Last Exit: A Monster-Bond LitRPG

When your team leaves you for dead, your only ticket out is the beast you were hired to hunt. Owen's raid party leaves him behind with a crushed leg and a dungeon coming apart around him. The only creature close enough to help is an ironjaw they caught for a bounty. It is wounded, hungry, and has every reason to hate him. Owen opens its cage anyway. Getting out together earns him an unexpected path: a bond that lets partners borrow each other's abilities. No commands. No free power. If he exhausts his partner, neither of them gets home. For the first time, Owen has a way to grow strong without carrying someone else's loot. He also has a problem. The creature that saved his life is worth more dead than he is alive—and the people holding its bounty know where he lives. What to expect: earned progression, limited ability sharing, monster companions with agency, tactical action, a small developing team, and recovery/home-building between expeditions. No harem. No instant omnipotence.