5
05 - Who Are You
The Magi rippling across the monster's entire body.
That black haze-like smoke was both the source of the monster's power and armor that deflected most attacks and impacts.
So I was worried that this arrow wouldn't work either.
'Then I'll have no choice but to give up.'
But that was then.
With slight anxiety and full tension, Jin-woo released his grip on the bowstring.
Ting-
Perhaps because it was an old bow, the tension was weak too. Even the sound of releasing the bowstring lacked power.
Still, the arrow flew reasonably fast.
Fortunately, the arrow that entered the cave hit the head of the bear crouching inside.
-Kruheoeoeoeong!
It pierced through the black smoke and struck its eye!
At the better-than-expected result, Jin-woo clenched his fist and threw the bow. There was no time to shoot a second arrow.
Kwang! Kung kung!
The enraged bear crashed into the cave walls and burst out like a cannonball.
Then it charged madly toward the direction the arrow had come from—toward Jin-woo's location.
Jin-woo, who had anticipated this, ran as calmly as possible toward where he had prepared the trap.
Even though he called it calm, his heart was pounding thump thump, and his head was heating up intensely.
Still, he continued to recall the plan and route he had set up beforehand, trying his best to maintain composure.
His eyes focused, and the surrounding background blurred. With concentration similar to when he had fled from the Elf, he leaped over a thick log lying horizontally.
-Kuheng!
Kwajijik!
As soon as he jumped over, he heard the sound of wood being crushed behind him.
Even without looking back, he could tell what had happened to the log from the sound.
If caught, he would die.
His entire body would be pulverized before he could even think he'd been caught.
Maintaining razor-sharp concentration like walking on a knife's edge, Jin-woo drew his knife and cut the rope as he passed by.
Kung!
The tree branch that had been bent and tied was released and struck the bear.
Then Jin-woo checked behind him for the first time.
The result of the first trap was...
-Kruheoeong!
Absolutely nothing.
The bear, having been struck somewhat by the branch, didn't budge at all as it continued charging.
Its body, surrounded by black smoke, smashed through every tree and rock in its way as it charged straight toward Jin-woo.
The snare he had set was the same.
The thin wire savagely dug into the bear's ankle, but it broke it off as if snapping spider webs.
The pit he had dug with a shovel to trip it was the same.
Instead, the creature used the pit as a foothold to jump even higher and tried to strike Jin-woo's back.
"Crazy!"
At the approaching aura of death, Jin-woo hastily dodged.
He squeezed his already-about-to-burst thigh muscles even more and leaped forward.
Fortunately, ahead was a narrow gap formed by thick trees and rocks intertwined—just wide enough for one person to barely pass through, making it impossible for the bear to get through.
Kwang! Ujikkeun!
Of course, the creature stupidly forced its way through with its body.
All the traps and obstacles so far hadn't stopped it even slightly.
Eventually, it caught up to Jin-woo.
The front paw wrapped in black smoke grazed Jin-woo's side.
"Aaaaaaaak!"
Jin-woo's body flew like a ball and crashed into a tree on the side.
Blood streamed from his side that had been grazed by the front paw, and from his back that had hit the tree came an impact that made breathing difficult.
Even with that body, Jin-woo couldn't afford to lie down.
The bear that had immediately approached was raising its front paw to swipe at Jin-woo.
'Spear!'
I need to block that first.
Fortunately, there was the spear he had taken from Mark's corpse. With that long and sturdy spear shaft, couldn't he block even such monstrous strength?
Kwajik!
No, he couldn't.
Though he had thought it was a pretty decent spear, the bear's front paw immediately broke the spear shaft and clawed Jin-woo's chest.
The fortunate thing was that the spear shaft had absorbed quite a bit of the impact, so the wound on Jin-woo's body wasn't fatal.
Though it was still a serious injury, nonetheless.
'Damn it.'
The bear raised its front paw again.
Standing on two legs with the sun behind it, raising its front paw toward Jin-woo, the bear's appearance was no different from an executioner lowering a guillotine.
Bueong-!
Before the falling claws, Jin-woo had nothing to trust but a single sword.
'The sword.'
The standard-issue sword that emerged from inventory was grasped in his hand.
The blade's craftsmanship was crude, and the handle's finish was strange, with leather straps sticking out and dangling.
Made of some mediocre scrap iron, the sword blade's color wasn't clean and had dust-like spots mixed in.
Yet holding it in his hand made a difference.
His breathing stabilized, and his body's posture changed.
Even without the achievement of having cut down a wolf in one stroke, Jin-woo considered himself complete when holding a sword.
Rather than a sense of security, it would be more correct to call it a sense of unity.
It wasn't simply that the sword felt like part of his body.
From somewhere deeper than his flesh, he felt unity with the sword. Holding the sword made his existence more complete.
However, the sword's ability had already awakened.
He had heard that a Hunter's abilities rarely awakened again in the same area.
For example, if someone like Jin-woo had awakened abilities in 'feet' and 'sword', it was extremely rare for those feet and sword to awaken again.
One awakening itself was already surpassing a limit, so without considerable enlightenment, it was impossible to surpass that limit once more.
[ Fragments of a past life surface. ]
So this was a miracle Jin-woo couldn't understand.
Something he couldn't know, but only his past life could.
[ I shall cut and covet that soul. ]
His head was dizzy. His mind reached its extreme limit, and his vision mixed as if he might collapse at any moment.
