the earth red.

The surroundings fell instantly silent.

The burly man hadn't noticed, but the onlookers had seen everything clearly.

Just now, when the burly man grabbed one of Tylen's hands and Tylen raised the other as if to "help,"

Tylen's free hand had actually been slicing open the backpack behind him with effortless precision.

Then the Skeleton Dog, cleverly folded up and covered in blood-red runes, had slipped out and landed with the nimbleness of an assassin.

As soon as it landed, it used Tylen's body for cover and hid in the shadows.

While the burly man attacked furiously with headbutts and iron-hard knees, it used Tylen as cover to circle around behind him without making a sound.

And when Tylen pleaded for mercy, drawing the burly man's last bit of attention,

It leaped.

Its two sharp fangs, strengthened by a third casting of Magic Thorn Art, sank with pinpoint accuracy into the gaps between the bones at the back of the burly man's neck and bit down sideways.

Crack!

That bite severed the burly man's central nervous system, completely destroying the brain's control over his body.

It was a perfect, expertly executed ambush.

Tylen shook the blood from his hand and looked at the corpse on the ground. His voice was calm, tinged with regret.

"I gave you a chance, but you were useless!"

The crowd erupted in an instant.

"By the Holy Father, what was that thing?"

"A low-level undead construct without Undead Fire."

"Impossible! How could a low-level undead construct be so nimble?"

"He must be using his own blood as a medium for its spiritual energy."

"Then why are its teeth so sharp? It doesn't even have tendons!"

"Magic Thorn Art. He enchanted the Skeleton Dog's teeth with Magic Thorn Art."

"What!? You can do that? Are you sure this guy's a low-level Corpse Collector Apprentice!?"