The Great Forest (2)
All monsters are creatures eroded by the Blessing of Madness. They’ve lost their sanity, their aggression has skyrocketed, and in exchange they’ve gained monstrous strength. Goblins abandoned restraint and now live purely on instinct, but in return they possess power that their scrawny bodies could never hope to contain. Horned Rabbits lost all anger management and now charge at anything that moves, yet they gained razor-sharp horns and blinding speed.
“Grrrr!”
If that’s the case, then what did the wild Elly… no, the Iron Wolf, lose and gain in return?
The Iron Wolf lost sexual pleasure. In exchange, it gained an insanely bulked-up body.
It wasn’t that they couldn’t get pregnant, couldn’t have sex and could only masturbate. They could still have sex, could still rub against trees to jerk off, and could still bear pups… but nothing ever felt good. The sex drive that had been amplified by the gender-reversal beam remained completely intact! They even still went into heat…! So of course they’d end up this ferocious.
“Poor thing. Today I’ll put an end to that miserable life of yours.”
I extended my left arm—the one with the crossbow attached—forward and kept my right hand, gripping the dagger, pulled back as I tensed my whole body. The Iron Wolf also lowered its stance, ready to pounce at any moment.
A brief standoff. But it didn’t last long.
“Die!”
I shouted loudly and kicked a pebble at my feet, launching it toward the Iron Wolf. The beast reflexively charged first.
“GRAAARGH!”
A bull-sized monster kicked off the ground and came barreling in. Easy to say, but seeing it barreling straight at you up close carried real pressure. Still, it was fine. Its speed wasn’t that impressive. It was slower than me, and even slower than a Horned Rabbit.
I grinned, lips curling up, and ran straight toward the Iron Wolf.
Tap!
The distance closed in an instant. The moment we were only a few steps from colliding—
“Hup!”
I pretended to charge head-on, then suddenly veered sideways. My trajectory bent almost ninety degrees, like someone had yanked me by the collar. It was only possible thanks to my light body, flexible joints, and quick agility.
The beast saw its prey slip sideways and tried to twist after me, but it was already too late. I had already reached its flank.
Since its base form was a four-legged wolf, it hesitated for a split second to change direction. I fired the wrist-mounted crossbow at its head, which had turned faster than its body.
The arrow flew true at close range and sank straight into the Iron Wolf’s eye.
Thud—
“KYAANG!”
The monster screamed and thrashed in agony. Having a seizure mid-turn, its legs tangled and it rolled across the ground. I darted in and slashed with my dagger.
My target was the soft inner throat. The outer fur was half-metallic and acted like armor, so I aimed for the comparatively tender inside.
Squish.
“Damn it.”
Maybe its hide was as thick as its massive body. Even though I’d targeted the softer inner layer, the dagger wouldn’t pierce. It left only a shallow scratch.
My strength was lacking, and the weapon itself wasn’t sharp enough. The Iron Wolf, feeling something touch its neck, snapped back to its senses and tried to bite my hand.
“Not a chance!”
I yanked my hand back and quickly assessed the beast’s condition. Its body was perfectly fine. It hadn’t even sprained a leg from the tumble. The only wound was the arrow in its eye. So its fur was tough, but its eyes were normal. Figures.
I hurled the dagger at the Iron Wolf as it twisted and tried to stand.
Swooosh—THUNK!
“KYAANG! KYANG!”
More than half the blade had buried itself in the other eye. The creature’s eyes were huge, so the target wasn’t hard to hit. Now completely blind, the Iron Wolf somehow got to its feet but couldn’t adapt to the sudden darkness. It crouched, warily scanning its surroundings.
A normal animal would have fled by now, but this one still wanted to fight. Yeah, a monster’s a monster.
Keeping a safe distance, I threw the lasso rope I’d coiled at my waist. It wrapped perfectly around its head just like when I’d used it on those punks before… but the creature was so massive that the rope caught on its forehead instead of tightening around its neck. At best, it only made it harder for the wolf to open its jaws.
Still, that was enough.
“Grrruuuh!”
The beast shook its head wildly, trying to shake off the rope. It looked like it was trying to pull the cord free, but I jerked the line in sync with its movements, interfering. Of course, the gap in raw power meant I was the one getting dragged around… but that was actually better.
Instead of fighting the pull, I threw myself forward. The momentum carried me flying straight toward it. At the perfect moment I kicked off the ground and landed squarely on the Iron Wolf’s back.
“Grrruuu…!”
The instant I mounted it, the beast began bucking violently, trying to throw me off. It felt like I was in a life-or-death rodeo… but having an agile body also meant I possessed the reflexes and balance to match.
“Ahaha!”
