〈 Chapter 4 〉 Becoming a Hero

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As the message appeared before my eyes, my body moved on its own.

However, maybe because my body had suddenly loosened after being stiff, my feet got tangled and I fell.

Luckily, I managed to dodge the charging wolf.

“Ugh!”

I fell awkwardly, and my knees grazed painfully against the ground.

But I couldn’t stay down for long.

‘Get up!’

It worked.

My body immediately stood up.

I recalled the effects of [Absolute Obedience].

[Absolute Obedience]

Allen Pleuk absolutely obeys the commands of the Player.

The misunderstanding I had was regarding the existence of the “Player.”

I thought I had possessed Allen Pleuk and had become him completely.

But that wasn’t the case. This world still recognized me as the Player. That’s why Allen’s body obeyed the commands I gave.

‘Well, at least that’s a relief?’

Now that I knew my body could move somehow, it was time to make a decision.

‘Should I run or fight?’

I locked eyes with the wolf.

The wolf, having failed to tackle me, was turning around with long scratches on the ground.

It didn’t seem like it was ready to give up on me.

‘If I run, I probably won’t be faster than the wolf.’

Then it had to be a fight.

I quickly moved to pick up a stick that lay on the ground. It seemed to be the one held by the little kid, the one who appeared to be the leader.

The moment I grabbed the stick, the wolf took the opportunity to charge at me again.

‘But how do I fight?’

Having just picked up the stick, I had no knowledge of how to fight.

Of course, in reality and even in Allen’s memories, there was no instruction on fighting a wolf.

In the end, my only option was to swing the stick wildly at the wolf charging toward me.

Thud!

The stick hit the wolf’s head, but it wasn’t enough power to stop it.

“Argh!”

A sharp pain shot through my left calf.

It bit my leg and wouldn’t let go.

In the split second of pain, I was about to drop the stick and sink down.

‘Kick it!’

My right leg moved.

The wolf, kicked by my foot, surprisingly fell backward without much force.

‘This isn’t the time to relax.’

I quickly picked up the stick from the ground again.

Somehow, I had managed to come back to my senses and survive, but just moments ago, I had nearly been killed.

The pain in my leg showed no signs of fading.

Grrr…

This time, the wolf leaped, aiming for my neck.

I desperately shoved the stick into its mouth.

I gave it my all, but as the wolf thrashed about while biting the stick, I felt like I was going to lose it immediately. I couldn’t afford to lose the only weapon I had against the wolf.

I had to survive.

I absolutely had to survive.

To do that, I needed to do something.

‘But what do I do…’

At that moment, something caught my eye through a torn sleeve.

It was the Stigma.

‘The Stigma!’

I still had something I could do.

‘Inherit [Swordsmanship (B)] from [Stigma of the Rose (Minor)]!’

Suddenly, a notification appeared before me.

Time was of the essence.

‘Let’s go, hurry up!’

In that instant, the Stigma began to glow brightly.

At the same time, something started to fill my mind.

How to grip a sword, how to step, how to put power into the sword.

Knowledge about swordsmanship was being etched into me.

I firmly gripped the stick again.

It felt like a martial art I had been practicing all along, an instinctive sense.

I entrusted my body to that feeling and moved my foot forward.

“Waaah!”

I quickly changed direction, using the wolf’s momentum against it.

Using that force, I swung the stick wide.

The wolf, which had stubbornly held onto the stick, was thrown aside without any able to resist.

Kreeagh!

A groan escaped from the wolf.

But it wasn’t over yet. I needed to solidify my victory.

The wolf, still staggering, showed no signs of retreating as it began to get back up.

Once again, I met the wolf’s eyes.

That murderous intent within its gaze seemed more ferocious than before.

I could feel my body stiffening again at that murderous intent. I quickly gave another command.

‘Don’t be tense.’

My stiffening body instantly relaxed once more.

Moreover, I began to radiate the same murderous intent toward the wolf.

