The World After the Fall
chapter-12

Kanghun, an officer from the Red Fox Clan, was happy. They had found a good prey.

"Keep the formation! Do as we practiced!"

"Yes, sir!"

His teams quickly circled the monster. What they were fighting was a mid-sized 'unihorn.'

They were powerful monsters found among the entire [Chaos].

Monsters named after the number of horns it had. They were called uni, bi, tri, quad, and penta-horns, according to the number of horns they had with the strength that only experienced [Adapters] in the [Great Lands] could handle.

1st Stage Adapters could handle one unihorn and the only 1st stage Adapter in the team was Kanghun.

'It's not necessary for me to step in for now.'

Parties of five were usually formed to fight a unihorn, but his party was special. Four of the party members, including Kanghun, were from the professional hunting clan, 'Red Fox'. The others were [Non-Adapters], but they were experienced unihorn hunters. They were waiting to become 1st stage Adapters.

[Leader, are you really going to continue?]

[But she seems to be fishy… are you sure?]

[Don't worry. Trust me.]

Kanghun glanced at the woman shivering at next to him. She was the only non-clan member of the party. She wore a dark silk robe to cover herself, but it didn't hide her beauty. She had bright red hair and pale white skin. She also had various trinkets and pieces of jewelry that sometimes peeked out through the robes. All of them seemed to hold great value.

'Wonderful.'

The professional hunting group, 'Red Fox.'

Most people knew of it, but they never outright mentioned what Red Fox hunted most. They hunted [Adapters]. This woman seemed to have walked into the group of hunters without knowing. They did not know where she belonged and where she came from, but Kanghun did not care. He had checked her spiritual level when he let her join their party.

'She's only a Non-Adapter.'

A [Non-Adapter] was nothing to worry about even with a good background.

She probably had acquired all those items by luring men with her beauty.

Kanghun looked at the woman with lustful eyes on her body shape that could be seen through the robe.

'You might have been able to lure those men, but it will not end up like that this time.'

Then, when a woman made some kind of mistake and screamed.

"NO! I'm so, sorry!"

"Haha. It's okay."

Kanghun answered as took the dagger out that was stuck in his leather armor.

'B*tch.'

It seemed like it was her first time coming out to hunt. She had no knowledge regarding formations and there were many incidents where she attacked the party instead. It was her who brought the unihorn they were fighting in the first place.

'I'll let it go because you're cute.'

But soon, she had brought another unihorn.

"I'm sorry!"

"No problem. Let's get'em all!"

Two was okay. Kanghun was nearing the end of the 1st stage so he was able to fight at least two unihorns by himself.

It was a good chance to kill the two of them and get the woman.

Everything seemed to be fine. Until another unihorn was brought upon them. The woman apologized.

"I'm SORRY!"

"…Be careful."

Kanghun answered as he frowned. It was hard to handle three of them at once.

'What did she do?'

Three unihorns appeared in such a short time. It seemed impossible to fight this. At least they were unihorns, so that was fortunate. If it was a bihorn…

"Oops! I'm sorryyyyy!"

And there she was, running as she waved with the monster chasing her from beyond. The giant monster was 10 feet tall and had two horns on its head.

'….that B*TCH!'

And there was one who was watching everything.

It was Jaehwan.

'They will all die that way.'

They seemed to be fighting well against the one-horned monsters, but they started losing as soon as the two-horned one appeared. Jaehwan was disappointed. He thought people in the [Great Lands] were really powerful, but he now became curious as to how they even cleared the Tower of Nightmares.

'And they also have that weird woman.'

He wasn't sure if she was trying to hunt or ruin the hunt.

'She seems to be the strongest though… are they not friends?'

Jaehwan pondered. He wanted to help, but he couldn't make a decision as he wasn't sure what was happening.

'Let's look into it further.'

Finally, they killed all three unihorns. It was a decisive battle.

'Now, there's one.'

If Kanghun was not at the end of the 1st stage, and that bihorn had fully matured, they would have been wiped out a long time ago. It also helped to have middle-grade skill from a higher clan [Fire King Squad], especially with the help of his Clan Master.

Middle-grade skill: [Breath of the Fire King]

It allowed the user's sword to be imbued with a glowing fire that increased its power. It was a great skill for 1st Stage Adapters who could not yet put their spirit power into the sword. The low-level skill did not allow Kanghun's sword to show the fire on the blade, but it did help him stay alive. He felt dazed by using the massive amount of spiritual energy, but it seemed like they would be able to win soon.

A bihorn was a great reward when they killed. Even without the woman's item, if they managed to bring the bihorn's horns…

"Let me help! Hee-yah!"

"UGH!"

Kanghun turned down to see the dagger stuck in his thigh. The woman looked up to him with remorseful eyes.

"I-I'm sorry!"

"YOU B*TCH!"

"HUH? Who're you calling b*tch! I was only trying to help!"

And that time, the bihorn attacked. With a crack, Kanghun's sword was broken and the shadowy figure of bihorn attacked.

"DAMMIT!!!!!!!!"

And that moment, a bright light shot out from the forest toward the monster. The bihorn then was struck and fell down with a loud sound.

Blue blood spurted out from the monster and sprayed upon Kanghun's face. He could not understand what just happened. When the monster disappeared, he first noticed the sword covered in a black aura. It was radiating with ghostly energy.

But the sword seemed to extremely fine.

Everyone fell silent. Who was the one with such a sword? And when its owner showed himself under the bright sun, Kanghun sighed. It was a ragged man who looked like he just came out from hiding within the room for tens of years. Kanghun then came back to his senses and asked,

"W-who are you?"

To Jaehwan, that sounded like this.

"#W*H@#?"

Jaehwan thought there was no easy way.

After a while, Jaehwan successfully managed to speak with the party. It was the result of using [Suspicion] to its limit.

"So… you are Jaehwan?"

"Yeah."

"And you just happened to be walking by?"

"Yeah."

"And you don't speak our language?"

"Yeah."

"That's weird… the language barrier doesn't happen in this place that often…"

"Yeah."

"…But is it really okay if we take the body of the bihorn?"

"Yeah."

"Don't take back your words!"

"Yeah."

"Haha! Great!"

Kanghun laughed. He was so happy. He had hunted down a bihorn and was handed over the body in its entirety.

"HAHAHA!"

He laughed hard while Jaehwan looked at him.

"You seem happy."

"Of course! It's a bihorn! Don't you know them?"

"No."

"…Haha. You must be joking."

Kanghun's eye squirmed in irritation.

'What a fool!'

They had captured the bihorn with a party formed to hunt unihorns. This wasn't something that could be achieved without a god watching over them. Non-Adapters could not even make a scratch and even the 1st stage Adapter would need to do its best to at least strike against the monster. That was the bihorn. His party was not enough to handle a bihorn.

Some might ask if it might change the result with some luck and perseverance.

But that was because they do not know about the [Interface System]. Under the system, the fight in this world was very honest. Strength was measured by status and skills. So the higher the status, the more powerful it will become to always bring victory to the higher status.

But Kanghun had achieved it.

He had killed the bihorn so he would now walk up to the 2nd stage Adapter when he returned.

Mino, who was watching everything from the back of the party was uncomfortable.

'Dammit. That was so close!'

Mino, the Assassin from Dark Forest Clan, was one of the Ten-Clan.

She was the one whom they called the 'Witch of Massacre'.