A Fortuitous Encounter (2)
What is the most dangerous thing in the wild?
The infamous "Three Venoms"—poisonous plants, venomous insects, and deadly snakes? That was certainly true. Or perhaps wild mushrooms, the ultimate gamble of nature's Russian roulette? That was true as well. What about dehydration or starvation? Spot on again.
Once you stepped beyond the protective fence of civilization, everything in the wild became lethal. Even the ground beneath your boots was fraught with peril. When stripped down to their bare biology, humans were pitifully fragile creatures. Without tools, an ordinary man couldn't even overpower a large dog.
“Grrrr! Woof! Bark!”
“Awoooo! Bark!”
Right at that moment, a pack of massive canines was snarling viciously right in front of me. The problem was that calling them "large dogs" was a comical understatement.
Each beast was the size of a full-grown cow. True to the absurdity of a high-fantasy world, even stray mutts boasted mind-boggling stats.
Thank God their sheer bulk is keeping them from squeezing in, but still...
Taking their enormous size into account, I had deliberately scrambled into a dense thicket where the ancient trunks grew tightly packed together. The clearing where I'd found the medicinal herb earlier was fine, but it was open on all sides and the vegetation was far too thin. So I had run for my life, never forgetting to haul the pouch packed with rations and the treasured blade gifted by the Heavenly Demon.
Now, I had my back pressed against a massive rock wall, staging a desperate siege. The hound-like beasts weren't foolish enough to recklessly force their way between the tightly clustered trees, settling instead for glaring at me with predatory patience. In other words, they were intelligent. They knew I held the defensive advantage.
What the hell am I supposed to do?
Could I really do nothing but hole up here and hold out? I desperately prayed the mongrels would lose interest and slink away. But survival demanded preparing for the worst possible outcome. Without wasting another second, I accessed the Gallery. Since the beasts hadn't lunged yet, crowdsourcing survival advice seemed like my best shot.
[Attached Photo: Enormous hound-monsters glaring through tightly knit tree trunks]
How do I deal with these bastards? Any methods?
Not a single one of these bastards was of any help. I scowled, my jaw clenching. As the minutes ticked by, these things called Mad Dogs would eventually find an angle. I had to devise a countermeasure right now.
The Heavenly Demon's desperate cheering offered some small emotional solace, even if it provided zero tactical utility. Still, as comments began to pile up, more lurkers clicked into the thread. I only needed one useful comment out of the bunch.
Mercifully, the passing Juddak kindly stepped up with actionable intel. But just as hope flickered in my chest, another user chimed in.
Holy shit. This Juddak prick was an inhuman monster wearing a human skin. And how the hell did Sword Master know all these technical nuances in the first place? Whatever a "Sword Expert" was, I had no clue, but I knew damn well that by my earthly standards, it was an untouchable freak of nature.
Amidst a torrent of pointless forum banter, the collective conclusion distilled into a single directive: smash its head. What immensely profound survival wisdom. About on par with reminding someone that humans die if they don't drink water.
Thus spake the Heavenly Demon: this blade was a masterwork among masterworks.
Taking her words to heart, I cast my eyes down upon the weapon. Its luster was undeniably out of the ordinary, possessing an ethereal, polished gleam that spoke of meticulous, peerless maintenance. With the terrain working heavily in my favor, this was entirely doable.
It's do or die.
I fixed my gaze on the hound standing dead center—the largest beast among the pack. There were three in total, but the one holding the middle was easily the most imposing. Without question, that beast was the alpha. Wasting no time on hesitation, I sprang forward and lunged directly toward it.
“Woof! Bark!”
Right on cue, the two subordinates flanking the alpha wedged their massive frames between the trunks, aggressively trying to intercept me.
“It's a trap, you stupid mutts!”
Feinting an all-out assault on the pack leader, I abruptly pivoted my footing and redirected my strike toward the flankers. The target on my left had already forced more than half of its massive front body through the narrow gap. Bringing the sword overhead, I cleaved straight down toward the beast's cranium. Knowing jack shit about proper swordsmanship, I swung not with the finesse of an edged cut, but with the brutal intent of clubbing it to death.
Swoosh—
“Huh?”
Something felt horribly wrong. I had swung with everything I had, yet the blade passed right through the hound's skull with no resistance, as if parting empty air. For a fleeting instant, I panicked, wondering if I had swung at an optical illusion. But the grim reality manifested a heartbeat later.
Spliiit!
With an eerie, tearing sound, the dog's skull split clean down the center.
Thud!
The gargantuan beast crashed into the dirt, its tongue lolling sideways—cleaved in two down the middle. I stared down at the carcass in a daze. My hands had registered virtually no sensation upon impact. If anything, it had felt like running a hot razor through soft tofu. The sheer lack of resistance was so surreal it left me numb.
“RROOOAAAR!”
Right. There was another one.
The instant the guttural roar erupted from behind, pure autonomic reflex took over. I whipped around and slashed horizontally. The sound had been right on my heels, and my body had moved purely on survival instinct.
Splat!
Fortunately, the beast never completed its pounce. Its severed head and hulking torso separated cleanly in midair, crashing heavily onto the loam. Just like before, there was barely any sensation of cutting through flesh or bone. Face drained of color, I shifted my wide-eyed gaze between the two butchered corpses.
