Chapter 10: The Small Village in the Forest (3)

Day two of the evacuation.

“Hoo.”

Wiping the monster’s fluid off his cheek, Zion let out a small sigh.

‘The number of monsters seems to have decreased quite a bit.’

When a group of civilians moves through the forest, it’s bound to be noisy, yet the number of monsters they encountered over the past few days was far fewer than when Zion traveled alone.

[It looks like the thinning-out efforts have been effective. Even goblins can’t multiply infinitely.]

It was actually the opposite.

Goblins tend to multiply explosively up to a certain number, but once they surpass that limit, they starve as their prey runs out, causing their numbers to drop sharply again.

Moreover, goblins can’t digest plants.

The fate of these creatures depended on when the local wildlife would run dry.

Looking back, the odd scarcity of wild animals in the forest was a clear sign.

[If we can get out of here before the big one moves, it would be perfect.]

“The big one…!!”

Zion stiffened, imagining the threat of the unknown enemy—the monster that had destroyed the border fortress.

This wasn’t something Zion could hasten alone.

The slow pace of the farmers’ group, made up of elders, women, and children, was unavoidable.

The only consolation was that at this pace, they could escape the forest within three days.

“All monsters have been dealt with. Let’s move quickly.”

After confirming there was no monster scent nearby, Zion returned to the Village Chief.

The chief nodded and scanned Zion’s body with worried eyes.

“Are you alright?”

“My clothes are a bit dirty.”

“We have plenty of spare clothes. Don’t hesitate to ask.”

The emotional distance between Zion and the villagers hadn’t lessened.

Right now, fear outweighed suspicion.

To their eyes, Zion, who mercilessly slaughtered monsters, looked like a monster himself.

Still, not everyone felt that way.

Thanks to some, like the Village Chief and Nate, who treated him naturally, Zion was able to steady himself and protect them.

[That old man is too good to be the chief of an Outlaw Village. The lord who committed tyranny even with him nearby is almost admirable. If I ever see him, I’d give him a warm welcome.]

Outlaw.

The word carried negative connotations, but it wasn’t entirely wrong.

They had fled the laws set by the country.

Moreover, the Knight Commander’s betrayal of the lord was, in effect, an act of rebellion.

‘Outlaw? They had plenty of better words to choose from… The ones at fault aren’t these people, it’s the law. If the country and its leaders were proper, they wouldn’t punish these people.’

[If it had been a proper country, people wouldn’t have fled. The lord wouldn’t have ruled tyrannically.]

Zion was speechless at the harsh truth.

Frey gave a bitter smile and reprimanded him.

[Systems and laws don’t always operate rightly or justly. Rightness is forged through endless doubt rather than blind faith, and only then does it shine. Zion, I’m not saying you should blindly distrust people or their goodness…]

Suddenly, Frey stopped mid-sentence.

His face hardened.

Zion, puzzled for a moment, also froze and halted his steps.

The Village Chief, who was watching the group’s movement closely, slowed down.

Zion swallowed dryly and cautiously scanned the surroundings.

“Damn it.”

Various scenarios flashed through Frey’s mind, but most were already useless.

Only one scenario remained.

[The big one’s coming, Zion. If you run now…]

“…It’s already too late.”

“Thud, thud, thud!”

A heavy pounding echoed from afar, approaching straight ahead with tremendous speed.

At the same time, the scent—powerful and suffocating—of a massive monster engulfed them.

“Everyone, run! Hide as far away as possible!”

Thick trees crashed with a roar, and the creature appeared.

It was a monster far larger than several huts combined.

Standing before such an unimaginable enemy, Zion hesitated not at all.

His top priority was to divert the creature’s attention.

They had to buy time for everyone to escape safely.

A blade flashed like lightning, striking the monster’s chest.

“Kang!”

The sharp clang of metal, the sensation in Zion’s palm like striking a boulder.

‘The attack connected,’ though that phrase felt inadequate, Zion was satisfied.

The monster’s gleaming eyes fixed on Zion.

[Cocatrice! Of all things, the most troublesome one!]

Frey groaned upon seeing the monster’s form.

Cocatrice—a strange monster with a chicken’s head and a saurian body.

Its name came from certain traits matching legends from Earth.

A tank-like brute force charge.

An ability to petrify creatures by focusing its gaze on them for about a second.

Paralyzing poison secreted from its claws and a deadly breath so toxic that even a small inhale melts internal organs.

This was a monster of a different level from any goblins Zion had fought so far.

No corpses or even bloodstains had been found at the fortress—now it was clear why.

The Cocatrice kills humans by first severing their lives with its Evil Eye and breath, then completely petrifying them, breaking them apart like cookies.

‘Is there a chance of victory?’

Zion had surpassed Frey’s expectations several times before.

Maybe he could perform a miracle again.

Calculations still gave a faint chance of success.

