WHAM—!
The enormous forepaw slammed into Kane, and the sight of him being hurled away seemed to unfold in slow motion.
That was how sudden and horrifying it was.
It was almost a miracle that Kane’s head had not burst apart on the spot.
‘Damn it!’
I reflexively moved my spear and thrust at the werewolf’s exposed neck.
I had already sensed the new presence through the spirits, and the instant Kane was attacked, I had reflexively launched the thrust.
Even I thought the timing was perfect.
But.
SQUELCH—!
The spearhead never reached its neck.
It merely buried itself in the forepaw the werewolf raised to block it.
“Jason!!”
I put my weight behind the spear, trying to push the creature back as I shouted.
Only then did Jason rush in from the side.
Far too late.
‘Ugh!’
Only after my body was hurled into the cave wall along with the spear embedded in the pad of the werewolf’s paw.
THUD—!
“Ghk!?”
I cried out as I slammed violently into the wall.
Then I saw the werewolf’s bloodied forepaw smash into Jason’s head.
WHAM—!
Jason’s head burst apart like a watermelon.
I saw the creature’s yellow eyes turn toward the fallen Kane.
Gritting my teeth, I forced myself back up.
“Over here, you son of a bitch!”
WHIP—!
I hurled the rock in my hand at its head and charged with my spear.
It was not because I had some kind of plan.
I simply had a vague feeling that if I let Kane die here,
everything would be over.
Fortunately(?), the creature turned its attention toward me.
GRAAAAAH!
The instant I saw its jaws opening,
I blocked my ears with Mana.
I stopped the roar, the Fear (fear) effect,
and charged straight in with a thrust.
The Volante Footwork I used to close the distance shortened the space between us at a speed that surprised even me.
But the spear thrust at the end of that weightless movement was just as light.
GRAAK!
WHAM—!
A single swipe from the werewolf knocked the spear shaft clean out of my hands.
‘Tsk!’
I moved in the same direction the spear had been sent flying.
At that instant,
an enormous foot swept through the spot where I had just been like the wind.
FWOOM—!
The werewolf’s hind leg, which I had thought it used only for movement,
had suddenly lashed out of the darkness.
With an acrobatic motion.
‘Hoo......’
I had somehow gotten lucky and avoided the werewolf’s combination of attacks,
but chills raced down my back.
‘If even one hit lands, I’m dead.’
I felt as though the plate armor I had paid a fortune for would crumple like paper if that foot connected.
I managed to recover my fallen spear,
but there was no way I could bring myself to plant my foot firmly in front of that monster and put real weight behind a thrust.
‘Focus on dodging.’
Volante Footwork rather than spear arts.
The instant I made that decision,
the attacks poured down on me.
GRAOOH!
FWOOM—!
FWOOM! FWOOM!
‘Haa......’
My flesh crawled.
The air bursting from every passing claw tingled across my body as though it were my own skin being struck,
even though nothing had actually touched me.
‘Damn it.’
But separate from that fear,
once I eliminated my blind spots with the spirits’ senses and focused entirely on my footwork,
‘Front! Cut to the side.’
‘Fist blocks my vision. Hind leg!’
‘Back hand! Next beat!’
FWOOM—!
predicting and avoiding its attacks gradually stopped feeling so difficult.
[Volante Footwork Stage 1’s Level has increased.]
FWOOM—!
‘Yeah, thaaanks!’
The System message nearly got me hit,
but I was experiencing the excellence of Volante Footwork with my entire body.
The problem was that this still gave me no answer.
It was not merely a moral question of whether I should abandon the fallen Kane.
‘Running away would be difficult too.’
Right now, I was avoiding the creature by predicting its movements through the spirits’ senses and moving into its blind spots.
But the instant I turned and ran,
it would become a straight-line sprint.
And in that situation,
I had no confidence I could shake off this four-legged monster.
‘I have to settle this here somehow.’
As I concentrated like mad with that thought,
at some point, its movements began to feel familiar.
More precisely,
I began to see openings.
GRAAAAAH!
FWOOM—!
CRASH—!
The angrier and more irritated it became,
the bigger its motions grew,
and the rougher its movements became.
The more that happened,
the larger its openings appeared.
