Dark Fantasy’s Extra

I sat cross-legged on the ground, took off my gloves, and held my hands slightly apart facing each other. 

Then I circulated the not-yet-properly-contained magical power from my left hand to my right.

“Can you see anything?”

“Yes, well, how should I put it… I feel like there’s something…”

“…?”

I just asked casually, but she can actually sense something?

It took me three days before I could feel anything at all.

“…Right. That’s magical power. It was inside my body, and it’s inside yours too. Being able to move this invisible force wherever you want – that’s what you need to do to be recognized as a hunter.”

I properly contained the magical power I had been circulating.

“From strength, agility, and endurance to enhancing all five senses, we use magical power for everything. There are even weapons that can only be used by consuming magical power. That green weapon you saw before was one of those.”

“Ah, that one…”

“And Beasts are attracted to the magical power humans possess.”

“…!”

“The Order doesn’t recruit people with magical power just to subjugate Beasts. It’s also meant to protect those people from Beasts.”

Of course, the fundamental reason is to raise soldiers for the witches’ war, but very few know that.

“Now I’m going to help you feel this magical power more clearly, so sit here with your back to me.”

“Yes.”

When I patted the ground in front of me, Hilde sat down there.

I placed my hands on her shoulders and carefully let magical power flow.

“Huh? Whoa?!”

Unfamiliar with the sensation, Hilde squirmed uncomfortably.

“Your shoulder should feel better than before.”

“…It really does?!”

Hilde checked by moving her shoulder slightly.

“While the exact principles haven’t been figured out, magical power generally works like that. Send it to your legs and they get stronger, send it to your arms and they get stronger.”

“I see…”

Hilde’s gaze turned to where I had kicked the wolf earlier.

“As you saw earlier, if you concentrate magical power in your legs, you can even kill Beast-transformed creatures with a kick. Of course, it’s not as simple as it sounds. If you don’t strengthen the opposite leg that serves as your axis and your waist too, you might hurt yourself before managing a proper kick.”

“Could I do that too?”

“You can become even stronger than that. You just don’t know what you have yet. I’m going to circulate magical power through your entire body now, so focus on that sensation.”

“Yes!”

We began training in handling magical power.

About an hour passed.

“This is amazing! Is this really my body?!”

Hilde excitedly looked at her own hands.

“Um… yes.”

She had grasped the basic method of using magical power.

I was stunned.

I knew Hilde was talented.

I thought I understood her potential better than anyone else in the Order.

But even that was an underestimation.

On average, it takes about a week from being able to sense magical power to controlling it.

I heard even those assigned as mid-ranked hunters initially take about three days.

I hadn’t even planned to properly teach Hilde about magical power.

She fought without it in the tutorial and had been fighting well without it until now.

I just intended to briefly explain its existence while we were resting, but I never imagined she would grasp it immediately.

Of course, in Blue Paper Moon, the protagonist could use any weapon or skill right away as long as they met the minimum stat requirements.

But I thought that was just game mechanics.

Faced with talent that defied common sense, I suddenly felt a chill down my spine.

I even began to doubt whether I should be teaching such a being as I pleased.

Perhaps I should find a training expert better than myself even now…

“It’s all thanks to you, Senior!”

“Huh?”

“Thank you. With this, I’m sure I can become a real hunter too!”

Hilde’s voice rang with pure sincerity.

“Well… don’t let your guard down, and don’t get too confident. People die in the most unexpected ways.”

I considered praising her honestly, but overconfidence is definitely dangerous.

In games, you might think you’ve developed well only to suddenly hit a bad ending without any chance to react, and in the field too, no matter how well-prepared you think you are, it often proves insufficient.

“Ah, yes… That’s true.”

Hilde’s mood dampened slightly.

“Still, you did excellently. It seems you’ve grasped the basics in a very short time.”

I stood up again.

“Let’s get moving. You should try using what you’ve learned.”

“Yes!”

We walked deeper into the forest again.

“…Something’s coming!”

Not long after we started walking, Hilde suddenly took a stance.

I hadn’t sensed anything yet – could she have already surpassed even my detection abilities?

“What?”

“In front…!”

Then something emerged from behind a tree.

“Ah…”

“Well, something did come out.”

It was just an ordinary deer, not Beast-transformed.

It stared at us curiously for a moment before moving on.

“…I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. Being prepared for anything is good. But are you constantly enhancing your hearing?”

“Yes. It’s like I can hear everything, and I thought with this I wouldn’t have to worry about danger…”

“Move while considering your remaining magical power. You don’t need to hear everything. We’re hunters who hunt Beasts, not hunters who indiscriminately hunt all creatures.”

“Then what should I do?”

