Chapter 3

People agonized over whether they had seen an illusion, or if not, whether they had been bewitched by an evil spirit.

Seeing people, armed warriors at that, die split in half without even a chance to resist right before their eyes was that unreal.

What pulled people back to reality wasn’t their deaths, but the terrifyingly cold air. The cold energy that had frozen the warriors’ bodies was now directed at them.

As the cold air and harsh reality hit them, the horrific scene was etched into their eyes.

Bodies split in half, a monster wearing a deer’s skull.

And the giant sword in the monster’s hand, with blood frozen on its blade.

The wendigo retrieved his sword. Although he had no intention of swinging it again, that motion alone was enough to plunge them into fear.

The sight of five or six people being cut down in one stroke was that shocking and terrifying. People screamed.

“Hii, hiiieek!!!”

“It’s an evil spirit. A real evil spirit!!!”

Even brave people would be scared seeing someone die before their eyes, let alone ordinary people.

They couldn’t even think of swinging a weapon. If even the warriors had died without proper resistance, what could they do?

They started fleeing without looking back. The fact that they didn’t hesitate to push others aside if necessary showed that fear had penetrated to their very marrow.

Skadi felt a sense of triumph watching this scene, but also bitterness. It was all too clear that the reason she had been bullied by such weak people was simply because she lacked power.

The wendigo read Skadi’s emotions and asked her:

“Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like you have any lingering attachment or pity for them. Was there not a single person among them who offered you help?”

“Everyone was too busy despising me, saying I was cursed. No one ever helped me. Can you believe that in my entire life, the only beings who have ever helped me are my mother and you, great spirit?”

As if the wendigo’s question was a catalyst, the spark of anger in her heart flared up hot once again.

The wendigo felt pity for Skadi, but also thought it might be for the best. He had no intention of letting those people live.

‘They’ve seen my face and appearance. They even saw me kill people.’

People who treated someone as a monster just because their hair and eye color were different would never accept his existence.

They might be afraid now, but fear and terror naturally fade with time.

Once the fear and terror faded, they would surely stop at nothing to vanquish the monster. If conflict was inevitable, it was best to eliminate the root of the problem now.

“I’ll take care of the ones who ran away. Wait here. Oh, do you have a weapon?”

“No. I didn’t have time to grab anything when I fled… But there are weapons the warriors were using, so I can use those.”

The wendigo looked at the dead warriors’ weapons and then at Skadi’s arms. It didn’t seem like those slender arms could wield the axes or swords used by the burly warriors.

He manipulated cold energy to create a dagger. It looked a bit crude, but it was filled with cold energy, so a single stab would be enough to end someone’s life instantly.

“Take this. It’s a dagger imbued with cold energy. A single stab will easily kill a person.”

“Th-thank you!”

Skadi was greatly surprised and respectfully received the dagger. She never expected to receive something from a spirit.

Moreover, it wasn’t an ordinary object, but one imbued with a spirit’s mystery. She was shocked when she realized how much terrible mystery the dagger contained.

Although crude in appearance, it held enough power to easily kill five or six people if used well!

Skadi was about to say in panic that she couldn’t accept such an item. But she couldn’t speak.

The wendigo who had handed over the dagger had disappeared as if he had never been there in the first place. She stared blankly at the dagger in the quiet forest.

---

The wendigo thought as he ran through the forest. He felt that he had changed too much.

‘Even my way of speaking has become strange, and above all, I have almost no aversion to killing, even though I’m not a murderer.’

It was the same when he hunted the bear, but he had become too insensitive to taking life. Even now, it was the same.

The wendigo stood in a suitable spot and threw an ice spear. The spear pierced through the dense forest and impaled the chest of someone fleeing.

Once he noticed one oddity, others started to catch his eye. Not only the act of killing, but his spear-throwing skill was not his own at all.

‘Is this something an ordinary person can do? No, absolutely not.’

Even an excellent archer would have difficulty hitting a target far away in such a forest, let alone an ordinary person accurately hitting a target with a throwing spear.

Everything was unimaginable before becoming a wendigo. At this point, the wendigo had to admit.

‘As I became a wendigo, I myself have changed too.’

It wasn’t enough that just his body had changed. It was clear that his mind, or something beyond that, had undergone a change.

However… when he pondered whether this was wrong, it didn’t seem so. Without the change, how could he have handled mysterious powers?

Just as building muscle requires exercise and diet control, and becoming a doctor requires learning and internalizing vast amounts of knowledge.

Everything comes with a price.

The wendigo wanted to live, even if he wasn’t human. And to survive in this harsh world, he needed power. If the price for that was strange speech patterns and a lack of aversion to killing, he could pay it a hundred times over.

