Monster Hunt (2)
"Kwooooaaaah!!!"
Crack—
I grit my teeth as Behemoth bellowed at the sight of me.
About three minutes.
Given how quickly the barrier advanced, that was what I had to hold out for. I needed to survive at least three minutes. Only then would the wall of fire engulf the forest completely, along with both me and that bastard.
Long if you’re alive. Short if you’re dead.
Three minutes wasn’t some impossibly long span of time. I’d only carved it out after ten full hours of trying. Under normal circumstances, anyone would call it short.
The problem is that I died to him in a matter of seconds.
I looked up at the beast that had let out that thunderous roar.
He still hadn’t moved from the escape route. It was already blocked anyway, so I didn’t know why he was guarding it so stubbornly. Was it simply because that spot happened to be the exact center of the forest? Or did he think that, as the fire barrier shrank, I’d be the one to move first from outside?
"……"
The expression on his face as he stared at me somehow felt like mockery. Just like when he’d seized me upside down on my first try.
He could have rushed me right away, so was he planning to toy with me instead?
Doesn’t matter to me.
I didn’t care whether that monster sneered at me or looked down on me. I knew better than anyone that my skill was at exactly that level.
I had no intention of acting tough for no reason or getting angry at how he treated me.
I just wanted to see that infuriating smile twist into shock for once.
Maybe that bastard is the anomaly.
Maybe he was the reason the wiki’s strategy kept glitching. It wasn’t like this was some massive irregular anomaly on the level of the Great Tower or the Tower of Fortune, but whenever I entered an event tied to that bastard, the wiki would start acting weird.
Maybe I didn’t even need to land a hit on him. Maybe I could just ignore him and clear this floor anyway—but...
"There’s no reason not to check, right?"
There was no need to make assumptions without even trying.
Besides, if I died, I’d just come back anyway.
"Kuhuooh...."
Whoosh!
It felt like my body was burning. I wasn’t even that close to the barrier, but just being near it made my head spin.
As the space around me shrank, even breathing was becoming a struggle.
"……"
When was that bastard going to move? Was he just going to keep waiting until the barrier forced me closer?
I don’t mind not moving, though.
Another thirty seconds passed. The heat at my back grew even fiercer.
I was reaching the point where I’d be in real danger if I didn’t make a move soon.
Step—
Ninety meters.
Eighty.
Still, the beast didn’t budge.
He only glared at me with those savage red eyes, sneering.
Seventy.
Sixty.
The distance he’d charged me from on my first try. If I sprinted full speed, it wouldn’t even take ten seconds.
If he leaped, it was a distance he could cross and bring me down in a second or two.
And yet, he still didn’t move.
Fifty meters.
By the time I’d covered half the hundred-meter gap...
"Kwoooooaaaah—!!!"
"...Yeah. So this is where it starts, huh?"
The beast that had been crouching all this time rose to his full massive height and roared.
BOOM—!
Crack…!
When he stomped, the burning tree beside him toppled over.
Two minutes remained until the wall of fire swallowed us.
I didn’t know whether he thought he was immune to flames or whether he simply didn’t care as long as I died.
"Kkweeek!!!"
"...!"
In that instant, a wild boar burst out from the opposite side.
The remaining creatures in the forest, unable to endure the heat any longer, were rushing at Behemoth.
Crush—!
Thud—!
They were flattened with a single gesture, launched beyond the fire barrier with a single kick, but...
Scroll.
I checked the wiki one last time.
The strategy hadn’t changed. Neither had the warnings.
Blink.
The forest that had once been enormous was now no bigger than a sports field.
Of the thousands of living things that had once breathed here, only Behemoth and I remained.
"...Isn’t this ring perfect?"
"Kruuuh...."
I let out a dry laugh at the ring of death stretching in every direction.
When the event had first appeared in the forest, I’d thought that as long as I didn’t end up in a cramped one-on-one against some vicious bear, I’d be fine. But now I was about to fight a monster that made a bear look like a joke, all while trapped in the flames of the end.
And the worst part was that I’d wanted this. I’d made this battlefield myself.
Though for that bastard, this is probably just a normal massacre.
Fwoosh—!!!
With the heat at my back now impossible to endure, I gripped my sword tightly.
There was only about a minute and thirty seconds left.
From here on out, I had to do it with my own skill alone. I should at least be grateful I’d managed to cut the time down by half by doing absolutely nothing.
"Hup...!"
I had no more room for thought.
Clenching my teeth, I had to endure like a bastard and keep enduring until I burned together with the flames.
"Aaaarghhhhh—!!"
That was my goal. The only way I could bring him down.
Flash!!!
Goddamn, thanks a lot, wiki...!
The world turned red before my eyes.
The light of the parry was so huge and so crimson that for a split second I thought I was already trapped inside the flames.
Bright enough that it seemed impossible to block. Bright enough that I couldn’t even imagine trying.
