I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 129
The Beast Is Coming
The second subjugation team consisted of sixteen members. There was one magic beast hunter, five regular hunters, one B-Rank adventurer, and the rest were C-Rank adventurers.
Since Gwen had joined the first team, another magic beast hunter would have been added there, making the second team’s composition quite luxurious compared to the others.
The third team, which Juhwan belonged to, had the largest number of people, but it didn’t have a single magic beast hunter—not even a regular hunter. Naturally, there were no B-Rank adventurers either. That was exactly why the Guild had been so desperate to recruit Juhwan.
In hindsight, with Juhwan being of Santa rank, the third team might have actually been the most elite. Juhwan didn’t think of it that way, but others might see it differently.
The last report from the second subjugation team had come yesterday afternoon. They claimed to have nearly caught up with the cub.
Upon receiving that message, Juhwan and Gwen immediately sent word back, advising them to maintain their distance rather than getting any closer.
The magic beast hunter leading the second team’s tracking was young but capable. Although Gwen didn’t know him personally, he had heard good things through the grapevine.
All the information they possessed had already been shared. Since the second team knew how dangerous the situation was, Juhwan assumed they would wait to move until they had linked up.
However, when they hurried to the location where the team was expected to be, the second team was nowhere to be found.
There were no sticks or markers left behind for Juhwan and Gwen to follow.
“What happened?”
As Juhwan looked around in confusion, Gwen asked for a moment and began to scout the area.
Watching him closely, Juhwan noticed Gwen was specifically checking trees with thick, Y-shaped branches.
‘Ah.’
Juhwan had never received formal training in magic beast hunting.
Because he never had a mentor, he knew almost nothing about the methods used by other magic beast hunters.
The only hunting techniques Juhwan knew were those taught to him by Gus. While Gus’s training had been meticulous, it was entirely focused on solo activities. He had never learned how to coordinate with other hunters.
‘Is he looking for a magic beast hunter’s signal?’
Perhaps there was a universal code used by magic beast hunters, similar to distress signals.
Finally finding what he was looking for, Gwen called Juhwan from behind a tree hidden by thickets.
“Juhwan, come over here for a second.”
Pushing through the brush, Juhwan saw Gwen pointing at a tiny, barely noticeable notch. Near the fork of the Y-shaped branch, there were several small cross (+) marks.
“These are marks used by magic beast hunters. It’s simple. One cross is a request for rescue because they’re in danger. Two is a warning that this area or the situation is dangerous. Three means they’ve lost the initiative to someone else.”
Juhwan looked at the marks on the tree again. There were six crosses in total. Two sets of three.
“You mean they lost the initiative of the hunt… twice?”
“Exactly. I can’t know the specifics just from the marks, but given the circumstances…”
Deep wrinkles etched themselves into Gwen’s face.
“It likely means they lost control of the tracking team and the hunt itself.”
The Guild guide let out a low groan before speaking up.
“It’s possible the B-Rank adventurer caused trouble. He’s not a bad person, but I’ve heard from other branches that he has a strong competitive streak and a need to show off.”
The guide glanced at Juhwan and sighed.
“From the moment he arrived until the moment they left, he was prying for details about how Juhwan went from B-Rank to Santa rank. He might have been jealous—or felt a sense of rivalry.”
“This is troublesome.”
Gwen’s frown deepened.
Magic beast hunters were strong, but their strength was specifically that of a hunter.
A hunt isn’t won through sheer power alone. It involves using traps and decoys, wearing the opponent down before finally moving in for the kill.
If a hunter deems the prey too powerful, they avoid a direct confrontation and spend more time weakening the target.
That was the ironclad rule, whether hunting magic beasts or ordinary animals. That was how Juhwan had been taught.
He had heard that hunters were sometimes used to track humans on battlefields, but the principle remained the same. Even if the target was human, a hunter tracked and captured them in the same way. They didn’t clash power against power.
