Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: A Line Crossed
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Hwan-in returned to the smoking pit, replenished the natural smoke chips in the pit where the smoke was slowly fading, and soaked the prepared white-affinity beast meat in the icy stream water.
After three more hours, for a total of nine hours of smoking, he pulled out the skewers from the pit and inspected them.
"Hm..."
The outer shell had only hardened slightly, but when torn open, the inside was still soft and tender. The color was a light brown, too.
Squawk?
In Emergency Ration's eyes, it looked edible, as the bird showed curiosity toward the smoked meat from Hwan-in's shoulder.
Even to Hwan-in, it wasn't a bad result for a first try. It retained its white affinity, and the aroma carried the distinctive smoky scent of proper smoking.
But...
'Failure.'
Proper smoked meat transformed into firm, dark-brown sticks with a glossy texture.
The reason smoking preserved meat was that the slightly hardened surface, coated in smoke, blocked bacteria from spoiling the meat.
Well-smoked meat lasted over a week.
With multiple smoking sessions, it could extend to two to four weeks.
But with it still this soft? It would last longer than raw meat, sure, but not the two weeks or more he was aiming for.
"..."
Hwan-in pondered the failure briefly, shared the meat with Emergency Ration, then lit the pit again.
Since he was already at it, he figured he'd try another nine hours of smoking.
"...?"
But was smoked meat supposed to taste like this originally? The more he chewed, the more it had a slight tangy bite and a faintly greasy aftertaste, narrowing his eyes.
'The white affinity in Soul Vision looks fine.'
He had memories of eating smoked salmon at specialty shops or smoked barbecue at grill joints with his father, but no experience with this kind of smoked meat, so he couldn't tell if this was the proper flavor.
For now, he left the pit smoker alone and started work on the next type.
He had plenty of meat, so he'd try every method he could think of.
First, he fetched large quantities of branches and leaves from the western Twin Mountains and built a hut-like smoker.
Suspecting the issue might be smoking raw meat directly, he cut the meat into sizes suitable for smoking while building the smoker and laid it out in the shade.
He figured the cool breeze from the icy riverbank might dry it somewhat.
It was a valley with relatively low humidity for a river, so it wouldn't spoil instantly, and smoking naturally dried meat might prove more effective.
"..."
But once laid out, the sight of the meat on large broad leaves from the deciduous trees felt off. It wouldn't dry properly like that and would attract flying insects.
Recognizing the two issues, Hwan-in paused the hut smoker and wove branches into a crude net-like rack.
He placed the meat on the finished net, spreading some inside the cave too.
"Emergency Ration. Come here."
Squawk?
"Stay here and eat any bugs that fly in. Got it?"
Squawk!
With Emergency Ration posted as sentry, Hwan-in resumed hut construction, but a weary sigh escaped him from the fatigue.
Why did this kind of work drain his stamina more than fighting?
After seven straight hours of labor, with only four soul orbs left, he left the half-finished hut and headed out to hunt again.
He hadn't slept since last night preparing the smoking, and fatigue was building, but compared to escaping the jungle, this was paradise.
"Emergency Ration. Today, that way."
Squawk~.
This time, they followed the river downstream.
The basin had been visited around dawn, so beasts would still be on alert.
With a jaguar soul orb, he could've tried hunting with speed buffs and stealth, but with only lowest-grade orbs, options were limited.
Squawk! Squawk!
After about an hour along the river, Emergency Ration, scouting ahead, returned crying out. Hwan-in climbed the nearby hill and surveyed the river.
"Hm."
He spotted what seemed to be the reason for the cries, but it felt... somewhat cognitively dissonant.
It looked like a large dog-sized seal, at first glance.
But this seal had sturdy blue skin and fur covering its belly, front paws, and rear paws. Its protruding snout showed dagger-like fangs, and its broad, duck-webbed paws had spines.
Nearly thirty of them gathered by the riverbank, with a few leisurely swimming in the water.
He hadn't seen them a week ago when moving along the river.
