A fight to the death
A deep, muffled roar echoed across the snow-covered plain. The sound rolling from the tiger's throat was suppressed and fierce, lacking any unrestrained howl, only the restlessness and hostility brought on by its injuries.
Thirty meters away was the stone cave where Lu Heng was hiding. The entrance was half-covered by snow, which was his only safe place to stand. But his feet were firmly planted in the snow, and he did not move backward at all.
He dared not let the beast escape.
This thing has been lurking in the shadows for days, its patience beyond imagination. Today it escaped with an arrow wound, but it will surely be watching the cave day and night from now on. When we go out to gather food and supplies, we must always be on guard against ambushes from the shadows. If this drags on, we will eventually fall into its clutches. If we don't eliminate this threat today, we will never have a peaceful life again.
We either fight to the bitter end and eliminate this tiger completely, or we will live under endless threat for the rest of our lives.
The Forest Rock Tiger facing them also abandoned any thought of retreating.
The crossbow bolt lodged in its foreleg tore at its flesh, warm blood seeping into its thick fur, dripping onto the snow and leaving a small, dark brown mark. The relentless stinging pain assaulted its nerves again and again. It had patiently lay in ambush for days, expending a great deal of energy waiting for its hunting opportunity. In this forest, it had always roamed unchallenged, always the one hunting other creatures, never having been seriously injured by a tiny human.
The humiliation overshadowed the initial hunger, and now only one thought remained in its mind: to pounce on the person in front of it.
The man and the tiger were locked in a stalemate several meters apart in the snow, the situation now completely escalating to a fight to the death.
During the brief pause, Lu Heng regulated his breathing. The area on his left shoulder where the tiger's tail had struck him was still stiff and numb. His several swings of the knife had all missed, leaving his forearm sore and tense, and the hilt of the knife digging into his hand with a dull ache. He gently moved his wrist, gripping the Bronze Hunting Blade tightly again. The cool, hard metal offered a small measure of calm to his chaotic and tense mind. His Wristband Space contained a sufficient supply of crossbow bolts; that last shot was merely a hasty sneak attack, and he still had a backup plan.
The tiger was the first to make a move.
Unable to charge in a straight line with its forelegs injured, it lowered its massive body, hugging the snow, and moved sideways in small intervals. Each movement was precisely controlled, always staying outside the blade's killing range. Having suffered at the hands of the Hunting Blade and crossbow bolts, even with its burning rage, this battle-hardened beast retained its instinctive caution, refusing to directly confront the blade's edge. It only wanted to lure Lu Heng into making a move, seizing the opening when he was in a daze to launch a surprise attack.
Lu Heng no longer used complete sets of sword techniques. The previous continuous moves had too obvious starting marks, which was tantamount to actively exposing his weaknesses in front of a tiger that had fought life and death for a long time. He broke up all the moves and only used scattered slashes, parries, and diagonal thrusts to try to erase the fixed signs of his moves.
Seeing the tiger feint and approach again, Lu Heng stomped his feet on the snow, sending up a cloud of snow that briefly obscured the tiger's vision. Taking advantage of the tiger's instinctive tilt of its head and squinting, Lu Heng strode forward, his blade slashing diagonally towards the tiger's chest and abdomen.
The tiger reacted extremely quickly. Even with its vision obstructed, it relied on its instincts honed through years of fighting to dodge to the side. The blade only managed to slice off a few strands of its tawny fur, failing to cause any real damage. Using the momentum from its dodge, its thick, hard tail suddenly swept out.
Lu Heng hurriedly parried with his sword, a dull thud echoing as the impact reverberated. The immense force traveled up the hilt of the sword, numbing his entire arm and causing a sudden, sharp pain in his old left shoulder wound. He staggered back two steps, his back scraping heavily against a clump of low, withered bushes, the branches grazing his clothes and leaving several fine scratches.
In several encounters, Lu Heng remained at a disadvantage. His ability to adapt to changing situations was ultimately no match for the tiger's years of fighting for its life in the wilderness, and each of his attacks was easily anticipated and neutralized. He slowly moved towards the bushes on one side, deliberately forcing the bulky tiger closer to the branches. The intertwined branches would slow down the tiger's turning and dodging speed, slightly offsetting its advantage of agile movement.
The tiger saw through his intentions and deliberately stayed away from the edge of the bushes, making feigned pounces to lure Lu Heng into hastily swinging his knife and exhausting his strength.
