Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Gray Wolves in the Cave
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[Grrrr...]
A low growl echoed from the cave entrance.
In this tense moment, Raoul let out a sigh of relief upon hearing it.
"Good. It's just gray wolves."
'...Can you even see them?'
Woojin peered at the cave mouth Raoul was staring at, but he couldn't make out a thing.
He couldn't see them, but he knew what gray wolves were like anyway.
They were one of the low-level monsters inhabiting the Dark Forest, the beginner area right outside Moretti Village.
Weaker than goblins, they were hunting fodder for newbies alongside slimes.
"...I'll help too."
He'd taken down a few even in the game.
"Stay put for now. Better to thin them out before they come rushing."
Was it nerves?
Raoul lightly patted Woojin's shoulder as he watched him awkwardly draw his sword.
Then, from the leather strap slung diagonally across his chest, he pulled a dagger.
Shwick—
Without hesitation, he hurled it.
[Kyaang—!!]
A shriek erupted.
'Throwing skill?'
Woojin stared at him in astonishment.
Shwick—!!
In that interval, Raoul threw two more.
Clang—
One missed and clattered against the cave wall, but the other sank precisely between a wolf's eyes.
'Just like the game... but different.'
In Evil Tail, sword users were warriors.
Throwing was a thief-class skill, and thieves couldn't equip the long sword Raoul wielded.
Seeing game restrictions like class limits not apply here, Woojin felt once more that this was reality.
"Five of them. Mind handling one?"
Even as he spoke, he drew his sword and swung at the wolves.
"Hup—!!"
Woojin gripped his sword with a tense expression.
Whoosh...!!
Keeping his eyes locked on the wolf, he focused and slashed down with all his might from above.
Thud—!!!
The wolf leisurely backed away, and Woojin's sword pitifully struck the ground.
'Heavy.'
The moment he drew it from the scabbard, he couldn't help but panic.
Even if Evil Tail maximized realism, plenty had been tweaked for player convenience.
Throb—
After just a few swings, his wrist already ached.
'...Kuh!!'
Fatigue he'd never felt in the game.
If the game had been like this, he'd have collapsed before even hunting.
"Hah... hah..."
The sword that felt light in one hand during the game now weighed him down terribly.
No matter the death penalty, it couldn't compare to a real fight with life on the line.
Extreme tension.
It crushed his entire body.
"Hup."
Woojin exhaled sharply through his ragged breaths, and the wolf slowly circled, eyeing the opening.
Boom—! Crash—!!
Raoul fought the wolves with practiced skill.
Crunch—!!
His sword cleaved into a wolf's scruff.
Woojin found himself mesmerized by the fluid swordplay, like flowing water.
[Kaaang—!!!]
It was a mistake.
The wolf didn't miss that split-second gap.
"Kuh!!"
Woojin hastily raised his sword, but the wolf twisted and sank teeth into his shoulder.
"Kaaaagh—!!!"
The fangs tore into his flesh.
In blinding pain that nearly made him black out, Woojin screamed and thrashed.
[Grrrr...]
The wolf leaped back, creating distance.
Red blood dripped from its bared teeth.
"Hah... hah..."
Clutching his throbbing shoulder, Woojin aimed his shaking sword at it with a pale face.
The tip trembled like an aspen leaf.
This was real.
This pain proved he was in actual reality, not a game.
'I'm really... in another world.'
Doubting it was pointless.
The blood running down his arm was real, and the monster still eyeing his life was what mattered.
Fwoosh—!!
The wolf didn't let tired prey escape.
"Uwaaaah!!!"
Woojin threw himself at the charging beast.
He rolled across the ground, barely dodging the attack, then slashed.
[Karing—!!!]
But as if mocking him, the wolf let out a bizarre roar, arched its body for rebound, and retreated.
Thud—
In that instant, Woojin slid low and grabbed its leg.
Stab—!!
The sword plunged into its lower belly and burst out the side.
Blood and entrails spilled onto Woojin's face below.
"Urp...!!"
Woojin shoved the wolf's corpse away and staggered up.
"Urp...! Bleeech!!"
Living entrails weren't as fishy as expected, but their lingering warmth twisted his guts.
"...Hah hah."
His vomit mingled with the blood and guts in a gruesome scene, yet the wolf, not quite dead, still opened its jaws at him.
Slice—
A silver flash gleamed before Woojin's eyes.
"Don't let your guard down. Even low-level monsters are tenacious in vitality."
