One of the feathered serpents lunged at the hound with blinding speed, then sank its fangs deep into the creature's neck.
The hound growled in pain, then thrashed its head wildly. It used one heavy paw to pin the body of the serpent against the snow, then it sank its large jaws into the serpent's midsection and ripped the creature's spine clean out.
Almost immediately, the other serpent lunged, wrapping its body around the hound, then it sank its fangs into the creature's face. Blinded by agony and unable to shake the serpent off, the hound rushed toward a nearby tree and slammed its weight into the trunk with the force of a battering ram.
The tree groaned as the hound's massive shoulder shattered the bark, and the serpent, which was caught directly between the beast and the wood was crushed instantly.
A shower of splinters and heavy snow collapsed from the branches above, on top of the hound. Without shaking off the snow, the hound turned around and began limping towards the clearing.
Now that the battle was over, it swayed unsteadily as its strength began to fade away. For every few steps it took, it stumbled, then tried to stand again. Until eventually, it could no longer rise. Its breathing was labored and shallow, coming in short, rattling gasps that grew further and further apart, and the light in its eyes had begun to slowly dim.
It was at that moment, that Alex stepped out from behind the tree where he had been hiding and observing.
Carefully, he slowly approached the dying beast, gripping his dagger tightly.
'Okay, you've got this, Alex. It's already dying. So there's no need to be afraid.'
He exhaled and steadied his breathing as he took more steps closer to the beast. When he was finally within striking distance, he raised his dagger high above his head, aiming for the creature's exposed throat.
But then… the beast suddenly snapped its head toward him, and unleashed one last, desperate lunge.
'Crap!'
Acting on pure adrenaline, Alex leapt in the nick of time, dodging the snapping jaws of the creature and fell on his bum in the snow.
'That was close.'
He crawled back as the creature struggled to stand. It staggered on trembling legs, then stood, and while it was swaying violently and coughing up dark blood, Alex stood on his feet too.
His instincts were screaming at him to run away now that he had the chance, but Alex clenched his jaw and tightened his grip on the dagger.
'Okay, let's try that again.'
The hound growled as if it were tiredly trying to tell Alex to leave, but Alex kept his eyes locked on the creature with no intention of backing down. In the next instant, the creature lunged again.
Alex, who had been timing the movement, immediately dived to the side, rolled awkwardly through the snow, and scrambled back to his feet.
It seemed that lunge was all the creature had left. Its legs buckled as it landed, and it struggled just to keep its head up. Seizing the opportunity, Alex ran forward and stabbed it in the side. To his surprise, the dagger sank into the thick hide with ease, almost as if he were cutting through soft butter.
Blood sprayed across his hands, face, and uniform as he dragged the blade from the creature's side all the way to its hind legs, then he wrenched the bloodied dagger free.
'Damn. It's better than I expected.'
The beast let out a gurgling, strangled whine. Even with its insides now exposed, it still struggled and kicked weakly against the air in a mindless, dying reflex.
Alex cautiously stepped closer to the hound, but then he stopped just a few meters in front of it, just in case it still had the energy to snap its jaws again.
Raising his dagger, Alex narrowed his eyes as he gripped the tip of the blade, took a shaky breath, and prepared to throw it. Then he aimed for the center of the creature's skull
'Since you're going to die, then please do me a favor and just go already!'
With a frantic swing of his arm, he released the weapon. The dagger closed the short distance and the point slammed into the middle of the beast's head.
The hound's body gave one last, violent jolt and then went completely limp. It's golden eyes, which had been eyeing him with a dim, fading glint, slowly closed and the creature finally breathed its last.
Alex exhaled, took a step back, and his legs finally gave out as he dropped down on the blood-streaked snow. Then, he let out a low laugh that sounded a bit forced even to his own ears.
"Ha! I did it. I really killed it."
He paused, looking down at the massive, broken form of the beast. "Well, I stole the kill, but… I killed it."
He ran a hand through his hair, breathing heavily as he tried to catch his breath and process the fact that he was still alive. But then, his sense of peace was short-lived.
He scrambled back to his feet when he saw the corpse suddenly emit a thick, swirling mixture of black and golden smoke.
'What is this now?'
The smoke began to gather in the air, coalescing until a black card with intricate golden engravings took form in front of him. It was just about the same size as the other card he had.
'A black card?'
Alex slowly reached out, and the moment he held the card in his fingers, it suddenly dissolved into the same swirling mixture as before and before Alex could react, the smoke engulfed him flowing into his nose, eyes and mouth.
The process didn't even last more than a few seconds, and in that brief moment, Alex's eyes shone gold before returning back to their usual black color. When the smoke completely cleared, silence returned, leaving Alex standing there bewildered.
'Uh… What just happened?'
When he thought about it, he could definitely feel the card inside him. It was almost as if it was embedded somewhere deep within his chest.
But… what exactly was it? What did it do?
Alex raised his hand and flexed his fingers subtly. 'I don't feel any different. Was that supposed to be some kind of power up?'
For all those dramatic effects, he definitely thought that he was going to get some kind of super power or something like that.
'Mmmm…'
Since he couldn't figure it out, he sighed and decided to put it aside for now, because there was something else that immediately caught his attention.
After the hound had died, the light of the moon finally encroached upon the space and the thick darkness that had been weighing on the area suddenly disappeared.
Looking back at the dog, Alex also noticed that the six golden stars that were on its head were no longer there.
"Strange..."
He stepped forward, then pulled out his dagger and wiped the dark, viscous blood onto the creature's fur.
When he was done, he took a look around, then decided to leave this area and continue his descent down the mountain. Since he had complied with rule number two, his only priority now was to leave the open clearing, which left him far too exposed, and find a comparatively safe area to rest.
'I hope I don't run into another monster like this on the way down,' he thought, as he raised his dagger up to check the timer.
But to his surprise, a projection of the white card suddenly appeared right above where the timer should have been, and new words were etched across its surface.
[You have successfully acquired a Divine Soul Card.]
[From now until the end of the trial, unless you challenge them, divine beasts of a lower divine tier than you will no longer seek to kill you out of fear of you.]