Identity

"Master... this is a bit..."

Samsaek sensed the presence closing in from every direction, and his face twisted with dismay. This was too many. Far too many.

A chorus of low growls rolled through the trees. Monsters and predators alike had come flooding in from all sides.

"You go that way. I'll take Han Minjae with me. We'll meet back here later."

"What are you talking about? You said you barely have any mana left. I should be protecting you."

If Samsaek reverted to his true form and carried Karen, they could run and escape easily enough. Samsaek had assumed that was where his master's composure came from.

"I know who did it. There's no detection hunter with us, is there? You see Lisa? She was the one on watch."

The culprit was certain now. The woman who had vanished along with the discarded bottle that had held the pheromones.

Even an S-Rank Hunter couldn't protect people while fighting hundreds of A-Rank and above monsters all at once. No matter how strong a human was, they couldn't beat a swarm of wasps.

"You've got better senses than a human, right? Use that and get them somewhere safe. I've got a guest to meet."

"Kku-ing, are you really okay? Wouldn't it be better if we all went together?"

"I have to catch that woman. If she's after me, she'll never show herself as long as Chaerin and a giant cat are standing next to me."

"But..."

"We don't even know how many more pheromone bottles she has left. If she ambushes us on the way back, it'll be a pain. We need to end this."

"..."

When Samsaek kept looking sullen, Karen reached out and ruffled his head. Having less mana had its silver linings.

This guy's expressions are hilarious.

Of course, if he said that out loud, Samsaek would sulk for sure, so he kept the thought to himself.

"What, you don't trust your master?"

"Master. Never do this again. I feel awful, and my head feels like it's going to split open."

"Hmm? You said you lost your memories from before you became a Spiritual Beast. Is this from those?"

The moment Samsaek first felt that his master was in danger, every hair on his body stood on end and his heart hammered wildly in his chest.

What is this feeling?

"Aww, is our Samsaek worried about me?"

But Samsaek's thoughts were cut short by his master's hands stretching his cheeks.

"Master! This is no time for jokes! And promise me you'll come back alive. Okay?"

Faced with Samsaek's unprecedentedly serious expression, Karen stopped teasing him and looked him straight in the eye.

"Samsaek. What are you?"

"That's not the point right now..."

"Answer me."

"And a creature like that is worrying about his master?"

Karen ruffled Samsaek's head and grinned.

"...Fine. See you in a bit. Don't you dare die!"

Samsaek leaped over to Chaerin and whispered the entire situation into her ear.

"But..."

"Master will explain everything once this is over. Trust him and follow me. I'll even show you one of my secrets."

Samsaek's body suddenly swelled in size, startling both Chaerin and Lee Jeong.

"Those two aren't coming with us? And where's Lisa gone? Aaaaah! What the hell is this?! That cat?!"

Lee Jeong had no idea what was going on. The monsters that had suddenly swarmed in, and this cat bigger than a tiger telling him to follow...

"Human. I am in an extremely foul mood right now. If you don't want to die, shut up and follow me quietly."

Samsaek spoke to Lee Jeong in a hard, clipped tone completely unlike his usual self.

"W-wait, I... huh?"

"If you don't come right now, I'll grab you by the scruff of the neck and drag you. Or I'll throw you in among those monsters to make Master's path even a little easier."

When Samsaek thrust his razor-sharp fangs and claws right in front of Lee Jeong's face, the hunter's complexion went deathly pale, and he found himself nodding before he knew it.

Of course, a mere threat wouldn't have made a battle-hardened hunter like Lee Jeong this docile.

What is this vicious killing intent?

Even an A-Rank Hunter who had hunted countless monsters found himself momentarily overwhelmed by the aura pouring off Samsaek.

His face looks so cute, though...

"...Samsaek, let's go. The sooner we leave, the easier it'll be for Karen."

"Understood."

Chaerin and Lee Jeong began moving under Samsaek's guidance. They were still surrounded by monsters and had to break through, but Chaerin's unrelenting fists carved a path.

"Lisa, was it? That bitch and whoever's behind her — the moment we get out of here, they're dead."

She had dared to interfere with saving Chaerin's sister, and worse, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠put Karen in danger.

Every time Chaerin's rage-fueled fist flew, everything in her way shattered into pieces.

"Uh... Sunbae-nim? What about me?"

Once Chaerin's group had broken through, it was their turn to move. Han Minjae, who had been standing behind Karen in a daze this whole time, finally found his voice.

"Ah, right. You were here too."

"Sunbae-nim?"

"I'm kidding. You're C-Rank anyway, so you couldn't keep up with their pace. Take this."

