Newbie Graduation

A brown-furred fox raced through the forest. Close behind, a wolf whose coat was black as midnight gave chase. The gap between them was modest — close enough, given their speeds, that the wolf would close it in moments.

But it would never catch her. The clever fox knew that this wolf would never stray beyond a certain stretch of territory.

A boundary where the bright woods and the dark forest met as if a line had been drawn between them. Cross that line, and even this savage wolf would abandon the hunt. No matter how fast it was, the fox would reach the border first.

The clever fox, however, was only half clever. She knew they could not cross the boundary — but she did not know they never hunted alone.

"Yipe!"

The fox cried out as a wolf burst silently from her flank, but that startled yelp was her last. A sickening crunch, and her throat was torn out. She went limp, turned gray, and vanished.

The wolf that had been chasing her smacked its lips in disappointment and wagged its tail. Then wolves of similar make emerged from the shadows behind it.

A pack of five. The Black Wolves, known as the bosses of Lucifen Forest. Their level was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠16 — not so far above the foxes — but they were not opponents to take lightly.

They excelled at coordinated pack tactics, and the intimidation of their bulk, oversized even for level 16, hit harder than expected. Until now, the largest thing a player had faced was a fox that barely reached the knee. Suddenly confronting a wolf the size of a grown human was another matter entirely.

That was why new players first learned the true meaning of party play here. How four or five people gathered, cooperated, and fought. How to battle efficiently.

Of course, none of that had anything to do with the ones about to arrive.

A rustle of undergrowth. Five pairs of eyes turned toward the sound. The deepest heart of the forest was darker than the woods outside — so dark that even at midday it felt like night, faint points of light gleaming in the gloom.

Those eyes, like will-o'-the-wisps, fixed on a single human. She hesitated, then offered an awkward smile and opened her mouth.

"Ah... hello?"

The wolves had no intention of returning the greeting. The human's feet had already crossed the boundary of the innermost woods and then some. The distance was not great. A single leap would put them at her throat.

"Ah."

The human looked slightly startled as a massive black wolf was already dropping toward her, jaws yawned wide. It had closed the gap in the blink of an eye. She quickly recovered her composure and reached for her sword.

But drawing a blade now would not matter. The wolf's jaws would reach her first. Before the sword was even halfway free, razor fangs punched into soft flesh. The wolf wrenched its head and tore. She never finished drawing her sword. She should have died in an instant.

That was how it should have gone. And yet the wolf found itself lying on the ground. The human? It jerked its head up — she was unharmed. A little startled, perhaps, settling into a stance with her sword now fully drawn.

Had that sword done this? Enough to knock it senseless, even briefly? But the searing heat rising through its body and the smell of burnt flesh quickly told it otherwise. The wolf let out a small whimper as it looked at its flank, which hurt beyond endurance.

"Wuuu—"

Its dark fur was charred black, the skin beneath roasted a golden brown. The wound was so thoroughly seared that no blood flowed, but the wolf knew from the surging sensation welling up inside that it was far from all right. Death was coming.

It made no sense. The girl held only a single sword — nothing that could inflict a wound like this. No burning torch, nothing of the sort. The wolf's confusion did not last long.

"...I hadn't thought they'd be quite this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠strong."

A human even smaller than the first appeared, wisps of flame blooming in the air around her. The wolf could tell this one was not human — she was a fox. But a fox in human shape? A wolf could scarcely comprehend such a thing.

"If they're this strong, couldn't Choco just take them all down without me?"

"That may be so... yet if I were to slay them all myself, would you not be left unable to grow?"

"We split the EXP anyway, so it shouldn't matter, right?"

"I speak not of levels, but of experience. Besides, hunting in this manner may serve at low levels, but it shall prove impossible later on."

"Ehh... no way..."

The humans began chatting among themselves as if the dying wolf did not even exist. It turned its head to look at its kin. They were holding still, wary of those flames.

"Still, we ought to thin them out first."

The fox-human muttered this and flicked her hand almost carelessly. The flames orbiting her shot forth. They were fast — but the wolves could move faster. And yet they could not dodge.

One of the flying flames hesitated mid-flight, then whipped around and homed in on one of the scattering wolves.

"Grah?!"

Fwoosh! The moment it struck, the flame bloomed wide and engulfed the wolf entirely. A living torch, it thrashed for a moment before turning gray and vanishing. The remaining wolves had dodged the other flames and survived, but they could not look away from what they had just seen.

