Six wolves growled before them.
"Eiji-kun..."
Eiji could tell from her trembling voice alone just how terrified Yuna was.
Right. I'm not here alone. His childhood friend had followed him to this dangerous wasteland.
He had to protect her, no matter what.
"I-It's all right. We have this magic sword."
Though he spoke with conviction, the hand gripping the hilt shook uncontrollably.
It was only natural. He had never even been in a fistfight back home, let alone traded blows with his life on the line.
The magic wolves spread out into a semicircle, inching closer and closer. Six pairs of predatory eyes remained locked squarely on him.
Still, it was a blessing that none were looking toward Yuna yet.
She stood backed against the bathhouse door. Though trapped with nowhere to run, at least nothing could attack her from behind. Worst case, she could duck inside to buy a little time... and as long as Eiji handled every single beast out here, she would be safe.
"Let's do this... Come at me, you bastards!"
The wolf on the far right kicked off the ground.
Eiji slashed horizontally. A blade of pressurized wind sliced outward, cleanly mowing a path through the tall grass. But it missed. The magic wolf leaped as if reading the attack's arc, dodging in midair and springing forward the instant its paws touched the dirt.
Unable to evade in time, Eiji felt claws graze his shoulder. Fabric tore alongside skin, and a searing jolt of pain shot through him.
"Damn it... I'm not a combat class!"
His grumbling earned him no mercy.
Another strike came from the left. A second beast lunged in low. There was no time to swing his blade back.
Right before its snapping jaws, a radiant white barrier flared to life.
"O sacred shield, protect us—Holy Shield!"
Yuna's voice rang out from behind. The second wolf slammed headfirst into the luminous barrier, getting blasted backward and tumbling across the dirt.
The barrier flickered and vanished the moment it deflected the beast. It was a one-hit shield, but it had just saved a life.
A third wolf seized the opening, circling past the flank where the barrier had collapsed.
"O holy light, pierce our foe—Force!"
Without missing a beat, Yuna fired another spell. A concentrated orb of light struck the third wolf square in the face. Whipping its head in pain, the beast stumbled and lost its footing.
A Saint's basic self-defense magic, no doubt. It lacked lethal power, but that single heartbeat of disruption threw their formation into chaos.
Still, it was only enough to buy a few seconds. Yuna's spells couldn't finish these monsters off.
(It has to be me...!)
Directly in front of him, the first wolf crouched low, coiling its muscles for another pounce. Before it could leap, Eiji lunged forward.
"Get down!"
Deft of technique and form, he poured every ounce of his weight into a desperate cleave. Even so, the Vent Fang cleaved straight through the magic wolf, severing flesh and bone in a single stroke.
The beast collapsed without a sound.
It was the first time he had ever felt the weight of a fatal strike. Yet there was no time to celebrate. Another claw grazed his follow-through arm—a shallow, burning gouge. First his shoulder, now his forearm. His lungs burned, ragged from exertion.
"Yuna, great assist! Keep it up—hit 'em two or three more times!" he shouted, throwing a glance over his shoulder.
He couldn't manage this alone. Everything hinged on how effectively Yuna could keep them off balance.
"Okay! But Eiji-kun, you're bleeding..."
"Just a scratch! Don't worry about it! Stay right behind me, no matter what!"
He put on the bravest face he could muster to keep her panic at bay.
(Damn it... Easy to say, but what's the plan?)
Scanning his surroundings, he pushed his senses to the limit, determined to shield Yuna from any angle of attack.
Having lost one of their pack, the remaining five wolves grew cautious. Circling just out of reach, they growled low, sizing him up and calculating who would strike next.
Five enemies left. If taking down just one took the combined effort of both of them, how was he supposed to survive against five?
(If only I had a little more strength...!)
As he raised his blade, the fallen beast in the corner of his vision caught his eye.
Instantly, Relicta Inspectio triggered on its own. Without any conscious command, text flooded his mind.
Magic Wolf. Leg Strength: Jumping, Acceleration. Material Retrieval Available.
And then, an unfamiliar term flashed at the end.
Armatura Available.
The information poured into his thoughts.
"Armatura...? What does that mean?"
As soon as he muttered the word, an answer surged from deep within, as if it had been waiting for him all along.
A new ability crystallized in his mind—just like when he stood before the dried well, and when he forged the magic sword.
His instincts grasped the truth before his intellect could catch up.
"I see... I can steal the powers of what I kill, huh? Seriously, is there anything this skill can't do?"
The corners of his lips curved upward.
With this, he had a chance.
