Yuder sensed their intent to attack Pethuamet once again and flew into action. He simultaneously blocked attacks from both sides with a wall of water and wind, which caused smoke to billow into the sky and momentarily eased the situation. It took more strength than usual, but it seemed to have prevented things from worsening, which was fortunate.

"A mage, perhaps?"

"No, an Awakener!"

"Who are you?"

Seeing Yuder suddenly reveal himself, the startled Awakeners drew back defensively. As they did, Yuder studied them closely and asked quietly.

"I should be the one asking. Who are you, and why are you battling this monster here?"

From their immediate skepticism that he was a mage, it seemed likely that they were aware of the presence of Western Mage Union mages. However, their identities were still unclear. Upon hearing Yuder's question, one of the Awakeners cautiously began to reply.

"We were just... trying to prevent that creature from approaching our village, so we lured it here..."

"Shut your trap, and keep quiet!"

"But if he's also an Awakener, we don't really need to..."

"I said shut up!"

Another awakener forcefully struck the back of the one who had spoken. But by then, they had already revealed enough.

'A village, they say? Do they live here? If so...'

Judging by their ordinary attire, it seemed plausible that they were the displaced civilians Lorna had mentioned. But could such a large group of Awakeners be simply considered displaced civilians? As silent glances of suspicion were exchanged, another group came to Yuder's mind, one that he might guess from his memory.

'...Could it be?'

Before coming to the West, Kanna had gleaned information from the Star of Nagran brothers, Gayle and Doyle, that one of their bases was nearby.

Yuder quickly shook off the image of the burned face of Nahan, the first image that came to mind when thinking about the Star of Nagran, and frowned. If these people were truly from the Star of Nagran, the timing was incredibly tricky. He wanted to confirm more clearly, but with Pethuamet again growling threateningly, he decided to postpone the conversation for later. Turning his back on the Awakeners, Yuder spoke out loud.

"Cease your attacks and withdraw. This monster grows larger with every attack. From now on, I will be the one dealing with it."

"We know that the damned thing grows with every attack, but how the hell are you going to kill it on your own? Do you have some sort of brilliant plan?"

The oldest looking of the Awakeners, a squint-eyed man, asked. Instead of responding, Yuder drew his sword and blocked Pethuamet's swinging tail with the power of wind.

Rather than clashing with flesh, it felt more like colliding with a slab of metal, his body forcefully thrust backward amidst the loud noise. The pressure transmitted through his sword made him grit his teeth involuntarily. Even though it was still small compared to the size of the creatures he had faced in his previous life, the force was tremendous, enough to slightly bury his heels into the ground. As Pethuamet, seemingly surprised by the unexpected force exerted by a small human, momentarily halted its movements, Yuder shifted his gaze toward the man who had asked the question.

"I believe this should suffice as an answer."

"He's really holding it off alone..."

Turning to the astonished murmur coming from behind him, Yuder spotted the mages from the Western Mage Union who had belatedly followed and yelled out to them.

"The target has been identified. We will begin luring it soon. Please stand clear!"

"Understood! But who are those people over... gah!"

The mages, who had widened their eyes in disbelief upon spotting the Awakeners, screamed instinctively and scattered as they turned and saw Pethuamet, having sensed the arrival of a new enemy. Pethuamet had begun to slowly lumber after them with a thud-thud noise.

'This can't happen.'

The mages had planned to deal with the other monsters in the vicinity as soon as Yuder encountered Pethuamet. They would then move forward and use magic to change the color of the leaves in the trees above the path to their destination, guiding the way. Yuder glanced at the Awakeners after a moment, noticing a tree not far away whose upper leaves had turned golden.

"We'll talk later. If you are willing to help us kill this monster, please assist the mages with the other monsters. If not, please stand back so as not to interfere."

"What, what did you say?"

"What will you do?"

The Awakeners, looking at each other's faces again, focused their attention on the squint-eyed man. Muttering a curse under his breath, the man made a decision, responding, "Alright."

"If you fail, it's going to head to our village next, so we don't have a choice. Damn it, what kind of situation is this? Anyway, if you say you can kill it, let's talk after it's over."

