The Lycanthrope

After finishing with Baek Hwayeon, I had given her an order.

When she drew her bow, she was to consciously pour more power into every shot.

Originally she could concentrate all her mana and loose ten arrows. With her mana now five times greater, simple arithmetic said she should be able to fire fifty mana arrows.

But if her attack power still couldn't pierce a Red Devil's skull, none of that would mean a thing. The same would hold true no matter how much more mana she gained in the future. Even if she could only fire a single shot, she had to put everything she had into that attack. That was how ranged combat worked.

Between the squats and sex with me, her lower body had been completely spent for a while. So I had predicted she would stay in bed until this morning, and ordered her to replay my words in her head hundreds—thousands—of times and run image training.

Would she actually land a proper attack the way I intended?

The Werewolf that had been visible in the distance came charging at us at tremendous speed.

Kim Isol ignored what I had said and drew her sword. Honestly, that was the right call. Baek Hwayeon's attack might fail, after all.

I watched Baek Hwayeon concentrating her mana, heart tight with tension. The bow in her hands—and the arrow itself—were all wrapped in pure white light.

And then—

Whoosh—!

The fully drawn bowstring released, and the air itself trembled. Baek Hwayeon's mana arrow cut through the wind in a perfect straight line.

—Thud!

A clean, exact hit. Against a moving target, no less—satisfyingly thorough.

"What… the?"

"Whoa…"

"No way…"

I looked at my teammates standing there with their mouths hanging open and felt a warm, quiet satisfaction. A round hole had opened near the heart of the Werewolf struck by the mana arrow. I would have to get closer to confirm, but the arrow had completely pierced through it. The charging Werewolf collapsed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right where it stood without managing a single thing.

"Well done. Keep ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠doing it exactly like that. How's your remaining mana?"

"I'm fine. I think I can shoot about as many as usual."

That meant she could fire another eight or nine shots. I had no intention of taking Baek Hwayeon's word completely at face value, but this was her own body—she would know better than anyone. If she was right, that single strike had burned through roughly five times her usual mana. At this level, it was more than enough not just for F-rank dungeons, but E-rank ones as well.

"What the hell? How did that happen? You did something again, didn't you?"

Kim Isol was the first to rush over. I had already predicted this reaction—Baek Hwayeon, who until now had been able to do nothing, suddenly getting strong. Lee Donggeul, who had been standing beside me, also tugged on my arm. She clearly wanted to ask something. Jang Yong in particular still seemed not to believe what I had said on Monday; he looked back and forth between the suddenly stronger Baek Hwayeon and Lee Donggeul, then met my eyes.

"Anyone can get stronger if they have the will to become strong."

Of course, limited to women.

The way Jang Yong looked at me after hearing that was uncomfortable.

Sorry, but not you. Get lost.

"Um… Team Leader."

Lee Donggeul kept tugging my arm, looking like she wanted to whisper something. I left the teammates eyeing me and Baek Hwayeon with open suspicion behind and put a little distance between us and her. Her round, soft voice slipped along the curve of my ear.

"Did you suck on Baek Hwayeon's breasts too?"

What the hell is this girl saying.

Heat rushed to my face. I had sucked on them, but why ask so bluntly? I debated how to answer and settled on the most appropriate word.

"It's a secret."

"What? That's so mean."

"Huh? What is?"

"But… I healed your hand too…"

"And I'm grateful for that."

"……"

I stroked the dejected Lee Donggeul's head to soothe her.

What is this? I never dreamed she'd react like this.

"So you don't like me?"

"No… but…"

"Let's talk about this later. We have a boss to hunt today, so focus. The most important thing in combat is your healing, Donggeul, so no wandering thoughts."

"Okaaay…"

I had emphasized her importance, but her expression did not brighten much. Well, what could I do? The wheel of my fate was already rolling toward a harem world.

While I was dealing with Lee Donggeul, the other three were even worse. Jang Yong and Kim Isol had surrounded Baek Hwayeon and were trying to pry everything out of her, but given Hwayeon's personality she was not the type to open her mouth freely in that kind of situation—they looked ready to die of frustration. I approached to help her out a little.

