This Difficulty Is Insane

The second monster I ran into while scouting the Sky Island was a boar with horns.

Not ordinary horns, either — horns wreathed in roaring, crackling flame.

Even for me, catching one of those head-on looked like it would hurt like hell.

"Wait. Is this Sky Island's whole theme just horns? Another horned animal."

If that was the case, I wouldn't mind running into a horse.

A horned horse… now that I couldn't pass up.

"Ah. Damn."

While I was busy daydreaming, the Horned Boar locked onto me and charged.

I could have dodged it — but it was moving pretty fast.

Not that I had any reason to dodge.

If the thing was kind enough to rush me in a straight line, the least I could do was say thank you.

I whipped a stone from my sling toward the crown of its skull — and threw in the Acceleration skill for good measure.

An accelerating sling stone.

Plus the boar's own charging speed coming the other way.

Relative velocity spiked, and with it, the destructive force exploded.

Like I said before — speed is power.

No matter how thick a Horned Boar's skull was, there was no way it was tanking that.

Its head caved in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on impact, and the thing dropped dead on the spot.

This time I'd picked up a Strength point and a skill called Flame.

I set the stat aside for now and checked the skill first.

I opened my status window and pulled up the detailed description.

As expected, the skill description was bare-bones.

Flame was exactly what it said on the tin — the ability to control fire.

Fire, huh… that was actually pretty damn cool.

I could wield fire!

That was every man's fantasy and romance rolled into one.

How was I supposed to resist that?

I activated Flame on the spot and conjured a ball of fire in my palm.

It blazed up hot — so hot I snuffed it out immediately.

Wait… did this thing come with zero fire resistance?

"Ah… yeah, that's a deal-breaker…"

Fair enough. The description said I could control flame — not that I was immune to it.

Sadly, it looked like I wouldn't be throwing Flame-Flame Fruit-style fire punches anytime soon.

"Unlike Acceleration, I can't slap this on a sling stone. I'd just burn my own hand."

Still, it was fine.

Being able to freely summon and shape fire was more than good enough on its own.

I was satisfied with that much.

"I can put the fire out whenever I want, too. At least I won't start a forest fire."

That was enough testing for Flame.

Time to get back to scouting.

I kept walking in the direction I'd already been heading.

Judging by the Sky Island's rough size and the distance I'd covered, a little more walking would put me at the center of the island.

"In games, the boss monster is usually hanging around the middle of the map. Same deal here?"

If my theory held up, I wanted at least a look at the boss.

Not to fight it right away — just to size up how strong it was.

If it turned out way weaker than I expected, I'd just kill it.

"…Smell of wet earth?"

Scouting wasn't just about your eyes.

It was about using every sense you had — smell, hearing, the works.

The first thing I picked up was the scent of damp soil.

The second was the hard rush of running water.

There had to be a river nearby.

A river was prime real estate for survival.

If one was out there, I wanted it.

I headed toward the sound of the water.

That was when I ran into a snake monster with a horn on its head — and it had one feature the others didn't.

Namely, the snake was flying.

"…Ah. I'm fucked."

…And there were a whole lot of them.

The snakes had tangled and knotted themselves into one enormous sphere, and it was so grotesquely wrong it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠made my skin crawl.

Lucky for me I'd seen snakes before. A normal person would have pissed themselves on the spot.

Not that I was doing great either.

Even I wasn't about to take on that many snakes with nothing but a sling.

Especially not flying ones.

"…Run!!"

Here's a free survival tip: when the odds are bad, running is the best option you've got.

I learned that one back in my special forces days, too.

I pulled a fast tactical withdrawal, glanced back, and found the snakes crawling through the air after me.

They weren't particularly fast — but watching snakes writhe and wriggle was just disgusting on principle.

Even mid–tactical withdrawal, you don't just bolt blindly.

Fortunately, they were slower than me.

I kept stealing looks over my shoulder, working the problem.

"Killing that many with sling stones is a non-starter… the only real option is Flame, but…"

Flame could probably wipe them out. I just didn't like the idea.

We were in a forest, after all.

Use Flame over a wide area and you'd start a wildfire — and even I would end up getting burned.

"This is a Sky Island at eight hundred meters. No windbreaks anywhere nearby, so the wind is howling. If a fire gets going up here, we're genuinely screwed."

I could control the fire itself.

