014 - Just One More

There were three werewolves nearby. All three turned to face Jinwoo at once, growling.

He swallowed hard and stood in front of the child, shielding her. Just then, a hand grabbed the hem of his pants.

"&@#!"

The child managed a smile and clung tightly to his pants. Her small hand was filled with a desperate urgency, as if she would never let go again.

Without taking his eyes off the werewolves, Jinwoo bent down slightly and took the child's hand.

"?!"

The child flinched in surprise. An Elf's hands, no matter how much they trained or wielded a sword, were always soft and uncalloused. But Jinwoo's hands were like stone, covered in calluses from long years of working at construction sites.

Realizing he wasn't the person she had been searching for, the child's expression was instantly overcome with fear.

Jinwoo gently removed her hand from his and faced the werewolves.

Awoooooo!

The three beasts charged at him simultaneously. Not only that, but one of them threw its head back and let out a howl. At that moment, a tremor ran through all the Blue Flames scattered throughout the mansion.

Countless flames began to move in unison toward Jinwoo's location.

‘You've got to be kidding me.’

There was no way he could fight these numbers. Becoming frantic, Jinwoo sliced the first werewolf that reached him in two at the waist.

At the same time, he grabbed the child by the scruff of her neck with his other hand and hoisted her up. Then, using Rock Sword, he smashed the head of the second charging werewolf.

SMASH!

Its head shattered in a single blow, leaving only its body behind. He kicked the massive corpse toward the third werewolf and immediately sprinted into the forest on the opposite side.

"@$! $%@#! @#^! #&%!"

The child he'd slung over his shoulder pounded on his back and struggled, but he refused to put her down. Before long, the child seemed to realize they were fleeing from the werewolves and gradually grew still.

K-heong!

A sudden ambush came from the side. A werewolf that had been hiding in the darkness of the forest leaped at him.

But it was useless against Jinwoo, who had already tracked its every move with his Blue Flame. The ambushing werewolf was countered and had its flame pierced, dying in vain.

Awoooooo!

Wooooo-wooooo!

Howls echoed from all corners of the forest. In the woods, lit only by the faint moonlight, the howling of wolves was a horror movie in itself.

Just as Jinwoo was using his Blue Flame to track their locations, the werewolves were using their howls to communicate his position to their kin.

"Tch!"

He focused all his senses.

While he could read their positions and movements with the Blue Flame, dealing with them was entirely up to him. Fending off werewolves ambushing him from all directions in a dark forest was no easy task.

Stab!

Shluck!

How many had he cut down? He was so busy fleeing for his life that he couldn't even keep count, swinging his sword relentlessly.

Still, his efforts were paying off, as the pursuit had slackened slightly. The forest was so dense and complex that it restricted the movements of the massive werewolves.

‘They're not strong enough to just smash through trees and rocks like the Black Bear.’

He was relieved they weren't that powerful or threatening. However, their sheer numbers meant he couldn't afford to relax.

Soon, he reached a small stream. It was so shallow and narrow that it would barely cover half his foot.

‘Hoooo… Let's rest for just one minute. No, two.’

Jinwoo bent down and drank from the stream. The continuous fighting and running had left him severely dehydrated, and the water went down endlessly.

He let the child drink as well and did his best to wipe away the blood streaming down her cheeks. But the bleeding wouldn't stop; it was clear the wound needed proper treatment.

‘Her eyes… they're almost completely crushed. At this rate, she'll be blind for life.’

But unfortunately, he had no way to treat her.

He had first-aid supplies in his inventory, but for some reason, his inventory wouldn't work. Even if he could access it, the supplies he had were only good for basic first aid, not for a severe injury like this.

Just then, the child fumbled in her sleeve and pulled out a small vial.

She struggled for a moment to open the lid, but she didn't seem to have the strength. The child hesitated, then tugged on Jinwoo's clothes and held out the vial to him.

"You want me to open it?"

"$^@%."

Just as Jinwoo didn't understand her words, she didn't understand his. But in a situation like this, the range of possible conversations was limited.

