Failed Risk

Red blood-like fur, bloodshot crazy eyes, roughly around 28 inches in height and 44 inches long. 

With scary yellow fangs showing from its mouth and disgusting saliva drooling down its face as well as crazy bloodshot eyes. 

This was the description of the feral hound that had almost bit off Raze's head just moments earlier, if not for his quick reflexes. 

It was the same beast that he had seen getting ganged up and killed by the group of goblins when he first came onto this floor. 

The same monster was now eyeing Raze dangerously, wanting nothing more than to devour him alive. 

'That was close' Raze reprimanded himself. 

He had almost just died, despite doing his best to be as alert as possible. 

If not for the hound growling earlier, he would have died for sure. 

'I need to be more careful in the future. I'm not strong enough to be able to afford carelessness' 

Once he was done reflecting on his mistake earlier, he moved his attention towards the beast in front of him. 

The hound was certainly stronger than the average monster on this floor, but it wasn't something he couldn't deal with; after all, he had killed multiple of them already. 

The only thing he needed to do was backstep, take out his bow, and shoot.

Alternatively, he could also use his gate; now that he had gained some experience with it, he could use it considerably better than before. 

And yet he did neither of those, instead opting to take out his E-rank steel spear. 

That he had chosen for clearing up the first floor.

His reasoning was simple; he had already acknowledged that it wasn't possible for him to stick to solely being a long-range fighter like he originally wanted. 

The tower was deadly and unforgiving; those too rigid or inflexible to bend the way it wanted to adapt to whatever was thrown at them were the first ones to die. 

As for why he had chosen to try fighting close range now out of all times, it was pretty simple. 

He had already observed the surroundings as best he could in the few spare moments he had, and there didn't seem to be any other monster aside from this one feral hound nearby. 

Plus, he had observed this race of monsters quite a bit over the last day and had a pretty good grasp on their primitive and mad behaviour, lacking any sense of self or care for their surroundings. 

Not to mention the worst-case scenario, he still had his healing potion that he had bought; as long as he wasn't careless and didn't get fatally injured, he should be able to heal. 

Fear was still gripping his body as he felt his heart beat fasten for even taking such an unnecessary risk and risking dying just to gain some experience. 

Normally, he would have laughed at his current actions for choosing to do things the hard way when he had the easy way available to him.

It also didn't make much sense to Raze himself; just what had changed so much in him in just a day to make him take such risks? 

He truly didn't know, but what he did know was that he needed to clear the tower, and for that, he needed to be strong and flexible. 

Envisioning the future of him with his family and believing that he could make reality by just climbing this tower was all he needed to do to find the courage to move his paralysed body and face the abomination running his way. 

The hound was mere steps away from reaching him. 

Raze wanted to bend forward and stab the hound, but it was already too close for a mid-range weapon like a spear. 

So he did the next best thing and jumped sideways. 

An action that was made easier thanks to his improved strength and agility. 

His strength and agility were by no means superhuman, but they were much better than earlier. 

He could feel his body exhibiting physical ability far above anything he had felt before. 

Enough to dodge the leaping hound. 

Thanks to his timely sidestep, the hound missed its target and went further than it wanted, leaving it vulnerable for a strike from behind. 

An opportunity that wasn't missed by Raze, who gathered strength from his legs all the way to his arms and, with an arched back, extended his arm forward to stab the hound. 

The movement felt foreign and unfamiliar to him due to his lack of experience, but for his first attempt, it wasn't bad. 

Sadly, what the feral hound lacked intelligence was made up of naturally great instinct, which allowed it to dodge the stab by turning around horizontally, making it just far away to not get hit by the stab. 

Worst of all, the attack missing wasn't even the worst part, but rather the fact that it left Raze vulnerable for a moment. 

Something that the hound unfortunately didn't miss as it pounced on his arm and bit it. 

"Ahhhhh!" Raze screamed in pain, a kind of unfamiliar pain that he had never experienced before ,assaulted his senses, threatening to make him lose consciousness. 

Something that almost happened, but thankfully he managed to push through the pain, even if just for a moment with gritted teeth, and activated his gate. 

Utilising the extremely close range, he used the hound to his advantage to make for a nearly unstoppable attack as he launched an arrow through it at extremely rapid speed. 

The attack was completely unexpected by the hound and happened too fast for it to dodge, allowing it to bust his whole body apart. 

Making its blood and disgusting innards fly everywhere and paint Raze in them as well as cover him in disgusting stench. 

Yet Raze didn't care about any of this as the pain from his bitten hand continued, threatening to knock him out, and snot and tears leaked from his face. 

"It hurts so much," he cried out, wanting nothing more than to fall unconscious to escape the pain and rest even for a moment. 

But he simply couldn't. 

The wound was bleeding, and unless he could somehow dress the wound soon, he was going to die of blood loss. 

He had taken a risk, and it ended up blowing horribly in his face.