Chapter 7
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Translator: MJK
Chapter: 007
Chapter Title: Mercy
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Andy stared intently at the wolf.
The wolf was in a submissive posture.
It looked up at Andy with pitiful eyes, almost as if begging for its life.
The boy pondered.
‘Should I kill it or spare it...’
This massive wolf—let it live or kill it?
The boy gazed at the wolf, lost in thought for a long while.
In the end, Andy had no choice but to loosen his grip on the sickle.
‘I can’t kill it.’
Those pitiful eyes made it impossible to summon the resolve to strike.
If it had glared at him with hostility to the very end, maybe. But he had no desire to kill a beast that was clearly submitting.
Andy slowly lowered the hand holding the sickle.
-Whine...!
The wolf then frantically rubbed its face against the boy’s legs and side, as if thanking him for sparing its life.
Andy chuckled.
“Cute.”
The wolf’s behavior was undeniably adorable.
A beast larger than most men, acting so playfully affectionate.
Hard to believe this was the same monster that had mowed down dozens of grown men single-handedly.
As Andy watched it,
“Ah! What about the people?”
The thought of the fallen villagers suddenly hit him.
Andy moved around, checking on everyone’s condition.
Dozens of people lay scattered here and there, collapsed after fleeing. He placed his hand on their necks to check their breathing.
The results were astonishing.
‘They’re all fine.’
Their breathing was steady, their complexions relatively calm. Just temporarily knocked out from the electrocution—no life-threatening injuries.
It was nothing short of a miracle. Surviving a direct monster attack like that.
‘Good. For the people... and for this wolf too.’
If even one had died, Andy would have killed the wolf in the end.
He was soft-hearted enough to hesitate over taking a life, but not so much that he’d spare a beast that had killed humans.
Fortunately, no one had perished. They were merely unconscious.
Andy turned his gaze to the wolf.
“You didn’t kill them on purpose, did you?”
For dozens of people to fight a monster and emerge without a single fatality—that was far too deliberate.
Even if the lightning had spread widely without focusing, to have no deaths and only mild knockouts...
Too bizarre to chalk up to coincidence.
It felt like the wolf had calibrated the lightning’s power from the start—just enough not to kill humans.
Suddenly, Andy thought of one person in particular.
“What about Tom?”
Tom had been bitten by the wolf, so Andy had assumed the worst. A kid chomped by a wolf had slim odds of survival.
But this monster had shown restraint, sparing dozens of intruders without killing any.
If it held back on killing, then maybe Tom was still alive.
Andy approached the wolf and said,
“Take me to Tom.”
-?
“The kid you kidnapped. A bit taller than me, freckles, brown curly hair.”
Andy stood before the wolf, gesturing wildly as he described Tom’s appearance and probed for his location.
It was a foolish thing to do.
How could an animal understand human speech?
Not a trained dog, but a wild wolf—there was no way it could comprehend.
But for some reason...
-Woof.
The wolf nodded.
As if it understood him perfectly.
‘Did it really get what I said?’
Maybe because it was a monster, sharper than ordinary beasts. Or perhaps just his imagination.
As Andy marveled, the wolf staggered to its feet and struck a pose—back lowered, head tilted. As if...
“...You want me to ride?”
Inviting him onto its back.
Andy let out a hollow laugh.
Deep into the night, a white wolf raced through the forest.
The wolf was enormous.
Larger than a horse, with glossy pure-white fur and a sharp horn protruding from its forehead.
A wolf-type monster, barreling wildly through the darkened woods.
But it wasn’t alone.
A single boy rode atop its back.
“Waaah!”
The boy—Andy—let out a shrill scream.
At his request to guide him to Tom, the wolf had offered its back.
He’d hesitated but ultimately climbed on.
Fear gripped him at the thought of riding a powerful monster, yet curiosity burned just as strong.
Riding a monster’s back instead of a horse—what an incredible chance. An experience most people wouldn’t have in a lifetime.
Unable to resist, the boy entrusted himself to the beast.
And now he regretted it fiercely.
‘Too fast!’
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
Freed from paralysis, the wolf charged down the moonlit mountain path. Bushes and trees whipped past in an instant, wind battering his entire body.
Unbelievable speed. Pure, overwhelming athletic prowess.
It crossed the dim trail in the blink of an eye.
-Grip.
Tense Andy clutched the wolf’s fur tightly.
The wind rushing past terrified him. The scenery blurring by felt utterly unreal.
He was awestruck that a living creature could move this fast.
‘If it had fought like a normal wolf—pure physical combat without magic... I never could’ve beaten it.’
Andy’s victory had hinged on turning the wolf’s lightning magic against it.
He hadn’t formed a circle yet—couldn’t cast spells on his own.
If the wolf-type monster had skipped the lightning and rushed in melee, Andy wouldn’t have resisted at all. He’d have been done for.