Jinwoo took the vial and popped the cork open. The moment it opened, a clear and refreshing fragrance wafted out.

‘Is this… Nectar?’

He remembered Chartia telling him that high-ranking Elves carried a mysterious potion called Nectar. It was said to be a far superior item to the potions made on Earth, capable of not only healing wounds but also purifying all sorts of poisons and contaminants.

‘Come to think of it, was it Nectar that Elf used to heal me?’

Thinking back, when he had collapsed after being attacked by the Black Bear, the wounds that should have killed him had mostly healed, and the contamination had been completely washed away. If it was Nectar that had healed him then, it meant that Elf, like this child, came from a prominent family.

"Here."

After opening the vial, Jinwoo tilted the child's head back and let the Nectar flow onto the wounds on her eyes. The injuries were so deep that her eyeballs were nearly pulverized.

He didn't know if this one small vial could regenerate them, but all he could do was pray to the heavens.

Thankfully, the bleeding stopped. Jinwoo tore a strip from his clothes and wrapped it around the child's eyes like a blindfold.

He filled the now-empty vial with water and had the child drink it, to make sure she ingested any last remnants of the potion's effects.

He refilled the vial with water again, tucked it away, and slung the child over his shoulder.

"$%@#."

"What. Is it uncomfortable?"

The child squirmed a little as if uncomfortable, so he tried shifting her position. He tried carrying her in his arms and on his back, but carrying her over his shoulder was still the most comfortable for him.

In the end, he returned to his original position and started running again.

Awooooo-wooooo!

The howling continued unabated. He doubted there would ever come a day when that sound would cease. The number of Blue Flames spread across this forest and mountain was just that overwhelming.

He cut, and cut, and cut again.

The werewolves' pursuit was relentless and tenacious; there was no shaking them.

No, to be more precise, it was impossible.

‘I can deal with the sound and tracks, but there's no way to erase my scent.’

The werewolves' sense of smell was superior to that of any animal, making escape impossible. If it rained or if he found a large river, he might be able to wash away the scent, but there was nothing of the sort. There might be one somewhere in the mountains, but he couldn't afford to wander around searching for it in this situation.

‘The kid… is she running a fever? She's losing consciousness.’

The child was panting heavily and drifting in and out of consciousness. It seemed the fever had set in from the process of regenerating her eyes.

The child's condition was poor, and he had concluded that escape was impossible.

As a last resort, Jinwoo took refuge in a cave he happened to find. It was a narrow, cramped cave, but he managed to lay the child down inside.

After that, he tore a long strip from his clothes and tied his own hand firmly to the hilt of his sword.

When he came out to the entrance, dozens of pairs of eyes were already glowing fiercely, waiting for him.

"…Let's do this. As long as I'm not killed instantly, I'll be fine."

He felt sorry for the child, but if things got too dangerous, he would run. He had already done enough. He had saved her on reflex, but he had no obligation to protect her any further.

With that thought, Jinwoo raised his sword.

---

Once, twice.

How much time had passed? The sun rose and set, and then rose again.

The child was still hovering between life and death, and Jinwoo was still standing guard in front of her.

The bodies of werewolves were piled up around him. The number of Blue Flames in the mountains had decreased by that much, but there were still many left.

Even now, they charged at Jinwoo without a hint of fear.

Stab—

On reflex, just as he had been doing all this time, Jinwoo swung his sword and cut down the beast.

Sweat drenched his entire body, leaving him as dry as a dead tree. The water he had carried in the small vial had been finished long ago. His cracked mouth tasted sweet, and his limbs felt as if they were shackled with thousand-pound weights.

The strange thing was, despite all that, the sword itself didn't feel heavy at all. His arms might feel heavy, but he couldn't feel the weight of the sword. That was one of the reasons Jinwoo was able to swing his sword for two days straight.

There was another reason: the Blue Flames he absorbed from the werewolves were restoring his physical stamina, little by little. This was the first time he'd realized this effect. The amount was so minuscule that he hadn't noticed it before, but now that his body was at its limit and screaming in deprivation, he could feel the presence of that faint energy.

