Tigris
Tigris
-Kaang!
The sound of metal clashing echoed through the forest.
I swung the [Orichalcum Dagger of Purification and Crushing] without time to breathe.
A violet flash cut through the air, aiming for the beastkin's neck and rushing in.
It was a trajectory that, in the past, I could only imitate by using [Item Summon] to take out the Pale Moon Sword and borrowing the 'Low-level Swordsmanship' skill embedded within it.
But now it was different.
The senses I gained from advancing to the [Primeval Swordsman] class were showing me the path of how to swing it.
The snap of the wrist, the position of the feet, even the rotation of the waist.
Even without anyone teaching me, I could instinctively know how to handle the sword.
The tip of the sword bent flexibly like a snake and dug into the beastkin's opening.
-Hwiik!
But the sword vainly sliced through the air.
The beastkin leaned her upper body back and dodged my attack.
A relaxed smile hung on her lips.
I gritted my teeth and poured out a rapid series of attacks.
It was a relentless sword barrage, but the beastkin was lightly stepping as if dancing and slipping past every attack.
It seemed like it would touch, but it didn't.
It was an overwhelming difference in physical ability.
She was enjoying the fleeting moment just before my sword reached her, narrowly dodging.
"Too slow, nya!"
She shouted playfully and kicked off the ground.
In an instant, the distance closed.
Her fist, which had dug into my chest, aimed straight for my solar plexus.
-Peok!
"Keoheok!"
A heavy shock slammed through my entire body.
My breath caught and my vision shook.
My body flew backward and crashed into a tree.
-Kudangtang!
"Kulluk... Kulluk!"
It felt like my insides were being turned over.
If I hadn't been wearing the [Orichalcum Armor], not just my internal organs but my spine would have been snapped in half.
That's how terrifying the destructive power was.
I staggered to my feet.
In the distance, the beastkin was waving her tail gently.
"Hehe, this is fun, nya~"
She was laughing with an innocent face.
It was the expression of a child who had found an interesting toy.
I glared at her while panting roughly.
"Hoo...."
A laugh escaped me.
Fun?
I was on the verge of death, but she found it fun.
But through a few exchanges of offense and defense, I had also figured something out.
She doesn't attack first.
Her style was to dodge my attacks just barely, then target the opening created and deliver a counter.
She exuded confidence that she could dodge any attack.
Arrogant.
If so.
Using that arrogance against her would be courteous.
"Let's see if you can dodge this too."
As I adjusted my grip on the dagger, the beastkin kicked off the ground and sprang out.
Her eyes curved like crescent moons.
She laughed as if it was fun and charged at me.
The distance closed.
I pulled the dagger in my right hand far back.
My shoulder leaned forward, weight shifting into it.
It was a preparatory motion for a powerful thrust, obvious to anyone.
The beastkin's pupils followed the movement of my shoulder.
She was already preparing to tilt her head slightly to the right, as if she had read the trajectory.
She took the bait.
The attack that had been coming in pretending to be a thrust instantly changed to a horizontal trajectory.
A strike that predicted the beastkin's dodge path, blocked it, and aimed for her neck.
The timing was perfect.
At this distance, trying to dodge a thrust would inevitably result in your neck flying off from a horizontal slash.
"......!"
But my prediction missed beautifully.
The beastkin's golden pupils contracted.
As soon as she sensed the trajectory change, she instantly put ferocious strength into her legs.
It was a sudden stop that seemed to ignore the laws of physics.
With a roar, the ground she stepped on collapsed as if exploding.
Dirt dust flew up everywhere.
Using the recoil, she snapped her upper body backward.
-Sshik!
My dagger grazed right past her nose and sliced the air.
It was a chilling reaction speed.
The beastkin's eyes flashed like a beast's after dodging the attack.
Since my attack missed, it was now her turn.
My posture was broken and my flank was wide open.
The beastkin curled the corners of her mouth into a grin and clenched her fist.
It's over.
It was the moment she was about to deliver a decisive blow.
-Tuduk.
Something fell from her cheek.
Her movement halted abruptly.
I too flinched while bracing for the attack.
