The horrific scene was shown in full as the torch was raised high. Rowan immediately understood what Rakson was getting at.
"They didn't eat them. It's like they committed an act of revenge..."
Every body part was present, just torn apart and shattered into pieces. Without anyone saying anything, Rowan moved and began assembling the messily torn pieces. The village men, now used to the blood smell, just stood there watching.
There were three bodies total, all young children. Since one skull was split in half, three villagers who couldn't bear to look turned their backs.
"Nothing's been eaten. They literally tore them apart as if making an example and just left."
Rakson's hands trembled. Same with Rowan. Anyone arriving at a serial killer's crime scene and facing the victims' fragments would lose their mind.
"Have you ever seen wolves do something like this?"
"Not many, but there are some. Most notably, the black wolf. That thing..."
Rowan interrupted Rakson's words. He'd seen it with hunter Geric. Just the day before.
"The wolf called Mavros lyko?"
"You shouldn't know about that."
"Geric told me. We saw it just yesterday. It was wandering around before going deep into the forest. It didn't look like something that would do something this brutal."
"Who would think a quiet, passing serial killer looks brutal? Besides, it seems hunter Geric only knows the name and doesn't properly know its habits."
This was a mountain village. Goblins' appearance was relatively recent, and since it was the first time in village history, you couldn't blame hunter Geric. He wasn't someone who went around from village to city trying to acquire hunting knowledge either.
"It probably didn't do this because the wolf numbers decreased. It's a loner to begin with, that's the black wolf, and sometimes it even clashes with wolf packs."
Grrrrr...
A low growl that made your body shudder could be heard. Torches swept the surroundings frantically.
"You hear that?"
"Wolf howl."
"That bastard. Hey, you son of a bitch! Where are you!"
As one village man recklessly swung his torch around and tried to step forward, Rakson leaped over and grabbed his clothes, pulling him back. A black shadow passed right in front of him.
"Gasp!"
He collapsed right there. It was so fast and large that his knees went weak instantly, and he fell under the illusion of being swallowed by a shadow.
Shing!
Rowan roughly drew his shortsword. In his other hand, he held a torch. He gulped down dry spit.
"Grrr!"
They thought it was coming from the east when suddenly a shadow popped out from the west and whooshed past, and a thick branch high in a tree shook heavily, dropping leaves.
"Calm down! If we stick together, it can never come at us! If it charges, shove the torch down its throat! Keep your heads straight, and we can win!"
Rakson yelled loudly, pulling the village men's clothes to bunch them together. Then he smacked the back of the head of one with a bad expression.
"Snap out of it! Snap out of it!!!"
"Huff! Huff!"
Sweating heavily, he kept turning his head continuously. Rakson grabbed those guys by the scruff and yelled at them.
"Look straight ahead! Everyone else stares holes in what's in front of you! Deaaan! You draw your bow! Try to hit it at least once somehow!"
Rowan stabbed his shortsword into the ground and drew his short bow. But catching something flying around in the darkness wasn't easy.
"Why aren't you shooting!"
"You said to hit it at least once!"
It was pitch black opposite the torchlight. Rowan looked at the sky. He could see the moon, but the moonlight didn't reach the ground.
He got goosebumps.
'This bastard made this the battlefield.'
Rowan shouted.
"It's no ordinary opponent! You need to stay sharp!"
"Getting advice from a kid, great job! Get your head straight!"
"What about torch fuel? Is it enough? We might need to hold out till dawn."
"That's nowhere near enough."
"Then, should we move? This place is kind of like a pit, so we'll get hit before climbing out."
"We need to get others here. Would that bastard attack ten people?"
"Geriiiic!! Geric! Over here! Here!!!!"
Without anyone directing it, everyone called for Geric. Rowan too. Since darkness had fallen, the sound would spread far and clearly. When the black wolf didn't attack, Rowan gained confidence and moved a bit away from the torchlight.
"Dangerous!"
"I need to do this to see even a little. Plus, it's better as bait, right? We'll get to see a retired veteran's skills, won't we?"
"Fearless kid!"
Rakson yelled that. Rowan's courage spread to those around. If it could be expressed visually, it would've stretched out like a thread, wrapping around the village men and Rakson.
Goosebumps rose on forearms, and strength surged. One village man got excited and shouted.
"Uaaaaaaah!!!! Come out! You coward!"
He took a big step forward and swung the spear with the torch wrapped on it. It was literally an instant.
A black shadow charged in, leaping toward the torch. The wolf struck Kiten's side directly and body-slammed him in a flash. Its body length was human-sized, and its bulk reached a person's shoulders.
The man tumbled in an instant.
Ping!
Rowan's arrow lodged precisely in its eye. As long as the distance wasn't far, Rowan had perfect accuracy. His chronic problem was mid-to-long range shooting (twenty-five meters or more), but hitting the eye of something less than ten steps away was easy. He'd been shooting arrows every day, working hard.
"Kyeng!"
"I got its eye!! I got its eye!!"
Rowan shouted.
Rakson rushed in, but it was too fast. It melted back into the darkness, then rushed toward the thrown Kiten as if leaping.
In that moment, the black wolf grabbed Kiten's foot in the darkness and dragged him away in one pull. Rowan shot his bow, but it was blocked by thick fur and didn't pierce the hide.
"S-save me! Save me! Aaaaaah!!!"
The village man's anguished screams as he disappeared into the brush shook the forest. Rakson, four village men, and Rowan slowly pushed through the brush. The momentum Rowan's courage had created broke instantly.
Blood was everywhere.