The thrown flames... moved on their own? But there was no time to dwell on the question. Flames bloomed around the fox-human once more and were launched. The wolves dodged swiftly — and another of their kin burst into flame. Once again, a fireball that had suddenly changed trajectory.

By now they understood that simply dodging was meaningless. Keep evading, and they would only die one by one.

The two remaining Black Wolves bared their fangs, and the instant their paws touched the ground they leaped again, charging the fox-human.

"Fools."

The fox-human grinned and conjured more flames. The wolves split apart at once, rushing in from both sides. Even if one of them died, the other would surely reach her. What they had overlooked, however, was this: the flames had made them forget that the fox-human was not alone.

"Ugh...!"

"Graaah—!"

The scream of a burning wolf and the sound of someone sucking in a breath rang out at the same time. Gritting its teeth at its packmate's death cry, the remaining wolf glared at the human who had stepped into its path.

Had it failed to react, the sword now clenched between its teeth would have punched straight through its throat. But it had reacted — and that put it in the advantage. Still gripping the blade, it put its strength into a violent upward toss of its head.

"Whoa—!"

The human's body went flying, lifted by a force equal to the wolf's bulk. Had she let go of the sword, she might have lost her weapon, but at least she would not have been hurled helplessly into the air. Unlike the fox-human, this one was still green.

And so she would die. The wolf leaped high, jaws opening toward the falling human. Shock filled the flailing human's eyes.

Then it hit the ground. And it did not stop — it tumbled over and over. The wolf felt a flicker of confusion as the world spun around it. But before that confusion could resolve, it turned gray and vanished.

The wolf that had been lying wounded from the start had seen it all. Its packmate leaping to kill the human suspended in midair — and the startled human swinging her sword in a great spinning arc through the empty air.

That single stroke took the wolf's head clean off. The body tumbled onward in the direction of its leap. Of the infamous Black Wolf pack that had ruled this stretch of forest, only one remained. And that one was wounded, dying.

"...That just now — how did you do it?"

"I-I don't know... I was in a hurry, so I just swung however I could..."

"You simply... swung however you pleased...?"

The last wolf watched the fox-human mutter in disbelief, quietly gasping for breath. There was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠no strength left in its body. But it did not want to die so helplessly. At the very least, it wanted to take down that thing that was neither fox nor human — the one who had killed it and its kin.

"I had intended to have you face the one lying yonder... but having seen what you just did, I rather think there is no need."

That dying wish vanished before the flames. A fireball arrived in an instant and swallowed the wolf's body.

And with that, the Black Wolf pack was gone.

"Ah."

I snatched the enormous fang out of the air before it could hit the ground. The items that appeared after it, though, I failed to catch, and they clattered to the forest floor. Rewards like these would normally have gone straight into the inventory, but since I could not use any system functions besides the status window, they seemed to manifest this way instead.

I looked over the fallen items one by one. Nothing particularly special. Including the fang in my hand, it was just some Black Wolf hide and a few small gems that would fetch a decent price. And Yeon? I turned my head and found her scanning the empty air, apparently checking her inventory.

"Did anything of worth drop?"

"Hmm... I got some gems and hide too... huh?"

Yeon's eyes went wide. At that reaction, I asked with a flicker of hope.

"Did you perhaps obtain a piece of equipment?"

"Yeah. It's called Black Wolf's Fang."

"Ah, that dagger..."

I would have preferred an accessory, honestly. The ring called Black Wolf's Eye would have been ideal — simply wearing it raised the Agility stat by a full ten points.

Black Wolf's Fang was a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠decent weapon in its own right... but unfortunately, Yeon already had the Ogle's Masterpiece Set, which rendered it all but useless. A sidearm for when she dropped her weapon, at best. Still better than nothing.

"'Tis a pity a weapon dropped when you already have one, yet keeping it on your person for emergencies would not be amiss."

"Yeah. More importantly, we're heading to the next area now, right?"

I nodded at Yeon's words. In truth, we could have moved on to the next region without hunting the Black Wolf pack at all. Defeating them was not a requirement for advancing, and anyone with enough coin could simply take a carriage from the village.

The reason I had insisted on fighting them was to test how strong I had become. I no longer had to remain in fox form, and I had learned a new skill — Taoist magic. A proper test was in order. And while I was at it, I had wanted a genuine look at Yeon's skill as well. That was why we had hunted the Black Wolf pack.

And the results had been more than satisfactory.