As it grew stronger and stronger, so did the players' restless hearts. Some were already complaining, glancing at the steps they had just come from. "Enemies?! This is BS. Let me out!!" 

  　　But, as there were pessimists, so were there optimists. "Brother, no need to panic. Perhaps it's a welcome party. After all, someone probably saw us and…." 

  　　Some agreed, but others' faces turned into a mask of horror. 

  　　They had been glancing at the sky when they saw it! Dark, long, spiky, bloody, a terrifying red streak of doom flying straight at them! 

  　　"Careful there's!—"

  　　The atrocious-looking spear flew into the human's body, making it explode. — Splatter! — Impaled, broken, and utterly sniped. DEAD! 

  　　"W-what?!!" 

  　　"One-HIT?!" 

  　　"Watch the sky. Get behind cover!"

  　　The victim had been rekindling hope, and his death brought despair and confusion. It didn't help that there was no cover to be found. How were they supposed to survive?! 

  　　Whatever or whoever was coming would screw them up! Heck, they could already picture the Boss music in the background! But suddenly, a calm voice echoed. 

  　　"Relax, will you? This just announces their arrival. Besides, we're screwed if we fight anyway…." Jack sighed. 

  　　Warning?! There was a dead body, and the thing had made a damn crater on the solid earth! What would come next? Perhaps a friendly nuke exchange? 

  　　— Clip! Clop! Clip! Clop! — 

  　　As they finally appeared, many couldn't help but gulp. 

  　　The lower body of a muscular horse, the upper body of an even muscular human, and clothes made of primal yet rich brown fur. What they were was obvious. Centaurs, so many of them! 

  　　But it wasn't their numbers that were intimidating. No, it was their aura!

  　　Wild, untamable, proud, and powerful beyond beliefs. It screamed "elite soldiers born from the harshness of the wilderness". Well, that and they were huge! 

  　　A ferocious-looking gigantic Centaur full of scars came forward. Without saying a word, he strolled amidst the frozen humans…and then grabbed one! 

  　　The poor guy didn't even dare complain as the mean-looking Centaur hoisted him in the air by the foot. 

  　　"What do we have here? Humans in the Eternal Steppe? Are you guys here to invade?" He frowned. 

  　　"W-wa-wa-what?! No way! We're just lost!" They all shakily replied as the ones who had said stuff about conquering this world suddenly felt tense. 

  　　"Tch— Weak! A man should stand proudly on all four!"

  　　"Y-yes, Sir Centaur!" An idiot went on all four. 

  　　"…"

  　　"…" 

  　　The humans made a fool of themselves at the first meeting. But even then, the centaurs decided to bring them along, if anything, just because of their shared roots. 

  　　They were heading to a Centaur village?! Nice! 

  　　At that moment, countless players thanked their luck! Then again, perhaps they would soon regret celebrating already… 

  　　━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
　　A very long ride later, they had finally arrived! Finally, they wouldn't be carried around like potato sacks. 

  　　[Congratulations! Reached Centaur Village!] 

  　　But as they entered the area, they all frowned. Humans couldn't live here! It was 100% impossible! 

  　　The players' hype about the village had been stopped as soon as it started. What the heck was all this?! Let's just say calling this place a village was false advertising. 

  　　The houses? There were large but shoddy leather tents. 

  　　The safe heaven? They risked being bitten by wild critters or trampled by random centaurs every other second. 

  　　The ability to gather information? It was so freaking impossible! Every time they approached a Centaur to ask for anything, they'd be invited to arm wrestle or directly duel. 

  　　Here, strength reigned supreme. Not just combat power, but pure raw strength. Power was everything, no matter the activity. How could they compete?! 

  　　Jack could only shake his head at how naive the players were. Trying to raise affinity simply by talking? This kind of silly approach would take a long time to work. 

  　　By now, most Braves were showing lifeless expressions as they were treated as children. They all seemed perplexed. What were they supposed to do now? 

  　　Jack eclipsed himself from the village, knowing staying was pointless. 

  　　As he reached the village's delimitation, he could sense numerous gazes. The Centaurs were rowdy and "peculiar", but they were far from mindless brutes. 

  　　Behind their rowdiness, candidness, and seemingly laissez-faire attitude, hid sharp intellect. Yet, they played the fool as they kept shouting stuff like: 

  　　"They said they're grown adults, but the grown part…." 

  　　"Hehe, even my little girl's stronger than you!" 

  　　"Pfft— Puny human, shall we compare size?" 

  　　"Wolf! Wolf stew tonight!" 

  　　Moon Moon accompanied him as it glared behind it warily. Wolf meat? Who had muttered that?! It was only a small kid, a young centaur the size of a football player. 

  　　The little wolf sighed, letting it slide as it showed a magnanimous profile. Instead, it concentrated on the current task: a hunt! 

