Chapter 119: Dog’s Nose
"You rest first... I’ll keep first watch."
Kelly didn’t even look up.
"Sure."
The answer came absentmindedly, Thanks to the rhythm of surviving together for a week. He pushed himself up stretched his shoulders slightly as his tired muscles gave a faint protest. Without another word, he walked back toward their makeshift shelter at the base of the towering stone pillar.
The large cloth overhead swayed gently from the damp breeze moving through the cavern. Kelly stepped underneath it, turned once, then lowered himself against the massive rock wall behind him.
Even now, leaning against that enormous stone that felt more like the side of a mountain than a simple pillar, his body still felt heavy. Kelly felt spent, and finally he closed his eyes drifting into sleep.
Kei’s POV.
Kei watched as Kelly slowly closed his eyes.
For a while, she said nothing, her sharp gaze fixed on him. Other than the steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, there wasn’t the slightest movement coming from him.
’fell asleep at last’
The thought crossed her mind, but instead of relief, Kei only narrowed her eyes slightly. She knew better. Sleep like this... It was fragile. Far too fragile. After all. They weren’t living. They were surviving.
No matter how exhausted their bodies became, no matter how much their minds begged for rest, a part of them always remained awake, always alert, always listening, always waiting for something to go wrong.
Despite the strange sense of security that came from having someone watch over her while she slept... Kei knew herself better than anyone. All it would take was the faintest disturbance. The slightest unfamiliar sound. And her mind would instantly spiral into panic. She knew that...
Because she had already experienced it once before. The last time she had fallen asleep. Kelly had started humming something. And that was enough for her mind to have gone haywire.
Knowing just how fragile this moment was, Kei controlled even the smallest of her movements as much as possible.
After all, from their interactions and the coordination they had built over the past week she knew Kelly’s senses were far sharper than they had any right to be.
’Seriously... he has a dog’s nose.’
The thought made the corner of her lips twitch slightly in amusement.
Her mind drifted back to an incident from a few days ago.
A pack of wolves, they had managed to avoid them entirely. All because Kelly had smelled them before either of them had seen or heard anything.
At the time, she had thought it was strange. Ridiculous, even. Who the hell smelled wolves before seeing them?
But that confusion had quickly turned into something else when Kelly casually mentioned. That wolves had been the very first beasts he fought after they had fallen into this place.
She still remembered the condition he had been in back then. The way he changed so much. If fighting just one of those beasts had left him like that...Then a pack of four, no. Even thinking about it made her frown.
Knowing that. For perhaps the first time in her life. Kei found herself genuinely grateful...For someone else’s ridiculous nose.
’Still... it didn’t help much’
Kei let out a silent sigh as she remembered what had happened later that very same day. The same pack of wolves had ambushed them. And honestly, how could the two of them have been stupid enough to forget something so obvious?
If Kelly could smell them...Then of course...They could smell them too. Looking back on it now, Kei had to admit it. Those beasts weren’t mindless monsters. They were hunters. Patient. Cunning.
They had deliberately let the two of them believe they were safe, quietly shadowing them from a distance, never drawing close enough to trigger Kelly’s senses again.
And then, the moment their guard dropped. The wolves struck.
’Thank god... by then we’d already learned our lesson’
Kei’s eyes softened slightly as she thought back to it. At the very least. One of them always stayed awake while the other slept. If they hadn’t learned that much...She honestly didn’t want to imagine it.
They probably wouldn’t have even known when they died. For perhaps the first time in her life. Kei found herself genuinely thankful toward something that had tried to kill her. That first group of weaker beasts that had ambushed them. Because of them, they had learned.
And to repay those teachers...Kelly and Kei had made sure every single one of them died quickly.
’Still... they weren’t as strong as I thought’
Her gaze unconsciously drifted toward Kelly’s sleeping figure. Even after being caught off guard. Even after the sudden ambush. Kelly had managed to handle all four wolves by himself. She had done little more than support him from a distance.
And somehow...That realization still felt a little unreal.
’Come to think of it’
Kei’s eyes remained fixed on Kelly’s sleeping figure.
’Those wolves probably would’ve been life-threatening for him before the fall.’
Her thoughts stopped there. She didn’t need to continue. She wasn’t an idiot. Not after everything she had seen this past week. Not after witnessing those wolf beasts with her own eyes. And certainly not after seeing Kelly’s... new appearance.
The leaner, more refined physique. The unnatural instincts. The overwhelming physical ability. None of it was normal. And all of it pointed toward the same conclusion. Kei narrowed her eyes slightly, then. Without making the slightest sound, she called upon the familiar command in her mind.
’Open status’
KEI HAYASHI, AGE: 18, FEMALE
JOB: MAGUS
LEVEL: 17
WISDOME:65
STAMINA:85
STRENGTH: 35
SPEED:52
ENDURANCE:40
SOUL STRENGTH:1200
MAGIC:FIRE MAGIC, ICE MAGIC, WIND MAGIC, EARTH MAGIC
SKILLS: MATTER[AMALGAMATION], MAGIC EYE OF ANALYSIS, CHANT ANNULMENT, RECOVERY, MANA AWARENESS [MANA MANIPULATION], AMPLIFICATION, LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION
Kei’s status appeared before her eyes. Or more accurately. Her true status.
A truth no one else in this world knew... and if Kei had her way, no one ever would. When their statuses had first been revealed, she had been excited, undoubtedly excited. Just like everyone else. Thrown into another world, given powers, skills, ranks... for a brief moment, she had allowed herself to feel that childish anticipation. Then Pope Lotario spoke. He told them there was no point in hiding anything. That he already knew all of their statuses. That resistance was pointless. And everyone believed him. Everyone... except Kei. Because the moment she looked at her own skills, she knew something was wrong. She will realise later she had the same skill as the Pope. No... not the same. Better. Far better.