If a magic beast hunter had clashed head-on with a B-Rank adventurer, the adventurer likely would have come out on top. Given that he’d marked that he’d lost the initiative, the hunter might not have been completely cast aside, but his opinions were likely being ignored entirely.
Juhwan crossed his arms and spoke.
“So, do you think they went to catch the magic beast on their own without us?”
“Most likely.”
“I expect so.”
Gwen examined the tracks on the ground and the surrounding area a bit more.
“With other hunters acting as guides, it wouldn’t have been easy for the magic beast hunter to slow them down by faking tracks. They probably headed straight for the beast.”
The last contact had been yesterday evening. Considering the time it takes for information to travel, the B-Rank adventurer might have already seized control by midday yesterday.
‘If that’s the case, they’re probably already in danger by now.’
Juhwan sighed and spoke grimly.
“The mother is definitely nearby. Let’s make the cub cry a bit more to lure her this way.”
“The cub will likely pick up the mother’s scent soon anyway. Then it’ll cry even louder.”
Juhwan and Gwen sighed almost simultaneously. Their hearts felt heavy at the thought of tormenting the cub. Humans truly were the cruelest creatures in the world.
As Gwen and the adventurers moved the wagon holding the cub, they surrounded it, occasionally banging on metal plates or shouting to frighten it.
Then, they stopped the wagon and waited, standing a short distance away.
The cub, terrified by the people, would growl at first, but once the humans moved away, it began to wail piteously for its mother.
“Dammit, this feels wrong.”
“What the hell was that B-Rank guy thinking?”
“Bloody hell.”
“If I were the mother, I’d want to chew up every last human I saw.”
Every time the cub cried, curses directed at the B-Rank adventurer broke from the men’s lips.
There were few signs of the mother, but tracks from the other cub were scattered here and there.
Following that path, they occasionally spotted marks left by the magic beast hunter.
However, the intervals between the marks grew longer until, by the afternoon of the next day, they stopped appearing altogether.
As dusk began to fall, the cub’s cries suddenly changed. The anxious, piteous wailing turned into a series of panicked shrieks.
“It’s caught the mother’s scent.”
Even before Gwen spoke, Juhwan and the adventurers knew. It was obvious from the way the cub, which had been huddled silently most of the day, was now pressing its body against the iron bars and crying out into the air.
The tension among the group reached its peak in an instant.
Juhwan expanded his Mana Detection, which he had been keeping at a shallow radius, as far as it would go.
The act of detection itself wasn’t difficult, but maintaining it at maximum range was a strain. It was more mentally taxing than it was a drain on his mana.
Still, he couldn’t afford to be lax. To Juhwan, who lacked a keen sense of smell, Mana Detection was his most vital weapon.
Juhwan approached Yeonhwa and whispered softly.
“You can break the harness or the carriage if you have to. If things get dangerous, don’t worry about the equipment—just focus on protecting Riji and Dorothy. I’m counting on you.”
Neigh! Yeonhwa let out a reassuring cry and nuzzled Juhwan’s head affectionately.
Juhwan smiled faintly, patting Yeonhwa’s neck.
“Right. I trust you.”
Just then, Oz hopped out from the gap between the driver’s seat and the carriage.
“Squeak! Squeak!”
Oz cried out as he hopped onto Yeonhwa’s back, his little feet thumping rapidly. He seemed a bit cross. Perhaps his pride was wounded because Juhwan hadn’t asked him for help too.
The young Oz seemed to be entering his rebellious phase—the “terrible twos” of the rabbit world. Juhwan didn’t know enough about horned rabbit biology to be sure, but that was the impression he got.
Juhwan chuckled at the sight of Oz drumming his feet on Yeonhwa.
“Right, Oz. I’m counting on you too. Please protect Riji and Dorothy.”
“Squeak!”
Oz exhaled sharply, as if huffing in satisfaction.
Tiny droplets of moisture sprayed from his twitching nose. He seemed to have been genuinely offended at being overlooked.
Watching from the driver’s seat, Riji let out a small laugh.
It was the first time she had smiled since seeing the adventurers intentionally make the cub cry yesterday.
