Their trek north continued.

  Fatigue had settled into their muscles like a second skin.

  Every step pulled at their injuries.

  The journey was no longer a crossing—it was an ordeal.

  Yūshin, Reiboku, and RAW kept moving without slowing down.

  Reiboku stayed silent. His healed shoulder still held, but every movement reminded him it could give out at any moment. He compensated. He endured. He said nothing.

  The wind hammered the mountain ridges, lifting dust and old ash.

  Up here, even the air felt hostile.

  Yūshin glanced toward the horizon, squinting against the harsh light.

  A crooked smile tugged at his lips.

  “Now it’s my turn to show my strength… right, RAW?”

  RAW slowly turned his head toward him.

  His ears twitched.

  He nodded.

  A silent, instinctive approval.

  Reiboku didn’t look at him.

  “I’m counting on you, Yūshin,” he murmured.

  The landscape shifted as they advanced.

  They had crossed dead lands.

  A silent city whose walls still seemed to sweat the stench of decay.

  A forest so dense that even light hesitated to enter.

  And now, the mountain.

  It didn’t attack them.

  It wore them down.

  The night had frozen them beneath a starless sky.

  The wind had bitten through their skin to the bone.

  But they held on.

  Because moving forward was the only option.

  RAW, tense, scanned every corner of the trail.

  Something was making him uneasy.

  A silence too clean. Too empty.

  At dawn, Yūshin straightened abruptly.

  “Reiboku, up. There’s movement.”

  Yūshin was already on his feet, his gaze locked on the horizon.

  The smell of burning wood drifted through the air as a thin column of smoke rose into the gray sky.

  Reiboku opened his eyes, still numb, then sprang upright.

  “Smoke? Finally… We might not be alone! Come on let’s go!”

  Yūshin stared ahead.

  “I hope we finally get some answers.”

  Reiboku kept his eyes on the smoke below.

  “We won’t find anything if we just stand here.”

  Yūshin narrowed his eyes at the plume.

  “You think it’s a trap?”

  “In this world… anything can be a trap,” Reiboku said calmly.

  Yūshin pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

  “Great. That really reassures me.”

  Reiboku watched the column of smoke in the distance.

  A strange feeling slid through his mind.

  Like something important was waiting for them down there.

  Reiboku shrugged slightly.

  “We have to take risks. Otherwise, we’ll never make it back.”

  Yūshin looked at him.

  “You’re right… Let’s go.”

  Without wasting a second, they climbed onto RAW and charged toward the smoke.

  Two hours later, they finally reached their destination.

  A still-smoking campfire left no doubt: whoever had slept here hadn’t gone far.

  “They couldn’t have gone far,” Yūshin murmured, watching the still-warm embers.

  RAW sniffed around cautiously. He circled, inspected a trunk, a rock, then froze.

  He had caught a scent.

  He started along the stream.

  A few minutes later, they came upon a small, rough village.

  Huts made of branches, leaves, and dried mud served as shelters. A few stakes and improvised spears ringed the camp.

  And in front of them, a man appeared.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Young. Wary. Holding an improvised spear forged from a piece of rusted metal.

  On guard, he leveled the spear at Reiboku and Yūshin.

  “Who are you? What are you doing here? Who sent you?”

  His spear didn’t tremble.

  Reiboku understood immediately: he had the tattoos too.

  Yūshin raised his hands, palms open.

  “We came from the south. We’re looking for other people in the same situation as us.”

  The man didn’t answer, but he glanced toward a hut.

  RAW sniffed the air, ears pricked. A low growl vibrated in his throat.

  Then a gigantic figure slowly stepped out of the hut. The air seemed to freeze around him. Even RAW stopped breathing for an instant.

  A man with a monstrous build—bald, scarred—holding a two-handed sword made of pure metal.

  His cold eyes told of a thousand battles.

  “Where do you come from… and what are you doing here?” he asked in a deep voice.

  Reiboku kept his hand open, calming.

  “We’re passing through. We’re looking for shelter—until we find a real village… to understand this world. And maybe get some answers.”

  The giant watched them in silence, then a grin split his beard.

  “Hm… And what are your names?”

  “I’m Yūshin. And he’s Reiboku.”

  A heavy laugh rumbled out.

  “Hahaha… So you know your names, do you? You haven’t even reached level ten.”

  Yūshin and Reiboku exchanged a tense look.

  He narrowed his eyes, mocking.

  “You still don’t know anything. Not even your real names, right?”

  A shiver ran through Reiboku.

  Our real names…?

  His throat went dry.

  Even my identity can be taken from me…

  “How?” Yūshin breathed.

  “You know something.”

  Reiboku answered calmly.

  “Yes. We chose those names. And you?”

  “The names you carry… are only masks.”

  The stranger pointed at Reiboku.

  “You.

  At level ten, the Voice gives back what it took from you.

  If it decides you deserve it.

  Otherwise… you keep your mask. Until you die with it.”

  He paused.

  “Assuming you stay alive that long.”

  Then he said:

  “Call me… the Beast.”

  On his right arm, a tattoo read XXIII.

  A level they had never seen before.

  Beneath his scars, the remnants of old skills could be made out.

