My right leg was a complete disaster, but I didn't have the luxury of calling for a timeout. The two hyenas circling me were getting smarter, darting in for quick nips every time I tried to shift my weight. I could feel the hot blood matting my fur.
"System, dump the remaining 15 Gene Points into stats. Give me +8 Strength and +7 Constitution. Now!"
---
[Ding! Exchange complete. Strength and Constitution attributes increased.]
[Warning: Based on your current developmental stage, Strength and Constitution have reached their peak. Further increases require entering the next growth phase.]
---
Peak? Next stage? I didn't have time to process the system's confusion notification because the two bone-crushers lunged again, one from the left and one from the right.
"Ah-hoo! Ah-hoo!"
They timed it perfectly. If I swung at one, the other would sink its teeth into my side.
Rip!
A sharp pain flared in my flank as one of them caught me. Blood sprayed across the grass.
"Alright, that's it. If I keep playing defense, I'm going to end up as a jigsaw puzzle."
I locked eyes with the hyena on my right. If I was going to take one of them down, I had to be willing to take a hit. In the modern world, this was a suicide play.Out here, it was the only way to win.
"ROAR!!"
I stopped sitting. I ignored the screaming agony in my leg and launched my entire 60kg frame forward like a furry missile. The hyena didn't expect a crippled snack to go on the offensive. I slammed into him, the impact sending us both tumbling into the dirt.
"Gotcha, you ugly prick."
Before he could scramble away, I opened my jaws. My saber teeth—long, curved, and built for one thing—slammed into his neck.
SHRRRK!!
I felt the teeth puncture the muscle and slide deep into his throat. He went into a frantic, violent thrash, trying to shake me off. I was tossed around like a ragdoll, my head slamming against the ground, but I didn't let go. I clamped down harder, my fangs sinking through the windpipe and into the carotid artery.
The second hyena saw me pinned and dove in, tearing at my back and legs.
Pain flooded my brain, but I tuned it out. If I let go now, I was dead. I kept my weight on the first one, feeling his life force drain out in hot, rhythmic pulses of blood.
CRACK.
The second hyena clamped onto my already-injured right hind leg and squeezed. I heard the bone snap. It was a clean, sickening sound that made my vision go white.
But instead of making me quit, the pain just flipped a switch in my head. The human part of me went quiet, and the Smilodon took over. I was in a state of pure, murderous frenzy.
The first hyena finally stopped twitching. His eyes went dull, and he slumped into the mud.
"ROAR—!"
I spun around, my fur soaked in blood—most of it mine—and glared at the second hyena.
The mangy scavenger froze. He looked at his dead partner, then at me. I was standing on three legs, dripping gore, with two white sabers still leaking red. I probably looked like a nightmare that had crawled out of the coldest part of the Ice Age.
"Ah-hoo...?"
He started backstepping, his tail tucked between his legs. He wanted to run, but he was trapped. In a hyena pack, if you desert the fight without the Queen's permission, the pack kills you anyway. He was stuck between a literal monster and a death sentence from his own kind.
I didn't give him a choice.
I ignored the fact that my back leg was dangling and lunged again. I didn't even use my teeth this time. I used my head. I slammed my forehead into his face with a sickening thud, the force of the headbutt sending him sliding across the dirt in a cloud of dust.
I crawled on top of him before he could clear his head. I was a 60kg meat-grinder. I hammered his face with my paws, my claws shredding skin and muscle until there wasn't a recognizable feature left on his head.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Each hit drove his skull deeper into the soft earth. A few more strikes and the struggling stopped.
I stood there, breathing in ragged, bloody gasps. Two hyenas were dead at my feet. I was shredded, one leg was snapped, and I was pretty sure I was going to pass out, but I was the only one still standing in this corner of the field.
I looked at the rest of the pack. "Who's next?" ---