Once, a large-scale subjugation of the Woundbeast was carried out.
But only two returned alive.
Moreover, one had lost their Relic, and the other had lost their lover.
"…Why is the Woundbeast…"
The Woundbeast that should have died, fused together, become a queen, and lost nearly all of its original form.
Yet somehow, it was standing before Hoss, existing as the Woundbeast.
The Woundbeast swayed its forked tail back and forth.
The tips of the forked tail were sharp as blades.
Without a word, the Woundbeast struck at Hoss with one of its tails.
It was fast and flexible, like a whip.
But Halbert, wrapped in white light, deflected it with ease.
"I'm not the me from back then!"
Once, Hoss had possessed a Relic.
That Relic was just one. Nothing particularly rare.
It was a Relic called "Power Strike" that increased damage during attacks.
The Halbert he wielded was an OOPArt passed down through generations of his ancestors.
The Halbert was an OOPArt that amplified the power of "Power Strike."
Even so, it was enough for Hoss. He steadily built up his skill and reputation in Heizen.
That "Power Strike" had been stripped away during the battle with the Woundbeast.
The Relic that could erase a "Woundbeast's" Relic was called the Relic Eraser.
Its effect was simple. It erased a single target's Relic, with a cooldown of one week.
The Woundbeast had learned this.
Once upon a time, the Woundbeast had been a tyrant that claimed the entirety of the Heizen Great Forest as its territory.
It attacked both monsters and delvers alike, with no distinction.
It didn't just attack—it toyed with them, playing cruel, sadistic games before killing its prey.
But after being driven to the brink of death by the Sword of Swords, and then being let go, it had grown cautious.
It wasn't as though it had fought the Sword of Swords to a draw.
In reality, the Sword of Swords had overwhelmed it with an insurmountable gap in power, beaten it to a pulp, and simply let it walk away.
Why it had been let go—the only one who could answer that was the Sword of Swords itself.
That said, the Sword of Swords hadn't fought the Woundbeast on commission.
If it had been an extermination request, it would surely have killed the Woundbeast.
The reason it fought the Woundbeast remained unknown.
Maybe it was just a whim. Maybe it was just killing time.
But from that point on, the Woundbeast changed.
First, it shrank the range of its territory. And its cruel, violent temperament quieted down.
Even if you entered its territory or crossed paths with you, it would no longer attack.
As long as you didn't attack, it wouldn't attack.
But the Woundbeast continued to be hunted by delvers, thanks to the hefty bounty placed on its head.
The Woundbeast possessed a Relic that erased other Relics, called the Relic Eraser.
A Relic That Counters Relics — The Relic Everyone Covets
But the man who started it all — who placed the hefty bounty that made it a target for hunters — was a certain someone.
He appeared in Heizen and stirred up a storm of trouble.
His ties to Young Lady Seiran of the Zenela family ran especially deep — truly a storm.
Sturm. That was what the man was called.
Sturm once said at a drinking party, dead drunk:
"If it were me, I could get the Woundbeast's Relic after defeating it."
For some reason, that remark became "Defeat the Woundbeast, and the Relic is yours."
No one thought to question it, because Sturm was the most famous person in Heizen at the time.
In truth, defeating it doesn't get you the Relic.
Hoss couldn't get his hands on it, for one.
If it were me... well, Sturm could have obtained it.
After all, he was the one who found the Junkyard in Heizen — a place no one else even knew existed — and sealed it.
Sturm, who had churned through Heizen like a storm, one day left the city without warning.
Without a word to anyone — just like a storm.
He had no way of knowing that a single remark at a drinking party would snowball into something so terrible.
And so Hoss defeated the Woundbeast, at the cost of his life.
But no one knows this.
The sole survivor, Ruma, was too busy carrying the dying Hoss to think of anything else.
And in the Great Forest, sightings of the Woundbeast came one after another.
But that "Woundbeast" was a Woundbeast that had become a dungeon monster.
As an aside, the battle involving Hoss and the others became an EVENT.
It would go on to be reproduced as an EVENT in dungeons around the world.
Of course, no one would ever know.
"I'll never lose again!"
Hoss swung his halberd.
He severed one of the Woundbeast's forked tails.
That white light was the power of the soul. The fang of one who holds no Relic.
Drawing out the power of the soul dwelling within the vessel of the spirit and cloaking oneself in it.
It was called "White Night."
Thunder Fang had learned White Night from Ex, and the first one to master it was Hoss.
Its usage was similar to [Power Strike], so he picked it up without any trouble.
"This time I'll definitely take you down! I'll get a Relic for Ruma!"
Hoss had lost his partner. He was Ruma's lover.
The two of them had planned to get married once they defeated the Woundbeast.
Once they married, they would quit being delvers and take over the Berk Dining Hall.
Naturally, the party would disband.
Hoss had been thinking of leaving Heizen once the party dissolved.
He'd been mulling it over for a long time. That was why this was his final battle in Heizen.
Once his wounds fully healed, Hoss left Heizen without saying goodbye to Ruma.
He ran. No one could blame him for thinking that.
In truth, Hoss had run. He ran from his dead partner. He ran from Ruma.
He'd thought about quitting as a delver and heading back to his hometown.
But he had no talent for smithing, and nothing else he wanted to do either.
In the end, the only job he knew was being a delver.
One thing led to another, and now here he was—a member of a party called Thunder Fang, operating out of Hydrangea.
The Damaged bared its fangs and lashed out with its claws.
Hoss dodged and drove his halberd into its body.
The Damaged let out a shriek.
"What's this about?"
Something felt off to Hoss.
This Damaged was nothing like the ones before.
And now, finally, he realized it.
"Why'm I fightin' alone?"
Just like that time.
But unlike that time, he could hold his own.
He could take on a Damaged all by himself.
But that was only because this Damaged was different from the one back then.
"You. You lost, didn't you."
Hoss's halberd severed the remaining tail.
The screaming "Damaged." He noticed.
The "Damaged" had already become a dungeon monster.
That meant it had died in the dungeon.
With the Damaged's level of strength, it would get recycled as a dungeon monster.
But that strength wasn't the same as the original's.
Revived monsters were weak.
But no matter how many times it was revived, it wasn't so weak that Hoss could handle it alone.
"Even so, it's too weak."
This "Damaged" was what remained after it had fused with the spider in a draw, then been undone.
It was nothing but leftover scraps.
Hoss would not lose to such residue.
Hoss felt a twinge of sorrow as he cut down the "Damaged" charging toward him.
The gleaming white halberd pierced through its side, right next to the X-shaped scar.
"...Goodbye."
Hoss tossed out a farewell.
The "Damaged" had carried all sorts of feelings and attachments.
But today, all of those were severed clean through.
"...The Relic is gone. Well, at this point, I'll have to take down the spider—the queen now, I guess. Only way to lift Luma's curse."
Leaving the "Damaged"'s corpse behind, Hoss walked on.
Not once did he look back.
He knew the path he should walk.