I swayed my hips in perfect sync with the Iron Wolf’s wild thrashing. My lower body was busy, but my upper body remained perfectly still. Calmly, I pressed my hand against the beast’s nose and drew up the mana I had steadily increased by consuming countless mana herbs.
“Weak Flame.”
Weak Flame
Whoosh!
“Grrruuh?!”
The firepower was still modest. But it was more than enough to scorch the wolf’s moist nose. Flames erupted from my palm.
“Kyaang! Grrruuh… Krrraaah!”
This wasn’t rage anymore—it was a desperate struggle for survival. The Iron Wolf flipped over, rubbing its back against the ground, slamming into trees, doing everything it could to shake me off. Yet every time, I shifted from its back to its side, sometimes even leaping, always managing to keep my hand pressed to its nose.
Humans are weird for being able to breathe comfortably through both nose and mouth. Most mammals can’t do mouth-breathing easily, if at all. And this one had its jaws half-sealed by the rope.
The Iron Wolf’s nose was charred and blistered. The only thing entering its narrowed nostrils now was scorching heat and the smoke of its own burning flesh. Its violent resistance gradually slowed, and eventually its body went limp.
The rebellious growling grew weaker and weaker until it fell completely silent. Just to be safe, I kept the Weak Flame going a little longer. After confirming there was no reaction for over ten seconds, I finally removed my hand.
A hollow feeling, like two-thirds of my mana had been sucked away. But I hadn’t reached mana exhaustion. All that diligent mana-herb eating had paid off.
A deep sense of satisfaction welled up from my chest. I shouted it out loud.
“Elly, cut!!”
“I told you I’m not Senior Elly.”
Rydia let out a long sigh, her greatsword already drawn and ready to jump in at any moment.
“Still, you did well. Honestly, even I thought Yona would struggle this time.”
“I was genuinely shocked myself. I never expected the dagger to fail completely even when I aimed for the softer inner hide.”
“Yes. After getting used to killing other creatures by fighting goblins, and getting used to party play against Horned Rabbits, Iron Wolves are the monsters that teach you how to fight enemies stronger than yourself.”
That made sense. Compared to goblins or Horned Rabbits, the Iron Wolf felt like it simply had overwhelmingly superior raw specs.
“Just out of curiosity… how do people usually hunt Iron Wolves? You don’t all suffocate them by burning their noses like I did, right?”
“No, that’s actually one of the standard methods. If there’s a mage or spirit user in the party, the most efficient way is to block the nose and mouth from range and suffocate it.”
“Ooh…”
“But mages and spirit users are rare, so it’s not a common sight. Cases like yours—getting in close and burning the nose directly—are even rarer.”
“Then what’s the most commonly used method?”
“Blunt weapons.”
“Huh?”
“Iron Wolves are called Iron Wolves because their bodies are as tough as steel. At the level of first-floor adventurers, blades have a hard time cutting them. So you beat them to death.”
“…With hide that thick, wouldn’t beating them to death be difficult too?”
“Then you just keep beating them until they die.”
Good grief. A living wolf cutlet. What a terrifying hunting method.
“You should remember this too, Yona. Bladed weapons are effective, but there are surprisingly many monsters they don’t work on.”
“True. If even an Iron Wolf is this bad, I’d probably cry if we ran into golems or skeletons.”
A big weapon like a greatsword would be better. You could just use it like a club and accept some edge damage. But if you used daggers like me, you’d be better off picking up random rocks from the ground.
“But isn’t using a weapon you’ve never trained with more dangerous? Even I don’t have any confidence handling a blunt weapon properly if you told me to.”
“Do you know the best thing about blunt weapons?”
“What?”
“You can swing them however you want. That’s why there’s swordsmanship but no hammer or club techniques.”
“……”
Come to think of it, she was right. Blunt weapons were the kind where grip was the only thing that really mattered, and even that was universal across all weapons anyway.
“Maybe I should prepare one as a secondary weapon…”
“No. You don’t need to, Yona.”
“Huh? You just said there are situations where blunt weapons are necessary.”
“The reason you can swing them however you want is because their mass itself is the weapon. But you can’t lift heavy weapons, can you?”
“Ah…”
“Even if you somehow could, you’d need to swing them hard to make it meaningful. Wouldn’t you get exhausted after just a few swings?”
She was right. Thanks to hunting every monster I came across, my overall specs had grown noticeably every time I left the labyrinth… but all the growth had gone into stamina and agility. This time I’d killed it with magic, so maybe my mana had increased a bit too.
I nodded, feeling slightly dejected, when Rydia patted my shoulder as if to comfort me.
“Yona is still a baby.”
“Wah…”
Yona the wildcat!