First Encounter
In the end, I had no choice but to change course.
Shattering the fifth wall was still a distant dream. I hadn't even laid eyes on it yet. This was nothing like those earlier days when I could raise my realm almost at will. I had long since passed the stage where real combat alone could deepen my understanding of technique. What I needed now was deeper contemplation.
But surviving the Forbidden Zone was already more than I could handle. I had no luxury for that kind of indulgence.
If I ever managed to escape this place, I would have all the time in the world to think. But not now.
So rather than swaggering straight toward the Adult, I had to make the practical choice.
The decision itself was easy enough. Pushing any farther forward was impossible, and for the moment no threatening monsters had shown themselves nearby — which meant I finally had time to calmly reassess my plan.
Once I'd sorted my thoughts, I turned and headed in the opposite direction.
No matter how I looked at it, I was currently in the deepest heart of the Forbidden Zone. If I went the other way, maybe — just maybe — I could find a way out. It was a vague hope, but it was all I had.
As I left the depths behind, the monsters that had been keeping out of sight began to reappear one by one.
Fortunately, the first ones I ran into were a scout party of locusts. Their numbers were small enough that I could handle them.
I finished the fight quickly, dragged the three locust corpses along with me, and whenever hunger struck I built a fire and roasted them.
As always, they were deliciously savory.
And so another aimless journey of walking forward began.
What truly astonished me was the discovery that magic existed in this world.
It was a serpent-like beast I first encountered in the Forbidden Zone — though calling it a dragon wouldn't have been much of a stretch, given its size.
At first I assumed it was simply a monster with an enormous body. Then it opened its jaws, and a torrent of massive flames came roaring out.
My sixth sense let me hurl myself clear by a hair's breadth, but the heat trailing in the fire's wake still swept across my arm.
Thankfully, my body didn't burn. Aside from a searing sensation, I didn't even take a burn.
That was thanks to the changes my body had undergone when I shattered the fourth wall.
But I couldn't afford to let my guard down. Any beast that had survived inside the Forbidden Zone would possess power far beyond the ordinary.
My prediction proved correct.
I kicked off the ground, leapt high, and poured every ounce of strength into my fists as I hammered the serpent's massive head several times. Reeling from the impact, the beast let out a thunderous scream and wrenched its jaws wide open.
What gathered before its mouth this time was not the same red fire as before, but a deep, dark black flame.
My sixth sense screamed a violent warning. Taking that hit would be catastrophic.
I stamped the ground hard, putting distance between us and getting clear of the flame's range. The instant I did, the black fire erupted outward like an explosion, swallowing everything around it.
Having painted the entire surroundings in black flame, the beast crowed in triumph.
It was just a series of harsh kaaak-kaaak cries, but after facing countless monsters, I knew exactly what it meant.
The black fire didn't go out easily, either. The earth itself — sturdy enough that even colossal beasts could stampede across it without leaving a mark — melted into a soft, bubbling mess.
If that wasn't magic, what was?
My old kingdom really had been nothing but a collection of idiots. They'd never even seen magic that a mere beast could wield.
The black fire was on an entirely different level from anything before. The moment it touched skin, it wouldn't just burn — it would melt you down to the bone.
Even wrapping myself in defensive will made no difference.
But I couldn't keep dodging forever.
I held my distance until the flames died down, then charged the beast the moment they quieted.
I kicked off the ground, cut through the air, and rocketed straight toward its head. A crimson aura of pure killing intent coiled around my fist.
Closing the gap in an instant, I drove my punch home.
Large monsters were usually sluggish, but they almost always compensated with terrifying defensive power.
Even after I'd already hammered the same spot several times, it had held. This time was no different.
Instead, it spun with surprising speed and smashed me with its enormous tail.
I poured defensive will — Su-ui — into my forearm. The instant a mass of black energy condensed around it, the tail slammed into my arm.
KRAAANG—
The impact thundered through the air, echoing for what felt like miles.
