#7. The Monster Wolf of Jirisan (3)
#7. The Monster Wolf of Jirisan (3)
Even as regret surged, Lee Eun-ha hadn't given up.
Though her Mana Armor had shattered, the impact she'd taken wasn't so severe. She could still—still move.
Special species, superior species—in the end, it was still just a Warg.
It wasn't utterly impossible to fight. If she kept calm, she might just pull it off.
Lee Eun-ha yanked a bottle from the side pocket of her pack and threw it, but the Warg dodged nimbly and lunged, closing the distance in an instant. It sprang straight at her, jaws opening wide to bite. Just before those huge jaws could snap shut, Lee Eun-ha hurled something.
In mid-air, it couldn't change direction. Instinctively, the Warg bit down on the flying object, and at that moment—
'Yes!'
Smoke burst from the bomb crushed between the Warg's teeth. It took barely a second for the smoke to swallow the area, wiping out all visibility. This wasn't some clumsy civilian-issue weapon—it was a high-grade clan smoke bomb. The instant her vision was robbed, Lee Eun-ha didn't hesitate. She rolled across the ground, and the Warg's jaws snapped shut on empty space a beat too late.
She could tell by her Mana Detection. But in the end, it was a trick. She could hide her appearance, but not her scent. Soon it would catch her smell and hunt her down.
In that moment, a spell passed her lips.
"Cover!"
The moment she channeled mana, a dizzying nausea hit—an urge to vomit born from her depleted stamina and magic—but she barely held it back. Her mana became a veil, wrapping around her as the spell commanded. Still, it wouldn't last long. Concealing her form didn't erase her scent—soon it would find her... With frantic hands, she pulled something from her pack.
'Found it.'
She popped the stopper and downed the potion in one go. The vicious bitterness twisted her face; she wiped her lips with her wrist and gasped harshly. Breathing was a struggle. A stabbing pain throbbed in her side, making her grimace and chew her lip.
Some ribs must have cracked from that earlier impact... Her heart raced with the fear of dying. She hastily laid out the items from her pack—just as the mana veil shuddered violently.
'Already?'
Before the Warg's second strike came, she grabbed the scroll—no, the spell scroll. The barrier shook again with a BOOM, and she ripped the scroll without a second thought.
Short-Range Teleportation Scroll. A useful item that could move the caster ten meters in the direction they faced. But that distance would only buy her a few seconds at best.
'Please...!'
As light enveloped her, the concealment barrier shattered. The Warg's jaws gaped wide, every fang, every molar in full, terrifying detail.
Just when she thought she was about to be devoured, the light swirled and Lee Eun-ha vanished. The Warg's jaws snapped shut on empty air.
'......!'
She'd survived by a hair, but there was no time for relief. She instantly summoned her Segway and mounted it. Breathing was a little easier after chugging the potion, but it hadn't magically mended her broken ribs or healed her wounds in an instant.
Even so, how long could she run?
She was too far out—radio barely reached here. No backup was coming. A typical Warg could hit about 100 km/h. A special species would be faster, certainly not slower.
That meant a fight was inevitable. She'd have to face a monster against whom her Spatial Distortion could do little more than trip its ankles.
'What if......'
Late regret washed over her: if only she'd stayed a hunter...
But a rough gem, no matter how brilliant, never becomes a jewel without cutting. In the end, the choice had been hers. She had no one to blame.
'......!'
She sensed movement through her Mana Detection. She'd put considerable distance with the Segway, but it was already right on her tail. A black blur—like an ordinary person trying to track a major-league fastball—the Warg was a streak chasing her down. Alarmed, Lee Eun-ha hastily tore off her pack and hurled it behind her.
Even the sudden flying pack didn't make the creature flinch. It didn't dodge. Instead, it lunged and bit, shredding it to tatters in an eyeblink. But it bought her a tiny sliver of time.
......She wasn't going to just roll over and die. She'd struggle, thrash—anything.
But she had nothing left. She'd used everything.
She'd thrown the smoke bomb, drunk the potion, torn the scroll.
Steeling herself, Lee Eun-ha stopped and pulled her mana together.