This fight wouldn’t be over until one of us was dead.

“Bring it on.”

In that moment, the wolf began to move again.

It charged toward me with incredible speed.

I pointed the stick at the wolf and stood still, calmly watching the rushing wolf.

‘This feels completely different from before.’

Although the wolf still felt like it was charging at an incredible speed.

The stick in my grip also felt heavy with my current strength.

But I had an inkling of how to strike with the sword.

This time, the wolf was running in a straight line.

I could sense the path it would take and the timing of its attack.

Now!

Although it was still a little distance away, I knew this was the time.

I stepped forward to shift my weight.

It was a sensation I had never felt before, yet it somehow felt familiar.

‘Die!’

With that, I turned my upper body and swung down the stick I had lifted.

A clean swing.

Swish.

The sound it made was completely different from when I hadn’t inherited [Swordsmanship (B)].

At the same time, a heavy impact resonated in my hands. My wrist tingled.

The wolf fell over.

‘Time to finish this…!’

Just as I attempted to close the distance to the wolf, I had no choice but to stop.

The wolf’s trembling body went limp.

‘Is it dead?’

It was sprawled out, its pupils cloudy, its long tongue hanging out.

I had never seen a dead wolf before, but I was certain of it.

It was dead.

‘Why?’

It sounded like a strange question, but it truly mystified me.

No matter how I thought about it, even though it was B-rank swordsmanship, my strength was still F.

So, I didn’t think it would die in one hit.

Yet the wolf was undeniably dead.

‘This guy…’

I cautiously approached the wolf.

I hadn’t noticed before, but now I could see its condition clearly.

The wounds covering its body weren’t actually inflicted by me.

The only injury I had given it was the bruise on its head. The rest of its injuries had existed long before we crossed paths.

Its physique also seemed emaciated, likely having gone without food for a long time.

It was in a severely weakened state. It mustered its last bit of strength before charging at me.

I recalled that wolves are animals that typically act in packs. Given its state, it could be assumed it had been abandoned by its pack.

‘But…’

I stopped my hand, which was unconsciously reaching toward the wolf.

What was the reason I reached out?

Sympathy for the wolf’s situation? Or perhaps a sense of kinship for being left alone?

I wasn’t sure.

But what was clear was that it wasn’t my emotion.

‘Was it Allen’s emotion?’

It seemed like not only the body and memories remained, but perhaps Allen’s emotions still lingered a bit.

Thinking about how I had stiffened in front of the wolf made that guess seem plausible.

I was beginning to understand why Allen’s survival rate was so low.

‘This isn’t the time to indulge in useless sentiments.’

As that happened, my emotions settled down, and rational thinking returned.

I stood up. The bite wound on my left calf still throbbed.

I needed to hurry back to the village for treatment.

Just then, I heard a small sound nearby.

Rustle.

I looked in the direction of the sound.

There lay a girl who had fallen backward.

It seemed she, like me, hadn’t been able to escape.

‘If Allen had refused the quest, this girl would have died.’

Thinking that, I felt a bit sorry for her.

I wondered how many times she’d been in danger up to now.

“Are you okay?”

I asked as I extended my right hand.

The problem was that I was still holding the stick with wolf blood on it in my right hand.

Seeing this, the girl probably assumed I was pointing the stick at her and began to back away frantically.

Dust and dirt covered her clothes.

“I’m not going to hurt you, I just wanted to ask for a favor…”

“Uwaaaah!”

The girl finally managed to get herself up and fled backward.

I wondered why she hadn’t run away earlier if she could run that well.

“By the way, I was hoping you could help me up.”

My left leg was starting to swell.

Every step I took was painful, making it hard to walk.

Still, I had to make my way back to the village, so I started walking by myself.

‘Speaking of which…’

Out of the corner of my eye, a quest reward notification appeared.

Reward: 10SP

It was a pittance.

