The place responsible for the Protagonist’s growth from the middle to the latter half of the original game.
That was what the North had been in the original game.
From the perspective of someone who had studied game development, even if only a little, perhaps the setting that filled this place with vicious monsters and demonkind was a matter of level design.
Of course, danger was always accompanied by something valuable.
Among those things, there were also generous rewards.
[Diawolf Cave]
[The Diawolves, scourge of the snowy mountains, have tormented the North’s residents for a long time with their swift mobility and excellent organization.]
[But now the curtain rises on the counterattack. The traces they left behind—fur clumps, tracks, and droppings—all point to one place.]
[Defeat them, win peace for the North’s residents, and claim the treasure sleeping within the cave.]
“I am the one holding a coming-of-age ceremony, yet you look more excited than I do.”
“Everyone longs for adventure. I am no different.”
‘...That is what I said, but.’
This was my first battle in another world.
It was hard to deny the excitement I felt.
Perhaps having noticed it, Luciana looked at me doubtfully.
“...Well, that is still better than having no enthusiasm. Hurry and lead the way.”
“Just wait. Hm. There are tracks over there.”
The closer we came to the location marked by the Status Window, the more traces we found.
“This is...”
“It seems to be their stronghold.”
Endless darkness.
The cave’s pitch-black maw, gaping wide open, stirred up fear of the unknown.
“From here on, I will take the lead.”
But there were always exceptions.
As though her desire for honor had covered her fear, Luciana strode into the cave.
‘Whoops.’
“Wait!”
“What is it now?”
“What attendant puts their master in front in a dangerous place? I will go first.”
Compared with other dungeons, this one was not particularly difficult, yet its rewards were worthwhile.
How could a sparrow pass a mill without stopping?
There might even be relics hidden along the way.
Unaware of that, Luciana walked back toward me and raised an eyebrow.
“Who asked for help? I can overcome a coming-of-age ceremony perfectly well on my own.”
“A master still needs an attendant to wait on them. I told you, leave the vanguard to me.”
‘It is already hard enough for me to make a living. Give in on this much, at least.’
As we bickered, neither of us taking the lead, we made our way deeper inside.
“Strange. I cannot see a single Diawolf, not even a pup.”
After walking for quite a while, Luciana voiced that complaint.
Had we found nothing after all?
Her blue eyes beyond the visor revealed a trace of anxiousness.
“Diawolves are intelligent creatures. They avoid confronting humans head-on whenever they can.”
I answered briefly.
In the wild, which was full of hostile monsters, even a minor injury limited their ability to forage.
That was why they hunted livestock from humans rather than rashly facing them.
‘They are hiding this thoroughly even after we barged into their home with dirty feet. That says it all.’
“Hmph. Such insignificant creatures have some nerve.”
THUD—!
Her kick, packed with irritation, struck the cave wall.
“Do not worry so much.”
“Do you have some clever plan?”
I gave her a wide grin.
I had not reached the ending by playing paper-flipping games. Naturally, I knew the strategy for clearing a small dungeon like this.
When I lowered my voice and whispered, Luciana listened with a doubtful expression.
“If they will not come to us, we must make them come out. Even if that means touching what they hold dear.”
“What they hold dear?”
“Follow me.”
From the stone pillar in the center of the cave’s depths, two o’clock. Then, take the left fork.
Luciana tilted her head.
“Hm? Why is there snow here?”
In a place where snow should not have existed inside a cave, a thick mound blocked one passage.
“Does that not look suspicious at a glance?”
I nodded and pulled a shovel from Anka at my side.
It was a habit of snow-dwelling Diawolves.
They had piled it up for camouflage against their natural enemies, but to humans, it was more conspicuous instead.
‘I never thought my first time shoveling in this world would be for snow removal rather than grave robbing.’
The snow the wolves had laboriously carried in their mouths was gradually pushed aside.
However.
“Huff, huff.”
...I had forgotten about my Vitality.
Driven by my desire for relics, I had eagerly swung the shovel, but I could not stop my ragged breaths from spilling out.
“Your Vitality is too low.”
“What can I do? I was born this way.”
Games really were games, after all.
The icy duke’s daughter had been so appealing in the game.
Yet here, her frosty assessment that hit the nail on the head felt terribly unfair.
[Vitality: 2]
And it hurt more because it was the truth.
I made up my mind.
‘I have to do something about this damn Vitality first.’
Whether through an elixir or a relic.
By whatever means necessary.
Then.
“I should have you do some physical training later.”
“Ha ha. I will work hard to meet Lady Luciana’s standards.”
My eyes lit up, and strength returned to my arms.