The problem was that I was not confident I could exploit one and finish it.
‘If I can’t inflict a fatal wound in one strike, I’m dead.’
I had to inflict a lethal wound in a single blow against a monster that healed ordinary injuries on the spot.
If so.
‘The neck. Or...... the eyes?’
I watched its bright yellow eyes gradually turn red.
FWOOM—!
SSSK.
I saw a small spray of blood on the claw that passed me.
Only then did I feel the burning sensation on my cheek.
‘I definitely dodged that?’
Immediately afterward,
FWOOM.
FWOOM.
several more attacks barely grazed past me.
Only then did I realize it.
My feet were growing heavy.
‘Stamina. Mana. Damn it.’
It felt as though we had barely been fighting at all,
yet my strength was visibly draining away.
I had no choice but to take a risk.
‘I have to finish this decisively.’
One decisive strike.
As quickly as possible.
Under that desperate sense of danger,
my thoughts converged on a single point.
My concentration, pushed endlessly higher,
found one method.
No.
Rather than saying I found it,
it would be more accurate to say that instinct seized hold of a flash of inspiration as it passed through my mind.
My body moved before I even had time to think it through.
FWOOM—!
I lightly avoided the creature’s attack and slipped into its blind spot.
THUD.
Then I reversed the mana circulation of Volante Footwork, which pursued absolute lightness,
and added the heaviest step I could make.
GRAAK!
As though looking down on me for doing nothing but dodging until now,
the werewolf swung its forepaw straight at me.
But I was faster.
“Hup!”
I took the principle of Pendulum Spear Art, its repeated advance and retreat,
and recreated it not with my feet,
but with my hands.
With my spear.
I created a vibration.
Then I drove all that explosively increased weight and vibration into a thrust,
finally piercing the creature’s neck from its blind spot.
FLASH.
A deep blue haze spread from the spearhead.
At the same time,
I heard the System.
[Volante Footwork Stage 1’s Level has greatly increa......]
[Pendulum Spear Art is evolving into Resonance Spear (High-grade)......]
SQUELCH—!
The powerful sensation transmitted through the spearhead sent a surge of intense pleasure through me.
The spear pierced through the werewolf’s forepaw as it tried to block its neck,
then drove into its throat.
But.
‘Too... shallow?’
Most of the force had been spent piercing the forepaw,
so the spear had not buried itself deeply enough in the neck.
The instant I realized it,
a horrific future flashed through my mind.
But then.
SLAAASH.
A silver line suddenly streaked across the werewolf from behind.
“Good... work, rookie.”
THUD.
Along with the familiar voice,
the werewolf’s head rose into the air.
PLOP.
ROLL, ROLL, ROLL, ROLL.
It rolled across the cave floor.
THUD.
Behind the collapsing bulk of the werewolf,
I saw Kane kneeling on one knee.
“Ghk. Cough. Cough.”
As he vomited blood,
the voice I had been waiting for finally rang out.
[Combat Ended.]
[3 wolves and 2 werewolves defeated. Contribution: 65%]
[A large amount of experience acquired.]
[Level increased.]
“Haa......”
It was over.
At that instant,
I collapsed onto the spot without realizing it.
THUD.
“......Hah. Are you all right, Captain?”
“I can... move. Damn it.”
Kane’s face was a wreck as he ground his teeth.
One half of it was swollen dark blue with bruising,
and even his skull looked slightly caved in.
It was amazing that he was still alive and moving.
“Are you really okay?”
“This... won’t kill me. Ghk. Cough. I-I’ve got regeneration too.”
I had no choice but to believe him when I saw the caved-in part of his skull slowly shifting back into place with a series of grinding cracks.
“Hah......”
So that was how he had been able to suddenly get back up and land the finishing blow.
“......You saved my life. Thank you.”
“Cough. What are you talking about? Same here. Thanks, rookie.”
Kane, looking half dead,
and I, completely exhausted,
looked at each other and laughed weakly.
‘Well. We handled that pretty damn well.’
We had dealt with the Demonized Human from the Perfect Clear conditions early,
and in the process, my spear art had evolved and my footwork had improved dramatically.
An absolutely perfect result......
‘......Huh? Wait.’
A deeply unpleasant feeling suddenly crept over me.