The beastkin blankly touched her cheek.
It seemed the tip of my dagger, which she thought she had dodged, had very slightly grazed her skin.
Crimson blood came away on her white fingertips.
"Huh...?"
She looked down at the red liquid on her hand.
Her focus wavered.
Her golden eyes, which had been full of mischief until just a moment ago, were instantly dyed with fear.
Her pupils began trembling as if an earthquake had struck.
"B... blood...?"
Her lips trembled.
And then.
"Kyaaaaaah!!!"
She screamed as if to make the forest shake.
Forgetting even that she was about to attack me, she clutched her head and stumbled backward.
She was ghostly pale, like someone who had just seen the most horrible thing in the world.
She started running away into the forest, tears streaming like chicken droppings, not looking back.
Her speed was so fast that she vanished from sight in an instant.
"......."
I was frozen in my stance holding the dagger.
The beast that had been relentlessly pushing me just before had run off crying over a mere scratch.
I couldn't grasp the situation, my mind was blank.
"What the...?"
I let out a hollow laugh of bewilderment and stared blankly toward the forest where she had disappeared.
As I was staring blankly at the bushes where the beastkin had disappeared, a familiar notification sound rang in my ear.
-Ttiring!
[21st Floor Clear Condition: Search]
"Search...?"
I narrowed my eyes and looked around the forest.
All around was filled with giant trees and dense vegetation.
The lush foliage that covered the sky seemed endless.
Search this wide Amazon-like forest by just wandering around?
That was no different from finding a needle in a desert.
The efficiency was way too low.
Then there was only one method left.
"I have to chase after that one, huh...?"
The beastkin who had just run away.
The only living being and source of information I currently knew about in this forest.
But my feet wouldn't readily move.
Because I had experienced her overwhelming martial prowess firsthand.
If I had come here without upgrading my equipment with the [Orichalcum Set]?
I'd probably be buried in that dirt ground right now.
But.
"Eum...."
I rested my chin on my hand and was lost in thought for a moment.
The sense of discomfort I had felt after dozens of exchanges of attack and defense circled in my head.
I hadn't felt any killing intent from her.
That chilling sensation that had been engraved into my bones from facing countless monsters and bosses from the 1st to the 20th floor.
The clear hostility and killing intent to definitely kill the opponent.
She didn't have that.
On the contrary, her eyes were full of mischief, and even her attacks were closer to play.
It was like a bored tiger spotting a rabbit in the forest and tapping it with its paw, saying 'Let's play together!'
The problem is, one tap of that paw is fatal for the rabbit.
"Yeah... she didn't seem to have malice."
It was closer to the eyes of a martial artist who purely enjoys testing strength.
And there was another strange point.
It was her equipment.
She just barely covered her vital areas with rags that seemed like roughly made beast hide patches.
It was an embarrassing level to even call armor.
She also had no weapon.
Only her bare body.
With just that bare body, she beat me, armed in Orichalcum, like a sandbag.
"Ha... how good is her pure physical ability?"
The more I thought about it, the more absurd it was.
How such destructive power came from those thin limbs.
Is her muscle density completely different?
Or is her racial trait just broken?
Anyway, the conclusion was one.
To find a clue in this vast forest, I needed her.
"Hoo... what can I do."
I let out a deep sigh and straightened my posture.
There was no other way.
If I kept wandering this forest like this, who knew if it'd take days or months.
Even if it meant taking a risk, securing an informant was the best option.
"Let's go."
I kicked off the ground and started running in the direction the beastkin had disappeared.
Giant leaves brushed past my cheeks.
The damp soil underfoot splashed up.
I followed the traces she left and entered the depths of the forest.
Rougher breath than the sound of the wind passing through the dense forest burst out.
Tigris sprinted between the trees, panting as if she might run out of breath at any moment.
Her face was pale with terror.
The overwhelming composure she had shown in the battle with the strange human just a while ago was nowhere to be seen.
Only one afterimage lingered in her mind.
The red, sticky liquid that had been trickling down her cheek.
It felt as if that vivid drop of blood filled her vision.
"Hueuhk... b... blood...!"
She cupped her cheek with trembling hands.
