Bloodhound’s Regression Instinct

Chapter 10

Yan took in the view of the Blade Mountains.

‘It’s been a long time since I’ve been here.’

The ominous purple sky and the distant roars of monsters seemed to welcome their arrival.

Most of the trainees had no clue what to do here.

They rolled their eyes and waited for someone to make the first move.

Then.

Bang.

Some of them started to act.

The first one to go ahead was, trainee number one, Lorena Beowulf.

She had short hair, a small stature, and slightly upturned eyes that made her stand out. She was already attracting the attention of the trainees.

“Lo, Lorena, I met you at the party last year…”

“Do… do you remember me? I was invited to your birthday a while ago…”

The children of the noble families knew of her brilliant talent and lingered around her to survive.

And the commoners or the ones who were dragged here also tried to stay near her, seeing the nobles’ behavior.

“Get lost, you commoner bastards! How dare you lowlifes!”

“You’re so vulgar, trying to butt in without knowing anything.”

The conflict between the nobles and the dragged ones had already begun.

But she didn’t care about the quarrel around her, let alone stop it. She was more focused on the view of the Blade Mountains.

‘Don’t mess with her or get involved with her.’

That was Yan’s simple evaluation of her.

Lorena was a possessor of a brilliant talent that would earn her the title of ‘Sword Star’ in the future.

She was the leader of the Beowulf family, who was known for commanding all the rough knights of the north, filled with ice and snow all year round.

Even the lord of that family was amazed by her natural talent for the ‘Best Sword of the Continent’ when she first wielded a sword.

She was also known for her great competitive spirit.

In fact, she had chased the most notorious bounty hunter in the empire for several years at the age of 28 in her previous life.

She finally brought back one of his arms and became the youngest member of the ‘Royal Knights’, the strongest knight order in the empire.

After that, she had many anecdotes of challenging or dueling strong opponents.

If she thought her opponent was strong, she would attack first and ask later.

That meant she could be a headache for the chief instructor in the future if she showed any weakness.

Of course, she had an overwhelming talent, but she was still a sprout that hadn’t grown yet.

It wouldn’t be a hard task to deal with her if anything happened, but it was better not to touch her since she was a noble’s daughter.

‘She’s still a spoiled brat with a good backing.’

Yan turned his head, licking his tongue.

It was time to check the movements of the other main trainees.

This time, there was someone who was already climbing the mountains.

He was biting his teeth and moving forward, even though the thick reeds and branches scratched his face.

Number two, Cruel Dwight.

‘That bastard had a shitty personality.’

His rough demeanor made it hard for the other trainees to approach him.

He would later be called the ‘Blood Star’.

However, in the process, countless innocent people were sacrificed, which caused a lot of controversy in the empire.

‘Maybe he’s bloodthirsty to become the lord by now.’

He was the youngest and the third son of the Dwight Count.

And he was also a bastard who was ignored by his father and two brothers.

‘So unlike Lorena, it wouldn’t be a problem if I had to deal with him.’

Even if he killed him, the Dwight family wouldn’t come for revenge.

They might even welcome him with open arms.

Even if not, it would be good for the future victims.

A trashy punk.

That was Yan’s one-line evaluation of him.

And lastly.

‘Number three, Kasa Ifrain.’

The most handsome-looking trainee among them was on a tree.

He glanced at the Blade Mountains in the distance and shrugged his shoulders.

“Hey, if you go in there recklessly, you’ll be eaten by monsters right away?”

He came down to the road and approached the ones who still couldn’t do anything.

“If you all go in there without any plan, you’ll all die. What are you going to do?”

“What, what?”

“Swear to me that you’ll listen to me and follow me. Then I’ll make sure you pass this test.”

In the future, Kasa Ifrain would be called the ‘Phantom Star’.

He was good at charming people and deceiving enemies, earning him the nickname of a goblin.

He was a master of strategy and tactics, and even in his childhood, he was expanding his influence with his various rhetoric.

Unlike Lorena, who attracted people by just being there, he was the type to actively move and recruit talents.

In fact, he was the heir of the Ifrain family, which was known for producing the most talents in the history of the empire.

But Kasa survived alone after the Ifrain family was ruined by a false accusation.

He could have been broken or changed his personality, but he didn’t show any signs of that.

‘He’s still good at running his mouth.’

He cleared his family’s name with his mouth alone, so he was a skilled one.

