Bear Hunter

I gripped the axe in the bear hunter's hands tightly and assessed the situation once more. The Ungbak was in peak condition, and all I had was a single dwarf-made steel hand axe. In a way, this was even better than my original plan. Arachne's Breath would have eventually hit its limits at the critical moment anyway. I slowly unraveled the spider webs while holding the axe and began closing the distance with the Ungbak. 'Well, I had countermeasures ready either way, but this is much better.'

The moment I drew the axe, the Ungbak took two or three steps back and started sniffing the air. Knowing exactly what that meant, I spoke immediately.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Mi Juran! Erase your presence and scent, then climb the tallest tree you can see nearby!"

The Ungbak, realizing that Mi Juran's axe had come to me, was now searching for her location. It knew there were two attackers and that one side had weakened, so it was targeting Mi Juran. A classic case of sacrificing flesh to take bone—it planned to dodge my axe strikes a few times before killing the weaker one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠first. I wasn't stupid enough to fall for such an obvious trick.

Mi Juran seemed to catch on quickly. Without replying, she moved swiftly through the underbrush. The Ungbak let out a furious roar the moment it could no longer sense her presence.

"Guoooooooh!"

"Stop roaring already. How many times is that now?"

The instant the words left my mouth, I dashed forward and swung the axe at the Ungbak. There was a subtle difference in size between a one-handed and two-handed axe. When handled properly, few weapons offered better balance. 'She swung too hard and got it stuck in the ground.'

Axes were inherently front-heavy, so swinging with full force without calculation often led to disaster. But if you used only the necessary strength and accounted for the follow-through, the axe became the ultimate offensive weapon.

I dodged the Ungbak's left forepaw by shifting left, then prepared for its next attack. Without stopping, I swung the axe in my left hand on the way out, carving a deep gash into its left flank. The key was switching hands depending on which way I dodged—left hand for left dodges, right hand for right dodges. Without that, I wouldn't maintain proper reach. If I'd still had Arachne's Breath, I would have been forced to keep weaving until the webs could dig in. But the dwarf-made steel axe sliced through the Ungbak's hide like it was cutting water.

"Huff! Huff! Huff! Guoh!"

With accumulating damage, the Ungbak's movements grew increasingly violent, a far cry from its earlier leisurely pace. Every time its forepaws slammed into the ground, the earth shattered like tofu. The sight sent a chill down my spine. 'Terrifying.'

One clean hit from it would be fatal, so I focused on steadily accumulating damage, chipping away at the Ungbak like felling a massive tree from the base. I carved into its flank to create openings, then targeted the back of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠its knees to lower its stance. I avoided driving the axe too deep into bone—that would hinder my follow-up movements—so I kept inducing continuous bleeding instead. Slash, dodge, slash, dodge. The priority wasn't landing attacks but pouring every ounce of focus into evasion. One greedy strike that allowed even a single hit would shatter bones and cause irreversible damage.

"Guoh... ooh...!"

After ten minutes of the same pattern, the Ungbak finally collapsed to its knees, unable to withstand the pressure any longer. 'Now!'

Moving like an executioner behind a condemned man, I slipped behind it and raised the axe high. I shortened my grip, poured all my strength into both hands, and brought it down in a single decisive strike. Both of the Ungbak's forepaws were already shredded and it could barely breathe—this was the best move available.

"Uoooooooh!!!"

That had been the Ungbak's trap. At the exact moment the axe neared its neck, it twisted its body with terrifying speed and opened its jaws wide. From a distance, it would have looked like I was charging straight into a bear's mouth of my own volition.

"Crazy bastard!"

It had endured with all four limbs crippled just to wait for this moment. With the axe gripped short and swung with full power, changing direction was impossible. I released the axe and kicked off its body with both feet, maximizing the distance between us.

The spot where I'd stood a second ago was now occupied by the Ungbak's vicious fangs. Blood streamed down my arm—I must have been grazed by one of its dangling limbs while dodging. My overheated body hid just how exhausted and injured I truly was, though the bleeding had worsened because of it. Still, it couldn't be helped. 'It's not in great shape either.'

Because I'd released the axe at close range, it now protruded from the center of the Ungbak's chest. Its limbs were barely functional, and its breathing had become labored from sustained blood loss. Even so—

"I won."

"Guoooooooh!"

I pulled hard with both hands. The axe embedded in the Ungbak's chest slowly sank deeper, carving through flesh. 'Originally, I planned to drive a nearby rock fragment into it, but the axe made things much easier.'

The reason I'd focused solely on evasion from the start was to wrap the Ungbak's body in spider webs. Only when the webs coiled around its entire frame and connected to the embedded axe did their true value reveal itself. With its limbs immobilized, the Ungbak couldn't tear the webs away. It could do nothing but watch as the webs tightened and the axe burrowed deeper into its body.

And finally—

I had slain the Ungbak.

+++++++++++++

While wrapping a bandage around my arm with the ones I'd prepared in advance, I called out to Mi Juran, who was still hiding nearby.

