The opportunity was only now. Archer knew it too.
Kaline didn’t respect him. A partner who seemed like he wouldn’t bleed even if pricked with a needle—Archer couldn’t think of a single way to become comrades with him.
When Kaline’s eyes flashed and he stabbed his sword into the spot where he had been standing, his heart felt like it stopped and his chest sank. At that moment, he instinctively sensed it. He was screwed.
Kaline was too dangerous.
‘Fuck, I’m screwed… All the other teams are united with their characters, but I’m fucked from the start.’
No matter how much he thought about it, there was no answer, and he felt like tears might trickle out. When he slept on the street like a homeless person, hiding from Kaline, he fell asleep with tears every time out of misery.
‘I don’t want to go back to the original world… Even if it’s equally pathetic, I’d rather be pathetic here…’
He’d experienced being chased by Kaline while starving miserably, and sleeping with only a single tattered rag covering him, but even so, he never thought about wanting to return to the modern world. Here was less miserable.
He regretted that he should have chosen a different character, and the regret came rushing like a wave, but this wasn’t a game. He couldn’t restart.
So he had no choice but to find the best he could do now.
He was the prey, Kaline was the predator. This was the only way to cut him off.
He aimed his bow at Kaline’s nape, slightly exposed between the armor.
“…”
Archer’s hands trembled violently. The bow began to sway worryingly.
Even while trembling, he absolutely didn’t release the strength from the hand holding the arrow. Rather, he gripped it tightly as if worried he might lose it. He put so much strength into it that his knuckles turned white and began to tingle as if they might shatter.
That was a living person.
It was just a few days ago, but they had walked side by side and even had conversations together.
‘I can’t even kill a cockroach, damn it…!’
The farmer bastard personally stepped up and even drew the aggro. He himself wasn’t doing a single thing properly. Archer had a premonition that he would ruin this entire operation. He was powerless, and felt like crying.
Meanwhile, Hian was gradually sensing something was off. No matter how long he waited, the arrow wasn’t flying.
‘I knew this would happen.’
Kaline had already finished eating the sandwich. As an awkward silence formed, Hian finally decided to pull out.
“Um, then… please go safely.”
“Stop right there.”
Before Hian could even take a step, a chilling thunderbolt fell on his back.
“I remember seeing you. Weren’t you here five days ago too? You covered your face with a cloak then.”
Kaline had remembered the boy who had spirited away Belsus right before his eyes.
Hian broke into a cold sweat as he looked up at the knight’s eyes that had turned cold as ice.
The moment their eyes met, he felt a cold sensation around his neck. Hian slowly pulled his gaze down. The blade aimed at his neck came into view.
He could imagine the scene of blood spurting out with just a graze. The eerie sensation felt almost tangible on his skin. That blade extended from the shadow of the knight with his back to the sun.
“Answer what I ask. Why did he take you? What’s your relationship with him?”
Rather than Hian, whose life was being directly threatened, Archer watching from afar drew in a rough breath.
‘Ah, I want to die.’
Everything made him miserable. He was annoyed at Hian who trusted him and made this plan, felt sorry enough to die soon, and in the end, was angry at himself. It all seemed to have happened because he was stupid.
It’s my fault.
I’d rather shoot an arrow at the sky to make Kaline look at me. Archer raised his bow high toward the sky.
…The arrow didn’t fly.
To Kaline’s eyes, it looked like a large object ‘suddenly’ appeared and brought its hand between the boy’s neck and the blade.
Belsus’s hand, blocking Hian’s front, grabbed the blade. As he pushed it to the opposite side, the blade dug shallowly into his hand. But as if he didn’t care at all, Belsus threw a cold gaze at the knight.
How the bastard appeared out of thin air became secondary. The man who had been a beggar glared at Kaline.
‘How dare this rat bastard…?’
Right, in fact Kaline was flustered. He couldn’t understand the situation where the one who had been withered like a bug had undergone a complete transformation and crawled back up in just a few days.
“I wasn’t supposed to leave you alone.”
However, Belsus wasn’t even focused on Kaline.
Hian, whose body was hidden behind Belsus’s back, doubted his own ears. It wasn’t words directed at Kaline.
“You crossed the line. Even as the landlord, you did something you shouldn’t have done.”
He’s angry…? This sucker?