  　　[Ding! Explore the village's surroundings!] 

  　　[Survive & Bring Back Your Findings!] 

  　　This was the kind of mission that the system auto-generated for anyone leaving the premises. But, it didn't share the danger at all… 

  　　— 

  　　In a field of golden herbs, a man and his wolf suddenly dropped to the ground, hiding as they held their breath. 

  　　They had mud in their hair, fur, and anywhere that could remotely become dirty. They were eating soil, and yet they didn't care…because said soil was trembling! 

  　　— Bam! Bam! Bam! — 

  　　Monsters! Two enormous monsters! 

  　　The creatures charging over looked like buffaloes but weren't. No, those were scary and BIG! Their hooves and eyes glowed with heated read magical light as if a promise of death! 

  　　Moon Moon wanted nothing to do with them, but it remembered the "Quick, play dead!" its master had urgently murmured. 

  　　As it saw their silhouettes charging at them full speed, it shivered. 

  　　 

  　　So powerful, so large, so dirty! At this rate, they'd be trampled to death! Everything pointed to their ends, but even now, the little wolf believed. 

  　　"Woo!" (Master said so!) 

  　　Jack kept his eyes close as he listened. He knew those things, and their skull/hide was thick enough to make them tougher than damn dragons! 

  　　— Bam! Bam! Bam! — Every leg pushing on the ground created a fissure. Soon, they would be the broken ones! 

  　　100 meters. 

  　　50 meters. 

  　　10 meters. 

  　　Whoosh! 

  　　— CRASH! CRASH! — 

  　　At the last second, the two creatures suddenly jumped…at one another?! Were they mad?! Their leap was so mighty that they collided right above the two playing dead. 

  　　The shockwave from the collision almost sent them to the afterlife. But, they had survived! As for the creatures, they were both sent flying backward, stunned. 

  　　But that wasn't all, their skin was ruptured and parts of their skulls broken. 

  　　"Quick, now! Butchering time!" Jack hurriedly rose. 

  　　They both were lower level than the massive creatures that were more predator than prey, but they didn't hesitate. When hadn't they been hunting above their levels? Never! 

  　　Two sinister beings suddenly appeared above the poor creatures. Their pierced thick hides wouldn't do much to protect them from this. They were screwed! 

  　　Knife and claws were swung with unbelievable methodical speed. 

  　　A young Centaur hiding nearby couldn't help but gasp. They were so fast! He forgot that he was supposed to tail them silently in his surprise. 

  　　It didn't take long for the creatures to breathe their last, transformed into meat and pelt. That's when Jack finally turned toward the young Centaur still "hiding" in the shadows. 

  　　"How about you come out? You can help us carry the loot." Jack playfully remarked. 

  　　The shellshocked youngster slowly came out, glancing at the two as if they were rare creatures. "H-how?! How did you do that?!" 

  　　At first, he had thought they were paralyzed by fear, but he had finally realized that every detail had been planned. 

  　　From the spot, they had lied down to the distance between them and the creatures. Both hadn't been the same at all. He had calculated for their slight difference in speed! 

  　　'Who the hell was he?! How did he do that?!' The youngster's shiny eyes said. 

  　　"Hehe, no one is a better hunter than me back home. Even if we're new to the area, hunting remains hunting. I knew at a glance they were territorial creatures."

  　　"R-really? Even the Elders wouldn't dare trying something so crazy!" 

  　　"More like they prefer personally bashing skulls in, haha." Jack retorted. 

  　　By the side, Moon Moon was howling in happiness. This was its master! It seemed like following buffalo poop had given fruit. Who knew! 

  　　The three slowly returned to the village, carrying the meat on their shoulders. As for the reason why Jack hadn't used his item box… 

  　　Every Centaur of the tribe glanced their way approvingly. This human wasn't too bad: instead of asking them about plenty of stuff, he had gone hunting. 

  　　One had to know that to a nomad tribe there was nothing more sacred than hunting. As they paraded into the village, Jack couldn't help but grin. 

  　　[ Affinity +] 

  　　[ Affinity +] 

  　　The notifications just kept coming! It was great! The more he raised the affinity and the more information he'd be able to get from the centaurs. 

  　　After all, they were the ones best placed to know their own world! 

  　　It seemed like everything had gone according to plan as their leader, the scary-looking one, was already heading his way. 

  　　"Oh? You three hunted those two alone? Skin sturdier than metal and power that even an adult cannot take lightly. You, you're good!" 

  　　As the Centaur spoke, he only addressed Jack. After all, the one who had done the actual hunting was obvious at a glance. That's when he gestured to him. 

  　　He was pointing toward one of the large leather tents. 

  　　Jack solemnly followed. The high quantity of children in the village hadn't escaped him. Where had the adults gone?