Chapter 4

A scene, as if pulled from my oldest memories, unfolded before my eyes.

People screaming as they ran away.

Wolf-shaped beasts chased after them with light footsteps.

The buildings, seen here and there, were burning or collapsing with loud noises.

The world where beasts had been resurrected was, quite literally, a wreck.

The stream was stained red and gave off a stench, and cries and screams never ceased.

“Take it.”

A hulking man drew a sword from his robes and handed it over.

It was a sword about half the size of the greatsword in the man’s hand.

“Take that and handle those things. I’ll deal with that one.”

Then he pointed with a thick finger at the village from which black smoke poured.

It was the neighboring village we often followed my father to.

From the shadowed gaps of the blackened buildings, a red beast thrust out its head.

It resembled the other beasts scattered across the plains, but was at least twice their size.

I nodded and moved toward the fleeing people.

There were three beasts to face.

About ten more beasts were grouped elsewhere, but the others were feeding on corpses some distance away.

Without hesitation I drew the energy from my heart.

Even the weakest beast is not easy to deal with if you don’t know how to fight them.

They had hides too tough for ordinary human strength to pierce, skeletons comparable to many metals, and strength so great that three adults would barely be able to hold them back.

There was, at least, one way to deal with them….

Now was not the time.

The moment I gained the ability to use the beasts’ power, they ceased to be my match.

I drove a strand of the energy straight into both my legs, then rapidly closed the distance.

Vroom—

I swung my sword at the maw of the beast lunging at the boy who had stumbled while fleeing.

The blade flew swiftly in a silver arc and embedded itself just before the neck.

“Clang!”

Before the sticky blood could run down the blade, I kicked the beast’s head up and pulled the lodged sword free.

Two other beasts that had been pursuing the others turned and charged toward me.

I quickly rerouted the energy in my legs toward the hand holding the sword.

The sequence flowed naturally, like water.

I drove into the chest of the one leaping at me with razor claws and stabbed in.

For a moment the blade seemed to bend, then it pierced through the tough hide and lodged in.

‘…Damn.’

Blood seeped from my gums.

It wasn’t a question of slicing cleanly or not.

It was because my body wasn’t mature yet, and I couldn’t use enough energy to endure it.

I barely bore the heavy beast’s weight and hurled it at the creature aiming for my side.

The unpleasant sensation of bones twisting.

I lacked the strength to face three at once.

But that gap could be overcome through experience.

I let go and collapsed to the ground, then twisted the sword and pulled while the corpse was still stiff.

There was no time to waste.

Beasts that had smelled their kin’s blood were watching me with blood-soaked muzzles raised.

‘I wish I could cut their necks.’

With regret, I drove the blade into the eye of the one flattened and dazed beneath the corpse.

I felt the vibration of bone striking the hilt.

That put out the immediate danger.

The boy watching me up close looked pale and could only move his lips.

“Run quickly. If you go now, you’ll survive.”

I wasn’t wrong.

The boy’s companions, realizing the pursuing beasts were gone, were stomping their feet in the distance and staring at the boy and me.

If they ran diligently now, the remaining beasts would try to deal with me first, who blocked their path. If they split into two groups, there would be no way to protect them.

Whether he knew that or not, the boy, whose trouser hems were damp, acted as if he had no intention of getting up.

“Th-there!”

A sudden chill ran down my spine.

A strong smell of blood was rapidly approaching.

Thunk.

It was the one that had first torn my jaw.

Its jaw, torn up to the throat, dangled from the tough hide.

As it turned, it kicked off the ground and swung its forelegs.

Because I still had energy infused in my arms, I could block the attack.

With a sharp, heavy impact, sword and claws collided.

“….!”

I planted my feet to brace for the collision.

But I couldn’t withstand the force and weight behind the attack.

Because, aside from my arms, the rest of me was no different from an ordinary fifteen-year-old boy.

Thud.

My vision flipped.

I flew and rolled across the lawn three or four times.

My whole body tingled as if it had been scraped.

I heard the sound of air escaping.

The neck of the beast, its yellow, glossy eyes wide and sharp, trembled.

It mocked me, who had been flung about disgracefully.

Yeah. That’s how it is.

My limbs trembled slightly from failing to absorb the sudden impact.

My shoulders creaked and my muscles screamed.

The creature noticed my condition and was taking its time, confident.

But regrettably,

That didn’t impede me at all.

-Woong

A strand of energy circulated my body, rapidly seeping into my wounds, and an equal amount of energy was newly emitted.

What does it matter if the amount of energy I could use was small?

There was energy sleeping within me that would be more than enough even if used for a lifetime.

I tightened my cleared body and mind taut.

I surged toward the jawless beast that was acting overly confident.

