Carnage

To Kyle, it almost looked like they had prepared the entire attack beforehand. However, when he heard a faint whimper next to him, he looked to his side.

Selene was terrified and her legs were shaking!

She had never witnessed an ambush and was scared witless due to the sudden attack.

Not only could they take their prey by surprise, but beasts were intelligent enough to do the same.

Kyle wasn't as scared as Selene as he felt that it was a common thing to occur in the wilderness.

Because of that, Kyle was able to stay relatively calm as he instructed her in a low whisper, "Calm down!"

Hearing his voice that was authoritative and forcefully suppressed to sound calm, helped Selene. It allowed her to take a deep breath before she unsheathed the ranked black steel dagger with her trembling hand.

There were only three vine lionesses in front of them and all of them were injured!

This indicated that they must have just been in a dangerous fight.

It was not difficult to assume that they were probably the same vine lionesses that had hunted the heavily injured bear earlier.

Unsurprisingly, Kyle's assumption hit the bulls-eye.

They had picked Selene and Kyle's scent earlier and followed them after the bear had been taken care of.

The bear had injured most vine lionesses before its death but hadn't been able to kill all of them.

In the end, the lionesses had to split their group, with the majority taking the bear carcass back to their cubs.

Unfortunately, the heavily injured vine lions were rendered incapable of fighting for several weeks. They had to recuperate from the wounds they had sustained while killing the bear.

As such, the vine lionesses with relatively fewer injuries had started another hunt and the weak bipedal humans were the perfect prey!

It didn't take them long to find Kyle and Selene, and they used the simplest tactic which they employed for every single ambush.

Forcing himself to not panic, Kyle saw three vine lions rushing towards them, while the Emerald fox that had absorbed the surrounding energies for the last few hours saw something from the corner of its eye.

It was a fourth vine lion slowly advancing through the bushes to attack them from behind!

Through the bond he had with the Emerald fox, Kyle received this crucial information without any delay.

He swiftly understood that the frontal attack was only a distraction and that the bigger danger was lurking behind their back.

Yet, instead of turning around to fight the vine lioness advancing behind them, Kyle tightly gripped the black steel machete and kept looking ahead.

Determination glimmered in his eyes, and the last traces of hesitation dispersed.

Taking a deep breath he rushed forward while telling Selene to follow him.

"It's now or never. Don't hesitate Selene! Follow me!"

It would take the vine lion behind them a few seconds to reach them.

As such, they would have to fend off the frontal attacks before that would happen.

Otherwise, Kyle and Selene would end up becoming their lunch along with the bear.

The Emerald fox merged with Kyle, so as to shield itself from any possible accidental injuries. Meanwhile, the fastest and least injured vine lioness had already appeared in front of him.

He was a little bit worried about his strength, but he hoped that wielding the ranked steel machete efficiently based on his knowledge of weapons would make up for that.

There was no other way to survive after all! It was either kill or die!

As such, instead of trying to deflect or evade the pouncing vine lioness, Kyle's eyes turned cold, as he took a large stride forward while bending his body forward.

His head was almost touching the ground, allowing him to emerge below the vine lioness.

With all his might, Kyle flipped around, twisting it at an uncomfortable angle while avoiding the razor-sharp claws of the lioness' hind legs.

At the same time, he swung the machete in his right hand, slicing through the beast's unguarded abdomen without any resistance.

A huge fountain of crimson-red blood splattered on Kyle's face followed by guts and innards. It spilled out of the wound, falling on Kyle who tried his best to avoid it. The lioness let out a pained roar as she tried to suddenly turn around but that only tore open the wound further.

The black steel machete was slick with a faint trail of blood running down its sharp edge. Meanwhile, Kyle lay on the ground without being able to hear anything else except his wild heartbeat.

His heart was thumping loudly and the deafening sound of his erratic heartbeat made adrenaline rush to his eyes and ears, sharpening his senses.

Despite being hyper-aware of every single thing going around him, he didn't feel any pain owing to the cut he seemed to have sustained when he had twisted his body at an uncomfortable angle.

Kyle knew that the fight was far from over, and he was unsure whether Selene was able to fend off two opponents by herself.

He was fortunate enough to take the first lioness by surprise because his strength had been underestimated.

This was unlikely to happen, again. Thus, Kyle jumped up from the wet soil after pushing away the lioness' body.

He barely avoided slipping on it as he saw that the vine lioness' soul had already detached itself from its dead physical body.

Noting that his first target was dead without a question, Kyle instinctively ignored the rest.

Turning towards Selene, he noticed that both the vine lionesses' were toying around with her.

Both the beasts were trying to tire her off first.

Despite being two against one, none of the vine lionesses dared to attack her directly.

They only tried to inflict small cuts, aimed to weaken Selene slowly.

At the same time, they maintained a certain distance from her while trying to instill fear in her heart.

After witnessing what Kyle's weapon had done to one of their own, they were being cautious.

Selene's weapon looked similar, and they didn't want to risk their lives.

However, when the vine lionesses sensed that Kyle was rushing towards Selene to support her they changed their tactic.

Pouncing at Selene with all their might, the vine lionesses left their defense unguarded in a haste to kill Selene at once.

The young Lohar, who had been scared to fight and kill other living beings earlier, felt the Grim reaper's scythe an inch away from digging into her neck.

Suddenly, her primal instincts took over, and she exerted her entire strength at once to push herself at the closest vine lioness.

She had already slashed out at Selene, only for its claw to hit nothing but empty air.

Selene seemed to have vanished from sight, only to reappear next to the vine lioness.

With all the energy and courage she could muster, Selene thrust the ranked black steel dagger into the lioness' side.

Her fingers were slick with sweat and she feared that she would drop the dagger.

As such, she tightened her hold over the hilt.

Gritting her teeth, Selene continued to push the black steel dagger deeper after it pierced into the flesh.

Her fingers were slick with sweat and blood but she maintained an iron grip on the dagger as even her fingers slithered inside the beast's body.

Selene was able to see the lioness' rib cage, in addition to a huge fountain of blood that painted her clothes and face red.

In addition to it, organs spilled out of the body, splashing on her face and clothes.

When Kyle saw this, he thought that she would probably scream in shock and disgust which worried him.

However, contrary to his expectations, she seemed eerily calm, as she turned around towards the second vine lioness that had attacked her.

Even though Selene's cultivation base had been stronger than Kyle's, her demeanor changed from a meek and timid Lohar to a ferocious beast in an instant.

Her behavior not only shocked Kyle but also the vine lioness that was still alive.

Yet, in order to survive, there were only two options left with the lioness; kill or retreat.

The second option was not feasible because that would mean her brethren had died in vain. The vine lioness' wild instincts screamed at her to attack Selene.

Kyle's eyes were trained on the scene in front of him as goosebumps sprang up all over his body.

He instinctively halted in his tracks, swiftly switching into a defensive stance as he turned around.

There, he saw the vine lioness that had been employed to attack from behind was almost upon them.

She ought to be much faster than the rest, and seemed to have accumulated more combat prowess than her brethren had, but advancing through the bushes took her too long.

After taking a deep breath and failing to stifle the growing frustration, Kyle could barely retain calm as the adrenaline in his body erupted once again.

"Can I have my peace?"