Although it was a generous reward for taking down a single wolf, when I thought about it coldly, it wasn’t a very logical outcome.

‘Damn it.’

It was an impulsive decision.

Inheriting [Swordsmanship (B)] was nothing but an impulsive act.

The quest’s difficulty was set to D, considering my stats and the environment.

I should have doubted at least once whether the wolf was in a condition to fight.

Although I had lost my cool during the fight and didn’t realize, the wolf was in an extremely weakened state. Likely, every attack it made was a desperate act for survival.

If I hadn’t fought it and instead waited as long as possible, the wolf would have run out of stamina first.

Of course, I was glad to have survived.

But I couldn’t be sure I would have survived if I hadn’t inherited [Swordsmanship (B)] considering how I had decided to fight.

Yet, if I could have just calmly assessed the wolf’s state… that lingering regret lingered in my mind.

‘Ugh.’

Each step I took made the wound inflicted by the wolf sting.

At this rate, I wouldn’t even know who really won.

At present, I was both Player and Allen Pleuk.

That disconnect led me to make a series of wrong decisions.

Driven by the perception of being a Player, I had approached the wolf with a naïve mindset and impulsively learned [Swordsmanship (B)] driven by Allen’s emotions.

The world of the game had become reality.

Clearly, my situation was dire.

I was thrown into a perilous world already on the brink of destruction with the useless character Allen Pleuk.

I could think that as long as I didn’t become a hero, I could live in the village for a long time. That was a judgment made by most characters like Allen Pleuk.

The character “Allen Pleuk” rarely showed interest in becoming a hero. He knew too well how weak he was.

Yet by refusing the quest, he lost a friend from the village, and ultimately, he would later realize the entire village would perish.

He would then understand that becoming a hero was not a goal, but a harsh fate bestowed upon him.

Of course, many died along the way.

The first hundred times of Allen Pleuk were special in that regard.

The other Allen Pleuks up to now had done things they had never done before.

Of course, they hadn’t completely followed my instructions, but they were steadily walking the path of that fate.

In the end, they couldn’t overcome that talent, and they ultimately failed.

And now, I had become the 101st Allen Pleuk.

What should I do now?

I turned my head toward the direction of the barrier.

The massive hemispherical barrier surrounded the region known as Basilium, allowing me to see its faint red glow no matter where I went.

The barrier was humanity’s last line of defense against the unknown substance known as Chaos. Beyond it lurked monsters referred to as “Chaos Beasts.”

It appeared that the barrier would protect humanity indefinitely, but that was merely an illusion.

This winter, the Demon King would breach the barrier, and through that breach, Chaos Beasts would invade.

And the village closest to that breach would be the one where Allen lived.

Because of that incident, Allen would lose his hometown and be forced to embark on his journey.

‘Can I stop that?’

With [Swordsmanship (B)], I might be able to fight against some Chaos Beasts.

Of course, I would need to raise my physical stats a bit first.

But when it came to facing the Demon King, I knew that was absolutely impossible.

To face a Demon King, one would have to be a High-ranking Hero.

For now, I decided to avoid thinking about it.

Rather than dwell on the impossible, it’s better to focus on what is possible.

‘I need to get stronger.’

Even if I can’t face the Demon King.

I want to make Allen Pleuk into a hero.

That was the reason I had nurtured Allen Pleuk up to a hundred times.

I will become a hero.

I will show those who tossed me into this place, laughing at me.

I will prove that had they listened to me, I could have become a hero.

Investing SP on [Swordsmanship (B)]?

Now that I think about it, it wasn’t a bad choice.

I was just frustrated that an impulsive decision led me here.

In the current situation, it was better to learn [Swordsmanship (B)] than have no combat ability at all with [Precocious (Minor)].

[Precocious (Minor)] could earn SP through practicing swordsmanship.

I will become a hero.

I already knew how to do that.

After going through a hundred loops, I had already devised a perfect plan in my mind.

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