‘Behind!’
I already knew through the spirits’ senses that a monster had appeared behind us.
But the speed at which it suddenly closed the distance was astonishing.
And the fact that the enormous beast I had expected turned out to be a massive werewolf over three meters tall was completely unexpected.
GRAAAAAAAH!
RIIIIING.
“Ugh!?”
I had been the first to notice it and was already closing the distance, but its roar made me flinch.
“Bastard!”
The escort captain shot past me and swung his greatsword at the werewolf.
FWOOM!
CRASH—!
The captain’s greatsword collided with the werewolf’s forepaw, producing a deafening blast.
In the meantime, I rushed in again and thrust my spear at the werewolf from the side.
GRRK!?
CRASH—!
‘Ghk!’
Its forepaw lashed out immediately, and I was sent sliding sideways along with my spear shaft.
The impact was so powerful that I felt lucky just to have kept hold of my spear.
Fortunately, the attempt had not been meaningless.
The captain had closed the distance in the meantime and slashed diagonally across its torso.
SLAAASH.
GRAAAAGH!
The werewolf shrieked and took several large steps backward.
The forepaw it swept around kept the captain from advancing any farther.
But in that time, several escorts recovered and formed a ring around it.
Grrrk.
The instant its yellow eyes swept around,
most of them flinched.
SSSSSS.
Then the long diagonal wound across its torso closed in an instant.
Everyone’s expressions darkened.
“Everyone! Do not give it time to recover! Charge!”
At the captain’s order, my body moved reflexively.
But then.
GRAAAAAH!
The same werewolf roar erupted again.
Most of the escorts flinched.
CRASH—!
“Aaagh!”
The werewolf sent two escorts in the rear flying,
then bolted straight into the forest.
A retreat no one had expected.
Everyone stood dumbfounded.
“Jim! Ray!”
Several escorts rushed toward the fallen men,
and the abrupt battle came to an end.
“It distracted us with the wolves and infiltrated from the rear. It is intelligent and dangerous.”
“I agree. We still have at least two more days through the Magic Beast Forest. Do you think it will attack again?”
“We killed quite a few of the wolves under its command, so I doubt it will come back recklessly, but......”
“Let us prepare anyway, just in case. I have heard silver weapons are effective against werewolves.”
“How are we supposed to get silver weapons out here?”
While the Caravan Master and escort captain discussed what had happened,
I was surrounded by the other escorts.
“Hey! New guy! You’ve got some skill!”
“Seriously. You’re pretty good!”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
There was one rule about the Labyrinth that adventurers knew well.
Be wary of Labyrinth residents, but if they were definitely allies, build goodwill with them.
‘Two of their companions just died, and they’re acting like this? Ah, maybe they just accept it as a mercenary’s fate here too?’
I smiled and returned their greetings appropriately,
but the uneasy feeling inside me was too strong for me to simply laugh along.
It was not because two escorts had died.
It was because of the Quest.
More specifically, the Perfect Clear.
‘Was that thing really the Demonized Human? I’m not sure.’
It was definitely strong.
That roar in particular had a brief paralysis effect.
It would be difficult for me to fight it alone.
Right.
Alone.
‘With the escort guards—especially Captain Kane—I think we could take it.’
And the fact that I thought we could take it bothered me even more.
Even if my skills had improved greatly,
was a Perfect Clear condition really supposed to be something I could accomplish without much difficulty using help from Labyrinth residents?
After going through that fucking melee on Floor 1,
I could not accept that easily.
Still.
‘No. No. If we’d hunted carefully and taken our time on Floor 1, we wouldn’t have had to go through that much shit. Yeah. That’s it. And I’m stronger now too.’
Thinking rationally, that made more sense.
More than anything, the captain’s next words cleared away some of my unease.
“Everyone, sort the cargo from the broken wagon. Starting tonight, we are increasing the night watch. If the werewolf attacks again, focus on holding it off in a defensive formation! We only need to endure for two days!”
This caravan had no intention of ‘going out of its way to kill’ the werewolf.
‘Right. With that much of a downside, that makes sense.’
I had to find a way to kill it in this situation.
While protecting every caravan member except the escort guards.
But.
‘No matter how I think about it, I don’t see an opening.’
As I had already experienced,
it was not an opponent I could handle alone.
Still.
‘I have to pull it off somehow.’
The first Class obtained after clearing the tenth floor was so important that no amount of emphasis would be enough.
People even said it determined the direction and limits of your future growth.
‘Especially me. I absolutely have to get the best Class possible.’
Too few Ability Slots.
A Trait that did not help directly in combat.
If I wanted to overcome all of that and conquer the Labyrinth,
if I wanted even the slightest increase in my chances,
then whatever happened on other floors, I absolutely had to succeed at the Perfect Clears in this Novice Bracket.
So I had no choice but to find a possibility.
“Um, Captain Kane?”
“Oh, new guy! You were impressive earlier. Not bad at all.”
“Yes, thank you. But there’s something I’d like to discuss about that thing from earlier.”
“That thing? The werewolf?”
“Yes. Do you really think simply defending against something that cunning will be enough?”
“......I was wondering what you were getting at. You are angry because it got a hit in on you, are you not?”
Not really, but let’s go with that.
“Yes. That too. But if we already know there is an attacker out there, wouldn’t killing it be safer than focusing entirely on defense?”
“True. That is not wrong. But our caravan only needs to reach Edelin. We merely have to get through the Magic Beast Forest. There is no need to take unnecessary risks.”
“What if I have a way to track it?”
“Nonsense!”
Captain Kane was stubborn.
So I changed direction.
“Caravan Master?”
“Oh, the new recruit from earlier. I saw your performance.”
