Four monsters emerged from the darkness.
Leading the pack was a bipedal, four-armed aberrant beast—a Terminator Boar. Standing nearly three meters tall, its massive head housed scarlet eyes that locked onto Allen just meters away. Two tusks jutted from its maw, saliva dripping in thick strings as it huffed wetly.
Flanking it were three canine monsters resembling Dobermans—Assault Dogs. They bared rows of serrated white teeth, paws anxiously digging at the soil, clearly impatient to tear Allen apart.
The firelight had drawn the forest's apex predator.
The Terminator Boar suddenly halted, shielding the less intelligent Assault Dogs behind its bulk. It narrowed its red eyes, sizing up the prey.
It sensed a threat from the weapon at the prey's waist. It had seen that long, slender shape before.
A terrifying human male from the southern village had once used something similar. In the span of a single breath, that human had slaughtered kin far stronger than itself.
In front of the boar, the 'prey'—who barely reached its waist and stood only a head taller than the crouching dogs—raised an eyebrow.
He stepped forward with his right foot, sinking into a low lunge, his right hand resting on the hilt of his blade.
His smile was unburdened. Even eager.
"So the village really isn't far. To think I'd run into the plot-device pig from the novel right here. Good thing I didn't risk coming here alone at four years old. Bad luck would have turned me into boar dung."
"But that was then, this is now. And right now, the one with bad luck..."
Crunch. The toe of his boot dug an inch into the soft, damp earth.
"...isn't me."
Explosion!
Allen launched himself forward! He tore a blur through the air, charging straight at the monsters!
The monster had intelligence, but not much. Seeing such provocation, the Terminator Boar's feral rage ignited. With a roar, it shoved the dogs aside!
"ROAR!!"
Like a pitch-black heavy truck hurtling down a highway, it charged to crush Allen under its momentum!
In a single breath, human and monster were within striking distance.
At that exact moment—
"Dodg—!"
A girl's cry pierced the sudden rush of wind.
Something sharp and magical burst from the gloom of the forest behind the monsters! It shredded the wind and leaves, tearing through the canopy like a boat cutting through waves!
The instant the variable appeared, Allen's dark gray pupils constricted to pinpoints. Heat surged from his waist, flooding every limb and bone.
In his abdomen, the walnut-sized [Dragon Saint Touki Core] was seized by the hand of his consciousness! Squeeze!
Dragon Saint Touki pumped out! A raging mountain stream merging into a great river. It roared through his meridians!
Adrenaline flooded his system! Senses and thoughts went into overdrive!
In a single instant—
The world slowed.
The clattering of leaves and the howling wind fell silent. The mountain breeze crawled sluggishly over his skin. Cold light flowed like liquid mercury along the massive boar's tusks. The humid vapor mixed with the beast's stench drifted lazily into his nostrils.
In this bullet time, Allen's eyes rotated slowly. His gaze slipped through the gaps between the monster's arms and body, locking onto the object screaming toward them on the wind.
—A crystalline sphere of water.
Information spiked through his brain.
'Diameter roughly 150cm. Intermediate Attack Magic—Water Cannon? No, the shape is wrong. It's Elementary Magic—Water Ball.'
'Velocity and volume are approaching Water Cannon levels. They deliberately overcharged the mana output but chose the Water Ball structure to shorten the chant time for faster activation.'
'If I continue my attack, the water ball will hit me too. That's why she shouted. But the timing is off. When she fired, she didn't expect me to charge the monster. She messed up.'
'Who is it?'
The boar's tusks were right in front of him, less than fifty centimeters from his eyes. The massive magic projectile was two meters behind the beast.
Every cell in his body screamed, demanding he dodge immediately!
But the scabbard in his hand sent back a cold, reassuring feedback.
It silenced the alarm bells in his mind.
A smile slowly bloomed at the corner of Allen's mouth.
'Dodge?'
'I could. But there's no need. North God Style—Combat Variant.'
'Iai—Constant Stance.'
'Twenty-Fold Slash!'
His pupils contracted again, showing the whites of his eyes. His muscles coiled tight. His reaction speed was terrifying.
He slipped past the boar's tusk by a hair's breadth. He ducked under the razor claws that followed. He locked eyes with an Assault Dog and sidestepped it.
Like a butterfly weaving through flowers, he danced through the gaps between the monsters' bodies.
Dancing with him... was the hazy light of the campfire.
The light seemed to chase Allen's form, flickering rapidly—five distinct times—as if reflected by a smooth, sharp surface moving at godlike speed.
The light died.
Allen cleared the monsters. He stood face-to-face with the onrushing water ball.
His posture remained unchanged, hand on his hilt.
As if the blade had never been drawn.
In that split second:
In the reflection of his pinned pupils, the water ball, gilded orange by the firelight, expanded rapidly, consuming his entire field of vision.
It was a palm's width from his face.
Allen watched it calmly, not even blinking.
Where his gaze landed, a white line surfaced on the sphere. A vertical axis. Ripples spread outward from it.
It split.
Ideally bisected, the two halves flew past his cheeks, grazing his hair.
The swordsman's eyes tracked the cross-section of the water ball to his right—the firelight dyed the churning water, creating a kaleidoscope of vibrant, dancing orange waves.
It was extraordinarily beautiful.
Allen blinked.
With that motion, the Dragon Saint Touki subsided. And time—
Rushed back in!
The world roared!
Leaves clapped like thunder! The mountain wind whipped his clothes! The scabbard felt hard and warm under his hand! The turbulence of the split water rushed past his ears!
BOOM!!!
Explosions erupted behind him on both sides! Two trees, each as thick as a man's waist, crashed to the ground!!
Yet, directly behind Allen, the four monsters stood frozen, statues in a time stop.
Rustle!
Someone crunched over dead leaves, running frantically from the shadows of the trees.
Allen looked up at the source of the magic.
Surprise flickered on his face, followed by dawning realization.
He removed his hand from his sword hilt.
That simple motion restarted the clock.
Shhhk.
The massive heads of the boar and the dogs slowly slid out of alignment with their necks.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
They hit the ground one by one.
Four sounds, corresponding to four cuts of the [Twenty-Fold Slash].
But hadn't the blade reflected the light five times?
—The tree trunk behind him, sheared in half by the split water ball, provided the answer.
Spurt...
Blood erupted like fountains from the monsters' smooth, severed necks, raining down a crimson shower.
In the sound of that 'rain'.
A small figure wearing a mage's robe, dragging a massive suitcase and hood pulled low, ran into the firelight.
Under the hood, blue bangs were tinged with green by the fire's glow. She sniffed her petite nose, eyes wide with shock as she stared at Allen.
He swept his gaze from her face down to her boots, which didn't quite reach her knees. In the firelight, the black socks squeezed her calves—'divinely' firm and toned—creating a mesmerizing pinch of pale skin at the rim.
The admiration in his eyes was too bright for the night to hide.
He smiled and spoke.
"I dodged. Thanks for the heads up."
The 'girl', whose two deep blue braids hung almost to the backs of her knees, panted slightly. She looked at the 'child' bathing in the rain of blood, only a head taller than herself. She heard his boyish voice, then looked at the headless corpses behind him, and finally at the tree trunk sliced cleanly in two by the split Water Ball.
Her mouth opened slightly. She glanced at the other trees in the distance, smashed by the impact of her magic. Her expression was blank.
Dodged...?
She had absolutely no idea how to follow up on that statement.