Fierce Battle

Gato stopped walking. The enemy was hidden while he was exposed; he had no idea where the enemy was. Rather than blindly searching, he might as well calm down and prepare for the next attack, adapting to whatever came his way.

The anticipated attack did not come for a long time. Presumably, that beast was observing him as well.

That made sense. To the beast, Gato was probably just as unfamiliar and strange. As a predator, the first thing it needed was caution—otherwise, hunter and prey might switch places.

But beasts lacked patience, after all. Sensing no real threat from Gato, it launched the first attack.

With his full attention focused, Gato's senses were extremely sharp. He heard a faint rustling behind him to the left, and he was certain it was not the sound of wind stirring leaves.

"Heh, I've been waiting for you."

Gato spun around, coating his right hand in chakra as he tried to knock the beast to the ground with a single punch.

But the beast was far faster than he had expected. By the time he turned around, a black shadow was already nearly upon him. There was no time to wind up a punch; he could only hastily block its claws.

In that instant, he had no time to channel enough chakra into his arm. He had not even found his footing before he was knocked to the ground.

His arms, which had only recently begun to grow thicker, were slashed open by its claws, blood pouring from the wounds.

Only then did Gato get a clear look at the beast. It resembled a leopard from Earth, but it was over two meters long—larger than the vast majority of Earth's leopards.

Its fur was almost entirely black, yet it gave off an eerie greenish sheen, much like a green bottle fly.

Seeing that it had failed to kill Gato in one strike, the black panther opened its jaws and tried to bite through his throat.

Gato's hands were occupied holding back the leopard's claws, but he had other weapons.

"Body Technique—Headbutt!" It was a body technique, though in truth, it was merely a headbutt after gathering chakra in his head.

The leopard clearly had not expected Gato's head to be so hard. Its nose was struck senseless, and even the claws embedded in Gato's hands loosened instinctively.

Seizing the chance, Gato swung his arm and smashed a fist into the black panther's head, sending it flying nearly ten meters away.

"Hehehe, now my expectations can finally come true." Gato got up and walked toward his "spoils." He did not know whether the leopard was completely dead, so he needed to finish it off to be safe.

But as soon as he approached, Gato stared in astonishment as the black panther sprang to its feet like a spring and leaped away.

"What the hell?!" That punch had not been his full-strength attack, but it could have snapped a hardwood trunk as thick as a bowl. Yet the black panther looked completely unharmed.

He knew that an ordinary beast's head was the hardest part of its body, but there had to be a limit.

There was no time for him to think further. The black panther seemed to have been completely enraged. After escaping danger, it pounced on Gato once more.

It seemed even faster this time. Gato had clearly prepared himself better, yet he could still only vaguely see a black blur rushing at him. Once again, he hastily blocked.

When the black panther's attack failed again, it did not linger in battle and leaped away. Before long, it attacked again at the same speed.

It did not even pounce at Gato head-on. Instead, it sprinted toward open ground beside him, slashing him in passing, like a bouncing rubber ball constantly flickering back and forth around him.

Every leap of the black panther left a bloody wound on Gato's body. It wanted to slowly wear him down and make him bleed to death.

Gato helplessly realized that he simply could not keep up with the black panther's speed. Perhaps he could surpass it in straight-line acceleration with chakra, but his body was nowhere near agile enough, and his reactions were too slow.

"Enough! Know when to stop!"

The Lightning Living Body Technique was actually a type of Ninja Body Technique. It had two uses: under normal conditions, it could be circulated slowly to stimulate cellular activity and growth; in battle, its output could be increased to unleash the power within the cells for a short burst. This form was called Lightning Enhancement.

Even maintaining its normal circulation consumed a massive amount of energy, and he had to worry about starving to death here. Using it in battle had never even been an option, so this was his first time using the technique.

But in this situation, he had no choice. If he delayed any longer, he could bleed to death at any moment.

The boost brought by Lightning Enhancement was comprehensive. His strength, speed, and reactions all improved dramatically. He even had the illusion that the entire world had slowed to a standstill.

Still, Gato pretended that nothing had happened and waited for the black panther's next attack.

Sure enough, the black panther had no idea what had changed about Gato and came at him with the same tactic.

To Gato, that was the signal to strike back.

The black panther casually swung a claw, just as before, unconcerned with whether it struck a vital spot. But it had not expected that Gato, who had previously only been able to barely react and defend himself, would crouch down and evade its claw this time.

In the blink of an eye, before the black panther could recover, it discovered that Gato—having dodged the claw and risen to his feet—had seized it by the throat.

Then it was hoisted high into the air, its back facing downward, and slammed toward the ground.

"After all, you're just a beast!"

Gato would not give it another chance to escape. He pinned it firmly to the ground and repeatedly hammered its neck with chakra-infused fists.

No matter the animal, the neck was always a vulnerable spot. Faced with such brutal blows, the black panther could only die in bitter resentment.

"What a troublesome thing." Gato quickly stopped circulating the technique. The consumption was too terrifying. Less than a minute had passed from activating it to killing the black panther, yet he already felt completely drained.

Still, the finest food was right in front of him, so there was no need to panic.

He truly did not have the strength to carry the black panther back to camp before eating it, so he could only deal with it on the spot. This should have been the black panther's territory, so uninvited guests were unlikely to show up easily.

Besides, he would be making a fire here, enough to drive away many ill-intentioned creatures.

This leopard was much larger than he was. His body looked to be around fifteen or sixteen years old, standing roughly 1.7 meters tall, while the black panther was over two meters long. He even had to rise onto his toes to lift it completely.

After skinning it and removing organs such as the intestines, stomach, and kidneys, the edible meat did not look like quite so much anymore. Even so, it would probably be enough to feed an ordinary person for dozens of meals if eaten three times a day.

But as Gato looked at the meat, a thought arose in his mind: This will probably only be enough for one meal.

And that was indeed the case. His stomach was like a bottomless pit. No matter how much he ate, it only eased the hunger brought on by activating the Living Body Technique. There was no sign of him becoming full.

His stomach's digestive capacity was simply terrifying. This was the kind of stomach that Chinese foodies, who always regretted not being able to eat more and missing out on delicious food, could only dream of.