Deep in the heart of a forest completely foreign to Cana, she walked lightly behind Erus, careful not to make a sound just as he had instructed. Though night had fallen and darkness crawled around them, her vision remained crystal clear—though distinctly different from her normal sight. Her surroundings bore a faint crimson tint, as if she were viewing the world through a predator's eyes, yet every detail remained sharp and distinguishable.
The flora of this forest came alive at night, their vibrant colors reflecting the moonlight. Tiny, glowing creatures drifted through the dark, emitting a kaleidoscope of hues. Though they reminded her of pixies, they lacked any human likeness, looking instead like literal insects.
QUACK!
"Motherfucker!"
Cana instantly clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes widening in the direction of the tiny black bird perched on a nearby branch. Strangling its neck suddenly sounded immensely satisfying. She had spotted several of them on their way in, but none had made a peep until now, thoroughly startling her. It was absurdly loud for such a small bird.
"Those are forest guardians," Erus explained, pausing to wait for her. Though he grinned at how bold she became without her lunatic side. "They cry out whenever they spot a moving beast."
Only then did Cana realize she had stopped in her tracks. She quickly caught up to him.
"So... you're saying it saw a beast just now? Where?" she asked, scanning the area. Her brows furrowed when she saw nothing.
Erus stayed silent for a moment before taking her hand, quickening their pace.
"It's coming from below," he said.
Cana immediately dropped her gaze, watching the earth for any unusual movement, but found nothing. Just how sharp were his senses compared to hers?
Erus came to a sudden halt, his grip on her hand firm and unyielding. His eyes bled into a deep crimson as he tracked whatever was moving beneath them.
"Four of them. A family of scorpions," he noted, sounding utterly unfazed. His breathing remained slow and steady, his voice calm.
Recalling what scorpions looked like back on Earth, Cana wondered if the beasts here were some kind of bizarre hybrid—half scorpion, half something else. And just how massive were they, considering she couldn't feel a single tremor on the surface?
Impulse took over, and Cana closed her eyes. As total darkness enveloped her, streaks of flowing light began to shape her surroundings, mirroring the world she had seen moments ago with absolute precision. She could trace even the deepest roots of the trees—until her perception caught an erratic, bizarre movement beneath the dirt, rapidly rising to encircle them.
"They're approaching now," she said, tapping Erus's hand. A wave of goosebumps washed over her skin at the thought of those scorpions. She knew for a fact they wouldn't be palm-sized—they were bound to be larger than full-grown humans.
Taking that as his cue, Erus wrapped a firm arm around her waist and leaped into the canopy, bounding from branch to branch until they reached the highest peak of a massive tree.
"Afraid of them?"
Cana opened her eyes and looked up at him, unable to tell if Erus was genuinely asking or just teasing her.
"Kind of," she admitted. "Do scorpions here eat flesh? Or are they demons straight out of hell?"
"Neither. They're just ordinary beasts, but they are fiercely territorial and love to kill. Dealing with a single one is tough enough for hunters, and we just stumbled into an entire family. Lucky day for you, huh?"
"Lucky day? Are they even edible?"
Erus gave her an amused look. Most hunters wouldn't dare view aggressive beasts as potential dinner, yet Cana's first thought was her stomach.
"Edible—if you can stomach the stench of rotten meat."
Cana cringed hard. Not in hell was she going to swallow anything that smelled like a rotting corpse.
A few seconds later, the earth beneath them began to rumble like a localized earthquake. The trees and plants near where they had been standing just moments ago shook violently before the ground cracked wide open, unleashing a massive creature. It resembled a giant crab, but its tail was shaped like a flexible, double-edged sword—a far cry from what Cana had envisioned. Its carapace glinted in the dark, and its thick upper appendages looked like those of a bodybuilder who spent every waking hour in the gym. Its pincers were razor-sharp and deadly. Two slightly smaller beasts burst forth right after it.
All three looked ferocious. At first glance, your instinct would be to run for your life. On second thought, their shell meat actually looked oddly fresh and delicious. But judging by how utterly pissed off they were right now, sticking to the first option seemed like the wisest choice.
While they watched from above, Erus internally praised Cana for not being the kind of timid girl who would cry for her mother at the sight of such monsters. The way she handled herself suggested she was used to encountering horrific creatures long before she lost her memories. Even his own crew made a point to avoid these beasts—though lower in rank, their fatality rate in close-quarters combat was terrifyingly high.
"What do we do, then?" Cana asked, noticing Erus didn't seem particularly interested in engaging the scorpions, even if he bore no fear toward them.
"They're not our target, so we'll leave them alone unless they attack us first," Erus said. "Their carapaces are completely immune to both fire and water magic. Even physical weapons can barely scratch that kind of hardness."
"The easiest way to kill them?"
"Sever the tail, and they're practically useless."
Cana nodded thoughtfully, looking as though she truly understood the combat strategy. In her mind, however, she was simply solidifying her decision to never, ever pick a fight with one.
The easiest method sounded like a quick way to get slaughtered.
"Let's get going?" Erus asked.
Cana agreed at once. It was better to leave those gym-masters to the care of other hunters.
Erus leaped through the trees while holding Cana until they put enough distance between themselves and the family of scorpion beasts. They started walking on land again until they reached the place where mists were forming.
"Stay alert. This is the hunting ground," he told Cana.
Cana looked at him with confused eyes. If this was the official hunting ground, what was that terrifying place they had just walked through? It was crawling with deadly beasts—how was that not considered a hunting ground? The only real difference was that the temperature here had drastically changed, with both biting cold and scorching heat clashing in the air.
Instead of asking, Cana chose silence, knowing that remaining observant would be far more helpful. She quietly fell into step behind Erus as he took the lead.
