With many huffs and puffs, Zeth slid down to the ground. “These things are tougher than a bear…!”

“It’s only thanks to Vincent’s magic items that have weakened them… if not…” Pallad was also exhausted, and soon his legs gave way, his sword fell alongside him.

“Praise be.” Lara’s complexion was a little better, but even she still had to use her staff as support. “We should be grateful that Vincent is here… Thank you, O Goddess of Light, for this encounter,” she offered a prayer.

I inspected the place for any sign of more hybrids but found nothing — only noises of small animals were audible from within the forest, which gave me a creep.

Once they had caught their breaths, I pointed out, “So, how do we divvy up the spoil?”

“Hybrids are filled with valuables — every part of their bodies is basically a treasure — especially their cores. Even those that are in bad shape like these three would fetch more than fifteen thousand Zernial… How about we divide the earnings we get from these things into three? You take two, we take one.”

“No need.” I quickly shook my head. “I just want their cores. It should suffice, right?”

“Certainly the cores are worth the most, but are you really fine with it, Vincent? Even if you take all the spoils, we won’t have any complaints.”

“Yeah! You basically saved our butts there.”

“True! We would be glad if you take more.”

Zeth and Lara seconded Pallad’s opinion.

I gestured to stop them. “Let’s not do that. But first thing first, we should figure out a way to dismantle and bring them back before anything else.”

“You’re right. Let’s do it, guys!”

“Indeed.”

“I-I will help by skinning them.”

The trio took out their knives and began dismantling the hybrid wolves. Looking at how good they were at doing it, I could see that they possessed some prior experiences. Since I was as much of a beginner as you could possibly be (most creatures I hunted in the past were left intact because they were either small enough to be carried, or I just took their most valuable parts), I put aside all the troubles to them, although I used this chance to learn.

Hm? This feeling… For a short moment, I sensed something was staring at me intensely from deep within the dense woods. Intrigued by the familiar feeling, I readied my sword and marched there following the hybrids’ footsteps.

Suddenly, there were movements from behind the bushes. In wonder and concern, I put my dominant hand on the hilt of my sword, ready to pull it out any time before opening the bushes. What I saw were three small hybrid pups. Shivering amidst the chilly wind… skinny to the point where their bones could be seen. In a lush forest like this… how come?

Species: Unknown (hybrid)

Condition: Extreme starving, weakened

Sex: Male

Age: 5 months old

Height: 51 cm

Stats:

STR: F (13) AGI: F+ (17) VIT: F (14) MAG: F (9) SPR: F (14)

Accumulation Points: 9 [F+]

“Hey— Ngh-ARGH!!”

I was slammed into a nearby tree by something so quick that whatever that did it couldn’t be seen. But luck was on my side as the {Wind Shield} spell on the badge got activated a moment before the impact, so I was pretty much unharmed, thanks to my set.

Adrenaline hit my head, and in a moment of panic, I reached out for any weapon on my waist and drew my dagger to resist any incoming attack. Not far away, I discovered the creature that had slammed me protecting the pups — it was of the same species as the hybrid wolves from earlier, except that it was larger, being the size of a minivan.

It was eyeing me in caution, growling and baring its fangs at me as though telling me not to move an inch closer.

“Vincent, hang on!”

The trio was rushing here to help. What I needed to do was to stall for time—

But it didn’t let me and dashed toward me with its razor-sharp fangs that seemed able to rip any metal pipe like candy.

I quickly reached out for any explosive balls left in my backpack and found an empty, sluggish pocket. Shoot! I was out of those! The few remaining were useless in this situation.

While feeling an overwhelming sensation of dread, I cast {Stone Bullets} at it, then a dozen or so fist-sized stones appeared and rained down on the hybrid wolf from all directions. Astonishingly, it transformed into a ray of light and was now right in front of me. What the fu—?!

“Ack! Aggh!”

With me being unable to do as much as a dodge, it swiftly pounced and bit my left arm before dragging me along with it into the forest. There was almost no pain; I didn’t know whether it was because of my set, or it simply didn’t bite hard and intended to bring me elsewhere.

“Vincent!”

“Lara!”

“I’m on it! Raise tall and wide, O wall of earth, tough and strong shall you be — {Earthen Wall}!”

In a second, an earthen wall three meters large appeared in front of us and blocked the hybrid wolf. Alas, it didn’t put as much of a hindrance as it simply sidestepped the damn thing — with my back bumping against a sharp thicket white it was at it. Ouch!

I could hear them screaming my name or something, but their voices increasingly grew distant and fleeting. And so, I mustered up the last bit of strength in me and shouted, “Don’t mind me! I’ll be fine!” I shouldn’t drag them to this, and I should be the one to end this all.

The ZPL Trio’s Perspective

“We gotta save him! Posthaste!” Zeth called out to his friends but found them unresponsive. “Guys! What are you waiting for?”

“He…” Pallad simply stated, “He told us not to help him... We—”

“So what?!” Zeth pulled Pallad’s collar and glared at him with reproachful eyes. “Then are we just going to stay here doing nothing, huh?! Be a chicken that doesn’t understand the word ‘grateful’? Have you no shame?!” He flung his other arm angrily at a nearby tree.

Pallad looked away, silent. Zeth knew full well what this pal of his was thinking, Pallad just simply didn’t want to endanger him and Lara — his close companions. However, this only made him even madder.

