Wolf Hunt
The mistake was clear, yet the situation felt strangely off. In truth, this kind of reaction was only natural. From the start, most of the wolf-type monsters Kang Sian remembered from the game were pathetically weak compared to their levels. Since bosses counted as monsters too, that one had been equally pathetic in the game. To put it in rough numbers, it was about as strong as five or six fully grown red-eyed wolves combined. Its patterns weren't anything special either. It was basically just an XXL-sized doggo throwing cute fluffy punches and licking you hard enough to show bone. Compared to the situation earlier when more than ten of them had rushed in at once, this was several times better.
That was why Kang Sian had stepped forward immediately, intending to handle it himself. Cheon Mari had decided that Kang Sian was taking her joking remark far too seriously. Who would actually believe the words of a woman who always delivered her true feelings as jokes? But anyway, that was how it went. She had immediately grabbed his arm and told the hunters to deal with it, adding that he should step in only if it seemed like they couldn't manage. And just so he could learn from watching the hunters' actions, she had told him to stay back for a while.
“Nah, I don’t think that’s really necessary.”
“Hey, hey hey hey! Kang Sian!”
This too could be called karma if one were inclined to call it that. Kang Sian had expected Cheon Mari to make her employees do unnecessary work and strode forward with purpose. ‘Besides, it looked like she was trying to catch it without any real plan earlier. It’ll take way less effort if I just beat it myself.’
And so the boss wolf—the Old Red-Eyed Wolf—stared only at Kang Sian. Kang Sian stared only at the Old Red-Eyed Wolf. Then he drew his sword. With a flick of his finger, he beckoned it to come at him.
The wolf wasn’t stupid enough to miss the meaning. It bared its fangs with a low growl and kicked off with all four legs. Rough. Fierce. Majestic. An overwhelming pressure radiated from it that ordinary people and low-rank hunters could hardly even look at directly. It felt like fear was seeping into every pore of their skin, and the pain that would soon follow seemed to loom just ahead.
Some of the hunters turned pale at the expected outcome and stamped their feet anxiously. Even if they lacked the skill, they weren’t selfish enough to stand by and watch a middle schooler get torn apart by a monster. The question, of course, was what exactly they could do if they actually charged the wolf right now.
The Old Red-Eyed Wolf closed the distance to right in front of Kang Sian with terrifying speed. Kang Sian accelerated time once again. Countless senses distorted as the silver claws came rushing in. It was threatening, but a rather obvious attack. Kang Sian twisted his foot and slipped his body aside. The attack brushed past him by the narrowest, most exquisite margin.
That was the end of it.
The moment the attack grazed him, he violently pulled up his magic power. Blue particles swirled around his sword. It was aura, but on a level of density that couldn’t even be compared to anything he had used before. He judged that two or three strikes—no, just two or three—would be enough to finish the boss. Accordingly, he had poured every last drop of his remaining magic power into the blade.
If it didn’t die from this and his magic ran out first, the one who would end up badly hurt would be Kang Sian. Still, since the opportunity had presented itself, wasn’t it fine to gamble just once? Besides, it wasn’t like there was no one who would save him if he got into real danger.
“Whoa, whoa?! Kang Sian, you crazy bastard!!!”
Of course, her trust in him was at rock bottom, but he had decided to believe in her anyway. Without hesitation, Kang Sian swung his sword toward the wolf’s torso.
Clang!
The sensation of magic power colliding with magic power. It felt exactly like striking a squishy lump of metal. He tried to follow up with another strike, but the wolf quickly retreated. It looked back at its wounded waist and bared its teeth in pure hatred.
Even with a shield, it still hurts, huh— he thought, but the truth was slightly different. On the spot where the wolf had been struck, something red was smeared across it. The thick red liquid slid down the fur and dripped onto the ground with a wet plop.
It was blood. The boss wolf’s precious blood.
“He broke the shield in one hit?!”
“Don’t boss monsters usually have shields several times stronger than regular ones?”
“Team Leader, is something like that even possible?”
“How the hell should I know when I can’t even guess how much magic power he poured into that sword?”
“That kid doesn’t belong in E-class. He should be playing in D-class or higher.”
The shield had been destroyed in a single blow. Now, no matter how they attacked, the boss would fall. Some of the hunters capable of long-range attacks eagerly readied their weapons. After all, an opportunity to take down a boss more easily than eating macarons didn’t come around often. No, it was so rare it could become the greatest moment of their lives. Monsters were, after all, the fuel for human growth.
Honestly, how many chances would F-class and E-class hunters get in their lifetimes to land the final blow on a boss? For them, there could be no better side dish for a drink.
They drew their bowstrings, loaded their bolts, and prepared their spells. But their attempts were stopped by Cheon Mari.
“I didn’t expect this… but how about we let him take it from start to finish?”
“““Ah, yes ma’am!”””
How dare you aim for the last hit on my friend’s prey?Cheon Mari wanted to roar at them and ask if they even had a conscience, but since Kang Sian needed to focus on hunting the boss, she held back.
