The branch with cheese on it fell into the campfire. The outside melted away and became covered in ash, then started burning black. The savory aroma and burning smell rose strongly.
Whoosh! Crackle!
Rather than grabbing a weapon, Rowan immediately picked up a piece of firewood and threw it in the direction the wind was blowing from. Sparks flew, the bushes instantly caught fire, and flames began to spread. It wasn't that strong. He needed to throw more.
Since there was moisture in the plants, quite a bit of black smoke came out, but because of the cool and occasionally strong night wind, visibility quickly cleared.
Through that cleared space, he saw an animal's eyes. The black wolf was staring directly at him, and once their eyes met, Rowan got scared.
"Protect me!"
But he trusted hunter Geric. He would prioritize protecting Rowan over his own safety. He'd lived a macho life all this time and had done things for others in the village, and in hunting too, he'd take on six or seven out of ten tasks on his own.
'He's trustworthy.'
Rowan dove into the pile of firewood he'd gathered. Hunter Geric roughly guarded Rowan while holding a sword and a piece of firewood. Meanwhile, grunting and using all his strength, Rowan kicked hard to push the gathered firewood into the campfire.
Flames flickered right before their eyes.
"Grrrr!"
The beast's sound rang out, but it couldn't easily attack. It had tried to target the smaller Rowan, but because Rowan moved as if being buried by firewood, it lost its chance. For such a violently moving target, chasing and waiting for an opportunity was better than trying to strike immediately.
Rowan gripped firewood with both hands and threw the burning pieces here and there. In that chaos, Geric shouted about the wind direction and their escape route. He needed to place them well according to the wind direction, and the escape route should face where the wind was blowing from.
If they didn't do that, even if they made an escape route, the flames would fly over and burn it.
"North wind! Rowan!!!"
"Yes! I know!"
Rowan stopped throwing firewood toward the north.
'Just keep visibility clear to the north!'
The night wind blew gently again. It was a north wind, blowing from north to south. That was telling them to place the escape route there. Not much firewood was thrown toward the north, and flames began blazing in other directions.
"Think it'll run away?"
As oxygen fed the flames, they grew tremendously large, to the point that they couldn't see each other. Thanks to that, Geric threw out a question. Rowan answered like a shot.
"If its left eye were completely healed, I'd want to kill humans here if I were it. Think about its hatred!"
Displeased with the fierce flames, the black wolf opened its mouth wide.
"Kuhuhung!"
The creature avoiding the firelight was thrashing wildly. It mixed with the sound of the night wind blowing from the forest and brushing through the bushes. Normally, they wouldn't have been able to easily grasp its form and would have relied on sound, wandering around confused, or their gazes wouldn't have met.
'I can see it!'
But the firewood fires Rowan had scattered everywhere burned the bushes, and the black wolf's form kept coming into view in various places.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Since it was living vegetation, black smoke rose thickly into the sky, and naturally, the fire's strength also decreased, so Rowan kept throwing more firewood. Sometimes the black wolf got hit by thrown firewood.
"Grrr..."
It instinctively hated fire, so naturally it cowered. It wasn't actually injured, but watching it pathetically retreat was just satisfying.
"Serves you right! You son of a bitch!"
There was no way he'd have good feelings toward the black wolf, Mavros lyko, the monster that had cruelly torn apart three children even though it wouldn't eat them. Yet he quickly regained his composure. This was his third real combat.
He controlled his emotions.
He couldn't stop the anger leaping up like fire and the hatred spewing out rough emotions like boiling water, but controlling them was something else. He wished he had no emotions, but the heightened sensitivity from a modern person's peaceful life wasn't something Rowan could suppress.
"The left eye can see properly. It recovered from the wound."
Meanwhile, with keen observation, he could see that although its injured eye was bleeding, it was functioning properly.
"Damn it."
This meant they had to settle it here. And he could tell it saw them as prey. This was a creature that would charge even with seven people present and drag one to kill them. It was natural for it to think of them as prey, and it wasn't recklessness at all.
