Chapter 17

[The buff effect of ‘Title: Wolf Slayer’ activates.]

BOOM!

Suho kicked off the ground.

WHOOSH!

He shot forward in a straight line. Ahead of him, he could see Broki’s face contorted with shock.

["What in the...!"]

Something impossible had happened. Suho’s strength, his speed, the force erupting from his entire body—all of it had changed in an instant.

All stats +1 from leveling up. An additional +5 stat points earned as a quest reward. And on top of that, a title that boosted every stat by a whopping 40% against beast-type monsters.

All of those effects combined, concentrating in Suho’s swords.

Twin swords. Storm Slash.

[Using ‘Skill: Storm Slash’.]

ROOOAR!

Suho became a veritable storm. His two blades crossed, whipping up a fierce, cutting gale.

[You have learned ‘Skill: Dual Swordsmanship Lv.1’.]

It was utterly merciless violence—a cruel butcher’s one-sided onslaught.

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!

["Aaaaaargh! You bastard—!"]

Broki tried to retaliate, but even that amounted to nothing more than desperate flailing.

CRASH-BOOM!

Broki’s thrashing brought the Hyena Guild’s guard posts crashing down, smashing them to pieces.

["How dare you...!"]

Before Broki could finish, a streak of red light shot straight up out of the beast’s gaping maw.

It was Rakan’s Fang, drawn up by Ruler's Authority.

Suho snatched the sword out of the air.

Then, in a flash, he brought it straight down.

[You have defeated Broki the Harsh Commander.]

RUMBLE-CRASH!

At last, the enormous magic beast collapsed.

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

“Whew.”

Suho landed on the ground.

["Kieeeeeek! You did it! You killed it! Our Young Monarch has slain this tremendous beast—!"]

Beru came flying over like an arrow, as though he had been waiting for this very moment.

“... Good heavens. That was possible? A human defeated Broki?”

Beru snickered at Rakan’s Fang’s words and replied.

["Didn’t you know? In the end, the strong devour the weak. Even the strong are eaten by those stronger still. And our Young Monarch will only grow stronger. Ah, Young Monarch? Might I have a little of this?"]

Beru smacked his lips and pointed at Broki’s corpse.

At that, Suho looked at Broki’s corpse.

[Shadow Extraction is possible on this target.]

Black smoke wavered above it. A gleam entered Suho’s eyes.

‘I can extract this one too?’

Then it was too valuable to give away.

“Just one bite. You can eat the rest after I extract its shadow later.”

["Yes, sir!"]

WHOOSH!

The moment permission was granted, Beru flew off in delight. Dead Broki was an excellent source of mana.

["Heh heh. Just one bite, is it?"]

Beru’s mouth spread into a wicked grin. If he could take only one bite, which part would make it a bite worth boasting about?

There was only one choice, of course.

The brain.

["The strong devour the weak. I’m rather fond of that saying myself."]

Muttering to himself, Beru burrowed into Broki’s head.

* * *

Suho freed everyone who had been tied up.

“I’ve notified the Hunters Association, so a rescue team should be here soon. There are still magic beasts roaming the mountain. Please don’t wander off—stay together here for a little while.”

“S-sob! Thank you! Thank you!”

Filthy from who knew how long in captivity, they sobbed uncontrollably, their faces streaming with tears and snot.

["Young Monarch, all of these people owed money to the Hyena Guild. Unable to repay their debts, they signed away the rights to their bodies and were brought here."]

“Beru, how do you know that?”

["My skill is Gluttony. By eating Broki’s brain, I stole a glimpse of some of those memories."]

“You really can do everything.”

["Ahem. I am quite a useful servant in many respects."]

Beru planted both hands on his hips, puffing himself up with pride.

["Ah, but there is one thing. Having examined Broki’s abilities, I found no power to turn people into werewolves by feeding them blood."]

“What? Then how did these guys...?”

Suho’s gaze turned toward the werewolves lying dead on the ground.

“That was what struck me as strangest from the beginning,” Rakan’s Fang spoke up. “The Hyena Clan is merely one of the many tribes that followed the Fang Clan. Only the Fang Clan can create servants by feeding others their blood.”

“Then...”

“It seems there’s a true member of the Fang Clan in there besides Broki.”

Suho and Beru both turned toward the Gate Broki had emerged from.

“So the real boss monster is still in there.”

Suho adjusted his grip on his sword, determination in his eyes. Beside him, Beru shrugged.

["It likely isn’t a boss monster."]

“It isn’t?” Suho looked puzzled.

["No. If Broki’s memories are correct, I doubt there will be any more fighting."]

Beru’s expression was a little bitter.

["You’ll understand once you go inside."]

* * *

Suho entered the Gate. Inside, he found a small, frail creature.

“This is...”

His expression hardened.

A bloodstained wolf pup lay there, limp and helpless. Its gray fur was filthy, and bandages had been haphazardly wound around it. The tiny wolf was barely a handspan long.

And in front of it...

Syringes used to draw blood lay scattered carelessly about.

“Broki, you mad bastard! How dare you!”

Rakan’s Fang trembled with violent fury at the sight.

“Don’t tell me you tied up a descendant of the clan and forcibly drained its blood!”

The pup twitched.

Had it heard the sword’s anger? Restrained by a dog collar, the wolf pup weakly lifted its head. Its unfocused eyes stared blankly into the space where Suho stood. Then its tiny nose twitched as it sniffed.

An unfamiliar human.

The scent of blood on his clothes.

“Whimper...”

One feeble cry. With that, the wolf pup lowered its head again. Not a trace of hope or the will to live remained in its exhausted little body.

“Broki, you insane mongrel—!”

