Reborn (Part 3)
Amid the terror-stricken group, where everyone cowered and sought to preserve their own lives by sacrificing their comrades, I alone—stone tool in one hand, spear in the other—leaped forward.
The Megantereon's claws stretched toward Mother.
Slash!
Mother's flank tore open in a long gash.
"Uuuh!"
The moment her scream erupted, I burrowed into its side, practically hanging on.
The front was no good. Its neck was too thick, its chest shielded by forelegs and muscle.
What was left was the face.
No—its eyes.
"Uwaaak!!!"
I thrust the spear with every ounce of remaining strength.
Crunch!!
"?!"
In that instant, it bit down on my spear.
What reaction speed!
Suppressing my panic, I released the spear, grabbed its fur, and raised the stone tool.
But at that moment, the Megantereon twisted its body madly and swung its forepaw.
Thud!
My body flew far without any resistance from the impact.
Boom!
Pain exploded through my entire body. Forcing my whitening vision to steady, I looked around and realized my body had landed beneath a tree.
And then,
Snap.
With barely a sound, the scattered branches on the ground cracked as it descended from the tree. My handmade spear was still clamped in its jaws.
No—now I could see the spear had pierced straight through its cheek.
"Huff, huff, huff…."
My whole body screamed in agony.
Muscles twisted, joints throbbed.
But I didn't retreat.
It was staring straight at me now.
Fixating on my feet and hands—and my gaze. It saw me as an enemy.
But the situation was hopeless.
I had no weapons left.
The painstakingly made stone tool had flown off, and the spears I'd prepared were caught up in the tree.
That was when it happened.
Thwack!
Something dropped beside me. It was none other than one of my spears.
Glancing up at the tree, I saw a young male lowering a spear that had been hooked on a branch. His eyes remained fixed on me the whole time.
I nodded once in thanks, then gripped the spear.
It was a crude thing, whittled from fresh wood, but even from the spear lodged in its muzzle, I knew it was enough to pierce hide.
The head was too hard. Neck or chest—one or the other for any chance of victory.
As I glared at it, it clawed the spear embedded in its cheek and yanked it free.
Blood flowed, but it licked it off nonchalantly. Yet its gaze held no trace of the predator eyeing prey—it was the wariness of one rival, or enemy, facing another.
In that moment, our eyes locked head-on.
My purple eyes gleamed clearly in its amber pupils.
A brief silence.
The forest was still chaotic, but strangely, no sound reached my ears.
All I saw was its shoulder muscles slowly rising and falling, the gleaming claws at the ends of its forepaws, and its head lowered low.
It knew.
That I wouldn't run anymore.
I knew too.
That if it charged once more, this time I would die.
I swallowed.
My throat was parched, my palms slick. But my grip on the spear never wavered.
The Megantereon twitched one cheek and crouched low.
Its forepaws spread slowly, power coiling in its hind legs.
Its fur bristled all over.
It's coming.
I held my breath.
And in the very next instant—
Crack!
The Megantereon lunged low, sliding forward like a shadow.
I too charged, pouring strength into the spear.
Reflexively, I aimed the tip at its neck.
But it was faster.
Its head twisted aside, evading the spearhead, and at the same time, its forepaw whipped toward my face like lightning.
Slash!
My left eye socket erupted in searing heat.
If I hadn't jerked my head back in that instant, my facial skin would have been peeled clean off.
Blood flooded my eye, turning my vision red.
"Gaaak!"
A scream tore from me, but my body didn't stop.
If anything, the pain squeezed every last drop of strength from my arm.
I flung my body sideways and forcibly swung the evaded spear upward.
Slash!
The spear tip ripped across its left eye socket.
It hadn't pierced the eyeball dead-on.
But the eyelid and surrounding flesh tore deep, red blood and clear fluid spurting out together.
Groooaaarrr!!!!!
The Megantereon unleashed a mad roar.
Its body lurched over me, and I rolled across the ground.
Thud!
My back slammed into the dirt, choking off my breath.
The spear slipped from my hand.
But the Megantereon wasn't unscathed either.
Its left eye socket mangled and ragged, it shook its head wildly and staggered back. Half its face was a bloody mess, its remaining eye blazing with fury.
"Ua! Uaaa!"
In that moment, the males in the trees howled in unison. Not just the males.
Females and young ones too hurled whatever they could grasp.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Stones, branches, even my handmade spears—everything rained down.
Some struck my shoulders, others my back.
With one eye damaged, it couldn't dodge as before; it desperately shielded only its vitals.
