Desire (Mogma) - Chapter 30

Dash!

As soon as he moved on, a loud roar broke out. Ajin flew reflexively in accordance to his senses and instincts while his body shuddered. Smash! The ground was smashed and there were broken pieces of stones scattered everywhere. After rolling on the ground, he quickly rose up.

There he saw a giant wolf with a shimmering golden fur. The size were exactly a large wolf and he thought that it is not actually a wolf rather a tiger. No, probably bigger than that. He recoiled back and made a pose, while staring at the eyes of the beast who was also looking at him.

That is not the howling beast. It’s just a monster that blocks the path to the owner of this forest. At the same time, it is also the one who wiped out the player who wants to challenge the boss and forced them all to retreat. One for now, is that what it means? He slowly pulled her foot forward, and stiffened.

At that moment, the golden wolf rushed in. Fast! As big as it is, this wolf is different from the wolves that has been roaming around in this forest. The golden eyes glide and draw a long glare in the darkness. He hurriedly used Heavenly Demon Arts : Thousand Miles Footwork Technique.

With the Wielding claws scratched in the air, he immediately used Heavenly Demon Arts : Thousand Miles Footwork Technique . Turning to the wolf’s side in the gap, Ajin, held his fist then struck down the wolf’s side. Heavenly Demon Arts : Thousand Star Bombardment. A fist full fire went straight up to the side of the wolf.

But even though it is beaten down, the wolf didn’t even stumble. The wolf immediately turned and tried to bite Ajin. He hurried back, watching the approaching mouth. Squash! The sound of chewing in the air is just too terrifying.

‘That’s enough to get wiped out.’

Ajin went backwards and clicked his tongue for a bit. The deeper the forest, the more that monster will keep coming out. The closer he get to the howling beast, the more often it’ll come out. He did not hesitate to open the Heavenly Demon Arts: Blood Corruption. As the power drained away, a red strong aura formed on his right hand. He ran to the wolf while maintaining his strength.

Clash! His stretched out hand cut the wolf with just one blow. The body of the wolf could not bear the absolute power of the strong power. He shook his hands watching the wolves fluttering on the river side or on the ground. He didn’t expected that he would be using the Strong Ki Method when it’s not even a boss monster. Ajin kicked his tongue and checked his status. The blood stream is recovering its internal strength as he is on idle, but the amount of HP lost at once is way too large. He held onto the wolf’s head without hesitation and used his energy drain. The amount of energy sucked up from the dead bodies were minimal, but better than nothing.

‘Let’s go in a little bit more.’

For a moment, Ajin agonized. Should he continue to bear the loss, and go into the woods? The purpose of coming here is to search for the howling beast. He didn’t even have the idea that he could face and kill him right away. He is prepared to die at least once. However, he intend to get the information he will get even if he died. Like How strong the howling beast is. What he lack in himself.

‘I’m going in.’

While weighing it down, Ajin came to a conclusion. He had come all the way here, he should keep going in. The golden wolf that blocked the road to the boss can be finished quickly. Of course, there were no style of fighting.

However, even so, it can’t be helped because ordinary Heavenly Demon Art Techniques don’t work. It takes too long to cut losses and fight.

‘There’s a little bit chance for party hunting party.’

The party he had with Daisy. With that, it won’t be difficult to break through the golden wolf while reducing losses. In order for that to happen, Daisy’s party must be capable to reach here. It’s not that hard. He decided to see the growth of Daisy’s party. If he fights properly, there is no big problem in hunting a group of silver wolves. The battle will be faster, and so will the growth of the party.

‘Before we reach the cliff, we’ll have to hunt down the boss monster and he’ll snap.’

If he can’t take it down, he can persuade them. Though it’s too early to think about it. Then he moved on.

The golden wolf made an appearance. The dark forest grew darker and darker as it deepened, and the golden wolf pierced through the darkness and struck him down. Although he is almost got attacked again, he always avoided direct damage through  Heavenly Demon Arts : Thousand Miles Footwork Technique. His body that is strengthened by Mara Chenle method is as swift as before taking the explosion of Mana and spread into the air.

