Red picked up his pace when the realization struck him. He tried to climb the tree to see what kind of prey he could hunt, but he didn't really find anything, even after half an hour of walking from the tribe.
He figured it out that it might be because he stayed on the dirt path inside instead of going into the deep forest. That made sense since the beast and animal figured it out a long ago that they would be hunted if they got close to the dirt path.
That was just his guess since he could not find anything he could hunt. He actually didn't know if the beast or animal was smart enough to figure it out. That was just a wild guest, but if they were as smart as the other kids, they should figure it out. Those kids knew when to back down after the beating, after all.
Red shook his head, telling himself to focus as he continued to follow the path from the side. It was fortunate that the tree was big. That made it easy to climb.
Every twenty trees, he would climb the tree to check the surroundings, trying to find his first prey. He kept doing that until he passed a hundred trees.
Red was standing on top of the tree, looking around hopefully. He was relieved that he didn't encounter the other kids, but at the same time, it frustrated him that he could not find a single prey. On top of that, he felt like he had gone too far already from the tribe.
He was afraid that it would be more dangerous the further he went from the tribe. That was when he set his gaze on the deep jungle instead of following the path. The thought of leaving the path crossed his mind several times, but he didn't dare to take the risk.
Not because he was afraid of the dangerous beast, but because he was not familiar with the place. The only way for him to know where the tribe was was that dirt path. If he strayed from the dirt path, he might get lost in the woods. The idea of spending overnight in the woods was daunting. Especially when he knew nothing about what kind of creatures inhabited this jungle.
Red let out a sigh and was about to go down, but before he could climb down. He heard a movement, rustling leaves from behind. He turned his head and saw a creature pouncing at him.
His reaction was to swing his spear. Yep, he tried to swing it instead of stabbing it against this creature, but the creature was too fast, and his reaction was a bit too slow. The creature stroked its chest with its paws, pushing him off from the thick branch.
Red's reaction was to let his spear go and grab the branch. His nail dug through the branch, slowing him down from falling free. He used his raw power to hold on to the branch, and he managed to hang on to the branch as his spear fell to the ground.
The spear fell horizontally, and it landed on the sticking root, right at the center of the shaft. That broke the shaft. That was how high he was, and if he didn't hold on to the branch, he would fall with worse positioning. He might break his legs or even his back. If he were unlucky, he would hit his head first and die.
He glanced at where the creature had attacked him. It was standing five meters away from where he was hanging, looking down at him with its brown eyes.
He finally got a clear look at the creature. The creature was small, around sixty centimeters long and around twenty-five centimeters tall. He recognized this small creature as the warrior of the tribe and brought it back a few times.
The warrior gave it a nickname, a nasty feline, and the creature's name was Marget. The Matrons like this creature very much, not because of the taste, but because of its beautiful fur. The coat was yellowish with dark spots and strips across the body.
He overheard the warrior talking about this nasty creature. Marget was fast and agile, and it could move between trees without making a big noise. It was territorial and aggressive, but it never attacked head-on. It always lurked in the dark and tried to ambush the invader.
That was the information he had about this creature. The time he spent lurking around to hear and watch the warrior paid off right now.
Red noticed the Marget pounced at him, aiming his hand. It was quite smart to attack his hand instead of his head. If it attacked his head, he would bring it down with him. He didn't have the intention to climb back to the branch as he released his grip on the branch.
He let himself fall, but he was prepared this time. He landed on his feet, but the momentum was strong, and the uneven ground caused him to lose his balance as he flopped down on his butts. That was hurt, but he was glad that he didn't get hurt.
Red looked up, trying to see where the creature was. That was when he noticed the Marget was running down from the tree with its head first.
He scrambled around, looking for his spear. His spear broke into two, and the part that was in his reach was the part with no spearhead. It was just a short stick, but it was better than nothing.
He grabbed the short stick and stood up in the direction of the tree he had fallen from. As he predicted, the Marget was already in the air, pouncing at his face this time. He was prepared this time as he swung his stick at the nasty feline that was still in the air.
It was almost impossible for it to dodge the incoming speed. The stick hit the side of Marget's head and flung it to the side, hitting the bumpy root. It tried to get back on its feet, but it tottered to the side and fell again.
Red planned to look for the other part of the spear, but, looking at Marget's condition. He didn't hesitate to leap and smash Marget's head. Not just one, he kept smashing the head without checking whether it was still alive or not.
If not for the stick breaking apart, he might keep smashing Marget's head. Its head turned into a bloody pulp without him realizing it. He took a deep breath, trying to calm down from the high-adrenaline situation. The realization that he killed the creature crashing into him brought his rationality back, and his legs went weak at the same time.
Red fell on his butts, breathing heavily despite his attempt to calm down. He could hear his own heartbeat, and it was still beating hard. His eyes locked on the marget's corpse. For some reason, he was still on high alert, afraid that the creature might still be alive even though it no longer had a head. He was still holding the broken stick, ready to move anytime if that thing moved.
It took him a few minutes to calm down. He was sure that the creature was dead right now. He was about to get up, afraid that there might be more of Marget, until he noticed the small blue screen at the corner of his eyes. He tapped it, and the blue screen enlarged.
[Do you wish to keep the marget's carcass, or do you want to exchange it for loot?]