Chapter 1 - Hello, I'm Kyle
Deep within a lush forest, the bushes stirred with hurried footsteps and rustling leaves, accompanied by the sounds of four-legged beasts in pursuit.
"Huff, huff..." A young boy panted as he ran, his face flushed with panic and anxiety.
"Stop chasing me, you bastards! Even if you catch me, I won't go down without a fight!"
"Why don't we call a truce and go our separate ways?" the boy shouted to his pursuers. In response, he received only snarls and angry roars.
With no other choice, Kyle played a desperate game of cat and mouse in a remote corner of the forest.
However, he was clearly not the hero of this tale.
A pack of ferocious dire wolves chased him relentlessly, seeking revenge for his killing and eating one of their kin.
Kyle, a handsome blond-haired youth of about sixteen, had recently embarked on a journey to the western part of the continent for personal reasons.
Unfortunately, his adventure had barely begun when he encountered the greatest crisis of his life: being hunted by a large pack of dire wolves.
To evade them, Kyle sprinted through the dense jungle, navigating its complex terrain.
The effort drained his stamina significantly, leaving even someone as fit as him gasping for breath.
He carried a leather backpack and a two-meter-long spear, which added to his burden. His stamina waned, and anxiety gnawed at him as he struggled to devise an escape plan.
As the chase wore on, impatience and frustration clouded his mind. In a life-or-death situation, few could remain calm, especially with a pack of wolves hot on their heels, offering no moment to rest.
Kyle's shouts were less about negotiation and more about masking his fear, a way to find some levity amidst the terror.
The dire wolves, incapable of understanding his words, seemed to sense his mockery. Each time he taunted them, they grew more aggressive, quickening their pace.
"I can't keep running like this. I'll die if this continues!" Kyle thought as he vaulted over a giant tree root.
He leaped into the air, somersaulting with his spear extended like an extension of his arm.
Though the spear's weight hindered his escape, it was a vital tool.
For months, it had been his lifeline against the monsters he encountered in the wild. Without it, he would have perished long ago.
Traveling through remote woods and mountains, Kyle had faced numerous monsters.
Fighting them bare-handed was unthinkable for an ordinary person like him--this was reality, not fiction.
Most monsters, like the dire wolves chasing him, attacked in groups, making them even more dangerous.
"I need to find a way to escape! My stamina's almost gone. If I can lead these huskies into another monster's territory, I might slip away in the chaos," Kyle thought, darting through another bush.
He knew he had to take a risky gamble to survive.
Raised by his veteran hunter parents, Kyle had honed exceptional hunting and evasion skills.
This wasn't his first encounter with wolves; in the past, he had used his fitness and his grandfather's teachings to outwit them. But these dire wolves were different--monsters, not mere beasts.
Unlike the wolves of his hometown, dire wolves were faster and deadlier, known only through scattered adventurers' tales recorded by bards.
This was a life-or-death game, and losing meant death.
Monsters, brutal creatures born from the Dungeon, were the world's enemies.
They had existed even before the gods descended from the heavens, and some still roamed the surface in various regions.
The closer one ventured to Orario, the greater the chance of encountering them, as the Dungeon was the origin of all monsters.
For ordinary people, even weak monsters like goblins posed a lethal threat.
Only adventurers blessed with Falna, the divine power granted by gods, could reliably combat them. Among monsters, dire wolves were considered high-level threats. Ordinary people stood no chance, and even low-level adventurers risked death against them.
Wolves were social creatures, rarely found alone. Spotting one meant others were nearby. Kyle would never have provoked them if he'd had a choice, but hunger had driven him to kill a lone dire wolf, mistaking it for a gift from nature.
Using condiments from his pack, he had turned it into a fragrant meal--only for the scent to attract the wrath of the pack.
Wolves were vengeful. Harm one, and the entire pack would pursue the offender relentlessly. This was the predicament Kyle now faced.
The chase dragged on until something unexpected broke the stalemate.
"ROARRRRRRRR!!!!"
A roar thundered through the forest, reaching Kyle's ears and sparking hope in his eyes.
This was the opportunity he'd been waiting for.
He sprinted toward the sound, navigating the terrain with skillful movements, weaving through bushes.
The roar clearly came from a powerful creature--exactly what he needed. Unlike the Dungeon, where monsters often coexisted, the wild was different.
Monsters here rarely tolerated others in their territory, especially different species. By leading the dire wolves into this creature's domain, Kyle could escape amidst the ensuing chaos.
Afterward, he planned to find a stream to wash away his scent, ensuring the wolves couldn't track him again.
In his excitement, Kyle failed to notice a mournful undertone in the roar--a cry of a creature in distress, fighting for its life.
---
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the forest...
"Graar!"
"Rethusa! Pin it down while it's grounded--don't let it take flight!" a commanding voice rang out.
"Understood!" came the reply.
The order came from Artemis, the goddess of the Artemis Familia, known for its hunting prowess. Her all-female Familia responded with the precision of seasoned warriors.
A flying dragon roared fiercely, enduring a barrage of arrows in the endless forest. It wasn't a true dragon but a wyvern, weaker yet still formidable.
The twenty members of the Artemis Familia--a mix of humans, demi-humans, and elves--wore light armor designed for agility, wielding bows as their primary weapons.
Each piece of equipment bore the emblem of a moon with crossed bows and arrows, the symbol of their Familia.
Following Artemis's command, the women aimed with focused precision, their arrows piercing the wyvern's wing membranes, grounding it.
Unable to fly, the wyvern staggered awkwardly, its rage and ferocity intensifying. It let out a mighty roar, a desperate vow to fight to the death, and stumbled deeper into the forest.
Just then, a boy burst from the bushes, directly in the path of the charging wyvern.
"A human boy!?" the women of the Familia gasped, halting their attack in shock.
Finding another human in the monster-infested wild was as startling as seeing a ghost in a bustling city.
"Young man, run!" Artemis, her blue hair gleaming, shouted urgently.
Without hesitation, she nocked a new arrow, drew her bow, and fired in one fluid motion, praying it would strike the wyvern before it reached the boy.
Her only thought was to save him, her kindness pure and instinctive.
Kyle, spotting the massive creature barreling toward him, froze in astonishment.
"Damn it!" he cursed. He had come to escape the wolves, not to face a worse fate. Luck was not on his side today.
There was no time to think.
The wyvern charged, its fierce eyes locked on him. It knew escape from the archers was impossible, but it aimed to take a human with it in death.
As its jaws opened wide, a wave of dread washed over Kyle. Time seemed to slow, his vision tinged gray.
"Am I going to die here, before even reaching Orario?" The thought lasted only a moment before his survival instincts surged. His body reacted on its own.
"Ahhhh!" Kyle roared, gripping his black iron spear tightly.
With a piercing cry, he swept the spear in a wide arc, channeling every ounce of his strength.
The spear plunged deep into the wyvern's neck and throat just as its fangs neared him.
A split second later, Artemis's arrow followed, tracing a perfect arc through the air and striking the wyvern's head.
The creature collapsed, disintegrating into black ashes, leaving only a dark crystal--its magic stone--on the ground.
The sudden absence of his target sent Kyle stumbling forward with the spear's momentum.
Exhausted, he collapsed, too drained to move. As his consciousness faded, he caught a glimpse of dazzling blue hair--Artemis's, radiant and reassuring.
He loved that color.
It felt safe, like a beacon of hope in the darkness.