The Place Where Everything Begins

With no room to think at all, Jeremy, who was running at full speed, hurriedly turned his body in a semicircle towards his backside while using two hands clutching the spear shaft tightly, intending to receive the incoming attack head-on.

*Clang!!*

"Shit!"

The clanging sound rang out sonorously within the desolate forest, followed by Jeremy's cursing voice as his body flew away from the impact earlier, causing him to hit hard with a parched tree behind him with a thumping sound.

*Thump*

Luckily, Jeremy's mana field projection activated by itself, as he was still safe and sound.

However, the parched, dried tree wasn't so lucky, as it had a dent on its trunk.

No matter how parched or dried the tree was, a dent was still a dent, as it appeared that the force putting behind the enemy strike was quite enormous.

At this time, after sliding down along the tree trunk to the ground, Jeremy finally had a breathing space and raised his head to look at his opponent.

Upon seeing the enemy who had attacked him earlier, Jeremy frowned slightly.

The muscular creature in front of him stood at two meters tall on two thick, strong legs.

It wore full-body leather armor and a dog's skull as a helmet to cover most parts of its body, causing any onlooker unable to judge its actual physical appearance under the clothes.

Whereas a long mouth similar to a dog's one protruding out from the 'helmet' slightly, signifying it was not a human and considering its protruding mouth's skin color was dark-brown, its entire body may be dark-brown also.

From behind its body, a one-meter sturdy, brown tail extending out from the buttocks and an even longer steel sword was held in its hand...

No doubt, it was...

'A Gnoll...' Jeremy thought with a solemn-looking face.

When he finally knew his opponent's identity, plan after plan started forming inside his mind.

Even though a gnoll was the same low-ranked organism like a human, the gnoll and human's differences in physical capability were similar to that of a child and bodybuilder.

It was different to that degree...

Furthermore, the gnoll race could be said to be an evolution race of normal dogs on Earth. That meant its nose and speed were not something to be reckoned with.

'This gnoll is not an ordinary one. From its appearances, it should be more or less a gnoll warrior...'

Most bestial races on Ortus had a unique trait called 'Bloodline', which was said to be something inherited from the first ancestors of its respective kind.

With no exception, each bloodline had a different hierarchy and abilities came along with it.

That meant the higher the bloodline's rank was, the stronger the holder of that bloodline became...

In other words, the lower the bloodline's rank was, the weaker the holder of that bloodline turned out to be...

For example, the enemy in front of Jeremy, which was obviously a gnoll, had a bloodline of the lowest rank called 'Common Bloodline'. In simple words, the gnoll race was just a commoner race compared to other bestial races.

However, even with the common bloodline, tho gnoll's physical strength was at least five times greater than an ordinary human.

Then how strong a gnoll's full strike earlier was?

Its nose was also sharper than an average dog on Earth, whereas dogs had already possessed a sense of smell many times more sensitive than even the most advanced man-made instrument.

Then how good a gnoll's nose was?

That's why the gnoll race was considered a very suitable hunting dog for other bestial races...

Right now, Jeremy stood face to face with the hidden boss, gnoll...

Meanwhile, the gnoll also scrutinized Jeremy carefully, as it had to admit that it felt pretty surprised for the human could receive its full force strike earlier.

A moment ago, it had indeed intended to end the fight fast and be done with it, but who knew that a mere human could even turn back in time to shield himself from being bisected into pieces of meat lump.

But now the situation seemed to be getting more interesting...

So, it decided to say something cool towards the decent enemy,

"Woowolf ArArf WooWooWoof woff."

Having been satisfied enough after saying those badass words, the gnoll grinned happily and prepared for the forthcoming 'proper' fight.

After hearing those 'words', Jeremy got somewhat stupefied as he couldn't understand the dog-humanoid's behaviors at all.

One moment, it sneaked attack him.

Another moment, it barked towards him.

Next moment, it nodded its head at him.

