The End of My Training. The Werewolf Emerges.
Here ended my training.
Even after I declared retirement and stepped aside, Yoo Dahui refused to give up. She moved with fierce intensity, as if she had never truly felt her limits.
├─ Tier 1: Increased combat effectiveness based on emotional obsession ✓
├─ Tier 2: Enhanced physical resilience and pain tolerance ✓
└─ Tier 3: Growth speed boosted through sustained obsessive focus ★
Elysha watched her with a steady gaze, gradually raising the difficulty of their spar.
Yoo Dahui, who had taken her blows so casually before, began to give ground little by little once Elysha truly turned up the heat.
Elysha adjusted the difficulty and relentlessly pressed her.
She focused entirely on training and helped Yoo Dahui grow.
Ching—! The sound of steel rang out as their blades clashed.
Yoo Dahui frowned deeply.
I know that feeling all too well. The sensation that your palm would tear apart is one you can never truly get used to.
It was pain that made you want to abandon your sword.
Yoo Dahui didn’t retreat despite the agony. The pain that pierced her palm was nothing before the Blessing of Null Pain.
The only problem was that without exerting strength, her grip would loosen and she would drop her weapon.
“Hwaaap!”
Yoo Dahui swung her shield wildly, smashing it into Elysha.
Elysha dodged with effortless grace, exposing every gap in Yoo Dahui’s defense.
Elysha didn’t miss the opening.
Her blade, sharp and gleaming, drove straight toward Yoo Dahui.
“Uwaaaah!”
Yoo Dahui struggled desperately, trying to land a single blow on Elysha.
But it was impossible.
“Sorry. I think I’ll need to knock you out to finish this.”
Elysha suddenly stiffened her expression and pinned Yoo Dahui down.
Yoo Dahui collapsed unconscious, blood spilling everywhere.
“Aigo…”
I rushed over in a flash and poured a potion over her wounds.
The cuts on Yoo Dahui’s body bubbled and began to knit themselves back together.
“It’s over. Good work, Elysha.”
“Tsk.”
Elysha sheathed her sword and walked into the village without a trace of concern for Yoo Dahui.
She didn’t seem to worry at all. After all, I was there, and she had trained to the point where even a wound like that was nothing to worry about.
I lifted Yoo Dahui onto my back.
Her enhanced strength made carrying her feel completely natural and pleasant.
I never imagined I would find it so easy to move a person alone.
I carried her back to our shared hut and laid her on the bed.
While I held her, the potion had already mostly healed the wounds. There was no blood on the sheets.
Yoo Dahui remained unconscious for quite some time.
There were so many things I wanted to ask her.
“Nngh…”
How long had it been? I was sitting there blankly in the hut when Yoo Dahui stirred and slowly woke up.
“Huh…?”
Yoo Dahui acted like she didn’t even remember fainting.
“Elysha knocked you out. Why didn’t you just give up?”
“Ah… I see.”
Yoo Dahui gave an embarrassed smile.
She probably understood why I hadn’t quit, so I didn’t need to push further.
After all, it was the last day of training. No matter how much she rolled around, she couldn’t even touch the tip of Elysha’s blade.
Even I would have pushed through to the end if it were my last chance. The only problem was that my arm had been cut off, which killed my motivation.
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
“I have the blessing, so I’m fine. What about you? I’m the one with the problem, right? You got your arm cut off.”
“The expensive kind is always the best.”
My arm had been reattached. A potion was all it took to regrow something as simple as an arm. Eyes or tongues didn’t recover that easily, but arms did. Even after being reattached, they moved normally.
“Yeah… Then it really is over. I feel pretty damn satisfied.”
There was a result. Increased stats and skill levels. That was value worth more than a month’s worth of loops.
With this growth, we could find the remaining blue pillars and take down the Temple of the Sea.
Of course, it was still a long way off.
Would we even be able to beat the werewolves anytime soon? Elite monsters in the Temple of the Sea? No way.
