Come Fight Me, "Assault Hounds"!

Night had fallen deep.

The birdsong and insect chirping of the day had been replaced by the strange cries of insects, the croaking of frogs, and the nighttime calls of unknown creatures.

The temperature had plummeted, and the damp, cold air pricked at him like icy needles. Cui Ciyou instinctively wrapped his hoodie tighter around himself.

He leaned against the crude frame of the shelter, sitting on the straw-covered ground.

An intense wave of exhaustion washed over him like a tide.

Cui Ciyou prepared to spend his first night in another world.

Just as his consciousness was about to sink into sleep—

"Woof! Woof woof—!"

A bloodthirsty, frenzied barrage of barking erupted like thunder from flat ground.

It abruptly tore through the dead silence of the midnight forest!

What was that? It sounded like barking?

Cui Ciyou's heart suddenly clenched.

All his drowsiness and exhaustion were utterly replaced in that instant by terror cold enough to freeze his blood!

Relying on the most primal fighting instinct in his body,

Cui Ciyou sprang to his feet on reflex.

His eyes locked onto the direction of the sound—the depths of the shadowy forest, faintly illuminated by the flickering bonfire.

Chaotic footsteps approached from afar. There were at least three animals!

By the unsteady glow of the bonfire, Cui Ciyou finally saw them.

The "uninvited guests" that emerged from the darkness in their grotesque forms!

They were three vicious "monsters" that resembled giant poodles from Earth:

Their fur was coarse and stiff, gray-black and caked with mud; dark red ferocity glimmered in their eyes;

From their open mouths, thick, foul-smelling saliva dripped from pale, curved fangs as sharp as daggers.

These three "vicious dogs" were common low-level canine monsters within the Asla Kingdom—Assault Hounds!

The sheer brutality and savagery radiating from them far surpassed any beast on Earth!

Stay calm! Don't panic! And absolutely don't run!

When facing beasts, the moment you run, they'll pounce on you.

Cui Ciyou forced himself to remain calm, staring fixedly at the three "vicious dogs" slowly closing in.

He felt adrenaline surge wildly through his body.

Looks like I have to fight. Then...

Today, either you die or I do!

Cui Ciyou tightened his grip on the miniature butterfly knife and aimed its tip at them!

One of the larger "vicious dogs," apparently their leader, suddenly darted forward several steps.

It let out an even louder, fiercer roar at Cui Ciyou.

Then its hind legs kicked off hard.

Its muscular body shot forth like a cannonball, turning into a gray-black streak of lightning.

It opened its foul, fang-filled maw and lunged viciously at him!

Its speed and explosive force far exceeded Cui Ciyou's expectations!

The shadow of death descended with terrifying clarity!

Too fast! It's so fast, I don't have time to dodge!

Am I going to die? I didn't die getting hit by a car, only to get bitten to death by a dog!

I mean, I do like cats and dogs.

But I definitely don't want to become dog shit!

Just as Cui Ciyou felt death closing in, at that critical instant—

It was as if an invisible shackle in his mind shattered with a roar!

Mental Power—Connection—Perception—Activate!

In an instant, the world before Cui Ciyou's eyes changed drastically!

All color drained away in an instant.

It became a precise black-and-white three-dimensional world, built from countless flickering white points of light and intricate, intersecting black energy lines!

The "vicious dog's" lightning-fast pounce and bite became extraordinarily slow within this strange Perception vision.

Every tiny movement, every twitch of muscle, appeared with perfect clarity! Time had been infinitely slowed in that instant!

"Dodge." A thought flashed through his mind like an electric current.

Cui Ciyou's body seemed to shed the pull of gravity.

With ghostly agility, he abruptly twisted sideways and backward in an extreme evasive movement, almost flying along the ground!

"Riiip..."

The sound of claws tearing through the air rang out as the vicious dog's claws barely brushed past Cui Ciyou.

The leading "vicious dog" had used too much force and missed, crashing heavily onto the spot where he had just been.

