chapter 3: How to fight

Valeri blinked, wincing as his head throbbed. It wasn't just any headache—this felt like a drum being pounded inside his skull, each beat radiating pain that muddled his thoughts. He groaned, rubbing his temple as he squinted against the sharp sunlight filtering through the trees.

"Ugh, my head... Why is it so loud in there?" he muttered, half-expecting someone to answer.

But no one did.

A low growl cut through his haze, dragging him back to the present. The Null Wolves hadn't left. In fact, more of them had appeared, their glowing eyes circling him like embers in the dim light. Their movements were coordinated, deliberate. Valeri swayed, clutching his side where the claw marks from earlier burned like fire. The headache intensified, making it nearly impossible to think clearly.

Okay, okay... focus, Valeri, he thought, shaking his head. What did Astrid say about wolves? Something about water? No, hills! They can't climb hills!

The wolf closest to him pounced. Valeri stumbled, narrowly dodging its claws and falling to his knees. The sharp sting in his ankle from an earlier bite made him gasp, and his fists clenched around a rock he hadn't realized he'd picked up. As another wolf lunged, he swung wildly, the stone connecting with its eye.

"Ha! Take that, ugly!" he shouted, his voice a mix of defiance and panic.

The injured wolf yelped, and its packmates rushed to shield it, snarling at Valeri. He took their hesitation as his cue to scramble to his feet and limp uphill, his breath coming in ragged gasps. His mind raced, fighting through the haze of pain.

"I just need to find a cliff or something... They can't climb, right? Please don't climb..." he muttered, limping as fast as his battered body would allow.

But fate wasn't on his side. The uneven ground caught his foot, sending him sprawling face-first into the dirt. Pain shot through his nose as blood trickled down his lip. His limbs screamed in protest as he tried to move, but his body refused. The headache surged, a relentless throb that drowned out his panic.

"Great. Just... great," he groaned, laying there as the growls grew closer. "Of all the days to not listen to Astrid... Couldn't she have warned me this game would try to kill me for real?"

The wolves didn't wait for him to finish his lament. They surrounded him again, their growls vibrating through the earth. Valeri forced himself to his feet, swaying as he raised his fists.

"Alright, fine," he muttered through gritted teeth. "You wanna go? Let's go. I'll punch all of you... somehow."

Before the wolves could attack, the air changed. It was subtle at first—a strange pressure that made his skin crawl—but it quickly became suffocating. Valeri froze as a figure stepped into the clearing.

The man was naked, his chiseled frame glistening with rain. There was something wrong about him, something that made Valeri's stomach twist. The air around him shimmered with an unnatural energy, and the wolves immediately backed away, their growls turning into whimpers.

Valeri blinked. "Uh... excuse me, Mr. Naked Scary Guy, but could you maybe... help?" His voice cracked, the attempt at humor falling flat.

The man didn't respond. Instead, he extended his hand toward the nearest wolf. Without warning, a deafening crack echoed through the clearing, and the wolf's body crumpled to the ground.

Valeri's legs gave out. The last thing he saw before the headache swallowed him was the man's cold, unreadable gaze.

When Valeri came to, his head still pounded, but the sharp edges of the pain had dulled. He groaned, blinking up at the ceiling of a dimly lit cave. The scent of burnt wood lingered in the air, mixing with the metallic tang of blood.

"Ow... Why does everything hurt? Is this what dying feels like?" he muttered, gingerly sitting up. His body protested every movement, his right arm hanging limp at his side. Deep gashes marred his skin, and his ankle throbbed with each heartbeat.

The memory of the wolves—and the strange man—rushed back. Valeri's stomach twisted. "Wait, where am I? Did Naked Scary Guy kidnap me?"

His question was answered by a low rumble that shook the cave. Valeri flinched, his heart racing as he turned toward the sound. Two massive, glowing eyes stared back at him from the darkness.

"Nope. Nope, nope, nope," he whispered, scrambling backward. "I am not dealing with this right now. Someone else can be the hero."

The creature stepped forward, its hulking form barely fitting in the cave. Rows of jagged teeth glinted in the dim light as it let out a deafening roar. Valeri's mind blanked, his headache returning with a vengeance.

"Why does this keep happening to me?!" he shouted, clutching his head.

A hand landed on his shoulder, and he nearly jumped out of his skin. Spinning around, he came face-to-face with the man from before. This time, he was clothed—or at least wrapped in a ragged cloak.

"You're awake," the man said, his voice calm but carrying a weight that made Valeri shiver.

"Y-yeah," Valeri stammered, pointing toward the monster. "Uh, quick question. What is that? And why is it looking at me like I'm a snack?"

The man raised an eyebrow, his lips twitching into the faintest hint of a smirk. "A Gorge Devourer. It's trapped, for now."

"For now?!" Valeri's voice cracked. "Do you have a plan for when it decides to untrap itself?"

Valeri's blood ran cold. A Gorge Devourer.

He had read about them in Mediator's Story, but seeing one in person was an entirely different beast—literally. The creature before him wasn't just terrifying; it was the embodiment of every nightmare he'd ever had rolled into one. Its massive, serpentine body seemed to ripple with menace, covered in thousands of needle-like Ki spikes that pulsed faintly with an eerie, unnatural glow.

"Yup... Definitely not a cuddly forest creature," Valeri muttered under his breath, his voice shaky but trying to sound braver than he felt.

In the game, Gorge Devourers were infamous predators that thrived in deep gorges, their Ki spikes designed to siphon Aura from their surroundings. Cutting the spikes off was useless—they regenerated almost instantly. The creatures were built like tanks, with bodies hardened to shrug off most Mana-based attacks. Physical blows, particularly those infused with Ki, were the only way to damage them. Even then, the odds weren't in your favor unless you were ridiculously over-leveled or had a death wish.