In the dizzy vision, there was something shining.
Inside the monster's body, a blue flame-like form burns at its core.
Regardless of the creature's size or how it was bringing down its front paw, such things didn't enter Jin-woo's sight.
The sword Jin-woo swung, headed as if bewitched, toward the blue flame at the creature's core.
Hwaryeok-
He cut it in one stroke.
The lowest-grade iron sword, merely a supply item, pierced through such a monster's black smoke and cut through fur, muscle, and even bone.
The sight of the giant bear's body being bisected was truly spectacular, but what Jin-woo was seeing was something entirely different.
The blue flame is being severed.
The cut flame blazed like a final struggle, then scattered and dispersed, being absorbed as if drawn into Jin-woo's sword.
The flame wasn't only in the creature but also in Jin-woo.
The creature's flame absorbed through the sword merged with Jin-woo's flame and blazed slightly larger.
'What the hell is this...'
In the rippling and twisting vision, only the blue flame was visible.
It had been in the creature and was in Jin-woo too, and in the grass and trees, the chirping birds and crying insects.
Only differences in size and hue.
Jin-woo's mind was forcibly shut down by the momentarily expanded senses and flooding information.
Jin-woo barely lifted his eyelids, heavy as a thousand pounds, and looked at the being before him.
Beside the corpse of the monster that had fallen in two pieces, he saw a human silhouette he had seen before.
A black-haired Elf with long ears.
She had approached while completely suppressing her presence. Unless one had reached a considerable level, it would be difficult to notice her existence through hearing or feeling.
"&#%#$..."
She was muttering something, looking shocked at the black bear's corpse.
She even noticed Jin-woo's gaze and looked this way, then was shocked once again by the fact that her own presence had been detected.
She had approached hiding even her breathing, footsteps, and even heartbeat—how?
It wasn't Jin-woo's eyes and ears that had noticed.
He had merely sensed the presence of the blue flame burning in the center of the Elf's body.
The flame he saw in her appeared in Jin-woo's eyes much more refined and beautiful than the monster's just before, looking like a flower bud made from traditional crafts.
'Damn it...'
He needed to run away, but he couldn't.
Though it was good that he had noticed the Elf's presence, he had no energy left to hold onto his consciousness.
The eyelids he had barely lifted fell forcibly. Like a film being cut, his consciousness fell into darkness.
***
"Huh!"
Jin-woo, who had suddenly regained consciousness, quickly raised his body and surveyed his surroundings.
His hand still held the sword, ready to engage in battle at any moment.
However, Jin-woo soon realized there were no enemies.
A sixth sense completely different from sight or hearing—the sense that detected blue flames—told him there were no enemies worth being wary of in the vicinity.
'Did I awaken a detection ability?'
...No.
He remembered the final moment.
The moment he had cut down the monster with this iron sword. The moment he had cut and absorbed the blue flame burning at its core.
The detection ability to explore surroundings through flames was merely a byproduct derived from that ability.
No, but anyway.
'I'm unharmed. The monster's corpse is still here, too... Huh? My wounds have healed somewhat, too.
Jin-woo was surprised as he examined his own body.
The wounds he had received from the monster on his side and chest had slightly healed.
More precisely, the wounds themselves were still there, but the contamination from Magi had been completely healed.
It meant he had received healing from purification potions or holy magic or something similar.
Who on earth?
Who had done it was obvious. Jin-woo clearly remembered making eye contact at the moment he lost consciousness.
What he should be curious about wasn't who, but why.
Jin-woo shook his head. He had long given up trying to guess the Elf's thoughts.
"Let's go back."
Anyway, his body had healed, and he had survived safely.
Now all that remained was really to return.
Jin-woo felt relieved that he had somehow overcome the crisis.
Though it couldn't be called perfect and there had been many immature aspects, he had survived in the end, so that was enough.
Jin-woo, who had put the monster's bisected corpse into inventory, discovered a sword stuck beside it.
A sword with a white gem embedded.
It was the gem sword the Elf had been holding when they first met by the stream.
'...'
He silently collected that sword too.
Just holding the handle, he could feel it. It was a famous sword hundreds of times superior to the iron sword issued by the Management Bureau.
About to head toward the rock cave where the Blue Portal was, he suddenly thought of something and scribbled something on the ground.
Though the Elf probably didn't know Korean, still.
Having finished everything, Jin-woo, having found the Blue Portal, threw himself into it.
***
The black-haired woman came back to where Jin-woo had left.
Originally, she too had planned to leave, but she was interested in Jin-woo's final action.
On the dirt ground where the sword had been left, several unknown characters were written.
When she raised her finger, small clusters of light formed at its tip.
"Can you read the thoughts embedded in these characters?"
She asked the clusters of light.
Though reading the text itself was impossible, she could read the thoughts that remained when the text was written.
It wasn't like a perfect translation, but she could understand the general meaning it indicated. Especially for recent writing like this, quite accurate comprehension was possible.
After examining the characters for a moment, the light clusters answered.
—Expression of gratitude. A name. And a question.
"A name is written?"
Life came to the woman's eyes as she memorized the character string Jin-woo had written.
Though she didn't know which one was the name or how to read it, someday she would find out.
"What's the question?"
—Who are you?
"Oh my."
For some reason, she felt good.
The woman, who had erased the characters on the dirt ground with her foot, hummed and disappeared into the forest.
It was in the direction opposite to Jin-woo, toward where the Red Portal had been.