"That's enough. Why are you harassing our Baek Hwayeon? She just overcame her trauma so magnificently and achieved this growth."

"Trauma?"

"Yes. She originally had plenty of mana, but because of trauma she hasn't been able to show her true ability until now. I just helped her a little."

As I said this, I casually checked Kim Isol's expression. She looked full of things she wanted to say, but seemed to be holding back because people were around. But she must have looked at Baek Hwayeon and thought she could get stronger too, right? Obviously. That was why she was staring daggers at me like that.

"Alright—let's hurry back into the forest. You know the saying. To catch a tiger, you have to enter the tiger's den."

I predicted we would encounter the Lycan sooner than expected. Yesterday the wolf howls had come from deep in the forest; today they had been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠heard even from the tents near the gate. That meant the thing might already be out near the forest entrance. Of course there was no sign or door labeled "forest entrance." Just the boundary where the grassland met the trees. That boundary alone stretched for several kilometers, so luck would have to be on our side. Otherwise there was a high chance other companies would snatch it.

But luck, when it comes, sometimes comes all at once.

Suddenly a sound rang in my ears. It was coming from right near us.

Howling.

The Lycan's roar was rising from close to the forest we were heading toward. My heart suddenly started pounding. We looked at each other and nodded. Time to steel ourselves. A being on a completely different level from the Werewolves we had faced so far.

"Please remember what I explained. The real reason that thing is dangerous is the high probability it won't be alone. And never follow it into the forest. We have to lure it outside and kill it."

"Just now you said to go into the tiger's den…"

"We have to go to where it is to meet it first. That doesn't mean we have to hunt it inside the den, does it?"

"Yes. Understood."

Only Jang Yong answered, but everyone got it. If we fought it inside the forest, dozens of Werewolves smelling their kin's blood might come charging out. Jang Yong could not tank that many, and Baek Hwayeon's attacks would also be hard to use among the trees.

Like on the first day, I picked up a Werewolf head and followed behind Jang Yong, who took the lead. Hopefully this head would work on that thing too. If we dragged this out, the Blue Dolphin guys would come barging in from behind—and even without that, it was questionable how long our team's mana would hold. So my plan was to hunt the bare minimum of Werewolves, drag the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Lycan out of the forest, take it down, and get out fast.

Ah… If I'd known we'd meet the Lycan, maybe I should have boosted the mana of the ones with high Synchronization Rates a bit more?

The first boss fight in my dungeon expedition history. Whether from nerves or lack of preparation, only negative thoughts kept surfacing. I shook my head, struggling to cast them off.

Believe I can do this. Believe in myself and believe in these guys. I still have a hidden ace up my sleeve, after all. The problem is how tricky it is to use.

It was cool enough that a chilling aura seemed to be seeping out from deeper in the forest. My heart was tight with tension. The wolf howls had definitely been loud around here. While we waited after throwing the Werewolf head, the tension seemed to double every second.

Gulp.

I swallowed dry saliva. Now that the moment was here, far from calming the Awoken, I was the one trembling the most.

Believe in my ability. And believe in the C-rank suit. This suit isn't C-rank for nothing, right? It's C-rank, not F-rank, so taking a hit or two from the Lycan won't kill me. There's a shield too. As long as I don't die, there's Lee Donggeul's healing.

I turned my gaze to Lee Donggeul—she was trembling too from the nerves.

Ah, I should have looked sooner. Seeing someone else tense up somehow eases my own nerves.

"It'll be here soon. Focus!"

I said it while stroking Lee Donggeul's head. Baek Hwayeon already had her bowstring drawn. If her first attack hit, the fight would tip heavily in our favor. Being a boss, we could not drop it in one shot—but fighting an injured one was obviously better.

Clang—! Clang—!

As the surroundings grew noisy, Jang Yong struck his shield with his sword. Everything so far was exactly as I had explained beforehand. Would the thing appear all at once? If we kept fighting only Werewolves, our mana might run dry before we even met it.