Of course, to Yan’s eyes.

‘He’s like a snake.’

That was about it.

There were a few others who caught his eye besides the three of them, but they weren’t worth considering.

Then. Someone grabbed Yan’s shoulder.

“What are you going to do in this test?”

It was Roman.

Behind him, there were about ten other trainees, including Jake and Todd.

“What?”

“It’s dangerous to go alone, don’t you think? Don’t you want to join us? I’ll treat you as an equal, not a subordinate.”

Yan snickered at Roman’s words.

It wasn’t a bad offer, but… he had something to do.

“I’m fine. I prefer to be alone.”

“Really? Then do as you please. By the way.”

Roman looked at Yan up and down and tilted his head.

“Why are you so fine?”

His words sounded like resentment, but his expression wasn’t.

He just seemed curious and asked.

And there was a hint of gratitude in his eyes.

He was too embarrassed to say it.

“Well, maybe I spared you because you’re pretty.”

Yan shrugged his shoulders and Roman chuckled and turned his body.

And then he whispered in a low voice that only Yan could hear.

“…Is there another chance?”

Yan smiled.

He liked him for that. He was always sharpening his sword.

“Sure.”

“Good. Survive. If you don’t want to die by my hand.”

Yan laughed at Roman’s contradictory threat.

What a cute guy.

“Okay. Since this is fate, I’ll give you one advice.”

“What?”

“If you feel like something big is happening, run to this side. Don’t look back.”

“…?”

Roman was puzzled by Yan’s words, but he realized that his eyes were serious and nodded.

Then he went up the mountain with his subordinates.

Yan stretched lightly.

“Ha!”

He didn’t know why, but the strange crown prince.

The chief instructor who doubted him with a smile.

He had to fix his talent for the rotten mana to prepare for them.

“Senior, do you know what I got from the Blade Mountains?”

And he already had the way in his memory.

Only after all the trainees left.

Yan blinked and started to climb the mountain.

In a completely different direction from where most of the trainees left.

‘Let’s see if you’re ready to wake up the monster.’

And where there was a monster, there was a big treasure.

Yan giggled and moved quickly.

* * *

Yan ran with full force to the middle of the Blade Mountains and enjoyed the gazes he felt around him as he took a deep breath.

This was the habitat of humanoid monsters, goblins.

He sensed the killing intent of the goblins hiding everywhere.

‘It’s been a while.’

Since he became a special commander, he spent most of his time in the commander’s office or guarding the emperor’s side.

That’s why he hadn’t experienced this thick killing intent for a long time.

And it was all killing intent driven by hunger.

It was so blatant that it made his whole body shiver even though his senses were dulled.

Was he scared?

No.

It was because of anticipation.

‘With their magic stones…’

In the present age, magic stones, one of the byproducts of monsters, were nothing more than pretty pebbles.

But in a few years, the evaluation of magic stones would change drastically.

There was a presentation by Isaac, a ‘magician’ who would become famous as a weirdo in the future, about how to use magic stones.

At that time, his crazy social influence was so great that it made the blood of all the mana users in the continent boil.

“You can use magic stones to absorb a little bit of the monster’s characteristics and mana.”

You can steal vitality from orcs.

Regeneration from trolls.

Strong power from ogres.

After this research was published, people started to testify about their experiences.

And from then on, monsters were no longer dangerous and worthless beings.

They were treated as walking elixirs.

As a result, in less than ten years, the monsters that occupied a quarter of the continent became so scarce that it was hard to see them.

And.

That information was not yet released.

“Only I know it.”

It was a perfect appetizer before going for the real ‘treasure’.

“Heh, human, hungry!”

As soon as he finished his thoughts, a hungry goblin jumped out of the bushes.

Yan curled his lips and clenched his fist.

“First one.”

The goblin attacked him with a crude dagger.

Yan dodged it by twisting his body and grabbed the goblin’s arm.

Crack.

Yan’s arm muscles bulged and he twisted the goblin’s arm back and threw him to the ground.

Thud.

“Keek! Kekekeek!”

Yan snapped the spine of the goblin who was screaming loudly.

“Hmm.”

Yan picked up the dagger that the corpse was holding.

It was a crude dagger.

But it was better than nothing in this situation where the instructors had taken away all the daggers.

Yan stabbed the air a few times with the dagger, gauging the center of gravity, and turned his body to the other side of the forest.

The forest was still silent.

But Yan smirked.