The irony smell seeping through her fingers made her stomach turn.
Her legs wobbled, nearly falling several times, but she didn't stop.
She had to quickly run away to a safe place that would erase this terrible memory.
She ran at full speed, batting away the branches obstructing her view.
After running for a while, a familiar sight came into view.
A place surrounded by huge trees.
There, houses carved out of tree trunks and tents woven from hides were clustered together.
A place where beastkin with various types of animal ears and tails calmly came and went.
It was the village where Tigris was born and raised.
As soon as she entered the village entrance, she burst into the crying she had been holding back.
"Huaaaaaang! Samchoooon!!"
It was a scream-like crying that broke the village's quiet.
A passing rabbit beastkin flinched in surprise, ears perking up, and a bear beastkin stopped what they were doing to stare at her.
But Tigris paid no mind to the stares and ran toward the center of the village, sobbing.
"I... I'm ble... bleeding, nya...!"
With her face covered in tears, she desperately looked for someone.
Her sole protector and warrior of this village, her uncle Romanike.
Meanwhile, in one corner of the village square, a sturdy tiger-beastkin named Romanike stood with arms crossed, frowning.
He stamped his feet in frustration and looked around.
"Where on earth did that rascal go?"
He had been racking his brains since morning over his missing niece.
He had explicitly told her never to go outside the forest.
In the blink of an eye while he was distracted, she had vanished without a trace.
With her curious personality, he was extremely worried she might get into trouble.
Just then.
From far off at the forest entrance, a familiar voice was heard.
"Samchoooon...!"
Romanike turned his head.
There was Tigris, running toward him with her hair disheveled, wailing.
As soon as he saw her, his worry instantly turned to anger.
"That little...!"
Romanike strode toward her.
He shouted as if about to give her a good thump on the head.
"You brat...! Tigris! I told you not to go out of the forest!"
He was snorting and about to launch into a scolding.
"Where on earth did you go that you're only coming back now...!"
But his roar didn't continue to the end.
Because Tigris, who had come closer, was in an unusual state.
Normally, when scolded, she would stick out her tongue and run away or talk back.
But now she was trembling like a leaf.
Her face was stiff and pale without a hint of color, her eyes unfocused and shaking.
And Romanike's gaze caught on her cheek.
A thin red line drawn on her white cheek.
It was a very shallow cut, but the blood that had seeped from it had dried.
"......!"
Romanike's eyes widened.
Forgetting his anger, he urgently asked.
"You... what's this wound?!"
Who dared to wound Tigris, who is called the greatest talent of our tribe?
The number of beings in this forest who could wound her could be counted on one hand.
Could it be the work of those guys?
Or did she run into a powerful magical beast?
Romanike grabbed her shoulders with a serious expression.
"Who was it? Which bastard did this?"
But instead of answering, Tigris shook her head vigorously.
She tightly clutched her uncle's clothes and murmured in a crawling voice.
"I... don't know, nya...."
Her lips quivered.
"I'm... scared, nya...."
Tears welled up in her eyes again.
She was not crying because of the pain from the wound.
He knew his niece's fatal weakness.
Despite having overwhelming physical ability, she suffered from a severe hemophobia where she'd freak out and run away at the mere sight of a single drop of blood.
It was a fatal flaw as a warrior, and the reason why she could not help but still be a child.
Seeing his niece crying as if the world had collapsed over that small cut, his anger vanished like melting snow.
Instead, a pang of pity and a sigh took its place.
"Haah...."
Romanike pressed his forehead and let out a deep breath.
It was unreasonable to interrogate her about what happened right now.
First, wiping away those terror-stricken tears was the priority.
He crouched down and wiped Tigris's tears with his rough hands.
"Alright. Calm down first."
He soothed her gently.
"Let's go inside and treat it first. The wound will heal quickly."
"Hueuhk... eung... got it, nya...."
Tigris nodded, sniffling.
Romanike took her hand and led her home.
Her small back was still trembling slightly.
What on earth happened in the forest that this kid came back wounded?
Romanike glanced back at the forest with a worried look, then soon walked on, taking his niece with him.