With his hands and feet on the wall, Yune had long discarded his heavy backpack and was now desperately straining every last muscle he had in his body and decreasing his body weight to the maximum in an effort to climb up the steep ravine wall.
But even after all of this, trying for hours on end, there was no progress at all. In his best attempt, Yune had managed to climb up a literal inch.
Looking up at the cliff wall one last time, Yune let out a heavy sigh.
"I really won't be able to get back up again…This isn't good."
After having sat in complete silence for a few minutes, Yune picked himself off the cold hard ground, tossed his backpack over his shoulders, and began walking.
"I guess I am back to exploration again…"
After having encountered a monstrous bear in his previous little exploration, Yune had made up his mind to not explore any further and just make his way to the surface the way he came from, via the water.
Even though there was still a monster lurking in the water, Yune accepted this as a lesser danger compared to the monsters he could encounter while exploring the cave. So, Yune was just going to heal his wounds a little more before going to the surface through the water, but then he impulsively slid down the ravine…
Initially, even after hours of trying to climb back up with no progress, Yune didn't want to continue exploring and just keep trying. But, eventually, he just couldn't keep going at it anymore. Yune was running out of water.
Because of this, Yune made the unfortunate decision to keep trying to venture deeper into the cave to find a way out, or in hopes of at least finding something to hydrate himself.
With Yune's mana having fully recovered, his backpack stuffed with raw bear meat, and his short sword ready, Yune began walking through the cave once again.
Yune's vision had improved significantly, being able to at least see a couple of meters in front of him now. So, Yune didn't have to hold onto the wall anymore, but he still moved at a slow pace as he didn't want to run into something as horrifying as that bear monster again.
But after a few hours of walking, Yune had not seen anything else but a single, straight, dark cave tunnel.
With literally nothing in sight, Yune couldn't help but pick up his pace a little, and a little more when he didn't encounter anything for a few more hours.
Eventually, Yune abandoned any actions of being cautious, now running as fast as he could through this cave system, even using his mana.
And after what felt like a full day of running as fast as he could, Yune finally came across something different than dark cave walls. But that something different wasn't exactly what Yune was hoping for.
Yune had set his sight on a faint blue glow in the distant darkness. Unlike before, Yune now knew what was emitting this glow, mana gemstones.
He should be happy about this, but Yune also knew something else…
'There is going to be a bear there as well, right…?'
Yune had previously thought about this for a bit, and he was sure that there is probably a correlation between a cove, mana gemstones, and monsters. Well, it was only a hypothesis for now. A hypothesis that is based on only one precedent when he encountered the bear. So, for once in his life, Yune hoped he was wrong.
But unfortunately for Yune, he was rarely wrong in these types of situations. Having peeked around the corner of the cove that contained the mana gemstones, after having inched closer to it as slowly and quietly as possible, Yune's heart skipped a beat when he confirmed his hypothesis.
In the middle of the cove, Yune saw a monster lying there, sleeping.
Immediately taking a step back, Yune's emotions were conflicted. His heart was beating out of his chest because he had encountered another monster, but for some reason he was relieved.
The monster that was sleeping in the cove wasn't another monstrously big bear, it didn't even look remotely close to it. With grey fur covering its whole body, a head with a pointed snout, canines, and ears that pointed up, the creature that Yune had laid his eyes upon looked exactly like a wolf…but the size of a… poodle?
'A woofle?'
This name just randomly popped up in Yune's head as he saw the appearance of the monster, but when he uttered that name, it rang a bell. This was a monster Yune had heard of at the orphanage. If he remembered it correctly, it was a level-one monster!
The dread Yune had when he first peeked around the corner and saw a monster, suddenly vanished. Yune couldn't even help but smile a little. This monster was of the lowest level.
'If it is a level one monster, I might be able to…'
As Yune's heart gradually calmed, he slowly put his backpack down and grabbed one of the short swords. He had made a decision. Taking one last deep breath, Yune quietly walked around the corner.
It was a small cove, so Yune was only a few meters away from the sleeping woofle.
With nothing between him and the monster, Yune became nervous again, even after he thought to have readied his resolve. This nervousness, however, was something good for Yune as he had almost gotten ahead of himself.
'Okay, Yune, don't overestimate yourself. You have never killed a monster one-on-one before, you are still weak.'
Having said that to himself, Yune had prepared his mind for any situation if things were to go wrong.
Now, he was ready.
Activating as much mana as he could to decrease the effect gravity had on him, Yune gripped his sword with both hands, shifted his weight forward, and suddenly dashed forward as fast as he could toward the woofle.
Quickly closing the gap between them, the woofle came within his sword's reach. Swinging his short sword forward, it whistled through the air. Suddenly, the woofle's eyes opened and its pupils quickly dilated as it saw the quickly approaching sword.
With incredible speed, the woofle dashed backward.