She pictured an irregular coil shape and a spiral terminus. Nature's strongest fiber, tougher than steel of the same weight. In her mind, the structure wove together, borrowing mana instead of protein to take form.
—It had taken about two seconds.
'Here it comes......!'
The black line chasing her was finally upon her.
But her preparation was complete. All that remained was to time the spell just right.
Normally it would have dodged easily. But after racing this far, catching the scent of blood, growing more and more irritated by her resistance—its head was filled with one thought: bite her to death. So its movements grew simpler.
――No matter how fast, if it was charging straight...
"―β-Sheet!"
As the black line closed in, her manifested magic caught the Wolf. The Warg, panicked by the sudden net, thrashed wildly, but the β-Sheet—spider silk—was thick and coated in adhesive, constricting around the charging Warg.
"―――?!"
Ordinary spider silk would have lasted less than a heartbeat, but the silk woven from her mana was far thicker and tougher. Even a special, superior species couldn't break free easily.
......Still, if she left it alone, it wouldn't stay trapped for long.
"Distort!"
So she had to end it now. While it was caught, somehow, she had to finish it. She warped space, forcing the adhesive silk to cling to every inch of the Warg's body. Watching it thrash in its frantic struggle, she felt dizziness wash over her.
How many more spells could she cast?
The mental exhaustion the potion had briefly quelled surged back, harder than before. Three times? Two at best.
"Pile!"
A sharp stake materialized above the Warg as it wrestled with the webbing. She forced down the bile rising to her throat.
"Embiggen!"
Another incantation. One second. In that fleeting moment, Lee Eun-ha didn't even realize her consciousness had blinked out. The manifested stake swelled, doubling, tripling in size. A massive, razor-sharp stake. Legs trembling, barely able to stand, she bit her lip and swept her arm down.
Now it was over.
The colossal stake plunged down onto the immobilized Warg. Like a chandelier with its chain cut, the stake's point fell—without any twist of fate—and pierced the Wolf through. No last scream, no cry. The Warg simply went still, impaled.
At the sight, the tension drained from her, and her legs gave out as she sank to the ground.
......The Warg was down. She'd done it. She was alive—she'd survived......!
A surge of accomplishment and joy. As she exhaled in relief, Lee Eun-ha's eyes went blank.
Beyond the fallen Warg, another one slowly revealed itself. Its ribs were exposed and it was panting—clearly not in perfect shape—but...
"―――."
......She was worse. Right. There had been two Wargs. The one she'd failed to finish with Spatial Distortion in the initial ambush—that was the one now looming over the huge, fallen Warg.
"......Ah."
When it shifted its gaze to look at her, Lee Eun-ha swallowed dryly.
'If I use Spatial Distortion to bring it down now...?'
It wouldn't work on the one she'd already taken out, but for this one, it might. If she squeezed every last drop, she might just be able to cast it once more.
After that, mana exhaustion was certain. But if she didn't, she'd definitely die. Yet... it was wary now, having been caught once.
Could she really land it when it was so on guard? What if it dodged? What if she cast it and failed to bring it down? What if mental exhaustion hit while she was still drawing mana?
Her thoughts spiraled, dragging anxiety in their wake. A low growl from the Warg ripped her back to reality. And in that reality, deeper despair awaited.
"―――.'
A ragged breath. The Warg she'd barely managed to take down was still alive, gasping.
No words came out. She chanted the incantation again and again in her head, but it only echoed emptily.
Both Wargs were alive. Even if she got lucky and finished one, within an hour—no, thirty minutes—the other Warg would rise and tear her apart. That was absolute. Inescapable.
Her mind went hazy, then blank. She scrambled for any possible way to avoid death, but there was nothing left. Backpedaling on her bottom, Lee Eun-ha felt her back hit a tree.
A voiceless scream echoed inside her, a plea to stay away.
A low, rumbling growl. The jaws parted, and the light glinted off those sharp fangs. In that moment, she understood.
......If she brought it down, she'd die. If she couldn't, she'd die.
One hundred percent certain. The monster wearing the Wolf's shape, closing in with crushing reality, seized her mind and shook it to its core.