Beyond that, intestines had fallen splat on the ground, and behind that was the village man Kiten with a broken neck, dead with his eyes wide open. Drool dripped from his mouth.
"Grrrrr, graaaaah!!!!!"
A fierce roar burst from the darkness. Everyone flinched at that savage sound.
"Haaah..."
The village men didn't just flinch but shrank back. You could see they were terrified. Rakson struck their cheeks and shoulders, yelling at them.
Rakson wasn't an exception either, but he was relatively okay. At least his knees didn't go weak or his body didn't shrink—he just flinched a bit. Though a retired veteran, he'd never faced a black wolf with such small numbers, and being Rakson, he'd barely survived his work as a field commander.
"..."
"Did it leave?"
"Don't let your guard down! You can get dragged away in an instant."
Torchlight appeared in the distance.
"Geriiiic! Over here! Here!"
Everyone shouted. Five villagers and Geric came running, drenched in sweat. The surroundings were quiet.
"What? What happened?"
"That's... that's Kiten!"
"What the hell happened?"
The murmuring grew louder. The talk in the forest lasted quite a while. The black wolf wasn't visible. But everyone here was furious. Everyone had benefited from Alec, who brought out the village's alcohol in various flavors.
Rowan was among them. Alec's alcohol, which catered to Rowan's taste for sweet things, he'd been secretly drinking alone. Alec was a tight-lipped man.
"We need to... collect the bodies..."
It was overwhelming. The children's bodies—attacked by a wolf as big as a person, necks snapped right there, dragged here, and mutilated—were hard even to collect. Even Rakson couldn't face the gruesome sight.
Then Rowan stepped up. Someone had to resolve this situation quickly, and Rowan was the one who regained composure fastest. He'd learned how to become calm after experiencing the Kill the Battle phenomenon during the goblin subjugation.
'Stepping up first against the black wolf. I must be crazy.'
And he regretted it. It was no different from being crazy to die. Because he'd shown off. Fortunately, because of Rowan's behavior, Kiten—who shouted and stepped forward in a frenzy—died instead.
It was very hard not to act recklessly in an excited situation. Especially for Rowan, who'd only been through one real combat, handling things calmly was naturally difficult.
"Please bring as much cloth as possible. For Alec's sake, I don't want to just put them in leather sacks."
Everyone naturally nodded. Everyone here had bought alcohol that Alec made. The forest air at dawn was very cold. They gathered branches and lit a campfire.
Nobody opened their mouths. They spent time in silence.
Rowan thought about Mary, Grant, and Tommy. He didn't have many memories with them. Instead, he remembered that whenever he went to buy sweet alcohol, Alec would raise the corners of his mouth, showing his cheekbones, and complain loudly about how his daughter and son caused so much trouble.
"Rowan."
Hunter Geric sat next to him.
"I heard from Rakson. You hit one of its eyes?"
"The left eye. It came precisely into the torchlight. The distance was less than ten steps, and that bastard body-slammed Kiten."
Even while speaking, Rowan was boiling over. Controlling it was too hard. Just because a fellow villager had died, rage welled up. They only met when big labor was needed and enjoyed afterparties together, but he'd known their faces for a long time.
He'd just been there, watching them for a long time.
Without any special memories or anything like that, it was enough to be angry. People who stayed in your life for a long time had value in themselves and had seeped into his heart before he knew it, regardless of any particular bond.
Hunter Geric couldn't easily bring up a conversation. He felt Rowan's eyes sinking into the past. Same with the others.
'Ah. When the ranch was short on hay, he readily helped too.'
Rowan recalled the past, one by one, remembering Kiten who'd entered his life. His nose stung and his eyes reddened, but he didn't cry.
As they lit the campfire and guarded the torn-apart bodies of Kiten and the children, people came in droves.
"Urgh, ugh huh! Huh huh huhk! Mary! Grant! My baby!"
"Stop him! Who brought Alec!"
The village men fell while struggling with Alec, then scrambled up. The moment Alec, teeth clenched, burst into the scene was instantaneous. The campfire sent sparks flying. Rowan also hurried to get up, but couldn't stop Alec.
"Aagh, aaaaaaaah!!!"
He thrashed. Holding his eldest daughter's head with the neck bones dangling, he wailed. Those who couldn't watch turned away one after another, looking at the sky. Rowan finally shed tears.
How much must a father think of his children?
Such thoughts wouldn't leave his heart. Moreover, they hadn't even reached ten years old, an age when they were teased as greenhorns and hadn't learned to work. There would've been only happy times as bright as light.
They wrapped each body in cloth and carefully moved it. To preserve what little form remained. Kiten was straightened and loaded onto a stretcher.
Covered in blood, Rowan greeted the morning sun with hollow eyes.
Before the wailing could ring out, Rowan looked for hunter Geric. Seeing Rowan with fierce eyes, Geric spoke.
"Going to catch it?"
"If I can't catch a wolf bastard with an arrow through one eye, what kind of career can I have living by the sword? How can I make a name for myself?"
"Same here. If I continue as a hunter without catching a one-eyed wolf, I'll get stoned."
They prepared and immediately left the village. Everyone tried to join, but Geric glared with demon-like eyes.
"Anyone who'll make noise in the forest, get lost!"
"You think Rowan can do that?"
"He's at least a greenhorn who kept pace with me."
Rowan's expression was also very stiff, so they had to back down. Rakson was with Alec and his wife.
The tracking started, of course, from where the most blood was.
"Seeing it in daylight makes it clear."
Geric looked around.