Chapter 20
"Wow, this is actually pretty doable!"
A few hours after catching the mutated goral.
Kim Ma-ri's party was continuing their progress smoothly.
While their party's stability was one reason, it was also because the monsters they encountered weren't particularly strong.
Though they were mutated by demonic power, most of what blocked their path were weak herbivores like squirrels and rabbits.
It's not like hordes of monsters were appearing either.
It was as if the monsters were avoiding this area - there was very little life at all.
Only the occasional quick and stupid herbivore could be spotted here and there.
Even the most vicious beasts respect each other's territory.
This land belonged to someone, after all.
Of course, not knowing this, Kim Ma-ri's party was busy congratulating themselves on how manageable everything seemed.
"At this rate, we might make it to the entrance of the Deep Layer!"
"This is easier than I expected...?"
"No, we don't know yet. We've only seen herbivores so far. We can't let our guard down since we don't know what might appear."
At least the mage was trying to keep the party members cautious.
But even the mage speaking those words was somewhat excited.
As the party members said, their progress was going smoothly. The viewers watching the stream were also enjoying seeing high-level combat after so long.
However, that confidence would soon come to an end when they encountered a new monster.
"Kuuu, kuhuu..."
An enormously large monster appeared before their eyes.
A monster with an owl's head and a bear's body. Its two front paws were densely packed with razor-sharp feathers.
It was a large monster called an Owlbear.
It was clearly not a normal creature. Kim Ma-ri immediately checked its level.
[Owlbear Lv 107]
"...holy fuck."
And immediately cursed.
It was a level they couldn't possibly handle. This monster was over 10 levels higher than even the current world rank 1.
A monster that would be challenging even with a raid party had suddenly appeared before them.
Having lost her fighting spirit, she immediately ordered her party members to retreat.
"Re-retreat!!"
[Kyaaaah!]
[Run away! Run away!!]
Under normal circumstances, they might have been able to escape.
The Owlbear was actually one of the more docile monsters.
Unfortunately for them, they had already invaded the Owlbear's territory.
It shows no mercy to those who intrude upon its domain.
"Hukuuuu!"
The enraged Owlbear charged at Kim Ma-ri's party.
Its speed was incredibly fast despite its massive size.
At this rate, they might get caught.
Kim Ma-ri cursed internally while giving orders to her party members.
"Damn it! This isn't working! Let's just wound one leg and run!"
Even it shouldn't be able to keep pursuing them with an injured leg.
Thinking this, Kim Ma-ri gripped her axe tightly.
Her party members also glared at the Owlbear with determined expressions.
Just one leg. They just needed to injure one leg!
"Hukuu!"
Soon the angry Owlbear's attack came flying. Its front paw, covered in sharp feathers, swung horizontally toward the vanguard.
Kim Ma-ri gritted her teeth and took a defensive stance.
However.
"Kheuk!"
It seemed completely impossible to withstand the creature's strength.
Her body went flying far away from the incredible mass.
Despite defending, one of her arms was severely injured.
No matter how strong she was, this was too much.
To think it could send her, the tank, flying in one hit - just how ridiculous was this monster's strength?
What was even scarier was that the attack didn't end there.
"M-Ma-ri!"
In that brief moment while she was incapacitated, it continued its assault.
This time its target was the swift archer.
Taking advantage of the moment they were distracted by Ma-ri, it performed a body slam against the archer.
Thud-!
That was the end.
The archer, sent flying far away, hit a tree and perished instantly.
It wasn't an attack that a fragile archer could withstand.
By then, the mage's spell was ready.
"Saxum funda!"
The so-called rock bullet.
It was magic that created stones in mid-air and fired them at the target.
Though it was a hastily cast spell, it still wasn't an attack that could be ignored given the mana invested in it.
However.
Crack!
Not even a scratch appeared on the Owlbear's body.
When her magic hit the creature's leg, instead the rock shattered and disappeared.
The strike packed with concentrated magical power only served to further enrage it.