"Come at me, you beast—!!!"
And still, I rushed in.
I needed to confirm whether I could parry him with sword and shield.
I needed to know when and at what timing I’d have to throw my body aside if I wanted to dodge.
Whoosh.
"...!!!"
Why was he already in front of me?
Even though I could see the parry timing, an attack came flying in at a speed I couldn’t possibly handle.
The shield—
I stared wide-eyed at the fist right in front of me and swung my arm.
BOOOOOOM—!!!
I’d tried desperately to evade it, but I couldn’t.
I’d tried to parry it with my sword, but I didn’t even have time to assume the motion.
Thud—!!!
"Guh...!"
I barely managed to raise my shield, but it shattered outright.
The timing seemed right, but the shockwave alone sent me flying and smashed me into a tree.
It was hot.
The fire barrier was already closing in behind me.
Mo...ve...!!
The pain wracking my screaming body made me grit my teeth until they ached.
I couldn’t burn here, I told myself, and just as I forced my hand to the ground and tried to rise...
Grin.
"...Ah."
The monster who had brutally smashed through the rock wall sealing the cave lifted a giant boulder like a baseball and smiled at me.
Crack.
.
.
.
Flash.
"Nnngh—!!!"
The moment I opened my eyes, I groaned.
I buried my mouth in my pillow and twisted my whole body as I ground through the pain surging up through me.
"Hah... hah...!"
I felt like I was going to die. No—I'd already died, and now I felt like I was dying all over again.
My eyes, nose, mouth, arms, legs, fingertips, toes—everything was fine, and yet it still hurt like hell.
"Ha... ha ha ha...."
And yet, the more painful it was, the more absurdly my fighting spirit blazed up.
The thought that I couldn’t be the only one to suffer this kind of shitty experience filled my head completely.
The wiki bug? The anomaly?
That was all secondary now. I was mad enough that I wanted to make that bastard feel the exact same pain.
Clench…!
It wasn’t like I’d expected to succeed on the first try in the first place.
I wasn’t stupid enough not to realize how huge the wall between him and me was.
Just you wait....
I’m the kind of man who gets things done when I say I will.
I knew damn well that if you just keep swallowing it, you’re the one who ends up sick—and if you don’t pay it back, it festers inside you.
No matter what it took, I was going to watch him writhing and screaming to the bitter end.
* * * * *
Tower of Trials, 50th Floor.
Third try.
"He dodged it.... This fucking—"
After the direct hit from the fist, I grazed a flying chunk of rock and died.
1 minute 51 seconds.
Fourth try.
"Why the fuck is its tail as strong as its fist...?"
I dodged the boulder and closed in.
I read the parry timing, avoided the second fist attack, then died after getting hit by the tail as the beast twisted its body.
2 minutes 7 seconds.
Fifth try.
"My body... my body...!!! Aaaaaagh—!!"
I successfully parried the tail with my steel sword and was knocked back for a moment by the impact, but I recovered my stance.
I tried to dodge the attack from the beast as it raised both hands, but I was caught and thrown straight into the fire barrier.
I checked the temperature of the flames. They were far hotter than I’d expected.
The outside of the barrier was burning with fire too.
At this rate, I figured it would work.
2 minutes 20 seconds.
Sixth try.
"Heh heh... heh heh heh...."
I dodged half of the two-handed slam, my legs twisting under me, but I’d landed my first successful hit.
Its skin was tough, but when I brought the steel sword down on it, the wound showed.
I saw it bleeding too, saw it flinch as pain flashed across its face.
"So you can feel pain, huh?"
2 minutes 26 seconds.
Seventh try.
Its eyes are magic-resistant too.
I avoided the downward smash perfectly.
I’d nailed the counter timing and managed to wound the back of its hand.
I hurled a low-grade mana stone at its eye, but it didn’t do any damage either.
2 minutes 31 seconds.
Eighth.
Ninth.
Tenth, eleventh, twelfth.
Thirteenth try.
"......"
Pattern identified.
Strategy understood.
Step—
I confirmed it the moment the beast’s body was swallowed by the flames.
2 minutes 58 seconds.
Tower of Trials, 50th Floor.
Fourteenth try.
"Huu...."
The fourteenth repetition of that ten-hour wait.
After checking the frozen timer, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
[Tower of Trials]
[Floor 50, Stage 5%]: Temporary Real-Time Mapping activated.
[Warning]
The escape route will be permanently sealed.
Predator Mark will be reapplied.
Endfire will be reactivated.
Grin.
The same old wiki anomaly, not changing a bit.
It was the same warning message I’d seen from the wiki over and over again.
"Kwooooaaaah!!!"
"Just wait a little longer, you predator bastard."
At the sound that echoed through the entire forest, I smiled from the bottom of my heart.
Let’s see just how desperately you scream.
— END —