Chapter 1: The Sorrowful Coming of Age Ceremony

  "Take a deep breath," I slowed down my breathing, staring intently at the empty space in front of me, my palm gripping the bow was wet with sweat, the prey that had been pursued for two days was about to appear, and I must seize this fleeting opportunity.

  "A faint rustling sound came from a nearby thicket, so slight that it was almost inaudible. But it didn't escape my ears, which had been honed by years of hunting. Here it comes! I raised my bow and arrow, aiming at the direction where the prey might appear, my eyes fixed intently without blinking."

  Slowly, a pitch-black animal emerged from the bushes, revealing its figure. It was a tall black wolf, with a body as high as half a person's, covered in various scars, some from claw and tooth wounds, others from knife and arrow marks. This was a ferocious beast that had survived countless life-and-death battles. Just looking at its long, sharp claws on its feet was enough to tear through the leather armor worn by hunters, while the fangs exposed at the corner of its mouth could quickly snap an opponent's throat.

  Without a moment's hesitation, I loosened my grip and the arrow that had been waiting to be released shot towards its target. True to form as a beast living in danger for a long time, it quickly pounced forward, avoiding possible attacks. But my archery skills were unmatched throughout the Night Clan, having already calculated its trajectory, the arrow shot out twisted in mid-air, spinning and piercing fiercely into the black wolf's powerful left hind leg, tearing through the muscles inside.

  With a pained howl, it immediately discovered me, the human who had brought it immense pain. Despite its reduced stature due to its leg injury, it still charged towards me with incredible speed.

  At the moment of life and death, I put down my bow and arrow, drew out my waist knife, slightly bent my body, and stared at this beast that had fallen into a mad rage due to severe pain. Its speed was very fast, and it crossed the distance of over ten meters in an instant. Suddenly, it lowered its head, pushed off the ground with its powerful limbs, and then pounced on me like an arrow leaving the bowstring.

  At this moment, my body lightly leaped to one side, and then forcefully twisted my waist and abdomen, bringing the curved knife in my hand to slash upwards from below like a flash of lightning, fiercely cutting open the black wolf's waist and abdomen that was exposed in mid-air due to missing its target. Fresh blood and internal organs flowed out from the opened wound on its belly, and it lost strength, falling headfirst to the ground, struggling and convulsing for a while before becoming silent.

  Looking at the prey that had lost its life under my feet, I felt a sense of relief. This damned wolf, which had been playing hide-and-seek with me in the forest for days, was incredibly cunning and always managed to avoid any trap as if it had foreseen the danger. It even tried to ambush me twice. Later, after carefully observing its habits, I lay in wait at a place where it often passed by, and finally killed it with one shot. Haha, now I can show off again in front of the villagers! With a happy heart, I carried the heavy prey back to the village.

  My name is Viter, and I am a nocturnal person living in the Lost Forest. The Lost Forest is located in the northeast of Mosan, near the Corridor of Returning Winds. The forest stretches for nearly a thousand miles, with towering trees covering the entire area. Although our people have lived here for generations, we still can't fully understand the forest's landscape because it's filled with ferocious beasts. The deeper you go into the forest, the more terrifying the creatures become. After countless lives were lost in exploring this forest, no one dares to venture near its depths unless absolutely necessary.

  This time I came out hunting to complete my coming-of-age ceremony, the night clan's coming-of-age ceremony is to personally hunt a wild beast to prove that one has become a qualified hunter. In fact, hunting is not difficult at all, as an orphan who lost both parents, I started living on my own from a young age, but this time I wanted to hunt something that would make others look up to me, so I set my sights on this ferocious and cruel black wolf.

  This time in order to hunt it down, I chased it deeper into the forest. Fortunately, I didn't encounter any ferocious beasts, but on my way back, I still need to be careful.

  After walking for an entire afternoon, I finally arrived at the village at dusk. I deliberately held up the black wolf's corpse high and walked proudly towards the village chief's house, hoping that Aili could see the prey I had hunted down.

  Aile is the granddaughter of the village head, and also the most beautiful girl in our Ahate Village. Unlike other night tribe girls who are bold and forthright, Aile is a gentle soul, always speaking with such consideration and kindness that she touches people's hearts, even someone like me who rarely talks to her can't help but fall for her. However, I'm a rather introverted person, unable to express my feelings proactively, so all I can do is gaze at her from afar, quietly paying attention to her every move.

  I've had a secret crush on her for many years, and this time I finally made up my mind to confess to her after the coming-of-age ceremony, so I decided to hunt down the best prey to boost my confidence.