But this beast? It was on another level entirely.

The oldest recorded Gorge Devourer in the game was barely 10years old. Even that juvenile monstrosity had wiped out entire guilds, with players losing 20% of their teams in futile attempts to bring it down. Yet the man had said this one was twenty-five years old.

"Twenty-five?!" Valeri hissed aloud, unable to contain his disbelief. He stared at the pulsating spikes and added with a nervous laugh, "That's older than me! Does it get a senior citizen discount for being extra terrifying?"

The weight of its age and power hit him like a truck. Gorge Devourers grew stronger with time, refining and absorbing Aura to make themselves nearly invincible. This one didn't just have a scary reputation—it looked like it had survived a hundred near-death experiences just to terrorize anything stupid enough to wander into its domain. The spikes seemed to bristle with deadly intent, each one vibrating with a faint hum that made Valeri's ears ring.

The creature let out a low, guttural growl, and Valeri's knees buckled. "Nope. Nope, nope, nope," he muttered, taking a shaky step back. "I'm not equipped for this! Where's the tutorial boss when you need one?"

The man didn't answer. Instead, he turned toward the creature, raising a hand. The air around him shifted, crackling with energy. Valeri watched in stunned silence as the man unleashed a torrent of Ki, the sheer force of it making his skin prickle.

The fight that followed was unlike anything Valeri had ever seen. The man moved with a precision that defied logic, each strike infused with Ki that chipped away at the monster's armor-like scales. The Gorge Devourer retaliated with deadly spikes and bone-shaking roars, but the man dodged effortlessly, his movements almost... casual.

Valeri huddled in the shadows, his mind racing. "Okay, Valeri," he muttered to himself. "Stay calm. Just stay calm. You're not going to die. Probably."

When the battle ended, the Gorge Devourer lay motionless, its massive body heaving with labored breaths. The man turned back to Valeri, his expression unreadable.

The man crouched beside Valeri, his expression calm as he helped the boy sit in a shadowy corner of the cave. Valeri winced, the dull throb of his headache a reminder of how much he'd been through

"You'll be safe here for now," the man said. His tone was clipped but not unkind. With practiced efficiency, he pulled a basket from the shadows and set it down in front of Valeri.

Valeri blinked at the basket, curiosity temporarily overriding his exhaustion. "Is it… what I think it is?"

The man gave him a pointed look. "Unless you were expecting explosives, no. It's food."

The words barely left the man's mouth before Valeri lunged for the basket, ravenous after days of running and fighting on an empty stomach. Inside, he found simple but glorious treasures—bread, fish, and strips of dried meat, alongside a few clay bottles filled with water. He tore into the bread first, not even bothering to sit properly.

"Oh my goodness," Valeri groaned, his mouth full, "this is so good. Are you sure this isn't enchanted or something?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "It's just bread."

Valeri pointed at him mid-chew. "No, no, no. This is divine intervention-level bread. Like, if a goddess showed up right now and told me she baked this, I'd believe her."

The man shook his head but didn't argue. Instead, he leaned against the cave wall, watching as Valeri devoured the meal with reckless abandon. The boy moved on to the fish, his headache easing with each bite. Hunger had dulled his senses for so long that now, eating felt almost euphoric.

By the time he reached the dried meat, Valeri paused to breathe, leaning back against the damp cave wall. He clutched a half-empty bottle of water and stared at the man with wide, earnest eyes. "Hey… do you have a name? Or should I just call you Bread Guy?"

The man's lips twitched, a ghost of a smile appearing for the first time. "Lucien," he said simply.

Valeri's brow furrowed as he stared at the man. "Lucien? That's a cool name. Sounds kind of villain-y, though. Are you secretly the bad guy? Please tell me you're not the bad guy." Lucien's faint smile grew slightly, but he didn't respond. Instead, he gestured toward the empty basket. "Eat up and get some rest. You'll need your strength. Turning to face the beast as he drew out a knife, Valeri stared at Lucien, the name making his brain work overtime to figure out where he had heard it from during his time in the game. Then it clicked. "You..." Valeri's voice trembled. "You wouldn't happen to be Lucien Perceval Saint-Aurel, aren't you? The Reaper? Lord of Carnage?"

Big scary guy, not many friends, rather crude with the way he kills, which would explain him not having any friends. You wouldn't happen to be THAT Lucien, would you?"

Lucien's gaze didn't waver. "Good. You're not entirely useless."

"Excuse me?" Valeri's indignation flared, momentarily overriding his fear. "I just got mauled by wolves and nearly eaten by a giant snake thing, I even survived HELL and you're calling me useless?!"

Lucien smirked, turning toward the cave entrance. "Get some rest. Your training starts tomorrow."

"Training?!" Valeri shouted after him. "What training?! I didn't sign up for this!"

Lucien didn't respond, disappearing into the deeper parts of the cave. Valeri groaned, slumping against the wall.

"Why do I feel like I just joined the world's worst summer camp?" he muttered, closing his eyes.Valeri frowned, but his exhaustion quickly caught up with him. The food and water worked their magic, soothing the pounding in his head. Before he realized it, his eyelids grew heavy, and he mumbled sleepily, "You're not secretly a bread thief, right? 'Cause that'd be a weird plot twist…"

Lucien didn't answer, his gaze steady as Valeri drifted into unconsciousness.

"Rest well, kid," Lucien muttered, his voice low. "You'll need it."