A promise to train with my favorite character. That was a reward in itself!
I had never experienced such a luxury even in the game, and it put new fire into my shoveling.
And at last.
Whine.
Once enough snow had been cleared from the blocked entrance, a faint cry came from within.
“Is that a pup?”
In a corner of the cave, a wolf pup that had not even opened its eyes yet was curled up.
The relic I had been aiming for, and the treasure the Diawolves cherished so dearly.
[Cannot acquire it yet.]
[Clear the dungeon to acquire the relic.]
But as expected, it was not simply handed over to me.
When I tried to touch it, it somehow realized and tried to bite me with its tiny, blunt teeth.
[Diawolf Pup]
The Status Window only displayed red text signifying that it was a monster.
I heard a faint sigh from beside me.
“...Considering that it is a Diawolf, it might be enough to save face, but does this not make coming all this way meaningless?”
“Just wait a little. I told you, did I not? We would touch what they value most.”
AWOOOO—!
With a faint smile, I gestured behind me.
No, before I could even gesture, Luciana turned around with an awed look on her face.
Apparently displeased at the sight of someone touching their pup, the cave’s owners showed themselves.
Wolves covered in white fur like jewels, worthy of the name Diawolf.
“Hah. Was this what you were aiming for?”
“Using the pup as bait to hunt the entire pack. Is that not remarkably efficient?”
Luciana’s gaze turned cold.
At her gaze, as though she were looking at something evil, at a demon, I shrugged.
Shhh—
As the wolves gradually drew closer, Luciana lowered her stance with her sword in hand.
Demonstrating their notorious organization, they tightened the encirclement from both sides.
They were intelligent creatures.
Naturally, Luciana and I ended up back-to-back, resisting their encirclement.
‘Should I take the pup out and use it as a hostage?’
No, that was not right.
This was a cave. Fighting with one arm restricted might put us at a disadvantage, but...
Luciana would never be able to accept the act of using a pup as a hostage itself.
What she wanted was...
‘A fair fight.’
“You can handle them, right?”
“As you saw before, I am terrible at both swordsmanship and magic, so I cannot take them down.”
At my matter-of-fact reply, Luciana, standing back-to-back with me, clicked her tongue.
Because I had so much knowledge of the game, I understood my own circumstances better than anyone.
Strength 2, and Magic Power 1.
Stats worse than those of a newly created player character. There was no way I could pierce the defense of monsters in a mid-game dungeon.
The lock-releasing relic, Tute?
Unfortunately, a wolf’s fur and hide did not count as a lock.
“Tch. I will have to add swordsmanship to your training plan as well.”
“I would welcome that. I will become a loyal dog—no, attendant, and devote myself to training.”
“Do not look happy about it!”
Luciana answered firmly, and a clear aura shone nobly around her just as it had in our duel.
“You can at least keep them occupied, yes?”
“Of course. Do not worry about me.”
I grinned, stepped away from her, and took my stance.
My Appearing and Vanishing Like a Ghost was not an S-rank Skill for nothing. Besides, this was not a boss-grade enemy with unpredictable patterns; attacks from monsters at this level were all visible to me.
“Of course, I cannot exterminate them.”
“That is enough. Just hold them in place!”
Then.
The moment one wolf lunged at us with a roar.
We sprang to either side and swung our swords!
Left, right, upper right!
Dodging the ceaselessly flying claws and fangs, I counterattacked whenever I could.
The wounds I inflicted were not life-threatening, but I had driven my blade into their eyes, hind-leg joints, and bellies. Their fighting strength must have weakened considerably.
YELP!
“Calmly become the sacrifice for my coming-of-age ceremony.”
Together with a desperate cry from behind me, I heard Luciana’s excited voice.
Proving that she had not become a major character and mid-boss in the game for nothing, Luciana dealt with the charging Diawolves one by one as she advanced.
A thick trail of blood stretched behind her.
Luciana’s marks were clear on every fallen Diawolf’s body.
However.
‘...Not enough.’
She had the skill, but she was clearly exhilarated by the real battle. Though she could have finished them in a single blow, there were signs that she withdrew too far or became tense.
Her composure was nowhere near that of the Luciana I had met as a mid-boss.
That was why.
I stepped in front of a creature twice as large as the other wolves.
Grrrr....
“Wow. It feels different when I face you in person.”
They said that when humans stood before predators like bears or tigers, fear made their knees instinctively weaken.
That was exactly what my trembling knees and the backs of my legs felt like now.
In the Nameless King’s dungeon, I had been certain that my experience from the game would let me speak with him without dying.