Most of the attacks turned into Strong Ki Technique. It would not be bad to take this opportunity to grow the Heavenly Demon Arts : Blood Corruption, which is not usually used efficiently. Him, on the other hand, had recovered his strength to Hanemos, which he collected while hunting silver wolves at dawn yesterday, while using energy drains on the bodies of wolves. It was this moment when the true value of the energy drain was revealed. If he recover in this kind of method, he don’t have to use a potion.

How much do he traveled anyway? About half an hour from where the golden wolf appeared, he had taken a long time as he is not accustomed with it. He stopped walking as he checked the amount of internal strength.

The landscape of the forest had changed.

There are no trees that have soared up to the sky. There is no swaying bush either. Is the forest over? He touched the tree next to him.

There was a small lake right before his eyes. Beyond the lake he could see a steep cliff. It seems that this side can reach the Indigo Cliff. But to get close to the cliff, he have to cross the lake.

The problem is that there is a monster in front of the lake.

Yes, it was a monster. He gulped down and looked at the monster sitting in front of the lake. What the hell is that even called? Ajin looked at the monster, clenched his fist that has a lot of tension.

It is so big. It look twice as big as him in size. He had a wolf’s head, but that monster didn’t used his two paws. It’s like a human being. He put his long hind legs on the ground and sat down with his hips, with his head down.

“Werewolf!”

Ajin realized what that monster is. Among the single games played before The Breeze of the Murim, there was a game called ‘The Age of Magic.’ It is a game placed at the medieval fantasy world, and The Breeze of the Murim had the modern content, the main content of The Age of Magic is through purely medieval and  magic. ‘The Breeze of the Murim’, ‘The Age of Magic’ and ‘The Evolution of Humanity,” which is set in the future, is based on superpowers. The three solo games were developed by Gladiolus, the developer of First, a masterpiece that brought virtual reality games to perfection before First.

Werewolf. When he was playing in the Age of Magic, Ajin had encountered that monster several times. To put it simply, Werewolf is a wolf, a monster of the night that power up in the full moon night. He didn’t know the owner of the wild forest, the howling beast, is the werewolf. He frowned his forehead.

Werewolf is a tricky monster. He don’t know how much the data from the previous single game series in First may have been referenced, but it bothers him if that werewolf has the same specs as the Werewolf in The Age of Magic.

Werewolf is strong and fast. And the most tricky thing is the resistance to magic and the regenerative power for wounds being inflected to it is not consider a wound.

[…Smells like food…]

It’s hard to deal with it alone. He have take a step back. As soon as Ajin, who thought so, was about to move behind, his voice, mixed with the cries of the beasts, saw his shadow. In Ajin’s vision, the head of werewolf slowly lifted up.

Gray mane hair, bursting muscular body, eyes as small as a wink and sunken bloody red eyes.

As soon as it was directed at him, He looked like he had loosen his strength in his legs. He trembled even more. What the hell is this? Why is my body shaking?

Fear?

[Come here.]

Werewolf slowly raised itself up. A three-meter giant stood on the ground and left the lake. It’s not night yet. There are no trees near the lake, so bright sunlight shines on the lake. The glittering surface of the lake looks beautiful.

But there is a monster in front of that beautiful lake.

[Come, be eaten by me.]

The werewolf stood still and talked to Ajin. The breath of the beast, the creepy teeth that he sees whenever his mouth moves. He took a step back while swallowing his saliva.

He have to run away. He can’t deal with that monster right now. Search? Don’t be ridiculous, this is dog-death [ T/n: Dog death is dying with no apparent reason]. It’s impossible to fight it properly. What kind of search is that? Oh, yeah. It’s a search for fear. He gave up fighting. It was the most rational and realistic judgment he had in this kind of situation.

[Don’t wanna miss it.]

