"Sniff." He could feel the sound of sniffing and breathing right next to his ear. The white fur of the beast brushed against his body.
Even those two had gone completely silent, their faces full of fear, not daring to make a sound.
Daniel didn't even try to move his eyes. Any movement at this moment meant certain death.
The beast slowly took a step forward and came in front of them. None of them had even noticed when it had arrived.
Its body resembled a tiger, its snowy-white fur glowing faintly. Its size was at least two or even three times that of a fully grown elephant.
And its face—none of the usual facial features were there, except for a single large blue eye and a mouth shaped like a Joker's grin.
That's right, its mouth looked like it had been torn open and stretched unnaturally upward, just like a Joker's.
Daniel recognized this creature. One-Eyed Winter. It was a winter beast only seen in snowy mountains and freezing regions.
Its eye didn't function during the day and only worked at night, which is why it slept during the day and hunted at night. That eye also had a special power.
This beast could use the Law of Destruction. Its eye served as the channel through which that destructive power was released.
It was one of the strongest Beasts of Corruption at C-rank. Some even called it the strongest in that rank.
He had read about this creature in the online community. Apparently, it was seen more often in the Celestial Domain than in the Tower. According to what he'd read, they were mostly found on the second and third floors.
So… what was it doing here? There's no way he's supposed to fight something like this at his current level, right?
"Sniff." One-Eyed Winter turned its head again and brought it directly above Daniel.
A drop of saliva fell onto Daniel's head. After sniffing him a bit more, the beast pulled back and moved toward the severed arm nearby.
It nudged the blade aside with its head and sniffed the area. Then, it grabbed Daniel's hand and, after picking it up, walked into its cave.
Once it was gone, Daniel and the other two let out a breath of relief. The beast's vision wasn't weak, but the scent of blood and the severed arm had partially confused it.
He slowly stood up and walked toward the edge of the cliff. The drop to the ground was at least a thousand meters. With his current condition and injured arm, jumping meant certain death.
He looked at his hand. It was still bleeding, though the cloth was holding back the flow for now.
"Please, please untie us too."
"She's right, we're begging you! You're not just going to leave us here to die, are you?"
"Please, please, untie us," both of them said in soft, pleading voices.
Daniel ignored them and started analyzing the situation.
'Even if I run, that snow kitty will find me by night.' He frowned a little. At night, this entire mountain became that beast's territory.
By then, his condition would be worse, and One-Eyed Winter would easily track him through the scent of blood.
'Oh, right…' He suddenly looked at the two, especially the dead one.
"I'll save you now," he said in a tone that tried to sound like a righteous hero.
He walked over and began untying their ropes. Due to his condition and the need to avoid alerting the beast, it took some time.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"I'm really sorry I cursed at you earlier."
"I want to thank you too, but… how are we going to escape from here?"
"Pull that wooden pole out of the snow," Daniel said, pointing at it.
None of them understood what he meant, but without asking questions, they pulled it out and laid it on the snow.
Meanwhile, Daniel untied the dead person as well, then returned to the two girls. They saw the corpse but said nothing and continued working.
"We'll go down using this," he said, pointing at the pole.
"What? But we'll definitely die like that!"
"It's over ten thousand meters down! There's no way we'd survive!"
"Do you have any better ideas?" Daniel shot them a cold glare, and they went silent.
He had heard that elves were supposed to be intelligent creatures, so why were these two acting so dumb?
He was right—there was no other way to escape from here.
After a moment of hesitation and internal struggle, they sat on the pole. Before sitting down himself, Daniel glanced around one last time to memorize the surroundings.
"We're not going to die, right?" They still seemed scared.
"Don't worry." The cliff wall had a slope, and with all the snow, this could work like snowboarding.
"Wooah!" The pole began sliding down, and as they fell, gravity pulled their faces upward.
The pole landed on the slope, and their speed became more stable.
The fear in both of them slowly faded, and they relaxed, glancing at each other—then at Daniel from the corners of their eyes.
They had heard terrible things about humans, and his reckless bravery was one of them.
"Oh, by the way. It's nothing personal. Just don't want the beast to follow us," Daniel said suddenly, still looking calmly at the snowy scenery.
"Huh? What do you mean…?" Before they could finish their sentence, Daniel stabbed a piece of wood into the corpse's chest.
"What are you doing?!" The two shouted in horror, a cold shiver running through their bodies.
Daniel didn't answer. He pulled out the wood and sliced off the man's head in one motion.
'This is seriously disgusting.' Even though he tried to stay calm, it was sickening to witness.
But he had to do it. This was one of the best tactics he'd found in the online community to distract Beasts of Corruption.
Ignoring the terrified eyes watching him, he threw the head to the right and the body to the left as hard as he could.
Blood sprayed along the snowy slope and cliff wall—that was exactly what he wanted.
"Didn't throw it as far as I wanted," he muttered. With only one working hand, he couldn't throw the body properly.
"You… you're a monster! Why did you do that to her?" one of the girls shouted. She had black horns and long purple hair flowing to her waist, staring at Daniel as if he were a beast himself.
What kind of monter can do such a thing to a dead?
Damn it, weren't demonkin supposed to be the cruelest ones?
"What did she even do to deserve this? That's an insult to the dead," the other added. Both of their voices trembled. Who would've thought they'd escape one monster only to end up with another?
"Are you idiots?"
"I had to do this to save us. Tonight, the beast will follow her blood instead of ours."
"Do you want to trade places with her? I don't mind—two bodies are better than one."
They fell silent. Daniel's logic made sense… but still, doing that to a corpse—wasn't that too cruel?
But then again, she was already dead. Did it really matter?
They didn't dare say anything else, afraid Daniel might kill them next.
Meanwhile, Daniel smirked to himself in silence.