Solomon's hunting expedition was less than fruitful.
He tried to limit himself to the inner regions of the island to limit the chances of him running into something he couldn't handle.
However, everything else that he came across was in no way worth his time.
Magical beasts are graded in stars from one to seven, with a seventh-grade beast being comparable to a silver-cored knight in intelligence and destructive capability.
Everything Solomon had come across so far was barely one star. They took one look at him and bolted.
He needed more aggressive prey. Something that would have a core worth absorbing.
Solomon no longer believed he would find something like that in the inner areas.
His mind made up, he propelled the winds underneath him towards the outer forest.
After a brief fifteen-minute trek, Solomon arrived at the foot of a large ravine.
He came to a dead stop in the air as all of his senses seemed to scream at him at once.
Solomon had only once in his life felt a presence as malevolent as the one he could feel now. It was the very first time he was brought before Zadkiel.
When he concentrated, he could feel two presences more clearly. However one was noticeably more intense and dominant than the other.
Everything inside Solomon's mind told him to turn back.
However, just as he was about to do so, three little words resurfaced within his brain.
'I can't die.'
That single phrase did something to him mentally, but he couldn't exactly explain what.
Perhaps it just made him insane.
Why else would he have voluntarily dispelled his magic and plummeted into the gorge?
-
At the bottom of the ravine, jagged spires of rock pointed out of the ground in every direction one looked.
Plant life was scarce down here. Water was even scarcer.
The only things that lived here were creatures who were monster royalty. The only people who hunted down here were the ones who didn't feel the need to lower their heads.
A lone figure stood on top of a large carcass. They were surrounded by a rolling bloody mist that clung to the surface of everything it touched.
For a while, the figure listened to the dying breaths of the great creature beneath her.
But suddenly, their ear twitched involuntarily, and they threw out their right hand.
"Shit!"
From behind his hiding place, Solomon came flying over a rock and sailed right into the grip of the unknown warrior.
The stranger established a firm hold on his neck and held him in the air. Solomon tried in vain to break their grip, but it was as firm as iron.
Solomon couldn't tell from afar, but the figure was actually a woman.
He initially couldn't tell with the way her messy red hair covered half her face, but the protrusions on her chest helped to give her away.
"Oh, you're a cadet... my mistake."
The woman dropped Solomon, and he rolled down the beast's carcass.
When he hit the ground, he came face to face with the head of a dead cerberus.
"Honestly, it's kind of your fault. If you hide behind a rock like some kind of creeper, anyone would think that you were planning to rob them..."
The woman paused and stared at Solomon with a very sharp smile. "You weren't planning to steal from me, were you, cadet?"
Solomon's jaw set in place. His tight expression made the burgundy-haired woman laugh.
"Loosen up a bit, cadet. Either way you answer, you'll still get to keep your head at the end of the day."
The woman turned her back to Solomon and went to work digging in the chest of the slain cerberus.
Her bare hands were as sharp as any blade, allowing her to cut through the tough flesh of a 7-star magic beast as easily as paper.
Solomon got back to his feet while dusting himself off. He stared daggers into the woman's back, but she never made a single move.
He had never met anyone who thought so little of him before. This woman, whoever she was, barely put him in her eyes.
She was strong. Undoubtedly so. Solomon would've bet everything he owned that she was in no way inferior to the seven martial masters.
With a wet squelch, the woman pulled free a monster core the size of a crystal ball.
She quirked her lips in disappointment. "Shit... smaller than I wanted. Oh well."
The woman tucked the bloody orb under her arm and turned around.
She seemed to find the sight of Solomon standing at attention woefully amusing.
"...Sorry for sneaking, instructor." He apologized.
The woman snorted. "Not an instructor, kid, so you can unclench your cheeks. Speaking like that doesn't really suit someone a big as you."
She leapt down from the body of the dead Cerberus and landed in front of Solomon.
She held out her bloodied hand as if there was nothing unsanitary about it.
"Jiaoying. Xu Jiaoying."
Solomon's face went slack.
"...You've heard of me then."
"Is there anyone who doesn't know Eirbane's knight commander...?"
"Eh." Jiaoying shrugged. "You would be surprised."
Solomon thought she was just being needlessly modest. Xu Jiaoying was the youngest human in history to reach the rank of indigo core, being only 30 years old at the time.
In comparison, it took Zadkiel until he was 60 to reach the same rank.
Many doubted the claims of her proficiency due to how absurd they seemed.
However, there were also people like Rena, who considered themselves enormous fans.
Solomon finally took the woman's hand after realizing he may have left her hanging too long.
"…Solomon."
Jiaoying wrinkled her nose at him. "What the hell is an orange core doing in the outer areas of all places?"
Solomon was briefly caught off guard. He hadn't expected to be seen through so easily.
"I could ask you something similar. What's a knight commander doing at an academy..?"
Jiaoying smirked. "I'm doing a favor for an old friend. Your turn."
"…I was having trouble hunting in the inner areas because everything ran as soon as it saw me."
Jiaoying looked Solomon up and down.
She pursed her lips thoughtfully before nodding to herself.
"Yeah… I could see that."
Solomon thought Jiaoying was going to elaborate further, but instead, she walked past him without continuing their conversation.
"I recommend you get out of here while you can, kid. Your people are already an endangered species, you know?"
Solomon frowned deeply. "You-"
Jiaoying didn't even hear the first syllable leave his lips. She was already gone, and Solomon had never seen her leave.
"…Damn monster." Was all he could manage to say.
Shaking his head, Solomon turned back to the corpse that had been left there with him.
Cerberus are calamitous monsters. The few times in recorded history that they have made it into settlements, they have left catastrophes behind in their wake.
You could sell the parts of a cerberus to a forge or alchemy house and walk out thousands of gold richer.
Everything about the creature was extremely valuable.
And yet, Jiaoying didn't even bother to take anything other than the core.
Being around that woman made Solomon uncomfortable. He hoped to the crossroads that he never saw her again.
Sighing and ignoring the advice of the frightening and extremely powerful knight, Solomon moved around the corpse to continue his hunt.
He had moved around fifty yards away when he suddenly paused in his tracks, and turned his head toward the small sound of yipping in the distance…