Beside itself with rage, Rakan’s Fang cursed the already-dead Broki.

Reading Broki’s memories, Beru murmured calmly.

["Immediately after losing the war against the shadow army, Broki was the first to flee the battlefield. In truth, Broki was less a defeated soldier than a deserter."]

What Broki did next was truly vile.

["Broki hid in the Fang Clan’s sanctuary, believing it to be the safest place, and found a young wolf there."]

All the adults had gone to war, leaving the pup there alone. In the memory, it wagged its tail in delight when Broki entered the sanctuary.

But...

["At that sight, an idea came to Broki."]

‘Yes, this is it! With this Fang Clan blood, I can create as many guardians as I want!’

‘I’ll make those guardians protect me!’

‘My own army! I’ll build a new tribe here that serves me and me alone!’

‘You like that idea too, don’t you? Heh heh heh.’

Broki gave the pup wagging its tail a depraved smile.

["... Afterward, the sanctuary was torn into fragments and drifted through the gaps between dimensions. Then one day, a hole connected to Earth appeared before Broki."]

And Broki discovered a group of humans.

["Without a moment’s hesitation, Broki drew this young wolf’s blood and fed it to them."]

Suho knew the rest all too well. The guardians created that way became Broki’s army under the name of the Hyena Guild. They hunted their fellow humans and offered them to Broki as food.

For an entire year.

But there was one problem. That was precisely why Rakan’s Fang was so furious.

“The guardians’ power doesn’t last forever. Ten days at most. After that, the power of the blood imprinted on their bodies fades, and they return to normal. Which means...!”

“Every ten days, they drew this little guy’s blood and fed it to the guild members. For an entire year.”

“Aaaaaargh! Broki! Broki!”

Suho scooped up the limp wolf pup with one hand. It lifted so easily that he was startled by how much lighter it was than he had expected.

["Kiek? Surely you don’t intend to take it with you?"]

Beru’s eyes widened. Even if this young wolf was not a direct descendant of the Monarch of Fangs, it belonged to the clan that carried that blood.

["If you let it live, it may one day grow into a second Monarch of Fangs and threaten Earth again."]

“Even so, didn’t you say we won last time anyway?”

["Well... that is true, isn’t it? Hmm."]

At Suho’s words, Beru stared thoughtfully at the pup in his hand. So much blood had been drained from it that the poor creature could barely even breathe. Beru nodded.

["Indeed. With those outer universe bastards invading, there’s no need for us to turn on one another."]

They might have lost the war, but the children who survived were blameless. In fact, wasn’t it admirable that such a tiny, weightless creature had survived this long at all?

Still, Suho wasn’t taking the wolf with him for that sentimental reason alone.

‘Somehow, I feel like it’ll be useful later, one way or another. Besides...’

“If it dies here now, its last memories will be too miserable, won’t they? Captured by someone it trusted, then bled dry for a whole year.”

As he spoke, Suho cradled the pup in his arms.

“So let’s feed it first and think about the rest afterward.”

* * *

Suho took the wolf pup straight home. Having reported the Hyena Guild and Gwanaksan Field to the Association, he decided to put those matters out of his mind for now. The surviving civilians would give far more detailed testimony than he could anyway.

More urgently, the pup looked as if it might die that very day.

“Beru, you said you’re a healer. Can’t you treat this?”

["A healer’s recovery magic can only heal wounds. It can do nothing about blood loss or hunger."]

“So healing skills can’t fix everything. Then, for now...”

Suho switched on an electric heater and placed it in front of the wolf pup.

“Whine...”

“What? Like the warmth?”

The pup seemed quite bewildered. Though it trembled with its tail tucked in, its eyes remained fixed on the heater’s red glow as if entranced.

“Come to think of it, this might be the first time you’ve ever seen fire.”

Leaving the pup there, Suho went straight to making seaweed soup. He let it cool so it wouldn’t be too hot, then poured some into a small dish.

“You’d better appreciate how spoiled you’re getting today. This is the recipe my mom used to make for me every birthday.”

Making sure he got credit, Suho held the soup in front of the pup’s short muzzle.

“Try it. I hear seaweed soup is good when you’ve lost blood.”

It sniffed tentatively. As the scent of seaweed soup reached it, the pup’s tail gave a twitch.

“It’s okay. Go on, eat.”

When Suho dabbed some soup onto its muzzle despite its reluctance, its tongue flicked out instinctively.

A tentative lick.

...!

“Oh, I had no idea. Wolves can look surprised just like people.”

LAP, LAP, LAP.

The pup buried its nose in the dish and began lapping up the soup in earnest. Its scraggly tail, missing patches of fur, wagged feebly.

Rakan’s Fang, which had been watching silently from Beru’s hand, murmured solemnly.

“... Thank you. For everything.”

Its feelings were complicated in many ways. They had ended up in this state in the first place because they had lost the war against these very people.

But though they had lost the war, the children who survived were blameless. They had to stand on the present they had survived to see and live on into the future.

And perhaps... this young wolf was the Fang Clan’s sole survivor. As Beru had warned, it was a young monarch who would one day grow up to inherit the mantle of the Monarch of Fangs.

Yet the Shadow Monarch’s heir had extended a helping hand to that very child.

What an irony.

“Does it taste good?”

Suho squatted in front of the tiny wolf pup as it lapped up the warm broth, grinning at it.

Watching him, Rakan’s Fang could finally do nothing but accept that the war was over.

“... Yes. You won. I entrust all of us to your care.”

The instant it let out that quiet sigh, the will of Rakan—the great King of Beasts, the Monarch of Fangs—settled within Suho.

DING!

[You have acquired ‘Pet: Fang Wolf Lv.1’.]