The snarling wolf's head cleanly severed and hit the ground.
"Th-thank you."
Were gray wolves this vicious?
Woojin nodded at Raoul with a queasy look.
'Huh?'
Then he noticed Raoul's sword.
That flash that cut the wolf's head.
No illusion.
A faint light enveloped Raoul's blade.
"No way... Aura Blade?"
"Ah, it's nothing special."
Raoul brushed it off, but Woojin was floored.
'Aura Blade is the final skill in the warrior's fifth advancement tree...'
"...You're incredible."
"Heh heh, I'm a Rank 1 hunter, you see."
Seeming pleased by Woojin's genuine awe, Raoul showed the small black feather ornament on his belt.
'I thought it was like the game world... but with monsters right there, I froze and didn't even think of skills.'
At level 10, he had two: Heavy Strike and Dash.
'But...'
How do you use them?
Could he even?
This wasn't a world where you registered skills and did the motion to activate.
'In game, levels grant skills automatically...'
But this was reality.
Woojin stared at Raoul.
Stab—
Raoul sliced open the wolf's belly with his dagger.
Crackle...
"Lucky."
He pulled something from inside and showed Woojin.
"What's this?"
A small red stone fragment.
"A Rune."
"...A Rune?"
"Lowest grade, but useful enough. Red ones boost strength."
Mysterious patterns glimmered on it.
'It's real.'
Woojin gaped at the Rune.
Unbelievable.
'Runes... from a gray wolf?'
Evil Tail had Runes too.
Info said you got them as rewards from the Labyrinth Tower's fifth-floor boss, Lizard King.
From sixth floor on, monsters dropped lowest-grade ones at low rates.
And now, one from a respawning beginner-zone gray wolf.
"Try it."
Raoul placed the Rune in Woojin's hand.
"...Can I?"
"Of course. Humans can only absorb so many Runes. Twenty per attribute for lowest-grade. I've got plenty."
In Evil Tail, still conquering floor 10, they were rarer than rare on the auction house.
'Like the game... but different.'
The game was at floor 10; this was the future, cleared to 99.
'These differences are welcome.'
Crunch—
The Rune shattered easily.
"Oh...?"
A fresh herbal scent filled his mouth, and swallowing made his throat burn hot.
"Weird sensation."
Woojin felt vitality surging through him.
'Red... Strength Rune.'
Whoosh—
The heavy sword felt a bit lighter now.
'Not sure on skills, but Runes definitely work.'
[Grrrr...]
Then.
Woojin turned at the monster sounds outside the cave.
Countless red eyes glowed densely.
His brief high crashed coldly.
"...Spoke too soon. Persistent bastards."
Raoul's words made Woojin grip his sword tighter, face hardening.
But it was different now.
'One, two, three...'
Too many to count, yet not scary.
'Another Rune maybe?'
The thought lit a spark in his grim eyes.
This place was starting to look different.
[Kyaang...!!]
The wolf's death cry didn't last long.
Thud—
As its head hit the ground, dawn light began filtering into the cave mouth.
"...Morning already."
Raoul leaned on his sword like a cane and rubbed his stiff back.
"How many were there? Can't fool age. Whew, I'm beat."
He was covered in blood.
But the pools soaking the ground weren't theirs.
"Agility Rune."
The air reeked of gore, but Woojin, nose numb, casually sliced the last corpse and stated flatly.
"Heh heh, you adapt fast. First time you were retching up a storm."
'Five Strength Runes, six Agility, eight Vitality, four Dexterity.'
His haul from hunting overnight.
'In game terms, lowest-grade Rune gives 5 points per stat...'
In Evil Tail, each level granted five stat points.
'One Rune equals one level-up. If this were game, that's 24 levels in a night.'
Amazing gains, but no room for complacency.
No respawns here.
Dead was dead.
'Gotta survive no matter what.'
"Yeah. Means to get stronger? No reason to refuse."
Bathed in monster blood like war paint, Woojin chewed an Agility Rune nonchalantly.
"But this isn't enough."
'...Hm?'
Raoul eyed Woojin's hungry gaze with intrigue.
"Can I learn it too?"
It was miraculous.
His old self gone, trapped in a game, fallen to another world—rock bottom.
Easy to give up.
But his eyes shone brighter.
'Maybe... an opportunity.'
No level caps here.
Conversely, no skill trees required.
'Impossible in game...'
But here, possible.
"Aura Blade."
The master skill unlocked at level 99.
Territory no one in Evil Tail history had reached.