“Zeth is right! We don’t know whether Vincent will be fine… We have to save him!”

“Are you with us or not?”

Both Zeth and Lara stared at Pallad in enthusiasm, believing that he would concede in the end. But ten seconds passed and not even a single word escaped from his mouth, only a frown forming on his eyebrows.

“Tch.” Zeth released his grip and pushed him. “C’mon, Lara, just leave this overly pragmatic guy behind.” Then, he walked deeper into the foliage, followed by Lara shortly.

But soon enough, to his surprise, Zeth could feel a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he found that it was Pallad.

“Wait. Let me come as well. I was entrusted to protect you two, after all.”

“Great! Now that’s the Pallad that we know.” Zeth grinned and gave a thumbs up.

“I know that you won’t leave your friend in a predicament.” Lara smiled.

They swiftly followed the trail left behind by the hybrid wolf in search of Vincent thereafter.

Vincent’s Perspective

After being dragged for about a while, I became impatient with the status quo. Hence, despite the wind pushing me back violently, and the movements of the hybrid wolf constantly changing direction suddenly, I spun my body and grabbed its head by wrapping it around its neck with my right hand, which was still holding the dagger. Thanks to the Lavish Set’s support, I was able to get on top of the hybrid wolf.

It wouldn’t let me stay on top, of course, so it released the bite and crashed itself into the trees, causing me to hit branches constantly due to its sheer size. Moreover, with a speed that could even race a speeding car, holding not to fall down was unimaginably hard!

“Don’t you dare!”

I changed the position of the dagger into stabbing and activated the vibration mode before aiming for its nape—

“Guh!” I was tossed onto the ground, but the dagger in my hand had managed to land a hit.

Rapidly, I rolled away and clambered to my feet, finally brandishing my sword that had been kept hidden all this time. The sword was made up of broken pieces of blade glued together uniformly like kept in shape by some invisible force. Somehow, it gave the sense it would crumble the moment it hit something hard, but that was the whole point of this sword.

“To see my final trump card. You sure are the toughest enemy I’ve faced so far.”

The hybrid wolf didn’t respond. It bared its fangs, watching me as if facing its most dreadful enemy as blood kept dripping down from the dagger stuck in the nape.

Silent.

We circled each other, one step at a time, waiting for the right moment to strike. Whoever made a move first would decide the outcome of this clash.

Would I be the one to drop down first and be its food, or would it be the other way round? The moment of truth was about to unfold.

Out of patience, the hybrid wolf pounced on me with both claws aiming at my neck. I remained calm in spite of its insane speed many times that of the gray wolves, simply relying on the reflex given by my set to evade and then swinging my sword at its neck.

At the last moment, however, its claws went for my sword instead and the blade broke apart, returning to pieces as its original shape should be. But little did it know that the blade shards formed back into a blade of the sword in my hand, and I sliced through its neck. Spilling blood into the air.

The hybrid wolf, to my amazement, was able to get away by turning into a ray of light the same way it did before. After some distance from me, it bolted to circle me with its abstruse ability so fast it made a dense ring of light — quite a perplexing strategy.

“{Flame Arrow},” I chanted. Knowing that I lacked offensive magic, I’d also learned Pyro Elemental Magic from Lara, even though it was limited to a single spell and not yet a silent casting because of the time constraint.

The arrow of flame shot through the air and hit the ring-shaped light but was immediately extinguished like a spark that met a pool of water.

“Hmph.” I had seen that coming at least, so I gripped my sword and let the blade break into countless pieces through the condition that I had put in place. The blade shards then began forming all around me and spun at an intense speed, getting faster and expanding by the second.

Before long, the blade shards began to grind the hybrid wolf just like a blender, and blood began to spray everywhere. Not surprisingly, the hybrid wolf, realizing that it would die if it remained like that, tried to get away. And yet, it crashed into a nearby tree about ten meters away before tumbling to the ground weakly. Blood was oozing out from its body, mouth, and neck.

The blade shards converged back to my sword and formed a blade, but I noticed that it was missing shards here and there. Not minding that, I headed toward the hybrid wolf and saw that it was still breathing despite all that. What a tenacious will.

“Ngh… It seems I’m not unscathed as well.” My arm had a bite mark on it, but thankfully it didn’t bleed thanks to my set — just slightly dislocated.

It eyed me with a hateful gaze but was never able to rise on its feet again. Even if I were to leave it alone here, it would likely die from blood loss.

“Any last words?” Determined to give it a coup de grace, I raised my sword. “…Guess not.”

But right when I was about to swing down my sword, three small creatures — hybrid pups — rushed out from behind the thicket and bit my leg. I didn’t do anything to stop them from doing that since I wouldn’t get injured. Nevertheless, the moment they appeared, the adult hybrid wolf raised its head weakly and whimpered.

““Grrr… Woof! Woof! Woof!””

They backed away and snarled at me, guarding their parent with undying vigor.

Seeing them being so desperate in saving their mother, I recalled the dream I had recently. Protecting someone that they felt to be the most precious… Their kin. Er… Should I kill them?

I took in a deep breath, lowering my sword. From my point of view, killing the hybrid wolves here would be best to prevent trouble brought by their vengeance. Whereas releasing them might make them thankful and not attack me later… but that would be an ideal thought at best.

“If only this is inside the dungeon, I can think of some way to cope with this.”

As though to answer my dilemma, I heard the voice of someone that I didn’t expect to appear.