Not to the monster he guess. The rational and realistic judgment of the monster would be that he would not miss the food that appeared right in front of him. It would greedily chew that to fill the hunger. At that moment the Werewolf’s knees bent on both legs.

Clang! The werewolf who lifted in the sky fell before him. The impact sent his body flying backwards and the trees shaking. Standing on the ground, the werewolf lifted up his huge arm, and swung loudly with his sharp claws as sharp as a knife. The tree flew as it was cut like a piece of paper.

[I’m hungry.]

Werewolf showed his teeth as he leaned toward the collapsed Ajin.

What should I do?

Ajin thought as he looked at the Werewolf’s head, which was up close to him. Run away? No, that’s too much. Through the leap just happened, Ajin is convinced of it. Even if he run with all his might, if that monster leaps a few times, it will catch up quickly. Fucking Heuk Seolhyang bastard. You told me to catch a monster like this? Ajin gnawed his teeth. The power difference was obvious.

If it was a party play then there is hope but, Ajin could not feel the hope of catching the monster in a solo play.

‘Log out…’

No. If you log out and log in, he’ll only be logged in here. Then he’ll encounter that monster again. In the end, either run to the village or die here. Either way, he will arrive at the village.

‘If I can’t run away. Then…’

Dying. Ajin raised himself thinking of it. He will be given a four-hour penalty for death, but he would rather do something than dying while running away without doing anything. Ajin clenched his fist as he gnashed his teeth.

[Are you going to resist, prey?]

Looking at Ajin, the werewolf twisted his mouth. Can the wolf laugh? Twisting mouth, gnashing teeth, blood sunken eyes… Ajin thought the monster was smiling. Maybe, it can. Would it be difficult to laugh while talking? That made Ajin’s chest flutter. God damn it, it made him falter! He used the Heavenly Demon Arts : Blood Corruption. There was an aura enveloping in both arms.

[Raconda?]

The werewolf hesitated when it saw him. Raconda, does it know Heuk Seolhyang? Either way, it’s good. Ajin rushed at the moment the wolf stopped. It’s body jumps up. His fist, which leaped nearly two meters at once, flew into the werewolf’s head.

[No, it’s not. You’re too slow.]

This bastard! The fist that Ajin wielded went through the air in vain. The werewolf stepped back in an instant while dragging his feet lightly, stared at Ajin with his arms stretched out.

[It’s slow but still threatening. It can’t be compared to hers, but…]

The werewolf muttered, while he tilted his head.

[Young man, have you come to kill me?]

“Come on, you wolf bastard…”

Ajin rushed back. The shadow created by the Heavenly Demon Arts : Thousand Miles footwork technique was blurry and made Ajin’s appearance disappeared. Ajin attacked the werewolf, moving in a different direction like a phantom.

[Are you going to kill me with that skill?]]

Clash!

The accident stopped for a moment. When he came to his senses, Ajin was flying in the air. After that, his mouth was wide open with appalling pain. The beaten left arm was mangled and rattled like a rag. Did he get hit? How? Clash! Dropping the ground, Ajin held his left arm with a groan.

[This, Valcun?]

The werewolf named Valcun came up to the fallen Ajin, dragging his feet. Ajin rose up, enduring the pain. The smashed left arm drooped.

He didn’t even see it. The movement of Valcun, attacked him. It was the first time I felt this helpless in this game since I had a duel with Heuk Seolhyang. I can understand her now. She’s the leader of Heavenly Demon, and his teacher. But he didn’t expected that he would feel this helplessness in a monster.

Thinking about it, Ajin never once felt threatened to monsters when he started this game. He only had Repetition of tutorials, assistance from Acacia, and meeting with Heuk Seolhyang, and his betrayal to Sake. Through it, Ajin gained absolute strength that one could not achieve at some point. The Heavenly Demon Arts and his skills made no wolf in the wild forest dare to harm him.

But now it’s different.

You can’t win.

Ajin had come to realized that.