'But the situation's in our favor!'
It kept looking for opportunities, but had no choice but to head north, where there were fewer flames. That alone was a great achievement. Because they could keep their gaze on just one direction.
'Come on!'
Rowan gripped his sword and waited for it. So did hunter Geric. The creature's fur, hide, and build visible in the firelight looked like they definitely couldn't be pierced by arrows. If they aimed, it would be the eyes, but they'd barely managed to hit them with a surprise attack.
Rather than picking up a bow, preparing for close combat was the right choice. Its speed was incredibly fast too.
The black wolf's patience ran out first. It had never wasted time on a hunt like this, and having lived a life of lightly racing through the forest, it wasn't used to prolonged battles.
"Kuhung!"
Swoosh!
It targeted the smaller Rowan, aiming to instantly kill him and create a one-on-one situation with Geric. He looked easier to kill, and it was the easiest way to turn two-on-one into one-on-one, a typical hunting method of wild animals.
Rather than targeting the mother, target the young.
"Hiyaaaah!"
Rowan instead dove toward it. He didn't block the claws. The sharp claws would be blocked by his leather armor, he believed, and he focused on striking upward at its lower jaw with his shortsword.
Thud!
As he struck the jaw upward, their bodies tangled together. Rowan had to fall backward immediately from the tremendous weight combined with the charging force. He succeeded in making it unable to target him with its maw by striking the lower jaw upward, but it didn't stiffen.
It was incredible. Maybe that's why it was called a monster. To begin with, regenerating an eye in one day was a bizarre phenomenon.
'Damn! Can't even last one second!'
He had to blame his undeveloped body. But right on time, the black crow hidden in the pitch darkness, the being he'd obtained through Goblin Beast Taming—a skill called Culture's Right Foot, Barbarism's Left Foot.
"Caw!"
The crow Kaiya shot out like a bullet and immediately pecked hard with its beak at the black wolf's eye covering Rowan, then instantly fled.
"Khhung!"
With intense eye pain, blood flowed out. It got hit again where it had been hit before. Rowan didn't miss that moment, moved his hips and lower body slightly to crawl up, used the small space created to place his shortsword horizontally and brace against the creature's upper body, and meanwhile, Geric stabbed his sword into the wolf's back and pulled.
Spurt!
Blood shot up briefly like a fountain and began flowing down.
"Khahang!"
Hunter Geric was immediately thrown by the struggling creature. Having felt the black wolf's power directly, it was immense.
"Geric! Geriiiic!"
While Rowan frantically called his name, the black wolf clawed Rowan's arms and thrust its maw in, jaws clacking. From its mouth reeking of rot, saliva drooled heavily. If he hadn't been gripping the shortsword with both hands, firmly pushing the upper body, he would've been bitten immediately.
"Ugh! Aagh!"
But the claws were so long and sharp, and its leg strength so powerful, that both his arms hurt terribly. The chest armor held up, but the arm armor was thin, so its defense was significantly lower and was torn.
"Dieeeee!!!"
When Geric firmly gripped the sword stuck in its back with both hands and mounted it again, the black wolf thrashed violently. Rowan crawled away in the meantime, and the black wolf's attention focused on hunter Geric because of the pain in its back.
It went all out trying to throw him off. It hopped around or rolled on the ground.
Thud!
When it rammed itself into a tree, Geric made a sound and collapsed to the ground, strength drained. As the black wolf tried to finish him, Rowan rushed in and stabbed the sword into its chest.
"Gruk... grrrup..."
Blood flowed heavily from its mouth, then it collapsed. The sword had precisely pierced its heart, avoiding the ribs. Rowan looked at the falling black wolf and approached Geric.
"You okay?"
Geric couldn't even speak, just opening and closing his mouth. The shock had spread throughout his body. When Rowan skillfully laid Geric flat and opened his airway, only then did Geric start breathing. His lungs had closed tight from the shock.