“Oz and Yeonhwa don’t seem to care about the other magic beast at all. They only seem interested in us. Isn’t that strange?”
Riji might have been right. But that didn’t necessarily mean they were indifferent to the other beast’s suffering. It was more likely that they understood everything but simply prioritized Juhwan and his family above all else. Juhwan suspected that was the case.
“….”
To the eyes of Yeonhwa and Oz, humans must surely seem like greater monsters than any magic beast. A bitter smile touched Juhwan’s lips.
About thirty minutes later, Juhwan discovered what had befallen the second subjugation team.
A lone corpse lay abandoned on the narrow road bordering the forest.
The body was torn so badly it was barely recognizable. It was only identifiable as human because of the familiar shape of the ears, the torso’s skeletal structure, and the hair. Without those, it would have been impossible to tell if it was man or beast.
A heavy silence fell over the adventurers.
In contrast, the cub’s cries grew several times louder, its voice cracking from the strain. The mother’s scent must have become overwhelming.
An hour later, they found another body. It was in much the same state as the first, though this one had limbs severed and scattered about.
And then another…
Fear began to ripple through the group.
The fourth corpse belonged to the B-Rank adventurer. Neither his face nor his body was recognizable, but the Guild necklace hung from what remained of him.
Someone muttered under their breath.
“Doesn’t it know? That we’re following it?”
The mother was nothing like the cub. She was terrifyingly strong. Even a B-Rank adventurer, far stronger than any of them, had been shredded like paper.
In the face of such a beast, every human was weaker than a rabbit.
These whispers spread through the ranks.
The dynamic of hunter and prey had dissolved. Though they were the ones doing the tracking, it felt as if their roles had been reversed.
Gwen spoke in a low voice, making sure the others couldn’t hear.
“He might be right. It might not be just killing and leaving them out of rage. It might be anticipating that humans will follow, and it’s leaving them to lure us in or wear us down on purpose.”
Gwen continued, his expression grim.
“Some magic beasts have an exceptionally keen sense of smell. It’s possible it picked up our scent from a great distance. Sometimes magic beasts and animals hunt more cunningly than humans. We must be careful.”
“….”
Juhwan nodded.
“I understand.”
If Gwen was right, it meant the mother’s sense of smell reached further than the range of Juhwan’s detection.
It was hard to believe at first, but it was possible. One only had to think of how incredible a dog’s sense of smell was to realize that. Gus had emphasized many times how superior an animal’s senses were.
‘Even Gwen might be getting nervous…’
A short distance away, Gwen’s apprentice Jack and several other adventurers were watching them.
Juhwan forced a confident smile.
“You already know I use detection magic. I’ll know the moment it enters a certain range. We’ll have plenty of time to react.”
They spent that night near the forest, filled with unease.
Maintaining Mana Detection at its maximum limit for days on end was a burden, but Juhwan kept the spell active as best he could.
Around three in the morning, Juhwan sat by the campfire with his arms crossed, his eyes closed for a moment. This was the hardest hour to ward off sleep. It was the time when those on watch were most likely to nod off.
Even while drifting into a light sleep, Juhwan consciously maintained his magic. That was when he sensed something approaching at high speed from the distance.
Almost simultaneously, Yeonhwa began to huff and scrape at the ground with her hooves.
The cub didn’t seem to notice yet. It lay sprawled out, exhausted from its feeble wailing.
Juhwan wet his finger to check the wind; it was blowing away from them.
The presence, which had been faint when he first sensed it, was drawing closer. It was moving fast, carrying a powerful surge of mana. It seemed the beast had decided that after days of wearing them down, now was the perfect time to strike.
Juhwan rose quietly from his seat.
“The beast is coming.”
At his low warning, the watchmen and Gwen began to rouse the others.
Jack darted among the sleeping men, using his feet and arms to kick and shove them awake instead of wasting breath on words.
Only then did the cub realize what was happening, and it began to shriek in a piercing, desperate wail.