Despite the Cocatrice being a powerful monster even by Earth standards, it was surprisingly easy to kill if you knew its weak points.

Still, that chance was razor-thin.

Frey shook his head, dismissing any foolish hopes.

No need to take a difficult path when a sure one exists.

[Summon me when you see an opening. This one’s too much for you alone.]

Zion had no time to respond aloud.

Nodding faintly, he endured the Cocatrice’s fierce attacks.

[Never let its gaze meet yours directly. Its Evil Eye petrifies living beings. It requires staring at the target for about one second with full focus. Avoid its claws—they carry paralyzing poison and are dangerous to skin contact.]

Zion followed Frey’s advice carefully.

He moved at angles slightly out of the monster’s direct line of sight, and kept a safe distance from claw attacks.

After exchanging blows that drained both stamina and mental strength for several dozen seconds, Zion finally found an opening to reach for the Pendant.

He shouted swiftly, “Apocalypse!”

Nothing happened.

“I…?!”

Just as Zion let his guard down momentarily, a thick tail came flying at him with a furious roar.

He raised his sword vertically to block it, but the impact slammed down hard.

His body was flung like a cannonball, violently crashing against a tree.

Barely holding onto consciousness, Zion rolled and scrambled to his feet.

“-Kyaaaak!”

The Cocatrice roared and charged forward at terrifying speed.

The same charge that had snapped thick trees like twigs when they first met.

Zion desperately leapt to the side.

“Damn it! What’s going on? Why won’t the summon work all of a sudden? This is a life-or-death crisis for the owner, so the Emergency Summon conditions should be met!”

{Emergency Summon conditions not met. Cannot summon Safety Supporter.}

{Insufficient MP accumulation for Regular Safety Supporter Summon. Current accumulation… 33.221%.}

Suddenly, a translucent message appeared before Frey’s eyes.

His expression stiffened at the unexpected notice.

[What the hell?! When else would these conditions be met if not now?!]

Frey grew agitated, but the Pendant remained silent after displaying that message.

The Safety Supporter summon function, registered by Awakening users including Frey, consumed large amounts of MP and couldn’t be abused.

However, the Emergency Summon feature—available only when the owner’s life is in danger—was supposed to be an exception.

It had to be.

That was the Pendant’s very purpose, not to refuse summons by arbitrarily displaying messages.

Frey tore at his hair, then suddenly lifted his head.

Zion was still fighting.

Despite being hit once, his movements remained calm and unchanged.

There was not a trace of ‘giving up’ in his stance.

Frey bit his lip.

[Zion. Let’s run.]

Only then did Zion realize such an option existed.

Dodging the ferocious attack by a hair’s breadth, Zion answered calmly.

“It won’t let me run. Even if I succeed in escaping, the villagers will be killed afterward.”

Frey swallowed bitterly but reluctantly agreed.

Zion had already provoked the monster’s ire.

Even if they fled now, it would chase them to the ends of hell.

The first step was wrong.

If they were to run, it should have been the moment they detected the monster’s approach.

“Damn… damn it!”

Cocatrice.

Definitely a powerful monster.

But to Frey, it was just a creature he could incinerate with a single gesture.

That’s why he wasn’t overly worried.

Zion just had to survive long enough to summon him.

It would be a tough fight, but Zion was skilled enough to create an opening to summon Frey.

Even if seriously wounded, potions could heal him.

Frey would kill the monster.

But if the summon failed?

All their plans collapsed.

Frey would have to helplessly watch again.

Just like when his only family went to their doom long ago and he could do nothing.

Until now, he had acted detached and composed about Naia’s death.

Because he was in front of his nephew.

He couldn’t show his own failures as an adult before a child still finding their path.

But deep down, it wasn’t so.

His heart had been battered for a long time—perhaps more than Zion’s.

He had failed to save Naia, to stop her, and had to let her go powerless.

That fact never washed away and kept tormenting him.

A lifelong trauma.

[If only… if only I had been stricter with you. Told you to ignore that refugee village and go your own way…]

Frey’s gaze blurred.

He seemed to be looking at something other than the scene before him.

“Uncle, if you say that, I’ll be angry.”

Zion shook his head firmly.

“Do you want me to ignore people who’d obviously die if left alone? People I might save with my own hands?”

[If you… if you could survive that way…]

“Do you really think I could do that? Uncle, do you wish for me to do such a thing?”

Frey bit his lips hard, then covered his face with both hands.

He thought it best not to show this expression to Zion.

It was too pitiful, too unadult.

On the other hand, Zion felt a strange sensation.

The hazy fog in his mind cleared, revealing a long path stretching through it.

The path of conviction.

The path of not lying to himself.

“Uncle, please help me.”

A resolute voice without hesitation or doubt.

Frey slowly lifted his head.

“If you truly wish me to live. If you truly wish me to live in the truest sense, then help me.”

