On the outer edge of the Great Tree Labyrinth—within the endless forest—Duncan's campfire swayed in the dark. The crackling of burning branches was a small mercy, giving the terrifying stillness of the woods something close to comfort.
Today marked Day 21 since Duncan had left Zald.
Three full weeks of wilderness survival had nearly driven him insane. Back on Earth, tossing a ten-year-old into a tropical rainforest to "survive" would be criminal—he might not even last until the second day before becoming nothing but bones picked clean by beasts. Here, though? In this other world, it was treated as normal. At least, it was "normal" by Zald's standards.
Food, water, and a safe place to sleep—covering all three at once was almost impossible for a child. But Duncan had managed. With the supplies he carried at the start, and with a Lv.1 status panel that was already near the top tier, he'd secured a water source in the first few days, established a foothold, and kept a fire going.
Food was never the problem. Besides dried rations, there were countless wild animals—and mixed among them were monsters like magic wolves. They were stronger than ordinary beasts, but their numbers had been low, so they hadn't been a true disaster. His clothes, however, had degraded into ragged beggar-wear. Fortunately, the forest was empty of people, so there was no one around to be "offended."
The first three days, Duncan didn't dare sleep at all. Especially at night: the howls of beasts and monsters made the entire forest feel alive, like it was breathing—waiting for the moment it could pounce and devour him. Only in daylight could he rest even a little. His mind was exhausted and desperate for sleep, but the environment was too dangerous to ever fully relax. Under that double torment, he'd developed a new habit in just twenty-one days:
resting while on guard.
Whatever Zald and Alfia's harsh standards might say, Duncan had become a genuinely competent adventurer.
A shadow suddenly burst from the trees.
It vaulted over the felled logs Duncan had arranged as a crude barrier—logs that also cleared a small open space—and lunged straight at him by the fire.
Its speed was beyond any ordinary beast. Only a monster would ignore firelight and attack like this.
A magic wolf, about the size of a large dog—its claws and fangs sharpened by evolution into something far more vicious than a normal wolf. Its blood-red eyes caught Duncan's reflection at point-blank range, as if in its mind the kill was already guaranteed.
Duncan didn't panic.
He'd been attacked too many times to lose his head now. Even while resting, he never let his shield leave his hands. In one smooth motion he raised it—then struck first.
His shield slammed into the wolf's head before its claws could land. At the same time, his short sword drove into the wolf's exposed belly mid-leap, ripping open a deep gash with the force of its own momentum. The creature crashed aside like a discarded rag and went still almost immediately.
Duncan rushed in and extracted the magic stone from its body. The moment it came free, the magic wolf crumbled into ash.
Unlike normal animals, monsters dissolved completely once their core was taken—sometimes leaving behind a dropped item or two.
Duncan had experimented once: he killed a monster and cut off a leg before removing the core. The severed leg didn't turn to ash. But he still refused to treat monster meat as emergency rations. One: he had enough food. Two: he wasn't sure if monster flesh was safe to eat.
Zald claimed monsters were no different from beasts—he'd eaten hundreds of types and could even judge which tasted best, like some deranged gourmet.
Every time Zald talked about it, though, Alfia would frown and walk away. That told Duncan enough: eating monsters was not something normal people did, at least not unless death was already on the table.
After storing the magic stone, Duncan ducked into his tent, lifted a stone slab, and dropped the stone into a prepared pit.
A half-meter-deep hole filled with magic stones of all sizes—proof of his harvest over the past weeks. Nearby were dozens of monster drops: teeth, claws, and the like. Early on, he'd sometimes shattered cores by accident because he didn't know what he was doing. Now he could kill cleanly without breaking the stone.
From what Zeus and the others had said—and from what Duncan remembered from the anime—magic stones were hard currency, just like valis. The more intact they were, the higher their value.
The fact that monsters turned to ash—body and blood included—made cleanup easy. With animals, blood scent attracted more predators, so Duncan always hunted away from camp. But magic stones emitted mana that could attract monsters too. That was why he buried them and weighed the spot down with a heavy stone. He didn't know if it truly worked, but it was better than nothing—he had no safer storage method.
Out here on the Great Tree Labyrinth's edge, most monsters were beast-type. As for how monsters came to exist—did ordinary animals mutate from ambient mana, or were they born from magic to begin with? Duncan sometimes wondered during quiet moments. But those thoughts never lasted.
In a forest this vast, anything could appear. Adventurers died from carelessness—that lesson had been drilled into him by Alfia, Zald, and even Zeus.
And then the night snapped tighter.
The first wolf's death felt like a signal flare.
From the surrounding forest came rustling, the soft scrape of movement in the dark. Through the campfire's light Duncan saw silhouettes—and pairs of red eyes. Night was the monsters' hunting ground. Even strong beasts like black bears or wolf packs would tuck their tails and hide from them.
But the wolves hesitated, wary of how cleanly Duncan had killed, and wary of the crude fence and the fire. They didn't rush him outright.
Duncan raised his sword and shield again.
He was certain the monsters he felt weren't all of them. Magic wolves were clever—they could hide their presence and strike from darkness.
He lit the torches he'd prepared in advance—multiple at once—spreading the firelight to drive back the shadows.
Warmth and brightness gave the air a tiny hint of safety… but Duncan's heart only sank further.
The dark shapes multiplied.
From a handful at first—then, by sight alone, more than a dozen.
He'd dealt with group attacks before, but those had been ordinary animals. A coordinated pack assault of magic wolves like this was new.
He'd known beast-type monsters would share beast instincts; wolves were naturally pack hunters. Still, the encounters of the past weeks had lulled him into a fragile assumption: this is only the outer edge—just scattered lone wolves that don't fit into a pack.
That illusion shattered.
A true monster pack—operating as a unit—had finally appeared in front of him.
And for the first time in twenty-one days, Duncan understood with absolute clarity:
This wasn't "survival training."
This was a cliff.
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