“Hmm… Dahui-ya.”
“Why?”
“Let’s go for a walk outside for a bit.”
Yoo Dahui looked at me with eyes full of surprise.
Why outside? I could have asked right here in the hut.
But inside the dim hut, it was hard to get the answers I wanted.
We needed an atmosphere where I could say anything I wanted without shame.
If I used alcohol, I’d get hammered, but then all my true feelings would spill out.
“Sure. Let’s go for a walk.”
Yoo Dahui accepted without hesitation.
A short stroll was all it would take. Fire torches lit up the village as we walked.
The atmosphere was surprisingly pleasant for a walk.
There was something in the air that made you relax your guard.
Something that could loosen your defenses without alcohol.
There was probably still some tension between us, but better safe than sorry.
We walked slowly, stepping on the dirt while listening to the surrounding sounds.
Yoo Dahui asked.
“…Why did you call me out here…?”
“Just…?”
“Just wanted to go for a walk?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“…It’s not like it’s wrong. It’s just awkward suddenly doing something I’ve never done before.”
Despite the slight irritation, Yoo Dahui secretly pressed closer to my side.
When I thought about it, we had been having sex every single day. Since there weren’t many things to enjoy yet on the first floor, we just buried ourselves in the next loop.
Tsk… We’d better climb the tower fast.
“What are you going to do?”
“What?”
“Tomorrow. We need to go catch the werewolves. Should we regress and go from the start, or search from this time? We need to decide.”
“Ah…”
Yoo Dahui asked my opinion.
As a regressor, I usually made all decisions on my own, but with her I exchanged opinions.
“It might be better to just keep progressing this loop.”
“Really? Why?”
“We’re all alive and well. Is there really any reason to regress?”
The natural best way was to keep progressing until the point where regression made sense.
The emotion of revenge had come and gone, so the feelings I had toward the werewolves were already dulled.
Horin was still alive and running around fine, wasn’t she?
“That makes sense.”
Yoo Dahui didn’t seem to hold much grudge against the werewolves either.
For a moment, silence fell. This was our chance.
“Dahui-ya.”
“Huh? Why…?”
Yoo Dahui’s face flushed bright red.
Her lips quivered as she hesitated.
I felt bad for prying, but I had to ask.
“Is there… a blessing related to growth? You seem a lot stronger than before…”
“……”
Yoo Dahui’s expression slowly turned cold.
It was obvious she wouldn’t answer.
Yoo Dahui took a step back from me and crossed her arms.
The torchlight made her chest subtly visible.
“You called me out here to ask about that blessing, didn’t you?”
“Kind of…”
“Hah, I thought you were trying to set the mood between us, but it was all my misunderstanding.”
“I wasn’t trying to make you tense or anything…”
Yoo Dahui let out a dry laugh.
“Ah, this is embarrassing…”
Yoo Dahui brushed her hair back and continued.
“…I was curious why my growth was so fast.”
“Uh…”
“Because of the blessing, like I said. There’s a growth-supporting blessing.”
There were many blessings that aided growth.
But none could explain the speed of Yoo Dahui’s current growth.
There was clearly a blessing I didn’t know about.
I wanted to know what it was.
This is what it felt like…
Now I understood how Yoo Dahui felt every time I tried to hide something. I had been driven crazy by curiosity.
“What kind of blessing is it?”
“…What kind of blessing? Uh… it’s…”
Yoo Dahui tried to avoid answering.
From her expression, it was clear she didn’t want to say.
I didn’t know why she was hiding it, but it stung a little.
A feeling that was hard to put into words dug into my chest.
“Ah…!”
Our eyes met.
Yoo Dahui’s eyes widened in surprise, as if she had seen something unbelievable.
“Okay. I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you, so stop making that face. Really.”
“No. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“It’s not like that. Damn it…”
Yoo Dahui scratched her head vigorously.
