Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: The Twenty-Fourth Fragment, Carpe Diem
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It had been four full days since they had stayed at the southern forest's entrance, hunting wolves. He considered venturing deeper into the forest, but no suitable spot for spending the night appeared, so they made the clearing where they had spent the first night their base and moved from there.
Thanks to that, the map, which had been pitch black for the area, brightened up, allowing him to learn the lay of the land, but there was nothing else special. The only discovery was a narrow little river flowing through.
In the mornings, he would wake up, hunt for wolves, kill them, eat a suitable meal somewhere, and return to the clearing. He had repeated this for four days.
When night fell with the moon rising, Judah suggested Tia go to sleep first. For the past three days, she had been considerate of him, sleeping late and waking early, so this was his way of returning the favor. Though she didn't say it, she must have been quite tired, as she thanked him and went to bed. Not long after crawling into her sleeping bag, she was snoring—ssuhk ssuhk—and fell asleep in an instant.
Watching her toss and turn, Judah added wood to the campfire. The flames licked at it with a whoosh, burning more fiercely. Listening to the crackle-crackle, he checked his status window.
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*Settlement
[Hunted a pack of Black Wolves, demonstrating astonishing combat ability. Strength and Agility increased by 1.]
[Fought to the limit with a wounded body. Stamina increased by 2.]
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「Status Window」
[Name: Judah Arsher]
[Title: None]
[Level: 15]
[Job: Black Claw _ Shadow Magic Swordsman (Hidden A)]
[Revival Count: 1]
[Strength: 36 (D) / Potential A]
[Stamina: 37 (D) / Potential S]
[Agility: 31 (D) / Potential SS]
[Mana: 41 (C) / Potential B]
[Magic Resistance: 51 (C) / Potential S]
[Knowledge: 17 (F) / Potential B] ◀ Special
[Luck: 84 (A) / Potential S] ◀ Special
[Remaining Points: 14]
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As expected, nothing is as important as real combat. It was worth risking the danger. Even after pouring in months of time, it wouldn't properly give even 1 point, but after hunting Black Wolves for four days staking his life, a total of 4 points had risen.
Just looking at the status window filled him with pride. Above all, the fact that he had 14 remaining points brought a pleased smile to his face. Unfortunately, with Tia watching, he couldn't use the Heresy Arts. Thanks to that, the mana increase remained the same, but on the flip side, it had pushed his body hard, so his stamina had risen a lot. He figured he could allocate the remaining points appropriately based on future situations.
'If it keeps going like this, it should be pretty good, right?'
At just thirteen years old, no one else would have stats like these. A few characters came to mind at that thought, but since connections with them were far in the future, he pushed the idea aside. Anyway, they were numbers he could be satisfied with, but they were woefully insufficient to reach his target level. If he acquired some fragments, important stats like strength or agility could naturally head toward 100, but since he had to consider the possibility of not acquiring them, they felt lacking.
'It's fine. Just keep doing what I've been doing.'
He didn't know what had happened to make the Black Wolves gather in packs and head to the eastern forest, but thanks to it, he had gained quite a bit. He had nearly 120 wolf hides from skinning them, and adding the magic stones extracted from their bodies, he could probably expect a profit of several gold.
If it had stayed as simple grinding like in the early days, this wouldn't have been enough. He needed to raise all stats evenly, excluding knowledge and luck. No matter how high strength and agility were, if stamina was low, he'd collapse easily in prolonged battles later.
'In the end, it means I have to raise them all evenly, but...'
In a situation with high potential, distributing points early felt like a waste. But putting off point distribution forever would only lead to losses. It's not for nothing they say sparing too much turns it to shit. Whether distributing now or later would yield the same result, personally, he wanted to do it at appropriate times and situations.
After closing the status window, Judah added another log to the campfire and then opened 〈Records〉. To others, he might look like he was spacing out, but a holographic notepad appeared before his eyes alone.
At the top of the holographic notepad was a red-marked memo with only the title written, no content.
「Perlnen's Twenty-Four Hearts.」
The game's title and the reason he had entered this world. It was a memo he had written to not forget that fact. Whenever he opened 〈Records〉, it was placed in the most visible spot, so it always caught his eye first.
He still couldn't understand how he had ended up inside the game he had created.
Judah stared blankly at the title-only memo before shifting his gaze to others. He had stayed up all night recording crucial things he must never forget in the system notepad. And whenever he had time like this, he read through them bit by bit, correcting anything he thought was wrong or adding sudden recollections.
Time flew by. Sitting in the same position for so long had stiffened his body. When he moved slightly, his bones cracked—wooduk. To loosen up, he stretched and looked up, seeing the night sky's stars twinkling beautifully. Among them, the largest moon, the full moon, illuminated the darkened forest just a little. However, the forest, blocked by trees and foliage, remained pitch dark.
At that moment, faint rustling sounds—sabujak—came from afar, simultaneously from multiple directions. It wasn't a mishearing. Though coincidental, they were footsteps. He couldn't tell the direction, but something was approaching from the forest. When he looked at Tia to wake her, she was already awake inside her sleeping bag.
'Shh-'
She raised a finger, pressing her index to her lips with the motion.