After just a few more steps, Erus halted, raising a hand to signal her to stop as well. A sudden rush of wind cut through the mist, accompanied by the violent, rushing sound of something moving at breakneck speed from their right.
In a matter of seconds, a massive serpent shot past them like a bullet train. Its sheer thickness surpassed a full-grown human's height—far taller than even Erus.
Cana's eyes widened, her gaze still fixated on the trail left by the creature that had just shot past them. She found herself genuinely questioning if that was a real snake or some kind of high-speed mechanical nightmare.
"What the hell was that?" she whispered, just loud enough for Erus to hear.
"That's a red-scale," Erus replied smoothly. "Its scales are useful for crafting armor, though they rarely last more than a year. However, a hundred-year-old red-scale yields a top-grade core—excellent for making high-end beauty potions."
Her lips twitched. Why on earth was she getting an idyllic zoology lecture in the middle of a deadly monster zone? Where were the tactical warnings? The emergency escape protocols?
Erus had promised to bring her along on his hunts as the start of her training, but why on earth did it feel less like a lesson and more like an escort mission straight to the afterlife?
Cana tightened her grip on the hem of Erus's cloak, half-convinced another bullet-train serpent might shoot out from the mist and snatch one of them into the dark. She hadn't memorized the path through this forest, and getting lost in a place like this was her absolute worst nightmare.
They continued forward, Cana clinging to him like a helpless child following her only parent, while Erus didn't seem to mind in the slightest.
"Is the weather here normally this weird?" she finally asked, unable to suppress her curiosity any longer. She had been taking turns shivering from the biting cold wind, only to be hit a second later by a wave of stifling heat—as if fire and ice were constantly chasing each other through the air.
"It's miasma, and it's completely normal here," Erus replied smoothly. "Though... you are not."
"What?" Cana blinked, not understanding his last words.
Erus turned his head slightly, his dark eyes locked on her. "You're breathing naturally under high-density miasma."
Cana only blinked. She had no idea what miasma was, but paying attention to her own breathing, she felt completely fine. She reasoned it couldn't be all that dangerous—after all, Erus was breathing the exact same air, and neither of them were dropping dead.
Observing her oblivious reaction, Erus decided not to press the matter and simply kept walking. She clearly had no concept of how lethal this place was, even setting aside the high-grade beasts roaming the terrain. Miasma alone was enough to suffocate and kill an ordinary hunter the second it entered their lungs, yet Cana was effortlessly inhaling it like fresh air.
It turned out the protective mask he had brought for her was completely useless. Was this some kind of SSS-rank perk? The irony was hilarious—her body was effortlessly handling lethal poison air, yet she was still hiding behind his back like a frightened child.
Along the way, they walked past the skeletons of beasts that had died years ago. Moss covered the remains, but they were still easily identifiable as massive bones. Though she wondered what kind of monsters could have owned such gigantic frames, Cana stayed silent, remaining vigilant and observant. She couldn't help but wonder how Erus did this for a living. To her, it looked like he was deliberately offering himself up as beast food.
"Look at these," Erus mumbled, showing her leaves marked with red patterns. "The red pattern on these leaves means a level five hundred or higher beast is nearby."
Cana looked at the red patterns, which seemed to faintly glow, but she had no concept of levels or the danger they represented.
"Is it more dangerous than the bullet—I mean... the red-scale?"
"Three times stronger."
Cana's mouth dropped open, staring at Erus in complete disbelief. If the red-scale could move like a bullet train, what could something three times stronger do? Wouldn't they be dead in a blink?
"Let's find it."
She froze at his words. Was he out of his mind, actively looking for such a deadly creature?
"W-what? Seriously?"
Erus looked back at her, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Are you afraid?"
Instead of answering, she pouted and rolled her eyes. Did he really need to ask that? No one in their right mind would go out of their way to chase death.
Erus scoffed. "I thought you wanted to know my life here in the woods. Don't you want to learn hunting anymore?"
"Hunting?" she fired back. "Aren't you just teaching me how to die faster?"
Amused by her reaction, he leaned down to level his eyes with hers. "Welcome to my turf, little rabbit," he whispered.
Cana frowned, remembering that he had called her the exact same thing during their first meeting. Besides, she was bound to him by contract, which meant wherever the master went, she had to follow. Claiming this was his turf—did that mean he was already a veteran when it came to hunting apex beasts? Back on the floating island, Uruja had mentioned the presence of high-tier monsters, yet Erus had emerged from that danger zone completely unscathed.
He was fine, sure... but what about her?
"Thank you, Gorilla," she retorted with a smug face.
Erus's eyes glinted with a hidden smile.
"You don't seem to be scared at all. Are you your other side right now?"
Cana paused, not understanding what he meant.
"You're talking nonsense. What other side?"
"The one that is dangerous."
"Tsk!" She grabbed his head with her fingers and turned it away. She assumed he was referring to what had happened back at the guild. "That woman dared to defile you. Do you think I'd just sit in a corner? Not on my watch!"
Who dared desecrate you?
Erus's heart skipped a beat. The moment Cana's words left her lips, another voice echoed sharply in the back of his mind, speaking almost the exact same phrase. Both voices carried the very same fierce, possessive authority, yet he couldn't grasp who had spoken those words to him in the past.
He looked back at Cana. Was it her too?
Cana frowned as Erus turned his head once more to stare directly at her. Here they were, standing in the middle of a high-risk death zone, yet he was acting like a flirt.
"Hey! Are you trying to flirt with me in the middle of nowhere?"
"Hm?" Erus blinked, suddenly realizing where her mind had wandered. "In your dreams. Let's go."
He abruptly looked away and picked up his pace.
Cana immediately scrambled after him, terrified he might actually leave her behind as monster chow.