'He controls wolves.'
Handless Sendabil was a combat expert. Except for the occasional burst of excitement, he was a veteran of close combat. A guy who looked brutal on the outside but was cunning as hell on the inside. The reason he'd survived this long was simple—while he had the body of a brown bear, he had the mind of a wildcat.
Being a wildcat, he'd saved Setan earlier.
His cunning helped him keep his forces at just the right size. Setan sometimes brought in unexpected income, which made him valuable for the future.
Of course, in situations where someone chased him to the bitter end, Sendabil would abandon him without hesitation.
That was Handless Sendabil—a man who could flip his thinking 180 degrees at any moment.
Rowan, who appeared to be some kind of wolf tamer, was a serious threat.
'Wild beasts are tough even 1-on-1.'
Even adult men with weapons could quickly meet their end if they screwed up against wolves. They might look small, but they're nimble. Humans have the advantage of height and reach with weapons in both hands, but if you slip up even once, your throat gets torn out immediately.
Wolves are faster than most people realize, instantly attacking from blind spots. They stay low to the ground, which makes them hard targets even for trained soldiers with spears.
Considering most wolves get caught in traps, Rowan was clearly an exceptional hunter.
Rowan, the forest hunter who controlled wolves, posed a real threat to Sendabil.
'But the guy himself isn't that threatening.'
He looked like he was moving aggressively, but really he was just banging his shield and weapon together, moving with urgency. As he walked at a steady pace, Sendabil thought it through.
Rowan was only fifteen. More developed than his age would suggest, but still nothing compared to the bear-like Sendabil.
'If I can catch the kid, I can crack his skull in one blow. But the real problem is those wolves.'
Sendabil decided on a close combat tactic—deal with the wolves first. He figured he could handle Rowan easily enough after that.
"Waaaah!!!!"
Sendabil shouted, scanning the dim surroundings. The night wind rustled through the bushes, making it impossible to tell where the wolves were.
'Can't avoid getting hurt. Then I won't hold back.'
Looked like at least three wolves. Four total, but he assumed one would definitely go after Setan. Human greed knows no bounds.
That assumption was dead-on. Rowan had been thorough—he'd sent one wolf after Setan to eliminate future problems. The target was naked, and everything from the environment to the forest terrain worked against humans.
With his sharp hearing, Sendabil caught the sound of something approaching.
Rowan was literally closing in on Sendabil from four directions. The moment of attack came. Sendabil immediately threw himself left.
"Woof!"
The wolf on his left lunged, its rough musky scent overwhelming as it bit into his shoulder.
"Gah!"
Sendabil fell with the wolf still attached and roughly slammed the shield strapped to his right forearm into it.
"Yelp!"
The wolf fell away with a pained cry. He swung the halberd once. Rowan's shortsword clashed against the halberd, sparks flying.
"Urgh!"
He bashed the wolf biting his ankle with the shield. But at that moment, Dono arrived and body-slammed him from the side. Dono had kept his speed intact—plump but muscular, a wolf raised by Rowan himself.
His size was completely different from the other wolves. The sudden charge from the side sent Sendabil toppling over. Dono wasn't careless—he pulled back immediately. The shield swung through empty air.
The darkness drastically reduced accuracy, which was perfect luck for Rowan and his wolves.
"Ahhh!"
Dono retreated while keeping his jaws locked on Sendabil's leg. When Sendabil tried to stand, Dono yanked hard and sent him crashing down again.
Rowan swung his shortsword wildly at Sendabil's shadowy form.
Slash!
Rowan's blade swept from left chest to ribs. The halberd couldn't be swung effectively from that position.
"Come on! You bastards!!!!"
Sendabil re-gripped the halberd high while covering himself with the shield, swinging the weapon mercilessly in all directions.
"Huff! Huff!"
Two wolves got hit by Sendabil just once and couldn't stand back up. They lay sprawled, either whimpering or completely knocked out.
'Monster bastard.'
Rowan absolutely couldn't charge in now. Same went for the cunning Dono. Because one hit from Sendabil meant a wolf couldn't get back up.
"Hngh—!"
Sendabil tried to stand, but the problem was his foot—already bitten once, then grabbed and yanked by Dono. He used the halberd as a makeshift cane to pull himself up.
"Dono! Come here!"
"Grr!"
Rowan increased the distance between them. When Sendabil saw Rowan's outline pulling back, he took one big step forward. Terrible pain shot through his ankle.
"Gaaaah... ugh... hng..."
One step, and his whole body trembled. Cold sweat poured out in a torrent.
'Is my ankle broken?'
Sendabil's expression darkened. He knew his opponent wouldn't charge.
Day broke. The standoff continued.
It was bright enough to see each other's faces now. Sendabil's hair was a disheveled mess, his entire body drenched in sweat. His leather armor had been slashed open and hung loose at the side. His right ankle was covered in blood.
"What now? Huh! Come at me if you wanna kill me!"
"That provocation won't work. I'll wait here for the villagers to come. Then you'll die."
Sendabil let out a deep sigh.
"Fine. Got it. Why the hell do you want to kill me so bad? Was your little sister one of the women I killed?"
Rowan closed his mouth and sat down, quietly glaring at him.
"That big wolf next to you is pretty damn impressive."
Sendabil kept talking, throwing out all kinds of words. But Rowan didn't say a single thing, just maintained the quiet standoff. Sendabil sat down too. He couldn't give up entirely, but his body refused to move anymore.
"Fucking bug bastards."
He waved his hand irritably. Forest mosquitoes had started swarming him. In the humid forest, open wounds were perfect breeding grounds for bacteria. Infection set in almost instantly, attracting more bugs. Sendabil's mind began spiraling into savagery.
