Without waiting for the crow to respond, Damon knelt down as he finished his sentence and gathered a handful of the larger rocks. The game was straightforward. He had to avoid getting hit while aiming to strike the noticeably stronger opponent.
'I'll need to reinforce the rocks using spiritual energy, but that could take a minute, and they'll definitely hone in on my position...'
Damon didn't believe for a second that the beasts would band together after what just happened. However, it was entirely possible for the spiritual energy to trigger some innate instinct and steer their focus to only the present human, that being him.
Suddenly, another loud bang reached his ears as different scenarios arose in his mind. With quivering eyes, he looked toward the battle and saw the tiger standing up with a slight limp.
It seemed the confrontation was about to end. But the beast shook its head to the side, as if crudely snapping a bone back into place, expelling a gust of blood and air from its snout.
Quite frankly, this left Damon speechless.
'How resilient is this thing...?'
As he began to wonder how much spiritual energy made the beast that durable, he looked at the crow once more, content with the brownish pile clutched in his right hand.
"On my signal I need you to draw their attention by flying into their field of view."
"So this one is to be the bait?" Kuroushi questioned bluntly. "This one doubts they'll fall for it, but—"
"If their eyes follow you for even just a few seconds, that's enough!" Damon narrowed his eyes and cut the bird off before it could prattle on. Taking a single stone from the pile, he brought it toward the bird's beak and added, "The moment I start pouring my spiritual energy into the rocks and you feel it reach this one, that's your signal."
Kuroushi nodded wordlessly before taking it. At the same time, the bird strangely started feeling a little worried for the boy's safety.
Naturally, Damon hadn't noticed this shift. Using his knowledge of thought matter as a reference, he began focusing his mind again and entered a half-cognitive state, creating more spiritual energy.
He stared at the simple stones in his hand, and the warm stream rushed down his shoulders and arms, flowing into the center of his palms. The stones lit up with a crimson hue.
At once, Kuroushi took flight and cut through the shrubs. The air parted along its path as both beasts' movements halted and their heads snapped upward.
The hare remained distracted by the crow, a hint of curiosity in its cold eyes. The white tiger, however, shifted focus almost at once. It resumed the attack, seeking to bite into one of the hare's thighs.
But before it could land the bite, the hare reacted and swung its bloody fist down.
'That's it!' Damon seized the momentary lapse.
His expression turned vicious as he grabbed one of the larger rocks, pulled his arm back, and hurled it toward the hare.
Bang!
His target had been the beast's eyes, but the reinforced stone only staggered it, forcing it to take a step back into the shallow river.
Thud!
In that fleeting instant, the tiger took the thick fist at the base of its skull, jaws slamming shut. A few of its smaller canines fell to the riverbed.
The strength behind the hare's fist had weakened, letting the tiger stave off death once more. Yet it didn't stop. It lunged forward, seizing the chance to slash into the hare's leg with its front paws.
This was a terrible mistake.
Bang!
The hare extended a large foot and delivered a brutal kick to the tiger's flank. Several snaps echoed one after another as the tiger's ribcage collapsed, and its body was knocked back near the uneven riverbank.
Damon's heart shook, and he held his breath in shock.
The hare's furry head lowered. But it didn't bother looking at the gruesome result of battered flesh and dislodged bones. Its soul-crushing black eyes seemed instead to peer through the distant bushes, marking every inch of his body.
'Dammit, I thought it could have lasted longer!' Damon shifted uncomfortably, cursing inwardly. His resentment for tigers rose tenfold. He was about to flee when the beast suddenly turned its large eyes away, as if it hadn't noticed him.
'D-did it not see me...?'
His pupils contracted, and he stifled the urge to run. Then he felt something strange happening behind him.
Amid the rustling of leaves, a chill traveled down his spine.
Damon turned his head and saw a gale of wind rushing toward him, ripping away leaves and scraping bark.
'Where the hell did all this wind come from!' Damon creased his brows and muttered another curse.
Fearing the strong winds might expose him, he drew his dagger again and drove the blade into the tree to anchor himself. Then he closed his eyes as the winds neared.
They rushed by, splitting around the tree and cutting several shallow lines across his face, but his eyelids stayed shut until things settled.
'Is it over...?'
Damon opened his eyes and looked toward where the sudden gale had come from.
Around him, several bushes had shrunk, losing a quarter of their leaves and budding flowers. The trees had fared slightly better, losing only a handful of weaker branches from their lower reaches.
As Damon took in the damage, Kuroushi slowed its flight. The bird dropped the stone from its mouth, and its voice rang out.
"It's behind you!"
Damon felt another chill at his back. He reacted on instinct, weaving to the right as he pulled out the dagger.
Bang!
The dark wood cracked as the hare's fist collided with the tree, kicking up dust and tearing roots free.
Damon leapt to the height of the beast's head, spotting an opening. Tightening his grip on the weapon, he twisted his body and swung at the beast's face.
Shing!
The blade cut a clean line through the hare's left eye.
The beast staggered back two paces, clutching its face as blood poured out. A faint whirlwind began forming around its head as it screamed in pain. What would come next was hard to tell.
But Damon hadn't missed it either.
'Wind...? The wind from earlier was an attack??'
Judging the hare was still too dangerous, he landed on the ground and leapt back himself.
"Finish it! Now's your chance!" Kuroushi's voice cut through the chaos.
But Damon hesitated. The whirlwind still churned around the hare's face, raw and unpredictable.
'If I rush in... those winds could shred me apart.'
His moment of doubt cost him. The hare's screams gave way to ragged, wet gasps. Its remaining eye, round and quivering, locked onto him. And in that gaze, Damon saw something that made his blood run cold.
Hatred, pure in its totality.
Then the pressure hit.
It crashed into him like a physical weight, pressing against his chest, his skull, his very soul. Damon's knees buckled as he recognized the sensation.
'This... this is... the same as Tomoe!'
Damon gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stay upright. The pressure was suffocating, a relentless force trying to crush him from within.
But as he fought against it, he noticed something strange. The sensation was much weaker than the one he had felt from the old woman.
But that wasn't the only thing.
A flicker appeared in the hare's gaze. A subtle trace of unease stirred within the darkness.
'Is it... afraid?'
Damon's lips curled into a grim smile. He pushed forward, one step at a time, ignoring the pain lancing through his body.
The hare watched him advance. Its pressure wavered. Then, with a sudden, desperate motion, it stopped entirely and leapt backward across the river, landing on the opposite bank before vanishing into the treeline.
Damon stood there, blinking, his body still trembling from the leftover pressure. It took him a few seconds to process what had just happened.
"You coward!" he shouted, his voice cracking with disbelief. "Get back here and fight!"
But the forest offered no reply.
Damon exhaled sharply and turned to Kuroushi. "We're going after it."
Without waiting for a response, he sprinted forward and leapt across the river.