Four monsters emerged from the darkness.
At the front was a mutated monster that walked on two legs and had four arms—the Terminator Boar. It stood nearly three meters tall, its crimson eyes fixed on Allen several meters away. Two tusks protruded from its mouth, saliva dripping continuously as it snorted and wheezed.
Behind it followed three dog-like monsters resembling Dobermans—the Assault Hounds. Their gleaming white fangs were bared as they constantly pawed at the mud beneath their feet, clearly unable to wait any longer to tear Allen apart and feast on him.
The campfire's glow had drawn in the rulers of the forest.
The Terminator Boar suddenly stopped, shielding the less intelligent Assault Hounds before it as it narrowed its crimson eyes to inspect its prey.
It sensed danger from the weapon at the prey's waist. It had seen that long, slender weapon before.
In the village to the south, a terrifying male human had once used something of a similar shape to slaughter a stronger member of its kind in the span of a single breath.
Before it, the "prey," who only reached its waist and stood merely a head taller than an Assault Hound on all fours, raised an eyebrow.
He stepped forward with his right foot, lowered into a forward stance, sank his center of gravity, and rested his right hand on his sword.
He smiled without a trace of burden.
His interest was thoroughly piqued.
"Looks like the village really isn't far. I actually ran into one of those plot-device pigs from novels. Good thing I didn't take the risk of coming here alone at four years old. Otherwise, with a little bad luck, I'd have been eaten by a pig and crapped out as a lump. That would've been hilarious."
"But that was then and this is now. Now, the unlucky one—"
As he spoke, scrape! His toes plowed an inch into the damp forest soil.
"—won't be me."
He exploded forward!
His body shot out! Allen left behind an afterimage as he charged fiercely at the monsters!
Monsters had intelligence, but not much. Seeing Allen's blatant provocation, the Terminator Boar's wild nature erupted. With a roar, it rammed the Assault Hounds before it aside!
"ROAR!!"
Like a speeding black freight truck, it barreled toward Allen with crushing force!
In a single breath, man and monster were almost face-to-face.
Just then!
"Get out of the way!"
A sharp cry rode the suddenly surging howl of the wind into Allen's ears.
Something carrying a sharp aura suddenly burst out of the darkness of the forest behind the monsters!
It pierced the wind and tore through leaves at incredible speed, carving a path through the fallen foliage like a boat slicing through waves!
Yet at the very instant the unexpected development arose, Allen's black-gray pupils shrank to pinpoints, and heat from his waist flowed into every limb.
Inside his abdomen, the walnut-sized Dragon Saint Battle Qi Core Embryo was fiercely clenched by a hand called consciousness! Dragon Saint Battle Qi surged forth, like a rushing stream in a storm feeding into a great river.
It flooded Allen's limbs along that roaring river of battle qi!
Adrenaline surged! His five senses and thoughts fell into overload!
In but an instant!
The world "slowed" down:
The clamor of leaves beating together in the forest abruptly stilled; mountain wind crawled slowly across his skin; cold glints flowed over the boar's massive tusks; damp vapor mixed with the monsters' stench drifted through his nostrils.
In Bullet Time, Allen slowly turned his eyes, his gaze passing through the gaps between the monster's arms and body to see what was hurtling toward him with a howling wind from behind it.
—A crystal-clear water sphere.
Information flashed through his mind.
Its diameter is around 150 centimeters. An intermediate offensive spell—Water Cannon? No, the shape is wrong. It's a basic spell—Water Ball Spell.
Its projectile speed and water volume are already close to Water Cannon. She deliberately increased mana output efficiency, choosing Water Ball Spell to shorten the chant and cast it faster.
If I keep attacking the monster, I'll be caught in the water ball's range too, so she warned me to dodge in advance? No. There's a timing gap. When she cast the spell, she never expected me to take the initiative and attack the monster. It backfired.
Who is it?
The Terminator Boar's tusks were already before him, less than fifty centimeters from Allen's eyes, while the powerful offensive spell that had shot toward them was only two meters behind the monster.
