First Meeting (3)
But then it hit me — I'd been relying too heavily on my sixth sense while I was in the Forbidden Zone. There was always the chance of running into beasts that weren't strong enough to set it off. I'd grown so used to the Forbidden Zone that I'd stopped considering the possibility.
The moment I expanded my ki sense, I felt them — multiple animal presences. Before I knew it, my awareness had blanketed the entire mountain.
Should've done this from the start.
The closest ones numbered five. They were exactly the creatures Arnen had said were likely blue mane wolves. As if on cue, Arnen whispered in a low voice.
"Wolves hunt in packs. We have to avoid them no matter what."
"Blue mane wolves… Can we use them for food too?"
"Huh? Well, yes, you can eat them. But…"
"Then how about we take them down before we go?"
It wasn't Arnen who answered my suggestion — it was Elia, perched on my shoulders.
"No! It's too dangerous!"
She grabbed my ponytail and shook it back and forth. When I tilted my head up, I found her pouting face staring down at me.
Truth be told, my sixth sense was completely quiet. These weren't dangerous beasts at all. Even so — did I really need to dig my heels in when the locals, the very people who'd taken care of me, were telling me not to? I decided to follow their lead.
That was when the five presences I'd sensed suddenly broke into a run — straight toward us. Arnen must have felt it too. Her brows furrowed.
"…They've caught our scent. We need to run. Now."
She straightened from the careful crouch she'd been holding and moved quickly in another direction.
"Put me down too."
At Elia's urging, I carefully set her on the ground. She grabbed my arm and started running after Arnen. But their pace was clearly no match for the wolves closing in behind us.
I finally caught Elia by the arm and brought her to a stop. When we halted, Arnen — who'd been running ahead — sensed the change and stopped as well.
"We don't have time for this. At the very least, take Elia and—"
"Wait."
I gently cut off Arnen, whose calm demeanor was rapidly fraying.
"I'll handle them."
"You will, Bell?"
It wasn't disbelief in her voice. She'd seen me smash furniture more than once when I couldn't control my strength indoors. She already knew I wasn't weak. If anything, she looked guilty.
"It's our fault for bringing you out here… You don't have to push yourself like that."
"It's fine."
While we exchanged those few words, the wolves' rough footfalls had grown close enough to hear. The underbrush shook violently, and five wolves emerged. Just as their name suggested, their manes shimmered with a bluish light.
…They're tiny.
Maybe I'd just gotten too used to the colossal monsters of the Forbidden Zone. The wolves looked ridiculously small. About the same size as the beasts that prowled around the Abandoned Village? No — a little smaller, even. After breaking through the first wall, those were the kinds of creatures I could handle with ease whenever I felt like it. Of course, judging strength by size alone was foolish.
Treating it like a long-overdue warm-up, I lightly kicked off the ground and charged the wolf at the front of the pack. And the moment my fist drove cleanly into the space between its eyes—
Boom—
In an instant, the wolf exploded from head to toe. Blood sprayed in every direction.
"Uh…"
Had I lost my sense of control after fighting nothing but Forbidden Zone monsters for so long? While I stood there stunned, another wolf lunged from the side. I swung my arm on instinct, and that one's body burst apart too, scattering a rain of red.
"…"
The remaining wolves flinched and froze mid-charge. I was just as shocked by the unexpected result. For a moment, silence hung over everything.
Whimper, whimper—
The three surviving wolves lowered their bodies, letting out frightened, pained sounds. Then they spun around and fled into the forest as fast as they could.
I looked down at my fist for a moment. Even the beasts of the Abandoned Village hadn't been this fragile… And I hadn't even gone all out. When I glanced over, Arnen and Elia were staring at me, dumbfounded.
"Uh… Sorry."
At the words that slipped out of my mouth, Arnen hurriedly shook her head.
"…What? No, I'm the one who should apologize."
"…"
This was supposed to be a hunting trip for food, and I'd blown the carcasses to pieces so thoroughly there was nothing left to salvage. I felt a little bad about that. Why Arnen was apologizing, I had no idea. All I could think about was cleaning up this mess.
"Wait here a second."