Grrrrr.

A pack of growling Werewolves burst out of the forest. Three, four, five… six of them. Still no sign of the Lycan. Having faced Werewolves freely over the past two days, the team hunted well on their own without any special instructions from me. In an instant, six monster corpses.

"The boss?"

"If we're lucky, it'll come out soon."

Confirming there was no Lycan, Jang Yong deliberately tanked close to the forest. Having dropped Werewolves in that position, the smell of their blood would be much thicker than with just one head. Before long, whether boss or Werewolves, they would come charging in a frenzy.

Crack.

Then suddenly came the sound of a tree breaking. Whether living wood or not, it was a sound so sharp it felt like my own bones had snapped—and right nearby. If the forest had not been so dark, we might have seen it through the trees, that close. Then came the sound of trees colliding with each other. A creature with enough strength to snap fairly thick trees in one go. So it was going to appear after all.

"Ready!"

The clashing of metal started again, hammering our eardrums, and Werewolves charged out through the dense trees. This was bad. There were quite a few this time. Could Jang Yong handle the Lycan and those things at the same time?

"Hwayeon—it'll be out soon."

Baek Hwayeon drew her bowstring again. The previous attack had been wasted on a Werewolf; this time she had to aim precisely at the Lycan.

"Fall back!"

I shouted loudly. I had to alert Jang Yong, who was tanking and could not see it—that a massive shadow had just been visible through the trees. At my signal, Jang Yong and Kim Isol sprinted toward the grassland, with about twenty Werewolves hot on their heels. Meanwhile Lee Donggeul, Baek Hwayeon, and I had been dozens of meters from the forest from the start, so we were fine as we were.

After confirming Jang Yong's position, I looked back at the forest with a tense heart. But the massive shadow I had glimpsed a moment ago had vanished without a trace.

Where did it go?

—Whoosh!

Right then, Baek Hwayeon's arrow cut through the air right beside me. Even while I had turned my gaze, she had not lost track of the shadow in the forest. I would praise her later.

Kuaaaargh—!

Even at a glance, a monster's cry. Something that had been screaming—whether hit by Baek Hwayeon's arrow or not—burst out of the forest. And of all places, it was charging straight toward where we stood. Coming at Baek Hwayeon, who had shot the bow?

A massive body well over two meters tall. A humanoid monster covered head to toe in wolf fur. A creature with enough presence to be the leader of the Werewolves was charging straight at me. Exactly like the one from the videos.

Still okay so far. I'd predicted this much. Jang Yong, who'd heard the monster's scream just now, would come running this way right away…

That stupid bastard!?

Jang Yong, who should have been running over this instant, was surrounded by Werewolves and could not move—with the Lycan charging straight at me right before my eyes.

Slash—!

Sharp claws swept through the air. The Lycan swinging its right hand. The target was not me. What it attacked was Baek Hwayeon. I watched the scene unfold right beside me. Baek Hwayeon's bow flew into the air, and her body was sent tumbling several meters backward through the air.

Heal… she needs healing. Hurry! Donggeul, hurry!… Then what do I do?

The thing's head slowly turned toward me. I needed to run right now, but my feet would not move.

Am I completely useless? Do I just die like this?

No. I have a hidden ace.

On Monday, when Kim Isol failed to finish a Werewolf in one blow and it still had breath left—when I stabbed a dagger into its shoulder, I had confirmed something. I thrust my fingers into the Lycan's left arm right beside me. It was almost pure instinct. Blood gushed from its left arm—the spot where Baek Hwayeon's arrow had punched a hole. I had imagined this scene countless times since Monday. I just never thought it would become reality. When would I ever be standing this close to a monster?

The fingers I had thrust into its arm were instantly soaked wet. The monster's blood soaked into the C-rank mana-coated suit and penetrated inside. The blood touched my bare skin.

And I—

Could check its information.

I had no interest in any of the other information, and no need for it. I was simply going to erase the mana it possessed.