Unaware of the situation behind him, Kang Sian waited for the end. The wolf, on the other hand, seemed to sense that its time was up and took a defensive stance. That meant it had stopped attacking entirely, which wasn’t good news at all. If things dragged on like this, the wolf’s shield would start regenerating, and Kang Sian would have to land another fatal blow.
“No choice, then.”
Kang Sian adjusted his grip on the sword, angling it slightly for a much more advantageous charge. Just as the moment to read each other’s weaknesses was about to begin, Kang Sian burst forward without wasting even that brief window. He moved fast while everyone else moved slow. Because time acceleration was active, it didn’t take long to close the distance. The six-second gap was covered in roughly two to three seconds. Even though his daily maximum had decreased from frequent use of the ability, the speed was still astonishing.
The wolf seemed startled that a two-legged creature was moving faster than itself and stumbled backward. Unfortunately, its backward steps were far too slow, and because they were purely reflexive, it hadn’t considered the next move. When Kang Sian swiftly cut in from the side, the wolf was left completely helpless. Its legs tangled, and it was far too late to twist its torso. The only thing it could do was turn its head and eyes as far as they would go.
Kang Sian clenched his teeth and poured every last bit of his remaining magic power into the sword. The white blade, now edged with blue, swept across the wolf’s neck.
Crunch!
The sensation of skin, muscle, organs, and bone being sliced apart one by one felt agonizingly slow. It was incredibly unpleasant, yet the way the blood slowly scattered looked almost like art. The strike was so fast and powerful that if there had been no sound, one might not have even realized the cut had happened.
Everyone watched the scene with bated breath. The boss’s eyes trembled violently. It was a belated convulsion. In the end, its head and body were completely severed. Because the neck had been cut perfectly, the head didn’t roll across the floor. It simply hung precariously from the torso by a thread of flesh, like a piece of meat half-cut by a dull knife.
“Whoa— whoa—!”
“He finished it in just two moves…”
“Is he really D-class? Or maybe even C-class? That looked about right for that level.”
“So that’s why he gets special treatment.”
“Still, I’m glad he didn’t get hurt.”
The hunt was over. The wolf collapsed powerlessly to the ground. Kang Sian looked like he might collapse from exhaustion as well. Yet for some reason, he remained standing.
“Let’s see, this should be…”
He paid no attention to the reactions around him and immediately thrust his sword toward the wolf’s head.
“Split in half and die, yap.”
He neatly severed the head from the torso. Then he picked it up and carried it over to Cheon Mari. She had been clapping and laughing, but now she stared at it blankly.
“Huh?”
“Here, take it.”
It was completely unexpected. Cheon Mari immediately began running through various possibilities in her head. What on earth was his purpose in handing her the wolf’s head? What kind of thought process had led him to give her the wolf’s head? She thought hard. Then she reached a conclusion.
‘Is this… a gift? Like, the first boss hunt in a gate, so he’s giving it to me?’
The culture of giving the important trophy from one’s first hunt to family. It was similar to the custom of bringing your first paycheck to your parents. Surprisingly, many hunters started their hunter lives this way.
‘But I…’
Of course, since it was described as “surprisingly,” it wasn’t exactly universal. There were plenty of people who didn’t do it, and even when they did, it was almost always limited to family. Giving it to a friend was practically unheard of. Unless the friend was trying to seduce the other friend, that is.
“Um… Sian? You really don’t have to give me something like this…”
That was why Cheon Mari scratched her head. It felt a bit too much for her to accept. Since Kang Sian had his aunt as a guardian, it seemed more appropriate for her to receive it. For herself, it would be better to receive a trophy on the next hunt—
“What do you mean I don’t have to give it?”
“It’s your first trophy. Honestly, it feels a bit weird for me to take it. There’s also the risk that people might think I’m shaking you down and it could damage my image as a friend.”
“Trophy? Image?”
But Kang Sian’s expression was strange. It was as if he was asking why she was talking such nonsense. When Cheon Mari put a question mark on her face, Kang Sian spoke in an incredibly casual tone.
“You said you’d cook the wolf meat super deliciously. What the hell are you talking about?”
Ah, right. What an idiot she was. Cheon Mari slapped her forehead. She could have refused, claiming it was a mistake, but instead she smiled and accepted the head. Wolf meat was, after all, a very serious matter.
“Ah, yeah. I guess I got a bit confused for a second. Let’s finish cleaning up and go to that delicious meat restaurant together.”
“You’re not cooking it here?”
“There’s not much I can do here besides just grilling it.”
“Ah…”
“Don’t worry. The place I know cooks it all kinds of ways. Once you taste it, your expression will completely change, I guarantee it.”
In that case. Kang Sian nodded, saying he would trust her. And so the first hunt inside the dungeon came to an end.
Although Cheon Mari had thrown out a piece of ‘meat that could not be missed’ and a ‘bomb,’ which ended up postponing their rest.