Every cell in his body screamed, forcing Allen to move and evade at once!
Yet the sword sheath in his hand sent back an icy sensation.
It extinguished the "alarm" in his mind.
A smile slowly bloomed at the corner of Allen's lips.
Get out of the way?
I could, but there's no need. North God Style—Combat Faction.
"Standard Draw Stance. Twenty Slashes!"
His pupils shrank again, his eyes nearly showing only whites on either side. Every muscle in his body tightened, and his reactions became astonishingly "fast":
He slipped past the boar's tusks by a hair's breadth; ducked beneath the sharp claws that followed; met the gaze of an Assault Hound at his side and passed it sideways.
Like a butterfly flitting among flowers, he threaded through the gaps between the monsters' bodies.
Dancing along with his body—
—was the hazy glow of the campfire.
The light flashed rapidly and rhythmically five times around Allen's body, as if reflected by some smooth, sharp mirror moving at high speed.
The light went out.
Allen passed the monsters and stood directly before the rapidly approaching water ball.
He was still in the same hand-on-sword stance.
As if he had never drawn his sword at all.
In that instant:
Within his narrowed pupils, the water ball, tinted with an orange halo by the campfire, rapidly expanded and filled Allen's entire field of vision.
It was only a palm's distance from his face.
Yet Allen merely watched the water ball in silence, without even blinking.
Where his gaze fell, a white line surfaced on the sphere. With a vertical axis, rings of ripples spread outward across the water's surface.
It split apart.
It divided cleanly into two halves, streaking past either side of his face and brushing his hair.
The sword's owner turned his eyes toward the cross-section of the water ball beside his right cheek—the campfire colored the rippling water in vibrant, shifting orange waves.
It was exceptionally beautiful.
Allen blinked.
With that movement, Dragon Saint Battle Qi calmed, and time—
—began rushing forward again!
The world roared back to life!
Forest leaves beat together in applause! Mountain wind shook his clothes! The sword sheath was hard and warm! Roaring torrents split apart and swept past either side of his head!
BOOM!!!
Explosive crashes rang out from behind him on both sides! Two trees as wide as clasped hands toppled in response!!
Yet the four monsters directly behind Allen remained frozen in place, as though time had stopped for them.
Rustle, rustle!
Someone hurriedly ran out from the forest shadows, trampling fallen leaves.
Allen raised his eyes toward the source of the offensive spell as she came into view.
Surprise appeared on his face, followed by a hint of realization.
He lowered his hand from the sword.
That movement stirred time. With a shhk, the massive heads and necks of the boar and hounds slowly slid out of alignment.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
They fell to the ground one after another.
Four sounds, corresponding to the four slashes of Twenty Slashes.
But the light reflected from the blade had clearly flashed five times just now, hadn't it?
—The severed tree trunk behind and to the side, cut apart by the split water ball, had already provided the answer.
Hiss, hiss, hiss.
Blood sprayed from the monsters' smooth severed necks like fountains, falling in a shower of crimson rain.
Amid the sound of "rain."
A small figure in a mage's robe, carrying an enormous suitcase and wearing a hood, had already run into the firelight.
Beneath the hood, blue bangs across her forehead were edged green by the firelight. She sniffed with her tiny nose and stared at Allen in astonishment.
Allen's gaze traveled from the newcomer's face down to her boots, which did not reach her knees. In the campfire's glow, black stockings pressed a ring of slightly raised pale flesh into the firm, toned calves of the "goddess."
Even the night could not conceal the admiration in his eyes.
He smiled and spoke.
"I got out of the way. Thanks for the warning."
The "girl" with two dark-blue braids that nearly hung to the backs of her knees breathed lightly. She looked at the "child" standing amid the blood rain before her, only a head taller than herself. Hearing his somewhat childish voice, she looked at the headless monster corpses behind him and the tree trunk snapped apart by the Water Ball Spell that he had cut in half.
She opened her mouth slightly, glanced at the tree in the distance that the Water Ball Spell had smashed in half at the waist, and looked rather lost.
He got out of the way.?
She did not know how to respond.
Before you continue