Ye Zhu and the others staggered to a halt here, breathless, glancing back at the distant street where the sky was heavy with dark clouds, the wind howled between heaven and earth, and the occasional rumble of thunder echoed from the black mass overhead. The high-rises shrouded beneath the storm clouds were dim, tinged with a menacing, eerie pallor.

“Brother…” Ye Zhu stood by the wall, gazing into the distance, unable to discern the events unfolding on the street, a hint of worry clouding his eyes. “Don’t worry!” Bailong, standing beside him, chuckled.

“With his skill, the only one in trouble will be those zombies.” BOOM— A bolt of lightning suddenly split the sky, briefly illuminating the world. The wind carried a chill, announcing the imminent arrival of a fierce storm.

Ye Chen stared intently at the monster before him. It stood seven feet tall, shaped like a dog but with limbs more robust than a lion’s, its entire body covered in black fur, its pair of deep, dark eyes staring coldly down at him.

On its forelimbs, a pair of back-swept spikes, like scimitars, grew—exceptionally sharp. “Magic Wind Hound!” Ye Chen’s expression grew grave; he dared not be careless.

This was a mutated canine, but not the common kind they had hunted previously. This was a King-level mutation, exceedingly rare; typically, only one in ten thousand mutated dogs would evolve into this specific breed.

“A Magic Wind Hound, even at the 1H1 level, possesses strength equivalent to forty men and excels in speed, moving with exceptional agility. Even a warrior with fifty men’s strength would struggle to defeat it.” The data on this Magic Wind Hound surfaced in Ye Chen’s mind.

1H1 Level! Since the advent of the apocalypse, the later stages had been termed the "Great Dark Era," and the calendar system naturally reflected this change.

1H1 represented the first month of the first year of the Dark Calendar! 1H2 would denote the second month of the first year of the Dark Calendar, and so on.

The number preceding 'H' signified the year, and the number following denoted the month. All zombies and monsters underwent new transformations and experienced exponential growth in strength every month; monsters at the 1H2 level were vastly superior to those at 1H1.

“Roar!” The Magic Wind Hound’s fangs were incredibly long, much like a saber-toothed tiger’s. Saliva dripped from its jaws, falling onto a patch of dead leaves, instantly corroding a hole right through them.

It coiled its body and then charged forward like an arrow loosed from a bowstring. A bead of sweat traced a path down Ye Chen’s forehead.

His nerves were taut as he locked his eyes onto the hound, trying desperately to track its trajectory. But Ye Chen was disappointed; the moment the hound moved, its form dissolved into a blurred afterimage, vanishing from sight.

Immediately after, Ye Chen felt a violent gust sweep in from his left, whipping his hair and clothes violently to the right. A surge of alarm hit him, and he swiftly swung the axe in his hand towards the attack.

CRACK! The fire axe snapped in the middle as a claw, seemingly extended from the depths of hell, lunged for his heart.

Ye Chen was startled but did not panic. In that blink of an eye, he brought the fire axe in his other hand up to guard his chest.

The claw struck the axe, and a terrifying surge of brute force slammed into Ye Chen, sending him tumbling backward. This was where the gap between a seasoned veteran and a novice became apparent.

A novice, knocked back, would instinctively try to plant their feet firmly, resulting in a clumsy retreat of a few steps before collapsing onto the ground. But as Ye Chen was thrown backward, his eyes remained coldly focused.

He used the momentum, pointing his toe to leverage a quick back-flip, simultaneously kicking out towards the Magic Wind Hound’s chin. The blow landed sharply on its lower jaw, and he pushed off its skull with his other foot, landing as lightly as a swallow on the damp ground.

The instant his feet touched earth, Ye Chen gripped the remaining piece of his fire axe, stamped his foot, and shot forward like lightning—not retreating, but charging toward the Magic Wind Hound. Once the battle commenced, there was only offense!

Relentless offense! “ROAR!” Ye Chen’s dual kicks had infuriated the Magic Wind Hound.

It reared back and roared to the sky, its four paws churning the ground before transforming into another phantom, rushing toward Ye Chen. The violent wind scattered the dead leaves in all directions.

A thick stench washed over him, impossible to evade, and a killing intent flared in Ye Chen’s eyes. “Blood Wind Technique!” “Phantom—Ten Slashes!” Ye Chen dropped into a low stance, stepping forward with his left foot.

Veins bulged on his right arm as he gripped the axe fragment, unleashing a fierce yell, and swung it forward with the momentum of something meant to pierce all obstacles. In this instant of life and death… In this moment of absolute stillness… The fire axe moved along a trajectory that appeared sluggish but was, in fact, incredibly fast, swinging directly toward the Magic Wind Hound’s face, generating ten overlapping afterimages.

In the final moment when the hound’s claw met the axe, all ten afterimages merged onto the weapon. RUMBLE— A fierce clap of thunder exploded overhead, and rain—large as soybean—began to fall from the gloom, rapidly saturating the ground.

Heaven and earth blurred, consumed entirely by the downpour. SLASH!

The fire axe shattered, and the Magic Wind Hound’s claw broke as well. A figure was flung backward, landing heavily on the muddy earth, splattering mud over his entire body.

Ye Chen struggled to rise. Though his strength was nearly spent, he had to stand!

“I cannot die!” “Absolutely cannot die!” Only these two thoughts occupied Ye Chen’s mind. An ineffable power forced him to his feet.

Standing in the driving rain! “ROAR!” The Magic Wind Hound charged again.

One of its claws was gone, bleeding profusely, dyeing the rainwater on the ground crimson. The intense pain made it even more frenzied and violent.

Ye Chen dragged his exhausted body backward, seeking a better weapon, but the ground around him was strewn only with the corpses of zombies, yielding nothing suitable. SLASH!

The Magic Wind Hound pounced, tearing at Ye Chen’s abdomen with one claw. In return, Ye Chen threw a desperate punch, connecting with the hound’s skull, accompanied by the sound of fracturing bone—not the hound’s skull, but Ye Chen’s hand bone.

The hound’s razor-sharp claw merely brushed across Ye Chen’s belly, peeling away a large flap of flesh. Intestines and other internal organs spilled out onto the ground.

Ye Chen’s eyes turned bloodshot. He snatched a rock from the ground and hurled it at the Magic Wind Hound’s eye.

Perhaps due to the storm, the hound’s vision was hindered. Coupled with the sheer force of Ye Chen’s throw—powerful enough to punch through a wall—the stone struck its target before the beast could evade.

The rock lodged deep within the socket. “Hooo…” The Magic Wind Hound shrieked in agony, thrashing wildly on the ground, rolling in the mire.

Ye Chen took a deep, ragged breath, bent down, and scooped up the exposed intestines, shoving them back into his abdomen. The searing pain had numbed his nerves.

He glanced at the writhing hound, then, instead of pressing the attack, fled quickly into the distance. Given the Magic Wind Hound’s power, even several men with forty points of strength could not defeat it without a proper sharp weapon.

Animals naturally possess a combat advantage over humans. Furthermore, the hound’s claws and teeth served as deadly weapons; Ye Chen was currently unarmed even of a simple fire axe, making the notion of killing a forty-man-strength monster with his bare hands sheer delusion.

Run! Run!

Run! Through the storm, Ye Chen sprinted like a lithe ape.

After only a few steps, his intestines began to slip out again. Frowning, he tore a piece from the dog-hide armor he wore and wrapped it around his abdomen.

The rain soaked him completely; his long, dark hair streamed down, water dripping from the tips.