  “Tell us… what can you tell us about skills? About what’s around us?” Reiboku asked.

  The Beast sighed.

  “What I can tell you is this: there’s a village to the northeast. You’ll find answers there. But before that… you’re going to have to face some things.”

  Yūshin frowned.

  “And skills? How do they work?”

  The Beast raised an eyebrow.

  “Your friend doesn’t have his left arm anymore. So no visible tattoo for his skills. He can’t activate any skill.”

  “What?!” Yūshin snapped.

  “You have to visualize or press the left wrist. No arm, no access.”

  Reiboku replied, calm but sure:

  “Not exactly. I can use my skills. Even without my left arm.”

  The Beast froze.

  “…That’s impossible. You can’t use your powers like that. Skills are activated manually. You’re lying… or you’re not normal.”

  His stare hardened.

  “And in this hell, what isn’t normal never survives long.”

  Reiboku stepped forward.

  “If you want to know how I do it, give us a real answer in exchange.”

  A heavy silence fell.

  The Beast’s grin widened.

  “Words don’t prove anything.”

  He tilted his head.

  “I’ve seen guys talk like you… right before they start screaming.”

  Then he slowly gripped his two-handed sword.

  For an instant, his veins swelled.

  RAW backed up a step, ears pinned, recognizing the aura of a monster.

  Without warning, the Beast swept the air with a single motion.

  The shockwave tore up the ground with a deep roar and hurled shards of rock into the air.

  “Watch out!! He’s preparing something!!” Yūshin shouted.

  Reiboku, Yūshin, and RAW were thrown backward.

  They rolled across the ground, stunned.

  “Was that a skill?!” Yūshin yelled.

  A deep laugh boomed.

  “HAHAHA… No. I didn’t use any skill. I simply struck the wind.”

  Yūshin and Reiboku stayed frozen.

  As if their bodies understood before their minds did.

  The gap in power was monstrous.

  The Beast watched them in silence.

  He drove his great sword into the ground. The metal thundered against stone.

  The earth trembled from the impact.

  Reiboku understood instinctively: this man had survived more than he could imagine.

  “I want to know if you’re capable of reaching the village…

  or if you’re just meat for the monsters.”

  The tension rose.

  “I hate liars. And people who put on airs. You’ll regret it.”

  “If what you’re saying is true, show me your power,” Reiboku said, pushing himself up.

  “This isn’t a lie. Watch closely.”

  He closed his eyes, pictured his intact arm, and murmured:

  “[Demon Fist].”

  BOOM.

  A red-and-black aura detonated around him.

  Crimson arcs surged from his shoulder down to his fist.

  An invisible discharge swept through the debris, drowning the scene in a cloud of dust.

  A searing pain shot from his shoulder to the back of his neck, like his nerves were tearing apart.

  His face tightened under the agony.

  “You see? I didn’t lie,” Reiboku growled.

  The Beast stayed still for a moment. Then, slowly, he sheathed his sword.

  “…So it’s true. You can activate a skill even without your left arm.”

  He lowered his head, almost respectful.

  “Alright. My turn.”

  He held out his left wrist.

  “Skill: [Svalinn’s Defense] — activate.”

  A burst of white light.

  A massive ethereal shield appeared, laced with glowing patterns.

  “You’re trying to push me,” Reiboku said.

  “I’m testing you.”

  “Go on. Hit it with everything you’ve got.”

  Reiboku clenched his teeth.

  He glanced at Yūshin and RAW.

  Yūshin nodded.

  “Take this,” Reiboku spat.

  His aura imploded, condensed around him like a beating heart.

  The air vibrated.

  Dust rose around his feet.

  He launched himself straight at the Beast.

  IMPACT.

  A shockwave erupted.

  Yūshin stumbled back a step, his breath ripped out of him.

  Reiboku’s arm took it.

  The backlash was brutal.

  Every nerve in his arm screamed up into his shoulder.

  His vision wavered.

  For a fraction of a second, fear brushed him.

  My arm… it’s not responding.

  His veins, swollen from the pressure, gave way.

  Jets of blood ran down his forearm.

  They dripped onto the dust.

  The dust blackened on contact with the aura.

  No… not now.

  Yūshin shielded his eyes from the dust and flying debris.

  A wave of dust swept across the ground.

  The earth split from the force of the impact.

  Two silhouettes emerged in the haze.

  RAW growled, fangs bared.

  For one second…

  nothing moved.

  One standing.

  The other on one knee.

  A dull sound echoed.

  Then a low, implacable voice:

  “Interesting… very interesting.”

  Beneath the Beast, the ground was split in a half-circle.

  The dust thinned.

  Yūshin held his breath.

  The shield of light trembled…

  like it was about to give.

  It cracked…

  then burst into countless shards of light.

  For a second, the Beast didn’t move.

  Then a slow smile stretched across his face.

  “Not bad.”

  “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a blow capable of cracking [Svalinn].”

  Yūshin stared at Reiboku.

  Since when… did he become this dangerous?

  This is only the second time I’ve seen him use that skill.

  And he’s injured.

  He’s missing an arm.

  Yūshin clenched his teeth.

  So… how far can he go?

  And me… will I be able to keep up?