The thing before me was a Wolfana, one of the new species on the list of ‘Special Series Monsters’ also called the ‘Heaven’s Wrath’.

It is said that the heavens got angry with all the atrocities that human beings have been inflicting on nature and amongst themselves, that’s why they created these monsters to maintain the balance and keep humanity in check. A bunch of bullshit in my opinion.

As if the heavens would have time to care about something as trivial as humans and their atrocities, just how much spare time do these people who made the list think the heavens have? Morons

 

Coming back to the present situation, 

A Wolfana has the head of a ferocious wolf and the body of a human. It is counted among one of the strongest monsters to ever appear out of mysterious structures called dungeons.

The first appearance these monsters made was 10 years ago when 10 of these monsters massacred around 200 strong adventurers, thereby shocking everyone in the aftermath. Ever since then they have also been called the ‘Fangs of Death’.

Wolfanas are sometimes also associated with Werewolves and trust me, the comparison isn’t all that wrong. It is said that the Wolfana are born from the countless people who met some unfortunate circumstances and perished in the dungeons.

Maybe that’s the reason why their intelligence is considered to be on par with that of humans.

 

The Wolfana in front of me completely ignored the girl’s existence and focused all its attention on me. I guess it wants to have a fight with me or something.

Taking advantage of the monster’s negligence or dismissal, to be precise, the girl ran away from there without saying anything else. Well, she did flash me a ridiculing smile before heading off, shitty bitch. To be honest, I really wanted to catch her up and throw her in front of the monster but considering the direction she was headed in, I decided not to pursue her. I mean, she will meet one of ‘them’ if she keeps heading that way. I can’t wait to see her sorry expression when that happens.

“Hmph… pathetic shit” 

I shook my head and kicked any thoughts about her out of my mind, I was going to have so much more fun right here and now, why the hell should I keep on thinking about someone who might die in a few minutes?

So I focused my attention on the monster before me.

It stood there smiling and flashing its fangs, doing its best to creep me out of my mind. But if only this much was enough to disturb me then I would have probably died a long time ago or maybe become a kebab or a grilled steak for these monsters to enjoy.

Coming back to the monster,

My first impression of it was, huge!

It stood around 2.5 meters tall, its arms and legs were long and covered with fur and it was releasing an incredibly high oppressing aura.

The monster looked at me and then issued a roar probably to intimidate me.

“Graaaahhhhh!”

 

Well, the roar was loud and I did feel a tinge of pain in my ears, but that’s it. I didn’t feel anything else. The roar in reality was more irritating than intimidating.

Noticing no change in my expression the monster grinned happily and looked at me with interest in its eyes.

This guy…it must be thinking that I am a small fry. Well whatever, go on underestimate me it’s fine for me that way.

 

I unsheathed my sword and then covered it alongside my two feet with mana.

Luminescent white light covered my sword and my feet, I pointed my sword at the monster in front of me and then

“*Clang!!!*”

The sound of metal clashing reverberated in the surroundings.

 

***

 

AUTHOR’S POV

A girl in her late teens was running through the forest at an incredibly fast speed.

Sometimes whilst running she would glance backwards to check if someone was following her and then continue running again.

It was a very short period of time but the girl had gotten a considerable amount of distance away from the Wolfana that she had first met. 

The girl shivered holding her arms together as she thought about the sight of the monster she saw just a few moments ago. The monster was tall, around 2.5 meters in height, it had the head of a wolf and limbs of a human, the creature looked as if it had been summoned from some mythical legend. It was emanating a menacing aura, the entire forest seemed heavy under the influence of the monster.

The girl shook her head as if to remove all the unnecessary thoughts out of her mind and kept on running.

“Shit! That was a grave miscalculation on our part!”

She cursed under her breath

The thing is, this girl also came to this forest to hunt these monsters. She knew that her direct combat strength wasn’t high but she compensated for that weakness using her resourcefulness. ‘Today was supposed to be the biggest day of her life then how come she is now going through this hellish situation?’ Is what she kept on pondering about over and over again. She racked her brains to come up with an answer but she wasn’t able to do that.

“Maybe it’s the penance for everything that I have done”

She said with a tinge of pain and sorrow in her voice. Her mind got overwhelmed by the feeling of regrets but that didn’t last too long as she soon overpowered the useless emotions and flashed a cold smile.