In the process, he came to a realization.

He had always thought that the human body had a physical limit, while the mind could transcend anything. But surprisingly, it was his mental fortitude, not his physical stamina, that was running out first.

His body would manage somehow. Pushed to its limits, his body found a way, cutting down the werewolves with maximum efficiency. He had always been able to kill them with a single strike—a single cut to the Blue Flame—but now that one strike had been honed to its absolute limit.

Faster, with less force, to cut down the enemy. He stripped away all unnecessary movements from his sword, creating an optimized path for the blade. He also broke down the tiny amount of stamina gained from absorbing the Blue Flames and utilized it to the fullest. His body did this without his conscious effort, all for the sake of survival.

But his mind was another story. That, he had to support entirely with his own will.

A body pushed to its limits displays superhuman strength and adaptability to survive. A mind pushed to its limits, however, tries to break itself and give up.

If so, then what Jinwoo needed to take care of was not his body, but his mind.

To not give up. To not turn away from this ordeal and flee. To not let his spirit die while facing the endless tide of werewolves.

"Just one more… just one more…"

At some point, he had narrowed the range of his Blue Flame perception to its absolute minimum, tracking only the beasts in the immediate vicinity of the cave.

He focused only on the enemies right in front of him. He told himself he would kill just them, just one more.

He kept swinging his sword, counting one more, over and over.

Even when the werewolves' assault intensified, even when a larger number suddenly rushed him, Jinwoo's stance did not change. Just get one more before I go.

Another day passed. Or was it two?

His sense of time had vanished. By now, only a single flame remained within his perception.

‘…Huh?’

He expanded his senses. He stretched his perception as far as it could go, searching for Blue Flames, but still, he could only detect one.

There's only one left?

But that one flame was burning bigger and brighter than any he had seen so far. It looked to be at least twice the size.

Still, it was the last one.

With exhausted, haggard, and hollow eyes, Jinwoo raised his sword. His hand trembled like a newborn fawn, but he paid it no mind.

"Just one more…"

At his murmur, the werewolf chieftain turned pale. To the beast, Jinwoo's words sounded like a witch's curse, a spell that slaughtered its kin.

---

[WORST RESULT.]
[You have defied the destiny of the heavens. This karma will one day overtake your fate.]

‘What the hell is this supposed to mean?’

He didn't have the energy to read or understand it. Squeezing out his last ounce of strength, Jinwoo escaped from the trial.

[You have fled the trial.]

And then he pressed the emergency button he had installed at home. It was a button to call 119.

---

"Ugh, ughn…"

The child opened her eyes. She was conscious, but she couldn't see.

She was startled for a moment, but then she remembered that her eyes were covered by a blindfold.

She fumbled with the knot. It had been tied so tightly that her tiny hands struggled, but she somehow managed to untie it.

When the child opened her eyes for the first time in days, the first thing she saw was the inside of a narrow cave.

"I… I'm alive…?"

She couldn't believe it. How had she escaped that living hell, and how had she survived?

She remembered the mansion burning. The knights of her house, the servants, they were all dead. Her mother, too, had fallen. Though she was a young Elf of only fifty, she understood perfectly. Her house had fallen, and she was an orphan.

Her legs trembled, and she wanted to collapse right then and there. It felt as if the sky was falling. It wasn't a metaphor; her world had truly crumbled. To the child, her family and her home were everything.

But she held on somehow. She was the only heir left. That meant she was the only one who could rebuild the fallen House Garcia. Someone with such a great mission could not be crushed by despair.

‘Who was that person?’

She knew someone had carried her here. Who could it have been? Her eyes had been destroyed, and she had been too terrified to think clearly, so she had no idea.

All she remembered was a large, hard, rock-like hand that had held and supported her.

Remembering that, the child stepped out of the cave and froze, utterly dumbfounded.

Her savior was nowhere to be seen outside the cave. Instead, there were only the corpses of hundreds of werewolves, piled high.

---