004- Monster

He could tell it was a corpse at a glance.
It wasn't for some vague reason like it's not moving, I can't feel a soul, or there's no sign of life.
There was more definitive proof.
All sorts of tools and miscellaneous items were scattered around it.

'They said a Hunter's inventory spills out when they die.'

Hunters possessed a subspace called an inventory.
Jinwoo had acquired one as soon as he awakened and had instinctively learned how to use it.
Without that subspace, he would have had to lug a huge backpack through this forest, and his survival rate would have plummeted.
He'd heard that upon a Hunter's death, that inventory spits out all its contents.
Therefore, that was a corpse, and the scattered items were the tools he had used in life.

'A Westerner. From Europe, maybe?'

Approaching for a closer look, he saw a man with a high-bridged nose and messy blond hair.
His jaw was covered in stubble, as if he hadn't been able to shave for several days. Which was to be expected inside a Gate.
A dog tag on a light chain hung around his neck, inscribed with his origin, name, date of birth, and so on.

'Not Europe, he was from New York. Mark Tesman. E-class Hunter, age... thirty-two, I guess.'

Young. Only six years older than Jinwoo.
If they had met in society, they would have been at an age to share a drink and call each other "hyung" and "dongsaeng."
And now, a young man like that was dead like trash. In the depths of this unknown forest.
...
His heart heavy, Jinwoo offered a silent prayer for the man's soul and took the dog tag.
Then, he gathered all the scattered tools and placed them in his own inventory.
There were many things Jinwoo already had, like camping gear, a machete, and rope, and he was already overflowing with food and water.
There were also a few types of weapons, among which a single spear was particularly unusual.

"Hup!"

He gave the spear a swing.
The tip was crude and rough, not in the best condition, but the shaft itself was sufficiently thick and heavy.
A pole this heavy and long was a deadly weapon in its own right.
The staff he received from the Bureau wasn't bad, but this spear felt much more reliable.

He collected all the weapons and set aside the personal items separately.
According to international law, the belongings of a Hunter who died within a Gate belonged to whoever found them, so there was no obligation to return them.
But items like a treasured photograph, a well-worn old fountain pen, or a notebook weren't things worth getting greedy over.
Leaving the photo inside the wallet, he took only the dollars and neatly gathered the man's personal effects in one corner of his inventory.
While doing so, he saw a note in the notebook that he couldn't ignore.

Blue portal!

An arrow was drawn next to the words "Blue portal."
Below it was a crudely sketched picture that looked like a map.
Mark Tesman had already found the blue portal for his return.
He must have recorded it on a map so he wouldn't forget, then continued exploring, had an accident, and died. That must have been what happened.

'It's a tragedy, but... you saved my life.'

Thanks to him, he had found a clue to the blue portal he had been searching so desperately for.
Offering a sincere thanks, Jinwoo performed his final task.
Examining the man's cause of death.

'His torso is tightly wrapped in bandages.'

The man's upper body was covered in dirty bandages.
The knot wasn't neat, probably because he had tied it himself, but it was tight enough to apply firm pressure to the wound.
Taking out a knife, Jinwoo cut the bandages and examined the man's injury.
The wound was on his back.
A sharp gash, as if he'd been clawed by a large beast's talons.
However, a blackish smoke-like substance was rising from the wound like a heat haze.
Seeing it, Jinwoo swallowed hard.

'A monster.'

It was a wound inflicted not by an ordinary animal, but by a monster.

What was the difference between a beast and a monster?
Monsters were far more ferocious, generally larger, and more fearsome, but the most crucial difference was this black smoke.
Commonly called Magi, this black smoke was the core of a monster's power and, at the same time, a type of disease that infected wounds inflicted by them.
A wound tainted with Magi does not heal through normal means.
Natural healing abilities or medicine from Earth were completely ineffective.
There were only two ways to heal a Magi wound.
One was a potion concocted from herbs found in a Gate, and the other was the ability of a Hunter who had awakened holy healing magic.
The problem was that neither option was available to the current Jinwoo.

