The three wolves took position: two in front of Remedy, the last one behind him, hidden in his blind spot.
At the short growl of the alpha wolf, they charged simultaneously, their silhouettes turning into gray streaks.
Remedy rooted himself in place, hammer ready. His mind calculated angles and speeds.
Suddenly, the wolf behind him — Wolf 3 — burst forward with brutal acceleration, overtaking the others. Its gaping jaws aimed for Remedy's Achilles tendon.
This sudden explosion of speed caught Remedy by surprise.
He spun on himself, the hammer already raised, and brought it down vertically like a meteor.
CRUNCH!
Wolf 3 — (Health: 0%).
Then, his senses screamed a warning.
The two remaining wolves, taking advantage of his total commitment, were already in his blind spot. Wolf 2 leapt toward his throat.
Panicked, Remedy's reflexes took over. His body twisted instinctively and he launched a horizontal sweep to cut down the threat.
But before the blow could reach Wolf 2, Wolf 4, which had remained on the ground, surged forward. It jumped not to bite, but to throw itself body and soul onto Remedy's arm.
BOOM!
The triangular collision was violent. The impact tore the giant hammer from Remedy's grip, sending it spinning through the air before it slammed into a tree trunk farther away.
Wolf 2, who should have taken the blow head-on, received only a fraction of the power thanks to Wolf 4's sacrifice.
He was sent flying, stunned, unconscious, but miraculously alive.
Wolf 2 — (Health: 5%).
Wolf 4, having taken the rest of the impact, landed with a muffled whimper.
Severely injured, it remained conscious, but any will to attack was gone.
Wolf 4 — (Health: 30%).
Gathering its last strength, it dragged itself forward and clamped its jaws around Remedy's ankle — not to bite, but to cling desperately, immobilizing him.
And then, Remedy understood.
The sudden acceleration of Wolf 3, the open and direct attack from Wolf 2, the interception by Wolf 4.
All of it had been a performance. A perfectly choreographed tragedy.
He looked up.
Too late.
The alpha wolf was already there.
It had jumped at the perfect moment, the instant the hammer had left Remedy's hand.
Suspended in midair, in the middle of its final lunge. Its jaws wide open, heading inevitably toward Remedy's throat.
At once, the alpha wolf's eyes widened in brutal shock.
Its companion, which had immobilized Remedy only a second earlier, now lay crushed beneath the giant hammer — reappeared out of nowhere.
— That was well played, alpha wolf.
Remedy charged, the hammer already raised for another strike.
— Except you overlooked one detail.
The weapon came down like a sentence.
BOOM.
— As long as my hammer is within my ACTION ZONE…
He smashed the wolf into the ground.
… I can store it and resummon it at will.
Alpha Wolf — (Health: 0%).
— Phew… That was close.
He looked at his hand, closed it, and clenched his fist as if trying to gather his scattered thoughts.
Remedy had felt it during the fight.
Before, when he had no profession, no power, he could only rely on himself. Every movement of his opponent was analyzed, every action calculated down to the millimeter.
He acted with the meticulousness of a condemned man.
But now… he had loosened up.
That was why he had fallen into the alpha wolf's trap.
Maybe, deep down, he had started to think that with this new power — with such a broken system — he didn't need to put in as much effort anymore.
He shook his head, disgusted.
Then — clap! clap! — he slapped himself sharply across the cheeks.
— No. Get a grip.
He approached the last wolf, still unconscious, and finished it with a precise motion.
Wolf 2 — (Health: 0%).
Then he resumed his path through the forest, his gaze sharper, his senses alert.
I must not be this careless again.
---
[DING! MONSTERS DEVOURED SUCCESSFULLY]
+400 EXP x4 | +500 EXP | +4,000 RP x4 | +5,000 RP
—
NAME: REMEDY
LEVEL: 5 | STATUS: HOST | ZONE: 5 m
HEALTH: 100% ➔ 90% (450/500)
ENERGY: 100% (500/500)
EXP: 38% ➔ 80% (1,900 ➔ 4,000 / 5,000)
RP: 12,000 ➔ 33,000
—
ACTIVE CONCEPT-VIRUSES:
• [Weight of a Feather] — Lv. 1 (0/100)
---
In the observation room.
Mr. Stone's eyes were fixed on a single screen — the one displaying the now-silent clearing.
Remedy?!
How can he wield such an oversized weapon?
Could he have awakened a profession without us knowing?
The question looped endlessly in his mind. He was the only one who had witnessed the entirety of the brief and violent battle. From the hammer's first appearance to the lightning-fast counterattack, he had not taken his eyes off the screen.
The shock had been so complete, so overwhelming, that he had forgotten to call his colleagues.
---
Somewhere in the outer zone.
Jett, flanked by his companions Leo and Marcus, faced a pack of eight wolves with gleaming fangs.
Jett opened his hand. An azure glow gathered in his palm, stretching outward to form a translucent bow made of pure energy. He drew the nonexistent string — and a light arrow formed at the nocking point.
Swish!
The projectile shot toward the pack. The wolves, agile, dodged it. The arrow continued on, passing them by…
A snap of fingers.
Pshiiit! The energy arrow suddenly split into half a dozen smaller streaks. In a sharp turn that defied physics, they looped back and crashed into the wolves from behind, striking their blind spots.
Jett — Profession: Ethereal Archer
An archer who materializes bow and arrows from his own energy.
• Skill: [Division] — Arrows can split into multiple projectiles.
• Skill: [Link] — Allows real-time modification and guidance of their trajectory.
Marcus stepped forward. His right hand extended, palm flattened toward the ground.
Then, in a fluid and powerful motion, he sliced the air in front of him with a diagonal backhand, starting from his right hip and rising to his left shoulder — a true sword strike through empty space.
Shiiing!
A perfectly sharp blade of air, invisible yet devastating, erupted in the wake of his motion.
It tore through space in a blazing diagonal, cleanly severing the injured wolves aligned along its path before dissipating into the tree trunks with a faint rustling sound.
Marcus — Profession: Wind Master
• Skill: [Wind Blade] — Condenses air into a silent, cutting blade.
On the other side, Leo stood amid three burning wolves sprawled on the ground. His arms were covered in blazing flames that wrapped around his forearms up to his shoulders like a crackling mantle of fire.
Leo — Profession: Flame Master
• Skill: [Blaze] — Envelops his limbs in offensive and defensive flames.
— We're switching to PvP, Jett said, a competitive spark flashing in his eyes.
— We'll hunt teams in the outer zone. And take their points.
---
Meanwhile, Remedy moved through the undergrowth of the outer zone, attentive to the slightest sound.
Suddenly, he froze.
A presence… No, a group.
More than five distinct, agitated signatures. An electric tension in the air.
They're already in PvP?
He was about to move away, preferring to avoid trouble, when a familiar sensation brushed against his senses. A trace he recognized, lost among the others.
His eyes narrowed.
— Let's take a look, he murmured, curiosity mixed with concern in his voice.
And against all logic of caution, he altered his course, heading straight toward the source of the disturbance.
---
Chapter 7 — End