Now, it even grinned widely, showing its sharp teeth.

Upon seeing the gnoll's behaviors, including its tail that was wiggling and waggling left and right, Jeremy thought dumbfoundedly,

'What the fuck? And why does it look so smug and satisfied? Whatever... a dog is still a dog...'

Shaking his head slightly, Jeremy also took his stance, but this time's posture was clearly different from his past ones, for he was now holding the spear with two hands.

As a result of the previous clash, Jeremy's hands felt a bit numb. So, he couldn't be careless in this fight where his opponent outclassed him physically.

Right now, both sides stood still for some seconds already before the gnoll's eyes suddenly narrowed into a slit.

With no prior sign, the gnoll's entire weight was focused on its two legs, causing the snow to be pressed several inches down...

Then...

*Scrunch*

*Fwoosh...*

With the gnoll's explosive force acting on the ground, its heavy body launched several meters forward in a blink of an eye.

*Scrunch* *Scrunch*

Every step it took created a scrunching sound loudly within the desolate forest...

At this moment, Jeremy was also not idly; he looked at the incoming enemy, trying to find an opening or weakness.

'Let's test the water first...'

Having thought like that, Jeremy bent down his two knees like he was sitting on an invisible chair, whereas his left leg was placed in the front while his right leg was placed behind.

It was a basic stance for a passive spear thrust depicted in most spear-related books...

*Scrunch* *Scrunch*

When the tall gnoll arrived four meters away from him, Jeremy centered all his arm's force onto his right hand, holding the spear shaft.

Then...

*Whoosh*

The spear traveled at a breakneck speed with a whooshing sound towards the incoming gnoll...

Upon seeing the human's earlier stance, the gnoll had slowed down its momentum significantly, determining to play it safe. At the same time, its two sharp eyes zoomed at Jeremy's body perceptively.

When the gnoll saw the human was about to thrust his spear out, it had already expected such a thing would happen. So, a split second before the spear thrust was launched, it swung the long steel sword in its right hand horizontally, intending to deflect the incoming attack.

*Clang!!*

The sound of metal hitting one another rang out, creating sparks at the contacting point induced from metal hitting metal...

The result was clear, Jeremy's thrust was deflected successfully for the first time since he came into the tutorial space.

As the spear was deflected to his right side forcefully, Jeremy, who had already prepared for this outcome, suddenly dashed forward with explosive force at the immediate opening of the gnoll's right side.

At the same time, Jeremy also adjusted his grip on the spear shaft slightly, making the spear's shoe point at the gnoll's body.

When the gnoll saw such a sight, its eyes widened in shock. At the same time, it tried to strike the sword down from above at the trickery human.

However, its stance was too broad from the earlier deflecting, as it had used its full force to divert the human's thrust.

That's why it was caught off guard...

As the distance was too close to use the spear blade to attack, Jeremy, who had come closer to the gnoll's big body, decided to use the spear's end to attack instead.

*Flip*

Jeremy flipped the spear's shoe upward forcefully, aiming directly at the gnoll's chin...

*Bam*

The spear's shoe hit heavily at the gnoll's protruding chin...

Its head was turned upward so suddenly by impacting force behind the spear's shoe. Luckily, it wore a skull helmet, so it only got a mild concussion due to such a powerful spear flip...

A split second later...

*Bam*

"Kaa..."

Jeremy gave a knee kick sharply towards the dazed gnoll's stomach as it let out a breathless sound...

Then Jeremy raised his right leg, giving a point-blank kick towards the gnoll's body strongly...

*Bam*

Usually, a kick was at least two times stronger than a punch released by the same person. So, the gnoll one-hundred-and-fifty-kilogram body bounced towards a parched tree on the left side after rolling two full rounds on the cold, snowy ground.

*Thump*

With a thumping sound from the place of impact rang out sonorously, Jeremy taunted the gnoll in English,

"That's for the previous sneak attack..."