An unprecedentedly murderous voice pressed down firmly on Hian’s spine. It was a heavy and dark voice, as if a towering mountain range was crashing down on him.
“If you’re the landlord, are you allowed to try to deal with someone targeting your lodger instead? With that body that seems like it’ll blow away in the wind or burst if squeezed?”
A cold voice that had never been heard from Belsus before was dominating the area. No one could have expected it. That a sucker could emit such an oppressive aura.
“I’m a fool, so I’ll probably come begging to you soon enough. So it’s only now. That I dare to blabber with eyes rolled back in anger.”
Belsus, angry to the top of his head, fired off the harshest words he could say.
“Know that I won’t listen to your words either and will help with your farm work.”
Kaline didn’t pay attention to the incomprehensible conversation. The prey he had anticipated so much had finally appeared on its own. He just needed to cut it down.
Now, immediately.
The knight repositioned his sword in the opposite direction. Containing a single sharp gust of wind, the knight’s blue-tinged sword cut through the air widely.
* * *
With Kaline’s Predation ability, he could only devour those weaker than himself.
Then how do you divide the weak and the strong?
‘Is it level since they’re Hunters? Pure strength? If you’re older and have more experience, are you stronger? Then can he only eat people younger than himself?’
The answer is ‘comprehensive evaluation.’
The final figure that comprehensively combines everything—physical condition, level, combat ability, intelligence, and even sense—evaluated according to the system’s standards.
No matter how strong a Hunter is, they could be temporarily weakened by severe injuries. Even if they’re a strong opponent, if they’re weakened for some reason, Kaline can devour them.
To Kaline, Belsus had been in such a state until now.
But not anymore.
“…!”
I stumbled backward as Belsus pushed me.
I didn’t even have time to cry out. The resounding air-splitting sound of deflecting the blade rang out terrifyingly by a hair’s breadth.
Belsus protected me and matched moves with Kaline.
Against the knight’s pale blue fine sword… the hoe I use when pulling weeds.
Each time he swung the hoe like a dagger, dirt flew out. Yet the movements were so intense and flashing that there wasn’t the slightest feeling of ridiculousness. Each time Belsus ensnared the knight’s sword with the curved part of the hoe, it seemed as if sparks were flying.
I watched with wide eyes. My heart felt like it was shrinking. Worried that my character might get even a single scratch.
I flinched at every sharp sound of wind as the sword grazed past Belsus’s body.
“This doesn’t make sense…”
Kaline let out a groan.
He probably couldn’t understand this situation where he couldn’t touch Belsus at all. But Belsus and I knew.
The setting was that Kaline had only just awakened as a Hunter.
However, Belsus had been a Hunter from long ago. In other words, he was still the stronger Hunter.
Despite having wandered around starving and struggling for 20 years.
The Modizanen Royal Family. The family that saved the continent from the first dungeon break hundreds of years ago and ascended to the throne with the signatures of all noble families, giving birth to powerful Hunters generation after generation in their bloodline.
Belsus was a collateral figure by bloodline, but he was a young prodigy whose potential alone was outstanding enough to threaten the crown prince at the time.
No matter how I thought about it…
‘Belsus looked like early-game trash because he was starving, but his initial stats alone seemed to be high physical…’
Why did Kaline persistently target Belsus among so many Hunters?
Because a Hunter who was stronger than him and an experience point bomb was weakened for some reason.
Therefore, I proved it.
How Belsus could change if he ate and slept like any other character and received only the same treatment as others.
‘Honestly, it was half a gamble… but I’m glad.’
I expected from the start that Archer wouldn’t properly finish off Kaline. Drawing Kaline’s aggro wasn’t for Archer’s sake.
From the beginning, I did it hoping Belsus would come out.
Shouldn’t the person himself tell this vicious knight?
That as long as I appeared before Belsus, Kaline would gain nothing here.
“You cannot kill me. You’ll have to bring other knights with you.”
Thanks to his Reading ability, Belsus had already figured out Kaline’s ability and purpose and such.
Kaline could forcibly continue fighting and try to kill Belsus, but that would mean Kaline would have to let go of all his greed for Belsus.
It was Belsus’s victory, having known Kaline’s ambition.
“Get lost.”
The one who had been a beggar finally stood proudly on land, having crossed the long years.