But this opponent was a monster that, despite its high intelligence, was a beast without a trace of reason unlike the Nameless King.
There was no chance my words would get through. It would probably see me as nothing more than a meal.
“If you want to get to Lady Luciana, you will have to get past me first.”
Still, I had to do it. If I let this one go, things would get troublesome.
For my favorite character’s growth and safety.
I had to pull it off.
-Diawolf Cave Guide
...This dungeon’s difficulty is determined by the tank’s skill level. In addition,......
I recalled the strategy guide I had once seen online.
‘Diawolves are not that threatening when faced one on one. The problem is the buff called unity.’
The buff applied to the entire pack through the Alpha’s commands dramatically increased their base stats.
And the coordinated surprise attacks they sometimes launched were a major obstacle that prevented the player from displaying their full skill.
There was only one orthodox solution. A single tank had to pull the boss monster’s aggro, preventing it from applying the buff.
“Would you not find it easier to hunt me, with no armor at all, than that knight in such rigid armor?!”
I made a shallow cut in my hand with my dagger and let the smell of blood spread.
After waiting for blood to pool in my palm, I swung my arm.
Red droplets splashed as far as the bridge of the boss monster’s nose.
Its scarlet pupils split wide, vertically.
It might be a boss, but it was still a monster. It was honest about its instincts.
AWOOOO—!
As expected of a boss-grade monster. Its name was no empty title.
Its howl echoed through the cave. Even the knight who had been fighting the subordinate wolves with flamboyant movements flinched at its force.
Some of the fighting wolves even hesitated and backed away.
However.
A new emotion, distinct from fear, began to take root in my heart.
“Hah.”
A tingling sensation rose from my fingertips.
It was the same feeling as when I had faced a real blade in my duel with Luciana.
Cold reason settled atop my blazing heart, then raced down to my toes like lightning.
This was not fear.
It was something closer to pleasure.
To confirm that mysterious feeling once again, I took in every one of the creature’s movements.
It was as though time had slowed.
Its slight lift of its right forepaw was its most common claw-attack pattern.
‘I just need to roll left.’
The trembling of its hind leg was the forward-charge pattern. Running a little to the side made it easy to dodge.
The way it growled and ground its teeth was an instant-death pattern. I remembered it precisely.
It was trying to bite the back of my neck.
A hazy ecstasy pierced my mind like thunder in that instant.
I could see every single thing. It was exactly the same as the patterns in the game.
Though my body was sluggish, I executed perfect dodges.
Grrrr....
The Diawolf Alpha showed a considerable change as well.
At first, it had bellowed in irritation because it could not catch its prey.
But as time passed, it began to breathe heavily, exhausted by my continuously unfair dodges.
“Hah, you persistent bastard. How long are you going to make me run?”
Of course, my situation was not much different from its own.
My chronic low Vitality was one problem, and using my Skill continuously to dodge had brought the mana depletion I had felt before right to my doorstep.
But my excitement at something I had never experienced before had pulled the corners of my mouth all the way to my ears.
That was right.
Thrill.
It was exactly like riding a roller coaster at an amusement park or doing extreme sports such as bungee jumping.
The experience of fear, and the sense of achievement and exhilaration from overcoming it, climbed up my spine.
I could not feel my labored breath crashing against my chin, nor my body hanging limp like cotton soaked in water.
“Good work.”
While I was still tangled up with it, I heard her voice behind me along with the clatter of armor.
She seemed to have dealt with every one of the subordinate wolves. Her armor was stained with the crimson blood of beasts.
“That is a little too short a summary for how badly I was worked over. Cough. Could you praise me a little more?”
“You exceeded my expectations. Leave the rest to me.”
Unable to even step back, I sat down right where I was.
Though I was exhausted and sprawled on the ground, I could at least watch the boss monster I had toyed with meet its end.
Luciana, who had gained considerable experience by taking down the regular monsters. The boss monster, whose stamina had been drained while rolling around with me.
YELP!
With a single cry, Luciana drove her sword into the exhausted Alpha wolf’s neck, bringing her eventful coming-of-age ceremony to an end.
[Boss Defeated]
[You cleared the dungeon, ‘Diawolf Cave,’ with NPC, ‘Luciana Speda.’]
[Settling rewards.]
‘This message. Is it because it is exactly like the game?’
The corners of my mouth twitched upward.
A sense of achievement filled my chest to bursting.
Then.
CLACK, THUD.
“Are you all right?”
Luciana came close, visor lowered, and looked at me as she spoke.
‘Honestly, what am I doing?’
Some praise from this little girl, and I was grinning from ear to ear.
‘But what can I do? She was my favorite character.’