#Episode 10
"Ah..."
I ended up going in after all.
The thick, dense mana pressing against my skin. The smell of earth pricking at my nose.
"Huh— huh—!"
Before I could even take stock of the terrain around me, I heard ragged breathing from my side.
I turned to look. The guy who'd shoved me was sitting on the dirt floor, pointing at me with a finger, his face twisted in shock.
His pupils were shaking wildly.
"You— why are you here?! Why did you come in?!"
"......"
"How did— hah......"
He slumped down, raking his fingers through his hair with a look of utter despair.
The mix of self-reproach and bewilderment on his face was quite a sight.
I looked down at him with a blank expression and asked.
"Mister, did you fall in by accident?"
At that, the guy snapped his head up.
His eyes were swimming with indignation.
"What...? Mister? I'm eighteen!"
Up close, he was clearly far from a 'mister' — a young, boyish face.
Fairly handsome, actually, though right now terror had reduced him to a sorry state.
"I see. But why did mis— I mean, oppa...? come in here?"
"No, it's just— I shoved you and then I was trying to catch my balance and I... I slipped......"
His voice trailed off into nothing.
I stared at him in silence, eyes half-lidded.
He flinched under my look of pure exasperation.
"Why... why are you looking at me like that......"
"So you're an Awakened?"
"I am, but......"
"What rank?"
He fidgeted, straightening his clothes, then answered in a small voice.
"Me...? D-rank......"
"Hmm......"
I narrowed my eyes and looked him over again, carefully.
White hair. Fine features.
The kind of face that would probably be popular with girls his age.
But...
"Why do you keep staring at me like that..."
"No reason."
He'd look perfectly fine if he just kept his mouth shut, but he was clumsier than he appeared.
"So... are you an Awakened too, kid?"
"Yes."
My short answer stirred something complicated in his eyes.
Guilt, it seemed — for dragging a child into this.
I turned away from him and surveyed the surroundings.
Massive trees packed so densely the sky was barely visible.
We were in the middle of a thick forest.
"Kid, let's at least find somewhere to hide first. Stay right behind me, don't fall back. Don't go wandering off— wait, hold on! Where are you going?!"
The moment I stepped toward the undergrowth, he lurched in front of me in a panic.
"I said don't move around carelessly! For now... we need to stay hidden until other hunters come to rescue us. It's too dangerous here......"
"I think it's already too late for that."
"Huh...?"
Before he could finish his sentence.
Awoooooo—!!!
A piercing howl tore through the forest, sharp enough to split eardrums.
Only then did the color drain from his face as the situation sank in.
Through the shadowed undergrowth, the gleaming eyes of beasts began to appear, one by one.
Creatures shaped like wolves — long, slitted eyes and razor-sharp fangs.
Dire Wolves.
Literally just oversized wolves, but having fed on mana, the pressure they radiated was considerable.
E-rank.
An ordinary D-rank hunter could handle one without much trouble, but...
Surviving when surrounded by this many was a different matter entirely.
"Damn it...! Kid, run...! I'll buy us some time somehow!"
His voice shook without restraint.
Even with his face drained white from fear, he stepped in front of me and drew a battered old dagger.
But.
"You don't need to do that."
"Huh...?"
I slipped out from behind him.
At the same moment, mana began to coalesce in my palm with a crackling sound.
[Lightning Magic]
You have discovered a new application of your unique trait!
A derived skill has been created!
[Noechim (雷針) — Thunder Needles]
Impossibly fine, razor-sharp needles of blue light materialized in the air.
Without hesitation, I walked slowly toward the pack of Dire Wolves.
"W-wait!"
The cry of disbelief behind me faded into the background as I locked eyes with the first one charging at me.
The moment it opened its massive jaws to bite down on my head, I fired a needle straight at the center of its brow.
Fwing—!
The needle streaked through the air, leaving a blue afterimage, and punched through the wolf's skull to lodge in the center of its brain.
"—!!!"
Without even a death cry, the lead wolf convulsed and crumpled to the ground.
The current had paralyzed its nervous system in an instant.
And then I kept moving without stopping.
Dozens of Noechim flew from between my hands, slicing through the air, raining down on the brows and hearts of the wolves closing in around us.
"—!!!"
From every direction came the heavy thud of beast bodies hitting the ground.
Creatures that had been snarling as if they'd devour us whole just seconds ago were now sprawled across the dirt.
"......"
Silence reclaimed the forest.
The guy who'd been watching from behind me stood frozen like a statue, dagger still in hand, mouth hanging open.
And then...
Thud.
"......!!!"
"Ugh......"
I collapsed straight onto the ground.
"Kid...!"
"I'm tired..."
"......Huh?"
***
I lay flat on my back on the ground, staring up at the sky.
"......"
When I turned my head to the side, he startled.
"Are you... okay?"
I pushed myself upright and said.
"Just a bit drained. I'm fine."
"......"
He stared at me like I was some kind of monster.
Anyway, this wasn't the time for that.
I pointed at the Dire Wolves scattered across the ground.
"Those. Still alive."
"What...?"
"I only paralyzed them."