  With a mix of joyful and slightly nervous emotions, I walked to the village chief's house, only to find that there seemed to be some kind of celebration going on here. People were coming in and out constantly, everyone with a happy expression. I felt very curious, what was today's big day? I hastily asked Mama Mamo who had just come out from inside: "Auntie, is there something celebratory at the village chief's house?"

  "What? You don't know, do you? Today, our village's most beautiful flower, Aili, is going to marry the son of the head of the eastern village of Kaluo, Nande. Hehe, these two people are truly the happiest people today, and we're just here to congratulate her. Oh my god! You're carrying the infamous ferocious beast Black Wolf, aren't you?" The first half of what Mama Mamo said was like a hammer hitting my heart.

  "Oh" Now my mind is a complete blank, Mammy Mamo is still chattering non-stop, but I seem to have stopped listening, and even I don't know what I'm saying.

  It's all over, the romance I had been longing for was ruthlessly crushed by reality. She is going to be someone else's bride soon. Do I still want to see her? I smiled wryly to myself, what's the point of seeing her again? It's better to leave alone, at least I won't lose face in front of her.

  My rationality took control of my thoughts, suppressing the pain brought by Mili's marriage. I was amazed that Mammo was still there, surrounding the black wolf corpse. "Mammo, please take this to Aili, it's a gift for her wedding, hunted with my own hands," I said, leaving the prey behind and turning away, not daring to look back at the house that used to be my ultimate goal.

  Unconsciously, I left the village and wandered aimlessly in the woods, recalling Aileen's smiles and words, and all that we had done together over the years. It was strange that except for the initial pain when I first heard the news, I didn't feel any more sorrow now. For the first time, I began to resent my own overly strong willpower, wishing I could cry, but no matter what, I couldn't bring myself to tears, not even when my parents died of plague that year.

  Suddenly, I was forced to stop my contemplation because the wild beast in front of me emitted a strong killing aura. A sense of danger surged up in my heart, and before I knew it, I had already arrived at the depths of the Labyrinth Forest.

  Things are getting complicated now, I thought, looking at this towering beast growling in front of me.

  This is a gaur, and it's the most dangerous animal I've ever encountered. Although it's called a gaur because of its sharp teeth protruding from its mouth, its most lethal feature is actually its rock-hard skull and the tremendous impact force it can generate when running. I once saw this beast hunting, and it was killing a tiger that was not weak in strength. The tiger was knocked flying by the gaur's hard forehead and couldn't get up again after falling to the ground, eventually becoming the gaur's food under its sharp teeth. Luckily, it didn't notice me at the time, or I would have been dead long ago.

  The snarling beast in front of me didn't just pass by as I had hoped, but instead its ferocious eyes were fixed tightly on me, the saliva dripping from the corner of its mouth revealing its hunger, and its food was me.

  "It seems like I can't avoid it after all, then come on, let's see who dies!" Having just gone through a breakup, my mood was terrible. Since I couldn't avoid it anyway, I might as well go all out and at least have a glimmer of hope.

  Took off the bow from my back, aimed at the beast in front of me, quickly analyzing its weaknesses in my mind. Head? No good, that place is as hard as rock. Body? Not possible either, that thick skin armor, even if the arrowhead can penetrate about an inch, it won't cause much harm. Limbs? Looking at those and the body's same skin quality, I know they must be very hard too. Suddenly, I noticed its pair of big, staring eyes, heh heh, shoot them blind and see how fierce you still are!

  I sensed the beast's fighting spirit in front of me, and its ferocity was triggered. It let out a shocking roar and suddenly charged towards me with all four limbs. If it had hit me this time, I probably wouldn't have had a single intact bone left on my body. Just as the beast was about to collide with me, I quickly rolled to the side of the ground, barely avoiding it by a hair's breadth. The large tree behind me wasn't so lucky, and with a loud crash, the tree that two people could wrap their arms around was snapped in half by its charge. It left me feeling terrified.

  Before it could turn around, I swiftly shot the arrow in my hand. Indeed, its body was like wearing a thick armor, and the strong arrow only pierced through the thick skin on its body and lost its power, without causing any harm to it. However, this enraged it, and with a loud roar, it charged at me again.

  At this time, standing still would be truly asking for death. I opened my legs and ran away desperately. Fortunately, years of training had not weakened my leg strength, and after running, the beast was unable to catch up for a while.

  Listening to the huge gasps behind me and the vibrations of the ground as heavy objects ran, I didn't dare stop for a moment, gradually running deeper into the depths of the labyrinthine forest.

