The north side of Star-Heaven Valley was drowning in blood. The clash between the wolf and the fox had already claimed countless weaker beasts. From within a crack in a giant stone, a teenage boy watched, his face darkening with each passing second. Fear had carved sharp lines into Ji-Hoon's expression, his skin leaching to a pale grey as if terror itself was draining his life.
A girl's voice echoed in his mind. "How long will you keep staring? I'm supposed to be teaching you how to become a Ranker…"
Ji-Hoon didn't reply. His face grew darker, his whole body trembling. Layla could feel his fear rising like a physical tide.
She sighed. She wanted to forge him into a Ranker quickly, but Ji-Hoon looked like a man who had lost the will to move.
Suddenly, he stumbled backward in a panic, scrambling to find another crevice in the stone, his breathing ragged. He looked like someone who had fought for his life too many times and had finally reached the edge.
Layla's voice sharpened. "What are you doing? Why are you reacting like this?"
"You can see my memories!" Ji-Hoon shouted back mentally. "You should know what's happening!"
Layla froze.
After a moment,she answered softly, "I… can't read your thoughts. I don't have that ability. I only have fragments of your past memories from Earth. The happy ones… and the sad ones. That's all. I can't see what is happening in your mind right now."
Ji-Hoon blinked. "Oh… I see. Then listen carefully—" His voice dropped, fear sharpening every word. "That fox saw me, Layla. It saw me, and it was trying to come this way. If that Asura Wolf wasn't blocking it, I'd already be dead. Do you think I'm joking? It really saw me!"
Layla hesitated. "Are you sure? Truly sure?"
"Do you think I'm trying to scare you for fun!?"Ji-Hoon snapped.
"Then we need to move," Layla clicked her tongue. "This crack won't keep you safe. Climb up. Find a bigger shelter—a cave, a hollow, anything. After this battle ends, only corpses will remain. Beast materials might help you later, but right now, survival comes first."
Ji-Hoon's hands had recovered enough. He stood and began to climb, trembling but moving with desperate speed.
"Climb quickly—and don't look down," Layla warned immediately. "If you look down, fear will steal your soul and you'll fall."
Ji-Hoon climbed, one desperate step after another. But suddenly, more beasts began moving toward the stone. The slope was steep, the surface uneven, making every grip harder.
"Be thankful there's no Rank Three beast here," Layla murmured. "If there was… survival would be impossible."
"Thanks…" Ji-Hoon groaned. "Thank you so much for telling me that while I'm climbing…"
He made the mistake of glancing down.
The stone was slightly tilted—enough that ordinary beasts could climb halfway up.A swarm of them had already surrounded the base, glaring up at him with hungry eyes.
A sharp dread hit Ji-Hoon's chest. Many beasts had stopped fighting each other—their focus was now squarely on him.
"Hey!" Ji-Hoon shouted down. "Don't look at me like that! Do you think I'm going to fall and become your sky-delivered breakfast? Try catching me if you want—I won't die that easily!"
Still, he kept climbing, pouring every ounce of will into his arms and legs.
"Watch your step!" Layla suddenly screamed. "Some stones here turn to dust under pressure—step on one, and you fall straight down!"
Ji-Hoon's luck was always cursed. Every time he tried to move forward, something went wrong. But today, somehow, it wasn't completely terrible.
He climbed higher, nearly two floors up, yet there was still no safe haven in sight. Below, wolves and foxes kept leaping, trying to reach him, but the final stretch was too tall for them.
"Layla…" Ji-Hoon asked, breathless. "Can you tell me more about this world? The powers… the energy… the magic… I need to know how things work if I want to stay alive."
He looked genuinely confused. He sought understanding. He wanted a chance.
But before Layla could answer—
A deafening explosion boomed across the battlefield.
The wolf had slammed its paw into the fox, sending the smaller beast flying across the rocky ground. They had been fighting for a long time. The fox was lightning-fast, but its body was now a map of deep wounds. Standing seemed impossible—yet it still fought.
The wolf was massive, jaws dripping. It was nearly double the size of a normal wolf. Blood matted its fur, but little of it was its own. Its internal injuries were minimal, and thanks to its regenerative skill, most had already healed mid-battle.
Ji-Hoon looked down, then across the battlefield, and saw the massive wolf and the wounded fox squaring off once more.
The next moment—
Both beasts vanished.
Only afterimages and blurs filled the space where they moved at impossible speeds.
Darkness had swallowed most of the valley, though pockets of a strange, sunset-like light persisted—an illumination unlike any sun Ji-Hoon had ever known.
Under that eerie sky, the wolf and fox prepared for their final collision.
Layla's voice trembled. "Ji-Hoon! Grab a large rock—the earth will shake! When they clash, the shockwave from their Qi will destroy everything nearby!"
Ji-Hoon looked up. Near the top, he spotted a small gap—a place to wedge his hand and secure his grip.
"I see a spot!If I reach it, I can hold on!"
He climbed faster.
On the battlefield, the wolf and fox reached their limit. Their bodies shook. Their killing intent rose like a storm.
And then—
The air itself cracked.
A clash born from pure speed,
pure rage,
pure Qi,
was about to tear the valley apart.