It failed to pierce my will or deal real damage, but the force alone sent my airborne body hurtling dozens of meters through empty space.
And right where I was about to land, the beast unleashed another blast of black fire.
I had no choice but to scramble backward again.
The searing heat of the flames washed over me — heat so intense that the mere air itself felt like it would burn me alive, choking the breath from my lungs.
Once more, I had to wait for the fire to die down. Meanwhile, the beast would be shaking off the blows I'd landed on its head.
There was nothing else for it.
We traded blows again and again.
I must have fought that beast for an entire day.
THUD!
In the end, it was the beast that laid its head against the ground. A dagger was buried deep in each of its eyes.
I retrieved the daggers and strapped them back to my thigh.
I'd crafted them by refining ten claws I'd found in the cave where the bear had lived. Using those same claws, I'd shaped a total of five daggers, with hilts forged from a purple metal I'd stumbled across by chance in the Forbidden Zone.
I'd put them to good use more than a few times while carving a path through this place. Now only three remained strapped to my thigh.
"Haa…"
I steadied my breathing and pressed a hand to my burning leg.
I hadn't managed to dodge every last bit of the black fire. Even a few glancing brushes had left my skin melting and charred.
It would heal soon enough, but this time, too, it looked like the scars would stay.
My body was already etched with the marks of hundreds of battles. Some of those wounds had been deep enough to threaten my life, and those traces never faded.
If anyone else ever saw me, they'd probably think I looked grotesque.
…Not that I'll ever run into anyone else, will I?
I wiped away the useless thought with a bitter smile.
And then I walked on.
Three months passed.
I walked without rest in the direction opposite the Adult.
Once I committed to a heading, I had to stick to it unless something truly extraordinary forced my hand. In this place, neither compass nor stars nor terrain could guide me. I had only my own senses to rely on as I forced my way forward.
And I came to understand something: my assumption that going the opposite way would mean facing progressively weaker monsters had been completely wrong.
Equally troublesome beasts appeared one after another without end.
No matter how carefully I managed my stamina with all the experience I'd accumulated here, the relentless succession of battles still ate away at my body.
It was an environment where fatigue simply had to accumulate. Looking back, the fact that I'd survived this long might have been a miracle in itself.
The final battle put the period on everything. Surrounded by a swarm of dozens of locusts with no room to flee, I fought a life-or-death struggle until the bitter end.
Afterward, exhausted, I sank to the ground and was just starting a fire to roast some locust meat when it appeared.
What stood before me was a werewolf with a sleek, gleaming silver mane. No — even calling it a "werewolf" felt like an insult to the word "human."
It was simply a massive wolf-beast standing on two legs.
Eyes blazing blood-red. Those were the eyes of a pure predator, something that had nothing to do with humanity.
Those eyes locked onto me as if they meant to devour me whole.
With my stamina already at rock bottom, the fight against the wolf-beast began.
From the middle onward, my consciousness blurred. I moved on pure instinct, relying on my sixth sense and the combat experience I'd built against countless monsters.
Razor-sharp claws grazed my body again and again. Dodging every strike was impossible. The wolf-beast was both overwhelming and agile — as if it had trained in some systematic martial art.
Drained stamina. Wounds multiplying by the second. Blood from torn skin soaked my entire body.
The searing pain and the pounding of my heart were the only things anchoring my consciousness.
How long did the battle last?
Did I win? Where did the wolf-beast… go?
In the haze of half-consciousness, I was simply walking forward.
My roughly cut bangs had grown long again, falling over my eyes. Once, the irritation would have made me push them aside. Now I didn't even have the energy to care.
I trudged onward, step after heavy step.
I walked for days without end.
From time to time I encountered monsters and fought them on instinct. Those encounters were hazy. I couldn't remember them clearly.
My body moved on its own. My memories shattered into fragments.
I walked and walked. By then, I was no different from the beasts that wandered this place.
At some point, a vast red wall rose up to block my path. I looked around, but there was no way past it.