He knew that the goblins who were secretly watching him were holding their breath.

It seemed to be going well.

He needed the goblins’ magic stones for the ‘house robbery’ he was going to do.

And a lot of them.

“If you don’t come, I’ll go?”

Yan kicked the ground and ran into the forest.

Oh, by the way, the characteristic of goblins was.

Fast feet.

* * *

Cruel moved his seat with a grimace as the nuisances around him increased.

It wasn’t a difficult task to deal with a bunch of worthless commoners, but… the ones next to them were the problem.

Lorena and Casa.

He was confident in a one-on-one, but Lorena had the Beowulf family behind her, and Casa was good at handling the commoners.

“I have to move because of these trashy bastards!”

Cruel snapped and gritted his teeth.

He was already annoyed by being pushed to this place by his two brothers, who were nothing but pigs.

Now, even the worm-like commoners were blocking his way.

As he moved alone, venting his anger, Cruel soon reached his destination.

The opposite of the mountain range where almost all the trainees were.

There, Cruel gulped down his saliva at the blood scent that hooked into his nose.

“What is this?”

The problem was the concentration of the blood scent.

‘This wouldn’t happen unless something crazy happened.’

He realized that he hadn’t encountered any monsters for a while.

‘Could it be… this is the ogre’s habitat?’

Ogres are dangerous.

He thought so and tried to turn around.

‘Wait.’

If there really were ogres, and they caused this much trouble, they would have filled their stomachs by now.

‘If I do this well, I can win without doing anything.’

Ogres are picky eaters, so they would have killed quite a lot of monsters.

Among them, there would be a lot of monsters with magic stones.

‘Opportunity!’

Cruel’s eyes sparkled.

He had never met an ogre, but… he was confident that he could run away with his skills.

He was always called a genius.

Cruel nodded and started to follow the blood smell with his nose.

And not long after.

“…Ha ha!”

He came across a road where goblin corpses were endless.

He could easily do this much if he wanted to, since they were only goblins, but it was still the best to sniff and not use any strength.

At least twenty.

And the condition of the corpses was good, so it would be easy to collect the magic stones.

‘If I have five of these, I’ll hit the jackpot!’

He was about to rummage through the corpses with a gleeful smile, when he exclaimed.

“What is this?”

Cruel’s expression twisted.

The corpses were all neatly carved out of their chests.

He realized that the condition of the corpses was strange.

“Why are they intact if they killed them to eat?”

Damn it, could it be.

Cruel’s eyes were irritated.

He was already in a bad mood because of the worm-like bastards, but was there someone like that here too?

He checked the goblin corpses again and let out a snort, tapping his forehead.

“That’s right, this.”

It wasn’t a wound left by a technique using mana.

Many of them had their necks broken or stabbed in the neck.

And they all had their chests ripped open.

It was a sign that they had already collected the magic stones.

Cruel’s head cooled down as he had raised his expectations.

Just then.

Thump, thump.

He heard a cheerful footsteps from afar.

He was so excited that he even walked with a rhythm.

Cruel frowned and suddenly thought.

‘Why don’t I just kill that bastard and take everything?’

There’s nothing wrong with that. No one’s watching.

Cruel’s mouth curled up, and his sharp fangs sparkled.

He smiled and looked at the approaching figure.

He couldn’t see his face because of the shade, but the number engraved on his chest was 974.

That was enough.

A weak worm that couldn’t even compete with him, who was number 2.

‘Just step on him and kill him.’

Cruel finished his thoughts and raised his mana, looking at the figure.

“Hey, worm. I’ll show you mercy, so if you don’t want to die, give me all the magic stones you have…!”

Cruel stiffened as he shrugged his shoulders and spoke.

The face of 974, which was hidden by the shade, was revealed.

It wasn’t because he was ugly or someone he knew.

“You, you you…!”

“When did you start watching?”

He walked out with a narrow-eyed, annoyed tone.

“Did you… eat the goblins?”

His mouth was full of flesh and blood that was presumed to be goblins.

A human who eats monsters!

It was a strange eating habit that he had never heard or seen before.

Even Cruel couldn’t help but feel fear.

He didn’t know if he knew that or not.

He sighed with a sigh of relief, and raised his hand with a strange smile.

“Did you just get here?”

From then on, he started to feel something was wrong.

“I’m glad to see you. I was short of hands.”

It was a feeling of suffocation and twisting.