At the same time, the other two "vicious dogs" had already closed in from both sides.

Cui Ciyou steeled himself, the ferocity in his blood completely ignited!

Facing the "vicious dog" pouncing from the left, he no longer dodged.

All the strength in his body instantly gathered in his right fist, and he threw a brutal punch directly into its fierce charge!

"Bang..."

A dull, heavy impact rang out, accompanied by the clear sound of bones exploding.

The "vicious dog" was sent flying sideways as though struck head-on by an invisible sledgehammer.

In midair, it spat out blood mixed with fragments of internal organs before crashing heavily into a tree trunk several meters away, dying on the spot!

Just... one punch? Even Cui Ciyou himself was stunned by the terrifying effect of that strike!

In the instant he froze, the "vicious dog" on the right had already pounced before him.

Cui Ciyou's pupils shrank sharply. His left hand shot out like lightning, its five fingers hooking like claws as he grabbed the "vicious dog" precisely by the neck.

"Crack!!"

A crisp snap of breaking neck bones! The "vicious dog" caught by the throat instantly stopped struggling, its body going completely limp.

In the blink of an eye, Cui Ciyou had cleanly dealt with two of the three menacing "vicious dogs" in an almost crushing fashion!

The last leading "vicious dog" had just climbed up from the ground when the bloody, horrifying sight before it scared the wits out of it.

The violent red glow in its eyes was replaced by terror. It tucked its tail and turned to flee without hesitation.

"Trying to run now? Too late!"

Cui Ciyou's icy voice rang out. His figure seemed to teleport, leaving only a faint afterimage where he had stood.

In an instant, he crossed several meters and caught up with the "vicious dog" fleeing for its life!

Then he raised his right leg, gathering strength into it, and mercilessly delivered a powerful kick precisely to its lower back, at the spine!

"Awooo..."

An incomparably miserable scream cut off abruptly.

The leading "vicious dog's" body folded at an unnatural angle in midair, then crashed to the ground like a rag doll, never moving again.

The battle—or rather, a one-sided slaughter—was over in less than a minute.

Cui Ciyou stood amid the three monster corpses, panting heavily, both hands covered in blood.

He slowly lowered his head to look at his bloodstained hands, then raised his eyes to look at the monster corpses around him.

The shock and confusion on his face were quickly replaced by a profound, icy calm.

"Sure enough... this definitely isn't Earth! I really came to... another world!"

Having survived death and gained both a new life and new power, a strange sense of calm and resolve rose within Cui Ciyou.

"Another world?... Since I didn't die in that car accident and even came to such a new world..."

"Then I guess... I've made a killing!"

He looked at his fist again, feeling the terrifying power within his body that could erupt again at any moment.

In his black eyes, slightly crimson from battle, a sharp gleam ignited like an unsheathed sword.

"At least... at least, now I..."

"Already have the most basic strength needed to... survive in this unknown world."

Cui Ciyou murmured, a cold curve slowly rising at the corner of his mouth.

"At least I have food now too. Dog meat?"

Note:

The Ultimate Boar's followers—Assault Hounds

A unique low-level canine monster found within the Asla Kingdom.

Under normal circumstances, several Assault Hounds would spontaneously form a small hunting pack with a high degree of cooperation.

A powerful, massive Ultimate Boar would serve as their absolute leader.

It would lead and command them as one.

If one encountered a lone Assault Hound pack in the wilderness,

And there were no traces of an Ultimate Boar nearby,

Then this usually meant that the actual leader of the Assault Hound hunting pack

Was an Assault Hound Elite far stronger than ordinary members of its kind, one that might have undergone some unknown mutation or preliminary evolution, making it more powerful and cunning.

It was equivalent to the "alpha wolf" among wolf-type monsters.

—Excerpted from Asla Kingdom: Illustrated Guide to Common Monsters and Danger Assessments (Revised Edition for Beginner Adventurers), p. 37