“No, if there was something called penance in this world then ‘he’ should have been the first person to die not me. This is a dog-eat-dog world, the stronger and clever ones survive and the weaker and foolish ones perish. Yes, that’s how it is, that’s how it is ‘supposed’ to be”

She murmured under her breath. She wasn’t saying these words to anyone, these words were only said because she didn’t want herself to be burdened by the thought of killing others.

How weak the mind is, deluding yourself just so that you won’t feel burdened by your sins, how weak, how pathetic

 

She didn’t think about anything else after that, she just kept on running but that came to a stop after she encountered ‘that’.

Her face went pale as if all the blood was drained from it and she started shivering. Well, of course, she would since the one standing before her was another Wolfana!

She was confused, she was aggrieved, she didn’t know what to do anymore.

It was then, that a sudden thought came to her mind, ‘why did that boy not chase after me?’

She was thinking about the boy she had met earlier. She still remembered the boy’s expression when she used him as a scapegoat to run away from the Wolfana. At that time rather than looking scared, angry, or confused the boy rather looked relaxed, no, she noticed that his expression was similar to when someone tries to stifle a laugh. But why? He surely didn’t know she would encounter another Wolfana on her way here, would he?

Just as this thought crossed her mind, she started feeling an immense amount of hatred towards the bastardly boy who knowingly plunged her into the claws of death. Even though she was the one who used him as a bait first, I guess shamelessness is a part of being a human too.

But something still strike her as odd, if the boy truly did know about the presence of the other Wolfana then why didn’t he use it as an excuse to make a temporary alliance with her?

‘Could it be…that he was strong enough to defeat a Wolfana?’

Her mind went blank as she thought of this possibility but she soon discarded this thought, ‘a Wolfana isn’t something that a boy similar to her in age can deal with’ is what she kept on repeating over and over again in her mind

She didn’t believe, no, she didn’t want to believe in this possibility because if the boy truly turned out to be strong enough to defeat that monster then she is going to suffer a fate even worse than death. She knew all too well about humans, she knew just how monstrous a human being could actually be.

Just the thought of that man coming back carrying the severed head of the Wolfana in his hand sent shivers down her spine.

The girl was still immersed in her thoughts, seeing the girl ignore its presence the Wolfana issued a roar,

“Graaaaaahhhh!!!!”

The Wolfana looked at the girl in the same way a butcher might look at a lamb that is about to be slaughtered. The gaze of the Wolfana was enough to tell that it didn’t take his opponent seriously, that it could easily deal with her anytime it wanted, that she was nothing but an inferior prey in its bloodthirsty eyes

The monster’s gaze caused the girl to lose all her strength, her hand holding the small sword started shaking. Her eyes started tearing up and it seemed as if she would drop to the ground any moment now but then suddenly all the shivering and shaking stopped.

“No! I can’t die here!!!”

She shouted to motivate herself, a strange fire lit in her eyes

The girl bit her lips, a trail of blood dripped down from her lips, and she rushed at the monster before her with determination apparent in her eyes.

 

“Haaaaaa!!!”

With full force behind her body, the girl swung her mana clad sword at the Wolfana. The girl had converged all her mana in her short sword and her feet as if it was her last attack and ran towards the monster. She had a determined expression on her face and looked certain that she will hit her target.

But

The moment her sword was going to hit the Wolfana, it dodged the strike by moving to its right side and then just casually punched the girl in her face. She got sent flying away from the impact of the punch and finally came to a stop after crashing into a tree.

“*Bash!!!*”

 

The girl collided with the tree and slumped on the ground, she was bleeding and she had probably broken a few of her bones.

The girl looked at the Wolfana standing before her with a smirk on its beastly face with fear completely apparent in her eyes. She kept on mumbling ‘I don’t want to die' repeatedly as if she was trying to escape reality by chanting those words.

“I don’t want to die! Not yet! Not yet!! Not yet!!! I cannot die, not until I kill ‘him’!!”

The girl started shouting, protesting, and crying. Tears filled her eyes and her entire face got drenched by her tears.

The monster looked as if it had gotten bored, so it leisurely walked towards the girl and raised its arm to tear apart the girl but before it could do that, it was interrupted by the arrival of a certain stranger.

 

“Whoa! How pathetic~!”

It was a voice full of derision

It was a voice unbefitting of someone noble

It was the voice of the protagonist

 

***

 

PROTAGONIST’S POV

 

“Gaahhhh!!!”