'River-following beasts, I guess.'
Observing the land seals (working name) calmly, Hwan-in noticed their yellow-affinity bodies contrasted with vivid red claws on the front paws, furrowing his brow.
Fangs colorless, but claws red? Maybe venom or pathogens, he thought, then witnessed a common brown jaguar approaching the river.
A small hill between the river and jaguar. The jaguar, trudging up from the opposite side after a failed hunt, froze upon spotting the land seals atop the hill.
Woof-woof-woof-woof!
The land seals spotted it too, over ten gathering and barking fiercely. The jaguar tucked its tail and fled outright.
"..."
He didn't know about Earth's jaguars, but this world's were aggressive enough to charge and bite beasts larger than themselves. Fleeing at first sight of land seals meant...
'They use magic too.'
A reasonable suspicion.
He didn't think their broad flipper-paws and tail fins allowed fast running.
A jaguar could take one with hit-and-run, yet fleeing immediately implied another reason.
Hwan-in eyed the land seals, picked up a fist-sized stone, and stepped toward them.
One in the group spotted him, pointing its pointed snout his way.
It stared blankly, not recognizing him as a foe immediately.
Utterly different from its reaction to the jaguar.
As he closed to about 100 meters, more noticed, one puffing its chest and snorting heavily.
Was the snorting a warning? As Hwan-in kept approaching undeterred, some began barking, drawing the whole group's attention.
Woof! Woof-woof!!
Land seals stamping the ground like warnings with their front paws.
Seeing that, Hwan-in halted and stared them down. They stopped stamping and roaring, staring back.
'Not aggressive enough for preemptive strikes.'
Not cowardly enough to flee, either. Heads held high, they seemed confident in something.
If one or two acted rashly, that'd be ideal, but their unity was strong—no outliers.
He wanted to test if they used magic, but pushing closer seemed unwise.
Already not far; if they all fired magic at once up close, he'd be done.
To signal no hostility, Hwan-in slowly backed away.
Once sufficiently distant, he quenched his thirst upstream and waited for other beasts to clash with the land seals.
"..."
After about ten minutes, beasts began gathering one by one.
Oddly, even those that fled blindly at sight of him now just warily kept distance without bolting.
Meanwhile, their numbers grew.
Among them, new types like oversized wild boars or giant honey badgers.
Screeek—
A sharp cry from above made Emergency Ration, resting on his shoulder, flinch and creep toward his head.
Looking up, three large birds circled with wings spread like eagles—three or four times Emergency Ration's size.
What was happening?
As Hwan-in puzzled it out, beast numbers swelled further. Over 100, roughly, though hard to count precisely.
They formed an encirclement around the land seals.
Spotting even the vampire horses (blood horses?) that had neighed mockingly and fled whenever he approached, Hwan-in finally grasped the situation.
He had no intention of joining the bloodbath and considered keeping more distance when...
Grrrrr...
Grrrooong...
Rooororor...
Nerve-wracking growls rose among the gathered beasts.
Grrr-chomp, grrr, roooar—the growling echoed, tightening the encirclement like a rippling noose.
The land seals clustered mid-river barked anxiously: Woof-woof-woof!
Tension hung like a powder keg, but Hwan-in nearly laughed in disbelief.
Dozens of different species uniting to hunt one kind, engaging in a standoff. Something impossible in Earth's nature, witnessed here.
Rawr-aaaang!!
A jaguar pack snapped the rubber-band tension, declaring war with a piercing roar.
Five jaguars charged the land seals as bluish water blobs—seven or eight—shot arrow-like from the circular formation.
Pew—pew—peeeew—
Two jaguars dropped with eerie sounds, tumbling from momentum.
The barrage felled the rest before five steps.
Then the bulk of beasts rushed the land seals.
War erupted.
Like cavalry charging archers, the beast alliance pierced and sliced by water arrows and laser-like jets, tumbling wildly.
Headshots killed instantly, but coin-sized water arrows merely wounded unless repeated.
