Chapter 2
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Hungry Slayer 2
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Even though his words were harsh, no parent would refuse when their child wanted to grow.
Dane began receiving rigorous training from Walter.
Every day, grueling strength exercises and runs were repeated. His growth progressed steeply in proportion to his training. And so he turned ten.
“All training is needed for just one purpose.” Walter’s teachings were extremely simple and consistent.
He said you had to figure out for yourself how to attack faster and stronger.
“If you don’t want to die, just kill your opponent before you do.”
“You say it too easily.”
Even so, Dane took the words to heart gravely.
Hunting wasn’t a sport where you competed skills with a foe you could reason with. It was two beings at the crossroads of life and death, each giving their all to take the other’s breath.
In that sense, it was easy to understand why Walter, wielding a wooden sword, unleashed a killing intent that made his hair stand on end.
Walter said he wanted to check his progress so far.
“Monsters won’t reveal their presence idly like me or wait for your attack.”
“Yes.”
“Fight or flee? Can you take it down or not? Judge instantly, and think only of how quickly you can land a disabling blow.”
“Yes.”
Having understood his father’s intent perfectly, Dane raised his wooden sword and walked toward Walter with heavy steps.
He knew his father’s strength well and could gauge the speed at which it would be unleashed. So he simply swung.
-Thwack!
“Ah……?”
Walter, struck in the waist by the wooden sword, let out a small sigh and blinked.
“……You’re fast.”
“Yes.”
That was the extent of the father-and-son conversation—dry and to the point.
Walter asked no more. His throbbing waist spoke volumes.
* * *
From that day on, Dane handled his hunts and training alone.
His past knowledge was a great help in tempering himself without his father’s guidance.
Every day, he pushed his body to the limit and ruled it harshly. Once he crossed one line, he set the next goal.
He consumed whatever energy he needed to surpass it, hunting all sorts of beasts and gorging himself.
Hunting was the measure of his training’s results, and eating was the stepping stone to the next.
‘Meat never gets old, no matter how much you eat.’
The boy’s growth was dazzling.
Having passed through many seasons in repeating days, Dane now looked like no one would bat an eye if he were called a young man.
His face, however, still held the innocent air of a child.
While Dane overflowed with energy, his parents seriously pondered their son’s future.
“Seems too late. He’s already seventeen, and he still hasn’t received any authority.”
“Strange. Must be a problem with your seed, huh? Should we make another?”
A faint yin energy rose from Deliel’s body. Walter figured it wasn’t just empty talk.
“My back hurts, so no.”
“It’s been ages since your son hit your waist, and you’re still using that excuse……”
“You’d think he’d let it go……”
“Probably.”
“Ah! What if receiving authority requires some kind of condition?”
Deliel narrowed her eyes and smiled. Her husband’s attempt to change the subject was adorable.
“Could be. In my case, the Goddess of the Black River, Betel, spoke to me during my first kill.”
“Needs some dramatic moment, maybe……”
Walter guessed as much, watching his wife lost in thought.
“Not impossible.”
“Anyway, he’s been wanting to head down the mountain more lately, so let’s test him. Can’t keep him in our arms forever.”
“Test?”
“It’s winter. Time for that guy to show up.”
Deliel followed Walter’s gaze out the window. Somewhere in the snow-covered mountains, it was waiting.
The perfect beast to give their son a dramatic moment.
* * *
The rock-like giant bear was something Walter had named Bloodrock.
It was a polar bear, but its fur was said to be dyed red from the blood of countless animals.
Even in eternally wintry Mekel Mountain, there were times of exceptional cold. And this was the season when it passed near Mekel Mountain.
Bears that braved the cold were ferocious and dangerous by nature, but Bloodrock had never once approached Deliel’s house.
“What’s the point of catching something that comes and goes on schedule? Of course, I could catch it.”
Walter spoke dismissively, uninterested in a beast that posed no threat.
“Your dad’s such a softie. That’s why I still haven’t tasted polar bear meat.”
Deliel smacked her lips while gazing out the window for no reason.
Having gleaned his parents’ intentions, Dane saw capturing it as a way to prove himself and cautiously asked permission.
