4
04 - Monster
You could tell at a glance that it was a corpse. Not moving, no soul could be felt, no sign of life - it wasn't such vague reasons. There was more concrete evidence. All sorts of tools and miscellaneous items were scattered around like they had been spilled.
'They say when a Hunter dies, the items in their inventory spill out.'
Hunters possess a subspace called an inventory. Jin-woo had also gained one upon awakening and was instinctively learning how to use it. Without a subspace, he would have had to carry a large backpack through this forest, and his survival rate would have plummeted. That inventory is said to vomit out all items upon the Hunter's death. Therefore, that was a corpse, and the miscellaneous items scattered around were tools used while alive.
'A Westerner. From Europe, perhaps?'
When he approached to examine it, it was a man with a high nose bridge and messy blonde hair. His chin had stubble grown out to a scratchy degree, as if he hadn't been able to shave properly for several days. It was natural since they were inside a Gate. Around his neck hung dog tags made of light chain, with his origin, name, date of birth, etc. written on them.
'Not from Europe but from New York. Mark Tesman. E-rank Hunter and his age is... Thirty-two?'
Young. Only six years older than Jin-woo. If they had met in society, they would have been of an age to call each other siblings over a drink. Such a young man was dead like trash. In this deep forest, where no one would know.
'......'
Jin-woo's heart grew heavy as he prayed for his soul's rest and collected the dog tags. Then he also collected all the tools scattered around and put them in his own inventory. There were many items like camping supplies, jungle knives, and rope that Jin-woo already had, and there was more than enough food and water. There were also several types of weapons, among which one spear was particularly unique.
"Hup!"
He swung the spear once. The spear tip was crude and rough, not in good condition, but the shaft itself was sufficiently thick and heavy. Such a heavy and long pole was a weapon in itself. The staff provided by the Management Bureau wasn't bad either, but this spear was much more reliable than that.
He collected all the weapons and also separately gathered personal items. Items belonging to Hunters who died inside the Gates legally belong to whoever finds them under international law, so there's no obligation to return them.
But photos that seemed cherished, an old fountain pen that appeared well-used, notebooks, and such weren't items worth being greedy over. He left the photos in the wallet as they were, only taking out the dollars, and carefully collected the man's personal belongings in one corner of his inventory. While doing so, he saw a note in the notebook that couldn't be ignored.
Blue portal! ↓
The words ‘blue portal’ were written along with an arrow. Below that was also a drawing that looked like a roughly sketched map. Mark Tesman had already found the Blue Portal for return. He had recorded it as a map so he wouldn't forget, then continued exploring and died in an accident. That must be what happened.
'It's unfortunate but... Thanks to you, I'm saved.'
Thanks to that, he had obtained a clue to the Blue Portal he had been searching for so desperately. After expressing sincere gratitude, Jin-woo performed one last task. Examining the man's cause of death.
'His upper body is tightly wrapped in bandages.'
The man's upper body was covered with dirty bandages. Perhaps because he had wrapped them himself, the knots weren't neat, but they were still tight enough to firmly compress the wound. Jin-woo took out a knife, tore the bandages, and examined the man's wound. The affected area was his back. Sharp lacerations that looked like they were clawed by a large beast's talons. However, from that wound, something like dark smoke was rising like a mirage.
Seeing that, Jin-woo swallowed hard.
'Monster!'
It was a wound inflicted by a monster, not an ordinary beast.
***
What's the difference between beasts and monsters? While monsters are much more ferocious, tend to be larger, and are more fearsome beings, the most crucial difference is this black smoke.
This black smoke, commonly called Magi (魔氣), was the core of a monster's power and, simultaneously, like a disease that infected wounds inflicted by monsters. Wounds tainted with Magi don't heal through ordinary methods. Natural healing power or medicinal herbs from Earth had no effect whatsoever.
There were two methods to heal Magi. One was potions compounded from medicinal herbs found in Gates, and the other was the ability of Hunters who had awakened healing holy magic. The problem was that either way, Jin-woo currently had no means.