It batted away one spear aimed at its head with a forepaw, but stones and branches kept coming.
Grr...!
It growled, glaring at me.
I glared back, my own left eye half-shut, face drenched in blood.
Hot blood streamed from my left socket. Every time I tried to open it, it felt like the flesh tore anew.
But right now, I couldn't look away.
Neither could its left eye socket.
The same side.
The same spot.
Our matching, bloodied left eyes locked as the Megantereon and I stared each other down.
In that brief moment, a strange certainty bloomed.
It would remember me.
And I would remember it until my dying breath.
The Megantereon took one step forward, then halted.
With one eye half-blind, stones pouring from above, its cheek pierced and now its eye socket deeply torn—it seemed to grasp that continuing the fight risked its own life.
Grr.
A low, irritated rumble.
The Megantereon shot me one final glare, then abruptly turned.
It clamped its jaws around the dead male's corpse it had dropped earlier.
Red blood dripped onto the soil.
And with that, it slowly vanished into the underbrush.
Its yellow-spotted coat melted into the forest shadows, its thick tail flicking last before silence finally fell.
Only then did my strength give out.
Thud.
My knees buckled, and I collapsed to the ground.
My breaths came ragged.
My heart pounded wildly, my left eye socket burned like fire.
When I touched it, my palm was soaked in blood in seconds.
"Damn it."
I wanted to curse properly, but these vocal cords wouldn't cooperate.
Then came a low, feeble cry.
"Huu. Hu."
The rough, groan-laced wail was clearly calling to me.
I turned my head. There lay Alpha, collapsed on the ground. Blood still seeped from his torn chest and broken arm; his breaths grew ever fainter.
Staggering, I approached.
Alpha looked up at me through dimming eyes, then barely lifted his one good arm.
With his bloodied thumb, he slowly pressed my forehead and nose.
My body went rigid.
I'd seen a similar scene long ago, as a child.
The previous alpha, even older and frailer than this one. The current alpha had challenged and defeated him, kneeling bloody. The old alpha had touched his forehead and nose just like this.
In other words, it was akin to a ritual for passing leadership. At least, that's how it had seemed to me.
Why... me?
"Huu… au… huu…."
[Protect... the group.]
A short, fading cry.
I stared at Alpha wordlessly.
Why me, of all...?
I wasn't the strongest in the group. Small in stature, low in rank. I didn't mingle well with the other males, and I didn't fully see them as kin.
Yet—
The dying Alpha gazed at me in his final moments.
The surroundings were eerily quiet.
The males who had screamed in terror moments ago, the females clinging to branches above, even the young—all held their breath, watching us.
Then I understood.
Alpha wasn't the strongest.
He was the first to step forward—and the one who never abandoned the group until the end.
He must have seen me charge the Megantereon. Known I couldn't win, yet didn't flee.
Was that why?
His fingers trembled, but the one on my forehead was uncannily firm.
I swallowed hard.
I still wasn't certain if this was truly the leadership-passing ritual. Or perhaps just a final plea to protect the group.
But either way, the meaning was similar.
He could no longer protect them.
And he was entrusting that role to me.
"……."
My throat tightened.
Slowly, I bowed my head.
Alpha's mouth twitched ever so faintly. Too subtle to tell if it was a smile or a spasm.
And soon after, his arm fell limply downward.
Thud.
His bloodied hand brushed the dirt.
Thus, the old male who had guarded the group for years breathed his last.
And at that very moment—
"Uu! Uu! Uu!"
"A! A! A!" "Uu! A! Uu! A!"
The group's males began howling in unison.
Looking up at the trees, they shook the branches wildly, staring at me and the dead Alpha.
Refusing to accept it?
No—their cries held something more positive, fervent, than mere wariness or denial.
Then one young male descended from the tree.
It was the one who had thrown me the spear moments ago.
Young, but a full head taller than me.
Yet he bowed his head before me and raised his right palm.
"Huh, huh, huh."
A low, clipped cry.
I knew its meaning.
Submission.
At least in this moment, he acknowledged me as above him.
Starting with him, the other males followed, descending to bow and raise their palms just as he had. Then the females, and even the young—the ones who had once refused to see me as one of them—all lowered themselves toward me.
With my bloodied face, I looked down upon them.
Hot blood still trickled from my left eye socket, and the scent of the Megantereon's blood lingered from the forest depths.
Alpha was dead.
The Megantereon had retreated alive.
And now, the young males upholding this group bowed before me.
Only then did it sink in.
Truly—
Now, it was I who had to protect the group.