A hazy light flowed along the spear.
It was a phenomenon I had never experienced on Earth.
It was my first time seeing it, but I could tell why the light had begun to flow.
Because it was a light I had made.
This light came from an ability I had gained during the war.
It was created by the strange energy that was the source of my senses.
On Earth, that energy had made my body a little sturdier and my senses sharper.
That energy had flowed all the way into the spear.
‘Was this possible?’
I had felt the energy growing stronger and stronger after crossing over to this planet, but I had possessed the energy itself even on Earth.
Back then, however, I hadn’t been able to let it flow outside my body.
The energy itself had been locked tightly inside me.
Now it was different.
Here, I could let the energy inside my body flow outward. It wasn’t a large amount, but I could send it beyond my skin.
On top of that, I could send the energy far more easily into the spear I held in my hand.
The sensation of the energy moving was no different from when it moved inside my body.
‘Is it something like the “qi” in martial arts novels or “mana” in fantasy novels?’
It was an absurd thought, but I had already experienced things far more absurd, so I couldn’t help wondering.
On top of that, I instinctively knew that this light strengthened the spear.
I couldn’t help but be hopeful.
The man who had finished off the beast returned holding in one hand a creature that resembled a rabbit, but was as large as a medium-sized dog.
He tossed the prey he had caught in front of us, then climbed onto a nearby rock and half lay down.
He looked as if his part of the job was done.
Team member Kim Huiwon looked at the man lying down and let out a sigh.
“...I’ll handle the rest.”
With the prey in front of her, Kim Huiwon explained in detail.
“You should have learned butchering during the training period. I’ll do it this time, so watch carefully. From next time on, you’ll have to do it yourselves.”
She drew a bone knife from her waist and began skinning the beast.
“As I said earlier, we have to make use of everything we catch. The hide has to be gathered separately and used for cloaks or to ward off the cold, and the meat has to be used for food.”
A faint light also lingered around the bone knife as she cut into the hide.
Under her knife, the hide peeled away in strips.
Muscle was cut away, and the organs were exposed.
She continued explaining as she looked down at the prey being dismantled.
“This beast that resembles a rabbit is called a Rabbit Monster, a rabbit beast. In fact, we call all the animals we’ve seen on this planet monsters.”
She reached into the wide-open belly and pulled out the organs, then pointed at the prey and said,
“This rabbit monster may look like a rabbit, but it has a nastier temperament than most carnivores. Some people have been badly injured after approaching one without thinking. Some even call it a max-level rabbit.”
Just as she said, although it resembled a rabbit, this beast had sharp teeth and claws.
The exposed muscles did not look like those of an herbivore either.
This monster was clearly a vicious carnivore.
When everyone nodded, she gave a small laugh and changed the subject.
“But in truth, the reason we call the animals here monsters isn’t because of their violent temperament. It’s because of this tough skin.”
She stabbed the half-peeled hide with her knife.
Thunk.
She stabbed harder than before, but this time, it didn’t even leave a scratch.
Everyone looked puzzled, but I knew what was different.
When I checked with my senses, the knife was not glowing now.
“Let’s see. You there, sir.”
She pointed at the middle-aged man.
“Come here and stab this corpse with that spear. Its toughness has weakened a lot after death, but you should still be able to confirm it.”
The man quickly stepped forward.
After examining the hide covering the meat, he grinned and said,
“May I stab it my own way?”
It seemed he had some confidence in himself.
“Yes. You can do it however you like. You can use this knife too.”
At those words, he sat in front of the prey and grabbed the hide with his left hand, pulling it taut.
The hide stretched tight.
“Sorry to say this, but I run a butcher shop. I can cut up meat like this without even looking.”
With his other hand, he gripped the spear near the spearhead and dragged it down with all his strength.
Scrrrrrape.
A rough sound came from the hide.
The butcher’s expression darkened.
Scrape. Scrrrape.
He dragged the spear across it several times, and even took the bone knife to try to cut the hide.
The hide didn’t get so much as a scratch.
With a gloomy face, he stepped back.
Kim Huiwon stroked the hide and said,
“You saw that, right? An ordinary person can’t pierce this hide just because they’re strong. And it’s not only the hide. The muscles are the same.”
She held the spear upside down and put strength into her arm.
Wooooong.
The spearhead gradually began to glow.
The light continued to grow brighter.
Her arm trembled.
“Isn’t the spear glowing?”
At some point, the others also realized that the spear was shining.
She drove the spear down.
Thuk.
A hole opened in the hide.
The spear was embedded deep into the muscle.
“Hah, hah. I used too much strength to show all of you.”
After pulling out the spear, she breathed heavily.
‘If you put in excessive strength, does it become visible even to ordinary people?’
It was a fascinating sight, but I had no intention of imitating it.
Now was the time to observe the situation.