With Flame, I could snuff out the blaze around me and keep from getting roasted directly.

The real problem wasn't skin burns — it was respiratory burns.

A forest fire superheats the air, and if that scorching air gets driven into your lungs on the wind, you're looking at catastrophic injury.

It could kill you, easy.

So yeah — torching the snakes with Flame was too risky.

"Mm… running really is the best call."

These things weren't something I could beat right now.

I was faster than them anyway.

So I just had to run, and it was over.

"But… I should at least grab a skill before I go."

Watching those horned snakes float around, it was obvious they had some kind of flight skill.

And a flight skill was something I absolutely needed.

You take what you can get when you can get it.

I loaded a stone into the sling and let fly.

The accelerated rock dropped one of the snakes.

What I got was an Agility point and a skill called Deadly Venom.

No flight skill, unfortunately.

"Wait — those bastards had venom too? These things are completely unhinged."

I had Hazard Nullification, so poison didn't really matter to me — but it still made my skin crawl.

Just thinking about their raw killing power was enough to make my blood run cold.

"Man… what would a normal person even think, running into something like that?"

Ugh. Too horrible to imagine.

I scooped up another stone and thanked my lucky stars I was ex–special forces with the Predator skill.

I loaded the sling and threw again.

Another snake went down.

Okay. Flight acquired.

I was still running for my life, so skill details could wait — focus on getting out first.

I was done with those snakes.

I ran flat out.

Weaving hard through the trees, I watched the swarm of snakes shrink and vanish from sight.

Five minutes of sprinting later, they'd stopped chasing altogether.

Strategic retreat: success.

"Ha. Special forces experience doesn't just disappear, does it? Thank god this is forest terrain."

If I'd been stuck somewhere with no cover, shaking them would have taken a lot longer. Having a forest to disappear into was a real blessing.

I sat down on a fallen log and caught my breath.

"Hmm… the water sounds pretty close, though."

I hadn't planned it, but running had brought me near the river.

After a short rest, I walked toward it.

A few steps later, a broad river revealed itself between the trees.

The current was unnaturally strong — probably some special gimmick of the Sky Island.

You wouldn't get water moving like this on ordinary terrain.

"When I checked the Sky Island's shadow earlier, there weren't any waterfalls spilling off the edge. So does this river just… start flowing on one side and vanish on the other?"

Huh. Interesting setup.

Not that I was going to lose sleep over it.

Reality itself had gone full fantasy; this barely registered as weird anymore.

What I actually wanted to know was whether the water was drinkable.

"Would be nice if it were clean enough to drink."

I moved closer to check the water quality.

And in that instant, a cold, lethal sensation wrapped around my entire body.

I dropped low on pure reflex and turned my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head — and my eyes landed on the far bank.

A beast whose presence made every monster I'd met so far look like a joke…

A horned wolf was staring at me from across the river.

I knew the second I saw it.

That thing was dangerous.

Not just dangerous — something that had no business existing here at all.

That was a level of strength I could not handle.

"…"

Fear forcibly jacked my body into overdrive.

My blood vessels dilated. My heart hammered, shoving blood through every inch of me.

And yet, paradoxically, my breathing went quieter and quieter.

That was the special forces training talking.

My body was overriding even the instinct of terror.

"…"

The horned wolf stared at me for a long moment, then turned and walked back into the trees.

It could have crossed the river if it wanted to. It didn't.

I had no idea why — but for now, I was just glad it hadn't.

Because if that thing had decided to kill me, I would already be dead.

"…Haha. Wow… fuck. Who the hell set the difficulty this high?"

Only after the wolf was gone could I find my voice again.

I raked a hand through my hair, half exhilarated and half furious at a fear I hadn't felt in a long time.

"Yeah. Fine. You want to play it like that? Then I'll play it for real. I'll show you exactly what a Republic of Korea special forces operator looks like."

I hadn't exactly been slacking — but I hadn't been operating at full capacity either.

The whole situation was so absurd, and getting a cheat ability had me so high, that I'd been half goofing off.

Enjoying myself, honestly.

Not anymore.

The second I learned there was something on this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Sky Island far stronger than me, the games were over.

From here on out, I would systematically annihilate every enemy the special forces way.

"You arrogant little mutt. I'm going to hunt you down to the last breath. I'll make you regret not killing me the moment we met."