The stated reason was that he wanted to taste Bloodrock meat too.
His parents told him flatly to go and come back, and he bowed his head calmly.
Two days after leaving home, trudging through, Dane found its tracks.
‘Bloodrock’s footprints.’
In the snowfield were prints larger than Dane’s head. He checked the direction, waited calmly for the wind, then moved.
‘Gotta hurry.’
The sky was overcast, and more snow could fall anytime.
After crossing two canyons, the snow accumulation thinned, and the tracks vanished.
Dane flattened himself to the ground. He searched broken branches and trampled brush for its scent.
Moving tirelessly, the thickening beast smell mixed with a foul tang.
‘Blood? It’s close.’
At the end of the scent lay the carcass of a great-horned deer, guts ripped open, between massive conifers.
‘Ate its fill and saved the rest.’
A bear’s habit. It was surely nearby.
Dane tracked the traces around the carcass, moving slowly into the wind.
The air grew heavy with its musky odor. And there was a red rock.
‘Bloodrock!’
He held his excitement and held his breath.
The intense stench wrapped around him like needles pricking his skin.
‘Huge…….’
Its body far exceeded his expectations. The mass of bones and muscles overwhelmed him with sheer presence.
Dane instantly quantified its power and speed, calculating the gap with himself.
‘Can’t escape.’
The thick muscles supporting its torso would explode in power, closing the distance in a blink.
‘Can’t even block that forepaw.’
Yet Dane didn’t flinch.
‘Nice marbling…….’
Eyeing its belly where fat and meat balanced ideally, he formed a plan.
His path to survival lay in the near-doubling size difference. Without hesitation, he kicked off the ground.
“Raaah!”
He roared deliberately, eyeing its flank muscles.
‘It’ll turn left.’
He darted into the opposite direction as it pivoted.
The moment Bloodrock registered the small intruder brushing past, Dane severed one Achilles tendon.
-Squish!
Blood spurted as the massive body lurched. Seizing the gap, he decisively cut the other ankle.
“Kraaaagh!”
Rootless, it toppled forward, flailing its huge frame.
Even then, it skillfully sought its foe. As Bloodrock roared and twisted, massive hooked claws grazed past his eyes.
‘Scary…….’
As if waiting, he cleaved its nose with his cleaver and leaped far away to hide.
Having started with a war of attrition in mind from the outset, he planned to calmly observe behind a thick tree trunk as his shield.
Wracked by rage and pain, it spun in place, crazily searching for Dane. Nose gone, it relied solely on sight.
He circled just beyond its range, needling its nerves.
‘Need to drain the blood quick for freshness.’
At opportune moments, he charged and slashed whatever he could.
Fear began tainting its scent.
‘It’s fleeing!’
As expected, it blindly picked a direction and bolted. Even running on upper body strength alone, its momentum was terrifying.
Chasing, Dane narrowed the gap faster on a bad premonition. Beyond the red bulk loomed the Black Forest.
‘Damn!’
To stop it charging blindly into the Black Forest, Dane leaped onto its back and drove his cleaver into its shoulder.
“Krooo!!!!”
A roar of pain and terror cleared the path ahead.
For the first time, Dane grew urgent.
‘It’s going in?!’
Unfortunately, Bloodrock, bereft of smell, lacked judgment.
Grabbing its fur, he slashed down at its neck.
Once! Twice! Thrice!
Crimson blood added vividness to its red fur, but it didn’t stop.
The added blood stench intensified its rank musk assaulting his nose.
Like a berserk warrior, Dane swung wildly, stopping only after it collapsed.
‘Shit.’
The red bear had already entered the Black Forest.
“Grk grk…… grrruh…….”
Once the sounds from the bear’s maw fully ceased, silence blanketed the surroundings.
No snow in the forest.
Fading sunlight dimly pierced the black leaves.
‘Can’t delay.’
Anxious certainty spurred Dane into motion.
The forest’s aura was ominous. No time to skin it fully and butcher enough meat.
Dane hurriedly carved only what he could: neck, ribs, loin, tenderloin, shank, brisket, short plate.
‘Hm?’
A faint tremor rippled from the ground. Gentle waves stirred the bear meat.
Something was approaching.