After leaving the goblin camp, we headed towards the forest.

As a traveler from a small distant country, I communicated with them to gather information.

Firstly, the country we are in is the United Human Kingdom of "Cidonia," which was formed by uniting various small countries...

Our current location is the "Grassland of Tombs," which is the closest to a city, the border outpost of Cidonia called "Londia," which is about a five-day journey from here.

Milia and her companions are pioneers belonging to Londia.

It is worth mentioning that adventurers, pioneers, and explorers all have similar jobs, and are differentiated in a subtle way.

Adventurers are freelancers who do anything from cleaning toilets to being bodyguards or hunting monsters.

Pioneers are national professionals whose main job is to explore unknown territories, record and hunt monsters.

Explorers are professionals who explore mazes. They have high rewards and high risks, and conquering mazes is their main job.

Among them, pioneers can be said to have the most potential. When they reach the A rank, they can choose to transfer to become national knights, leaving behind the dangerous pioneering work and setting foot on the peak of life.

By the way, goblins are called little goblins here. They have a combat power equivalent to C rank as individuals and can reach around B+ in danger level when they are in groups.

The highest rank is S, and the lowest is F. It seems quite dangerous if calculated this way.

The skirmish earlier couldn't really be considered a battle, so I don't know if it was strong or not, but I am happy to have come to a different world.

But reality is always so cruel... if you're not careful, you'll end up dead!

Why wasn't I summoned as the hero instead—"Wolves!"

Milia's tense voice interrupted my inner complaints.

A pack of wolves rushed out of the woods in the distance. They were slightly bigger than the wolves I knew, giving off a more powerful vibe.

It doesn't seem like they are coming towards us, rather they look panicked, as if they are running for their lives.

"Roar!"

A roar confirmed my thoughts. A bear ran out of the woods.

I wasn't mistaken, it was running on two legs! Its movements looked funny, somewhat resembling martial arts footwork.

"Warrior Bear!!!"

When the three of them exclaimed simultaneously - I immediately realized what a warrior bear meant.

The giant bear stretched out its left hand in front of its shoulder, as if aiming at the pack of wolves, and struck out a palm strike towards them.

Three wolves instantly turned into pieces of flesh, and the other six were also left broken and dead.

It wasn't an illusion, there was an energy wave-like thing with the bear's palm strike.

"Huh!? What the hell was that—hey, what are you guys doing?"

Before I could react, the three of them were already lying on the ground...

"Just like corpses, no reaction at all."

Lucia entered a complete state of playing dead, with a vacant look in her eyes. What a realistic acting!

(Whispering) "Lan!! What are you doing? Quickly lie down and play dead."

Milia rushed over and pressed me to the ground.

"It's not good, desu. We're actually in danger. Can you help move the bag of coins?" Silena seemed to be struggling to breathe under the weight of the large bag of coins.

It was the one inside the goblin tent, apparently an amount that they couldn't abandon.

...That makes sense. They risked their lives for money, so there's no reason to abandon a large sum and walk away.

"I'm telling you, couldn't you have taken that off before lying down?"

I wriggled and crawled over, pushing Silena's bag of coins aside.

"Phew, we're saved. I instinctively lied down just now—it was Lan who saved me again. I guess I have to repay him now."

"No, I'm not into lolis—ah, it seems like it's looking over here!"

As the pack of wolves fled past us, the warrior bear noticed us and was approaching.

"Hush, quiet."

With Milia's voice, I completely entered the state of playing dead.

—I'm just a corpse.

Close my eyes, relax... Fully blend into nature.

Is it really effective?

I heard that bears are omnivores and can even eat corpses. And we seem quite fresh—never mind me, the other three should be very tender.It might take advantage of the heat?

"Swoosh—"

Hey!! Why are you sniffing me?!

The scent of a beautiful girl is even more enticing, right?!

Is it because my flesh is more tender?

"Pr~"

I got licked from behind.

Damn!! The sense of crisis instantly reached its peak.

"Roar!!"

As the giant bear roared, I immediately flipped and stood up.

The martial arts bear, standing on two legs, looked even taller up close, at least four to five meters tall.

They also realized that their playing dead act had failed, but they hadn't stood up yet.

The martial arts bear's palm strike posture was already prepared and aimed at me.

"Roar!!" With the martial arts bear's roar, its palm strike came down from top to bottom towards me.

In a panic, I reached back with my right hand because my beloved knife was behind my waist. It was all instinctual.

I grabbed the handle of the knife and pulled it out, just like throwing a punch, and clashed the end of the knife handle with the martial arts bear's palm strike.

The two strikes collided, and the point of impact exploded with a halo-like visual effect.

The grass around me, about half a meter tall, was completely flattened, and Milia and the others were thrown away by the shockwave.

But I didn't have the mind to worry about them.

The intense pressure caused the skin on my entire right arm to burst, and blood spurted out from the blood vessels.

Pain?

—None.

That unbearable itchiness resurfaced again, even turning the pain in my right hand into pleasure.

Perhaps the massive secretion of adrenaline covered up the pain...

"Drink!!"

I don't know where I got the strength from, but I pushed back the martial arts bear's bear paw with my shattered right hand.

As the martial arts bear lost balance to the right due to the pulling force of my right palm.

Someone in my body seemed to be urging me to slash it, slash it... My right hand was not so obedient, and my left hand also covered the knife handle.

"I'll cut you!!"

I charged forward with the knife gripped in both hands.

The martial arts bear used the pulling force of its right hand to turn around and attacked me with its left palm.

A solid energy wave hit me when I wasn't paying attention.

My body rolled and kept rolling, leaving long traces of dragging and impact on the green grassland.

After more than a hundred meters, I stopped, and my body had no problems except for being covered in dirt.

The martial arts bear was running towards me, still posing with its palm strike.

"You've walked right into my trap, hahaha!!"

I also laughed loudly as I charged head-on.

The giant bear unleashed an energy wave about four to five meters away from me.

"How could the same move work twice, you fool!!"

I cut the attacking energy wave in half. The martial arts bear seemed stunned for a moment, and I had already rushed into its embrace.

The quick-reacting martial arts bear made a backward jump while attacking with its left palm.

I sidestepped and cut off its left palm, and it screamed as black blood sprayed out.

"What a nice sound, hahaha... Give me more... Come on!!"

The defenseless martial arts bear had no resistance left.

I pursued it and severed its other paw, feet, and its huge body collapsed to the ground.

Its pain brought me pleasure.

Its screams intoxicated me.

I kept slashing and stabbing.

As its voice gradually disappeared, my inner desire increased.

"Not enough... It's completely not enough!!"

That impulse didn't stop but grew stronger, my withered heart craving more blood.

"Lan, calm down, stop! It's already dead!!"

A woman entered my field of vision.

Her silver hair looks so beautiful... The feeling of cutting it off must be amazing...

"What's wrong?"

Why didn't she draw her weapon to fight against my approach?

Is her killing intent not strong enough?

Unpleasant...

"Die—"