“Wow, this is really doable!”
Hours after catching the mutated roe deer.
Kim Mari’s party continued their adventure smoothly since then.
While there was a reason their party was stable, it was also because the monsters showing up were weaker than expected.
Although they had mutated due to magic, most of the creatures they faced were weak herbivores like squirrels or rabbits.
That said, it wasn’t like monsters were swarming in packs.
It was as if the monsters were avoiding this area altogether, as there were very few living creatures around.
Only the swift and foolish herbivores occasionally made appearances.
No matter how fierce the beasts were, they still maintained their territories.
This land belonged to someone, after all.
Of course, not knowing this, Kim Mari’s party was patting themselves on the back for how easy it seemed.
“At this rate, we might even get to the entrance of the deep layer!”
“It’s easier than I thought…?”
“No, not yet. All we’ve encountered are herbivores. We can’t let our guard down, as we never know when something might show up.”
The calm mage was the only one warning the party members.
But even that mage was a bit exhilarated.
As the party members said, their progress was smooth. The viewers watching the stream were enjoying the high-quality battles for the first time in a while.
However, that confidence was soon to end when they encountered a new monster.
“Graaaaaah, ghuuu….”
A huge monster suddenly appeared before them.
It was a creature with an owl’s head and a bear’s body. Its front paws were covered in sharp feathers like blades.
It was an Aoulbear, a large monster.
It was immediately clear that this was no ordinary opponent. Kim Mari quickly checked its level.
[Aoulbear Lv 107]
“…What the hell.”
She immediately cursed.
It was a level that they couldn’t possibly handle. It was over ten levels higher than the current world’s number one ranked player.
A monster that might be impossible to take down even with a raid suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Having lost her fighting spirit, she quickly gave a retreat order to her party members.
“Retreat, retreat!!”
[Kiiaaaaah!]
[Domhwangcha! Domhwangcha!!]
Normally, they might have been able to flee.
After all, the Aoulbear was known to be relatively docile among monsters.
However, their unfortunate situation was that they had already invaded the Aoulbear’s territory.
It showed no mercy to those who trespassed.
“Ruuuuuuuaaargh!”
The furious Aoulbear charged at Kim Mari’s party.
Its massive body moved with surprising speed.
If things continued like this, they might just get caught.
Cursing under her breath, Kim Mari ordered her party members.
“Damn it! We’ll just injure one leg and escape!”
No matter how fierce it was, it couldn’t keep pursuing them if it was injured in a leg.
With that thought in mind, Kim Mari gripped her axe tightly.
Her party members also stared at the Aoulbear with determination.
Just one leg. They only needed to hurt one leg!
“Ruuuuaaargh!”
The enraged Aoulbear launched an attack. Sharp feathers flew horizontally from its forebears toward them.
Kim Mari gritted her teeth and assumed a defensive stance.
However.
“Ugh!”
It was clear that she couldn’t withstand its sheer force.
With immense mass, her body was sent flying far away.
Even though she defended, one of her arms was badly injured.
No matter how strong she was, being tossed aside like that was an incredible show of brute strength.
What was even scarier was that the attack didn’t stop there.
“Ma-Mari!!”
In the brief moment she was incapacitated, the Aoulbear continued its assault.
This time, it targeted the swift archer.
Taking advantage of Mari’s moment of distraction, the Aoulbear slammed into the archer with its body.
Thud-!
That was it.
The archer was sent crashing into a tree and fell lifelessly.
It was an attack that a weak-bodied archer couldn’t withstand.
By then, the mage’s spell had finally finished.
“Saxum funda!”
A rock bullet.
It was a spell that created a rock and launched it at the target.
Though hastily prepared, it was an attack that couldn’t be ignored given the mana involved.
But.
Crack!
Not even a scratch could be seen on the Aoulbear’s body.
The spell struck its leg, but the rock shattered into pieces and disappeared.
The immense power behind the strike only served to provoke the beast further.
“No way….”
The mage muttered in disbelief.
And that was her last words.
“Ruuugh!!!”
The enraged Aoulbear bit into her body.
