“An… attack!”
The dawn of the monster subjugation squad began like that.
Soldiers on watch atop the fortress wall descended, their faces pale as ghosts.
The others, still groggy from sleep, asked in confusion.
“An attack? You mean bandits?”
“If I were a bandit, I wouldn’t come here. What’s there to steal?”
It was a bitter joke, but the half-asleep soldiers laughed amongst themselves.
Only the few who had seen the approaching monsters seemed to grasp the urgency.
“It’s not bandits! It’s monsters!”
“Why would monsters attack us?”
“They know it wouldn’t end well for them if they did—”
The soldier on watch, rushing to report to the captain, didn’t wait to finish the conversation.
The others rubbed their eyes, watching his retreating figure in bewilderment.
But not for long.
“Wait a second. Is that…?”
“Damn it! Get up! If you don’t want to die in your sleep, MOVE!”
As the soldiers scrambled into their armor, they finally saw the mass of black figures swarming toward them.
The assumption that the fortress gave them the advantage didn’t last long.
Malnourished and poorly supplied, the soldiers stood no chance against the overwhelming and relentless monsters.
When the gates fell, so did any hope of holding the line. It was a crushing defeat.
Even Luke, who fought fiercely to the bitter end, realized he couldn’t handle the onslaught alone.
If only the kingdom had sent reinforcements.
If only they’d supplied more provisions.
But regret was useless now.
Luke sprinted through the bodies of fallen comrades, madness in his eyes.
“This… this is a trial?!”
His voice cracked from all the shouting.
“Is this your idea of a test?! Stop hiding like a damn rat and face me!”
His breath came in ragged gasps, his lungs on fire.
His thighs felt like they’d tear apart. His hands trembled uncontrollably, but he couldn’t stop.
If he stopped, he’d die. He had to erase his tracks, shake off the monsters.
He knew this rationally, but a single thought kept interfering.
‘If this is a test, does running away mean I’ve failed?’
The thought was unbearable.
Failing the trial, being deemed worthless, meant returning to a life of slavery.
He’d rather die now.
After fleeing through a relentless battle, his legs began to give out.
If he let his guard down even slightly, he’d collapse.
His heart pounded so hard it felt like it would shatter.
“Stop wasting time and come—!”
Violet hair fluttered into view.
For a moment, Luke felt like crying.
Herace looked at him, puzzled.
“Why did you wait until you were this exhausted to run?”
The answer became clear in under five seconds.
“This—this whole thing is a test, isn’t it? No? Then what, am I just supposed to drop dead?!”
It certainly seemed that way.
The number of monsters was beyond what a single person could handle.
Especially for a swordsman who hadn’t awakened his aura.
“Do you really not realize that? It’s astonishing how dense you are…”
“How would I know if no one told me? Every trial so far has been about fighting and winning!”
“And yet, you think now’s the time to argue?”
Glancing at the pursuing monsters, Herace’s eyes gleamed with amusement as Luke clenched his teeth in frustration.
With no energy to yell back, he focused on running.
Luckily, even amidst his frantic escape, Luke’s path followed the route Herace had predicted.
They were heading for a cave.
It was a clear sign the story was back on track.
Herace’s lips curved into a satisfied smile.
The reckless protagonist had caused quite the headache, but it was finally working out.
“Hah… huff… gasp…”
Even the most stubborn fighter couldn’t run forever.
Luke’s steps grew slower, his face flushed red. In the frigid northern air, his hot breaths came visible in white puffs.
The world within the novel often cornered the protagonist, only to offer a narrow escape.
Just like now—a cave entrance in sight.
Luke’s blue eyes widened.
“There! That! Tell me I’m not imagining it!”
“You’re not. Stop whining and hide if you’re scared.”
Whining?
Luke felt a surge of indignation—his heart felt like it was about to burst—but he didn’t have the strength to argue.
With no help from Herace, his only option was to dash for the cave.
The moment he stumbled inside, the pursuing monsters slammed into the entrance.
Boom. Boom.
Thankfully, the cave didn’t collapse.
Luke thought it was pure luck, while Herace, knowing the story’s design, considered it inevitable.
The monsters, battering the entrance with their massive claws, soon gave up.
Destroying the cave just to catch one battered human was too much trouble.
‘Looks like the dragon’s will is finally fading.’
The monsters lumbered back to their territory.
The soldiers’ earlier confusion made sense.
‘Monsters in this world rarely attack humans unprovoked.’
Over five hundred years of the dragon king’s absence had weakened them.
Knowing they couldn’t win, they avoided unnecessary fights.
Stronger monsters even claimed fixed territories, rarely gathering in swarms.
This made the subjugation squad’s job straightforward—keeping monster populations in check to prevent occasional encroachments on human settlements.
The central kingdom, viewing the task as minor, often ignored calls for reinforcements.
But circumstances were always shifting.
“You’ve finally awakened.”
The dragon king, Rubikante.
The final boss of this tale.
After five hundred years of slumber, the king of monsters had awoken, consumed with rage against the humans who had sealed him.
All monsters linked to the king felt his fury, a searing heat urging them to slaughter humans.
Though weak at first, the king’s influence was enough to stir chaos—especially in the north, where his presence was strongest.
‘That was the setting, wasn’t it?’
As the dragon’s rage settled, most monsters returned to their usual behavior, prioritizing survival over revenge.
All except one.
“Hey! You, hurry up and get in here! Stop lingering at the entrance!”
Luke shouted from inside the cave.
The other monsters had all retreated, but one frost giant lingered, pounding the entrance with its icy fists as if to seal it off.
Its once-icy white eyes had turned a vivid, bloodshot red.
Luke seemed to think it was because Herace’s presence nearby had provoked it.
Not wanting things to take an unexpected turn, Herace’s fingertips shimmered with a purple light.
The beautiful glow extended outwards and sliced the frost giant cleanly in two.
The frost giant collapsed without so much as a scream.
Its suspicious-looking corpse was quickly dismembered and scattered across the mountain, ensuring it wouldn’t raise any further alarm.
The giant’s remains would undoubtedly be devoured by the hungry beasts in the area.
At last, the cave fell silent.
This was the kind of moment you couldn’t leave out in a clichéd fantasy novel—a setup stage where the protagonist gains their “special ability.”
It wasn’t the most pivotal moment, but without it, the story couldn’t even begin.
‘For some reason, my heart’s racing a bit,’ Herace thought as he followed Luke deeper into the cave.
The protagonist was more exhausted than expected, so Herace let him rest for a while.
When Herace handed him a few biscuits and some jerky, Luke, who had seemed ready to chatter endlessly, focused on eating instead.
Once his stomach was full, he immediately fell asleep.
Eat, then sleep. Like a beast satisfied with a full belly.
‘Protagonists are like uncontrollable beasts,’ Herace mused.
It was a harsh thought, considering he had been one himself once.
Herace pulled out a few sheets of paper from his subspace.
They were reports.
He used the downtime to scribble notes on how the story’s events had diverged from the original plot and how he had steered things back onto the intended course.
Meanwhile, Luke slept soundly.
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