Top-Tier Beasts Descend – Is This Real?
The entrance to the Black Forest fell eerily silent after capturing the Blue Ice Wolf.
Not even the wind could pierce the sharp needles of the conifers. The air hung heavy and sticky, like a shroud.
The moment the 550-strong subjugation army crossed the end of the salt path into the darkness, the system numbers flickering in the corner of Jinhyuk's vision went berserk.
> Current Survival Rate: 34.12% – Declining
Just three days ago, he'd barely nudged it into the 40s by completing the salt barrier. Now, stepping into the forest had plunged it over 6% already.
No direct danger alert from the system was needed. The plummeting numbers screamed that this forest's ecosystem was anything but normal.
Jinhyuk straightened his back, nocked an arrow to the Heavenly Wolf Bow's string, and signaled the Heavenly Wolf Corps forward.
As he scanned the surroundings warily, Beom Dal flashed hand signals. A hundred figures silently scaled the trees—the covert recon company.
With Doksa pulled for warehouse duty, their new commander was Gui-yeong, a former assassin wielding daggers carved from beast bones and iron-spiked projectiles. He controlled the forest canopy flawlessly with assassin hand signs and code words.
On the ground, the defense combat company of 100 formed the vanguard. Armed with iron-tipped wooden spears and iron-plated shields, they were an iron wall.
Beom Dal, Jinhyuk's adjutant and direct subordinate, had whipped the mercenaries and ronin into shape.
At the column's center, handling logistics and base-building, the supply engineer company of 100 followed Iron Giant, a veteran officer from the Jin Empire—remnants of the Iron Blood Corps and POWs from foreign wars.
He directed cart placements and trap setups with mechanical precision, steadying the core.
And interspersed among them: 250 from the Manma Gwang.
"...Halt."
Hand signals rippled out from Beom Dal at Jinhyuk's low command, reaching Gui-yeong and Iron Giant instantly.
Five hundred fifty footsteps stopped as one.
In the forest's hush, the Manma Gwang showed strange fervor.
They held formation but snatched purple moss from the ground and toxic herbs sprouting from rotten stumps.
"Heehee, this is premium stuff. Perfect for refining Corrosion Poison."
"Heehee... keehihi! See that shimmer? Purple perfection—for the Great One!"
A few clawed at the dirt, nails tearing, about to stuff the herbs in their mouths. Their leader, Dokmun, cracked one's skull with his staff.
Thwack!
"You lunatics! Snap out of it? How long since that guy fed you meat stew and rice porridge—your eyes flipping already?"
Dokmun pinned them with poison-laced glares.
He saw them as high-value trade pawns, nothing more—the ones who'd filled their bellies with hot stew.
But he knew better than most: those who feed you are the scariest. To keep the alliance, he reined in his fanatics' madness.
One Manma Gwang sobbed as he pocketed a violet herb.
A ronin squad leader from the defense company spat.
"Those sorcerer freaks. Came to hunt, now scavenging poison weeds to fill their guts. How do we trust scum like that at our backs?"
Murmurs of distrust rippled through the Heavenly Wolf Corps.
Jinhyuk ignored the friction, pressing his ear to the dirt, every nerve focused.
Overhead, crows and vultures—scenting death—circled beast and human corpses alike, crying ominously.
Gray-furred beasts and half-maddened animals, reason twisted, lurked in the snow camouflage, tightening the noose.
Swish... sss...
Dry leaves rustled. Vibrations closed in from all sides.
Faint, but hundreds, thousands.
"Incoming. Shields up! Spears ready! Iron Giant—salt barrage!"
Jinhyuk's shout shattered the silence.
KWEEEEEEK—!
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Ear-splitting shrieks. Gray-furred Snow Boars charged, steel-bristle hides kicking up massive dirt walls.
Behind: half-beast feral dogs and wolves, hides splitting, muscles bulging, eyes mad, lunging.
"Shields wall! Give ground and you're dead!"
Crash! Boom! Crunch!
Reinforced round shields met boar skulls in dull explosions.
Iron Giant's engineers ripped salt sacks, scattering dark salt powder outward. White dust flew; ground-crawling shadows shrieked.
Sizzle! Sss!
Snow Rats—gray-furred vermin craving soft human flesh—recoiled, skins blistering from the salt.
From above, weirder sounds.
Shwick—! Whoosh—! Fwoom!
Carnivorous Snow Hares, horned heads gleaming, rocketed from the ground like arrows.