Eiji recited the incantation rising to the forefront of his mind:
"O lost life. Bestow your power upon this vessel—Relicta Armatura!"
The corpse of the first wolf dissolved, unraveling from its outline into shimmering particles of light.
The motes coalesced into a stream, rushing straight into Eiji's legs. A rush of heat spread from his thighs downward. It felt as though a warm flame was passing through the core of his bones, intense yet invigorating.
"Eiji-kun, your legs... they're glowing?" Yuna gasped in bewilderment.
Glancing down, he saw motes of radiant light wrapping around his calves and thighs.
(So this is Relicta Armatura...!)
To Eiji's heightened senses, the world suddenly seemed to crawl. By absorbing the magic wolf's physical traits, his reflexes, agility, and explosive speed had surged to superhuman levels.
He could clearly see every bristling strand of fur on the snarling beasts.
He could win this.
"Yuna, don't move from there....I'll wrap this up in thirty seconds."
The predator and the prey had officially traded places.
A second wolf sprang from his flank. It was fast—or it should have been.
To Eiji, its outstretched form in midair looked practically frozen. With a single passing slash, the beast never reached the ground. It fell dead before the blade of the Vent Fang.
Right behind it, the third wolf charged with bared fangs. Anticipating the trajectory, Eiji swung his blade, sending a gale-force crescent toward its feet. The grass sheared away, breaking the beast's stride. Stepping into the opening with blinding speed, he ran it through.
The fourth wolf tried to take the high ground with a massive leap. But leaping was no longer exclusive to the monsters. The magic wolf's legs were now his own. When Eiji kicked off the earth, his body launched skyward, soaring far higher than he had imagined.
Their paths crossed in the air, and only the beast came crashing down.
Landing lightly on his feet, Eiji looked up to find the remaining two wolves turning tail. They sprinted up the gray grassy slope, fleeing toward the mountains.
(Should I let them go?)
The thought flickered across his mind for a split second.
No. Not with speed like that. If he let them escape, they might return tonight with a larger pack. This village now had clean water, a home... and most importantly, Yuna was here.
Eiji swung his sword twice in wide, sweeping arcs.
Two wind blades tore across the slope in rapid pursuit. The strikes struck true. In the distance, two gray silhouettes tumbled across the turf, rolling limp and motionless.
Only the rustling of the wind broke the silence in the plaza.
The moment he confirmed the final beast had stopped moving, the physical toll he had suppressed came crashing down all at once.
His breath hitched, his fingertips trembled, and a shrill ringing pierced his ears as a throbbing heat flared from his wounds. The magic sword's mana enhancement couldn't compensate for massive blood loss. His vision blurred, and his knees buckled beneath him.
"Eiji-kun!"
Yuna rushed over, tears welling in her eyes.
She was practically crying already, her voice thick with panic.
Eiji forced a strained smile, trying his best to look composed.
"...Told you, didn't I? Finished in thirty seconds. We're safe now."
"You're not safe! Look how much blood you've lost...!"
Most of it's from the wolves, he started to say, but thought better of it. Pouring fuel on the fire wouldn't help right now.
"You can just patch me up with your skill, right?"
"That doesn't make it okay to get hurt...!"
Sobbing, Yuna threw her arms around him and clung tight.
Seeing her worry to the point of tears felt embarrassing, but a warm sense of relief washed over him nonetheless.
Using the sword as a crutch, Eiji managed to stand. Five bodies lay scattered across the clearing. Once he finished counting them, a wave of dizziness hit him. He had lost far more blood than he'd realized; the wounds were deeper than they looked.
Strangely enough, the boundless lightness and power in his legs remained unchanged. It seemed the strength gained from Relicta Armatura didn't fade once combat ended.
"I'm sorry. I'll heal you right away."
Wiping her eyes, Yuna held her hands over his lacerated shoulder.
A warm white radiance washed over the torn skin.
Heal. In an instant, the stinging heat in his shoulder subsided, and the wound on his arm sealed cleanly from the edges inward.
"As expected of our Saint. You saved me."
"Stop teasing me... Please, just don't push yourself so recklessly."
She stared straight at him, her gaze torn between a stern scolding and a desperate plea.
Eiji looked away.
"...If I don't push myself, I can't protect you."
Perhaps an underlying complex toward the "Hero" bled into his words.
If a combat-oriented classmate like Kaito or Gakuto were here, she wouldn't have had to go through such terror against mere wild wolves.
Suddenly—
Yuna's arms gently wrapped around his back.
"You idiot... Eiji-kun."
Contrary to the harsh word, her voice held no anger at all. She buried her face into his chest, her warm tears soaking through his shirt.
