THPUD 03

Chapter 3 ….

I knew that boulder.

When hiking along the mountain road, I used it as a marker.

When I got tired, I leaned against it and took breaks.

I’d never been here at night, though.

…Was it always glowing like that?

Sparkle, sparkle.

Weird…

The boulder was glowing, yet everything around it was still pitch-black.

Actually—

The light from the boulder was so bright that it made the surroundings seem even darker.

Logically, if there’s light, darkness should retreat…

But it felt like the light was trapped inside the boulder.

Like it couldn’t escape.

I’d seen something like that before…

“…Huh?”

Whip.

I lowered my head and looked down.

My body was wrapped in yellow light.

Just like the boulder, the light was confined to my body, and everything around me stayed dark.

“…This…”

So the light wasn’t only visible to people?

Thump-thump-thump.

My heart started racing like crazy at the possibility.

Sparkle, sparkle.

The boulder brightened in time with my heartbeat.

Excitement surged.

Like a moth drawn to flame, I approached and placed my hand on the smooth stone.

“Why are you glowing…? Tell me the reason. Let me raise my hunter rank for once.”

If I could figure out why this rock was glowing…

Then I could—

Sssh.

“Huh?”

**

…What?

Suddenly, a steep downward slope opened beneath my feet.

I was positioned at the very edge of something close to a cliff, about to fall.

Before I could think, my body sprinted down the slope on instinct.

Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

A single mistake at this height and…

I’d die.

Bababababak!

Cold sweat streamed down my back. My body swayed from the speed, but my eyes never stopped scanning.

Because below the cliff—

—was a massive, majestic cave.

And piles of bones I couldn’t identify.

W-what the hell is this?

Was that boulder a dungeon gate?

No.

I graduated from the Hunter Academy for Prodigies. I know what a dungeon gate looks like.

This was more like a portal.

A warp.

A space jump or a spatial distortion would make much more sense.

…Either way—

I was seconds away from smashing head-first into the ground.

I tucked my head and curled my body as tightly as I could.

Forward roll landing.

Tumble, tumble—

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Something jabbed into my back.

Ssshhhk!

My arm scraped against the ground and tore open.

I rolled for a long time before I finally stopped.

“Cough, cough!”

Inventory.

Rice.

I stacked the 40 kg rice sacks the village chief gave me, layering them around me for cover, lowering my body behind them.

Because I’d seen those bones on the way down.

Potion.

I pulled out a low-grade potion and drank it.

Hoe.

The sharp hoe I used helping the chief with farming — I held it in one hand.

If a monster or something unknown appeared… my chances of survival—

“…”

Through the haze of dust, a pair of bright yellow eyes stared right at me.

A beast with scales like a dragon, wings folded against its back…

Tiger-like in shape…

And unfortunately—

Right next to me.

**

The fear that hunters naturally feel when facing monsters—

Fear.

When Fear triggers, symptoms include limb paralysis, limb shaking, limb rigidity, weakness, difficulty breathing, hallucinations…

And apparently, all of that was real.

Clack clack clack clack—

My teeth chattered uncontrollably.

My hands and feet shook and spasmed like I’d been struck by a seizure.

My whole body went stiff like I’d been injected with anesthetic. I couldn’t even breathe properly.

“Haa… haa…”

Then the monster leaned in close to my chest, following the sound of my racing heart.

Chills shot up my spine.

Who would’ve imagined my last moments would be being eaten alive by a monster?

**

The so-called “life-flashing-before-your-eyes” scene played out.

Parents I barely remembered.

My grandfather—always working, but so warm.

Brutal training at the Hunter Academy.

The happiest moment of my life: awakening.

The shocking F-rank result.

And the kind village chief…

“…”
“…”
“….”

…That was it?

I waited for more memories to appear—

But that was all.

It ended so absurdly short.

No matter how hard I tried to recall anything else, everything was just training and praying.

“….”

I should’ve lived doing more things I wanted.

Hunter. Awakening. Why did I cling to it so desperately?

Regret washed over me.

**

Is it tasty, you monster bastard…?

The monster was chewing on my side—

But because of the paralysis, my body couldn’t feel a single bit of pain.

