Chapter 71
**CHAPTER 22: Training (1)**
If a werebeast is a human-like animal, a werewolf is even closer to a beast. Other than the fact that it walks on two legs, it is hardly different from an animal. But since it came from a fantasy world, thinking of it exactly like an animal would be the biggest mistake.
“Kkuhak…!” Yoo Dahui blocked the werewolf’s attack and furrowed her brows. Even though she bent her knees to lower her center of gravity, receiving the werewolf’s full power was tough.
Yoo Dahui stepped back and twisted her shield. She had decided to give up on taking the hit and just dodge it.
“Auuuuuu!” It wasn’t a werewolf that would quietly take the beating. The werewolf’s fist never stopped moving. It swung like it wanted to kill Yoo Dahui.
The shield took the punch with a loud clang.
I summoned a shadow spirit and charged toward the werewolf. My iron sword already gleamed sharply.
“Krrrk, today’s meat is human! Looks like I can eat again!” The werewolf roared with its mouth wide open.
Even the roar of an ordinary beast was terrifying to herbivores, but this was a werewolf’s roar. ‘Yeah, it would hurt like hell. It’d hurt if I got hit. I’m so jealous of the null pain blessing. If my skin wasn’t this tough, I would have gone crazy long ago.’
I stabbed my sword at the werewolf. The narrow point of attack split the space between Yoo Dahui and the werewolf.
The werewolf, having taken one step back, raised its claws and glared at us. Thick saliva dripped continuously from its yellow fangs.
“Hyung, I brought snacks.”
“Auuuuu! What am I supposed to do?”
“Today is the day we hunt wolves, you bastard!” The word “bastard” carried magical power. No matter what emotion or expression, one “bastard” was enough to resolve everything.
Other than getting dragged into a regression by Yoo Dahui’s suicide blessing, when was the last time I actually died and regressed? My memory was fuzzy. That made me a little scared.
The “bastard” right now was courage itself. I believed in the strength and agility I had raised to level 10. I believed in level 6 black magic and cast Body Reinforcement. It would have expanded by about three levels.
Thud! The werewolf appeared right in front of me. And then it vanished instantly.
My body floated and shot far, far away. A huge shock hit my back. I couldn’t breathe. It was too intense.
Far away, Yoo Dahui and the werewolf were still fighting. Facing the werewolf, Yoo Dahui didn’t retreat and matched her blows.
I should go help her. But my vision kept flickering. My mind was hazy.
“Jinwoo!” Yoo Dahui shouted my name and swung her sword at the werewolf.
The werewolf blocked her attack with its body and counterattacked. Although it looked balanced, the werewolf had far more leeway. Yoo Dahui was just blindly attacking in desperation.
Blackout, recovery, repeat. It was like staying awake for two nights. My eyelids felt heavy. If I didn’t force my eyes open, I would fall asleep any second.
Ah.
Return by Death
Strength Lv.10 ▶ Strength Lv.11
Durable Skin Lv.5 ▶ Durable Skin Lv.6
My vision returned to normal. The sleepy feeling completely vanished.
“I will provide appropriate equipment. Wearing it will make it much safer.”
Elena was handing out equipment. Only now did the feeling of having regressed sink in.
I had thought the werewolf was strong, but I never imagined it would be this much stronger. I thought one hit was enough to withstand, but now I had to admit it. The difference between having a blessing and not having one was like heaven and earth.
I would have become trash without Yoo Dahui.
Yoo Dahui approached me, her face full of worry.
“Are you okay?”
“Not bad. The regression feels really good, right?”
“Your condition looks pretty bad.”
“Not at all?”
I was truly fine. Because of the regression, everything had reset, so there was no way I could be bad. My tension was even higher. Strength level and skill level had risen, so it was all good.
We arrived at the First City.
If I asked whether it was right to head straight to the Second City at this level, the answer would be no. There were plenty of better people in the Second City than here. ‘At least level 15.’ The Third City was level 20. Then we could catch the hidden piece at the Temple of the Sea, split the lake, assemble a large-scale extermination party, and raid the golem.
We would go to the second floor, but it was better to think after we got there. The difference between a regressor who had seen it once and someone who had never seen it was like night and day.
We gave the elves a day of rest and waited for the Horin party.
The tiger beastman said they would come when I called, and they did.