After several exchanges, Lu Heng knew he couldn't continue this aimless maneuvering. Simply dodging would only deplete his stamina faster, and once he was exhausted, death would be inevitable. The gap in close-quarters combat experience was insurmountable; he couldn't continue this probing and tug-of-war. He had to force his opponent into close-quarters melee.
Lu Heng stopped deliberately throwing snow to interfere, and stopped looking for opportunities to shoot arrows from a distance. He lowered his center of gravity and slowly moved forward, deliberately reducing the distance between them.
Seeing this, the tiger perked up, thinking that its prey had deliberately exposed its weakness. It lowered its head and tentatively took two steps forward, its injured foreleg sinking gently into the soft snow.
Just as the distance between the two sides closed to about two meters, the tiger suddenly lowered its body, abandoning its feints and pouncing straight at Lu Heng. It gave up on maneuvering and planned to rely on its weight and sharp claws to kill him in one fell swoop.
Lu Heng was prepared. Instead of taking the attack head-on, he slid half a step to the side and simultaneously raised his sword to slash horizontally.
The tiger, unable to change direction while airborne, could only twist its body forcefully. The blade grazed its ribs, leaving a shallow wound. Blood immediately seeped out. The tiger roared in pain, landed, and immediately shook its head, opening its mouthful of sharp teeth to bite at Lu Heng's arm.
Lu Heng hurriedly took half a step back, his arm barely dodging the sharp teeth, but the edge of his sleeve was still torn by the tiger's teeth. He raised his hand and smashed the tiger's nose hard with the hilt of his knife. The beast cried out in pain, tilted its head back, and stiffened for a brief moment.
This opportunity was extremely fleeting. Lu Heng did not choose to draw his crossbow at close range, as it would be too hasty to draw the bow and aim, making him vulnerable to a counterattack. He bent over, bracing himself with one hand on the ground, and gripped the Hunting Blade tightly with the other, thrusting it fiercely into the tiger's soft belly.
The tiger, enduring the pain, tucked in its belly and rammed its massive body forward, its hard head slamming into Lu Heng's chest.
Lu Heng groaned, his chest tightening as he stumbled backward, his back slamming against the withered tree trunk behind him, a dull pain shooting through his back. The Hunting Blade hadn't penetrated deeply, only piercing the flesh slightly before the other man twisted his body and broke free.
Two new wounds overlapped with the old one on its foreleg, and the excruciating pain completely shattered the tiger's last shred of reason. It no longer considered distance or weaknesses; its eyes were filled only with a ferocious killing intent. Its limbs pounded the snow as it charged forward again, desperately seeking to exchange wounds and tear the human before it to shreds.
Lu Heng leaned against the tree trunk, his breathing heavy and rapid. His arms ached terribly, his chest still felt stuffy and uncomfortable from the impact, and his old injury in his left shoulder was repeatedly aggravated, causing waves of pain. He knew he could no longer hold back; if he continued to fight and wear himself down, he would be the first to collapse.
He reached his left hand into the Wristband Space, quickly grasped a crossbow bolt with his fingertips, and cocked it with one hand.
Facing the charging tiger, Lu Heng sidestepped the tree trunk to avoid its cover, and steadily raised his Hand Crossbow. Just as the tiger was about to pounce, the crossbow bolt shot out, accurately embedding itself below its neck.
The intense pain caused the tiger's massive body to jerk abruptly. The force of its immense weight propelled it forward several steps before it collapsed heavily to its knees in the snow. Large amounts of blood flowed down its neck, staining the thick white snow beneath it.
It still didn't give up struggling, trying to get up again while supporting itself on the ground, its limbs trembling constantly, its injured forelegs unable to support its full weight.
Lu Heng gripped his Hunting Blade and slowly stepped forward, his body covered in abrasions and utterly exhausted. He didn't approach rashly, maintaining a safe distance as he watched the struggling beast.
At this point, the outcome was essentially decided, but he dared not relax for a moment. In the wilderness, the counterattack of a dying beast is often the most deadly; as long as it has a sliver of strength left, it can still inflict fatal damage.
A cold wind swept across the empty snowfield, swirling up scattered snowflakes that landed between the two. The tiger's deep breathing grew weaker and weaker, its body trembling uncontrollably, yet its gaze remained fixed on Lu Heng, its inherent ferocity undiminished.
Lu Heng steadied his breathing and quietly waited for his opponent to completely lose the ability to move. This desperate battle in the snow outside the cave was finally coming to an end.