“It’s unavoidable if it’s for survival. Besides… having no aversion doesn’t mean I’m intoxicated by blood. What do you think?”

“Huk!?”

No matter how much they tried to hide in the darkness and underbrush, it was useless. The disgusting residual emotions flowing from their bodies gave away their positions.

The wendigo grabbed the throat of a man hiding behind a tree.

“Kuhek!? Pl-please spare…”

“You’re filthy with sins. Even hatred and rape. Are you really human? You seem worse than beasts.”

As if he had grown accustomed to the ability to read others’ desires and emotions, the wendigo realized he could read sins through their stench.

Indeed, he was trash worthy of chasing after a woman while immersed in superstition. He applied force to his hand without hesitation.

As the wendigo’s claws dug into the man’s neck, the man perished. With that, the feeling of disgust from the man disappeared as if washed away, replaced by a sense of refreshment.

The wendigo ran through the forest, killing his enemies. There was no way to stop the wendigo appearing without a sound. In an instant, Skadi became the only living human in the dark forest.

“Spare me, please!?”

After piercing the heart of the last survivor with his spear, the wendigo followed Skadi’s presence and returned to her.

She was startled by the wendigo’s sudden appearance. She hadn’t expected him to return so quickly, as it hadn’t been long since he left.

“Gr-great spirit. You’re back!”

“Don’t call me great spirit, call me wendigo. By the way, I’m sorry. It seems some that I missed have harmed you.”

The wendigo spoke, looking at the corpses around her. Two men who had collapsed clutching their stomachs and chests lay dead with agonized expressions.

Skadi, not expecting the wendigo to worry about her, unconsciously waved her hands.

“No, it’s fine! Thanks to the dagger you bestowed upon me, I wasn’t hurt at all! Rather, I should be thanking you!”

“I’m grateful for your words. But… are you alright? It must have been your first kill.”

He was a body that had become a monster. Killing people didn’t shock him, but she was human. She might have stabbed them out of a desire to live when her life was in danger, but it could be different now.

Skadi nodded at the wendigo’s question. She glared viciously at the corpses as if he had asked something obvious and said:

“My mother always said that hesitation and mercy towards those who show hostility is foolish. She often said that in a world where it’s hard enough to take care of oneself and one’s own people, such thoughts are luxuries only the wealthy can afford.”

“A world where it’s hard to take care of oneself and one’s own people, that’s right. A wise mother and daughter.”

The wendigo empathized with her words. In a world where knives fly at you for being different, it was wise to harden one’s heart. Otherwise, you never know when you might die a violent death.

Skadi, not expecting such human-like empathy from a spirit, let out an awkward laugh. Blushing at the first praise she had received in her life other than from her mother, she changed the subject.

“Wendigo-nim. Thank you for granting my request. Now that you’ve helped me, I suppose it’s time for me to pay the price. Please tell me. What price should I pay?”

Skadi spoke with a determined look in her eyes. Although she had never contracted with a spirit before, she was already as good as a mature shaman in knowledge.

A spirit’s power was never free. The contract was just a preparation process to borrow power, and once power was borrowed, one had to pay the price the spirit desired.

Sometimes the price was simple, like delicious offerings or rare herbs, but sometimes they demanded the lives of livestock or property.

In severe cases, they might demand the life of a young maiden or take one of your limbs. Usually, life-related prices corresponded to borrowing tremendous power, but…

‘This situation is exactly that kind of situation. My life was saved, and the wendigo took over twenty lives.’

This was exactly that kind of situation.

A price related to at least twenty-one lives.

To put it bluntly, even if he said “The price is half of your life,” she couldn’t do anything about it.

Her determination was literally a preparation for death, and that’s not an exaggeration.

‘If I hadn’t met Wendigo-nim, I would have died anyway. If this is what he wants!’

“I don’t need anything grand. Just telling me about this world, spirits, and evil spirits will be enough.”

“……”

Skadi wondered for a moment if she had misheard. Even though she had steeled herself, it was a matter of life and death, so perhaps a weak part of her mind had surfaced without her realizing it.

“Ah, no. I made a mistake in my thinking.”

“!”

As the wendigo seemed about to retract his words, Skadi steeled herself again.

Of course, how could this great spirit want such a paltry price!

She straightened her posture again and decided to listen carefully to his words. The wendigo stroked his chin and corrected his statement.

“You probably don’t know much about the world since you likely never left the village. It’s enough if you just tell me about spirits and evil spirits.”

“……”

Skadi felt like a fool.