Werewolf (2) - The Hell Training and the Final Lesson

Human female! Duel!”

I’d forgotten about Horin completely. Because I’d passed out and skipped the first day, I missed the coin-inflation event entirely. Only now, with the remaining 100,000 coins left, could I bet on the duel. Of course it turned into the super-profitable Hyoja event returning 1.2 million coins. We immediately packed our bags and moved into the best hut available.

The shower in the hut was an absolute lifesaver.

“Now even slave bread itself won’t work anymore.”

“For Horin?”

“Yeah.”

Horin could demand a slave from Yoo Dahui, but Yoo Dahui wouldn’t bet a slave as a victory reward for Horin. That was the gap in their strength level. It was a good thing. Instead, Yoo Dahui added another condition.

“From now on we’re friends. Call me unnie.”

“Eh, unnie? No way!”

Horin was even more embarrassed than when she was just a slave. Another wave of numbers exploded. Four elves and four beastmen. Including us, the massive party had reached ten.

I glanced over the roster and said,

“No hunting. We train.”

“Why?”

“We’re hunting a werewolf. To catch that bastard, this is how it has to be done. Just killing monsters won’t cut it. We spar with Elena until we get it right in a month.”

Duels against stronger opponents give weaklings a huge boost. Ten matches at the same level grows you way slower than one brutal fight against someone much stronger. Plus Elena can dial her strength up or down at will. The Submission Oath means there’s no risk to her life. It’s the perfect training setup.

Yoo Dahui stared hard, then nodded.

“Let’s try it. I’ve never done it before.”

We were already that far from the next pillars, way outside First City. Wandering around out here right now would’ve been a waste of time. We needed to grind the strength to cross into Second City. Mud and sweat never betray us.

The elves and beastmen connected to Yoo Dahui naturally followed our plan. Over the next month we’d build the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠power to take down the werewolf through this hell training.

Every day we rolled on the dirt outside First City until Elena told us to stop.

Hit, hit, hit again. I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠swear she hits harder than anyone else.

Somewhere my body stopped listening, so I kept drinking potions and levels kept climbing. The numbers felt good at first, then they sank back down. Same as raising my school grade from 9 to 8—no real change. But I still refused to quit.

“AAAAAAAHHH!”

A week had passed. Every single day I took hits from Elena, one stat after another shot up like crazy. I wondered why the hell I’d waited so long.

From the moment I woke up until the sun went down. Because the training was basically torture, my stats and skill levels kept climbing nonstop.

At first the growth was explosive. Then my body started adapting and the rate slowed to a crawl. There had to be something more dangerous waiting for us. I was out of limits on making up real-life crises for my body to adapt to. Elena was already holding back, yet the growth still refused to pick up. I realized the method of just taking hits over and over had its own ceiling.

Then what the hell do I do…

The promised month wasn’t over yet. We were barely halfway through it. Everyone was tired, but the excuse of training kept the complaints in check.

A normal day started.

“He’s coming out today.”

Elena muttered while staring toward the Academy. The Academy was handing out its week-long new-player certification. Today was the day. The newbies who’d learned the absolute basics inside the Academy would bring fresh vitality to First City.

We kept training. Even if it looked useless, we rolled, we rolled, we rolled.

Our mana control was getting decent too. The more I focused not to get hit, the more skilled I felt. It was still sloppy, but it was definitely better than before.

That counts as progress.

A swarm of newbies poured out of the Academy like a pack of wild dogs.

“Yo! Welcome to hell!”

At the entrance to First City, players were already waiting for the newbies. Some looked like they were boosting them, some looked like they were genuinely happy to see them.

“So this is the village?”

“Whoa… ah…”

Players who were used to modern stuff couldn’t hide their sighs at First City’s monster-hut level. Even the green-skinned players who probably lived in places like this in their original dimension looked grim. Just watching them made me laugh.

The newbies flooded into First City while we watched them the same way they watched us. Rolling in the dirt meant sooner or later they’d have to see us too.

After the newbies left, we didn’t stop training. Another week passed.

The elf party decided they wouldn’t join the training. Only Yoo Dahui and I had extra coins, so we were the only ones who could afford it. Keeping the hut itself burned through crazy amounts of money.

“In a week strength and agility barely rose by one…”

The second week was miserable compared to the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠first. I cranked the difficulty even higher and nothing changed. Motivation kept draining away.

“Should we stop?”

During a short break, Yoo Dahui walked over and asked.

Yoo Dahui still looked full of energy. “…Just a little more…”

Is there something I’m missing?

Ah.

I’d gotten Body Technique. That meant I’d only fought with my body all this time. Why had I only done body training?

“From now on, let’s try with a sword.”

To break the plateau, I needed a new stimulus. When we had sex, why did I insist on those weird roleplays? The answer was actually simple. Variety turns into an electric thrill. One thing repeated gets boring fast. Training is the same, right?