With that, I kicked off the ground and gave chase to the fleeing wolves. The earth cratered under my foot with a heavy thud, but I didn't have time to care. In just a few strides I caught up to the pack, and they panicked, running even more desperately.
How much should I hold back?
A moment's hesitation. The three wolves split off in different directions. Not that it mattered. I brought the edge of my hand down on the nearest wolf's nape — carefully modulating my strength. My hand punched through its neck as easily as slicing tofu and came out the other side. The wolf's head and body separated mid-run and tumbled across the ground.
That should be about right.
I'd need to dial it back a little more if I wanted the carcasses fully intact, but I had the feel for it now. I grabbed the headless body in one hand and pursued the rest. I caught the next wolf quickly and gently drove my hand down onto the top of its skull. This time, with even more care put into controlling my strength, its head didn't explode — it simply caved in, and the wolf collapsed. I took down the last one the same way.
"Done."
I carried the three wolf carcasses back to where the sisters were waiting. They were still frozen in place, as if they hadn't moved a single step since I left. Well, it hadn't been that long. Come to think of it, the ground around us was a mess from when I'd recklessly charged after the fleeing wolves.
As I approached with the carcasses slung over my shoulders, the sisters just stared at me in silence, blank-faced. When I stopped in front of Arnen, the dazed look in her eyes slowly came back into focus. After a long pause, she carefully opened her mouth.
"…Are you a Hero, by any chance?"
"A Hero?"
I tilted my head.
There are Heroes in this place too?
In a world with magic and horrific monsters, it wouldn't be strange for something like a Hero to exist. But I didn't dwell on it long. Arnen shook her head first, waving the thought away.
"No, I'm sorry. That was a childish thing to say."
Calling it childish made me think Heroes were fairy-tale figures in this world too. Then the light returned to Elia's eyes as well — she'd been staring blankly from the side. She immediately ran up to me, eyes sparkling, and cried out.
"You're so strong! So cool!"
I'd heard "strong" plenty of times. Even among the most gifted warriors, I'd been praised as the greatest talent of them all. But was I really that strong outside the Forbidden Zone as well? There was no way to know. These kids had lived cut off from the world in this remote place. They might never have met anyone truly powerful.
Still, a child's pure, admiring gaze was pretty cute. I think I'd looked something like that the first time I faced the 3rd Class Warrior Jagan.
…Though I probably wasn't that cute.
Since I'd already gone and hunted the wolves on my own terms, I decided to finish the job in one go.
"Wait here just a little longer."
I spread my ki sense across the entire forest. There weren't that many beasts living here, but a cluster of presences similar to the blue mane wolves was gathered in one place. The five we'd dealt with must have been a scouting party. Rather than hunting other animals, I decided to go after the blue mane wolves.
I found the pack's den. My senses picked up about twenty, but only around ten were visible. The rest seemed to be resting deeper inside. I casually flicked my hand and gave the visible wolves a series of knuckle-raps to the skull. Their heads caved in, and they collapsed to the ground before they could even scream.
Knuckle-raps, huh…
Even that required a certain technique of force. Hitting lightly. Carefully controlling your strength. Hmm… Something was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't quite grasp it.
Come to think of it, back when I'd fought a bloody battle against a wolf monster inside the Forbidden Zone and finally reached the barrier at its edge — I'd struck the Red Barrier and fallen into a trance. Moments like that were usually the harbingers of enlightenment.
And yet… I still can't even see the fifth wall.
Unlike the previous walls, which would draw close before my eyes the moment I threw myself into training, this time I couldn't even gauge how high or thick the wall was. It felt like I hadn't faced it at all.
Pushing the idle thoughts aside, I gathered ten more wolf carcasses and returned to where Arnen was waiting.
"…"
Arnen had been standing there looking somehow restless, and when she saw the pile of corpses stacked on my shoulders, her mouth fell open. While Arnen stood speechless in shock, Elia bounced over instead.
"There's so many! Sis! If we skin these and sell them, we could pay off the debt!"
"…Debt?"
When I gave her a puzzled look, Arnen shot Elia a flustered, sidelong glare.