Close quarters

The snowy wind swept fine flurries across the bloody gash around the Spotted Leopard's muzzle, staining a small patch of snow nearby red.

The leopard's blood was scarlet, glaring against the black-and-white ground.

Lu Heng pushed himself up from the frozen earth, his right hand clamped around the bloodied Bronze Hunting Blade. His knuckles went white, his chest heaved, and the cold wind sent waves of pain through his lungs.

He looked up at the Spotted Leopard opposite him, and his heart sank.

In mere moments, the beast's state had changed completely.

Its lazy mockery and casual viciousness as it toyed with its prey had vanished, replaced by an almost deranged fury. Nothing remained in its slit pupils but pure killing intent and humiliation. Every hair on its body bristled, and thick white vapor streamed from its muzzle. Each huff tugged at the cut along its cheek, drawing out a few drops of blood.

Lu Heng instinctively swallowed a mouthful of icy saliva. His feet moved beyond his control, retreating half a small step as his back went rigid.

Danger.

More deadly than at any moment before.

He did not understand how wild beasts thought, but he could plainly feel that this cut had fully ignited the ferocity in the leopard's bones.

And at that moment, nothing filled the Spotted Leopard's mind but towering rage.

In its understanding, humans were merely weak ape prey in the forest, creatures it could handle however it pleased, lesser beings for its amusement and casual slaughter. Its willingness to toy with them and chase them was the charity of a mid-tier predator. Yet a mere piece of prey had dared to fight back with a blade and even cut the face it valued most.

Wounds to its body could heal, but humiliation and a scar on its face were utterly unforgivable.

This was outright provocation.

Without another probing move, the Spotted Leopard kicked hard off the ground, blasting snow in all directions as it lunged again. This time, it abandoned every feint and game, lowering its head and aiming its fangs at the artery in Lu Heng's neck. Its goal was unmistakable-to seize his throat and kill him in one strike.

A fierce gust struck his face. The beast was almost upon him.

Lu Heng dared not dodge and flee. He could not outrun it through the forest terrain, so he could only grit his teeth and raise the Bronze Hunting Blade horizontally before him, its edge facing the leopard's jaws.

A muffled metallic clang rang out.

The leopard's fangs clamped hard onto the side of the blade. Hard teeth scraped against metal with an ear-piercing sound, and tremendous biting force traveled through the blade into his arm, numbing his wrist and making his arm ache.

The Spotted Leopard jerked its head, its brute strength forcing Lu Heng back step after step. His soles scraped two shallow tracks into the frozen earth.

When its first pounce failed, it immediately released the blade and landed, nimbly shifting its limbs to attack again from the side.

This time, it changed its approach, raising its right forepaw with gathered force. Its sharp, hooked claws went straight for Lu Heng's chest, raking down hard.

Riiip-

Its claws instantly tore through his outer cold-weather cloth garment, sending scraps of fabric flying.

The expected pain of flesh tearing never came.

Hard, thick leather armor firmly protected his upper body. Even with the leopard's claws pressing down at full force, they could only scratch the surface grain, unable to pierce the armor and tear his flesh.

But there was no avoiding the brute-force collision.

The leopard's heavy, muscular body drove forward with its momentum, striking Lu Heng squarely in the chest.

An enormous, crushing force slammed into him, like being struck head-on by a heavy object moving at high speed, the impact brutally direct. Lu Heng's vision blurred slightly. An unbearable ache filled his chest, and his organs felt as though they had been knocked out of place. A trace of metallic sweetness rose in his throat as he staggered backward uncontrollably and slammed into the rough tree trunk behind him.

Pain-genuine, excruciating pain.

With his back against the trunk, Lu Heng gulped cold air. The web of his hand was already numb and aching from the impacts, and even his grip on the blade was beginning to falter.

From the start of the fight until now, he had been defending passively, constrained at every step and losing out at every turn.

His only supports were the sharp Bronze Hunting Blade in his hand and the leather armor protecting his upper body.

Without either one, the leopard would already have seized his throat and killed him.

The Spotted Leopard landed and looked at the claws that had torn through the cloth yet failed to harm its prey at all. Growing still more furious and agitated, it raised its head and let out a low, savage roar. The killing intent in its eyes deepened as it arched its body again, preparing another lethal pounce at his throat.

Lu Heng stared fixedly at its rising and falling limbs. His nerves had been pushed to their limit, yet he grew calm instead.

Every attack the leopard makes goes for the neck, for the throat. Its upper-body assault is fierce, but its lower body is wide open.

As the Spotted Leopard sprang into the air again, shifting all its weight forward, Lu Heng lowered his stance and turned sideways. Instead of blocking its head, he turned his wrist and brought the Bronze Hunting Blade down with precision.