They twisted midair, horns spearing armor gaps.
Clang! Crack!
"Agh! My eyes! My eyes!"
One soldier's eyeball burst on a hare's horn. He screamed.
Manma Gwang shamans fumbled talismans, but a nearby shieldman dodged a hare and elbowed one's arm off.
"You idiot! Ruining my spell?"
"Who told you to crawl under my arm, you witch scum?!"
The line tangled in chaos.
Distrust cut deeper than the beasts—until an overwhelming quake crushed the forest's order.
Grrrrr~
Roooar~
Heart-crushing bass. The apex predator's domain claim.
The instant it boomed, the battlefield warped grotesquely.
Subjugators froze like stone. Charging beasts and half-beasts locked in survival instinct.
Snow Hares and Rats scattered to holes without a peep.
Snow Deer herds halted, circling horns outward in defense.
Tree-leaping Snow Leopards tucked tails, fleeing to high branches, silent.
The entire food chain reordered for just two arrivals.
ROOOARRR—!!
Left: a Great Snow Bear dwarfing Siberian grizzlies, with ten Snow Bears. Its roar vaporized snow at its paws—flames of mana licking gray fur.
Whiiiine—!!
Right: a Great Snow Tiger, blue lightning piercing rock, leading six Snow Tigers. Ghostly descent. Its electric eyes marked the chaos as prey.
"...Fuck, two of those? Even I can't handle that."
"Boss... those are definitely..."
Sweat slicked Jinhyuk's palms.
Great Snow Bear and Great Snow Tiger eyed each other warily, unmoving.
One strike from Jinhyuk's bow would invite the other to feast on the wounded.
Lesser beasts froze, watching the titans.
As the subjugators backed toward Ghost Cry Gorge, the duo advanced slowly—refusing to lose prey.
Their massive steps shook the earth. Jinhyuk's breath caught.
He held the deadly balance.
Heavenly Wolf Bow drawn full, he alternated aims: bear's brow, tiger's heart.
"Gui-yeong, Iron Giant, Beom Dal! Relay to all: no breathing, backstep to the gorge quiet as mice. We retreat till they clash."
Commands whispered through the ranks.
They dribbled salt from carts, slowing pursuit.
Jinhyuk locked eyes with the beasts, bow steady.
Each tiger leap twitch got an arrow buried at its paws—blinding speed.
Your hide bleeds to my arrows. Hesitate, and that bear rips your throat. Silent warning.
Twing! Twing!
Amid taut standoff retreat, circling birds shrieked and scattered.
KEEEERK~
From skies: massive black-crested Black Wind Hawk—fiercest of Black Eagles.
One wingbeat slashed vacuum winds, shredding canopy.
Now forest brimmed with apex killers—ground, sky.
"...Fuck, three now. 1v1v1 stare-down."
Jinhyuk gripped the string tighter, palms soaked.
The hawk circled high, eyeing the pair. They slowed toward the humans, wary of the sky lord.
"Dokmun! Get your crazies moving! Can't you see those bastards drooling?"
Dokmun slammed his staff.
"All hands, Blood Poison Formation! Stray now, and you'll puke up that stew! Trust that bowman's arrow tip—fall back!"
Jinhyuk watched Manma Gwang retreat in the balance.
In the beasts' split-second calculus, he loosed three arrows—warning shots to ground and sky.
"Gui-yeong, Iron Giant, Beom Dal! Now—full sprint to the gorge!"
Ping! Ping! Ping!
The brief volley pinned the trio. Five hundred fifty souls sprinkled salt, diving desperately into Ghost Cry Gorge's stockade.
Bear and tiger eyed each other for mauling chances, plus the new sky threat—none dared chase humans.
Injury meant throne lost. Terror bound their feet.
Finally, the gorge's narrow stockade gate pressed Jinhyuk's back.
Iron Giant's engineers poured remaining salt atop pre-set barricades.
The stockade perimeter became hellfire to lesser beasts.
> Current Survival Rate: 31.05% – Declining
"Beom Dal, Iron Giant! Weapons, traps, everything out! Dokmun, all your scavenged herbs and spells! This is human turf now!!!"
Numbers still teetered, but Jinhyuk lowered the Heavenly Wolf Bow, stepping inside.
The forest's three lords snarled before the gorge mouth, salt wall, and starving humans' desperate fight.
Sunset crept through the trees.
"Now the real hunt begins, you monster fucks."