First Mission (2): Signs of Change
I drew in the stale air of the barracks and opened my eyes. I sat up in one sharp motion and changed clothes out of pure habit. Tightening my boot laces, I gave my uniform a final inspection. The motions felt completely natural, as if I had performed them for years. Of course they do. The realization hit me again. I had been resurrected and reenlisted in the army. Yet one crucial difference changed everything: I was no longer a Slave Soldier. That single fact reshaped my entire outlook.
I wasn’t marching toward a hated death anymore. If anything, this was a step toward growth. It might be because of my power. The more monsters I killed, the more Heavenly Fate I could absorb from them, strengthening my very existence. To someone like me, the battlefield wasn’t a deadly threshold I might cross at any moment. It felt more like a feast laid out on a table, waiting to be devoured.
Right now, I felt like I was simply going to eat.
“Oh. That was fast? You’re already done preparing?”
Kalant, who had been checking the other squad members’ gear, greeted me with a grin as I stepped out in full uniform. He remarked that most rookies needed constant instruction, but I handled everything so smoothly it didn’t feel like I was the youngest. Of course it didn’t. This wasn’t my first time doing any of it.
We made our way to the armory together. While equipping the issued gear, I stared at the sword in my hand. The blade had been sharpened, but its condition was mediocre at best. I ground it so much yesterday. Still, this was the limit. Expecting top-quality weapons for common soldiers was unrealistic, yet the disappointment lingered. Even so, these were far more reliable and durable than the crude weapons I had stolen from goblins or the makeshift armor cobbled together in the wild.
Once we finished gearing up, we headed straight for the outpost gate. Squad members were already gathering there one by one. Beside the old iron gate, Garan and several others stood around a table, talking in low voices. When the last man arrived, Garan pointed to a spot on the map.
“The area we will be exploring this time is right here.”
It was the northwestern outskirts beyond the outpost. Unlike other regions filled with detailed notes and terrain markings, this section of the map was almost blank. Our mission was to gather and record information about it.
“The main point of caution is that the monsters’ recent activity has been highly irregular. Under normal circumstances, we should not have encountered a hound pack of that size during the last search mission.”
“Indeed…”
“Right?”
The other squad members nodded in agreement. Hounds did hunt in packs, but five or six was usually the upper limit. Larger groups were rare. More mouths meant more prey required, which inevitably restricted their movement. The previous encounter with eleven hounds had been exceptionally unusual.
“Moreover, one of them called its comrades at the very end.”
“Correct. It may still be nothing more than a vague sense of unease for now, but if that feeling proves true… it would mean the monsters’ ecosystem is clearly undergoing a transformation. Identifying the source of this unease is also part of our mission.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Understood.”
The squad members nodded solemnly at Garan’s words. I agreed with him completely. The statement about the ecosystem changing resonated with me most of all. It wasn’t limited to the hound pack. The unease ran deeper, encompassing the entire balance of the forest.
When I had died, this region was a deadly zone teeming with mid-to-upper rank monsters like minotaurs. Yet two years later, after my resurrection, it had become an area overrun by lower-rank creatures such as goblins and hounds. Garan sensed the forest’s danger steadily increasing, but I felt the opposite. To me, the danger had dropped sharply all at once.
I wanted to voice that doubt, but I held my tongue. Revealing it might force me to admit I had fought on that very battlefield two years ago and actually died there. I had already mentioned being a slave soldier who was declared dead, but explaining that I had truly perished and returned to life was an entirely different matter. They would never believe me. At best, they would treat me as a genuine lunatic.
So I decided to keep the question locked inside my head. When the situation becomes clearer and more convincing, then I’ll speak.
The squad members swallowed hard at Garan’s final words. They, too, felt that this unease resembled the calm before a storm, the quiet that preceded some massive upheaval.
“Once we reach the target area, we will split into teams of two and conduct a dispersed search. Jungwoo, you will pair with Kalant.”
Garan assigned the teams and designated fan-shaped search zones. For a brief moment, several glances flicked toward me. They carried the silent question of whether the youngest member could truly handle himself. But those doubts vanished almost instantly. They had witnessed my combat ability firsthand during our first meeting.
“All right, maknae. Let’s move out.”
“Yes.”
I answered briefly and set off with Kalant toward our assigned sector. My first mission had officially begun.