The mage too disappeared in a blaze of light.
All that remained on the ground was the hat she was using.
“This is insane….”
Kim Mari cursed as she watched the scene unfold. In that brief moment, half of her diligently prepared party members had died.
The male priest treating Mari trembled as he murmured.
“We need to run….”
By then, he was gripped by fear.
After all, being a game that’s supposed to reflect reality, the scene was utterly brutal.
Of course, dying would only sting a little, but there was the horror stemming from the imagery.
“Ugh…!”
Swallowing her breath, Kim Mari immediately grabbed the priest’s hand and started to flee.
Whether they could escape or not was uncertain. The chances were likely they wouldn’t.
Still, they continued to move their feet earnestly.
After all, they absolutely didn’t want to die!
*
I quite like meat.
However, one can’t eat meat every single day of the year.
As protein-rich and delicious as it is, it gets overwhelmingly greasy very quickly.
So there are times I crave something besides meat.
Today was especially one of those days. For some reason, I felt like having some vegetables.
So, I was out gathering instead of hunting for the first time in a while.
I diligently cut down fruits and grass, stuffing them into the pouch at my waist.
I planned to eat the fruits for dinner, and the grass to accompany meat later.
Eating raw grass was too bland for a meal after all. The path of a vegan is long and arduous.
“Ah, how peaceful it is.”
I wished things could stay like this.
Just as I was finishing my gathering, a scream suddenly echoed in front of me.
“Ahh! Aaaaah!”
“Help!”
Moreover, the scream was getting closer in real-time.
‘What is it?’
Tilting my head, I checked the source of the sound, and saw a pair of men and women running towards me.
From their expressions, they looked horrified as if being chased by something.
Curiously, I looked behind them to see what was chasing, and sure enough, it was my neighbor, Mr. Aoulbear.
Seeing its scowl, it seemed to be extremely angry.
It appeared that they had invaded Mr. Aoulbear’s territory.
As I processed the situation, they discovered me.
“Eh?”
The two, having spotted me, momentarily looked stunned while still trying to escape.
And that was not a good reaction.
“Ah!”
In a moment of distraction, a male priest fell.
Perhaps due to the forest’s complex structure, he had not seen the roots of a nearby tree.
Taking advantage of him tripping, the Aoulbear quickly approached.
I immediately activated “Player’s Eye”.
[Oh Yor ㅎㅇ]
[Mommy, look at that outfit ㅗㅜㅑ]
[Wow, hello! I’m a fan!]
[This is not the time for Yor! We have to run!!!]
[Kiiaaaaah! Domhwangcha!]
Of course, they were indeed otherworlders, and they were streamers among them.
As I continued trying to assess the situation, time flowed onward.
“Ruuuhk!!”
My neighbor had swung its front paw without hesitation.
The frail priest was split in two and scattered like a burst of light.
“Ah, no! Jae-hoon!!”
The moment the woman saw that, she screamed desperately.
From the chatroom comments, it seemed that this screaming woman was named Kim Mari.
Her name reminded me of fried snacks I used to have at a food stall.
It was indeed a tragic scene.
However, our kind neighbor, Mr. Aoulbear, didn’t miss that moment.
Taking advantage of Kim Mari’s scream, it quickly swung its sharp paw at her.
“Ugh!”
Splaat!
She was flung away, expelling a breath from her lungs as she flew far.
Though she didn’t die, it was clear she was seriously injured.
Blood flowed from the cuts on her skin, and she could hardly move as if some bones were damaged.
Now that the priest was gone, if left alone like that, she’d likely bleed out.
Realizing her fate, she looked at me and shouted.
“Run away! That thing is a monster!”
I smacked my forehead.
Then I turned to the enraged Aoulbear.
“Hey, Mr. Aoulbear, why are you so mad?”
Truth be told, I had a bit of an internal camaraderie with the Aoulbear.
It was generally docile as long as I didn’t trespass into its territory, and it played the role of guardian for my home.
Many times, it took care of things before I even got the chance to clean up.