From legs to arms, moving with the rapidly continuing flow, the sharply honed blade sank precisely into its dark-red throat.

When I lightly moved the hilt, I felt the soft entrails being cut.

The beast that had struggled briefly soon lost strength and slumped.

It was at that moment.

-Kwaaaang!

Just as I was about to savor the taste of victory, something exploded in the distance.

It was the village the man with the greatsword had run to, where the red beast had been.

A beast large enough to swallow a sheep or goat whole had been thrown into a building with its side caved in.

The impact caused the building to collapse quickly.

Pale smoke billowed, and through it a red energy rose.

It was the man’s greatsword.

Flames, rippling like a thing starved, covered it.

Approaching the red beast, the man swung flames so dizzying they made my head spin.

Ssss—

The acrid stench of scorched flesh stung my nose.

Rather than slicing it, it sounded like crushing and mashing, the nape of the collapsing beast sizzling and oozing pus.

It all happened in an instant.

Sensing danger, the red beast shook violently and pulled itself from the ruined debris.

“Kaaaargh!!”

The beast’s pained howl resounded in my ears.

Not only the fleeing people, but even the beasts charging toward me were stunned and stared.

Now only the red beast and the man were moving.

I was the only one who could take advantage of that gap to deal with the remaining beasts.

The flames flowing over the man’s greatsword cooled abruptly.

Seeing that, the red beast halted its retreat and lowered its stance.

-Bang!

The red beast leapt forward and opened its large maw.

Its densely packed sharp teeth reached right to the man’s throat, and at the same moment the swung greatsword struck the beast’s cheek.

The beast’s head snapped over and droplets of blood splattered the wall.

But its charge didn’t slow at all, and the man’s upright greatsword pierced the beast’s shoulder blade.

“Kaaaargh! Kaaaargh!!”

Horrible screams burst from its maw as clear saliva and blood dripped.

The result was clear, but the man did not stop.

He bore the red beast’s weight and lifted the embedded sword as it was.

No—flames rekindled and mercilessly began to consume the beast’s flesh.

They sliced through tough tendons and muscles and tore through thick bone.

Then they burned the hide and scattered flames into the air.

All his movements were utterly natural, and the man was not hurt in the slightest.

Without missing a breath, he simply pulled out the core from the fallen beast’s corpse.

In short, the man wasn’t trying his hardest.

A long era of peaceful human centuries.

With the ancient beasts only just awakening from a deep sleep, I couldn’t at all understand how that man had come to possess such power.

As I thought that, I cut the throats of the beasts cowed by the fight between the man and the red beast.

From my feet to my fingertips.

I continuously moved a strand of energy along with my movements.

A feeling I hadn’t experienced in a very long time.

The more I repeated it, the faster I became, and eventually I could handle even beasts that had regained their senses and charged at me all at once.

The channels widened by the energy raging within me were heating up.

I must not lose this feeling.

Later, I found even the time to heal and draw new energy too precious and stopped tending to my wounds.

Fatigue piled up and the pain grew worse, but the long-missed sense of accomplishment was pure joy.

I blocked beasts with my sword, slotted into openings, and stabbed their weak points.

When all of that began to happen naturally without conscious thought,

“That’s enough.”

As I cut the last beast’s breath, someone grabbed hold of my body.

My heightened senses rapidly subsided and I began to gasp the breath I’d been holding.

My limbs tingled.

My whole body was covered in torn and cut wounds.

“Ah.”

In an instant, my whole body went limp as if something had snapped.

It seemed I’d overworked my body beyond its limits.

If the man hadn’t grabbed the back of my neck just then, I’d have collapsed to the ground.

Clang!

The sword in my hand fell to the ground with a sound.

Its teeth were all worn away from cutting through tough hides and scraping hard bones.

It even looked slightly bent.

“How long are you going to stay like that?”

“Ah, sorry.”

There were no deep wounds or missing parts.

I should recover quickly from this.

Just as I thought that and reached to draw the energy back into my heart,

“Huh?”

The energy that should have stopped here was drawn out a little more.

The gigantic energy sleeping in my heart began to writhe and stir.

And I felt that terrible pain again.

Unable to scream, I twisted my whole body and had to endure the burning sensation inside.

“Ugh… argh!”

Even returning the drawn energy didn’t make the pain go away.

I felt I might lose consciousness any moment, but I couldn’t. If I couldn’t control the rampaging energy, the tangled energy would surely ravage my body.

If my body were mature this would be needless worry, but now I’m just a kid in full growth; a mistake could leave me down forever.

I barely turned to look back.

The man who met my gaze was still looking at me with an indifferent expression.

He wouldn’t help me, would he?

If so, there was only one thing to do.

Having barely finished a deep breath, I closed my eyes and began drawing out the energy in a single breath.