With no mental capacity left for deep thought, I simply drove my fist into the wall.
Hoping it would crumble, I kept striking.
THUD— THUD—
But the wall didn't so much as tremble. Only a tingling pain spread through my fist. Even so, I didn't stop. Ignoring the pain, refining my stance with every blow, I poured every shred of focus into my next punch.
Just like the moment I had shattered the first wall. Deep in the mountains of the Abandoned Village, before Ger's eyes, when I had shut out everything else and devoted myself entirely to my form.
The martial system I had established when I broke through the fourth wall — I hammered the wall as if reviewing every technique from beginning to end.
THUD— THUD— THUD—
From the First Form all the way to the final secret art. I poured everything along the trajectory of my training into those blows. Even drowning in exhaustion, I didn't stop. My body swayed as if it might collapse, but my fists kept striking the wall.
Crack—
After hundreds of blows, a fissure finally appeared.
I punched harder. I paid no mind to the blood welling up or the screaming of my bones. At last the wall split open, creating a gap just wide enough for me to squeeze through.
I didn't push any further. I climbed through the hole and crossed the wall.
And then…
What spread out before my eyes was a dense forest of lush green.
The sky that had burned red was nowhere to be seen. A clear, blue sky stretched overhead.
Had I escaped the Forbidden Zone?
Did that mean I had returned to the kingdom?
I walked slowly through the forest. The soft earth and grass beneath my feet felt alien.
I pushed through the undergrowth and kept going for a long while.
But… I couldn't hold on any longer.
Strength drained from my legs. Exhaustion crushed my body. My eyelids sank heavy as lead.
I collapsed into the grass.
I had to get up. I had to confirm whether I'd truly returned to the kingdom…
The thought never finished. It simply cut off.
Two figures carefully picked their way through the dense forest.
They were a pair of girls clad in light leather armor.
One was a composed young woman with long, flowing white hair. A careful, meticulous caution was written across her neat features.
The other was a girl with a noticeably younger face. She shared the same white hair, but hers was gathered up on both sides in a way that gave her a lively, spirited look.
Both carried bows slung across their shoulders.
The younger-looking girl spoke first. She was the long-haired girl's younger sister.
"Haven't we gone too deep? Shouldn't we turn back already?"
The long-haired girl stopped and scanned their surroundings.
"Mm… you're right. I didn't even notice how far we'd come. No luck today, I guess."
"Let's come back tomorrow. It's not like we're short on food yet."
"Winter's almost here, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to stock up early…"
"I know, but…"
Going any deeper into this place meant drawing that much closer to death.
They decided to head back.
In that instant, the long-haired girl's expression went rigid. She raised a hand, silencing her sister, and whispered,
"…There's something nearby."
She lowered her body and carefully approached the direction of the sound.
Hiding behind a tree, she peered ahead — and found a man collapsed on the ground.
He had long hair that looked as though it had been left unattended for months. White hair, the same as theirs.
But his white hair was a little faded, and more than anything, it was soaked through with red stains.
No — not just his hair. His entire body was drenched in blood.
Was he dead?
Despite being covered in blood, the physique revealed beneath it possessed a perfect balance, as if a god had carved every line by hand. Firmly honed muscle flowed in elegant curves, and his skin — if not for the blood — would have looked as smooth as if no worldly stain had ever touched it.
He wore nothing at all, as though he'd just come through a brutal battle, which only made every detail more starkly visible.
The girl instinctively caught her gaze before it could drift lower and carefully approached. Her sister followed close behind.
The moment she drew near, she realized the man was still alive. Faint as it was, he was clearly breathing.
But even at a glance, his injuries were severe. He needed treatment urgently.
Then the younger sister, trailing behind, suddenly blurted out,
"…It's huge!"
Startled, the older girl turned — and immediately understood where her sister's eyes were fixed on the man's bare body.
She followed that gaze herself.
And saw what she absolutely should not have seen.
Her face flushed hot of its own accord.
"W-what are you saying?!"