Yune clenched his teeth, his one-hit-kill plan falling to pieces already. Not wanting to give up, however, Yune strained his mind to decrease his weight even further, accelerating the blade even faster toward the woofle. And as a last push, Yune outstretched his shoulder to increase his reach ever so slightly.
As the sword swung towards the swiftly retreating woofle, Yune felt the tip of his sword becoming heavier as it struck something.
'Yes!'
Yune's blade had made contact with the woofle's throat ever so slightly, drawing a small stream of blood from it.
As soon as Yune saw this, he got excited, but he didn't get greedy, immediately dashing backward to put distance between himself and the woofle, not letting his guard down for even a second.
Having created distance, Yune readied his stance to defend as he had prepared for an enraged monster to come dashing towards him, but instead, the woofle seemed wary of Yune, just staying in place, not taking the initiative to attack.
As soon as Yune saw that the woofle wasn't approaching him, a grin appeared on his face.
'A prey that is wary of the hunter is easier to predict.'
That was something Yune knew for sure. Even though he didn't manage to defeat the woofle in one hit, he had an edge in this battle.
'Yes, just let yourself bleed out, buddy!'
With the woofle slowly bleeding out, Yune had no incentive to be the one to take the initiative to attack. Every second the woofle was bleeding, every drop of blood that left its body, it was becoming weaker.
And Yune knew this as he just stood motionless, patiently waiting for the woofle to attack him as he had yet another advantage over the monster.
Yune was in complete control.
This information helped Yune calm down in this fight for life and death. Yune also had more than enough practice with combat and using swords at the orphanage, so the situation seemed to be looking more in favor of Yune the more he thought about it.
Slowly, there were becoming more and more times that Yune was glad to have attended the orphanage. His resentment slowly faded out, almost crossing into gratitude.
Unwavering, a smile had formed on his face as Yune had his eyes locked with the woofle. A minute had already passed, and Yune's powers had already dissipated, but Yune didn't reactivate them yet. However, Yune did have his full concentration on it, ready to activate it the moment the woofle made his move.
And not long after, the woofle did make its move. It seemed to have realized its situation, that it was bleeding out.
The look in the woofle's eyes changed, its narrowed pupils dilated even further, a desperate look in its eyes as it dashed forward with incredible speed.
Even faster than Yune had thought, startling him slightly. But Yune had made sure there was more than enough distance between them to react.
Calmly activating his mana, instantly becoming lighter, Yune bent his knees slightly but remained in the same place as he kept his eyes on the quickly approaching woofle, ready to react to whatever the woofle was going to do next.
Still a few meters between them, the woofle suddenly leaped towards Yune. Seeing this, Yune couldn't help but smirk a little.
'A desperate prey is really easy to predict!'
With the woofle in the air, it couldn't change its trajectory anymore. Yune simply dashed to the side, easily avoiding the woofle before putting distance between them again.
As the woofle moved past him, Yune could have swung at it with his sword but didn't. Yune was just trying to get a feel of its capabilities, minimizing any risks.
The woofle, having landed after hitting nothing but air, quickly turned around to see Yune already having backed up a few meters. The woofle didn't seem to have learned from its previous failure and began dashing toward Yune again in the same way as before.
As the woofle jumped at Yune once again, instead of dodging straight to the side, Yune dashed diagonally, closing the distance between him and the woofle without being in its attack zone.
Yune wasn't only dodging this time, he had intended to attack. Now, even more than the last time, the woofle's side was wide open as it flew past Yune.
Firmly gripping the short sword with both hands, Yune swung it horizontally with all his weight behind it. As the blade made contact with the woofle, Yune felt a strong pull on the blade. It took all Yune's strength just to hold onto the hilt of the sword, but then, most of the weight suddenly vanished as the tip of the sword pierced the woofle's skin, sinking deep into the side of the woofle's chest.
From that instant, the momentum did most of the work, the blade cutting through the woofle's side front to back, its organs gushing out as the woofle landed on the floor. Struggling to stand back up, the woofle quickly lost all struggle in its eyes as it slowly fell to the ground.
"Yes! Take that you- Never mind. Agh…"
Having defeated the woofle, Yune fell to the ground, his hands trembling from relief that it wasn't him to end up like that, his body still hurting.
Laying on his back, his eyes closed, Yune suddenly sprung back up as he felt something hit his forehead. Gripping the short sword, Yune looked around him, his heart beating out of his chest. But, Yune didn't see anything, nothing at all. There weren't even the slightest of sounds around.
But not even a second later, Yune felt something hit the top of his head. Startled, his heart skipping a beat, Yune stumbled backward, falling to the ground.
'Ha… Haha. Haha! HAHA!'
Laying on the ground laughing, Yune looked like a madman. But at this moment, Yune didn't care. His adrenaline and fear filled body became the happiest it had maybe ever been.
What had hit his head wasn't some scary monster, it was a drop of water dripping from the cave's ceiling.