Cold light flashed as the blade cleaved cleanly into the flesh of the Spotted Leopard's left hind thigh.

Shhk!

The blade sank deep into its flesh, and warm leopard blood instantly sprayed out.

Agony pierced the beast's nerves. The airborne Spotted Leopard abruptly stiffened, its movements suddenly faltering.

At that very instant, its long, taut tail instinctively lashed sideways in fury. Its hard tailbone carried tremendous force as it struck Lu Heng's right wrist, the hand holding the blade.

The blow was brutally forceful. Sharp pain shot through his wrist, draining its strength, and the Bronze Hunting Blade flew straight out of his hand, tumbling into the snow several meters away.

His weapon had left his hand, but Lu Heng had already anticipated it.

Seizing the moment as the leopard lost its balance from pain and dropped toward the ground, he lunged forward. Both arms looped precisely around its neck and clamped tight, crossing to lock its head in place. At the same time, he bent his knees and pressed down, putting his entire weight onto its shoulders and neck. He lay draped over its body, completely pinning its head.

Beneath him, the Spotted Leopard struggled madly. Muscles bulged all over its body as it repeatedly thrust upward with brute strength.

Lu Heng clenched his teeth, tensing every muscle and exerting himself.

He could clearly feel that this mid-tier beast possessed strength far beyond an ordinary person's, with utterly ferocious explosive power.

With his current physical condition, he could barely pin it down, barely keep it locked in place. It could throw him off and break free at any moment.

Snow flew, and the beast's roars were deafening.

The Spotted Leopard twisted its torso frantically, all four paws scrabbling wildly against the frozen earth. Its sharp foreclaws kept raking backward at random, trying to break the restraint and wound the human on its back.

Ear-piercing scraping sounds rang out one after another.

The leopard's hooked claws repeatedly scraped the surface of his leather armor. The sharp, dry, faint sounds of friction bored straight into his eardrums, making Lu Heng's scalp prickle and sending fear through him.

A few swipes came at awkward angles, slipping through gaps in the armor and scraping hard across the flesh at his waist. They brought a burning, slicing pain and drew thin traces of blood.

Lu Heng gave a muffled grunt. The leopard's twisting body battered his abdomen, churning his organs painfully, but he dared not let go. His arms tightened further, clamping its neck in place.

The deadlock lasted only a few seconds before the Spotted Leopard twisted its torso, shifting its weight left and exerting force, trying to use the momentum to roll over and counterattack.

This is the moment!

Lu Heng seized the fatal opening as it tipped sideways and shifted its weight. Planting both feet hard against the frozen earth, he unleashed the strength in his waist and abdomen. His arms, still locked around the leopard's head, hauled sharply upward, following the force of its own twisting motion to execute a clean, forceful over-the-shoulder throw!

Thud!

The heavy leopard was violently flipped over, its back slamming into the snow-covered frozen earth, throwing up a cloud of snow with a tremendous, muffled crash

The heavy leopard was violently flipped over, its back slamming into the snow-covered frozen earth, throwing up a cloud of snow with a tremendous, muffled crash.

Throughout it all, Lu Heng's arms never loosened around the leopard's head in the slightest.

Following the momentum of the fall, he landed on top of the Spotted Leopard. His legs clamped tightly along both sides of its neck, and his crossed arms locked its head, completely preventing it from turning, opening its mouth, or tossing its head.

That over-the-shoulder throw, using the leopard's own momentum, completely drained the last of both man and beast's stamina.

Lu Heng's chest heaved violently. White vapor streamed from his mouth and nose, and his harsh panting drowned out the wind in the forest. His arm muscles were so taut that they ached and trembled. Overexertion sent a tearing soreness through his waist and abdomen, while the earlier impact injury in his chest throbbed again and again. His whole body went weak, and even the strength holding his arms tight ebbed little by little. He could barely keep the leopard's head locked with what remained of his will.

The Spotted Leopard beneath him was even more thoroughly spent.

Its weak limbs rested against the snow, its chest and belly rising and falling deeply. Harsh, savage panting mixed with low cries of pain kept spilling from its throat. The cuts on its cheek and hind leg bled without stopping, staining the white snow beneath it. Several times, it instinctively tried to toss its head and struggle, but its neck was locked completely still. Any vigorous struggle only pulled at its wounds, bringing excruciating pain, and it soon stopped, powerless.

Its slit pupils stared fixedly at Lu Heng, so close at hand. Its ferocity had not faded, but the muscles in its limbs trembled weakly, no longer able to throw off the human pinning it down.

Man and leopard remained tightly entangled, pressed against each other, both utterly exhausted.

Only their two harsh, rapid breaths intertwined and echoed through the snowy forest.