“….”

Damn it.

I didn’t live this hard just to die like this.

To die this cheaply—

All that effort…

It was too unfair.

“….”

If I was going to die…

I wanted to hit it once before I went.

**

Nnnnnngh—

Move, damn body!

Blood vessels in my neck and arms bulged like they would burst.

“—Hup!”

Move!

What’s there to be scared of?

It’s not like you die twice!

Nnnnngh.

“UAAAAAAAH!”

Whip!

“—!!”

It moved.

My right arm moved.

I flailed, searching for the hoe I dropped when my hand shook earlier.

If I was going to die, I’d at least smash this beast’s skull—

[ …Mom…. ]

“Holy—!!”

What!?

[ Pant… Mom… ]

…Did…

Did the monster just talk?

**

“…”

Now that the Fear had faded, I could see clearly.

The monster was tiny—only the size of my palm.

A tiny curled-up body. Round head. Little wings. Cute tail. Adorable feet.

A baby monster was snuggled under my armpit like a kitten, sleeping.

I had been terrified by a baby this small.

[ Pant… mom… pant… ]

…It’s cute.

It was cute.

Really cute.

But even so…

A monster was still a monster.

I had to kill it.

If I struck its head with the hoe, I could kill it instantly—

…Could I?

“….”

**

Whip.

A chill ran up my spine. I quickly scanned the surroundings.

Because where there’s a monster baby… the mother is nearby.

“….”

And if I killed it, what benefit would it give me?

Nothing.

It would only enrage the mother.

…Better just run.

Ssshh.

I looked up the slope I had come down.

Thankfully… the glowing boulder was there.

**

Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat—

I ran without breathing.

My back felt cold, like something was right behind me.

But I didn’t look back. Only up.

There’s nothing. Don’t panic. It’s just fear messing with you.

Tat-tat-tat—

“Haa… haa…”

The slope grew steeper.

Soon, I had to climb.

“Haa… haa… haa…”

**

Glance, glance.

Where even is this…

The massive, mystical cave looked so alien that I knew immediately this wasn’t Earth.

And yet—

“…Nothing.”

There was nothing alive.

In this entire enormous cavern, the only living thing was that baby.

No way… is this a monster nest?

Spark.

Huh?

A yellow glow.

“…Why is it…?”

I rubbed my eyes and looked again.

Not a mistake.

The baby monster was—

glowing yellow.

**

[ Pant… ]

Its body was thin and frail.

It breathed weakly.

Tap.

I stacked rice sacks between us like a wall, then reached out with a long stick.

Tap, tap.

[ Pant… ]

It didn’t move.

“….”

…Was it dying?

Beast-type monsters normally live with their mother until they become adults.

To be that skinny… it must’ve been abandoned long ago.

Could it be… thrown away?

“….”

**

Orphan.

Alone.

Glowing yellow body.

It felt like seeing myself.

[ Pant… mom… ]

Maybe it was dreaming, seeing its mother.

It kept calling for her.

“…Your mom and dad died too? Is that why you’re alone out here without friends?”

[ Pant… ]

“…”

It was just a whim.

Besides, I needed to know why it was glowing yellow.

I took out a low-grade potion from my inventory and poured it into the baby monster’s mouth.

**

I went to the chief’s house and got rice and side dishes.

“What’s that movin’ inside your clothes?”

“…Kitten. It was wandering alone in the mountains.”

“Kitty?”

The chief’s wife tried to peek into my clothes, so I subtly dodged.

She was old—if she got hit with monster Fear, she might drop from a heart attack.

“Oh my. You’re not gon’ take it away, right?”

“It’s not that… it’s just aggressive. It scratches and bites. And it’s shy.”

“Oh really…? Ah! Will it eat this? My husband caught them yesterday.”

She rummaged through the freezer and handed me packs of frozen fish.

It was probably too young to eat fish—milk would be better.

But I had an inventory, so I could store it.

“Thank you. Also… could I maybe get a nutrition potion too?”

“So now I’m a potion store, huh?”

“….”

**

I went home and turned the abandoned chicken coop into a house for the monster.

Inside it, I placed soft cotton—