'There's a monster nearby.'
It felt like his throat was constricting with tension. For Jin-woo, who had just awakened, monsters were opponents he absolutely had to avoid. They couldn't be compared to wolves like the one he had fought before. Ordinary beasts could be killed by F-rank Hunters or even ordinary people if they did well.
But monsters don't fall for clumsy tricks. The Magi surrounding monsters is known to be the source of their power, granting them strength and abilities beyond limits. Just like awakened Hunters.
'Even I, who just awakened, sprinted at full power for 40 minutes and cut a wolf in half with one sword strike.'
Monsters also possessed such extraordinary abilities. They weren't beings that an F-rank Hunter like himself, with no experience and few developed abilities, could mess with. At minimum an E-rank, no, seeing how Mark, who was E-rank, died in one blow, a D-rank would be needed to even get an estimate. A sharp sense of crisis flowed through him at the fact that he was in a monster's territory. However.
'Never mind. I got a map to the Blue Portal, so I just need to escape like this.'
Jin-woo shook his head and slapped both cheeks with his hands to come to his senses. There was no reason to think about useless things.
Right now, he just needed to move toward the Blue Portal via the shortest route. His inventory was already full of fruits and mushrooms, and there were still over ten fish left.
Just the hides and meat of the beasts left behind by the capricious Elf were worth more than Jin-woo's annual income. On top of that, there were over twenty white arrows that were definitely luxury items, though he couldn't measure their value.
As profit from his first Gate, this was already more than enough. Rather than being greedy here, the standard approach was to return as quickly as possible. From the beginning, since he didn't know how long the Elf's whim would last, staying longer would only increase his chances of death.
'Let's just be careful on the final stretch.'
Having collected everything from Mark's corpse, Jin-woo spread out the map and found his way. He moved carefully. Following the path drawn on the map, confirming the shapes of rocks and trees that served as markers, and determining direction. But before long, he felt something was off.
'There are traces of someone passing through. Are these traces of Mark's escape?'
As he followed the path, it was full of traces. Not only footprints and trampled grass, but also broken leather and disturbed fallen leaves. They were flashy traces with minimal concealment, similar to the traces he himself had made while frantically fleeing from the Elf.
He was definitely following the path toward the Blue Portal, but that path had traces of Mark's escape remaining. Why on earth? According to these traces, Mark had fled from the Blue Portal to this place. Why did he flee instead of going to the portal with those wounds?
'Don't tell me...'
An ominous possibility struck him. It might not be true, but it was a possibility he couldn't ignore. Still, he had to confirm it, so Jin-woo proceeded down the path even more quietly and carefully. And he encountered exactly the result he had expected.
'Damn.'
He had encountered the worst possibility that had occurred to him. Jin-woo, who had confirmed the Blue Portal through binoculars, quietly let out a curse. The portal was located in a cave carved into the inside of a house-sized rock, but the cave didn't contain only the portal.
—Grrrrrrr......
A giant bear of a size he had never seen in his life. Its blackened fur showed red tints in places, and black smoke like a mirage undulated throughout its entire body. Its eyes were red beyond scarlet, stained with the color of blood, and scars on its eyes added ferocity to that impression.
'The wound on Mark's back was made by that guy.'
The claw-like wound on his large front paw was definitely made by that bear. If he could just cross that portal, he could return to Earth. At this final moment, faced with an obstacle blocking his path, Jin-woo bit his lower lip.
***
A black-haired woman with long ears was watching Jin-woo from afar. She was observing him from an even greater distance than Jin-woo, who was observing the monster through binoculars, but despite using her naked eyes, she could see farther than binoculars would allow. Those eyes naturally also captured the bear inside the cave. The woman's lips were unconsciously smiling with pleasure as she watched.
'I wondered what would happen when he discovered the portal.'
