David stood motionless in the clearing, forcing himself to slow his breathing as he reassessed the boar before him.
Each breath felt heavy, dragged deep from his chest.
The air scraped faintly against his throat, carrying with it the metallic scent of blood and disturbed earth.
Sweat soaked his clothes and clung uncomfortably to his skin, cooling in the open air. His heartbeat thudded steadily in his ears—strong, but strained.
Pain surged relentlessly from his left shoulder.
Earlier, during the clash, the joint had been violently torn from its socket.
The memory was still vivid: the sudden loss of strength, the sharp tearing sensation that had nearly overwhelmed his senses.
He had clenched his teeth until they ached, suppressing the pain through sheer will, and forced the shoulder back into place with his own hands.
It had gone back in.
But that did not mean it was healed.
A deep, aching soreness radiated down his arm, pulsing with every heartbeat.
The shoulder felt loose, unstable, as though one wrong movement could dislocate it again.
He could barely lift the arm, much less fight with it.
Even keeping it close to his body sent waves of pain rolling through him.
A prolonged battle would only worsen his condition.
The boar stood several meters away, massive and oppressive.
Its hulking form dominated the clearing, thick hide layered like natural armor.
Aside from the blood around its head, most of its body remained intact, barely showing signs of serious injury.
David knew exactly why.
He had already tested it.
Attacking the boar's flanks, legs, or back was pointless.
Those parts were absurdly tough, far beyond what they appeared.
Even when he reinforced his strikes with qi, the impact felt dull, as though he were striking solid rock.
To seriously injure those areas would require countless blows, enormous time, and a frightening amount of qi.
Time he didn't have.
Qi he couldn't afford to waste.
If the battle dragged on like that, exhaustion would claim him long before the boar fell.
Only one place was different.
The head.
The boar's head possessed higher defense, but it was not invincible.
He had felt it before—felt his strikes connect, seen blood spill. That meant it could be broken.
And the eyes—
I have to target its eyes.
His mother's voice echoed clearly in his mind, steady and unwavering, as if she were standing beside him.
Offense is the best defense.
Those words were not empty philosophy.
They were born from countless hunts, countless moments where hesitation would have meant death.
Anna had survived in this harsh world by seizing initiative, by striking decisively before danger could overwhelm her.
David felt his chest tighten.
He could not fail.
Not now. Not when his body was already pushed to its limit.
The boar had changed.
After hearing Anna's sudden shout earlier, its blind rage had cooled into something sharper and caution.
It no longer charged recklessly. Instead, it circled David from a distance, heavy hooves pressing deep into the earth with each step.
Its head remained low, tusks angled forward, both eyes fixed firmly on him.
Watching.
Waiting.
David subtly adjusted his stance, shifting his weight toward his right side. His left arm stayed close to his body, fingers twitching faintly as pain flared again.
Sweat dripped into his eyes, but he did not blink.
His focus sharpened instead.
What went wrong last time?
The failed attempt replayed clearly in his mind.
I visualized it like Death Consumption… focusing on my physique, pulling qi inward.
That approach worked for strengthening the body.
But Void Step was not a body technique.
That was the fundamental mistake.
Void Step concerned space itself.
The ancient man's voice surfaced again in his mind, calm and distant, yet impossibly clear.
"Void Step is will through emptiness."
"Visualize not the step, but the arrival."
"Contract space with intent."
David slowly exhaled.
He suppressed the pain in his shoulder and let everything else fade away.
This time, he did not imagine speed.
He did not imagine movement.
He imagined existence.
He imagined himself already standing in front of the boar's head.
He guided his qi outward not into muscles, not into bones but into the surrounding space, forming a formless vacuum.
It was an unfamiliar sensation, as though he were reaching for something intangible.
In an instant, one-fourth of his qi was devoured.
The sensation was abrupt and violent. Qi vanished from his core as if swallowed by the void.
The air around him trembled faintly, pressure building as space itself seemed to compress and fold inward.
Reality felt distorted.
At the same time, David forced qi into the fingers of his right hand, condensing it tightly.
His left arm was completely useless now—this single strike carried everything.
The pressure built.
Then,
The world flickered.
David vanished from where he stood.
The boar reacted instantly.
Both of its eyes widened in shock as David appeared directly in front of its head, impossibly close.
For a fraction of a second, the beast froze, disbelief flashing through its gaze. Then instinct took over.
Its massive body tried desperately to twist away, muscles surging, hooves digging into the soil
but it was too late.
David's qi-filled fingers stabbed straight into one of the boar's eyes.
A sickening, wet crunch echoed through the clearing.
The resistance was minimal. Flesh and fluid burst outward as his fingers sank into the socket. Qi surged violently, shredding nerves and tissue from within.
But David knew immediately
It wasn't deep enough.
The brain was untouched.
He withdrew without hesitation, leaping backward. As his feet hit the ground, pain exploded through his shoulder, forcing a sharp breath from his lungs.
The boar screamed.
Blinded in one eye and overwhelmed by agony, it charged wildly.
With no sense of direction, it slammed headfirst into nearby trees.
Thick trunks cracked under the impact, bark exploding outward as leaves rained down.
Blood sprayed through the air as the boar thrashed violently, roaring without control.
From the ridge, Anna stood rooted in place.
She had seen it clearly.
David had vanished—then reappeared in the blink of an eye, grievously injuring the boar.
Her heart pounded fiercely.
Her blood surged.
She had expected plant-related abilities—growth, control, regeneration.
Never this.
Never a heaven-defying technique that allowed one to cross space itself.
Below, David's breathing was ragged, his chest rising and falling violently.
Shock and excitement surged together.
It worked.
But the boar was still alive.
Still dangerous.
He did not hesitate.
David activated Void Step a second time.
This time, he poured everything he had left into the fingers of his right hand.
His qi drained rapidly, his body screaming in protest, but he ignored it completely.
Space contracted once more.
David appeared beside the boar's head and drove his fingers into its remaining eye with full force.
This time, his hand pierced deep.
Half of it disappeared into the skull.
Qi erupted violently inside.
David felt the resistance collapse.
He withdrew instantly and leapt backward.
The boar collapsed heavily onto the ground.
Its massive body twitched violently… once… twice… then weaker and weaker.
After a minute, it stopped moving altogether.
Dead.
David remained standing, breathing heavily. More than half of his qi was gone in the two uses of the void step.
Blood dripped steadily from his hand, staining the earth beneath him. His left shoulder throbbed mercilessly, threatening to give out.
The clearing fell into complete silence.
Only then did Anna finally move, descending toward him slowly, her eyes filled with awe and disbelief.
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