Karen pulled a violet potion from his coat and handed it to Han Minjae.

"It's a Shadow Potion. Erases your scent. As long as you stay out of sight, you'll be fine. Quietly climb a tree, throw a camouflage tarp over yourself, and hide."

"You're not going to use it yourself, Sunbae-nim? I'm only C-Rank — I'll go out and draw their attention, so you can..."

"That was the last one. And if you stay with me, the guest I'm expecting will show up and you'll be in even more danger. Stay put."

Karen had now fully struck Han Minjae off his list of suspects. The kid hadn't shown the slightest sign of running, and if Karen hadn't helped him just now, he would certainly have been dead.

"You've got an antidote potion and a C-Rank fifty-percent mana potion, right?"

"Y-yes! I brought them just in case. I'll give you all of them."

"I only need one of each. And you can only drink one mana potion anyway. I'm going."

"Sunbae..."

The kid tried to grab Karen again, but before he could even try to stop him, Karen had already leaped down from the tree.

"It's been a while since I've done this."

He extended his right hand and slowly deployed a shield. A translucent film spread outward from his palm. With so little mana remaining, using his own body as a medium to deploy it was the best way to cut down on consumption.

A soft click. Karen uncorked a potion swirled with yellow, blue, and red, and poured it over the shield. The barrier shifted, taking on the colors of the surroundings.

Commonly known as a Chameleon Potion. It had a fatal flaw, though — in bright light it shimmered too much to be usable during the day.

"But a night like this is a different story."

Karen started moving in the opposite direction from where Chaerin's group had gone. That way led toward the center. Karen ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was heading back the way they had come.

A low growl cut through the dark. He'd been making good progress for a while when another of the potion's weaknesses revealed itself. It could hide his appearance, but it did nothing for his scent. A pack of wolves blocked his path.

Calling them wolves might make them sound weak compared to "monsters," but they were anything but. Smarter than ordinary wolves, and twice the size. The fact that they could survive among monsters inside a gate meant they were that strong.

"It's been a while."

Karen picked a pebble up from beneath his foot. In that same instant, one of the wolves launched itself off the ground, fangs bared, lunging for his throat.

"Not a chance."

Razor teeth closed in through a gaping maw — and Karen dropped every shield in front of him, dumping his mana into his legs to sharpen his reaction speed.

Most physical-enhancement hunters spread their mana evenly through the body. If they had any left over, reinforcing a weapon or a single limb was considered impressive. They did it that way because they lacked Karen's mana sensitivity; they simply couldn't convert it this fast. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠And there was no reason to take the risk.

Karen twisted, slipping past the attack by a hair. The instant the wolf's jaws snapped shut, he sent the mana from his legs into his hands.

Translucent spikes erupted from the pebble in a flash. He jammed it into the wolf's mouth and gave its jaw a light tap.

"It's been a while since I felt a thrill like this. Not bad."

The night was long, and there were plenty of places he'd need mana. He had to conserve as much as possible.

The wolf gagged, trying to spit the stone out, but it had already gone down its throat the moment Karen struck its jaw. The creature thrashed on the ground, writhing from the searing pain in its gut.

"What's it going to be? You want to keep going?"

Karen could have killed the defenseless wolf then and there, but he deliberately left it alive. The three wolves behind it watched their struggling packmate, their eyes wavering.

"Get lost. Unless you all want to die."

Saying gate wolves were smart also meant they could calculate. Apparently they decided that killing him at the cost of their own losses wasn't worth it, because they turned and vanished into the trees.

Leaving the still-howling, thrashing wolf behind, Karen moved on. With that one drawing the attention of everything else, it would be easier to move.

A low, droning buzz. He ran a little farther and heard a familiar sound — the flight of the Fairies he'd heard on the first day. The Monster Pheromone had summoned everything equally, land and air alike.

"So they came after all."

Karen uncorked an antidote potion, drank some, and sprayed the rest over his skin, leaving his head uncovered. Then he formed a round helmet of shield around his skull.

The moment he finished preparing, sparkling dust began falling from the sky. It was beautiful, like stars drifting down through the dark — but you couldn't let that beauty fool you.

The powder falling from the Fairies' wings was lethal. Skin contact meant paralysis. If it reached the mucous membranes or the lungs, it brought on hallucinations.

Small animals that had been perched in the trees dropped one after another. Their bodies, dusted with glittering powder, convulsed on the forest floor.

When some of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Fairies broke from the swarm to claim their prey, Karen used the Chameleon Potion as before to conceal himself.

