12 Facing Death
He didn't want to believe what he was seeing.
If he wasn't blind, then it was unmistakably a dragon.
A black one at that, which wasn't a good omen.
He had seen some interesting beasts throughout his hunts, but none of them prepared Kai for this moment.
He's encountered horned rabbits, venomous saber-tooth tigers, bipedal snakes, and even some weird matryoshka toads who carry their offspring in their mouths with the smaller ones nested inside larger ones.
They were interesting and strange and sometimes deadly, but they could be dealt with.
However, suddenly a dragon taken straight out of a fantasy story just erupted from inside a volcano.
Although he knew about dragons from popular media in the memories of his past life, he did not expect to actually encounter one.
Kai felt quite incredulous at this outcome and could only blame his bad luck.
How could he have known that a huge dragon was slumbering under the next-door mountain that he had even occasionally hunted on?
However, his train of thought crashed when the world-piercing roar descended, the thunderous pressure suffocating him.
His legs started shaking and fingers trembling as cold sweat poured down his back.
Kai felt unprecedented fear swallow him as he finally realized the true situation he was in.
Sure, with his athleticism and sharp senses, he could hunt many creatures in the forest.
But this was not a creature he could hunt, or even survive against.
It was the apex of all lifeforms and looked down on everything from above.
He instinctively wanted to flee as fast as possible, but as he turned around, he caught a glimpse of Asha collapsed unconscious behind him.
His heart twisted in agony at the thought of abandoning her, and his feet froze in place.
Maybe if he left her behind and ran with all his might, he could flee pretty far.
There would be a chance, no matter how slim, that he could survive.
He was quite fast and had good endurance after all.
But deep down, he knew he couldn't do that.
He couldn't bring himself to leave her behind.
His mother was too precious to him.
If he lost her, lost her again, what would be the point of living?
That intense fear of losing her twisted with his obsession for her drowned out the fear of death.
Kai accepted his fate.
Even if he carried her as he fled, how far could his puny legs carry him compared to a giant dragon that can fly?
Plus, he was injured and tired from all the escaping from before, so he wouldn't be as fast.
If it chased, fleeing would be meaningless.
If it left, then they would be safe either way.
So, he decided to remain and gamble everything.
It's not like there was a lot to look forward to in this life.
He lives in a prehistoric world with dangers all around him.
He could only depend on himself to survive.
There was no luxury. No convenience. No entertainment. Not even toilet paper.
At least the silver lining was that he was able to have sex with his mother.
Fulfilling one of his degenerate fantasies and just the fact that he could have a mom again satisfied Kai immensely.
He had killed himself before, so this was basically just a more elaborate and thrilling suicide.
Being burned to death by dragon flames would be an epic way to pass on.
After arriving at this conclusion, Kai didn't feel as afraid anymore.
His shaking ceased. His legs no longer frozen.
However, he didn't go anywhere.
He kneeled down and wrapped Asha in his fur robe before holding her protectively in his arms.
He looked up and stared at the dragon calmly as he awaited his fate.
The black dragon imperiously observed everything from above as it flapped its broad wings.
It slowly surveyed the land beneath it with grand indifference as the lava boiled and spilled from the collapsed volcano.
It released an unconstrained aura that dominated over weaker creatures.
Any creatures that still survived were trembling with their bodies pressed to the ground and their heads lowered.
It was an instinctual fear that pervaded their senses when encountering a superior, apex predator.
Even Kai suffered from that pressure, but he was able to endure it.
As Kai watched the dragon leisurely panning its gaze, it eventually turned towards him and made eye contact.
The moment that happened, the pressure on Kai more than doubled as his instincts screamed for him to pry his eyes away.
However, with his newfound foolhardy courage, Kai stubbornly refused to break eye contact as he fought the urge to look away and continued to stare at the dragon.
He felt a sense of defiance bubbling up from within him taking over.
The dragon took notice of this and glared at Kai for several seconds before spreading its wings intimidatingly and roared.
Despite the distance, when the dragon focused its attention on Kai, the proverbial boulder that he felt pressing down on him transformed into a raging volcano.
The draconic aura was so intense that large beads of sweat poured down his face despite the cold, his body suppressed, bones ached, his teeth clenched, eyes shaking, but never once did he look away.
Kai felt like his mind was being drowned in magma as he labored to breathe.
Thoughts of impending death kept flashing through his mind, but he endured the instinctual fear.
A normal human would have collapsed by now, but surprisingly, Kai's mental fortitude was unyielding.
Even Kai himself was surprised at how resilient he could be in the face of certain death.
When recalling his past life, it was obvious how timid and fearful he was, not even having the courage to face the world.
But in this life, he became brave and resilient because otherwise he would have died a long time ago.
If he was still the same Kai before awakening, he might have behaved like any other primitive human and fear for his life in the face of a never-before-seen, terrifying monster.
Fear of the unknown is one of the most primal fears after all.
But with his foreknowledge of dragons from his past life, it didn't seem as terrifying anymore.
Not only that, a mixture of awe, fascination, and even glee at seeing a real dragon tamped down the overwhelming fear.
As he continued to endure the pressure, Kai's mental state was being gradually tempered.
Unbeknownst to him, most living beings wouldn't be able to endure the full might of dragon pressure and would collapse almost instantly.
However, when he awakened to his past life, his soul was also augmented.
During the initial couple months of dealing with fusing two different personalities, it was as if two different souls were trying to merge.
Although he made admirable progress, to this day, his soul had never fully unified.
However, as he continued to resist the insane pressure bearing down on him, it also served to accelerate the harmonization of his soul.
Kai only had a simple thought.
He just wanted to protect his mother and if he passed out, then there would be no one else to save her.
He was the only one who could, so he endured the stifling pain.
What seemed like a minute felt like hours as his entire body became drenched in sweat.
But the longer he resisted, the faster the harmonization of his soul, which allowed him to endure just a little bit longer.
His entire body ached as if he underwent hellish exercise for a month without rest.
His mind was in agony as he felt like his brain was being torn into a million pieces.
Despite all that, he continued to resist the pressure.
His fear was gradually eclipsed by anger.
Anger at the dragon for destroying his peaceful life.
Anger at the world for constantly delivering him tragedy.
Anger at himself for being so weak and pathetic.
His face contorted into rage as he glared back at the dragon with fiery vehemence.
He doesn't care if he dies, but at the very least, he won't die with his head lowered and begging.
He suffered from many misfortunes, but when he finally saw some light after being accepted by his mother, a catastrophe just had to occur right after.
He felt indignant.
He felt wronged.
But more than that, he felt powerless.
The only thing he could do now was to show the world his unyielding tenacity.
Like a spark, his soul had completely unified, and an inner fire blazed within.
At this moment, the dragon snorted and looked down at this tiny, but defiant human for the last time.
The end of its leathery mouth lifts up slightly for a brief moment, so quick that Kai never noticed.
It flapped its wings and picked up speed as it flew towards Kai.
Seeing the dragon approach, the pressure on his back doubled again as he braced himself for impending doom.
However, the dragon didn't attack.
Kai watched as the black dragon with a wingspan that covered the sky soared overhead and passed by, never offering him a second glance.
Gale winds stirred the surrounding snow and ash into a flurry that obscured everything.
By the time the dust settled, the dragon was only a tiny dot in the distance.
Finally, the overbearing pressure evaporated like morning dew on a sunny day.
Having overcome this tribulation, Kai's mind finally relaxed and swiftly passed out.
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