Revenge!

With anger blazing in his heart, Luke turned to the corpse 

"Sad to see so much meat go to waste," He shook his head while letting out a disappointed sigh.

Although he would be able to carve out the meat from the corpse, he didn't know how to make fire.

Yes, you heard that right.

It sounded absurd that Luke didn't know how to make fire, especially since he came from a village, but in his defense, he came from the Nexeria empire and even a small village like his was advanced to a certain extent.

Also, lighting a fire in a forest filled with beasts of all kinds was not advisable.

"I wonder what raw flesh tastes like," Luke said thoughtfully as he began considering his options, especially since he knew his blood took care of the bacteria that came with the raw flesh. 

Quickly, he reined his thoughts and shifted his attention to the skull of the corpse. The horns of the deceased Antlertaur were his main focus now, and quickly he noticed that one had cracked at the stem during the collision.

"Thank the heavens!" Luke exclaimed with a bright smile on his face.

While he didn't voice out his worries initially, Luke was unsure of how to get the bones of the beast, since breaking something that could withstand those clashes was impossible for him at his current level.

Luke took his time to observe the cracks first, and occasionally he tugged the horn to understand its loose points. After completing his investigation, he found the best position and planted himself there.

Placing his foot on the skull of the corpse, Luke grabbed the horn with both hands and began to pull with all the strength he could muster.

His muscles began bulging and veins began popping up around his hands, while his face turned red. Luke held his breath while he kicked against the head in an attempt to break the horn out of its already damaged stem.

Snap!

The horn broke off, but Luke staggered back due to the force and fell on his butt.

"Finally!" He exclaimed with a smile on his face.

For a moment, he had thought he wouldn't be able to get the horn, even after putting in so much effort.

He rose to his feet and held up the weapon in his hands as he observed it. The tip was razor sharp, good for stabbing and cutting, while the partially curved nature of the horn made gripping it excellent.

With this, he now had greater confidence in facing the horrors of the night.

After confirming that everything was okay, Luke quickly put everything aside as he remembered the dangers of lingering around a corpse. Without hesitation, he left the area and continued scouting a bit more before settling at the top of a tree.

Unfortunately, after he dedicated close to an hour or more of scouting, he still couldn't find any beast or fruit. The two good things about the situation were that he had a new weapon, and he hadn't sustained any injury that would require his body to consume his already lacking nutrients to heal.

With nothing to do, Luke remained on the tree and tried not to think of his past as much as possible. Everything reminded him of his family and friends in the village, which made the faces of those he lost that day flash across his eyes, but Luke tried his best to push these thoughts out of his mind.

The only thought that was less painful was his possible future and the journey ahead. However, this was something he didn't want to think about.

Luke sat in silence on the tree branch for an unknown amount of time, and only moved when he realized that the night had come. This meant it was time for him to hunt for food.

The good thing about Luke's hiding place was that it was around the path the Anterlaur beast followed.

Yes, he was planning to kill it!

'If I can't exert revenge on a beast, how do I plan on taking down an empire?' Luke said to himself.

The only thing that could foil his revenge now was if the beast went to a different part of the forest. 

Without hesitation, Luke stealthily descended the tree and quickly made his way into the thick bushes. Using the bushes as cover, he crawled to the left and moved until he found a perfect spot along the path of the beast and waited.

While waiting, Luke was on high alert, as these were the most dangerous hours of the forest. His adrenaline was pumping, and his body gave him the last stored energy for him to procure food or die.

For over thirty minutes, Luke lay in the bush like a statue as he waited for his target. Finally, he began to hear the heavy footsteps of the Anterlaur as it approached the area.

 'Finally!' Luke's eyes lit up with determination and excitement. 

With his hope rekindled, Luke decided to wait patiently for the Anterlaur to follow this path once again, but it was at that moment that he felt something was wrong.

His body stiffened, and the hair on his body stood as his instincts screamed at him. He slowly turned to the right and saw the head of a black snake.

Shit!

Only now did he realize he had been so focused on the arrival of the Anterlaur that he failed to notice the arrival of the snake. 

A brief moment of distraction had put him in a very dangerous position!

To make matters worse, this happened when the Anterlaur had reached them. Any loud, noisy reaction from him or the snake would draw its attention, and this would ruin the advantage he had over the beast.

Beads of sweat ran down Luke's face as his mind raced, and he wondered what to do next. He couldn't help but curse silently as he and the serpent stared at each other with silent animosity.

However, Luke noticed something interesting. It turned out that even the snake didn't dare move due to its fear of alerting the Anterlaur!

In reality, he and the serpent were prey in the eyes of the mighty beast.

While this was good news, Luke also acknowledged the fact that the snake was in a more advantageous position. While it was in a position to strike, he laid on his belly.

Luke was certain that once the Anterlaur moved out of range, the serpent would lunge at him, leaving him with little or no time to react.