"Impossible..."
The mage muttered in disbelief.
And those were her last words.
"Hukuu!!!"
The enraged Owlbear tore into her body with its beak.
Like the others, the mage disappeared in a flash of light.
All that remained on the ground was the hat she had been wearing.
"This is insane..."
Kim Ma-ri cursed as she watched the scene. In that brief moment, half of her carefully prepared party members had died.
The male priest who was healing Ma-ri muttered with trembling hands.
"W-we need to run..."
By then, he was overcome with fear.
Since this was a game that aimed for realism, the scene was extremely brutal.
Of course, death only caused a bit of pain, but the visual imagery still induced terror.
"Kugh...!"
Swallowing hard, Kim Ma-ri immediately grabbed the male priest's hand and started running.
Whether they could escape or not was uncertain. They probably couldn't.
Even so, they moved their feet desperately.
After all, they absolutely didn't want to die.
*
I quite enjoy eating meat.
But a person can't live on meat alone 365 days a year.
No matter how rich in protein and tasty it is, the greasiness gets tiring quickly.
So sometimes I crave something other than meat.
Today was especially one of those days. For some reason, I was craving vegetables.
Hence, I was gathering instead of hunting for once.
I was busy cutting fruits and greens and stuffing them into the pouch tied at my waist.
I planned to eat the fruits for dinner tonight, and save the greens to eat with meat later.
After all, the greens didn't taste that great on their own. The path of veganism is long and arduous.
"Ah, how peaceful."
It would be nice if things stayed like this.
That's when, just as I finished gathering...
Suddenly screams rang out from ahead.
"Aaagh! Aaaaaaagh!"
"Help!"
What's more, those screams were getting closer in real-time.
'What's going on?'
Tilting my head curiously, I checked it out and saw a man and woman running this way.
Judging by their expressions, they were in a state of terror as if being chased by something.
Looking behind them to see what was chasing them, sure enough.
There was my neighbor friend Mr. Owlbear in pursuit.
His expression was deeply furrowed - he seemed extremely angry.
Looks like they had invaded Mr. Owlbear's territory.
As I was assessing the situation, they spotted me.
"Huh?"
The two people who spotted me briefly wore dumbfounded expressions while still running.
And that wasn't a good reaction.
"Ack!"
Because in that moment of distraction, the man who looked like a priest tripped.
Due to the forest's complex structure, he hadn't noticed the tree root below.
Taking advantage of his fall, the Owlbear rapidly closed in.
First thing I did before thinking was turn on 'Player's Eye'.
[oh hi Yor]
[omg look at his outfit lmao]
[hi hello im a fan]
[Yor isn't important right now! We need to fucking run!!!]
[kyaaaaa! Run awayyy!]
As expected, they were Otherworlders.
And among Otherworlders, they were the streaming kind.
Even as I assessed the situation, time kept flowing.
"Hukoook!!"
My neighbor friend who had already closed in swung his front paw.
The priest's fragile body was split in two and scattered into particles of light.
"N-nooo! Jae-hoon!"
The woman screamed in anguish.
From what the chat was saying, this screaming woman's name seemed to be Kim Ma-ri.
A name that reminds me of fried food from a snack shop.
While it was quite a tragic scene...
Our kind neighbor Mr. Owlbear didn't miss even that brief moment.
He dove into that instant when Kim Ma-ri was screaming and swung his sharp front paw.
"Kuhurk!"
Thwack!
She coughed up the air in her lungs as she went flying.
She wasn't dead, but it was clearly a severe injury.
Blood was streaming from where the feathers had cut her skin, and she couldn't move well, as if some bones were broken.
With the priest gone and in this state, she would die from blood loss.
Knowing survival was impossible, she shouted at me:
"Run away! That thing's a monster!"
I facepalmed.
Then looked at the enraged Owlbear.
"Hey Mr. Owlbear, why are you so angry?"
Truth is, I had a bit of an internal bond with the Owlbear.
