The Weight of a Beast
Ranks. The next day, our platoon began a cautious sweep of the surrounding area.
“Hold up.” Rolls raised his hand, bringing the entire platoon to a halt. His gaze was locked on a set of deep tracks gouged into the damp moss covering the forest floor.
Tae-oh crouched beside him and measured the size of the print. It was larger than two adult male palms put together.
“Is this from a wolf?”
“Not just any wolf. It’s either a ‘Dire Wolf’ or a ‘War Wolf’ modified by the Empire bastards. Look at how deep those claws dug in. This thing weighs at least five hundred kilos.”
Rolls’ expression was more serious than it had ever been. Tae-oh swallowed hard as he stared at the tracks.
“F-five hundred kilos?”
“Yeah. You’d need six or seven guys our size to even have a chance.”
In the game, these were monsters you could kill with a few mouse clicks. But facing the traces of a real magical beast in the flesh brought an overwhelming sense of terror.
“What do you do if you run into something like this?”
Rolls answered without a second’s hesitation.
“You run.”
“Run?”
Rolls asked, sounding almost disgusted. “Why? You wanna try fighting it?”
“Can’t I? We’ve got weapons, don’t we?”
At Tae-oh’s words, Rolls let out a low, mocking chuckle.
“What a load of bullshit. Swordsmanship? Sure, I’ll admit you’ve got freakish instincts. But that’s exactly the problem. Can you kill it in one blow or not?”
Tae-oh swallowed again.
“The second you fail to end a magical beast with a single strike, you die to one swing of its paw while you’re still flailing. That’s what a human body is worth.”
“But people do hunt them. Knights and mercenaries take them down, right?”
Rolls clicked his tongue.
“Tsk. That’s only after dozens of men drive them into nets and traps. To take one of these things in a one-on-one fight, you’d need to at least be able to use Aura.”
“Aura…”
Tae-oh’s eyes sparkled. So it really existed. The flower of fantasy—the power that dramatically boosted physical ability and wrapped a blade in energy.
“So Aura does exist.”
“Of course it does. That’s why knights are monsters. It only manifests after grueling training that carves away at your bones or through an innate bloodline. It’s not something grunts like us can even dream about.”
Rolls clicked his tongue again and stood up.
“So if you run into a magical beast, just pray the damn thing’s already full.”
But as he listened to Rolls’ warning, Tae-oh felt his fighting spirit ignite instead. Aura. If he had that, neither magical beasts nor assassins would be frightening. And right now, he possessed senses forged through hundreds of deaths.
There has to be a way.
The search continued for several days. The deeper they went into the forest, the darker it became, and the air grew thick with the sour stench of beasts.
“…Damn it, the numbers are increasing. Right?” Tae-oh asked quietly.
“Yeah. Fuck, this is insane.” Rolls spat out a curse.
What had started as the tracks of one or two creatures had multiplied into dozens the farther they pushed into the woods.
“At this rate, it’s not a scouting party—they’re building a magical beast legion. Have the Empire bastards developed some way to tame them?”
The number of magical beasts the Empire controlled defied common sense. Capturing and taming wild ones required enormous time and money. Yet here in this forest, the creatures were roaming free like they were in some kind of breeding pen.
That was when it happened.
“Captain, over there…”
Rian pointed ahead with a trembling hand. Tae-oh and Rolls held their breath and ducked behind a tree. In the open clearing beyond, an Imperial encampment came into view. And what they saw there was almost impossible to believe.
Giant wolves with black fur were moving under the soldiers’ control. Thick iron chains were fastened around their necks, and their eyes glowed a bloody crimson.
So those are War Wolves…
The sight was overwhelming. Their massive bodies were the size of Siberian tigers, their fangs like blades. If dozens of them charged at once, an entire company would be turned into chunks of meat in seconds.
But Tae-oh’s eyes weren’t fixed on the wolves’ teeth. They were locked on the space above their heads.
Hearts!
His heart pounded violently. Floating clearly above the heads of the Empire’s tamed War Wolves were vivid red hearts—the same ones he had seen above the rainbow rabbit. The crystallized essence of life force, present in both humans and animals. And now, they hovered above magical beasts as well.
Shit. But these aren’t pushovers like the rainbow rabbit. How the hell do I kill them?
Just as Rolls had said, one-on-one combat was suicide. And the area was crawling with Imperial soldiers.
Still… I have to do it.
Tae-oh’s eyes sharpened. His first objective had changed. The absolute top priority was now to kill a magical beast and claim its heart. Only by gathering hearts could he take bolder risks and grow stronger faster.
He signaled Rolls. They needed to pull back and come up with a plan.
Crunch—
It happened in that instant. Perhaps from nerves, Kyle’s foot snapped a dry branch. In the silence of the forest, the sound rang out like thunder.