The Fairies used the stingers hidden in their tails to finish off their prey. A lethal thorn, tucked inside a fairy-tale beauty.

"Hah..."

Karen exhaled carefully. Busy collecting the animals scattered around them, they hadn't noticed him at all.

Good. Now I wait, then grab just one of them...

But Karen's hopes were shattered by an arrow that came screaming out of the dark.

A whistling arrow — a hollow tube fixed to the tip to make it shriek in flight — struck Karen's shield. In an instant, every Fairy's attention locked onto him.

Easy prey lay scattered all around them, but the moment Karen caught their eye, the Fairies ignored everything else.

"They're called fairies, but they've got the intelligence of insects."

Even with plenty of already-incapacitated prey around them, Fairies instinctively attacked anything larger. Whether it was to reduce threats or to take it down before it could escape, the reason still hadn't been determined.

"At least there aren't too many of them. That's a relief."

This time, Karen wrapped a shield around his right shoe. Then he uncorked a green potion and poured it on.

The Fairies' wings thrashed as they charged in with violent wingbeats.

"This is another thing I haven't done in a while."

On the sole of his left shoe, he formed studs like a soccer cleat. He kicked off with his left foot, then planted his right — and his body slid forward, shooting across the ground.

The Slime Potion poured on his right foot was made from a plant called Slick Flower. True to its name, borrowed from the frictionless slime, it all but eliminated friction on any surface it touched.

"...What the hell is that?"

Watching from a distance, concealing her presence, Lisa muttered in disbelief.

"He's supposed to be an alchemist?"

The documents had already been burned, but she'd memorized every scrap of information on him. She'd gone over it so many times there was no way her memory was wrong. The intel said he was a D-Rank awakened. An alchemist, no less.

"What kind of alchemist fights like that?"

In a dense forest, wings were more hindrance than help. Karen weaved between the trees as if skating, picking the Fairies off one by one. He took a long branch as a spear shaft, formed a razor edge at its tip, drove it through a Fairy's body, and was already in motion again. Their bodies were small, with vital organs packed tightly together — even a tiny hole was fatal.

"I can't just let him keep doing that."

Lisa drew her bowstring taut and waited for the perfect moment.

When he's most vulnerable.

The exact instant he dodged this way and that and struck at a Fairy.

Now.

The moment Karen stabbed a Fairy and pulled his spear back, Lisa's arrow flew true, heading straight for him.

"Hup."

But Karen was an alchemist — no, he was unlike even most hunters. With a sharp exhale, he clenched his lips tight, kicked off the ground with his left foot, and leaped, dodging the arrow.

Whether it was the ability to sense killing intent or the split-second decision to dodge — who would look at that and call him an alchemist?

"Got him."

But Lisa had already nocked her next arrow the moment she loosed the first, and she released the string again immediately. He was in midair, at his most vulnerable. This one would be a killing blow — she had no doubt.

Then Karen's next move tore a curse from Lisa's pretty mouth as she watched with expectant eyes.

"That guildmaster bastard... how the hell did he research this intel?"

It wasn't the sound of an arrow burying itself in his body. Karen suddenly kicked his left foot out to the side. A thin, translucent spike erupted from his foot, struck a nearby tree, and he slipped past the arrow by a hair's breadth.

"Hah... that one was a little close—"

When another arrow came flying, Karen quickly ducked behind a nearby tree.

"Lisa! Why don't you come out already? You're not going to catch me with arrows in a place like this."

A brief silence, then Lisa dropped lightly to the ground from a tree on the opposite side.

"Impressive. A real A-Rank Hunter, huh."

Not some fake who'd only hunted safe, cherry-picked gates for a corporation or a guild. A genuine A-Rank.

"You were so handsome, too. What a shame."

Lisa licked her lips as she spoke. She meant it. From the moment she'd seen Karen's photo in the documents, she'd thought his face was exactly her type.

"Ha. When did you even see me?"

"I'm the type who gets pretty hung up on faces."

"Well, thanks for that. You're not my type, though. You know who put you up to this?"

"Sure! Beat me and I'll tell you. If I lose, there's no point hiding it anyway."

That last line carried a strangely bitter note in Lisa's voice.

"Come on out, honey. There aren't any monsters nearby, and you already know arrows don't work. Let's roll around together — nice and hot."

Karen downed a mana potion, dropped his camouflage, and faced Lisa head-on.

Lisa drew the daggers at her waist. Karen shrugged off his coat and pulled a potion from his belt.

"A potion?"

"I'm an alchemist, after all."

"Heh. You really are charming... what a shame, honey."

"Can't say the same."

"Oh my. I like men who play hard to get, too."