Frey’s face twisted as if about to cry.

That unyielding stance in the face of any adversity suddenly reminded him of a scene from the past.

“Help me defeat this monster. So I won’t break here. So I can save everyone and be proud of myself.”

Exhaling deeply, Frey finally nodded.

Gathering the overflowing emotions and burying them deep inside his chest.

[Zion. I offer you this advice.]

***

His body felt heavy and vision blurred.

It was a state where collapsing from exhaustion could happen at any moment.

Yet, contrary to this awareness, his body moved fluidly.

His consciousness was sharp as a flashing blade.

[All monsters share the same weak points. The heart and brain. No different from living beings. What matters is how to disable the monster’s tough body or find its unarmored weak spot.]

Recalling Frey’s advice, Zion moved.

‘Here, to the left.’

About forty-five degrees, half a step forward.

Rotating his upper body, a sharp claw pierced the spot where the heart had been moments before.

[Some scales are peeling off. Three more times.]

“Kang!”

The blade clanged sharply as it struck the Cocatrice’s armpit.

[Two more.]

Relying on the recoil from the blade’s deflection, Zion naturally created distance.

The tail roared fiercely, swiping past him.

A short, sharp inhale.

Zion seized the moment the monster readjusted its stance.

The tip of his sword scraped a scale.

[Don’t rush. Focus on defense first.]

Frey’s advice was exquisite and precise.

It was as if he could see seconds into the future.

Zion didn’t doubt those words.

Focusing on defense, an opportunity soon reappeared.

Avoiding a heavy attack, twisting his body, slashing diagonally.

[The last one!]

A few scales closest to the heart shattered with a dull thud.

[That’s it. Now all that’s left is to stab the heart through the gap in the scales!]

“-Kyaaaak!”

Easier said than done.

The Cocatrice, realizing its weak spot, howled fiercely.

Its attacks grew wildly violent.

Zion was pushed back again.

‘There’s a chance… I’m sure.’

Frey suppressed his impatience, watching the battle carefully.

Though the chance was thin as a thread, Zion relentlessly exploited that gap with transcendental focus.

There was another reason Frey believed in that chance besides Zion’s concentration.

Among Apocalypse’s many powers, the “Fiery Evil Eye,” which reads the flow of all energy, ignited Zion’s eyes in golden light.

‘He’s absorbing excess MP. Zion’s high MP absorption rate, aided by the Pendant, made the impossible possible.’

A monster as huge and powerful as the Cocatrice holds immense MP.

Some of it is naturally expelled outside its body.

Monsters recycle this excess MP to strengthen themselves.

That’s why high-level monsters are especially dangerous.

Normally, Awakening users can’t utilize excess MP.

But Zion constantly absorbed a certain amount of the Cocatrice’s expelled MP.

As a result, the Cocatrice weakened slightly, while Zion grew stronger bit by bit over time.

“No need to be anxious. The opportunity will surely come.” Zion nodded faintly.

The fiercer the monster’s attacks, the clearer its openings became.

But the monster was desperate too.

It knew well that one wrong strike could mean death.

‘I need to create an opening.’

Aside from Frey’s advice, Zion’s mind spun ceaselessly.

He had to bait the monster into making an attack that revealed a bigger, more fatal gap.

To do that, he had to reveal a weakness first.

So the monster would be forced to attack.

For example…

‘Feign petrification!’

“-Kyaak!”

Their eyes locked directly.

At that moment, Zion extended his left arm to focus the monster’s consciousness.

A fleeting sensation of thickening skin, then the entire left hand rapidly lost sensation.

[Zion! No! Please!]

Frey shouted desperately.

But Zion’s focus never wavered.

“Now!”

Zion broke from the Cocatrice’s gaze.

At the same time, the monster opened its mouth wide.

Frey shouted urgently again.

[Deadly breath!]

This was the first and last chance.

Zion swung his stone-like left arm to strike the monster’s jaw.

At the same time, he plunged his sword deep into the heart, then pushed off the monster’s sturdy body to create distance again.

“-Kyaaaak!”

The monster screamed in agony and exhaled a yellow-green mist.

If Zion had hesitated even briefly, he would have been engulfed by that deadly breath.

Securing maximum distance, Zion leaned half against a tree trunk and watched the monster’s demise.

The mist engulfed its body.

It began dissolving not only the sword’s hilt lodged in its heart but also its scales.

As death approached, it lost immunity to its own poison.

Soon, the huge body collapsed with a roar.

Clumps of fur torn off and partially melted scales scattered chaotically.

“-Ke… eh… hrrrk…”

A faint death rattle slipped from its beak.

“W-won…?” Zion muttered in disbelief.

Frey sighed deeply, [Very well done, you damn bastard.]

Only then did reality sink in.

“I… I won…!”

Like a puppet with its strings cut, Zion’s body collapsed right there.