Silence—a small word to say.
An effortless thing to do.
Yet, it is the most challenging when you are standing before a giant filled with all biological senses imaginable.
Even a step could be heard by those fan-like elephant ears, so giant that they filled half of its body, soft like a curtain, hearing even the slightest movement of silent clouds.
A slight intensity of focus could be felt by its rat-like skin, so disgusting that it makes one puke just by seeing it, and so sensitive—like thousands of people actually standing with spears, their heads pointed toward the heavens on guard.
Those eyes: seemingly ordinary eyes were shining unusually. Although unknown in nature as to what their ability was, they were most likely the eyes of a strange being, capable of some earth-shattering feat.
And to top all that off, the sixth sense of a tiger was just the icing on the cake.
Sensed just because you thought?
Sensed because you just looked?
Sensed just because you breathed?
YES!
It was this exact situation Dreleon found himself trapped in.
With the Origin Comprehension Realm as its foundation, it was inevitably the most dangerous creature of this hunt—an artificial, ultimate biological sensor.
With it, any strategy becomes feasible, and any location is guaranteed a hundred percent protection.
In such a situation, only someone like Dreleon, with his space ability and mastery over concealment, could even think of spying.
But even he was pressed into a corner, barely able to catch a slight glimpse before disappearing.
It was a situation where even he could think of nothing.
'What to do? The Cave of the Weeping Slit is my mission. If I fail, it means the princess faction is weak and unable to handle tasks, so retreat is not an option. But how do I break through? Hmmm... Let's settle my thoughts first,' Dreleon thought as he moved through the domain outside the perimeter of the Weeping Slit, covering his tracks and watching for danger.
'First, that creature is not unkillable. It's weak—so weak that I can easily kill it even at a lower level. But the problem is... I don't know this creature's exact purpose.
If it's just a radar to spot enemies and act as bait, then even after killing it, it's only a matter of time before I die. AND if it's alone, then indeed it's an opportunity.
But precisely because there's an "if," THERE'S a chance to lose it all. And I am not one of those low-class gambling idiots who hunt on luck instead of instinct and planning.
A TRUE LION HUNTS WITH SURETY AND DETERMINATION TO EAT, NOT FOR FUN.'
'Then I should test it first. But how?
Considering it's a living biological being, it must love food. And the best strategy to lure an idiot carnivorous animal? I know it best.
Hmmm... Let's irritate it with rocks, spread some meat along the way, and lure it into a pit. Trap it! Then kill it!'
He thought as he began to move again, searching for a high summit where he could see everything—from firing rocks to luring it into the pit, controlling the entire pace of battle at his disposal. That was impossible without a vantage point where he could oversee the terrain.
After searching and failing to find such a summit, he used his space powers to raise the earth and steady the rocks.
In just a minute, a summit was ready—complete with a chair and table to eat so he could enjoy the show.
Sitting on the stone chair, he slowly moved his fingers left and right as rocks as big as an average human flew into the air. In a flash, traveling dozens of meters, they arrived in the range of the Weeping Slit.
ROAR!
A fearsome roar resounded and everything went silent.
Afterwards, bats flew in every direction. The blast of sound tore through the quiet air, shaking the dust off the elevated earth Dreleon had just created.
...Just one second before...
The giant beast had shifted instantly toward the incoming projectiles. Those massive, curtain-like ears twitched, locking onto the displacement of air before the stones could even hit the cavern floor.
Crack!
With a brutal display of biological force, the giant reached out, its rat-like skin bristling as its immense hand intercepted the flying boulders in mid-air, pulverizing them into cloud-like powder with raw physical strength.
IT ROARED at the direction the stones came from! This brief battle of wits happened in a single second, forcing two apex predators to finally get serious.
The giant beast growled again, this time slowly. Its strange, glowing eyes swept across the terrain, hunting for the source of the impact.
Dreleon leaned back in his stone chair, popping a small piece of dried meat into his mouth as his fingers twitched again.
'The hunt begins,' Dreleon thought, his eyes sharp behind his calm expression. 'Its reaction time is instantaneous, but it operates entirely on immediate sensory aggression. It doesn't think—it simply reacts to threats.'
Controlling his spatial fields to completely suppress the scent and sound of his food, Dreleon raised a second finger.
From a nearby shadow, a freshly killed boar-like beast—one he had quietly slain moments prior—was dragged across the stone floor by invisible spatial forces, leaving a heavy trail of rich, iron-scented blood directly toward a deep natural fissure in the earth.
He had spotted this fissure while searching for the summit, making the search well worth the effort.
The giant stopped.
Its elephant ears flared, catching the distant drag of meat.
Its rat-like skin quivered as the heavy scent of raw blood hit its nasal passages.
The creature's primal hunger instantly warred with its duty as a biological radar.
With a low, guttural growl, the beast took a heavy, deliberate step toward the trap—completely unaware of the fate that awaited it.
[AUTHOR'S NOTE
Ahem!
I am a bit embarrassed, but to all my readers: it was my mistake to step away from this work. Due to various circumstances, I haven't been able to uphold my promises. But as true as that is, it is equally true that I just can't bring myself to leave this wonderful journey behind. Believe it or not, even when I struggle to write, I find myself losing sleep thinking about this story.
Moving forward, I am using AI to help correct grammar mistakes. When I get swept up in the flow of writing, I tend to make errors, so this helps me keep things smooth. If you spot anything amiss or out of place, please let me know so I can continue to learn and broaden my horizons!]
...Thank you so much to everyone who is here reading!