“Thank you. But are we really going to be all right just defending like this?”
“Hm?”
“One of the cargo wagons was destroyed earlier. If we only keep defending, won’t the losses continue piling up?”
“......What are you trying to say?”
“Magic beast carcasses are worth money, aren’t they? If we kill it, we might be able to make up for some of the losses.”
“Oh......?”
“I’m confident I can track it.”
“......Really?”
The Caravan Master was interested.
And as a result,
“Captain Kane. Defending against the monster is fine, but would it not be safer to eliminate it entirely? How about dividing our men into a defensive group and an attack group? For example, sending some after the creature that fled.”
The Caravan Master’s words changed the escort group’s plan.
And in exchange,
“New guy. Was this your doing?”
It seemed I had gotten on Captain Kane’s bad side.
“The search party will be me, the new guy, and Jason. New guy, you said you were confident in tracking it. Lead the way.”
Three people.
That was all we were sending after a monster that had escaped even while the entire escort group surrounded it.
And I was in front.
It looked like he intended to throw me to it as a sacrifice if things went wrong.
But for me,
that was actually convenient.
“Yes! Leave it to me!”
Perhaps my attitude surprised him.
Kane frowned faintly,
but soon gestured for us to move, and our belated pursuit began.
“Captain, it’s already been more than an hour......”
“Leave him. He stepped forward because he said he was confident.”
Ignoring the criticism coming from behind me,
I quietly focused on the spirits’ senses.
‘That way.’
The earth spirit first picked out traces left behind by the passage of a massive creature.
‘Is this fur?’
The wind spirit gathered even the faintest remaining traces.
‘Yeah.’
Then the water spirit checked those traces for blood and moisture,
allowing me to determine the route it had taken even after so much time had passed.
‘Multiple Spirit Command is the best!’
It was possible because these were not ordinary spirits.
My consciousness inhabited all of them,
allowing their separate senses to function almost like one.
If it were not an Ability,
could this have become a Skill called Spirit Tracking Art?
That alone began changing my companions’ opinion of me.
“Oh, you had a talent like this?”
“He really does seem to be tracking it.”
“......I see. He stepped forward because he was confident.”
Even Captain Kane, who had been opposed to the pursuit,
began looking at me differently.
He even gave me advice.
“You know how to use Mana, right?”
“What? Ah. Yes.”
“Your resistance to Fear seems weak. Do not try to endure it head-on. If it looks like the creature is about to roar, use Mana to block your ears first. It will help.”
“Ah, thank you for the advice.”
He even offered an explanation for the situation.
“If you are quietly tracking something at night, fewer people are better. Do not take it the wrong way.”
“Yes. I understand.”
‘Well......’
Thinking about it,
finding and eliminating a threat was the best option for the escort group too.
About another thirty minutes passed.
“There’s a large cave about fifty meters ahead. It went inside.”
I had found the werewolf.
From that point onward,
Captain Kane took charge.
“New guy. Fire spirit out front. You take point. Keep handling the scouting.”
“Yes.”
“Good. From now on, we communicate only with hand signals. Caution. Advance. Engage. Retreat. Memorize them.”
“Yes. I’ve memorized them.”
“......Let’s go.”
I took the lead.
Captain Kane followed with his greatsword,
and Jason followed with a longsword.
Not long after we entered the cave with the fire spirit ahead of us,
-Enemy ahead.
-At least three presences.
-Four heat signatures.
I sensed enemies up ahead.
The moment I signaled,
three wolves leaped out.
They were considerably larger than the wolves that had attacked the caravan.
It was an ambush of sorts.
But it was useless.
BARK!
SQUELCH-SQUELCH-SQUELCH!
My spear,
Kane’s greatsword,
and Jason’s longsword
killed one each in an instant.
And since I had already sensed the presence of the massive claw that shot soundlessly from the darkness,
dodging it was not difficult.
WHOOSH—!
The instant I slid backward,
Kane lunged forward.
And the werewolf’s forepaw came off.
SLAAASH.
GRAAK!?
The werewolf, which had tried to ambush us only to be ambushed itself, leaped backward.
But Kane followed immediately.
CRASH—! CRASH—!
WHAM!
At that same moment,
Jason and I moved in from the left and right,
thrusting with spear and sword.
The werewolf’s face twisted.
Its jaws opened.
‘Roar!’
HUMMM.
I used the wind spirit to block my ears.
GRAAAAAH.
The muffled sound reached me only after being filtered once,
so my body did not freeze in the middle of swinging my spear.
And then,
SLAAASH.
SQUELCH-SQUELCH!
The werewolf collapsed under one attack after another.
GRAAK! KAK!
SSSSSS.
Even as it struggled, I could see its wounds healing.
But fresh wounds were appearing faster than they could close.
More than anything,
losing its forepaw at the beginning had been fatal.
GRAAAAAH!
SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!
It swung its limbs with lightning speed,
but one side was far too short.
With its sense of distance completely ruined,
its attacks only created more openings.
SQUELCH. SQUELCH. SQUELCH.
“Finish!”
SLASH—!
Kane’s greatsword cleanly severed the werewolf’s head,
announcing the end of the battle.
It had been a breathless fight, coming at us in a relentless rush from the very start.
But even the exhaustion could not outweigh my joy.
‘We did it!’
I clenched my fist without realizing it.
Then,
I suddenly felt that something was wrong.
‘The System......?’
It was not announcing the end of combat.
The instant I noticed that discrepancy,
the spirits warned me of another enemy.
‘Behind us?!’
“Captain!!”
The instant I shouted,
WHAM—!
An enormous forepaw burst out of the darkness and smashed into Kane’s head.