'There's a monster nearby.'

He felt his throat tighten with tension.

For Jinwoo, who had just awakened, a monster was an opponent to be avoided at all costs.
It was incomparable to the wolves he had fought before.
An ordinary beast could be taken down by an F-class Hunter, or even a skilled non-awakened person.
But against a monster, such clumsy tricks wouldn't work.
The Magi that enveloped monsters was the source of their power, known to grant them strength and abilities that surpassed their limits.
Just like an awakened Hunter.

'Even I, having just awakened, could sprint for 40 minutes and slice a wolf in two with a single sword strike.'

Monsters possessed similar extraordinary abilities.
An F-class Hunter like him, with no experience and few awakened skills, was not someone who could take them on.
You'd need an E-class at least... no, seeing as the E-class Mark died in one blow, you'd probably need a D-class to even stand a chance. A chilling sense of crisis washed over him at the realization that he was in a monster's territory.
However.

'It's fine. I have the map to the blue portal. I just need to escape.'

Shaking his head, Jinwoo slapped his cheeks to clear his mind.
There was no reason to think about useless things. Right now, all he had to do was move toward the blue portal by the shortest route possible.
His inventory was already full of fruits and mushrooms, and he had more than a dozen fish left. The pelts and meat from the beasts the whimsical Elf had left him were worth more than his annual income.
On top of that, he had over twenty of those white arrows, which were surely masterpieces, though he couldn't appraise their value.
For a first trip into a Gate, his profits were already overflowing.
Rather than getting greedy here, the standard procedure was to return as quickly as possible.
Besides, with no telling how long the Elf's whim would last, staying longer would only increase his chances of dying.

'Just have to be careful on the way out.'

Having collected everything from Mark's body, Jinwoo unfolded the map and found his way.
He moved cautiously.
Following the path drawn on the map, he identified the marked rocks and trees to get his bearings.
But before long, he felt a sense of unease.

'There are traces of someone passing through. Are these Mark's escape tracks?'

The path was covered in tracks.
Footprints and trampled grass, of course, but also broken branches and disturbed fallen leaves.
They were flamboyant tracks with no attempt at concealment, similar to the ones he himself had made when fleeing frantically from the Elf.
He was definitely following the path to the blue portal, but that path was covered in Mark's escape tracks.
Why?
According to these tracks, Mark had fled from the blue portal to this spot.
With that wound, why would he run away from the portal instead of going into it?

'Could it be...'

An ominous possibility crept into his mind. It might not be true, but it was a possibility he couldn't ignore.
Still, he had to confirm it. Jinwoo proceeded a little more quietly, more cautiously.
And he was met with the result he had expected.

'Dammit.'

He had come face to face with the worst-case scenario he'd imagined.
Raising his binoculars to check the blue portal, Jinwoo muttered a curse under his breath.
The portal was inside a cave hollowed out of a rock the size of a house, but the cave didn't just contain the portal.

A giant bear, larger than anything he had ever seen.
Its black fur had reddish patches here and there, and a haze-like black smoke shimmered all over its body.
Its eyes were not just red but blood-colored, and a scar across one eye added to its ferocious impression.

'The wound on Mark's back was from that thing.'

The gash that looked like it was from a huge paw was undoubtedly made by that bear.
If he could just get past that portal, he could return to Earth.
At the final step, an obstacle blocked his path. Jinwoo bit his lower lip.

The black-haired woman with long ears watched Jinwoo from a distance.
She was watching him from even farther away than Jinwoo was observing the monster with his binoculars, yet she could see farther with her naked eye than he could with the lenses.
Her eyes, of course, had also spotted the bear in the cave.
Seeing it, a smile unknowingly spread across the woman's lips.

'I was wondering what to do when he found the portal.'

