Tim decided to run in the direction of the beast that appeared to be the closest to his location, but then veered off to the left, climbing the nearest sand dune. He was frantic, knowing that he had poor chances of surviving if he took all of them on at once.

It took him around a minute to climb the sand dune, by which time the first dog had already begun it's ascent. Tim's initial panic was settling down, soon being replaced with the uncharacteristic calmness. In the upcoming fight there was going to be no time for hesitation or fear, both sides were out to kill and neither would show mercy. Life or death would be decided in a matter of minutes, any opening left out of carelessness would be exploited viciously, a single misstep able to change the tempo of the battle.

Moving his left arm a bit further away from his body, fist tightly clenched and ready to burst in motion at the slightest need. Rapier held in the right hand with a relaxed, but stable grip, gaze locked ahead directed with animosity towards the incoming abomination.

Tim wanted to use the advantage of being in an elevated position to deal with the first dog as fast as possible. Speed was going to be the key in this battle, if he took too long the difficulty would rapidly escalate to an unsustainable level.

Thankfully, the demonic looking dog also had some trouble running up the sand dunes, though it was still far more graceful than Tim. It moved in a zig zag pattern, much to his chagrin. There was only a couple meters left between Tim and the dog now, and it decided to cover the rest in two leaps. The first leap veered a bit towards the left, but was mostly focused upward, instantly traversing a good chunk of the remaining distance. The second leap deceptively was directed towards the far right, aiming to completely bypass Tim's ambush and gore him from the backside once it stablized it's footing.

Tim was stunned at this development, the creature was more cunning and intelligent than he had expected. From it's crazed charge earlier, Tim had subconsciously linked it to the Cosmic Tusker from before, expecting it to dodge his initial attack, but nothing as devious as this.

Using his left foot to pivot, Tim angled his body downward, rapier pointed towards the earth held in a loose grip, while imbuing his claws with the aspect of sharpness. His control wasn't enough to cover the entire weapon, only focusing on the tips. 'Shotgun' was a combination of speed and sharpness, it's best aspect being that he had to use the sharpness aspect at the very last moment, instead of continuously maintaining it, and only at a very miniscule tip. Imbuing the entire level with sharpness was impossible for him presently, especially in a tense battle scenario.

In a few steps, he was right next to the beast, which was still flying midair, about to reach the ground. It had not expected the human to see through it's ploy and react so quickly.

With all the strength he could muster, Tim let his arm loose with an upper-cut that had a huge wingspan. His chin now tilted upwards, he saw his claw shred through the hide of the dog, taking it's ear off. He now understood why some animals liked to play with their prey before finishing them off. This savagery, this wild, untamed feeling of strength and domination. Being born with such an innate gift, what creature did it have to fear? Nothing could resist it's might, they could only tuck their tails and run away in fear. Wherever it went, it was the sovereign. Nature itself had given it such an unfair advantage.

Usually, Tim would choose to act prudently and finish the creature off after testing it a bit. Now though, he had no time. The creature had landed, still looking slightly dazed at having lost an ear instantaneously.

Going for broke, he rather clumsily directed his claws to the side, and moved with the rapier in front, transitioning into a lunge. The first sonic boom was aimed at his gouged out ear. It managed to penetrate a bit, but then hit what felt like a rock wall. He retracted the rapier, and looked at the creature howling in agony.

He felt bad, but did not feel remorseful. Not for the creature, but for what the system was transforming him into. He was no pacifist, if someone punched him he'd definitely hit back hard, but all this still felt a lot above his paygrade. He didn't want to do this, but the only other option was to consign himself to death. Well that or he could go and destroy the system, if he wasn't reduced to photons before he could even consider it seriously.

The sounds of compressed air being released into a muffled explosion repeatedly sounded out on top of the sand dune, with a cracking sound accompanying it at times. Tim continued to strike at the same spot, each time going a bit deeper till the creature finally died. It took 7 shots to finally kill the damn thing, and Tim's right arm was trembling, with blood leaking out from small incisions dotted on his arm.

He had overdrafted his abilities, the very wind he used to kill his enemies now tore at him from inside his right arm.

"AAAARRRRGHHHHH" yelled Tim, the pain was agonizing. He lost his grip over the rapier and looked at his notifications hurriedly, hoping that he would level up.

"Fuck" he murmured. There was no level up, it only filled his experience bar by a third. He figured it was probably intentional, he would only get the healing if he managed to kill all three.

The pain had dulled a bit after he had used the cosmic tusker's hide as a makeshift dressing, but it was still extremely sharp and felt as if his veins were being severed, one by one.

His right arm was out of action, and he wasn't confident using a rapier with his left. Picking it up from the ground and placing it back in his sheathe, his claws making the process a bit tricky, he reflected on his actions.

This had not been the smartest decision he had made today, but he had no other alternative. The creatures in the multiverse were all bloodthirsty fiends so far, if they were reduced to their death throes they would strike back with immense hatred and ferocity, trying to make the loss of their life be marked with an equivalent exchange.

" I didn't expect that this would happen if I pushed my luck too far, but in the end it's still all according to plan. Losing an arm may be a minor inconvenience, but the first phase is complete" said Tim, in a self mocking tone.

"Oh, guess my second guest of the day is already here. It would be disrespectful of me if I didn't welcome my guests personally at the front door, would it not? "