The Abyssal Tyrannosaurus's body staggered backward from the impact, but it was undead. Essentially, they cannot become dizzy or stunned by normal means. Its reaction was immediate, and it lunged at Louis with its remaining claw.
Louis used his speed and size to pass under the beast, reaching the other side and jumping toward a nearby tree to dodge its tail swipe.
"Shit, this bastard's core isn't in its head, but somewhere near its heart." His blow to the head was just to find out where the core was, because only by destroying the core of an undead creature could he kill it.
It would be easier if it were in the head, but it was in a protected area.
"I don't know if I can fire two more shots. And my fists aren't doing enough damage. It's not for nothing that it's level 30 and a special beast. The only one of my hits that did any real damage was the one that hit its already broken part."
He knew he was in trouble because of this, but both pairs of eyes suddenly met.
Louis' blue eyes shone softly, trying to find an opening, while the beast's eyes... glowed with a strange ferocity that enveloped him completely.
Suddenly, Louis seemed to find himself bound hand and foot, as if he had been caught in a skill.
[Innate skill of the Abyssal Tyrannosaurus: Fear, activated.]
'Fear?' He looked ahead, feeling his body grow heavy.
In an instant, a situation that had seemed calm suddenly reversed, and he appeared to be having serious trouble understanding what was happening.
His mind had been overcome by fear.
Then, before his eyes, an extremely fast, deadly movement of the Abyssal Tyrannosaurus unfolded. Its claw, which now seemed to be surrounded by a demonic aura, rushed forward with speed, while its two bony legs ran fiercely toward him.
Fear enveloped him as this terrifying claw was just a short distance away from him.
His body trembled suddenly, and his mind buzzed with a strange noise.
The brink of death had come for him in the blink of an eye, just a few days after arriving here.
He wondered if he had been arrogant to come and challenge a dungeon when he had no idea about the world.
Perhaps he had been.
He couldn't deny the possibility that he was arrogant and self-centered when he said certain things recently and made certain decisions.
He thought he had the right to say them.
Was he a god? Even if he had the potential to be one, wasn't he also the most despised among them? How could he claim to be one when his strength wasn't even enough to face a measly level 30 beast from the Lower Wing of a dungeon?
But...
That was what he wanted to say, because that was what he wanted to do.
'If I don't do what I want to do and stop faithfully following useless orders, when will I let go of my past self?'
'I devoted much of my life to listening to Rebecca. I gave her my faithful love; everything I had was for her. I once thought that because she had shown me she loved me at the time, I had to show her I loved her for the rest of my life.'
'But I was wrong.'
'In the end, she cheated on me.'
'I followed her path faithfully, protecting her every step, but wasn't I treated like a useless dog afterwards?'
"...Yes. I was a mangy dog."
Perhaps it was because his mind was suddenly forced into a state of stress that he could finally process everything he needed from his previous life.
Memories and promises. Attempts and mistakes. Falls and rises.
Some say that when you are on the brink of death, you remember what you did or what happened in your life. Some say you remember who you truly loved.
Others...
Like him...
It seems that they are destined only to remember the hatred he began to feel and the disappointment of seeing his girlfriend in another man's arms.
Of having been a man in a green hat, the one who was cheated on.
Perhaps it was the fear instilled by this beast that made him want to remember the shitty moments of his life.
Maybe it was all just an illusion that the beast made him live through.
Right now, he honestly had no idea.
But if it was the latter, then the beast had made a mistake.
Instead of instilling fear in him through his memories, it instills a terrifying hatred growing in his heart.
"I will never be that again," he repeated as he watched that claw heading toward his head.
Like that bullet... only this time, he could see its trajectory. He could see it coming straight at him.
'You can see things you couldn't see before... huh.' His mind then understood what that meant.
It was nothing special; he just had sharper vision. But this time, it would help him greatly.
'His heart.' He also remembered where the core was, and in an extremely bold move filled with the pure desire to kill him, Louis raised his hand with sheer willpower.
It was so fast that he barely had time to aim until he fired.
*PAM*
*WOSH*
The sound of the wind being cut and the shot echoed simultaneously. A claw about to cut his neck and tear his face crossed his vision.
But then, something seemed to slow it down.
The bullet had hit first.
The Abyssal Tyrannosaurus, being undead, once it lost the core that moved and propelled its body, its body stopped. Normally, its bones would have crumbled, but it was undead with flesh and skin, so this did not happen. Instead, its inert body charged forward with all the force of its momentum, and Louis was thrown backwards.
He felt dizzy for a moment, but when he finally saw that he had managed to defeat it with that shot, he smiled smugly.
"Haha... Not bad."
His body was wounded in places, and he had small pieces of wood embedded in his back, which hurt terribly, but at least he was alive.
He could see the firing power he now possessed and was surprised himself. His fists had previously been unable to do anything against the bones of that thing, but this single shot managed to pierce all the bones protecting the core, destroy the core, and exit through the other side of the body.
"That's amazing power." He smiled, and it made sense. His strength right now was incredible.
But with this, it would become even more incredible.
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]