The Wolf God's Trial
The tiger felt no emotion at all when facing the resistance of the wolf leader.
Even a rat, when cornered, bites a cat.
Attacking a predator is far too ordinary in the wild.
That was why the tiger saw no reason to mock it, felt no disgust, and experienced no pity.
Since the wolf could not kill the tiger any more than the rat could kill the cat.
The ending was simply too obvious from the very beginning.
The wolf leader should have abandoned his family first and fled to survive.
He should have left the young who had no chance of surviving because they moved too slowly and run away.
But he hadn’t done that, so he had only one option: death.
Yet, living was full of surprises.
A female wolf had brought a bear.
The only rival predator in this forest capable of standing against the tiger.
A bothersome creature that clung stubbornly to the ground no matter how much the area animal tiger tried to drive it out.
When two area animals met in the wild, they usually avoided fighting recklessly and crept around each other.
That irritating creature had shown up.
“Grroooooar.”
The tiger made the strongest show of force it could.
He would prove his vitality and quickly drive the bear away.
In reality, the tiger had almost no injuries.
Bite marks and claw scratches from the leader, small scrapes that would heal in a few days.
Just a little exhaustion from being stubbornly held on and refusing to let go.
The female wolf who had brought the bear stood in front of the tiger.
The wolf had dared to stand in front of the tiger.
The bite force was utterly incomparable, the claws that tore were overwhelmingly sharper than the tiger’s, and every other aspect — the crushing power and weight of the front paws, the explosive speed, the thick leathery defense — made the comparison absurd.
It was hopeless.
The wolf could never beat the tiger, so comparing advantages was pointless.
The only creatures that might actually kill the tiger were bison or even heavier animals.
This runt could not possibly do it.
The size difference was too vast.
Yet the runt charged anyway.
Completely oblivious to the danger, just like a puppy.
That puppy had been a dog’s pup for a mere day.
Tarte was indeed that one-day-old puppy.
The puppy lunged with its clumsy teeth, intending to die.
It was coming to commit suicide.
The tiger raised its front paw and brought it down.
An attempt to crush the wolf’s skull and kill it.
But the tiger was tired.
That meant its power was gone.
Its movements were slower.
Tarte dodged the tiger’s paw and aimed at its flank.
A wolf’s claws were not meant to pierce and kill an enemy.
They were for keeping balance while running fast across the ground.
For small animals it might be useless, but against a tiger it could be a solid hit.
At best, the only way to leave a scratch was to bite.
The puppy bit the tiger with its tiny mouth and short teeth.
Originally this would have been meaningless, no different from a rat biting a cat.
But now it had meaning.
Because the bear was watching.
That bear would come if it was sure it could kill the tiger without leaving any mark.
The tiger and the wolf both didn’t know when that would happen.
Only the bear knew.
The tiger kept glancing at the bear.
But the wolf only looked at the tiger.
The first mistake would be complacency and death.
The second choice was to keep attacking no matter what.
So there was no need to worry about distractions.
The tiger continued swinging its paws and thrusting its head at the wolf’s head, trying to bite.
The small one was remarkably evasive.
Originally the tiger should have been faster.
In short-range close combat and explosive speed, the tiger was lacking nothing.
There was no reason it couldn’t catch a clumsy, arrogant wolf.
It was only a little tired.
The leader wolf had been too stubborn to die and kept fighting, slowly draining its stamina, making it just slightly exhausted.
That was exactly the amount of stamina burned to finish this arrogant female wolf.
Fate had twisted.
“Grrroaaar!”
A sense of crisis.
If he couldn’t quickly finish the wolf in front of him and prove his own vitality, the bear would charge.
That was unbearably annoying.
A small animal barely the size of a snack.
A small creature that would die from one good hit.
It was using the bear’s presence to pressure him.
The tiger felt an overwhelming fury toward the king of the mountain forests.
“Despite being a wolf!”
The tiger’s movements grew larger.
Running around with his big body made his stamina drain even faster.
The tiger was a silent assassin of the grassy areas and a short-range specialist who won in a single breath.
His endurance had developed into short-distance speed rather than marathon stamina.
This meant he would get tired more easily but also run faster in the short term.
At some point, the bear had gotten a little closer.
The tiger doubted his own eyes.
But the eyes were not wrong.
The bear had quietly and stealthily approached.
The bear, which had been uninterested in the wolf pack’s massacre, was actually a highly intelligent forest ruler who understood the situation perfectly.
The bear was approaching death, the grim reaper, step by step.
It was coming to exploit the tiger’s weakness — the leader wolf.
“If you kill me! I’ll give you wounds enough to kill you!”
The tiger warned the bear.
The bear did not answer.
It was as if it were saying:
I will wait until I can kill you without leaving any mark.
Or not.
A terrifying opportunist.
That judgment was entirely correct.
The tiger did not believe he could fight the black bear head-on without injury.
A wolf, on the other hand, could be killed in one strike if it came head-on, but that was only because of the size difference.
If the black bear had the same size, it would not want to fight unless it was a perfect ambush opportunity.
Normally, top predators avoid challenging same-sized predators unless very hungry.
So the bear was not attacking now.
It was waiting for the right moment.
Calmly waiting for an opportunity to kill the tiger without any mark.
The tiger turned his back.
He decided to flee.
He had thought the wolf in front of him could be easily finished, but it was surprisingly slippery and had no reason to perform such tricks in front of the bear.
The wolf’s howl rang out.
“The guy is running away!”
Half the wolf pack had already been killed.