I might have been clueless about this world's martial power, but one unassailable truth etched itself into my soul:
The Heavenly Demon was a living god, and this sword was goddamn invincible.
“Grrr...”
“Oh. Right, you're still here.”
The last one standing was the alpha. It glared at me through the trees, hackles raised in extreme vigilance. A thick, suffocating tension hung between the ancient trunks. Which of us would blink first?
Naturally, it was the alpha hound. Glancing back and forth between the bisected remains of its packmates, the beast began taking cautious, deliberate steps backward. It had realized that as long as I held that gleaming cold iron, staying was suicide. Smart bastard.
“Phew!”
The crisis had passed. I exhaled a ragged breath heavy with the residue of adrenaline. If not for the blade bestowed by the Heavenly Demon, or if I hadn't chanced upon that spirit herb earlier, what would my fate have been? Without a compass, wandering recklessly through this forest was impossible. I would have to lie low until the Heavenly Demon could send one over.
Ah. Before anything else, I need to send my thanks.
Without wasting a second, I tapped into the Gallery interface and pounded out a new post.
[Attached Photo: Dead hound carcasses pooled in blood on the ground, with a hand tightly gripping a shimmering blade]
And this sword is invincible.
Genuine concern practically dripped from her words. How could a person this warm-hearted be the terrifying Heavenly Demon? It defied comprehension. Her old-fashioned speech mannerisms reminded me of my late grandmother, which only deepened my affection for her. Leaning against the massive rock face, I settled in for a brief rest and continued browsing the thread.
Looking closely, Sword Master seemed to be an older fellow as well. Unlike most keyboard warriors on this forum, his comments were scrupulously punctuated with immaculate spacing and periods. While I wasn't particularly formal myself, if someone treated me with courtesy, I made it a point to reciprocate. At least halfway.
That wrapped up forum time for now. Pushing off the stone cliff, I got to my feet. Lounging around here like a sitting duck was asking for trouble; other predators would inevitably track the pungent stench of blood. Even though the clash had ended in seconds, the sheer adrenaline dump had drained my stamina. Moving my boots was the only safe play.
Until the compass arrives, I need a defensible shelter where I can hide...
RUMBLEEEEEEE!
Without warning, the earth began to shudder violently. My eyes snapped open wide, and I scrambled into a defensive stance. To follow up a predator ambush with a natural disaster—what kind of sadistic bullshit was this world playing at?
Yet something felt deeply unnatural. The moment my back left the rock wall, the intense vibration seemed to soften. Before I could even identify the eerie discrepancy, a horrific transformation took place behind me.
GRRRRRR-KRAAAACK!
“...Dear God.”
The cliff was rising. The rock wall was quite literally ascending toward the heavens. Massive stone masses tore free from the subterranean soil like ancient taproots. It took only a fraction of a second for my brain to process the grim truth: the colossal rock wall I had been leaning against was a set of legs.
Staring petrified as the unassuming stone crag unfolded into a two-legged titan, I frantically reopened the Gallery.
[Attached Photo: A mountainous stone colossus rising into the clouds on two massive legs]
Title says it all.
The comment section erupted in sheer panic, ordering me to flee. I didn't need to be told twice; I spun on my heels and bolted, scooping up the bundle of food from the ground mid-stride. This was a divine gift bestowed by the Heavenly Demon—there was no way in hell I was leaving it behind.
Somehow, by some miracle, I managed to outrun it. Collapsing against a thick tree trunk, I gasped violently for air. Distant, earth-shaking thuds echoed through the forest, but the sound grew steadily fainter. It wasn't heading my way.
This place is completely insane.
I had barely escaped the jaws of wild beasts, only to bump straight into an ambulatory mountain. What kind of godforsaken death trap was this forest?
This really isn't the Forest of the Four Seasons... is it?
I prayed with every fiber of my being that it wasn't. After all, the forum commenters had claimed connecting to the Gallery was impossible within the Forest of the Four Seasons. Once my breathing settled, I reopened the interface. Even as I was sprinting for my life, comment notifications had been chiming non-stop, piquing my curiosity.
This Sword Master guy was far from ordinary himself. What on earth did he do for a living? Just as I had done with Heavenly Demon, I clicked onto Sword Master's profile and browsed through his post history.
• You Can Do It Too! Advanced Swordsmanship Lecture 15 — 2 hours ago
• You Can Do It Too! Advanced Swordsmanship Lecture 14 — 1 day ago
• You Can Do It Too! Advanced Swordsmanship Lecture 13 — 2 days ago
“...”
Oh, holy shit. This guy was utterly, certifiably obsessed with swordsmanship. Every single post without exception was an in-depth instructional manual. In a completely different flavor from Heavenly Demon, he was a total lunatic.
In terms of sheer post volume, he couldn't rival Heavenly Demon, but unlike her endless stream of unfiltered shitposting, his threads were packed with staggering effort and sincerity. A uselessly diligent psycho. There was truly no better description for Sword Master.
Among his mountain of martial tutorials, one singular post caught my eye, standing out in all its absurd glory.
Condition: Must be stronger than a Swordmaster.
There truly wasn't a single sane person in this entire Gallery.