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20 days.

Honestly, it wasn’t that long of a time.

It was a short period for a person to grow, and even if one were to gain something, it would be even shorter time to embody that into their body.

Truthfully, I thought there wasn’t much difference between my self from 20 days ago and my current self.

If anything, my body felt a bit heavier and more exhausted.

However, I didn’t feel much concern.

From the moment I entered this place, I was certain I would meet that guy someday. In fact, if I met him around this time, I could say it was later than I expected.

I thought there was a decent chance of winning as well.

Since the time I cut off his tail before, I had confirmed a faint hope. At the very least, my attacks could reach him.

This time, instead of cutting off his tail, I just had to slash at his neck.

Thus, the battle began.

My strategy remained unchanged.

I dodged the attacks that felt like they’d kill me and countered only when I felt it was appropriate to do so.

After all, my physical abilities were inferior to his. There was no doubt about his size either.

The only advantage I had was my superior regeneration, and I planned to make full use of that.

Whoosh—!

“Grrrr…!!!”

Once, my spear thrust deep into his paw.

To land that one strike, I had to dodge dozens of attacks. There were several instances when I didn’t react in time, leading to scratches all over my body. Thankfully, my senses had sharpened a bit recently.

Otherwise, I would not have been able to dodge for this long.

The blood I spilled was used for either defense or attack.

I didn’t rush myself.

Even though tomorrow marked the day of my berserk phase, I threw myself into the fight as if today were the last day.

No, more accurately, I had no time to think about such things.

If I carelessly moved in, I could clearly foresee my own death.

Whenever I thought I had inflicted a significant injury, I’d escape and then charge back in.

After all, I had the advantage in a long-term battle. I continuously gnawed at his stamina and didn’t give him a moment’s rest.

Just like that jaguar did a few days ago.

“Grrr!!!”

After several repetitions, he indeed seemed utterly enraged.

With his ferocious eyes, he looked at me as if calling me a despicable bastard.

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but snicker inwardly.

So what if I’m despicable? So what if I’m a bit pathetic? At the very least, I survived like this.

Carrying a life that should have ended at ten, I struggled and reached this point.

Perhaps this kind of battle suited me even more.

Bang! Boom!

The fight dragged on until long into the night, until the new moon arrived.

As time passed, more injuries accumulated on his body.

Though I was just as exhausted, it was nothing compared to him.

The presence or absence of injuries made a huge difference.

Especially for an old beast like him, his stamina would surely deplete quickly.

“Grrr! Grrrr…!”

Of course, despite that, he didn’t give up and kept charging at me.

He seemed to understand that if we didn’t settle this soon, it would all be over.

It was a testament to the will and tenacity of the ruler of this place.

Since the fight was prolonged, I could feel other monsters glancing over at this place.

I mean, with such a commotion, it would be strange if they didn’t take notice.

I briefly thought they might rush in during the fight… but luckily that didn’t happen. Curiously, they only watched and didn’t intervene.

As if waiting for the fight to end.

Or perhaps they were quietly observing the fall of the forest’s ruler.

The outcome came almost in the early morning of the next day.

“Grrrr…”

Finally, the guy, completely exhausted, showed me an opening.

And I didn’t miss that opportunity. I rushed and thrust my spear into the back of his neck with all my strength.

Swoosh—!

With a chilling sound that pierced through flesh and skin, blood gushed out like a waterfall.

The fierce gleam in his eyes gradually faded. His ragged breathing slowed, and his body began to crumble bit by bit.

Thud—!

Like that, he fell to the ground, meeting his death.

“Phew…!”

A strange exhilaration and high feeling enveloped my mind. It made me want to yell out loud.

However, I had no such luxury.

On the 21st day, tonight the blood moon would rise.

“Is there a safe place?”

I don’t know. To be honest, I didn’t even have the strength to seek such a place.

Therefore, I started digging into the ground aimlessly. As deep as I could. Deep enough to fit my whole body.

The roof was the corpse of the jaguar.

As I dug this empty hole, my body began to feel odd.

Before I knew it, the blood moon had risen. This time it was Rage Phase A.

At that moment, I couldn’t help but express my gratitude to the god.

“Ah, damn it, Gaia, thank you…”

The Rage that came while fully utilizing my abilities was truly the worst.

But hadn’t I stocked up plenty of holy water in preparation for such a day?

If it had been Rage Phase B, the holy water wouldn’t have worked, but thanks to it being A, I would actually get to survive.

Gulp, gulp.