It was a stroke of immense luck that it had relied on supernatural powers over brute strength.
-Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
The wolf sped along the mountain path.
In just over ten minutes, it climbed from the base nearly to the summit.
A trek that would take ordinary people hours, covered in moments.
And then.
‘We there?’
The wolf came to a halt.
It slowly lowered its body, signaling him to dismount.
Andy carefully slid off and surveyed the surroundings.
The night hadn’t yet given way to dawn, so darkness lingered, but strong moonlight allowed him to make out the vague shapes.
Scanning about, he spotted it without much trouble.
“A cave.”
A natural cavern mouth.
Wolf tracks littered the area, along with fresh drag marks from something heavy.
Undoubtedly the den. Tom had to be inside.
Step, step.
Andy ventured into the cave.
The beastly musk grew thicker the deeper he went, confirming it as a wolf den.
“So dark...”
The interior was pitch black, as expected.
Midnight hours, no external light—once the faint moonlight faded, nothing but utter darkness remained.
Yet Andy pressed on without issue.
He could sense the space through senses beyond mere sight.
‘Mana Sensing.’
His soul communed with the surrounding mana.
His mastery of Mana Sensing had reached a considerable level.
Andy felt the ambient mana, mapping the cave’s structure in the gloom.
As detailed as sight—nay, even more so. He read the terrain with precision.
Enveloped in inky blackness where nothing was visible, he advanced without a single misstep, guided by Mana Sensing.
At last.
“Tom.”
Andy finally found him.
Deep inside the cave, the boy lay collapsed and unconscious.
He approached, grabbed Tom’s shoulder, and shook.
“Tom. Wake up.”
“Ugh... uuh... that voice—Andy?”
Rustle. Tom groaned softly.
Regaining consciousness, he jolted in shock.
“Wh-what happened? Where are we?! Why can’t I see anything?!”
“Came to rescue you. It’s a cave—that’s why it’s dark.”
“I was definitely bitten by the wolf...”
“Let’s get out first. I’ll explain later.”
Andy supported Tom as they headed out.
Unable to pierce the darkness, Tom kept stumbling, but with Andy’s aid and guidance, they made it outside somehow.
Once out,
Andy’s first move was to search for the wolf-type monster.
But...
‘Gone.’
The monster that had carried him here was nowhere in sight.
No trace of the white wolf anywhere he looked.
It had left.
Andy muttered to himself inwardly.
‘Parting ways just like that? Kinda heartless.’
He’d been looking forward to Tom’s shocked reaction, but oh well.
Not terribly disappointed, though. For some reason, he had a gut feeling they’d cross paths again someday.
“Let’s go.”
Andy led Tom down the mountain.
Unlike the swift ride up on the wolf’s back, the descent dragged on quite a while.
Andy found himself missing that scary-yet-blazingly-fast wolf mount.
The long night finally ended.
As dawn began to break.
“There! It’s Tom and Andy!”
“...!”
Andy had brought Tom down the mountain to the site of the wolf battle.
Perhaps the passage of time— the villagers who’d been knocked out had all regained consciousness.
Spotting Andy and Tom, they hurried over.
“Andy! You brought Tom back—how’d you find him?!”
“Damn, passed out cold—have no clue what went down.”
“Where’s that monster?”
The villagers were plunged into confusion.
It was understandable.
They’d faced the monster head-on, struck by its lightning and blacked out.
In that falling moment, they’d surely sensed death. Hit by a monster’s attack—survival seemed impossible.
But no. They hadn’t died.
Waking from unconsciousness, they realized they were still alive.
Confusion reigned. Why had they survived?
“What the hell happened? Andy, you brought Tom, so you must know something. Spill it.”
They pressed Andy for answers.
Curious what had transpired while they were out, and how he’d retrieved Tom.
Andy thought it over.
‘Can’t tell the truth, huh?’
No one would believe it anyway.
That he’d hijacked the monster’s powers to subdue it, forced its submission, then ridden its back all the way to the den and back.
To them, Andy was just an orphan kid. How could they buy that he’d taken down a monster?
Even if they did believe, it’d spell trouble.
If word got out that a mere orphan had learned magic, who knew what might happen.
‘I don’t have enough power yet... They could seize the book—or worse, kill me.’
Pessimistic, perhaps, but not impossible.
He lacked proper strength now.
No circle formed, so he couldn’t cast alone.
If they learned he’d studied magic yet remained so weak?
The villagers might treat him as a prized talent with magical aptitude.
Or they might fear him growing into a threat later and eliminate him now.
Andy figured the latter more likely.
Considering how he’d been treated in the village all this time... he had no choice but to conclude as much.
‘Yeah, I need to hide that I’m a mage.’
He’d reveal it only when he had the power to protect himself.
Resolved, Andy opened his mouth.