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Chapter 5: Between Flames and Shadows… The First Encounter
The air in the forest was heavy, thick with the scent of damp earth and the breathing of lurking beasts. Kiura stepped forward once, then froze—the gray wolf launched at him like an arrow. Kiura shifted his body aside at the very last moment. Before he could even inhale, another wolf appeared behind him, and a third from his side, surrounding him like tightening fangs in the dark.
All three wolves attacked at once. Kiura ducked down, letting their bodies glide over him and collide in a mess of fur and growls, while he backed away, breath trembling.
Kiura, fear tightening his voice:
"What am I supposed to do? I can't kill them…"
He slapped his cheeks hard with both hands, as if trying to smack the hesitation out of his skull.
"Calm down… remember your training. You swallowed hell for an entire week… you have to try."
He grabbed a wooden stick lying on the ground, gripping it tightly. One of the wolves leapt at him—Kiura spun and crushed its skull with a single powerful strike. The wolf collapsed motionless.
The second wolf charged, and Kiura tried to repeat the move—but suddenly the wolf froze mid-air. Kiura opened his arms to strike, but hit nothing but air.
He froze. He was completely exposed.
The wolf opened its jaws, and a small flame gathered in its throat. A tiny fireball shot out, slicing through the air with terrifying speed.
Sweat poured down Kiura's face.
"This is it… I'm done for… damn it…"
But the ground vanished from beneath him—he fell backward just in time. The fireball streaked above him, slamming into a tree trunk and erupting into black smoke.
He opened his eyes slowly… his back pressed against the soil.
"Did… I survive?"
He turned his head, seeing the scorched tree behind him.
"That tree… it saved my life."
He stood up, tightened his grip on the stick, and dashed toward the wolf while it was still recovering. With a sharp strike, he brought it down.
Kiura lifted his hand triumphantly.
"Yes! I did it! These wolves are dangerous… how strong will their leader be?"
He crouched to count the bodies.
"One… two… wasn't there a third? Where—"
The camera pulls back—
The third wolf is already leaping from behind, fangs exposed, descending straight toward Kiura's head.
Before Kiura even turned around… the wolf burst into flames.
A red blaze swallowed its entire body, leaving only a charred, blackened husk that fell beside Kiura's feet.
Kiura spun in shock.
From between the bushes stepped a girl—
Her light-red hair glowed with the last rays of sunset, her blue eyes sharp as frost. Her skin looked soft, almost carved from light, and her body slim yet steady, as if the wind itself respected her.
Kiura's eyes widened with joy.
"A human…! The first human I've seen since I arrived here!"
The girl stared at him with a tense expression, thinking:
"Is he an idiot? And what is this disruption in his mana?"
Kiura rushed forward and grabbed her hand anxiously.
"Please… help me. I have a mission—
I must fight the wolf leader. I can't do it alone. Please, help me!"
She didn't answer.
She raised her head toward him, her eyes blazing with rising anger.
Kiura flinched back.
"She's scary… a mage… she's definitely a mage! Help—!"
She grabbed him by the hair and beat him repeatedly until dark bruises formed on his head.
She said, her face a mix of irritation and embarrassment:
"Who said you could touch my hand? And how dare you call me a mage?"
Kiura stood up and looked away, trying to hold himself together.
"It's just… it seemed obvious. Your eyes lit up, and you burned the wolf. That means you're a mage… and you're really strong for a girl."
Her anger grew—
The scene cuts.
It returns moments later, showing Kiura covered in bruises, his face a painting of purples and blues.
He muttered weakly:
"Sorry…"
As she looked at him, another scene overlapped in the girl's eyes—her spiritual sight.
She saw a strange energy, dense and dark-purple with hints of black, leaking from Kiura's body and rising into the sky like a pillar of shadows.
Her thoughts trembled:
"How can someone ask for help… while carrying a power that isn't even human?"
The image freezes on the rising column of shadow.
To Be Continued...
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