Her cold expression had turned red with embarrassment.
“…It’s the Blessing of Obsession…”
“Eh?”
“…The Blessing of Obsession.”
Blessing of Obsession? What was that? It sounded scary.
While “obsession” wasn’t an unfamiliar word, “Blessing of Obsession” was something I had never heard of.
In Yoo Dahui’s novel, the word “obsession” didn’t suit her at all.
“What does it do…?”
“……”
I asked carefully.
Yoo Dahui’s eyes trembled violently.
Yoo Dahui closed her eyes tightly and avoided my gaze, muttering.
“Ah, I won’t tell you. Even if you look at me pitifully, I’ll never say it.”
“Hey! Where are you going!”
“I don’t know!”
Still muttering, she ran off, not looking back once.
Blessing of Obsession…?
I wasn’t completely clueless. I could roughly guess what kind of blessing it was.
I just wanted to know the details.
The next morning.
As soon as I woke up early, Yoo Dahui was curled up under the blanket like a soybean bug.
“Good morning.”
Yoo Dahui stirred and woke up, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
“Good morning… Hwaaaam.”
Yoo Dahui tossed the blanket aside and got out of bed to wash.
In just black underwear, her plump backside swayed seductively.
After Yoo Dahui finished washing, I did too.
It was the same routine we had kept for a month.
We had a light breakfast and stepped outside.
Players moved busily around us.
Every time new newcomers arrived, the First City became noisy.
Some of the bustling players would head to the Second City, while others would end their struggle in death.
“Hey.”
The four elves and four beastmen were all still alive.
Players who should have died long ago were still here because of Yoo Dahui.
“Dahui. You’re going outside today, right?”
“Yeah. My training is over.”
Yoo Dahui spoke with confidence.
I felt the same.
The Kim Jinwu from a month ago and the Kim Jinwu now were completely different players.
Both the stats and the numbers behind the skills had changed.
Yoo Dahui said.
“We’re going to the Second City. It’s fine to stay here.”
Yoo Dahui had quietly become the leader of this group.
The self-confidence of a regressor was a power that bent players to her will.
In a situation where nothing was visible, people naturally followed those who moved forward.
“I’m going too. I’m confident.”
Horin was an exceptionally weak wolf beastman compared to the human Yoo Dahui, but she had sharpened up quite a bit through her training with Elysha.
“Kyuuuk! I-I don’t want to go!”
“Miyaooong!”
The pig and cat beastmen chose to stay in the First City.
Going to the Second City meant the overall difficulty would rise.
“There will be even better carrots there.”
The rabbit beastman had no such qualms.
A real male.
He looked only at the carrot and decided to head to the Second City.
“We will follow Princess Elysha’s decision.”
Both Eloin and Elbaren made no choice themselves.
They existed for Princess Elysha’s sake.
“I’m obviously going with Dahui.”
Elysha crossed her arms with Yoo Dahui.
Her massive breasts pressed against Yoo Dahui’s arm.
So envious.
“Then let’s go. It won’t take long.”
I already knew where the Second City was.
It wasn’t far, so there was no need to prepare anything.
We left the First City and started walking toward the Second City.
Because we had all grown stronger, we moved without any trouble from the natives.
How long had we walked?
Awooowoooo—!
At the same moment the sound of wolves howling rang out, werewolves appeared.
I had secretly thought they must have died in some incident or another.
They were still alive.
A full pack. They were still alive.
Awooowoooo—!
There wasn’t just one werewolf.
Five of them.
I didn’t know if they had always been a pack that hunted players or if they had formed recently.
What I did know was that if we didn’t kill these bastards, we would die.
“Fuck…”
I gripped my sword and shield tightly.
This was all I had to rely on.
Elysha took up a spectator position and stepped back.
Awooowoooo—!
“Looks like a tasty chunk of meat.”
“Feeding time!”
The werewolves raised their claws and charged.