“Once you experience real Beasts a few times, you’ll naturally understand. There are hardly any such Beasts in this forest, so save your magical power for now.”

“Yes.”

As we walked further, this time something caught my ear.

“Get ready.”

Soon after, five spiders similar to the one we saw earlier appeared.

While their venomous fangs were concerning, I wanted to test Hilde’s abilities here.

Of course, actually getting poisoned would be troublesome, but considering Hilde had awakened to magical power and these weren’t real Beasts, it wasn’t too dangerous.

Hilde had already taken her axe and prepared her stance.

It felt strange seeing her use a stance similar to my character in Blue Paper Moon.

The giant spiders approached quickly, and like before, leaped to head height when they got close.

But this time Hilde cut down the front three in one swing without needing my help.

Instead of trying to recover her axe, she threw herself in the direction of her swing to dodge the spiders that jumped after.

The spiders passed where Hilde had been and landed right in front of me.

I kicked one nearby into the one landing beside it.

As they tangled together, Hilde’s axe came down and crushed them both at once.

“This is completely different from before. I had no idea my body could be this fast and strong.”

She was clearly different compared to before awakening to magical power.

Not even two hours had passed, yet she seemed like a completely different person.

If she’s like this now, what would emerge after a month passes, or a year?

I was finally starting to truly understand how Hilde could become someone capable of killing witches.

“And this axe feels good too. If it had been an ordinary gun, it wouldn’t have felt like this.”

“Right. And you’ll be able to handle even more amazing weapons in the future. To begin with, hardly any higher-ranked hunters use guns. While they’re fast, they lack decisive power.”

“Then which hunter uses guns?”

“If I had to name one person, it would be Sir Crowty.”

“Ah…”

“He’s skilled at handling magical power, and his gun isn’t ordinary either. Just because you prefer melee weapons doesn’t mean you should abandon ranged attack methods. Learning at least the basics will help later. And when we get back, I’ll teach you how to use daggers too.”

At least that was my build in my previous life.

Fighting mainly with large melee weapons while switching to small or ranged weapons when needed.

It was the build I used most often through dozens of playthroughs.

Though I tried various builds like dedicated gunner or magic and sorcery, in the end the original way was strongest.

Of course, that was largely due to that overpowered hidden weapon, but still.

“Yes! Please teach me!”

Hilde seemed very excited about her transformed self.

Well, anyone would be thrilled to suddenly become this much stronger.

Normally such rapid changes should be viewed with caution, but we need that power right away to defeat the witches.

Of course, there are happy endings where everyone becomes happy, but the conditions are too difficult and above all impossible since the protagonist is different.

“Then let’s continue.”

After that, we encountered several more Beast-transformed creatures and insects, but none were particularly challenging opponents.

As expected of an area used for early-game farming, the enemies were unremarkable.

By the time the evening sun began to set, we arrived at a clearing.

There was just one ancient tree in the center, with not even grass roots growing in the bare field around it.

“This place… feels strange.”

“Yes. That tree is probably the issue.”

It looked exactly as I remembered.

That tree is this forest’s boss.

“Could that be a Beast too? It just… looks like a tree.”

“Watch carefully.”

For the first time today, I took out the rifle from my back.

I aimed precisely at the tree and fired.

With a single gunshot, the silver bullet embedded in the tree.

Suddenly the tree began swaying and expanding like flexible rubber.

“Ah!?”

The ancient tree convulsed and swelled before bursting like a balloon.

As rotten wood fragments scattered everywhere, what had been contained inside the tree was revealed.

They were the large, smooth black bones of some creature.

All the bones of each body part were in place, making it look like a dinosaur fossil in a museum.

“This is the Beast we’ll be hunting.”

Its name is the Beast of Bone Fragments.

Very long ago, specifically around the end of the Great Holy War 500 years ago, one of the old hunters brought Beast remains here without burning them and buried them under that juniper tree.

While the curse that gave false life to the Beast had run out and only bones remained without a scrap of flesh, the tiny curse that remained in those bones didn’t disappear over hundreds of years and contaminated this entire forest.

Of course, even contaminated, it only produces enlarged and ferocious creatures rather than proper Beasts, like what we’ve seen so far.

But for that curse to still twist this reality of the juniper forest even slightly, when only bones remain fossilized like that, is far beyond an ordinary Beast’s level.

There’s only one possibility – it must be a behemoth like Blanc.

“Th-that’s… a real Beast… Something feels ominous…”

Hilde shivered slightly while hugging herself.

Could she be instinctively sensing the Beast’s curse?

That would be incredible.

“Well then.”

I took out a new silver bullet and reloaded the rifle.

I hope her education goes as well as her talent.

“Now begins real Beast hunting.”

Small but bright red light began rising like smoke from the empty eye sockets of the black skull.