Out of gratitude, I had thrown some goblin corpses into its territory a few times without it knowing.
I would never admit it was because I was too lazy to handle the corpses. Certainly not.
Anyway, I didn’t want to fight him since he was that kind of creature.
But a furious monster wouldn’t listen to reason.
It swung its claws at me without recognizing its neighbor.
Swish-!
The sharp sound echoed through the air.
Ducking away from its attack, I frowned.
“Haa… should I just run?”
After all, the otherworlders would respawn, so it wouldn’t matter if they died as far as I was concerned.
It wasn’t like I had intruded on its territory, and waiting for it to calm down seemed like a valid choice.
Of course, that’s the method I’d intended to use.
However, the direction in which it was rampaging was a problem.
If it kept going straight ahead, it would end up in the area where my laundry was hanging.
“Ugh!”
At that moment, I genuinely felt panic.
Not my laundry!
If my clothes didn’t dry today, I would face consequences!
So, I had no choice but to obstruct its path.
If both our intentions were on a collision course, one of us would have to bleed.
“Mr. Aoulbear, I’m really sorry that it has to come to this….”
I drew out the spear that was hanging behind me.
The familiar grip reconnected with my senses.
I didn’t need to strike first.
With an opponent that angry, it would likely attack me first anyway.
“Ruuuugh!”
Sure enough, the Aoulbear’s front paw swung again.
While I could block it, I could see the attack’s trajectory.
There was no need to waste energy blocking it.
I lightly maneuvered my body to evade the oncoming attack.
Having taken its turn, it was now mine.
I naturally shifted into an offensive stance, quickly thrusting the spear towards its front leg.
Thrust-!
“Ruuuugh!”
Some of its steel-like feathers were pierced, and red blood oozed out.
From a distance, I could hear Kim Mari’s astonished gasp.
“Wow….”
But I merely frowned.
‘Ah, damn.’
It hadn’t been cut deeply enough.
As expected from an Aoulbear. Its strength was one thing, but its skin was extremely tough.
Being unarmed played a role as well.
Had I applied some blood enchantment to the spear, I could’ve severed its leg outright.
‘But I can’t just extract blood in front of it…’
I thought as I glanced at Kim Mari.
After all, it was clear she’d scrutinize if I moved blood around.
Lately, there had been rumors about “Demon’s Blood” circulating among otherworlders.
It wasn’t sensible to openly manipulate blood before it.
‘Well, it can’t be helped.’
I quickly resigned to that thought.
Instead, there was something a bit harder to handle, yet slightly less effective, that I could use.
Everything in the world is filled with mana.
Whether abundant or sparse, everything can potentially become great from the moment of its birth.
Some learn to hone their own mana and control it.
For enhancing the body, compressing mana, or transforming it into magic…
And I was a human who had survived here for over ten years.
I’d fought in countless battles and crossed life and death numerous times.
After rolling in such a way, controlling mana should be second nature.
How could I possibly answer ‘why’? Because otherwise, I’d be dead by now.
Whoosh—
I wrapped my mana around the spear tip, quickly channeling vitality throughout my body.
A bluish aura enveloped the spear.
I prepared my thrusting position just like that.
Tightening, my muscles generated strength in one place.
If I let this go, my spear would launch forward like a spring.
“Ruuugh!”
By this time, sensing danger, it took a defensive stance.
Its solid front paws crossed each other, exuding a strong will to block any incoming attack.
But that was of no consequence.
If it intended to block, it should have interfered before I readied my thrust.
It was the consequence of what it failed to achieve.
Gathering enough strength, I thrust the spear straight towards the beast.
That was the end.
Boom-!
Steel-like feathers exploded into droplets of blood in the air.
A shockwave radiated from the center of the Aoulbear’s body.
At the end, all that remained was the corpse of an Aoulbear with a massive hole in its front paws and head.
“!!”
Kim Mari’s voice filled with astonishment resonated through the air.
Ignoring her voice, I silently offered my condolences to the creature.
‘Farewell… my friendly neighbor.’
I even didn’t forget to shed a single tear in my heart.