She had felt disappointed when he found the Blue Portal earlier than expected. She hadn't yet observed him to a satisfactory degree, and she had even felt regretful that he was already leaving. But seeing the monster guarding in front of it put her at ease.
The master of the mountain. A leader-class monster that dominated this entire area.
With that human's abilities, defeating the master of the mountain would be impossible even if he were reborn three times. He could somehow try to shake it off and throw himself into the portal, but even that shaking off was originally a low-probability gamble. With his life at stake, no sane human would throw themselves into a gamble with such massive failure probability.
'Let's see, the next portal is...'
As far as she knew, the closest other portal from here was at least 5 days away. Of course, if it were her, she could get there in less than a day, but that was speaking at that human child's speed for 5 days. That was also assuming he headed in the exact right direction, so in reality, it could take a week or two weeks. With about 2 weeks, she should be able to observe him to a satisfactory degree.
'If he seems to wander too much after that, maybe I'll subtly guide him.'
She had that much generosity. She considered herself a very flexible Elf among her people. In reality, it was similar. Hoping that the human child would give up on the portal before his eyes and change direction, she continued observing Jin-woo.
***
His contemplation was long. Fighting that monster head-on was absolutely impossible. If he were to do it, he would have no choice but to somehow avoid it and leap into the portal. But that, too, wasn't an easy task. If he made even the slightest mistake, he would also be beaten to a pulp by those front paws like Mark.
'Give up on this place and look for another portal?'
That was also one option, but it wasn't safe. He had barely found this portal thanks to obtaining Mark's map, and now he was supposed to look for another portal without a single clue? If he were lucky, he'd find it easily, but if he were unlucky? He couldn't know when the Elf's attack might come or when he might encounter other different races or monsters. The longer the time dragged on, the more the danger level increased exponentially. In such a situation, it was all the more difficult to give up the escape route before his eyes.
A situation with no correct answer. Every choice was full of risks, making it impossible to judge easily. At the end of his contemplation, what Jin-woo chose was the former.
'Let's try to lure it somehow.'
Facing that bear head-on was impossible. But if it was just to draw its attention, somehow.
Once decided, his actions were swift. Fortunately, the distance from that guy was far. Since he had observed from afar through binoculars, his position hadn't been detected. While the guy crouched quietly inside the rock cave, Jin-woo began setting up work on one side of the forest.
'Let me set up even a few traps.'
He took out a shovel to dig the ground and took out wire to set up snares. He found nearby trees with good elasticity and tied them with rope. Shallow traps that would make professional Hunters laugh. The structure was crude and concealment was poor, looking as shoddy as something an amateur made by eye. In fact, Jin-woo's trap knowledge was at an amateur level, learned through cramming, so it was accurate. But even so, he did his best. He mobilized everything he could mobilize with his current self.
'Good.'
Preparations were complete. Now he just needed to draw out the guy inside the cave and lure it to the traps. If the several traps he had set could hold back the guy's movement for even 5 seconds. Then he could sprint at full power past the guy to the portal inside the cave.
'Bow, I only practiced for 3 days.'
He took out the bow he had received as supplies from the Management Bureau. He could barely shoot it, but his accuracy was dismal. He had only practiced at home for about 3 days after receiving it. There hadn't been time to leisurely practice archery inside the Gate.
Still, it didn't need to hit accurately. If it could just fall near the guy and draw attention. If it could make it notice his presence and lure it, that would fulfill its role.
'White arrow.'
He took out a white arrow that the Elf had left along with the beast carcasses. It would probably fetch quite a price if sold, but this wasn't the time to be stingy. He loaded the white arrow onto the string of the crude supply-grade bow. Looking at it this way, the disparity between bow and arrow was even more apparent. Shooting such an arrow with this cheap bow felt disrespectful to the master craftsman who made the arrow. But whatever. If he was going to resent something, he should resent the Elf's whim for handing him the arrow.
Creeeeak—
He drew the string and aimed at the black bear inside the cave.