Trembling, she mumbled that she wanted to live—please, someone, anyone, save her......!
As death strode closer and she had nowhere left to retreat, the mana she'd gathered backlashed through her fracturing mind.
Her consciousness flickering out—right before it did, Lee Eun-ha thought dimly:
'They say you see your life flash before your eyes when you die......'
Ah. That was a lie. Even at the moment of certain death, no flashbacks came. Because the very last thing she saw was a green blob of slime.
***
I never knew sprinting into a headwind could feel this good. I'd looked at motorcycles plenty of times and thought their riders were insane—maybe now I get it a bit. ......Well, not the part about risking your neck, really.
Anyway, the sprint was blasting away all the stress I'd piled up. Unlike bike riders, I wasn't afraid of crashes—Weak Regeneration and Physical Damage Reduction were a hell of a combo. And on top of that, no pain.
Honestly, I'd already crashed twice. Unavoidable, but it had been a blessing in disguise: my Weak Regeneration hit Lv.6. By now, I'd gotten the hang of downhill runs. Figured out I could dodge trees if I used Heat Sense right. And above all—
[Wild boar consumed. Experience Points and Satiety increase.]
Corpses littered the ground here and there. Obviously, I knew who was responsible. Nine times out of ten, that Black Wolf. I'd been snacking on those abandoned leftovers and coasted to Level 15, but at this rate, Jirisan's wildlife was going to be wiped out.
Chicken Run. Neither of us was stopping.
I had to surpass the bastard, and for whatever reason, it just kept devouring everything. Even a mountain left alone for half a century has a limit to how fast animals can breed. Our combined feeding speed was leaving that in the dust.
Until one of us died, the slaughter wouldn't stop.
'...Yeah. But still.'
I skidded to a halt and poured all my focus into detection. I felt presences.
One was the Black Wolf. The monster I'd seen back at Baemsagol, the one that had filled me with dread—the one I meant to surpass.
The other was even more massive. An immense power that conjured the image of a bomb going off. Yet for some reason, right now it felt terribly precarious.
And above all—a monster that sent a chill down my nonexistent spine just from sensing its presence.
[Heat Sense (F) Lv.7 proficiency at maximum. Heat Sense (F) Lv.7 → Heat Sense (F) Lv.8]
[Presence Detection (F) Lv.6 proficiency at maximum. Presence Detection (F) Lv.6 → Presence Detection (F) Lv.7]
The moment I felt that entity, my detection skills shot up like crazy.
[Make your choice.]
'......?'
I frowned at the System's sudden words. Choice? What was I supposed to choose?
[Whether to advance, or to stop.]
.......
The meaning was clear.
Advance or stop—the fact that it was telling me this the instant I sensed those monsters... that had to be what it meant.
An involuntary laugh escaped me.
[Faint Sixth Sense (F) Lv.4 proficiency at maximum. Faint Sixth Sense (F) Lv.4 → Faint Sixth Sense (F) Lv.5]
My sixth sense confirmed my hunch.
What I'd felt back at Baemsagol. The fear I'd known when I saw the Black Wolf. Terror. Death... All those negative emotions swirled together into a vortex.
Even though my gut, my head, and my sixth sense were screaming at me to run—even though death was certain—the System wasn't telling me to flee. It was pressing me to choose. If anything, the intent was so blatant it chilled my mind.
'...So you're telling me to go.'
The System wasn't waiting for my choice. It was laying out options already set, and asking. It was deliberately steering my actions.
[Whether to advance, or to stop.]
What it really meant was: Do you have the courage to advance, even at the risk of death? That was the question.
'......'
I think, I want to live.
That's why I fought the eel.
To survive a dead-end called the Black Wolf, I ran toward a livable dead-end called the Master of Baemsagol.
......So what about now?
Right now, for me, was the Black Wolf still a dead-end I couldn't survive?
I let out a sigh.
Because it felt like I couldn't call myself normal anymore.
'...I'm scared.'
Not because I was afraid of death—but because the fact that I might die didn't even feel frightening anymore.
And I didn't think I could pretend I was sane any longer.