A faint green glow emanated from her eyes. Tia slowly lowered the finger from her mouth. Understanding it meant to stay still, Judah naturally sat back down, pretending to watch the campfire while scanning the surroundings.
The forest lived up to its name as the Black Forest, shrouded in darkness, but moonlight pouring from the sky revealed patches here and there. Near them, red glowing eyes like Tia's appeared and vanished.
'Black Wolves...'
But they had never come at night like this. Moreover, the number of eyes briefly visible in the dark was enormous at a glance. Considering the killing intent pouring from all sides, at least four or five packs had come at once. Realizing the unusual situation, Tia seemed tense too. She quietly unzipped her sleeping bag and prepared to leap out at any moment.
'Should I use the Heresy Arts?'
Activating the Heresy Arts would reveal exact numbers and positions. He couldn't share the minimap, but he could tell her approximate numbers and locations, which would help her. But revealing what he'd hidden until now felt awkward. Still, he didn't think he needed to keep it secret even in this situation.
─Shadow Heresy Arts
──1st Form: Shadow Deployment
The moment he murmured quietly, the shadows dancing as if to the flickering campfire spread widely. The shadows instantly blackened the ground around them, startling Tia, who flinched as she watched the surroundings.
As the shadows deployed, they transmitted info on the wolves above the area. Like radar, a map showed red markers popping up—papapap, the expression fit perfectly. Judah's mouth fell open.
An insane number. He had thought at most four or five packs. But he was greatly mistaken.
'Crazy. Did they come for revenge?'
Roughly, there were at least 100. Tia alone could escape easily, but he doubted she could take him and get out safely. She seemed to sense it too, her expression stiff since earlier.
Sweat beaded on his palms. As he wondered when they would charge, suddenly one of the encircling Black Wolves approached. Confirming its position on the minimap, Judah drew his sword and stood.
"Sleep...!"
Faster than Tia could stop him. She clicked her tongue, slipped out of her sleeping bag, moved to his side while staying vigilant, and then she saw it too. A single Black Wolf slowly walking from the darkness into the campfire's light.
Why would these pack-hunting beasts reveal themselves in plain sight?
"Behind me."
Tia hid Judah at her back. In her hand was a small, sharp dagger smaller than his. She seemed ready to throw it if needed, but the wolf made no attack, just alternating glances between Judah and Tia before turning away.
Kyung!
Then, as if saying follow, it jerked its chin.
"......?"
A first-time behavior. The two blankly tried to decipher its meaning for a moment.
"Tia, is it what I'm thinking?"
"Well, this is a first for me too."
Was it luring them into lowering their guard? But it didn't seem likely. Judah pondered. Follow the wolf, or run from here?
"Roughly 100 are surrounding us. Can we escape?"
Tia questioned how he knew, but his eyes didn't seem to lie. It must be the effect of the shadows spread across the ground; she'd ask later. For now, she thought about his question.
"You want an honest answer?"
"Yes."
"It's tough. I thought it was possible with about forty, but double that at 100? No way out."
Tia's stealth eliminated body sounds, scents, and presence, but not footsteps. Silent movement was her specialty, but carrying Judah might make unintended noises.
Alone, it'd be easy. She could mock their encirclement, slip away, and hide in the dark to kill them all. But with Judah, everything got harder. Escaping with him was tough, and fighting while protecting him was too.
And Judah knew that well. If she had hesitated even briefly, he might have thought there was a chance, but her immediate answer meant there was only one way.
"Then, no choice."
"Fight?"
"No, let's follow. It's even waiting nicely."
As if to be kind, the Black Wolf sat and waited when they didn't follow right away. The wolves encircling the area seemed to watch without moving. But if they didn't follow, the attack would start with that one.
"......"
Tia's expression was thoughtful. She took a deep breath, suddenly pocketed her dagger, and began undressing.
"Tia?"
"Have to talk it out."
She neatly folded her clothes and handed them to Judah. As he stowed them in the 〈Bag〉, fur grew on her body, transforming her into a massive black tiger the size of a house. The wolves on the deployed shadows sensed her beastman form and stirred.
Kurrrung...
The wolf sitting arrogantly watching them stood at the sight of the beastman Tia, eyes wary. The black tiger Tia and the Black Wolf exchanged growls as if conversing. After a while, Tia let out an incredulous laugh and looked at Judah.
-Judah. These guys want a duel. What do you want to do?
"A duel?"
-Yeah. Win and they'll let us go safely; lose and no guarantee on your life.
Arrogant bastards, Tia muttered.
Then, a quest window like the tutorial message from when he first arrived in this world appeared before his eyes.
[A sudden quest has begun.]
[The Black Wolves realized there was a being hunting them in the forest and found the corpses of kin with skins peeled off.]
[They ignored the first one or two missing packs, but when many returned as cold corpses, they reported to the leader wolf 'Karkan.']
[Leader wolf 'Karkan' led the pack to kill you, their kin's murderer, but realizing from the corpses that you hunted them alone, it decided on a 1:1 duel.]
[This was reported to and permitted by 〈Requiem〉, king of all Black Wolves.]
[You must decide whether to follow them and accept the duel with leader wolf 'Karkan,' or fight desperately here.]
[Victory means survival, but defeat offers no guarantee of life.]