CH 14 You Know What? Maybe Jumping Your Enemies Is The Way To Go

Ren considered the situation briefly before answering,

“Yes, we should. If something is actually calling us in that direction, then meeting whoever—or whatever—is behind it might give us the answers we’re looking for. About where we are, and what is happening to this place. We might even find a way back to human regions. And if this ‘calling’ is a trap, we just need to be stronger than whoever set it,” he said.

“That’s a very straightforward approach,” Freya smiled bitterly.

“It usually works,” he shrugged.

Freya nodded. Ren was correct. It was not like they had another choice either. If not for this, they didn’t even know where they should go, and what they should look for. At least, now they had a destination, even if it was risky.

“Alright. Then we are going to the valley. But before we reach it, we should level up as much as possible. If the valley’s entrance is filled with monsters, we’ll need to be stronger—than we are right now—to even enter it, not to mention the one who is calling us there. We might have to fight them too,” he said.

Freya agreed immediately.

With their decision made, the two of them began moving through the forest. They kept a steady pace while staying alert for any possible ambushes. The thick trees around them cast scattered shadows across the forest floor, and dry leaves crunched quietly beneath their boots.

At first everything seemed normal.

But after about fifteen minutes of walking, they noticed the oddity.

“It’s too quiet,” she muttered.

“You noticed it too?” he asked.

“Yeah, there are no monsters here,” she said.

Since the area appeared safe for the moment, the two of them decided to take a short break. They hadn’t eaten anything since the previous night, and fighting on empty stomachs was never a good idea.

They sat beside a fallen log and took out pieces of salted meat from their supplies.

Ren chewed slowly while thinking.

“The monsters might be migrating,” he said eventually.

“Like the Striped Gazelles we saw earlier?” she commented.

“Exactly,” he nodded. “Now that I think about it, those Striped Gazelles were running away from the direction of the valley, and you said they were migrating. Maybe other monsters are doing the same thing.”

“That actually makes sense. This part of the forest is usually populated by Terror Wolves and other weaker monsters. I never saw Striped Gazelles before, which means they probably came from the valley,” she said.

Ren nodded slowly. “If they were running away from something…”

“…then something dangerous must be happening in the valley.” Freya finished the thought quietly.

Both of them fell silent after that.

Their eyes slowly drifted upward toward the faint red glow visible through the forest canopy.

The migration has to be related to the red sky, thought Ren and Freya.

“If it’s true that all the monsters are migrating, it’s going to make things harder for us. We need monsters to level up,” Ren said eventually, breaking the silence. He reached into the small pouch beside him and pulled out another slice of dried meat before continuing. “Actually, something else has been bothering me. I understand why the Ironhide Goral didn’t migrate. Its companion was ‘resting’ inside that hideout, so it probably stayed there to guard it. But what about the Huntscale Vipers? Why weren’t they migrating like everything else?”

“Maybe not all monsters are migrating,” she said.

Ren considered that possibility while chewing thoughtfully. The explanation wasn’t impossible. Different monsters often behaved in different ways when faced with environmental changes. Some fled immediately, while others stayed behind either out of instinct or territorial stubbornness. Still, the idea that multiple species might be moving at once made the situation feel unnatural.

The two of them continued discussing the possibilities for several minutes, throwing out small theories and rejecting them just as quickly. Throughout the entire conversation, Freya carried a small smile on her face. It wasn’t the wide grin she showed during battle, but rather a quiet, relaxed expression that made her look oddly content.

Ren noticed it but chose not to comment.

He could guess the reason behind that smile. Freya had spent two months alone in this forest. Two months of fighting monsters, exploring unfamiliar land, and surviving without another human to speak with. Even someone as physically tough as her would eventually feel the weight of that kind of loneliness. Now that she had someone to talk to again, even simple conversations probably felt refreshing.

Ren didn’t pretend to fully understand what she had gone through, but he could imagine that those weeks must have been difficult.

After they finished eating, the two of them packed away the remaining food and continued moving through the forest. Freya led the way, occasionally glancing around as if checking for familiar landmarks. According to her, they were now entering the territory normally occupied by Terror Wolves. Ren had heard the name earlier when she mentioned the monsters living in this forest, and he expected to see signs of them soon.

But fifteen minutes passed without any encounter.

No howls echoed through the trees. No movement stirred in the bushes. The forest remained strangely empty.

“That confirms it. The Terror Wolves are gone too,” Freya said quietly as they walked.

Ren nodded. Their earlier theory about the migration was becoming more convincing with every step they took. Whatever had frightened the monsters enough to abandon their territories had clearly affected the entire region.