Horin appeared soon. Since it felt like she had died and come back to life, she didn’t feel any particular joy at seeing the three of us.
“Human female! Hand over the male next to you to me!”
Seeing Horin boldly pointing with her paw, Yoo Dahui let out a soft laugh.
“If you don’t like it?”
“If you don’t like it, there’s only one way—take it by force!”
An immediate duel request came in.
Yoo Dahui accepted it.
“The reward… how about slave bread?”
Even after seeing her pitiful face, the result didn’t change. Horin’s complete defeat.
Through the regressions, Yoo Dahui had become even stronger. As reward, she acquired 1,560,000 coins and the Horin party.
“You two, rest as you like.”
“…Kkuik! Good idea!”
“Miyaoong!”
“Carrot.”
The male beastmen fled in the blink of an eye. They were amazing when given the chance. In that sense, they were truly great guys.
“You’re not going?”
Seeing Horin standing there awkwardly, Yoo Dahui asked even though she already knew.
Horin shot me a glare and muttered.
The confidence of a slave had dropped sharply.
“There’s something I want to ask the human male…”
“If you have something, ask quickly and go.”
Yoo Dahui nodded at me, her eyes ambiguous—permission, or threat?
Horin approached me. Her upper body had patches of tiger-pattern fur, and her lower body was half beast-like. It had more of the feeling of someone wearing a tiger costume than actual tigers. The important part was covered by a cloth. I should buy a breastplate later so it wouldn’t be exposed.
“Do you know the hero of our tribe, Hugo? You smell exactly like him.”
“No. But I know Hugo controls ancient spirits. I know a little about ancient spirits too.”
I raised my shadow spirit.
My shadow stood up and took the same form as me.
“This, this smell! Ancient spirit… I only heard about it from Hugo. This is the first time I’ve seen one in person.”
Horin stared at the shadow spirit in wonder. Depending on the resonance with the spirit summoner, ancient spirits showed completely different power. In the novel, the only player who could summon ancient spirits was Hugo, so detailed analysis was impossible, but the power was overwhelmingly strong. Hugo had done his job as a combat power meter perfectly.
“But what about me?”
My shadow spirit. What the hell was this guy? Was the resonance good or bad with me? I couldn’t tell.
“Looking at how he’s using his power, it seems worst case.”
Even if the resonance between my shadow spirit and me as spirit summoner was the worst, I could only bring out about half the power I had. How could anyone think it was good resonance when looking at that?
“I have no idea what you’re thinking, but I keep admiring the shadow spirit.”
The shadow spirit’s shoulders puffed out proudly.
“Wow… How do you even meet ancient spirits? Elves get close to spirits easily, but we can’t. Why is that?”
“That’s…”
It wasn’t something I should explain to her. Hey, go ask the author who wrote this novel.
I swallowed the words and explained appropriately.
“To form a contract with an ancient spirit, you first need to find the traces it left behind. Something like a passage it made? If you get close enough, you might obtain it.”
“Close enough… just luck, right?”
“If you put it that way, there’s nothing to say.”
Horin was surprisingly rational.
I quickly steered the conversation back to the original topic.
“Elves are born with high nature affinity from birth. You shouldn’t envy them. Instead, you have much stronger bodies than the elves.”
“That’s true, but…”
“Hugo meeting an ancient spirit was a special case. Don’t even try waiting for an ancient spirit unless you’re like me—an already chosen person. They’re hard to find.”
Instantly, all three pairs of eyes focused on me. They all looked at me like I was an idiot.
Yoo Dahui. Horin. Shadow spirit?
“What the hell is this guy?”
I immediately sent the shadow spirit back into my shadow.
Horin sighed longingly as she watched the shadow spirit melt away like melting ice cream.
I asked her while watching that.
“Is that all you’re curious about?”
“There’s more.”
“It’s over?”
“Even if there’s more?”
I couldn’t answer even if there was more. I barely knew anything about ancient spirits myself. The difference in levels was inevitable. I had lived with ancient spirits from my original world, and I had lucked into a contract in the Tower of Struggle.
Horin clung to me, saying it wasn’t over yet.
I pushed her away and ran.
Yoo Dahui stopped Horin from charging at me.
“Ask me again next time. Rest well and see you tomorrow, Horin.”
“Uh, uh… Human female, take care. See you tomorrow.”