“!!!”
The ears of the War Wolves in the clearing perked up. Dozens of blood-red eyes snapped toward the bushes where Tae-oh’s platoon was hiding.
“Grrrrr…”
A low, rumbling growl. Imperial soldiers drew their weapons and shouted.
“There are rats! Get them!”
“God damn it!”
Tae-oh cursed as he sprang to his feet.
“We’ve been spotted! Everyone, combat formation!”
There was nowhere to run. War Wolves were faster than horses. The moment they turned their backs, they’d be caught and torn apart by the throat.
“Rolls! Take the kids and form a circular defense! Don’t let them break through!”
“What about you!”
“I’ll draw their attention!”
Without hesitation, Tae-oh charged forward. Since it had come to this, he decided to fight to the end.
One heart is worth it. But I won’t die for nothing. I’ll gather intel and then die!
As Tae-oh burst out of the forest into the clearing, five Imperial soldiers rushed toward him. They were wearing the armor of elite troops.
“Just one guy? Has he lost his mind!”
The soldier in the lead raised his sword high, aiming for Tae-oh’s head. A heavy downward slash. A textbook yet powerful strike.
But something strange happened in Tae-oh’s eyes.
…What the hell?
The trajectory of the descending sword was impossibly clear. As if watching in slow motion, he could see every detail—the contraction of the man’s shoulder muscles, the twist of his wrist.
Why is it so slow?
Before he could even feel surprised, his body moved on its own. His muscles reacted before his mind could think. The evasive maneuvers he had drilled into himself after being beaten thousands of times by Rolls.
Swish—
Tae-oh tilted his head slightly. The Imperial soldier’s sword brushed past the bridge of his nose.
“Huh?”
The soldier’s eyes widened. His perfectly timed attack had cut through empty air, throwing off his balance. Tae-oh didn’t miss the opening.
“Gap.”
His sword drew a graceful arc and slipped into the gap at the man’s throat.
Slice—
He didn’t even need to put much strength behind it. It was simply the point where the soldier’s forward momentum met Tae-oh’s blade. All he had to do was place the sword there.
Dodging the fountain of blood that erupted, Tae-oh flowed into his next movement.
This is the feeling.
The senses that had let him block the assassin’s invisible dagger. The reflexes that had let him dodge Rolls’ irregular strikes with a wooden sword. Compared to those, the elite Imperial soldiers before him were painfully honest and slow.
“W-what the hell is this guy!”
When their comrade fell in an instant, the remaining four attacked at once. Spears and swords closed in on Tae-oh from every direction. Any normal recruit would have frozen in terror.
But this situation felt familiar to Tae-oh. Fighting the assassin had been far more hopeless and blindingly fast.
Left spear, low. Right sword, horizontal slash. Behind… presence. First attack, parry!
Tae-oh felt like he had become the protagonist of a Souls-like game. He parried the first strike to break their balance, twisted left to dodge the spear, stepped on the shaft to launch himself, and leaped over the right-hand sword. It was as if he were following a perfectly memorized strategy guide—impossible, predetermined movements.
Spinning in mid-air, he slammed the pommel of his sword down on the helmet of the man approaching from behind.
Clang—!
“Guh!!”
The helmet crumpled, and the soldier collapsed. The moment he landed, Tae-oh spun low and executed a sweeping slash.
Shiiing—!
“Aaaagh! My legs!”
Two soldiers clutched their legs and fell. It was over in an instant. In less than ten seconds, five elite Imperial soldiers had been neutralized.
Even Tae-oh was shocked.
What the hell? Am I really this strong?
The Imperial soldiers screamed at Tae-oh’s monstrous display of power.
“What the hell is that monster! Knight-level! He’s knight-level!”
The Imperial sergeant who had been watching from behind shouted in horror.
Tae-oh flicked the blood from his blade and glared at the sergeant.
“That’s right, you bastards. I’m the knight who’s going to send you all to hell. Next.”
At those words, the Imperial soldiers’ morale shattered. Overwhelming force breeds fear. And Tae-oh knew exactly how to use that fear.
“Captain! Behind you!”
Kyle’s scream rang out. Before Tae-oh could even turn his head, a massive killing intent slammed into him from behind. It was a War Wolf. The moment the soldiers fell, they had released the chains and unleashed the beasts.
“GRAAAWR!”
A wolf the size of a house swung its forepaw at Tae-oh. Its razor-sharp claws were like longswords.
“Kgh!!”
Clang—!
He barely managed to block with his sword, but just as Rolls had warned, the sheer mass and speed were impossible for a human to withstand. Tae-oh’s body was sent flying through the air.
In the game, it would have been nothing more than one monster. But facing it in reality, it was nothing short of a disaster.