Had the word ‘Demonized Human’ appeared in that combat-end announcement just now?
Had it not simply said werewolves......?
[Perfect Clear Conditions]
[Excluding the escort guards, all caravan members must remain safe (12/12). Eliminate the Elite Monster, Demonized Human (0/1).]
I hurriedly checked the Perfect Clear conditions again.
Nothing had changed.
“......Fuck.”
The werewolf was not the Demonized Human.
“Is... something wrong?”
“No. Nothing.”
The realization made me groan automatically,
but there was no way I could explain it to Kane.
“......I see. You had only just met Jason, yet you are mourning him.”
Ah.
Right.
A companion had died.
And in a situation like this,
I had been thinking only about the Perfect Clear.
Was the Labyrinth already consuming me?
“I’m sorry. This happened because I insisted on tracking them here......”
“No. It was a reasonable suggestion. If we had left these things alone, they would have slowly worn down the entire group. Jason died doing his job. It is fine. It is all right. Of course. It is fine.”
He kept repeating himself.
His stiff expression told me how different his true feelings were from his words.
So I changed the subject.
“......For now, let’s collect the loot and head back.”
The two werewolves had dropped two fingernail-sized red crystals
and one fist-sized crystal.
The two Mana Stones were one thing.
‘Even an Ability Stone...... Hah.’
I had heard that Labyrinth residents used Ability Stones too,
which meant this one would be immensely valuable even inside the Labyrinth.
In the first place,
one reason I had tempted the Caravan Master into hunting the werewolf was because I expected monsters like these on Floor 2 of the Labyrinth to drop at least Mana Stones or Ability Stones.
It was a shame,
but for now, I would have to take these back to the Caravan Master.
“The hides and muscles of werewolves are valuable as well.”
“Can you butcher those things right now?”
“......No.”
“Then let’s go back and discuss it with the Caravan Master.”
“......Fine.”
Kane’s expression turned bitter.
Then he staggered upright and picked up Jason’s longsword.
“Aren’t you taking any of his other belongings?”
“This is enough. His head is already gone. He should at least be properly dressed on the road to the afterlife.”
I could not bring myself to add anything after seeing the bitter expression on Kane’s bruised face.
I supported the staggering man,
and together we retraced our path toward the campsite.
Just when I thought we were almost there,
GRAOW!
CLANG! CLANG!
“Kill them!”
The wind spirit carried the noise from the campsite to me first.
“What is it? Why do you look like that?”
“Something’s happened. I’ll go ahead.”
“What?!”
Kane did not try to stop me as I ran off first.
I sprinted like lightning.
At the campsite,
I saw countless wild dogs attacking alongside a boar the size of a small house.
‘Fuck!’
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD.
I ran like mad toward the massive boar as it curved around and charged at the escort group’s flank.
Volante Footwork, now far smoother and faster than before,
carried my body to its side like the wind.
THUD.
Just as when I killed the werewolf,
I reversed the motion in an instant and planted my foot with tremendous weight.
The spear vibrated in my hands.
Carrying all that weight,
it shot forward,
a bluish light gleaming from the spearhead.
SQUELCH—!
SKREEEEEEEE!
The boar’s neck was pierced clean through.
Its charge broke apart as it began thrashing wildly.
CLANG.
‘Ghk!’
The spear had gone in so deeply that I was half a beat late pulling it free,
and I ended up tumbling across the ground once.
But that was enough.
SKREEEEEEEE!
The boar was still rampaging,
but it was literally nothing more than a blind rampage.
Like a drunk,
it could not even control the direction of its charge
and was now sending wild dogs flying instead of the escorts.
“Kill them all!”
The unpleasant feeling that everything had gotten horribly tangled drew a shout filled with anger and killing intent from me.
Fortunately,
“Kill them all!”
“We can do this!”
“Damn, rookie! That was impressive!”
the escorts answered immediately.
I threw myself into the battle as well,
working harder than anyone to bring the situation under control.
[Combat Ended.]
[Giant Bat Boar and 52 wild dogs defeated. Contribution: 32%]
[Most enemies are lower-level.]
[A small amount of experience acquired.]
When the battle finally ended,
I learned that five more escorts had died in the attack that began after Kane and I left.