Yoo Dahui waved as she walked away from Horin. Horin accepted the greeting with a dumb face.
It felt incredibly awkward for a moment.
Yoo Dahui, who had followed me right away, and I took the best hut again.
We naturally headed to the shop, bought basic beds and blankets, and filled the hut.
This much was necessary just for a minimum living standard.
“Coins.”
Yoo Dahui extended her hand again.
I handed over all the remaining coins with tears in my eyes. My inventory was completely empty. It hurt because of the sense of loss.
“Want to go hunting lightly?”
“…Yeah.”
I was led by Yoo Dahui’s hand outside the First City.
We stayed near the safe zone and hunted the local monsters—only the two of us.
1,500 coins acquired!
Really pocket money. The level of pocket money for buying a snack.
Man, my motivation was tanking. But seeing Yoo Dahui happily smiling, I thought maybe coins didn’t matter that much anyway. She wasn’t a nagging woman; she was the most frugal woman I knew.
“Ah, anyway, it ends when I regress.”
Even if there were tens of millions of coins, they would all become worthless after regression. I rationalized it to keep my motivation going.
The local monster hunting was fun! The hunting continued.
Light exercise against a few monsters.
Like a leisurely walk. We wandered the mountain trails and smashed the monsters.
“Huyuu… it’s getting harder now.”
The sun was setting. The sunlight lost its power and the wind became cool.
“Time to go back…”
Suddenly, I realized Yoo Dahui had disappeared next to me.
“When did…?”
I remembered we were together just a moment ago. I didn’t know if she was using superb stealth or if she had fooled my senses.
Either way, without Yoo Dahui, I was gone.
Feeling uneasy, I searched the surroundings for her.
How long had passed? Yoo Dahui appeared.
“Long time no see, Jinwoo-ssi.”
Yoo Dahui stood in front of me wearing a white mask. I had no idea why she was doing that.
Should I pretend not to know? Or pretend to know and stop her mask play?
“She’s doing it again, so she probably thinks I don’t know…”
Last time she was raped in front of Elysha, she seemed to think she hadn’t been caught. It was funny to think that even if everyone looked, no one would guess it was Yoo Dahui. ‘She’s more stupid than me.’ I hadn’t noticed when it was happening to me, but seeing it up close showed there were no bigger idiots than her.
“Who… who…?”
I decided to play dumb.
I wanted to see how far Yoo Dahui would fall into the abyss.
Yoo Dahui’s mouth curled up prettily.
“From now on, I’ll be eating Jinwoo-ssi…? Call me Mask Girl, Jinwoo-ssi.”
Rape. It was really fun. Once you get a taste, it’s hard to stop. That’s why I ended up like this because I chased her tail.
“Eating me?”
“Yes.”
“You can’t do whatever you want!”
I swung my sword on the spot. For dramatic effect, I didn’t hold back.
“…Here…?”
Shit, what the hell happened? Was I unconscious? In the blink of an eye, the place had changed.
Where did this cave even come from?
“Are you awake?”
The mask girl was waiting for me to wake up in full battle armor.
A bonfire lit her body in an erotic light. Beautiful figure and white mask. It was an intoxicating sight, and my member started to harden on its own.
How should I react here so that Yoo Dahui would like it?
“Wait a second. Calm down.”
The mask girl stopped and just stared at me. She was waiting, expecting me to say something.
I moved my arms slightly. They were tied behind my back.
“I, I have a girlfriend. So please stop here.”
“Girlfriend? What’s her name?”
The mask girl’s reaction was too obvious. She seemed unable to fully immerse herself in the role she was given. Was I the interviewer? I immediately sent a failing notice.
“Y, Yoo Dahui is…”
“Aha. Dahui-ssi is your girlfriend? Hehehe.”
Smug. Yoo Dahui was truly satisfied. She looked like a leech.
But Yoo Dahui had no intention of stopping.
“But what does that have to do with anything?”
She walked straight toward me.
How was I supposed to endure this? My member swelled with anticipation.
At that moment.
“Y, you bastard…! Kim Jinwoo!”
“E, Elena…?”
The mask girl’s mouth let out Elena’s name.
Elena entered the cave with a loud thud.
Even with the mask girl beside me, she checked my condition.
“You’re not dead, are you?! You can’t die! If you die, my curse! The curse—please release it and die!”