"...Sorry. I'll be more careful next time."
Wrapping his arms around her, he murmured an apology. In response, she squeezed him even tighter.
If he had died just now, Yuna would have been left all alone in this desolate village. Desperate as he was, he had been reckless. He should have kept retreating in mind as an option.
Once Yuna calmed down, the two set to work disposing of the magic wolf carcasses. Leaving them out would draw decay and attract more predators.
Besides, Relicta Inspectio had clearly stated that they could be salvaged as materials.
Holding his palm over the nearest corpse, the wolf dissolved into shimmering particles. The second followed, then the third. The glowing motes gathered around his hand, swirling in an endless vortex without dispersing. Because he had consumed materials immediately for the well and the house, he hadn't noticed it before, but particles with no designated purpose had nowhere to go.
Just as he wondered what to do, a third name surfaced in his mind.
Relicta Arca.
It appeared to be a skill that allowed him to store excess materials.
(...Man, talk about convenient.)
Murmuring the name in his heart, the vortex of particles thinned out and settled smoothly into the void. It felt as though they occupied a pocket of space, and he could sense their presence clearly—much like how muscle memory recalled the exact location of a shelf at home.
Appraising the storage's contents with Relicta Inspectio left him astonished once more. Meat, pelts, fangs, claws, fat—the yield of five whole wolves was safely tucked inside the Relicta Arca. The first one he had used for Armatura had left behind not a single bone; it had been integrated entirely into Eiji's physical frame.
(Monster meat, huh...? If this is edible...)
Their looming food shortage, with the bottom of the grain sack already in sight, would be solved in half a day. The remaining black bread and dried rations could be reserved as emergency supplies.
However, one issue remained. When he extracted a chunk of meat from the storage and appraised it, the final line read: Inedible.
Naturally, raw monster meat couldn't be consumed without processing.
Eiji held the cut of meat out toward Yuna.
"Yuna, think you can make this edible?"
"Hmm... I wonder. Can Purify work on meat? Let me give it a try."
"Please."
Hovering both hands over the meat, Yuna closed her eyes and whispered softly.
"Cleanse all that is defiled..."
The pure white light of Purify enveloped the cut, soaking through to its core before gently settling. Compared to the massive pillar of light that had erupted at the well, this cast was remarkably subdued. She was already skilled enough to adjust the output to match the target's size.
"...How is it?" she asked timidly.
Eiji ran Relicta Inspectio over the meat once more. The final line had changed to Edible.
"It worked! We're having meat tonight."
"Really?! Yay! I'll make sure to cook something delicious!"
Yuna hopped in place with a delighted smile. For someone who had been trembling in terror moments ago, she bounced back quickly. That resilient adaptability was one of his childhood friend's greatest strengths.
(I hunt, and Yuna purifies...)
Combat, food, and shelter. In a single day, the foundation of how they would survive together had fallen into place.
Washing the grime and blood from his hands in the water channel, Eiji looked toward the small building ahead.
The wooden trough extended from the wall, and the drain plug was set in place. Peeking inside, the large wooden tub was already filled nearly to the brim with clear water. The firewood inside the firebox remained neatly stacked as before.
All that was left was the spark.
"...Come to think of it, we haven't heated the bath yet."
"Ah!"
They exchanged a look. In the chaos of the ambush, both of them had completely forgotten about the bath. Yuna knelt before the firebox and pointed her finger at the kindling.
Holy Flame manifested from her palm, transferring to the wood and steadily roaring to life deep within the chamber. Through the stone masonry, heat began warming the bottom of the tub.
(Wait... She didn't use an incantation just now, did she?)
The same had happened with Heal earlier, and she had shortened Purify significantly as well.
Perhaps, just like him, she was rapidly mastering the capabilities of her Saint class.
Eiji spoke up.
"It'll take a little while to heat up, but... you should go in first, Yuna."
"Huh? Ah... u-umm. E-Eiji-kun."
"What is it?"
"...No, it's nothing."
Blushing slightly, Yuna lowered her gaze and hurried toward the main house.
Her steps were shorter and quicker than usual. She seemed to have been on the verge of saying something, but what could it have been?
(Well... if I press the issue and she asks me to craft hair treatment or something out of nowhere, I'll be in trouble. Better leave it alone.)
Watching her figure disappear inside, he looked up at the evening sky.
A thin wisp of gray smoke began rising from the stone chimney—the very first trail of smoke to grace this abandoned village in years.
At the very least, it seemed he had managed to keep his promise to finish the bath today.