Chapter 84🎀 · BMMAW

Chapter  84

Struggle Without End

The direction of the wind changed. The breeze that had been flowing from the front now brushed past him and moved forward.

Gwen’s steps came to a natural halt. The instincts he had honed through years of hunting controlled his body before his mind could even think.

Whooo—high above, the wind shook the branches of tall trees with a rough sound. Other than that, there was almost no noise. Even the natural sounds that usually filled the forest seemed to have fallen silent today.

He waited for a moment, but the wind showed no sign of changing again.

‘This won’t do.’

Gwen stopped tracking and climbed up a tree.

Magical beasts possessed extremely sharp senses. No matter how much one tried to erase their scent, the smell of a human would reach them quickly. From distances far greater than humans could imagine, magical beasts could detect human traces.

Because of that, one had to be careful when the wind was blowing toward the beast. This time, the beast already had prey, so the chances were low—but otherwise, the situation could reverse instantly.

The creature people called a two-headed dog, Orthos, was a violent and cunning magical beast. Long ago, in his youth, Gwen had encountered one.

Orthos chased its prey persistently, toying with it. Even after catching it, it wouldn’t kill it immediately, but instead kept it alive for a while, like a cat playing with a mouse. It also had a strong sense of smell and was good at tracking.

However, it could not climb trees. If one encountered Orthos in a forest, climbing a tree was the only way to survive—assuming, of course, one was faster than it.

After enduring the wind that cut against his skin like a blade for a while, the wind finally shifted again.

Gwen quickly climbed down.

The child that had been carried off by the beast had already been injured in the village. A trail of blood led from the village into the forest.

But the once-clear trail gradually faded and was now barely visible.

‘It must be almost dead, having lost that much blood.’

Gwen clicked his tongue inwardly. He had never expected to save the child. Still, he had hoped to at least bring back a piece of the child’s clothing—but even that had become impossible.

He had carefully followed faint traces—the marks left when the child brushed against branches, droplets of blood soaked beneath leaves—but in the end, he couldn’t reach Orthos’s nest.

The cunning creature had wandered through the forest until its trail nearly vanished instead of heading straight back to its lair.

Perhaps it already knew it was being pursued.

‘Still, something’s strange.’

Orthos didn’t originally have a habit of eating humans. It could, if it wanted to—but it wasn’t something it actively sought out. This attack on the village was extremely rare.

‘Did it develop a taste for human flesh by chance?’

If so, the first victim might have been a human with mana.

Magical beasts were instinctively drawn to mana. If the human it had eaten by chance had possessed mana, it might have become obsessed and started attacking humans again.

‘There shouldn’t have been anyone with mana in that village…’

As he thought about it, Gwen recalled that the village had been raided last autumn.

‘Then it must have been a mage or someone with mana among the raiders.’

Those Tyrone bastards really caused trouble wherever they went.

“….”

The chances of finding the beast’s nest had dropped to nearly zero. Continuing further might just be a waste of time.

After a moment of thought, Gwen decided to continue tracking until the afternoon. The traces left by the child hadn’t completely disappeared yet. Following them might still lead somewhere. Though it was only a feeling, the nest didn’t seem too far.

Staying ready to draw his bow at any moment, Gwen moved forward through the forest again.

‘Has the mage Leonard mentioned arrived by now?’

When he accepted the request to hunt the magical beast, Leonard had spoken about meeting someone incredible. He even had Rudolf with him—and yet, he claimed this person was even more impressive. But how could a mere human compare to such a marvelous creature? It was hard to believe.

Gwen chuckled as he recalled the stories he had heard about Rudolf as a child. He had thought he would never see such a being in his lifetime. But it seemed that if one wished for something strongly enough, it could come true. To have his wish fulfilled at such an old age…

Feeling the wind flow over the fingers holding his arrow, Gwen quickened his pace.

A branch was broken. The mark was fresh.

He knew he should be more careful—but the thought of meeting Rudolf made his heart race. Gwen stepped forward more carelessly than usual.

One step. Two steps.

As he moved deeper into the forest, a sudden sense of danger made him stop.

‘…A trap.’

The moment he realized it, his body moved. He spun around and ran back the way he came.

At that moment, a massive shadow stretched out in front of him.

Damn it—Orthos.

Jack, who called himself the disciple of a magical beast hunter, knew almost nothing about magical beasts. Listening closely, it seemed he had only recently become a disciple. Before that, he had been apprenticed to an ordinary hunter.

Rarely, some people awakened mana in their teenage years. Jack was one of those cases. Having suddenly gained the ability to use mana, he seemed to have discovered his potential as a magical beast hunter.

But becoming one wasn’t easy. Simply gaining a bit of mana didn’t make it possible. Moreover, Gwen belonged to the top tier among magical beast hunters—he wasn’t someone who would take just anyone as a disciple.

It seemed Jack had followed Gwen around for years, begging to be accepted, and had only recently been allowed to stay nearby. In other words, he wasn’t even truly a disciple yet.

That wasn’t explained directly, but piecing together his bragging stories made it clear.

“People like me who gain mana later in life are extremely rare. Very rare.”

Jack repeated this several times, clearly proud.

“….”

Juhwan gave a bitter smile. Jack was speaking toward him, but in reality, he was addressing Lizy beside him. Even knowing she was married, he still seemed interested in her.

Lizy, however, didn’t notice at all. Instead, she thought Jack was saying such things to belittle Juhwan. That made her slightly irritated—but Jack didn’t notice that either. He lacked awareness.

At this point, he was almost pitiful. Juhwan hadn’t been particularly popular with women either, but Jack seemed hopeless.

And despite knowing Juhwan was a mage, Jack was bragging about having only recently gained a bit of mana—was he an idiot?

“By the way, what are you doing? Why are you sprinkling resin powder on the ground?”

“I’m preparing to deal with the magical beast. We don’t know when it might appear.”

Imitating what Gus had done before, Juhwan sprinkled resin powder in long lines across areas where the beast might pass, lightly covering it with dirt so it wouldn’t scatter.

“I can use fire magic. If we do this, we can trap it. You should avoid these areas too when the beast appears.”

No matter how strong Orthos was, it wouldn’t be able to walk through blazing flames.

He then warned Lizy and Dorothy as well.

After placing small stones as markers, he even informed the village chief to avoid those spots.

If the beast noticed the trap and avoided the village altogether, that would be fine too. It would at least prevent casualties.

Jack, however, didn’t understand.

“…I don’t know what you think you’re doing with resin powder. Do you even know what a magical beast is? Orthos isn’t like that horned rabbit you have. It’s huge and powerful. Fire like that won’t be enough.”

Dorothy, who had been following Juhwan like a chick, suddenly spread her arms wide.

“My dad’s fire is HUGE! This big! It goes all the way up to the sky!”

Jack chuckled.

“Sure, sure. Your dad breathes fire that big.”

“It really does! It reaches the stars!”

Now it just sounded like a lie.

Even Juhwan laughed, and Lizy giggled too.

After a full day of work, they returned to the carriage at sunset.

There were footprints around it.

‘As expected…’

Even in hardship, people could become dangerous.

That night, as they sat around the campfire, someone watched them from the darkness.

When Juhwan stood and stepped forward, the presence quickly retreated.

“Juhwan?”

“It’s nothing.”

The night deepened.

Dorothy dozed off mid-meal.

“The moon is beautiful… but why isn’t our world?” Lizy murmured.

Juhwan gently kissed her forehead.

Even if humans were flawed, it didn’t matter.

To hold onto happiness and never let it go—

they would struggle endlessly.

That, perhaps, was what it meant to be human