That was it. Sendabil, who'd been trying to crawl away, soon gave up. The pain from his dragging ankle was unbearable. The bone was broken, so literally dragging it hurt too much. He'd already used up all the herbs and white powder when his eye got pierced—there was nothing left.
'Should've just gone for him directly.'
If Rowan was a wolf tamer, obviously just beating the tamer to death would make the wolves scatter or charge mindlessly, and things would've worked out somehow.
But when Sendabil killed two wolves in one blow, Dono and Rowan had both fallen back to protect themselves. The result was this pathetic stalemate.
That's how the bandit raid ended.
Sendabil clung to life until he was discovered late in the evening by loyal Black Flag Youth Association members who'd entered the forest hoping to at least find Rowan's body.
Torches spread everywhere through the trees. Sendabil was already unconscious, barely blinking while suffering from a raging fever.
"Drop your weapon, you bastard!"
They poked at him with poles, then slipped a wire noose around his neck. As soon as the noose caught, he was dragged along the ground.
"Gah."
"Stay still! Get his weapons first!"
The surviving village men had gathered in force. They shouted like they were hunting a tiger that had wandered into the village.
"You bastard! You! You killed my daughter!"
"We gotta kill him now!"
Thud! Thwack!
Before being tied up properly, Sendabil took stones to the head, lost consciousness, and was dragged through the dirt like a dog. His vitality was incredible, though.
As soon as he arrived at the village, he got beaten viciously by the villagers and tied to a wooden post, but somehow stayed alive through it all.
Rowan slept, woke up, and stood before the bloody mess that had been Sendabil.
"How's the last sunrise you'll ever see?"
Ptoo!
Rowan wiped the blood-mixed spit off his face with a cloth handkerchief. Then he cut Sendabil's throat clean through with his dagger.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thud!
Five strikes to the neck. Sendabil's mangled head fell to the ground.
The village had fewer than fifty households, and this incident reduced that number even further. Four village men had died. Besides Mals and Bueric, there was Alec—driven insane by his children's deaths, who died alongside Rakson. Unable to understand what was happening, he'd resisted violently and died miserably.
The two who'd initially stood guard at the gate survived and were being treated for injuries.
As for the village women, nine corpses alone had been burned to death. With the windows closed, the bandits had been too busy lusting after booze and women, making too much noise. By the time they realized what was happening outside, they couldn't escape.
The terrified women had died of suffocation, huddled together in one place. At least their corpses were relatively intact.
The bandits' corpses were thrown outside the village. Nobody could bear the thought of burying them. Even cremating them would require tremendous forgiveness. Those who'd burned to death had their limbs hacked off in the villagers' rage.
Brutal.
The bandit corpses couldn't resist anymore, so unlike their easy surrender at first, the villagers used them to vent their fury.
Rowan had lost all interest in it. Unlike the villagers, to him dead people were just dead people. All he did was lay a single flower at Rakson's funeral.
'Rakson's map.'
It clearly marked a specific location in a mountain valley beyond the fortress walls—meaning Torch Fortress. A cave in that valley where Rakson's legacy waited. Rowan named it Valley Cave and made it his next destination.
'Can't leave yet, though.'
He needed to build up his body.
The fight with Sendabil had given Rowan brutal, crystal-clear feedback. To face someone built like a bear, he needed at least a decent physique of his own.
Going outside now would be suicide.
'I was stupid.'
He'd been successful against goblins. He'd gained the ability to slow time and maintain a calm mind while killing living things. He'd gotten special abilities through the black door.
Everything suggested he could head out into the wider world right now, but he'd struggled against just one bandit boss. In the end, he hadn't even killed him in direct combat. The pathetic image of himself tumbling around after getting caught by one oversized hand was burned into his memory.
That's how important weight class was in a fight.
'With a shield, I could've at least tried meeting him head-on. What a shame.'
Big regret about experience too. If he'd had the reliable defense of a shield and something to push back against the enemy's pressure, he could've felt Sendabil's true terror more directly. But he couldn't—and that regret stung.
Rowan warmed up his body and showered with cold water. Not a single wound on him. Overwhelmed by the bear-like Sendabil's sheer presence, he'd basically done nothing.
"Whew."
'Still got a long way to go. Need to refine so much more.'
The cooperation with the wolves wasn't satisfactory either. Rowan should hold the center while the wolves fought hit-and-run style. That was the proper, refined way to use wolves in combat.
'Damn. Going out in this state would've been an early death.'
He felt ashamed. Not charging at a bigger opponent was completely rational and reasonable, but it didn't feel manly to him.
"Rowan! You did great! They said you'd be really tired, so my mom told me to bring you this. It's dinner. We butchered a chicken."
"Isn't this too much?"
"You can eat it for days if you keep it boiling."
Vinny, who farmed and raised chickens, had come by. Rowan had seen him once during the black wolf incident.
The pot contained a whole chicken, and appetizing chicken fat floated on top. All kinds of chopped vegetables were mixed into the thick broth—it looked similar to non-spicy curry. A traditional chicken dish with an excellent aroma and light flavor. Vegetable chicken soup.
"Tell her I'll enjoy every bite."
He carried the pot inside. Sernhac and Haldanak were busy with funeral arrangements and weren't home. Rowan ate the lukewarm vegetable chicken soup. The thick broth had a slightly odd texture, but since the chopped vegetables had been added last, the mix of crunchy and soft textures actually worked pretty well.
Rowan finished the entire meal and immediately collapsed into sleep.
Black smoke drifted across his vision.