The monstrosity in front of me fell to the ground with a thump.

It was looking at me with fear and horror in its eyes.

It was the Wolfana that foolishly tried to fight me.

I had already cut down its legs and gave it a grave wound on its torso. The Wolfana looked at me with fear and caution in its eyes. Then it did something that was unthinkable for a monster to do. It joined its hands as if it was begging me for mercy.

Where did this creature learn something like this from?

It was a pretty obvious answer, in my opinion, it learned the universal art of begging from its victims. I don’t know how many humans must have begged the same way in front of this monster.

I didn’t waste any time further and swiftly cut down the monster’s head. The monster didn’t even have the time to make any sound. The monster’s body twitched for a few moments before it eventually stopped.

 

“Graaaaaahhhh!!!!”

Hm? Has she met that guy already? Now that was fast, I never expected her to be so quick on her feet, looks like she wasn’t completely incapable after all.

 

Without further ado, I picked up the monster’s corpse and rushed in the same direction as that girl earlier did.

The girl, although, she looked weak, was a very fast runner. I can’t believe that she was able to run so far in such a short amount of time. It took me a while to catch up with her and just as I expected, she encountered the other monster.

There was no need for me to do anything, so I decided to sit back and enjoy the show.

 

The girl looked to be scared out of her wits, she was shaking and shivering so badly that even I felt a bit of pity for her. 

But then suddenly her shivering stopped and she said,

“No! I can’t die here!!!”

Hm? I guess she has her reasons to not die as well.

 

“Haaaaa!!!!!”

‘Whoa!!! That’s nice, got gettim!’ I inwardly cheered for her victory

The girl raised her short sword, enveloped it with mana, and ran towards the monster.

Looks like it’s her last attack… too bad, this much is not enough to kill a monster of this caliber.

 

Just as I expected the monster easily dodged the attack and punched her in the face.

The girl got thrown away and finally collided with a tree and collapsed. She was bleeding heavily and it looks like she has broken a few of her bones as well. I guess it’s over for her now.

Now then, what will she do now?

Will she fight or run away?

Or maybe she will start begging? 

“I don’t want to die! Not yet! Not yet!! Not yet!!! I cannot die, not until I kill ‘him’!!”

Ah, so she started crying and throwing a tantrum

The girl started shouting, protesting, and crying. Tears filled her eyes and her entire face got drenched by her tears.

…

…

Pathetic

Truly, absolutely pathetic

Well, it’s none of my business so I guess it’s fine.

 

“Whoa! How pathetic~!”

I didn’t hide even a bit of my contempt when I said these words.

 

The monster and the girl looked at me

The girl’s tense face became even tenser when she looked at me.

I didn’t pay her any more mind and instead started focusing on the monster.

 

The monster was looking at me with wary eyes, no, to be honest, it was actually looking at the corpse of its fellow comrade in my hands.

The monster looked at me and then it looked at the girl. Then it looked at me again with the kind of face as if it was waiting for my reply.

“You want to trade your life with that girl’s? Is that what you are trying to say?” I asked it

In response to my question, the monster just nodded and started looking at me with expectant eyes.

 

“No can do, she’s not my companion do whatever you want with her, I don’t really care”

The look in the monster’s eyes changed and it charged at me without thinking anything else.

Foolish guy…you should have at least tried to take the girl as a hostage first. What if I had just been kidding?

 

I shook my head and threw the other Wolfana’s corpse at the one that was approaching me.

In response to me throwing its companion’s corpse at it, the monster just dodged it and came at me. Its long nails, strong enough to destroy trees and boulders aimed at me, for a moment I felt the hairs on my arm stand up, yep this was a thrilling sensation for me.

 

I covered my sword in mana and aimed it at the monster’s head, the monster seeing my sword approach him jumped backwards and looked at me with caution apparent in its eyes.

I pointed my sword clad in mana at the monster and covered my feet with mana. The monster, knowing full well that it won’t be able to escape by any means finally made up its mind and lunged at me.

And then

 

***

 

GIRL’S POV

This guy…he is a bigger monster than that Wolfana.

I don’t think I can escape from this place even if I were to run right now, I should focus on healing myself first.