If Yuder were the same as when he only knew about Nahan, he would never have asked these dubious people from Star of Nagran for help, no matter how urgent the situation was. But he remembered the face of Kanna, who had given him information about the brothers Gayle and Doyle. After becoming Awakeners, the brothers had been shunned by those around them. They had joined the ranks of the Star of Nagran as they wandered around starving. He couldn't be unconditionally hostile with this information.

They seemed to have run into this situation unprepared, and he decided to focus on the fact that they had more volunteers to help deal with Pethuamet. Apologies to the mages of the Western Mage Union, but a ragtag group of awkwardly gathered Awakeners seemed far better than mages who could hardly handle attack magic.

Yuder postponed making a judgment on the situation, instead leaping into the wind and slashing down on Pethuamet's head with his sword. A scream filled the air as black blood splattered. Eyes slit vertically were filled with a burning hatred as they glared at Yuder.

His entire body prickled with intense murderous intent, causing him to instinctively shrink back. However, Yuder shook off the sensation with a quick deep breath. Holding his sword ready, he scanned the path marked by the gleaming golden leaves above his head. The darkness was thick in the Great Sarain Forest, making it difficult to even locate his allies nearby, but the purple venom leaking from Pethuamet's body was bright enough to be eye-watering. At least, he thought, it was a blessing that he couldn't lose sight of his target in the dark.

"Alright... watch me."

He hadn't been able to kill it in his previous life, but this time would be different.

In this life, it wouldn't be Kishiar who killed Pethuamet. It would be him.

As Pethuamet began to follow him, Yuder launched an attack while retreating. Harnessing the power of the wind, he rapidly shifted positions. The essence of this luring operation was to deal the real attacks with his sword.

Though it stung his pride to imitate the movements he had seen from Kishiar in his previous life, the method certainly worked like a charm. Pethuamet stopped chasing the others and started following Yuder alone.

Every time the monstrous figure of Pethuamet collided with the gigantic trees, they shattered and snapped with tremendous noise. However, the beast, blinded by bloodlust to consume the annoying human, paid no mind. Yuder dodged the sweeping tail overhead, ducking and retreating. Every time the monster's venom and body fluids grazed his bare skin, he felt as if he was occasionally touched by fire.

Launching himself upward with a leap, he landed a blow on Pethuamet's back. Hearing a shriek of pain, he instantly switched his position again. As he momentarily conjured a flame to illuminate his position, a furious claw swiped at it as if to crush and extinguish the light. However, Pethuamet could grasp nothing.

The monster's roar reverberated through the forest. Yuder got the impression that the cries were becoming louder and more inflated.

'I think there were people who bled from the nose or had ruptured eardrums just by hearing the roar when it got any bigger.'

He wondered if the weaker mages who were listening to these cries were alright.

Yuder, again, had to dodge the venom spat by Pethuamet, hurling his body into the air. In his stead, several trees which received the venom collapsed backward with a mournful sound, melting away.

Panting heavily, he looked up to see the tree leaves shimmering in golden light above the forest.

'There it is.'

Up until now, the lure had been working well. The passage of time felt as long as a day, which was a problem. But, he had not received a single injury and everything was going smoothly.

"Come on... follow me more...."

In response to Yuder's muttering, Pethuamet roared with anger. With a dull feeling in his head, he felt an itch inside his ear, then something trickled down. Seeing that the loud noise was now halved, it appeared that his eardrum could no longer withstand and had burst.

'Maybe it's better since I can't hear that noisy roar.'

However, not hearing meant a disruption in the process of detecting and dodging the monster using all his senses. Yuder couldn't dodge the tail of Pethuamet, which suddenly appeared from the side where he couldn't hear, and was hit at the end.

'Ah, damn it.'

His body flew, grazing several trees and plunging into the ground with the feeling of shattering. Yuder immediately rolled his body to avoid the attack of Pethuamet, which was falling directly overhead.

With a tremendous tremor, the massive body that could crush anyone whizzed past the side of his head.

'Damn it!'

Feeling around, he found that the sword he was holding was gone. There was no time to find the sword in the dark, so Yuder, his mistake burning bitterly, immediately moved his body again.

"Hey! Are you okay?"

A familiar voice worried about him from not too far away. It seemed the Awakener who had agreed to assist him was nearby.