The Living Bait
Smear, smear.
"How's that? Nice and cool, right? I spotted some beans and leafy greens growing over that way, so I ground those up and mixed them in too. They'll toughen up your bones — all packed with calcium. On Earth there's something called a pack. Same idea."
"……."
While Do-ha chattered away with pure enthusiasm, Canteas stared blankly off at a distant mountain.
How on earth did things end up like this……
Where did it all go wrong?
Why am I stuck here, unable to return to my real body, getting coated head to toe in lure pheromones?
"There! All done!"
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Do-ha looked over Canteas's body with a thoroughly satisfied expression. He'd worried there wouldn't be enough, but once he started applying it, the amount turned out to be more than sufficient. Every last spot had been covered with meticulous care.
"You look ridiculously proud of yourself……"
"It's been a while since I did a hound lure. Turns out it's pretty fun. Brings back old memories, too."
"Fun, is it……"
Right……
If you're having fun, I guess that's all that matters……
"Alright. Starting from that rock over there, keep running straight ahead. See that yellow portal way off in the distance? Don't go into it."
"And you'll just trail along behind me cutting down the hounds that swarm in?"
"What? If I was going to do that, why bother with a lure at all? I could just hunt them one by one. I'm staying here to make more pheromone bait. We're not wrapping this up after one or two hunts."
"……Oh, gods."
For the first time in his life, Canteas called upon a god.
What the hell was the Demon God even doing?!
He couldn't even properly deal with this one devil of a man!
And now I'm the one paying the price for it?!
"If the Demon God had just gotten rid of this bastard properly……"
"Sure. Next time I run into the Demon God, I'll pass along exactly what you just said. For now, take that rage and put it into running."
Do-ha nodded as he watched Canteas tremble. Better to have him burning with fury and putting out real effort than standing there all droopy and defeated.
"Ugh, fine."
In the end, Canteas started running with tears in his eyes.
Rumble.
Slurp, slurp.
"Ugh…… Aaaagh! Your drool is disgusting! Somebody save meee!"
Caught in a pack of hounds, Canteas screamed. The lure was so absurdly effective that the moment he started running with it on, fifteen or more of them came swarming in every time — and then they licked him all over.
"Just bite me already, you mangy mutts! Stop with the creepy licking! Aaaagh! You damn emperor bastard!! Save me!"
Whoosh.
Thud!
"Nice work again, Canteas."
Do-ha launched himself from a treetop, his gleaming blade already in motion.
Myeol-hwang Sword Technique — Fourth Form
Cloud Breaking Moon
Shwaaaak!
Slash-slash-slash-slash!
As Do-ha's body spun through the air, sword energy erupted around him in a wild, dancing storm. Crescent-shaped blades of force plummeted toward the ground and carved through several hounds at once.
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Kyaak!"
Nine hounds died simultaneously. The rest immediately launched themselves at Do-ha. The blissful expressions they'd worn while licking bones moments earlier were gone — only killing intent burned in their eyes now.
"They're intelligent enough to react fast, I'll give them that."
They knew clustering together meant death, so they spread out wide in every direction. But even spread out, at this range they were still well within his reach.
Baek-bo Myeol-hwang Gong — First Step
Cheon-roe
Thud.
Flash!
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
The moment Do-ha took a single step forward, dozens of lightning bolts crashed down from the sky.
Hmm…… still too weak.
Watching the hounds simply shake off the strikes, Do-ha clicked his tongue. His internal energy was lacking, so Cheon-roe's power had dropped dramatically — weak enough that mere C-Rank monsters could shrug it off.
"Which means I need to maximize the damage."
Water Shock
Zwaaang.
A magic circle formed overhead, and a massive torrent of water came crashing down. The pressure was strong enough to snap trees clean in half — but against the thick-hided hounds, it did nothing at all.
"Grrrr."
"All soaked, huh? Goodbye."
Flash!
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
While the remaining hounds were still shaking water from their coats, Cheon-roe struck again.
"That makes three already."
The last of the hounds died without even managing a scream. Do-ha smiled. This was the third drive hunt using the pheromones. His proficiency had climbed, and he'd collected a solid haul of mana stones as well.
"You did great again, Canteas."
Do-ha walked over slowly, eyeing Canteas as the skeleton worked the stiffness from his limbs. Where his circles had been completely empty before, mana could be felt now.
"See? We've walked this road once already. Of course it's faster the second time."
"Yeah, it is."
Canteas nodded. Hunting the hounds had built up mana for him too, not just Do-ha. Mana was slowly filling the empty space inside his circles — enough now to cast 1st Circle magic. It was a long, long way from the 8th Circle he'd once commanded, but right now even this single circle felt like something to be grateful for.
"Honestly, the things I put up with because of you."
Then —
A thick, sticky killing intent flooded the air, and the temperature around them plummeted.
"……Do-ha."
"Don't turn your head……"
Air Bomb
Zwaaang.
BOOM!
Do-ha swallowed hard and detonated an Air Bomb right beside them. The blast hurled both of their bodies through the air at high speed. Trying to run on foot would have gotten them caught.
Whoooosh.
"Why is a boss suddenly……"
"KRAAAAAAH!"