 

I started circulating mana in my body to heal all the injuries I received and started watching the fight before me. This fight, although I didn’t want to admit it, will eventually decide my life, I have to watch it until the end and then plan my moves carefully

 

The Wolfana jumped at the boy and tried to tear him apart using its claws but the boy instead of facing the attack just moved to his right side, turned around using his right leg as a hinge while his left leg was up in the air, and slashed his sword at the back of the monster. His attack was so casual and flawless that it almost seemed natural to me.

How can that boy fight against such a strong monster with so much ease?

I wanted to get up and ask this question but I didn’t have the guts to do that, I had a feeling that I would die if I even try to leave this spot.

Blood was pouring out of the monster’s back at a very fast rate. The monster was panting heavily as it glanced at the boy, the boy on the other hand was just standing there with a confused expression on his face.

 

“Graaaahhhh!!!”

The monster growled and yet again ran towards the boy, this time the monster aimed at the boy’s head. In response to the attack, the boy just ducked and used his left leg to kick the monster’s knee.

The monster fell to the ground and started wailing in anguish but it didn’t stop there, ignoring the pain the monster kept on attacking the boy but no matter what it did, he wasn’t even able to land a scratch on him. On the other hand, the boy kept on inflicting wounds to the monster without stopping at all.

To be honest it felt to me that the boy was playing around with the Wolfana. It was an unreal sight, something that seemed to be out of a fairy tale that my mother used to tell me before I went to sleep, in that fairy tale the monster aiming to kill the princess was usually slain by a great hero.

Well, of course, I was no princess and the boy in front of me, judging by the way he acted was no great hero either.

 

The monster got up once again and ran towards the boy but suddenly while running it fell to the ground.

What happened?

The boy slowly approached the monster and said,

“You sure took your time didn’t you?”

 

The monster looked fearfully at the boy.

“Honestly, I underestimated you. I didn’t think you’d be able to take so many of my attacks, I knew I got them in clean. No wonder you’re confident to put on airs”

He stated plainly as if it was just a matter-of-fact.

 

The monster joined its hands and bowed its head as if it was begging for mercy.

The boy looked at the monster, his eyes reflecting disgust and contempt at the mere sight of the monster begging before him.

He didn’t say anything else, he just walked forward and cut off the monster’s head with a slash from his sword.

“*Kachak!*”

Blood splattered dying the ground red.

 

It was then that the boy looked at me.

His expressionless face and his sharp gaze made me gulp unconsciously

 

The boy didn't say anything to me, he just turned around, cut the two Wolfanas' tails and heads as proof of killing them, and then incinerated the two corpses to dust

After that, he just turned around and proceeded to leave

Is he really going to spare me?

Looks like he was just another soft-hearted moron

I was about to get up and chase after him when suddenly I remembered the scene of him killing that monster, I would never forget the fear I felt when I saw him butchering that monster like it was nothing

But what should I do now?

I need the boy in order to leave this place safely,

But I am so afraid that I can’t ask even him, to be honest, I am surprised that the boy didn't kill me, I mean I did set him up to save myself, if I were him I wouldn't have been so merciful, no, I probably would have tortured him before finally killing him.

But I am afraid,

What would I do if he gets angry after I try to ask for his help? Wouldn't he just kill me then?

But I would die just the same if I don't leave this forest soon, the monsters in the forest are all afraid of this guy and I know for sure that the moment he leaves me, I will die

I have to survive, no matter what! And in order to do that, I would go to any lengths!

 

I shook my head and made up my mind to shamelessly ask for his help,

I ran to catch up to the boy and called him out,

"Hey wait! Wait a minute!!"

 

The boy stopped in his tracks and looked at me

A chill ran down my spine when I saw his eyes

It's not like the boy looked terrifying or anything, no, not even close to anything like that. Rather he actually looked pretty and delicate, but for some reason when I see him now, I get the feeling that he is more vicious than any other monster I have seen.

 

My legs started trembling from fear and my back got soaked with cold sweat, it was as if I wasn't facing a human but something entirely different, something that I should stay away from.

I tried to speak but no voice came from my mouth, I tried to blink but my eyelids wouldn't move, I completely lost control over my body and thus, fell to the ground.

I couldn't feel anything, the wind, the ground, the tears that unconsciously started falling from my eyes. I couldn't feel anything, I became totally numb to everything.

 

"If you go east from here, then you might be able to safely leave this forest"

The boy said in a smooth voice and left me behind

His shrinking back made me regain my breath, so I heeded his advice and decided to go the way he told me to

I hope, no, I pray that I never get to see that man again