She had been disappointed when he found the blue portal sooner than she expected.
She hadn't observed him to her satisfaction yet, and she even felt a bit sad that he might be leaving already.
But seeing the monster guarding the path put her at ease.

The Master of the Mountain.
A chieftain-level monster that ruled over this entire area.
For that human to defeat the Master of the Mountain was impossible, even if he were reborn three times.
He could try to somehow shake it off and throw himself into the portal, but even shaking it off was a low-probability gamble to begin with.

With his life on the line, no sane human would throw themselves into a gamble with such a massive chance of failure.
'Let's see, the next portal is...'
As far as she knew, the next closest portal was at least a five-day journey from here.
Of course, she could get there in less than a day, but five days was based on that human child's speed.
And that was only if he went in the exact right direction. In reality, there was no telling if it would take a week or two.
Maybe I can observe him to my satisfaction for about two weeks.

'If he seems to be wandering too much after that, maybe I'll give him a little nudge.'
She had that much generosity.
She considered herself a very flexible Elf among her kin. And in reality, she was.
Anticipating the human child giving up on the portal before him and changing direction, she continued her observation of Jinwoo.

The deliberation was long.
Fighting that monster head-on was absolutely impossible. If he were to do it, his only option was to somehow avoid it and dive into the portal.
But that was no easy task either.
If he made even the slightest mistake, he would end up like Mark, beaten to a pulp by that paw.

'Should I abandon this place and look for another portal?'
That was one option, but it wasn't safe.
He had only barely found this portal thanks to Mark's map. To start searching for another one now, without a single clue?
If he was lucky, he'd find one easily, but what if he wasn't?
There was no telling when he might be attacked by the Elf or encounter other species or monsters.
The more time passed, the more the danger increased exponentially.
Given the situation, it was all the more difficult to give up on the escape route right in front of him.

A no-win situation.
Every choice was fraught with risk, making it impossible to decide easily.
After much thought, Jinwoo chose the former.

'I'll try to lure it out somehow.'

Facing that bear head-on was out of the question. But if it was just a matter of drawing its attention, he might manage somehow.
Once the decision was made, he acted quickly.
Fortunately, he was far away from the creature. He had observed it from a distance with binoculars, so his position hadn't been revealed.
While the beast remained crouched inside the rock cave, Jinwoo began to set up his work in a section of the forest.

'I'll set up a few traps, at least.'

He took out a shovel and dug a pit, then took out a wire and set up a snare. He found a nearby tree with good elasticity and tied a rope to it.
They were flimsy traps that a professional hunter would scoff at.
The construction was crude and the concealment was poor, as flimsy as if an amateur had made them by eye.
And that was accurate, as Jinwoo's knowledge of traps was at an amateur level, learned in a hurry.
But he did his best with what he had.
He used everything he could muster at that moment.

'Good.'

The preparations were complete. Now, he just needed to draw the beast out of the cave and lure it into the traps. If the several traps he'd laid could hold its attention for even five seconds... then he could sprint past it to the portal inside the cave.

'The bow... I've only practiced for three days.'

He took out the bow he had received as a supply from the Bureau.
He could barely shoot it, and his accuracy was abysmal.
He had only practiced with it at home for about three days after receiving it. There had been no time for leisurely archery practice inside the Gate.
But he didn't need a direct hit.
If it just landed near the beast and drew its attention... if he could make it notice his presence and lure it out, then it would have served its purpose.

'The white arrow.'

He took out one of the white arrows the Elf had left with the animal carcasses. It would probably sell for a good price, but this was no time to be frugal. He nocked the white arrow on the string of the crude, standard-issue bow.
Looking at it now, the gap in quality between the bow and arrow was even more apparent.
Shooting such a fine arrow with this cheap bow felt like an insult to the master craftsman who made it.
But what did he care?
If anyone was to blame, it was the whim of the Elf who had given him the arrow.

Kiiik—

He drew the bowstring and aimed at the black bear inside the cave.