The Special Forces Way of Fighting

Once I'd made up my mind to hunt the Horned Wolf, I set about preparing to kill it.

The preparations didn't take long. An hour, maybe? The sun still hung in the afternoon sky — perfect hunting weather.

I launched the operation immediately.

The first thing I did was set the entire Sky Island on fire. Using the power of Flame, I began torching the forest. The Sky Island sat at an altitude of eight hundred meters. With nothing to break the wind, a fierce gale tore across the island without pause. The wildfire spread at a terrifying clip and, before long, had engulfed the whole place.

You might think being on the Sky Island myself made that dangerous, but it wasn't a problem. From the moment I started the blaze, I'd already slipped safely into the river. Diving into a current this fast and deep would normally be suicide, but Flight kept me from being swept away.

I submerged upstream and watched as the Sky Island's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠monsters died and were consumed by my Predator skill. Whenever I needed to breathe, I covered my face with my soaked clothes and lifted only my mouth above the surface. That way I could draw air without sucking in the scorching heat.

Ten minutes passed, give or take.

No notification came that Predator had finished devouring the monsters. Instead, the Horned Wolf itself appeared — its entire body covered in burns. The Sky Island was still ablaze. Simply breathing was searing the creature's airways, and it was being poisoned by carbon monoxide and other toxic gases on top of that. To survive, it would have to enter the river the same way I had.

But the Horned Wolf couldn't just jump in. The entire river had been contaminated with the poison I'd created using Deadly Poison. I hadn't stationed myself upstream for nothing — I'd come here specifically to poison the whole current.

Figures a mutt like you would have a good nose. You can tell that stepping into this river means you're fucked, can't you?

The water had diluted the toxin somewhat, but deadly poison was still deadly poison. For a creature already that badly wounded, it would be fatal. The Horned Wolf had no other options, though. In the end, it entered the river to stay alive — not the heavily concentrated upstream stretch, but the relatively ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠diluted waters further down.

That didn't mean it escaped the poison's effects. My toxin rode the current and seeped in through its eyes, nose, ears, mouth, skin, and every burn wound covering its body. The pain of the poisoning must have been unbearable; the Horned Wolf thrashed wildly in the water. But it didn't die. With stubborn, terrifying vitality, it endured the poison and locked its gaze on me with murderous intensity.

Ah. Right. Of course this much wasn't enough to kill you.

I burned the entire Sky Island and covered you in burns. I wrecked your airways and poisoned you with toxic gas. I even poured deadly poison straight into your open wounds. And still, nothing. You don't die that easily.

But I'd expected that. I wasn't particularly surprised. I never thought a wildfire and some poison would be enough to put you down in the first place.

Alright then. Let's start round two, mutt.

The reason I'd been submerged upstream wasn't just to spread the poison through the river — it was also to set a trap. I knocked over the sharpened wooden stakes I'd driven into the riverbed and let the current carry them. Not at normal speed, though. I used Acceleration to send them flying. The stakes became lethal spears hurtling toward the wolf. Their durability wasn't high enough to embed in its flesh, but they dealt plenty of damage. Already weakened by burns and poison, the Horned Wolf shuddered from head to tail in agony.

Even so, it refused to give up. It still glared at me with pure killing intent.

I'd used every trap I had. All that remained was to keep channeling deadly poison through the river while the Sky Island burned. Once the fire died down, the wolf would climb out and tear my throat out the moment I surfaced for air. That was its path to victory — or so it thought.

And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that was exactly why it was going to lose. Did you really think special forces were a fucking joke?

You lasting this long is exactly what I predicted. And the final method to kill you is exactly what I planned, too.

I'd decided how the Horned Wolf would die from the very beginning. Cause of death: asphyxiation.

I reached out and activated Acceleration — not on myself, but on the Horned Wolf. In peak condition, my skill wouldn't have worked on it. But the creature was exhausted and critically weakened. I accelerated it without any real resistance.

Acceleration multiplies a target's speed. Put another way, it also multiplies the rate at which the body consumes oxygen. The wolf began thrashing desperately, trying to surface for air. That was a fatal mistake. Panic underwater kills you. In a current this strong and deep, it kills you even faster.

It can't adapt to the accelerated movement. It's sinking deeper. Getting to the surface is already impossible.

And that wasn't all. Accelerating the body meant accelerating its metabolism. The Horned Wolf was already saturated with deadly poison, and those toxins were now tearing it apart far faster than before. Its movements dwindled visibly. It settled onto the riverbed and died — slowly, thoroughly, and without any chance of recovery.

I could have finished it with my own hands, but I stayed vigilant to the end. From upstream, I kept accelerating the Horned Wolf's body. One minute later, my Predator skill finally consumed it.

I had successfully, definitively, killed the Horned Wolf.

Killing the Horned Wolf finally let me relax. The wildfire was dying down as well. I surfaced, sticking my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head above the water, and checked the system notifications I'd been unable to read until now.

I'd devoured so many monsters while burning the Sky Island that listing them all would take forever, so I skipped past those. What mattered far more was what came next.

Every skill I possessed had evolved one tier — and beyond that, I'd acquired entirely new ones. An extremely satisfying haul. I opened my status window to examine everything in detail.

"Status window."

What I saw was incomparably stronger than before.