Thus, I quietly endured by drinking the holy water.

From the accumulated fatigue of battle, I fainted for a while, only to wake up when the pain from the end of the holy water’s effect kicked in.

In a hurry, I drank the holy water and once again fell asleep as if fainting.

…

Thus came the 22nd day, the late afternoon arrived.

“Ugh, mm…”

The reason it was late afternoon was that due to the accumulated exhaustion, I only just woke up now.

“Whew…!”

I hurriedly checked my body.

I was worried that perhaps during my sleep, another monster came in and attacked me.

It sounded like a ridiculous thought, but I had slept so deeply that I couldn’t disregard the possibility.

However, unexpectedly, my body was perfectly fine.

If anything, perhaps because I slept deeply, I even felt refreshed. Though my sleeping conditions were a bit uncomfortable and stiff.

‘…What’s this?’

Though I should be relieved, the first thought that crossed my mind was confusion.

To be honest, the hole I dug was quite shallow.

I was in a tired state, digging hastily after all.

It wouldn’t be strange if a monster caught wind of the smell of blood and rushed in.

Feeling puzzled, I began to dig through the ground again and emerged above ground.

And the confusion was resolved immediately.

‘Ah-ha…’

The monsters hadn’t come not because they didn’t want to.

They simply chose different prey instead.

Right above the hole I was hiding in lay the corpse of the large jaguar.

There was no need to go through the trouble of hunting prey, so they were sharing a meal peacefully.

I chuckled at the sight of those beasts tearing into the tiger’s meat.

“Right, you lot are the ultimate freeloaders.”

Thanks to that, I survived.

“Kiiik?”

“Kuiiik?”

Finally noticing my presence, the beasts raised their guard and looked at me.

However, they only maintained their guard, and none of them charged at me.

In fact, there was even a hint of fear in their eyes.

It didn’t take long for me to realize why they were acting that way.

I had killed the forest’s ruler.

So now I could say I was the ruler of this forest.

Those beasts had likely witnessed me defeat their lord the day before, so they wouldn’t dare rush in so easily.

Now I stood firmly in the position of an obvious predator.

“Phew…”

Thinking about that made me breathe a little easier.

At the same time, my confidence grew. No more randomly charging beasts from now on, right?

“Hey, everyone clear out.”

With that, I confidently chased the beasts away.

This was my hard-won spoils. I couldn’t just let them dine on it freely.

“Kuiik…”

“Grrk…”

The wolf-like creatures seemed disappointed as they licked their lips, but fortunately, they withdrew obediently.

After all, they had already tasted the meat, so I guess they thought it wasn’t worth putting their lives on the line to fight.

Once the monsters retreated, I began to gather my spoils.

Since the beast was so large, I wouldn’t be able to take everything. I had to gather as much as I could carry.

Thus, I collected some teeth, claws, and a few pieces of meat before moving on again.

…

After wandering endlessly for a day.

On the 23rd day since entering the deep layer, I finally reached the heart of the deep layer.

How did I know it was the heart? Well, it was simple.

Before me was a cave leading underground, from which a very thick mana was flowing.

As if that was the source of it all.

Gulp…

I felt a tension rise for a moment, but soon I made my way into the cave.

After coming this far, it would be silly to turn back.

The tunnel leading underground wasn’t that deep.

However, the space that appeared after descending the tunnel was rather large.

It was a circular dome-shaped area, about the size of a futsal court.

The floor and walls were surprisingly flat. It was appropriate to describe it more as an architectural structure than a cave.

I would have imagined it being dark, but it wasn’t that dark.

Strangely enough, glowing stones were embedded in the walls at intervals.

I found myself momentarily awestruck by the eerie yet dreamlike scene.

However, what truly surprised me was something else.

“I felt the forest had been noisy lately, but it was your fault.”

A voice rang out from the central part of the dome.

It had a clear and deep tone, reminiscent of the forest itself. From the tone, it seemed to be a female voice.

“Well, since you are a guest, I should introduce myself.”

Curious, I looked toward the center.

In the middle of the floor, like an altar, was the face of a woman.

She had long green hair and looked soft and inviting.

However, one peculiar point was…

“Greetings. I am Barbatos, the Demon of the 8th rank, Lord of the Forest.”

Her body only extended to her neck, as if that was all that was manifested.

Then, the face that introduced itself as Barbatos asked me.

“So, who are you? What brings you here?”

“…Hmm.”

“…Why are you staring so intensely?”

I quietly gazed at the being that only had a neck.