“Elena. Pick up the sword.”

“…It’ll hurt a lot, you know?”

“Just don’t die. I’ll adjust.”

I’d stocked up on plenty of potions. It was just real-life experience wearing potions.

After a long time holding a sword, the heavy, cold weight felt completely foreign.

“Rest over. Kim Jinwoo and Dahui, pick up the swords and come here.”

Elena flicked her crude iron sword and said. There was no opening in her relaxed stance. The feeling I’d trained through getting hit warned me that I’d fall the second I stepped in.

Still, I couldn’t stop smiling. The expectation that my stagnant growth would finally burst through made me grin.

SWOOSH!

I got sliced before I could even block. My skin split open.

“Agh…”

Blood poured down. Red had a power that rushed people into panic. I poured potions over the wound. The pain as the wound healed was beyond anything I’d ever felt.

“Ah… I’m so jealous.”

Yoo Dahui’s Null Pain Aura was just too damn good. We were doing the exact same training, yet I was the one suffering like this. I wondered why.

The wound healed completely thanks to the insane cutting power Elena had shown. It recovered way faster than any potion ever could.

“KYAAAAAAAHHH!”

The battle cry gave humans courage. It sounded like a dragon’s roar.

Elena stared at me like I was a bug. Another week passed.

Using a sword was a perfect answer at a perfect score of 100. The second I gripped the sword, my growth that had been stopped exploded.

With sword and shield equipped, mana control jumped big time. I even managed to add sword energy and reinforce my legs for explosive movement. To Elena it probably looked like a snail crawling. To me it felt insanely fast.

The stats don’t need saying. Knowing Yoo Dahui’s growth speed from the novel, this was already fast enough to make me doubt whether it was even allowed. But the early explosive growth didn’t last forever. At some point it hit its natural limit.

After realizing no bullshit would change that, our last week motivation just gave up halfway.

And finally, the last day.

The promised month was over.

“It’s already been a month?”

“It hasn’t even been a month.”

To me it felt like the slowest month before a deployment. The numbers had shot up, but still…

“What? You seemed really fast on time.”

“That’s because every night you…”

“So? You said you liked it too.”

Yoo Dahui was still super soft. Whatever she’d eaten, she was getting prettier every day.

“You know how many guys try to hit on me?”

“Yeah.”

“So when I help you out, be grateful. Only I can taste you. Only I get to savor you. That’s why I’m proud.”

That’s why so many players kept hitting on her. Human newbies especially loved her.

Players who knew about duels challenged Yoo Dahui to one to try to “eat” her. The result was right there in front of us. She cleared the entire month curriculum without ever regressing. Thanks to the coin inflation she was living in luxury.

Yoo Dahui… she’s completely different from the novel.

Her personality was still the same, but her growth speed was totally different. Yoo Dahui wasn’t a talented protagonist. Honestly, she was more like a talentless person. Even with all the changes, her growth speed looked abnormal to me.

Honestly, among the guys who’d tried to hit on her and got wrecked, some were pretty strong. Of course they knew she’d regress. But she just crushed them easily. That didn’t make sense.

The reason was already known to me.

What I didn’t know about Yoo Dahui.

The Aura.

I still had no idea what kind of Aura she had. I only knew Null Pain Aura, Insight Aura, and a few others. There were countless Auras, but I didn’t know every single one. There could be an Aura I didn’t know about. If it had ridiculous performance, that could explain Yoo Dahui’s growth speed too.

I wanted to ask. Would she even answer?

“Let’s finally spar once more and call it quits.”

The werewolf might still be nearby. Whether we used Return by Death or just kept going, training was finished today. I didn’t want to do anymore.

I charged at Elena.

Elena pushed us faster than ever before. I was barely keeping up, but Yoo Dahui looked relaxed. She really was stronger than me. A lot stronger.

SNICK—

I blocked with the shield, but Elena’s sword slid in with a weird movement. This was intentional.

“Fuck!”

My arm was sliced off. The hand holding the sword dropped to the dirt.

She hadn’t been limited before, so maybe she could cut freely. Elena cut my arm without hesitation. Up until now she’d only cut or stabbed; she’d never actually severed anything.

“You said last time was the last time, right?”

When I looked at Elena, she smiled with her eyes curved into crescents. She was grinning like the happiest person in the world. I thought she was crazy.

“Uwaaaa… you fucking bitch…”

I’d prided myself on adapting to pain, but this was too much. Being cut or stabbed was one thing; being severed was on an entirely different level. The loss felt immense.

I drank a potion and glued my arm back on. Trying to hold my own severed arm and wait for it to reconnect wasn’t easy. The premium recovery potion even reattached severed limbs. The feeling of nerves reconnecting, fingers moving on my own will… I never wanted to lose that again.

“I’m done.”

Motivation disappeared completely.