  As I ran, I was desperately thinking of a way to escape. Suddenly, in front of me, not far away, were two large trees growing side by side, the distance between them just enough for me to squeeze through. This was an opportunity. I accelerated my speed and rushed through the gap between the two trees. Immediately after, a loud roar echoed from behind, the furious howl of the beast resounded throughout the forest. Turning back to look, as I had expected, its head had just squeezed into the gap between the two trees, and the powerful impact was simultaneously absorbed by the two large trees, which did not break at that moment. As a result, its massive body was stuck there, unable to move for the time being.

  I won't hesitate at such a good opportunity, and I shot an arrow at its left eye, while drawing out another arrow to shoot at its right eye. My archery skills are divine, and the first arrow instantly shot into its left eyeball. The severe pain in its left eye made the beast let out a miserable howl, and it somehow managed to summon the strength to swing its body, actually snapping two trees in half. The second arrow missed its target due to this, shooting onto its head, but only bounced off less than half an inch away - truly worthy of being compared to the hardness of rock.

  But there was no time to lament, its remaining right eye stared at me crazily, with a ferocious expression that seemed determined to tear me to pieces. What else could I do? Run! I ran again. But this time, the enraged beast seemed to have completely unleashed its inner strength, and its speed was much faster than before. In just a short while, it caught up with me.

  Damn it, I'm done for! Turning back to look at the beast just a few feet behind me, I could feel its heavy breathing on my back. It's clear that this bloodthirsty creature is about to catch up with me. I felt a sense of despair in my heart, but then a strong will to survive surged out: Screw it! My beloved woman just got married, and now you're coming after me? Even if I die, I'll take you down with me!

  As a strong desire to survive emerged, a way to escape from death floated in my mind. Actually, I had just thought of it, but at that time it wasn't as dangerous as now, so I didn't need to use it. But now I have no choice but to take the risk.

  While running, I suddenly jumped up, trying to shrink my body, and did a backflip. My falling body violently collided with the Galetooth Beast that was rushing past behind me.

  "Ah!" A miserable groan escaped me, and I felt as if my internal organs had been turned upside down. I was so distressed that I wanted to vomit blood, and my mind was momentarily dazed.

  It wasn't until I came to my senses that I realized I was tightly stuck to the body of the beast, with both hands and feet clamped onto its torso. This was the only reason I hadn't been thrown off. After checking my body, I let out a sigh of relief. The force of my forward dash had cancelled out most of the beast's impact, and since I hadn't collided head-on with it, apart from one broken rib, there were no major injuries.

  Although my ribs hurt, I had to endure it for now. The beast sensed that I was on its back and ran even more wildly, dashing left and right, tossing me around so much that I almost fell off. Enduring the intense pain, I drew out my curved knife and slashed at its body with all my might, one slash after another, each time striking the same spot. Its thick skin was cut open by me, revealing the bright red muscles underneath, as blood continuously splattered out from the wound. The beast let out an even more mournful cry, wildly crashing into the surrounding trees, tree after tree being destroyed under its rampage, but still unable to stop me from desperately slashing at its wounds.

  I don't know how long I had been unconscious, but I was still clinging to the back of the beast with a stubborn will. Suddenly, I felt a jolt beneath me, and my body lost its balance. With a thud, I fell to the ground. "This is it," was my first thought after being shaken awake. My entire body ached with weakness, and my hands and feet had lost all feeling. If the beast were to make just one more move, I would be saying goodbye to this world.

  But to my surprise, after waiting for a long time, I didn't hear any movement from the beast. With great effort, I opened my eyes and looked to the side, only to see its massive body lying motionless beside me. When I saw its body, I finally understood what had happened. On its right abdomen, there was a huge wound, so deep that I could see the bones, and its intestines were pulled out of the wound, trailing behind it in a long string. There was no more blood flowing from the wound, apparently because in my unconscious frenzy, I had hacked out all its internal organs, and finally, it had bled to death. Haha, I laughed triumphantly in my heart, if you want my life, then give up your own first, my life and death are mine to control.

  After resting for half a day, I finally regained some strength and struggled to get up with the help of my curved knife. Damn it, the intense pain in my chest told me that not only had I broken one rib, but this stupid beast had also left me with a body full of injuries. The more I thought about it, the angrier I became - if my body wasn't really hurting too much to move vigorously, I would have loved to give its corpse a good flogging.

  "Ahhh..." A sharp, ear-piercing howl brought me back from my daze. Right, I'm now deep in the Labyrinthine Forest. The wild beasts here are unseen by humans. In the past, a large group of nocturnal people came to explore, but not one person returned, it's clear that this place is fraught with danger.