Having used the Air Bomb to put distance between them, Do-ha looked back from midair at the boss monster roaring below. Generally speaking, every Gate had a boss monster — from low-rank Gates to high-rank ones, bosses were a given. But open-type Gates, the ones left accessible for other hunters to use, had their bosses cleared out by the owners beforehand. This one belonged to the Association, so the staff should have already dealt with it.
So there shouldn't be a boss here at all……
How did that thing spawn?
And there was another problem.
Judging by its aura, this isn't just top-tier C-Rank…… the rank itself is higher.
Not merely peak C-Rank — this was a straight B-Rank. Why had something carrying that much power regenerated here?
"Canteas! You hide somewhere out of si—"
Do-ha landed and looked off into the distance, where Canteas was already fleeing for his life at full tilt.
Wow.
He can really run.
That's the fastest I've ever seen him go. Looked like a track athlete out there.
"Aaaagh! I'm hiding!"
Canteas shouted without so much as glancing back. In his original body, a mutt like this would have been erased with a flick of the wrist. But right now he was a pathetic 1st Circle caster — barely able to summon a single skeleton.
"When it comes to pure will to survive, you're second to none."
Do-ha shook his head. Come to think of it, the first time they'd met, this guy had dropped to his knees and begged for his life. A lich, on his knees. Unbelievable.
Dash!
"Where do you think you're going!"
Whirl!
Whirlwind Palm
As the boss came charging in at tremendous speed, Do-ha's hands moved in a blur.
BOOM!
Damn, it's strong.
Whirlwind Palm carried the principle of redirecting force — it should have deflected the hound's foreleg cleanly. Instead of flowing away, the impact traveled straight up his arm.
Shing.
Slash!
Dash.
Oh?
Do-ha fired a burst of sword energy and watched the boss's lightning-fast evasion with genuine admiration. It wasn't just reading the attacks with its eyes — it was using its other senses in tandem.
"Come on, then. Show me more."
A rare spark of curiosity lit Do-ha's face as he smiled.
Five minutes later.
Clang!
Crunch.
No…… that's not it.
After trading blows back and forth, something became clear. His earlier assessment had been wrong. It wasn't using its senses together — it was relying on a single sense alone. Even if this thing lost its sight entirely, it would still navigate without any trouble. Its dependence on senses other than vision ran that deep.
"This just got easier."
Thud-thud-thud!
Clang!
Crunch.
Rumble.
Every time the boss attacked, the ground flipped over and trees were ripped out by the roots. It even seemed to predict the direction Do-ha was about to move, arriving a step ahead more than once.
My light footwork is still a little faster.
But it was reading his movement direction through that sense he'd identified.
"What the hell is that emperor bastard even doing……"
From behind a distant rock, Canteas watched the fight with a furrowed brow. If your attacks weren't landing, you pulled out immediately — so why was he still stuck in there? He'd been doing nothing but dodging backward for several minutes now. The occasional counterattack either got fully avoided or tanked outright by the hound.
"Hey, hound. Hit that annoying emperor bastard for me, would you? You got this!"
Flinch.
Canteas had been cheering for the boss in a voice so quiet even an ant wouldn't have heard it — then his eyes met Do-ha's, and he flinched hard.
Ugh, that scared me. He didn't actually hear what I said, right?
Nah, no way……
I whispered it quieter than an ant crawling. He couldn't have heard from all the way over there.
Swoosh.
Tap.
But contrary to Canteas's hopes, Do-ha — still mid-dodge — tapped his ear with a finger and then drew a line across his throat. The message was clear: I heard everything. You're dead.
"……Hound…… please, give it everything you've got."
A stunned Canteas went back to cheering for the boss.
KRA-BOOOOM!
That damn bag of bones. When we get back, I'm turning him into bone broth.
Dodging another attack, Do-ha settled Canteas's fate in his mind.
"KYAAAAAK!"
Watching the human keep slipping away like a greased eel, the hound's rage finally exploded.
Crack!
"Grrrrrrr."
The boss began contracting its body to move even faster. Compressing itself dropped its defense, but it pushed its senses to an extreme pitch and more than tripled its speed.
Now.
Watching the boss's transformation, Do-ha smiled. This was exactly why he'd spent all that time goading it and doing nothing but dodge.
"That incredible sense of yours is about to become poison."
Wooooong!
Clap!
Hwaneum-yeyang-gong — First Form
Gok-rak-jo
The sound arts of Yeowol, the Sound Venerable, unfurled.
Kiiiiiiiiing!
"KYAAAAK?!"
Struck dead-on by the sound technique, the boss staggered and shook its head violently. Whatever the human had just done, its vision and senses were suddenly reeling.
Whip!
Whip!
"Kyaak?"
Regaining its bearings, the boss whipped its head around, searching for the human.
Swoosh.
"?!!"
"Looking for me?"
Silence
Do-ha, who had vanished, was now standing on top of the hound's head. He'd hammered its inner ear with the sound technique, then erased all noise with Silence magic. With its senses cut off, it hadn't even registered him climbing onto its skull.
Wooooooooong!
"So long. That was fun."
Baek-bo Myeol-hwang Gong — Second Step
Mu-je-gak
Thud.
KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA!
The moment Do-ha took a single step from atop the hound's head, the ground caved in beneath them, and a massive crater tore open across the earth.