He was generally docile if you didn't cross into his territory, and he acted as a guardian protecting my home.
After all, he often took care of things before they reached my house.
Grateful for that, I'd sometimes secretly tossed goblin corpses into his territory for him to eat.
This absolutely wasn't because I was too lazy to dispose of corpses myself. Really.
Anyway, because of that relationship, I didn't want to fight him.
But an enraged monster won't listen to words.
He swung his claws at me, not even recognizing his neighbor.
Shiiik-!
A sharp sound rang through the air.
I frowned while dodging his attack.
'Sigh... should I just run?'
After all, it wasn't my problem if an Otherworlder who would just revive anyway died.
Since I hadn't invaded his territory, running until he calmed down was an option.
That's what I was planning to do.
However, the direction he was rampaging in was the problem.
If he kept charging straight ahead like this, he would reach where my laundry was hanging.
"Huk!"
Even I had to genuinely panic at this point.
Not my laundry!
I had resolved to die if all my laundry didn't dry today!
So I had no choice but to block his path.
If our opinions were at odds, there was no helping it.
One of us would have to see blood.
"Mr. Owlbear, I'm truly sorry it's come to this..."
I drew out the spear on my back.
The familiar grip sensation dug into my senses.
I didn't bother striking first.
When an opponent is that enraged, they'll attack first anyway.
"Kuuuu!"
Sure enough, the Owlbear swung his front paw again.
I could block it, but since I could see the attack's trajectory.
There was no need to waste energy blocking.
So I lightly twisted my body to dodge his attack.
He used his turn, so now it was my turn.
Naturally switching to offense. I immediately thrust my spear at his front leg.
Shunk-!
"Hukuhuku!"
A few of his steel-like feathers were cut as red blood leaked out.
From far away came Kim Ma-ri's dying exclamation.
"Wow..."
But regardless, I could only frown.
'Ah, damn.'
It didn't cut as deep as I'd hoped.
As expected of an Owlbear. Not only was he strong, but his skin was incredibly tough.
Being unarmed was a big factor too.
If I'd enchanted the spear with blood, I could have just severed the whole arm.
'But I can't use blood in front of her...'
I thought, looking at Kim Ma-ri.
Using blood would obviously look suspicious.
Especially since info about 'Demon's Blood' had apparently been spreading among Otherworlders lately.
I couldn't openly manipulate blood in front of her.
'Well, can't be helped.'
I quickly gave up on that idea.
Instead, there was something else I could use.
A bit harder to use and slightly less efficient, but...
Everything in this world contains mana.
Whether much or little, everything in the world is born with the potential for greatness.
And some of them hone themselves to learn to control their own mana.
Strengthening the body, compressing mana, converting it to magic...
And I was a human who had survived in this forest for over 10 years.
I'd fought thousands of battles and crossed the line between life and death dozens of times.
After rolling around that much, mana naturally became something I could control.
Why? Because I would have died long ago if I couldn't use it.
Wooong-
I wrapped mana around the spear tip. Quickly circulating mana through my body to inject vitality.
Something bluish enveloped the area around the spear.
I prepared a thrusting stance in that state.
Kuguguk, muscles contracted to gather power in one spot.
Like this, my spear would shoot forward like a spring.
"Hukukuk!"
Around this time, he must have sensed the danger as he took a defensive stance.
His two steel-like front paws formed an X. A strong will to block any attack radiated from him.
But it was useless.
If he wanted to block, he should have disrupted me before I prepared the thrust.
This was the price of failing to stop that.
After gathering sufficient power, I thrust the spear straight at him.
That was the end.
Bang-!
Steel-like feathers scattered through the air along with droplets of blood.
A fearsome shockwave spread in all directions from the Owlbear's body.
What remained was one Owlbear corpse with huge holes in both front paws and head.
"!!"
Kim Ma-ri's voice rang out in shock.
Ignoring her voice, I internally paid my respects to him.
'Farewell... my neighbor friend.'
I made sure not to forget to shed a tear in my heart.