"You can come out now."

"U-ung..."

She emerged from the bushes with a far more passive demeanor than before. Her eyes showed she had never once imagined things would turn out this way. A mixture of frustration and helplessness clouded her expression—she had been nothing but dead weight. It was pitiful, but there wasn't much I could do about it.

"Thanks for the axe. Mind if I keep using it a little longer?"

"G-go ahead. Use it as much as you want."

"Thanks."

Her mood was low, but loot was loot. I skillfully began dismantling the Ungbak's corpse, harvesting its claws, hide, and inner core. The meat reeked so badly it felt like my nose was rotting. "Since you technically killed it with your axe, I could share some of the spoils if you need anything. Anything you want?"

Of course, I had no intention of actually giving anything away, but asking was basic courtesy. Call it basic human decency toward a newbie.

"N-no, it's fine. Really, I'm okay."

"Oh, really? Then thanks."

I stored the head and claws in my miniature extradimensional pouch. The hide was valuable too, but the head fetched an especially high price as a luxury decoration, and the claws were no different. Mi Juran hovered nearby while I worked, watching my every move with restless curiosity.

"What?"

The staring was starting to feel burdensome, so I asked her directly.

"It's nothing, I just... um... thank you..."

Mi Juran expressed her feelings honestly right away. I understood that her gratitude encompassed many things, so I simply nodded in silence. From saving her life to teaching her the perfect countermeasure afterward—and most importantly, the victory reward.

The Predator of Victory skill was broken precisely because its condition was so absurd: you only needed to 'win' against a strong opponent. It didn't matter if multiple people fought together or if you received help from others mid-battle. As long as you were the first to establish the concept of a match and emerged victorious, the skill would activate. In other words, Mi Juran had gained an insane amount—she'd been saved, had her main skill triggered, and hadn't lifted a finger. Even someone with no conscience would feel grateful in her position. I understood completely.

"Well then... I'll see you in class later."

"Ung..."

With the rewards confirmed and the materials secured, there was no reason to stay any longer. Mi Juran's mental state was her own problem—what could I even do for someone who still looked completely out of it?

"Ah, right. Today's events stay between us."

"Huh?"

"If word gets out that we killed the Ungbak, say you were the one who did it. You can do that much, right?"

If rumors spread that I'd slain the Ungbak, selling the materials discreetly would become troublesome. Questions like how I'd obtained the inner core or how I'd killed it would follow. Handing the achievement over to her would solve most of those issues. No matter how fearless someone was, they wouldn't dare interrogate the princess of Mudanard directly about the Ungbak incident.

"O-okay. I'll definitely do that."

Mi Juran still seemed dazed, agreeing to everything I said without question. The tomboyish, straightforward girl had this side to her too. 'They said she had a boyish personality, but...' Right now, she looked like nothing more than an ordinary girl. I pushed the stray thoughts aside and decided it was time to leave.

"Thanks. I'll be going then."

"G-goodbye!"

"Yeah, you too."

After the stiff, textbook exchange, I walked past her and descended the mountain. It was time to sell the materials.

+++++++++++++

As Mi Juran watched Lee Seokhyun defeat the Ungbak, a single question formed in her mind. 'He's ranked lower than me?'

When Woo Dohyun took first place, she could accept it. He was clearly stronger than her and was called a sword genius, after all. Meiri taking second and Velos Velon taking third also made sense. That was why she had never doubted her own fourth-place ranking. She had been certain there were no hidden powerhouses among the first-years stronger than her. She had revealed everything during the entrance exam, so the evaluation should have been fair. All of that certainty shattered the moment she met Lee Seokhyun.

'He defeated the Ungbak without using either his main skill or sub skills.'

She could believe he simply didn't have a sub skill yet, but the main skill was a different story. Hers was passive, yet Lee Seokhyun's didn't seem to be. He showed no distinctive traits in combat, relying solely on the axe to dismantle his opponent. His combat sense was so refined it made her question whether they were even the same age.

'A well-trained knight...? No, more than that.'

A wild beast raised in the wilderness. A genius who executed untrained movements with fluid precision. That description fit him better. Even when a crisis arose, he turned it into an opportunity with lightning-fast reflexes. Lee Seokhyun had hunted the Ungbak so perfectly that she wondered if even that crisis had been part of his calculations. He never grew impatient, methodically tightening the noose until his prey suffocated.

'Did he really live in the mountains? Otherwise, how could a person...'

Mi Juran chuckled softly even as the thought crossed her mind. The odds of someone who lived in the mountains passing Mirinae Academy's entrance exam were practically zero. 'Then he must be a genius who also learned weapon techniques... Maybe some organization secretly trained him and is now ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠making a bold move?'

Just how powerful must his backers be for him to defeat an Ungbak with nothing but an axe and no skills? She let her imagination run wild as she stared at Lee Seokhyun's retreating figure. Lee Seokhyun—an unfathomable man.