After catching her breath for a moment, she continued her explanation.
“To pierce a monster’s hide, you need a technique—no, an ability like the one I have.”
At her words, everyone glared at their spears.
The middle-aged man and the male college student even tightened their grips on their spears, but nothing changed.
“There’s no need to worry just because you can’t do it right away. Since you were able to come to this planet, all of you will eventually be able to do it.”
She raised her spear and pointed toward the place we had departed from, the forward base.
“The ruins that brought you to this planet operate on the power from just now—dark energy. Anyone who can’t accept dark energy wouldn’t have been able to come to this planet.”
Her spear changed direction and pointed at us.
“The blood test you received was to confirm that.”
They could tell that through a blood test?
Another question arose, but for now I set it aside and focused on what she was saying.
“That power can only be felt on this planet. All of you will gradually become able to use that power too.”
Everyone was shocked by her words.
“So after some time, I’ll be able to use superpowers too?”
Leaving Sergeant An’s muttering behind, the college student who liked to step forward hurriedly asked,
“Did you say this dark energy exists only on this planet?”
“It’s not that it exists only on this planet, but I heard that, in any case, it doesn’t exist on Earth or in the solar system.”
“Don’t tell me dark energy means dark energy and dark matter? The unknown substance that appears in astronomy?”
“That’s right. So there was someone who knew. They said it isn’t ‘dark’ because it’s black, but ‘dark’ as in ‘unknown.’”
At her words, the college student shook his head with a dazed expression.
“Really, dark energy? But that’s something that only appears theoretically to explain the laws of the universe.”
He began muttering incomprehensible things again.
Pushing aside the college student who had fallen into his own world, I asked her a question this time.
“You said there’s no dark energy on Earth, so how did the ruins operate?”
She looked at me with a pleased expression.
“Good question. That’s exactly the most important reason we hunt.”
She stabbed the bone knife deep into the back of the prey’s head.
Then she dug around the area she had stabbed with the bone knife.
Starting from where the neck and head met, she dug through the entire neck and into the skull.
After rummaging around for quite a while, she finally pulled out a small piece of stone.
“I finally found it. This is it. A Dark Stone. It’s a gemstone we call a black stone.”
A small, translucent black-purple gem.
A stone that looked like a shard of obsidian rolled around on her palm.
“They say a lot of dark energy is gathered inside this stone. Even in places without dark energy, as long as you have this stone, you can operate the ruins.”
“Are you saying they sent us here to obtain those stone fragments?”
At Sergeant An’s question, she nodded.
“That’s right. There are other tasks as well, but the most important thing is this black stone. We need these black stones to keep operating the ruins.”
Everyone stared at the black stone in her hand.
“I can’t tell what’s different about it...”
“Isn’t it just a piece of rock?”
It seemed no one else felt anything.
When I focused my senses, I could feel quite a strong energy inside the black stone.
Energy packed tightly inside the black stone.
It was the exact same energy I felt from my own body.
After carefully putting away the black stone, she finished cleaning up the prey with us.
It wasn’t a large amount, but we put the meat and bones inside the hide and tied the hide shut with the leather straps we had brought.
After tossing the prepared prey to the man from the advance party, the Latin man, she spoke to us.
“From now on, try hunting among yourselves. We’ll follow behind you.”
In truth, there was no way we could start hunting right away just because we had watched once.
But perhaps because of what we had just heard, the others set out to look for prey before anyone else could.
I followed behind them.
Contrary to my expectations, finding prey wasn’t difficult.
There was no need for me to step forward either.
“I found one. It’s sticking its head out under that rock.”
The female student had quickly found prey.
She spotted it from farther away than when the Latin man had found one.
“I’ll catch it!”
“Wait!”
But finding prey and catching it were two different things.
When several people rushed toward it all at once, even the supposedly violent rabbit monster immediately ran away.
That said, it was dangerous for an ordinary person to catch one alone.
As I hesitated with that thought in mind, someone stepped forward.
“I’ll try going alone.”
It was the female student.
“It’s dangerous.”
“You’ll get hurt.”
When the others tried to stop her, she swung her spear in a wide arc and showed off her skill.
“It’s all right. I have a dan rank. I was chosen for the hunting team because they acknowledged my skill.”
Having a dan rank wasn’t the issue, but the man and woman from the advance party didn’t stop the girl.
I felt like I knew why they didn’t stop her either.
A short while later, when the girl found prey again, she approached the rabbit monster alone.
Since she approached on her own, the rabbit monster let out a monstrous cry and charged at her.
The battle that followed—
Slice!
This was not a battle, but a hunt.
Each time her spear moved, leaving afterimages behind, pieces of the monster’s body were cut away.
Blood splattered, lines were carved across its body, and a moment later, the rabbit monster collapsed.
A faint light flowed along her spear, which was lodged in the monster’s neck.