The wind carried the scent of blood long before the beasts appeared.
A sharp, feral tang riding the snowfall. Low rumbles, the scrape of claw on frosted stone—faint, but growing. The sky above loomed overcast, as if the mountain exhaled winter directly into their path.
Kel walked at the front of the party.
Just a few hours ago, he had stepped out of Scarder Lake's embrace reborn. His lungs now filled without protest, breath flowing steady beneath the fur-lined folds of his coat. His gait, once measured to conserve strength, was now perfectly balanced—light yet grounded.
He looked ahead.
Snow stretched in a vast pale field, but what caught his attention was the tremor of movement beyond.
"…They're coming," he said, calm.
Behind him, Reina, Landon, and Sera simultaneously shifted stances, weapons half-raised.
Shadows broke the treeline—six, no, eight shapes, hunched and hungry. Icefang Direwolves. Horned Frostboars. A twisted variant of mountain drake slithering above the ridge. Beasts driven out of deeper territory by something darker behind them.
They saw the humans.
They charged.
Reina's eyes narrowed. Her spear rose.
Landon's stance deepened, sword drawn in one smooth motion.
Sera's fingers flexed, frost resonating through her veins not as curse—but as mastery.
Kel lifted his hand slightly.
"Relax," he said quietly.
They all froze.
He stepped forward one pace.
Then another.
He stopped five meters ahead.
The monsters snarled, pounding toward them.
Kel slid his hand behind his back, unfastening his bow.
Reina's eyes widened.
"Kel."
He glanced back—not with urgency.
With something startlingly close to… ease.
"You all have covered me for so long," he said softly, the faintest curl at the corner of his lips. "Now I want to see—after lifting my curse—can I fight properly like you do?"
The beasts closed in.
Ten meters.
Eight.
Six.
Kel drew his bowstring.
There was no aura reinforcement.
No mana amplification.
Only bare strength—fresh, unbound.
His stats were no longer fractured. No longer suppressed. His movements flowed like water freed from cracked ice.
Five meters.
He released.
—
The arrow flashed through the air like winter lightning.
It moved faster than sight.
The lead wolf—vaulting midair—jerked.
The arrow had pierced its skull through the eye.
It collapsed before its paws touched snow.
Silence fell for a heartbeat.
Then—
Kel's lips parted.
His eyes gleamed.
And he laughed.
Not softly.
Not politely.
A low, delighted sound—sharp and raw.
"It's really fun," he said as he drew another arrow, his voice edged with something dangerously honest, "to hunt down monsters."
He loosed again.
Arrow two—angled low.
Through the throat of a frostboar.
The beast collapsed, choking.
Kel pivoted.
His coat flared behind him.
Three arrows fired in rapid sequence. One ricocheted off a rock ledge, curving mid-flight—striking the drake variant in its second wing joint. The creature screeched, losing altitude.
Reina watched silently, breath caught.
That angle… that shot—
Before, Kel's arrows always aimed for minimal movement, optimizing for energy conservation.
Now—
Now he chose complex motion.
Because his body could sustain it.
His smile widened.
Not warm.
Not cruel.
Wild.
Like someone who had held pain so long that release felt euphoric.
Arrow four.
Wolf.
Arrow five.
Boar.
Arrow six.
Straight up.
The drake looked skyward too late.
The arrow drilled through its chin straight into the palate.
It fell, a frozen meteor.
Boom.
Snow erupted around Kel.
He didn't flinch.
His hair blew across his eyes—dark strands caught in the updraft. The rest settled back slowly.
He inhaled, bow lowering.
Silence returned except for falling snow.
Seven beasts lay across the field.
Kel had not moved from his spot.
—
Reina stepped forward first.
Her expression unreadable.
Landon stared for a moment longer.
Sera's eyes narrowed—part analysis, part appraisal.
Kel finally turned to face them.
His expression had softened again—somewhat.
"I think," he said, voice still tinged with that earlier thrill, "I can… fight properly now."
He looked down at his bow.
Then up at the sky.
Snow caught on his lashes.
"I've been waiting," he murmured. "For this. Since my breath first hurt. Since I first learned what it felt like to be trapped inside your own body."
He pulled the bowstring once more—without an arrow.
The taut twang filled the air.
"I did not enjoy killing," he continued.
Then he looked at the nearest beast, eyes faintly shadowed.
"…but I did enjoy moving without restraint."
Reina's fingers tightened around her spear.
She understood.
Landon slowly nodded.
He, too, knew what it was to be caged by weakness.
Sera exhaled softly.
"I would be concerned," she said, "if I had not seen where that thrill came from."
Kel looked her way.
"You weren't enjoying the kill," she continued. "You were enjoying existing."
Kel's eyes lowered.
He didn't deny it.
The wind tugged at his coat.
Snow settled.
They approached the fallen beasts.
Kel retrieved arrows where possible.
Landon dragged carcasses into a pile.
Reina assessed their route for more hostiles.
Sera observed him quietly.
A faint ripple ran across Kel's aura.
Not threatening.
He blinked once.
A whisper brushed the back of his mind.
"…You laugh like someone finally allowed to breathe."
Kel paused, the arrow in his hand slipping slightly.
Sairen.
He looked skyward.
Nothing visible.
But something—felt.
He didn't answer with words.
Only placed a hand over his chest.
I lived.
That was all.
He turned toward his group.
"We move," he said.
They nodded.
He walked ahead.
The others matched pace.
Snow hissed softly beneath their boots.
The battlefield behind them grew quiet.
Above, a faint pulse brushed the moonlight.
Sairen watched.
And in the cold that followed, the world seemed to whisper—
The cursed heir has begun to hunt.