They continued walking deeper into the forest. During that time Ren gradually noticed something pleasant. The dull ache in his leg was fading. His body’s natural recovery, strengthened by his high constitution, was already repairing the damage from earlier. By the time half an hour had passed, he was walking normally again without needing to adjust his steps.

It was around that time that they finally found something unusual.

Ren was the first to notice it.

At first he thought it was a strange reflection between the trees, but when they approached closer he realized what he was looking at.

There was a crack floating in the air about a meter above the ground.

It looked exactly like shattered glass suspended in midair, as if reality itself had fractured and never healed properly. Thin glowing lines formed the shape of a jagged tear, and faint distortions rippled around it like heat waves.

Ren stopped walking.

“Bloody bullocks. That’s a Window,” he muttered.

Freya stepped closer beside him while studying the crack carefully.

Ren reached forward and placed his hand against the distorted surface.

A familiar translucent screen appeared in front of his eyes.

[Thousand Fang Fields]
[Recommended Level: Level 20, or above]
[Time until collapse: 17 hours, 34 minutes]

Freya leaned slightly closer to read the information.

“Thousand Fang Fields. It looks like the Huntscale Vipers came from this Window,” she murmured.

Ren nodded slowly while lowering his hand.

Windows were gateways leading to small, unstable sub-dimensions filled entirely with monsters. If an awakener entered one of these spaces, the only way to leave was by killing the boss monster that ruled inside. Because of that condition, entering a Window was never taken lightly. They were dangerous places, but they were also valuable sources of EXP, monster materials, and Cores.

Most awakeners only entered them with full parties.

A group of five people was usually considered the minimum requirement for safety.

“Yeah, looks like it,” Ren replied. “Since the timer dropped below twenty-four hours, the monsters inside the Window can start escaping.”

As the timer approached zero, the number of monsters escaping would gradually increase. Eventually, when the countdown reached its end, the Window would collapse entirely. When that happened, the entire sub-dimension would spill out at once. Every monster still inside would appear in the real world, and the internal environment contained inside the Window—like caves or other structures—would appear as well.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Ren had read several research papers about Windows before becoming an awakener. Long ago they had been called dungeons, but about one hundred thirty years earlier a researcher named Dr. Manhattan had proposed a different theory. According to his work, the word dungeon was inaccurate because these structures were not underground labyrinths created in the real world. They were literally windows into other sub-dimensions.

After decades of debate, the new name had eventually been accepted.

“Let’s spawn camp,” Ren and Freya said at the same time.

Freya broke into a wide grin while Ren showed a smaller but equally pleased smile. Entering the Window itself would be suicidal with only two people. A Window would have fifty monsters at minimum and one hundred at average. That was way above what they could handle currently. However, camping outside and killing monsters as they emerged was an entirely different matter. It was an easy and effortless way of getting stronger.

They quickly moved into position near the Window, choosing a spot behind several thick bushes about fifteen meters away from the crack. It was close enough for them to see anything that came out, but far enough that the monsters wouldn’t immediately notice them.

Once they settled down, Ren took a moment to check his Talent.

[Talent: Heir of Demonic Magic]
[Description: You are the last heir of the Empire of Demonic Magic.]
[Effect: You can absorb a portion of Lifespan, and 10 times the normal EXP amount from your target upon killing them. You can use Lifespan to replace Mana and fuel your Spells with Lifespan.]
[Total Lifespan: 83 years, 256 days]

His lifespan had increased from seventy years to eighty-three years in only four hours. That was after spending nearly fifteen years worth of lifespan on Mana Zone in past four hours. Most of the newly gained lifespan had come from killing the Ironhide Goral and the Huntscale Vipers.

Hunting high-level monsters really was the most efficient method. He had already cut his losses, and was earning profits.

If I kill three Level 14 Huntscale Vipers each hour, I’ll gain enough lifespan to run Mana Zone for an entire hour, even after subtracting the cost of the spells, he calculated.

Since they were now camping a Window, he intended to gather as much lifespan as possible.

About thirty minutes passed quietly before the crack in the air finally reacted.

The Window trembled.

A faint light spilled out from the distorted surface before a massive shape forced its way through. The glowing form stretched outward and solidified, transforming into a Huntscale Viper as it entered the real world.

Seeing the creature in open space made Ren realize just how large it actually was. Without branches surrounding it, the monster looked even more intimidating.

Ren moved immediately.

He cast an Earth Bullet and wrapped both Fire Bullet and Wind Wrap around it. This time he kept Mana Zone active instead of disabling it to cast Wind Surge on the bullet. Even without using Wind Surge, the combined spell should still have enough power.

The Huntscale Viper suddenly lifted its head.