*huff huff*
'Dammit, I cannot believe I ended up falling in their trap.', a man with silver-colored hair, wearing a black robe ran as fast as he could.
There were exploding sounds that echoed throughout the forest.
Yes, the trees in the forest were catching fire rapidly. All he could do was run forward.
The man ran as fast as he could but unfortunately, he ended up tripping thanks to the root of a tree that was growing above the ground.
He was now covered in dirt. He wanted to stand and run again, but his legs barely had any strength.
'How could this happen?'
'How can I let this happen?', he kept on questioning himself.
His legs were badly hurt as there was an arrow pierced into his left leg. Despite that, he kept running.
Some poison needles pierced his arms which were making his arms immobile.
Nevertheless, he kept running because he wanted to stay alive.
He tried to stand up, but the poison had already made his body numb. He lacked strength right now.
'All my skills have been rendered useless…', he said to himself.
And just as he was thinking about his skills and whatnot, three people all of a sudden arrived in front of him.
Among the three, two were male and the other one was female. They all had some robe covering their faces and their bodies.
"Ha…"
"Brother, just look at the pitiful state you are in…", said the girl after removing her robe.
"I trusted you…"
"But you…"
"How could you stab in my back, sister?", he asked as he grit his teeth.
"Ha…"
"I would rather die than have a brother like you."
"Do you know, how many times I have been embarrassed since I was a child because of you?"
"All those anger piled up inside me and I became this way."
"It's all because of you, brother."
"Because of me?", the man asked in a low voice.
"Yes. And today, I will finally kill you and feel the joy of killing your own brother.", she smiled hysterically.
His back was against a tree and he was in a sitting position and they mocked him.
"Do-"
"Do you think I will let you all kill me?", he almost immediately stood up and jumped.
It was as if he gained strength from nowhere.
*tap tap*
He literally started walking on air.
"God Steps?"
"How the heck does he know God Steps?", the girl asked with surprise.
The other two men who were present there were the man's and the girl's cousins. They too had come to kill him but after seeing him perform high-level martial arts, they were utterly surprised.
He then started to throw daggers at them while he was walking on air. The three of them were able to dodge them easily.
They then started to throw poison needles yet again towards the man.
''Do you think the same trick will work on me twice?", the man raised his voice.
He used another skill. Suddenly, a golden shield, rectangular in shape, appeared in front of him out of nowhere.
"Ha!?"
"Spiritual Shield Summon?"
"How can he use that? Didn't he have low-level meridians?", one of the males asked.
All the darts just hit the shield and then fell down.
"Of course not. Do you think I don't know how smart you are?", the girl replied to his previous question.
She suddenly appeared behind him and kicked him as hard as she could.
*crack*
The kick was so hard that some of his backbones cracked.
He was thrown because of the heavy blow. He blasted right into many trees and then fell on the ground as all his strength left his body.
Now the paralyzing poison of the darts spread throughout his body due to which, he couldn't move a single finger.
But yes, he could still barely move his eyes and mumble.
The girl then walked towards him slowly. She took out two daggers from her belt around her waist and walked ahead.
'Damn…', that's all he could say as she walked forward when all of a sudden, a Lion appeared.
"That…"
The lion fired a beam from its mouth. The girl barely dodged it and then started to run. The other two did the same leaving the man behind.
"The beast will take care of him.", they said and left.
All of them were wearing black robes which got stuck on the trees as they ran for their lives.
The Lion, which had white fur and some scars on its body, walked forward.
It was gigantic, almost twice the height of an average man.
It approached the person who was lying on the ground with his eyes barely open because of the sun.
The sun was shining directly into his eyes but all of a sudden, a shadow fell on his face.
He opened his eyes completely only to find the Lion staring right into his eyes.
It then opened its mouth as it roared.
Then it placed its heavy paws right on his chest as its claws started to pierce him.
Perhaps, the Lion wanted to eat his heart.
'Ah…'
'So this is how I die?'
'By a beast?', the man was angry.
In that world, dying at the hands of their enemies was a blessing while dying by a beast was thought to be taboo. It was believed that the people killed by beasts would become a beast in their next life!
'God…'
'Why must you be so unfair?'
'Just when I found some good martial arts, you sent me to my death…'
'I will be killed by a beast, what is more, shameful than that?', tears fell from his eyes as he thought that.
He got even more infuriated.
'If I am reborn again, please turn me into a ferocious beast that will hunt other beasts and humans!', that's all he could wish for as the beast tore him apart and gobbled up his heart.
.
.
.
'Yes, that person was me…'
'A pathetic loser in a world filled with martial arts.'
'Just because I was born with an abnormal meridian, I wasn't able to cultivate.'
'At least, not until I found those martial art books that had been left in the library to rust.'
'But then, I was betrayed…'
'And then ultimately killed by a beast.'
'Even my last wish wasn't filled.'
'In fact, you made me born into a world filled with more beasts…'
'What do you want me to do? Hunt the beasts? You want to fulfil my wish in such a way?'
'Very well then, I will kill the beasts and use their powers to get stronger.', Leo thought as he clenched his fists.