"Which means..."
"Right. We need to finish it quickly."
I pointed at his dagger.
"......"
Back in the day I would've just fried them. And now the best I can manage is anesthesia.
He walked over slowly and finished them off one by one with his dagger.
And a moment later...
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
"Oh..."
I got stronger.
Not the way I wanted. But still.
"I'm... done."
"Good work."
His eyes were full of confusion.
"Kid... just what exactly are you?"
"......?"
Well... even I would've found it strange if an eleven-year-old fought like this.
I smiled slightly and brought a hand to my lips.
"That's... a secret?"
"What...?"
"Let's focus on getting out of here alive first."
"......Right."
He extended a hand and introduced himself.
"I'm Jeong I-deun."
"Kim Shin-a."
But that moment was short-lived.
"Grrrr......"
"......!!!"
Another growl from the undergrowth.
A monster shaped like a wolf emerged from the brush.
But...
The pressure it radiated was on a completely different level.
Four, maybe five times the size of an ordinary wolf.
Its entire body was covered in the marks of countless battles.
Battle Wolf.
Threat level...
C-rank or above.
The Battle Wolf in front of us circled slowly.
Like it was sizing up its prey. Deliberate. Careful.
The guy beside me looked like he was already in full panic.
He'd gone rigid, unable to get a single word out.
I fired a needle of blue light from my hand.
But it twisted its head and dodged it effortlessly.
"Tch."
I turned to him.
"Pull yourself together."
"Huh...?"
"We can win."
I opened my Status Window.
"Add 9 points to INT."
User: Kim Shin-a (Kim Shin-woo) | Age: 11
Class: Mage | Level: 4
[ STATS ]
HP: 5 (F) MP: 11 (E)
STR: 3 (F) INT: 3 (F) → 12 (E)
DEX: 4 (F) LUK: 3 (F)
Available Points: 9 → 0
[ UNIQUE TRAIT ]
Lightning Magic (Lv.1)
[ SKILLS ]
Noechim (E)
I invested the stat points and spoke to him.
"Buy me about twenty seconds."
"What...?"
Then I closed my eyes and began to concentrate.
"......"
With my current stats, using it would be a stretch.
But I had to make it work somehow.
To hit something that fast, I needed something faster.
***
"Ha... damn it. Whatever happens, happens...!"
I-deun muttered under his breath, swallowing a dry lump in his throat through trembling lips.
His legs were shaking before the Battle Wolf's overwhelming presence, but he tightened his grip on the sword.
'Twenty seconds? Easy for her to say...!'
If that thing decided to charge, it wouldn't take three seconds to tear him apart.
But strangely, his instincts — somewhere around his chest — were screaming at him.
There was only one way out of this absurd situation.
Trust the girl standing quietly behind him, still and focused.
"I can do it...! No — I will do it!"
I-deun took a fighting stance.
But perhaps the prey's presumptuous defiance amused it.
The Battle Wolf's eyes flashed with a cold, unsettling gleam.
"Grrrr...!"
'It's coming...!'
In an instant, the massive shadow launched off the ground like an arrow.
"Kraaah!"
I-deun threw himself sideways on instinct.
The beast's razor claws obliterated the spot where he'd been standing a moment before.
A hair's breadth.
Even the wind of its passing was enough to sting his cheek.
'I almost died I almost actually died...!'
I-deun rolled across the ground, gasping, and tried to gauge the time.
It felt like an eternity, but barely ten seconds had passed.
Twenty seconds had never felt so impossibly far away.
The Battle Wolf turned and coiled its body again.
The certainty that he couldn't dodge the next attack flashed through his mind.
'Is this it...?'
The moment I-deun was about to squeeze his eyes shut.
The Battle Wolf, mid-attack stance, suddenly stopped dead and snapped its head around.
"......?"
Its gaze was directed behind him — toward the girl who had been standing motionless.
"Grrrrrr...!!!"
A low growl rolled out from the Battle Wolf's throat — different from before, unmistakably laced with wariness.
The beast's instincts had finally recognized who the most dangerous creature in this forest was.
As if to eliminate the threat preemptively, it wrenched its direction and lunged straight at the girl.
"No...!!! Dodge!!!"
I-deun's scream rang through the forest.
But the girl herself was calm.
No — the moment the girl slowly opened her eyes, every particle of air in the forest went still.
Boom—!
Her eyes.
Inside them blazed a violent, churning light — blue-white, the color of lightning.
The girl raised one small finger and pointed it at the sky.
Rumble...
A low reverberation shook the forest.
It was not the cry of the beast before her.
In that instant, the leaping Battle Wolf twisted its body mid-air and forced itself to land.
Its entire body was visibly trembling.
Something above every predator it had ever feared in its life.
Something from up there.
The voice of the sky.
Between storm clouds that had blackened the heavens without warning, blue flames coiled and locked onto the earth below.
The girl's cold voice fell like a verdict.
"Come down."
Rumbllllle—!!!!!
[Nakroe (落雷) — Lightning Fall]
A blinding white light swallowed everything around them.
A pillar of light pouring down from the sky drove straight through the Battle Wolf.