From the darkness, four monsters stepped out.
Leading them was a mutated monster that walked on two legs and had four arms — a Terminate Boar. Its body was nearly three meters tall. On its massive head, a pair of crimson eyes stared directly at Allen a few meters away. Two tusks protruded from its mouth as saliva constantly dripped down, and it snorted heavily.
Behind it followed three dog-like monsters resembling Dobermans — Assault Dogs. They bared their sharp white teeth and kept scraping the mud beneath their paws, clearly impatient to tear Allen apart and divide him among themselves.
The light of the campfire had attracted the forest's overlords.
The Terminate Boar suddenly stopped.
It pushed the not-very-intelligent Assault Dogs slightly forward and narrowed its crimson eyes as it examined the prey.
From the weapon at the prey's waist, it sensed danger.
That long, narrow weapon — it had seen something like it before.
In the village to the south, there had once been a terrifying male human who used something shaped like that to slaughter a monster even stronger than itself in the span of a single breath.
The "prey" before it only reached its waist in height, barely a head taller than the four-legged Assault Dogs.
Allen raised an eyebrow.
He stepped forward with his right foot.
Bow stance.
Center of gravity lowered.
His right hand rested on the sword.
A carefree smile appeared on his face.
He looked thoroughly interested.
"Looks like the village really isn't far away. I even ran into the kind of plot-advancing pig you see in novels. Good thing I didn't recklessly run here alone when I was four years old — otherwise, with bad luck, I might've been eaten by a pig and turned into a pile of crap."
"But that was then."
"Now…"
As he spoke—
The soft mud of the forest floor was gouged an inch deep by the tip of his foot.
"…the unlucky one…"
"…isn't me."
He burst forward.
Allen shot out like an afterimage and charged straight toward the monsters.
Monsters had intelligence, but not much.
Seeing Allen's blatant provocation, the Terminate Boar's wild instincts ignited. With a roar, it shoved the Assault Dogs aside.
"ROAR!!"
Like a speeding black freight truck, it charged toward Allen with crushing force.
In just a single breath, man and monster were already within striking distance.
At that moment—
"Move out of the way!"
A sharp feminine shout pierced Allen's ears along with a sudden surge of wind.
Something carrying a sharp aura burst out from the dark forest behind the monsters.
It sliced through the wind and leaves at tremendous speed, tearing through the accumulated forest leaves like a boat cleaving through waves.
But in the instant the change occurred—
Allen's dark-gray pupils shrank to needlepoints.
A hot current surged from his waist throughout his limbs.
Inside his abdomen, a walnut-sized "Dragon Saint Touki Seed" was tightly grasped by something like his consciousness.
Dragon Saint touki surged out like a rushing stream in a rainstorm merging into a raging river.
It poured through every limb of Allen's body.
Adrenaline surged.
His five senses and thoughts entered overload.
In that instant—
The world slowed down.
The clamor of forest leaves suddenly quieted.
The mountain wind crawled slowly across his skin.
Cold light flowed across the massive boar's tusks.
Moist air mixed with the stench of monsters drifted into his nose.
Within this bullet-time moment, Allen slowly moved his eyes.
Through the gaps between the monster's arms and body, he saw the object rushing toward them from behind it.
A crystal-clear water sphere.
Information flashed through his mind.
"Diameter about 150 centimeters. Mid-tier attack magic — Water Cannon? No, the shape is wrong."
"It's beginner magic — Water Ball."
"The firing speed and water volume are already close to Water Cannon. They deliberately increased mana output efficiency. Choosing Water Ball shortens the chant and triggers it faster."
"If I continue attacking the monster, I'll also be hit by the Water Ball. So they warned me to dodge beforehand?"
"No… the timing is off."
"When they activated the magic, they didn't expect me to attack the monster myself."
"Who?"
The Terminate Boar's tusks were already less than fifty centimeters from Allen's eyes.
Behind the monster, the incoming attack magic was only two meters away.
Every cell in Allen's body screamed, urging him to dodge immediately.
Yet the sword sheath in his hand transmitted a cool sensation.
It extinguished the alarm in his mind.
A smile slowly appeared at the corner of Allen's mouth.
"Move out of the way?"
"Sure."
"But there's no need."
North God Style — Combat School.
"Standard quick-draw stance."
"Twenty Slashes."
His pupils shrank again, almost revealing the whites of his eyes as his muscles tensed.
His reaction speed became astonishing.
He slipped past the boar's tusks by the narrowest margin.
Lowered his body to avoid the sharp claws that followed.
Brushed past an Assault Dog at his side, their eyes meeting briefly.
Like a butterfly weaving among flowers, he moved through the gaps between the monsters.
Dancing alongside his body—
was the dim glow of the campfire.
The light flickered rapidly five times around Allen's body, as if reflected by something smooth, sharp, and moving at high speed.
Then the light vanished.
Allen passed the monsters and stood directly before the incoming Water Ball.
His hand still rested on the sword.
As if he had never drawn the blade at all.
At that instant—
Reflected in his contracted pupils, the water sphere, tinted orange by the campfire's glow, rapidly expanded and filled his vision.
It was only a palm's distance from his face.
Yet Allen simply looked at it calmly.
He didn't even blink.
Where his gaze fell, a white line appeared on the surface of the sphere.
Ripples spread outward.
Then—
It split open.
Cleanly divided into two halves that brushed past his cheeks.
Allen turned his eyes slightly and looked at the cross-section of the water sphere beside his cheek.
The campfire's glow dyed the flowing water into brilliant orange ripples.
Beautiful.
Allen blinked.
As he did, the Dragon Saint touki calmed.
Time surged forward again.
The world roared back to life.
Leaves rustled loudly.
The mountain wind whipped his clothes.
The sheath felt warm and solid in his hand.
The split torrent of water roared past his head.
Boom!!!
A thunderous explosion echoed behind him on both sides as two trees collapsed.
Yet the four monsters directly behind Allen stood frozen in place as if time itself had stopped.
Crunch.
Someone hurried out from the forest shadows, stepping on fallen leaves.
Allen looked toward the source of the attack magic.
Surprise appeared on his face.
Then understanding.
He lowered the hand resting on his sword.
That movement disturbed time.
With a slicing sound, the massive heads of the boar and the hounds slowly shifted away from their necks.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Four sounds.
Four slashes.
But the reflected light had flickered five times.
The answer was already there—
the tree trunk behind him that had been cut in half by the split Water Ball.
Blood erupted like fountains from the monsters' smooth severed necks, raining down in a crimson shower.
Amid this "rain."
A small figure wearing a mage robe ran into the firelight, dragging a large suitcase.
Under the hood, blue bangs on her forehead were outlined with a faint green edge by the firelight. She sniffed slightly and stared at Allen with wide eyes full of surprise.
Allen's gaze swept from the newcomer's face down to the boots that didn't reach her knees.
In the campfire light, black stockings tightly hugged her firm calves, leaving faint rings of pale skin where they pressed.
Even the darkness of night couldn't hide the admiration in his eyes.
He smiled and said,
"Moved out of the way. Thanks for the warning."
The girl with two dark-blue braids hanging almost to the back of her knees breathed slightly heavily.
She looked at the child standing before her in the rain of blood, only a head taller than herself.
She listened to his somewhat childish voice.
Then she looked at the headless monster corpses behind him and the tree cut in half by the Water Ball.
She slightly opened her mouth.
Her expression became somewhat blank.
Moved out of the way…?
She didn't know how to respond.