I advanced into the forest alongside Kalant. The humidity grew heavier, and the silence became oppressive. Not a single leaf stirred. Not even birds called.
“…This place feels wrong,” Kalant muttered.
He kept his magic rifle slung over one shoulder, eyes scanning the surroundings.
“I really don’t like places like this…”
“I understand,” I replied, acknowledging his quiet complaint. His feelings made sense. Long-range shooting with a magic rifle was his primary method of attack. A dense, obstacle-filled forest was the worst possible terrain for him. The long cooldown between shots meant he had other options to compensate, but being unable to fully utilize his strongest asset remained a significant drawback.
His words about the place feeling wrong carried another layer of meaning. It was the sensation of being watched by something that held its breath, waiting. I knew exactly what it was. Having already circulated my mana to expand my senses, I could detect the faintest sounds, scents, and shifts in the wind. There was no chance I would miss the true nature of the gazes fixed on us, patiently deciding when to strike.
The mud at my feet clung and pulled with sticky insistence. A faint rustle answered my movement from the bushes on the left. My hand reflexively closed around the hilt of my sword.
“They’re here.”
“Got it!”
Kalant had also sensed the watching eyes, if only faintly. He dropped into a combat stance the instant I spoke. The moment his reply left his lips, short, whistling cries erupted from every direction.
Whiiiik!
The eerie calls multiplied. Two. Four. Eight. In the span of a heartbeat, more than a dozen silhouettes emerged from behind trees and boulders.
“Kobolds.”
They looked like twisted hybrids of human and beast. Small, wiry bodies. Canine faces. Short claws, long limbs. Each carried crude weapons—bone spears, rusted daggers, and other primitive arms. The kobolds growled in unison and began tightening their encirclement.
Whik! Their pointed ears twitched as they exchanged more cries. These were attack signals only their pack could understand. The strange vocalizations cut sharply through the air. It was their own unique method of communication.
The instant they closed the circle to what they judged a favorable range, the kobolds charged.
I twisted aside to evade the tip of a bone spear. My hand snapped out and seized the shaft. A sharp crack rang out as the bone weapon shattered like dry twigs. My strengthened grip crushed it effortlessly. Still holding the broken fragment, I drove my fist into the charging kobold’s face.
Thud!
Its face caved inward. The creature staggered, unable to withstand the blow. Blood sprayed a moment later as its body flew backward.
I drew the sword from my waist in the same motion. I met the endless tide of attackers with aggressive thrusts rather than defensive swings. The kobolds could not match my strength or speed. They fell helplessly before me.
“There’s… a lot of them!?”
Despite his complaint, Kalant handled the rushing pack with practiced ease. The numbers were high, but he was the vice-captain who supported Garan and commanded the squad. The weight of his accumulated experience showed. He parried and countered the dagger-wielding kobolds, yet he couldn’t land decisive blows. Close combat simply wasn’t his specialty. Giving him breathing room would be the smarter play.
I seized the nearest kobold by the throat. The slimy, wrinkled flesh felt disgusting, but I ignored it. With all my strength, I hurled the creature toward the kobolds threatening Kalant.
Hiiik!
A bizarre scream that might have been a whistle tore from its throat as it collided with its kin. The impact created an opening. The instant their necks aligned, my blade flashed forward and severed both heads in a single stroke. Two canine skulls tumbled to the ground.
“Wow.”
Whether he was impressed by my assistance or the clean double kill, a short exclamation escaped Kalant. At the same moment, his rifle muzzle flared with light.
Bang!
The magical round that brushed past my cheek struck the kobold aiming at my back.
“Having a solid vanguard sure is reassuring.”
“Yes.”
I answered curtly. In mere moments we had cleared more than a dozen kobolds. I scanned the area. A substantial amount of Heavenly Fate flowed from the corpses and poured into my body.
“What do you want to do?” I asked. Continue the search, or return to the squad and regroup?
Kalant considered it only briefly before answering.
“Hm. Let’s head back for now. We split up less than an hour ago and already ran into a large monster pack. We handled it, but I don’t know about the others. We should reorganize the teams or wait for the squad leader’s orders.”
“Understood.”
As I turned to retrace our steps, I glanced back at the kobold corpses. My gaze lingered on the bone spears they had carried. These things… The weapons were too crude to have been made by human hands. Which meant the kobolds—the monsters themselves—had crafted them.