Om raised an eyebrow. "what?"
Dev puffed out his chest despite his thin frame.
"Well… not by chasing them one by one like some lunatic. I had a strategy. A trap."
Om leaned forward, curiosity flickering in his sharp eyes. "Trap? What kind of trap can wipe out that many beasts? Don't tell me you just swung your claymore around until they all fell on it."
Dev smirked, pleased that Om had taken the bait. "No, of course not. I used the food pills."
Om blinked. "The pills?"
Dawon's golden eyes shifted to Dev, glinting with faint amusement, as if he understood where this was going.
"Yes," Dev continued, confidence returning to his tone. "On the very first day I entered the forest, I noticed something strange. Whenever I opened the pouch of food pills, beasts would appear within minutes. At first, I thought it was coincidence… until the third and fourth time. Then I realized—they weren't after me, they were after the pills."
Om frowned slightly, glancing at Dawon. Then he asked, "So you mean the pills attract beasts?"
"Exactly!" Dev exclaimed, pointing a finger as though making a grand revelation. "They're not just food for me—I used them as bait. Ten times more nutritious than normal food, packed with condensed energy… enough to make any beast go mad."
Om's brow furrowed deeper. He tilted his head slightly and muttered in his mind, Zero, is that true?
The familiar calm, mechanical voice answered.
[Confirmed, Master.]
[Food pills contain highly concentrated nutrients designed to sustain human warriors under extreme conditions. Many wild beasts possess an acute sense of smell. They would detect the pill's scent from a distance. To them, it is no different from rare prey.]
Om exhaled slowly, realizing how easily he could've been surrounded at any time simply by eating.
Zero interrupted.
[No.]
Silence.
[The area you were in was territory of large beasts who need more nutrients than the pills can offer.]
Dev grinned, clearly proud of himself. "See? I figured it out early. So instead of running from beasts, I decided to use it. I searched for the perfect spot… and then I found it. A cliff. Deep, jagged, with no bottom visible. The moment I saw it, I knew it was my battlefield."
Om crossed his arms, skeptical. "Explain."
Dev's eyes lit up, and his words gained rhythm like he had rehearsed them. "I stood near the cliff edge, broke open one pill, and waited. Soon enough, the ground shook from the hordes coming for me. They charged, eyes red, drool dripping. I let them close in… and just before they pounced, I leapt across to the other side."
He raised both arms dramatically, mimicking the scene. "The idiots followed, blinded by hunger. One after another, they fell screaming into the abyss. The air was filled with their roars, their claws scraping at empty space. It was like rain—rain made of beasts."
Om's lips twitched. The mental image was both absurd and clever. "And the ones that managed to jump across?"
Dev shrugged, patting his battered claymore. "I dealt with them. Simple."
Om shook his head, half amused, half impressed. "So that's what happened to all your pills. You used them as bait until not a single one was left… and when you ran out, you had nothing left to eat yourself."
Dev froze. His cheeks flushed pink. "W-well… yeah, maybe. But it worked, didn't it? Better than starving slowly, I killed thousands."
Dawon let out a low rumbling sound, something between a growl and a chuckle, making Dev flinch. The lion's glowing golden mane shimmered faintly under the sunlight, and the markings of Sanskrit inscriptions on his body pulsed one time like faint embers and vanished again.
Om rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You're not completely wrong. It's risky, but… effective. Still, wasting all your sustenance like that—what if you hadn't found us? You would've died on that forest floor."
Dev scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed but unwilling to let go of his pride.
"But I survived, didn't I? And besides, you're one to talk. Look at you and Dawon… you've completely changed. Don't tell me it was just 'training.' I can smell blood on you both… the kind of blood that doesn't wash off easily."
Om didn't answer. His eyes drifted away, toward the horizon where the trees swayed with the wind. There were some truths Dev didn't need to know yet, and others that Om himself hadn't fully understood.
Instead, Om asked the question that had been lingering. "So again, how many have you killed exactly?"
Dev grinned, leaning back against the rock. "All five thousand and a few or more so."
Om blinked. "All five thousand? Hmmm."
"Yes," Dev replied smugly. "Took me a month, but every single beast came to me is gone. The last ones I finished a few days ago. I was… well, resting since then."
Om narrowed his eyes. Something didn't add up. "Then why were you half-dead with hunger?"
Dev's face turned crimson again, and he quickly turned his head away. "I said resting, didn't I? Don't make me repeat it."
Dawon huffed loudly, and Om swore he saw a glimmer of mockery in those golden eyes.
But then Dev's smirk returned, and he leaned forward, eyes shining. "Alright, your turn. How many have you killed, Om?"
Om fell silent for a moment, thinking. Then, calmly, he replied, "I still need one thousand two hundred and sixteen more."
Dev's jaw dropped. "What?!"
Even Dawon's ear twitched at the number.
Dev stared at Om, eyes wide in disbelief. "Are you saying… you've already killed more than three thousand beasts? You?! And with Dawon too?!"
Om didn't boast, didn't smile. He simply nodded. "Yes."
The forest went silent again. Dev's mouth opened and closed, unable to form words. His pride as someone who thought he had outsmarted the trial with his clever trick now felt like dust compared to Om's simple, blunt answer.
Finally, he chuckled nervously. "Y-you're joking, right?"
Om shook his head. "I don't joke about things like this."
Dev collapsed backward onto the grass, staring at the sky. "Unbelievable… You were supposed to be the weak one. The scrawny boy no one thought would survive. Now look at you, stronger than me even after all I've done. What kind of monster are you turning into, Om?"
Om didn't answer. His gaze hardened as he whispered more to himself than to anyone else, "Not a monster… just someone who doesn't plan to die and learn all."