"Huk. Huk. Suddenly, couldn't breathe. Huk huk. Huk huk huk!"
"Breathe slowly. Slowly!"
Rowan held down the panicking Geric while taking deep breaths himself, and Geric followed. Cold sweat spread across his entire body, and he trembled, feeling chills.
"The thing? Is it dead?"
"Yes. I stabbed the sword into its heart."
"Can't believe it. Take out the heart. Right now!"
Geric shouted seriously. Rowan also needed confirmation, so he used the shortsword to push aside the ribs and pulled out the heart inside without hesitation.
"Wow. What kind of heart is as big as a human head?"
"Haah..."
Geric let out a sigh of relief. Since the fire was spreading, he moved Geric north first, then tried dragging the black wolf's corpse but gave up, scraped out the organs, and tried transporting it again.
"Whew! This is killing me! No, why is it so ridiculously heavy? You should've backed off partway through."
Drawing aggro was good, but he scolded Geric for not knowing when to withdraw.
"Is that easy? My vision was just swooshing all over. Just holding on was brave enough."
The black wolf's power that Geric felt was immense.
"It's lucky I maintained the shortsword well before we left. See? The oil is no joke. If I'd struck somewhere else before stabbing, I might not have pierced the heart..."
Rowan pulled out the shortsword to check and clicked his tongue. The tip of the shortsword, especially made pointed for stabbing, was already blunted. If he'd cut or stabbed another hide before targeting the heart, he probably would've failed.
"How's your condition? Any painful spots? Even now?"
Rowan spoke smoothly while groping Geric's entire body and pressing lightly with his hands.
"Huup. Urk. Damn it!"
As soon as his hand reached the back, he immediately spat out curses.
"Guess I need to look."
Rowan turned Geric over and checked his back. Even at a glance, the condition was bad. A dark bruise with red undertones had spread largely across his back, and the skin was slightly torn—blood had flowed down and formed a scab.
"Huup. Agggh."
At Rowan's touch, Geric tensed his body completely and suffered.
'Bones aren't broken. Spine is uniform too.'
"You'll be okay. Which leather pouch has the crushed herbs?"
"Second or third, I think..."
Rowan just undid Geric's belt and checked the leather pouches. Looking at the strong herb smell rising, he quickly lifted his head from the leather pouch.
"Ugh. What is this? The herb smell is really terrible."
"Because I threw in all the good stuff. It's external medicine, so apply it right away."
He administered first aid and wrapped the wound with white cloth. Geric couldn't wear his shirt properly and just draped it loosely. Right there, they rebuilt the campfire and rested briefly. As soon as the morning sun rose, Geric barely managed to gather his strength and stand up.
Geric carried the luggage, and Rowan had to carry the black wolf. Its legs dragged on the ground, but there was no helping it.
They walked very slowly, took regular breaks while maintaining stamina and condition as much as possible, and headed to the village.
Arriving after a day and a half, the village was in an uproar.
"That's an incredible size!"
"The two of them caught this thing?"
"They avenged Kiten!"
Since the loss had been so terrible, there was no mention of Mary, Grant, and Tommy. Alec and his wife didn't show themselves either. They could only hear that they were barely eating soup and living day by day.
The commotion at the village entrance disappeared once they went inside. Because the consideration for Alec was greater than catching the black wolf.
His skill in brewing alcohol and various know-how born from spontaneous ideas were spread throughout this village. Seeing what goes around comes around, Rowan's heart also sank.
'Huh?'
Rowan's body tilted as tension released. Along with a feeling of pressure in his head, he felt his blood circulation weakening, and he felt cold across his entire body.
Thud!
"Rowan!"
He passed out. His thirteen-year-old body couldn't handle the blood loss despite the first aid. When tension suddenly released, blood rushed heavily, and with blood failing to reach his brain as his mind relaxed, he fainted immediately.
Black smoke flowed from all directions and seized Rowan as he fell into the world of dreams.
Various black doors revealed themselves.