Beasts knew this, charging eyes-rolled-back; land seals fired relentlessly.
Vampire horse packs, boasting top speed, reached first—Hwan-in narrowed his eyes.
Just before fangs touched, a massive water barrier rose; razor-sharp water spears erupted, skewering them.
Neiiigh—!
Horses riddled with holes screamed and collapsed.
Others surged; concentrated attacks thinned defenses elsewhere, allowing breaches and crises.
Dozens tangled in melee chaos instantly.
Ridiculous: alliance infighting.
No allies—fangs and claws struck anything in reach. Land seals sprayed everywhere, blood and flesh spraying in hellish pandemonium.
Hwan-in moved in.
Countless beasts dying, souls filling the air.
Gripping the Deer-Antler Staff, he approached the fray, prioritizing novel souls into orbs.
Two vampire horse soul orbs, three Spiked-Tail Pig orbs, two Three-Eyed Dog orbs, one bison and one camel-bird orb each.
Rawr-aaaang!!
Krawrgh!
Two blood-mad wolf-dogs charged eyes flipped; Hwan-in unflinchingly thrust the staff.
No need for low-grade souls. He unleashed nearby Scale Mole and Dragon-Horned Rhino (Velociraptor + rhinoceros) souls for a spirit explosion.
Boom-boom-BOOM!!!
The two at the triangular blast's apex shredded like hit by a 100 km/h car, rags tumbling.
This low-grade spirit explosion outpowered the lowest-grade by 1.5x in force and range.
Startled briefly, some circling beasts switched to him.
Facing their blatant bloodlust, Hwan-in summoned a spare vampire horse soul for Spirit Possession.
Infusing the sharper low-grade soul, his heart pounded once, vitality surging body-wide.
Like an instant potent stimulant, power overflowed—Hwan-in reeled inwardly.
'Body more activated than with low-grade possession. At least 30%.'
Not localized—overall physical boost felt like 30%.
Moreover, the thick blood scent uplifted his mood, inducing balanced excitement.
'What effect is this?'
Shelving the question, he bared teeth, charging a mad-dog wolf-dog, swinging the spearhead at its skull.
Crack!
Spear felt feather-light momentarily; then the wolf-dog's cranium crumpled, brains splattering.
Faint resistance thrilled him; he blurred like an arrow, smashing another's spine.
Snap-crunch—the body folded backward, dead instantly.
Fight brewing nearby, red-eyed beasts swarmed the lone Hwan-in.
Easier prey than the seal cluster—but grave misjudgment.
Over 40 souls around.
As twenty-odd charged, Hwan-in raised the staff high.
"Explode!"
Grrrumble...!
Half the souls detonated like landmines, upheaving earth in formless blasts engulfing them.
"Hoo..."
Chill wrapped him like a fever drop, white breath puffing.
Warm Ki backlash from mass use, but ignored—he tossed the staff back, dashing into survivors, whirling the spear.
Silver flashes slick with blood rent flesh, severed limbs.
30% enhancement was immense.
One-handing a two-hander freed an arm; close gapers shattered under fists and kicks, flying like soccer balls.
Moreover.
Bam!
Yelp!!
Crack, splat!!
Kyaack!
Each bare-handed kill, each blood splash on skin recovered stamina and HP; scratches healed real-time.
Realizing the vampire horse possession effect, Hwan-in expressionlessly rampaged blood-soaked.
Unlike the barking seals and roaring beasts yonder, here only dying gasps.
Bathed in crimson, exhaling white breath, Hwan-in embodied death to beasts.
Fear finally hit; some fled—but Hwan-in, staff reclaimed, silently exploded souls, slaughtering without mercy.
Thud-boom, kwagwang, bang, boom-boom...!!
Indiscriminate blasts flung beasts like kicked balls amid screaming roars, hell unfolding.
Quoooaaang—!
Sploooosh!!
Tree-splitting rupture; water spears thorn-bush-like impaled everything in range.
Dozens felled instantly—silence fell on the field.
Battle's end.