That meant the other half was still alive.
Among animals, wolves had the deepest family bonds.
By killing half, half the avengers remained.
The tiger, who had always been the hunter, had become the prey.
It was unbearably irritating.
To a predator.
Like a rat in front of a cat.
Could a group of rats hunt a cat?
Could a group of wolves catch a tiger?
He wanted to be angry.
“Here!”
But the wolves chased after the tiger without coming too close.
They left psychological pressure.
Animals with emotions are not only humans.
The tiger’s nerves were on edge.
Because of that, he was getting tired.
The bear leisurely followed the wolves’ howls.
Because the wolves had deliberately created a zigzag encirclement.
The straight-line-moving bear could conserve stamina.
It was extremely systematic.
This was a group hunting tactic passed down for generations among the wolf pack.
A father teaching his son, a grandfather teaching his father, a traditional hunting method from ancient times.
A collective tactic that only wolves, living in groups with extremely strong family bonds, could master.
The leader conserved stamina, waited until the prey was exhausted, and delivered the final blow.
Today the leader who had borrowed strength from elsewhere would finish it.
“Grrroooaar!”
Exhausted stamina, blood from wounds scattered everywhere, hunger.
The tiger who had been called the king of the forest was torn apart by the bear’s head and his body crushed, meeting his end.
Tarte rushed to stop the wolves who were about to pounce on the tiger’s corpse in excitement.
The side of the bear was dangerous.
She poured cold water on her comrades who were about to forget that obvious fact.
“You all, go bury the dead family members. Make sure no one finds them.”
Sometimes wild wolves bury dead comrades in the ground.
But because wolves originally store food in the ground, humans could not tell if it was mourning or cannibalism.
However, Tarte thought from a very human perspective.
Probably these wolves would not want to watch their own family members being torn apart by the bear.
“While the bear’s eyes are on the tiger’s corpse, hurry.”
Tarte returned to the side of the leader wolf’s corpse.
The wolf, who had received a fatal wound, had met the natural conclusion of death.
Around it, an unusually large number of wolves had gathered.
It was only natural.
The leader was the father of everyone.
Tarte watched the leader wolf’s corpse being buried until the very end.
‘Just an NPC.’
She would not survive a day otherwise.
Tarte saw off the leader wolf without a word.
The wolf god’s trial had ended.
Tarte returned to her original body, that of a human woman.
Standing on two legs now, after only a few hours spent running on all fours, felt strange.
‘Originally it wasn’t even a woman.’
“Success?”
Tarte returned to the waterfall where she had faced the wolf god.
Her teammates had been waiting for Tarte’s result alone because they had failed the trial earlier.
“I don’t know. I worked hard, but whether the wolf god will give a good score, who knows?”
She had done her best, but it was uncertain if the wolf god would be satisfied.
‘Whether the bear would suddenly turn into a wolf hunter or continue cooperating, anything could happen.’
Since Tarte had disappeared, no one knew what would become of the wolf pack.
‘Was it all just an illusion?’
She had apparently over-invested in the wolf pack.
She was bothered by after-effects for no reason.
At that moment, a round light sphere rolled toward Tarte.
When the sphere opened, a holy relic appeared inside.
A necklace made by stringing the wolf god’s huge fangs.
[Holy Relic — Obtained the Wolf God’s Fang Necklace.]
“Looks like you passed with flying colors.”
“Good job!”
“You’re amazing as always.”
“Congratulations.”
Surrounded by praise from all party members, Tarte examined the holy relic’s effect.
[Special Effect: Agility increased by 15%.]
A percentage effect that shines brighter as the level rises.
Tarte felt the holy relic was quite good.
The high level meant no bad stats.
At least among the stats she had.
However, considering efficiency, she thought it would be better for the warrior Hyeolpung Geomseong or the rogue Muraebae to use it.
Both would make the most of the agility stat.
Among them, the rogue Muraebae would gain overwhelming efficiency.
Because it was a percentage additional effect that benefited higher levels.
Tarte, being a rational leader, decided to hand the holy relic to Muraebae.
“Muraebae-nim, this.”
“The holy relic suits the one who passed the trial, Tarte-nim.”
“What will a priest do with raising agility?”
Tarte forcibly tried to shove the necklace into Muraebae’s hands.
But the necklace did not fall from his hand.
[Would you rather not give it? Then don’t say you don’t want to.]
[Hehehe what are you doing?]
[I know this one.]
“No, I see now. It was soul-bound.”
“Perfect.”
With that, Tarte had forcibly become the owner of the holy relic.
She had not expected it to be soul-bound and untradeable.
Thus the holy relic’s fate was decided.
“First, let’s head back to the village.”
It had taken quite some time to find the wolf god, and the trial had not ended instantly.
Everyone would have been exhausted going straight to the bear god.
Let’s rest at the village.
On the way back, the party members shared their experiences of the trial.
Muraebae had refused to join the wolf pack and wandered alone until bitten by the tiger, failing in the shortest time.
Daepokpal had quarreled over the female wolf not being the leader and then been bitten to death, failing second.
Hyeolpung Geomseong had lasted quite long but died helping the pack flee when the tiger attacked the leader.
Only Tarte had come up with the crazy idea of seducing the bear.
After sharing stories, the party arrived at the village and was suddenly attacked by a sword-wielding girl.
“Bold murderers! What are you stealing this time!”
Tarte blocked the sword and thought.
‘A thief, but not a murderer.’
[Holy Relic — Obtained the Wolf God’s Fang Necklace.]
