* * *

With Ashton’s help, he awkwardly lifted the large hunting rifle in both hands.

“This part here, the wooden section, is called the stock. You need to press it firmly into the groove between your collarbone and chest. That’s your shouldering point.”

“The shouldering point…”

“Right. It’s crucial. The chestline is naturally diagonal—it’s not a straight line. But the stock is cut at a right angle. You have to make sure they’re fully aligned, with the muzzle slightly tilted upward.”

“Like this?”

Remy adjusted the stock against his chestline, pressing it firmly in place.

“Good. Just like that. If it’s not aligned properly, the recoil will hit your chest directly every time you fire, and you could bruise badly. Especially since your body isn’t very strong. You could get seriously hurt.”

“Got it. I’ll be careful.”

“Great. Now lower your face toward the gun. Yes, like that. And as you lower the muzzle, tilt your upper body forward, keeping your stance steady.”

Remy followed the instructions, leaning forward with the muzzle, but this caused the stock to shift away from his chest.

“No, not like that. The stock needs to stay flush against your chest. Don’t let it move.”

Ashton adjusted the rifle again, resetting Remy’s stance from the beginning.

This time, Remy paid close attention, making sure to maintain the correct posture.

It seemed he was doing better now.

“Perfect. Your stance looks good. Now I’ll show you how to aim.”

Ashton stepped aside, pointing to the metal sight near the muzzle.

“Here. This is the front sight. You use it to align with your target. The target and the sight should line up perfectly.”

“Hmm…” Remy studied the front sight curiously.

It felt different from the aiming reticles in the FPS games he’d played before.

It was unfamiliar in many ways.

“When you aim, you need to hold your breath. No movement at all. But remember to exhale first and hold your breath after that. If you hold it while inhaling, your body might shake. And even after firing, don’t move right away.”

Although he wasn’t shooting just yet, Remy instinctively held his breath.

Holding a real gun made his heart race.

“Once you’re ready, pull the fore-end to chamber a round. Grab this long part here.”

Remy gripped the wooden fore-end and pulled.

A click sounded.

“Now, pull the trigger! Bang!”

Bang!

Caught off guard, Remy squeezed the trigger, and the powerful recoil threw him backward.

He couldn’t react in time, and the force sent him stumbling.

The bullet flew straight into the forest, embedding itself somewhere unseen.

The sharp smell of gunpowder filled his nose, making him wince.

The sound of the gunshot was so loud that his ears buzzed.

“So? What do you think? Doable?”

Remy’s hands tingled from the strong impact, but it wasn’t unbearable.

In fact, seeing the bullet shoot out so quickly had been exhilarating.

“Yeah… I think I can handle it. It’s fun.”

Remy’s cheeks flushed red. Firing the gun was much more enjoyable than he’d expected.

Of course, hitting a moving target would be another challenge entirely, but just firing was fun enough.

“That’s a relief.”

Ashton ruffled Remy’s hair with a grin.

The brief touch made Remy squirm slightly from the ticklish sensation.

“Want to try it on your own this time? I’ll watch from here.”

“By myself?”

“Yeah. You remember everything I told you, right?”

“Uh, mostly.”

“Go ahead. I’ll correct you if you mess up.”

Encouraged by Ashton’s words, Remy gave it a shot.

He adjusted his stance, pressed the stock against his chest, lowered his face, and tilted his body along with the muzzle.

“Don’t forget to chamber a round.”

When Remy hesitated, momentarily forgetting the next step, Ashton gently Remynded him.

“Oh, right.”

Remy pulled the fore-end, the metallic sound sharpening his focus.

“Hold your breath. Line up the front sight. Aim for that tree trunk in the center. Think you can hit it?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Steadying himself, Remy focused on the target, aligning the front sight with the tree trunk.

Bang!

The gunshot echoed loudly, and the recoil pushed him back again, though less than before.

His posture had been more stable this time.

“Well done. You probably can’t hit a target perfectly just yet, but you’ve got the stance and technique down.”

This time, Ashton didn’t ruffle Remy’s hair.

For some reason, Remy felt a bit disappointed.

He brushed it off as nothing, though, chalking it up to his imagination.

“So? Want to keep practicing?”

“Sure!”

Remy answered enthusiastically.

Ashton smiled and reloaded Remy’s gun.

“We don’t have to go down yet. Practice as much as you want.”

“Alright, let’s do it.”

Remy fired several more rounds.

He started by aiming for nearby trees and gradually worked up to smaller, more distant targets.

By the time Remy had been practicing for a while, the sun had already begun to set.

What seemed like the late afternoon quickly turned to twilight, and before they knew it, darkness was creeping in.

“Ashton, isn’t it getting late? It’s so dark now.”

Only then did Ashton realize how serious the situation had become.

He looked around, noticing the dense darkness that had fallen over the forest.

The gunshots that had echoed around them earlier were now completely gone.

Everyone else had likely finished their hunting and gone back down.

“Damn.”

Ashton acknowledged his mistake.

He’d been so focused on training Remy that he hadn’t noticed the time.

“We need to head down. Staying here any longer could be dangerous.”

At Ashton’s words, Remy began packing up. He tried to sling the rifle over his shoulder, but Ashton took it from him, insisting on carrying it himself, just as he had on the way up.

“…”

Remy didn’t say a word as he watched.

Right now, getting down quickly seemed more important than anything else.

“Remy. I think we need to move a bit faster. I’ll take the lead. Can you keep up?”

“Oh? Oh… yeah.”

“If there’s a slope, I’ll hold your hand from below, so don’t worry too much.”

Reassuring Remy, Ashton started moving ahead.

He reached out his hand toward Remy.

Holding hands with another guy to climb down a mountain wasn’t exactly appealing, but this wasn’t the time to be picky.

Without a word, Remy took Ashton’s hand.

Grumble, grumble.

As night fell, the forest came alive with all sorts of howling animals.

Some sounded like owls, while others resembled the cries of predators like wolves or wild dogs.

Whatever they were, the eerie noises made Remy shrink further into himself as they walked.

Having grown up in the city and never venturing beyond it, the nighttime forest was foreign and terrifying to him.

“I can’t see ahead… it’s too dark…”

Indeed, the forest, which had gradually darkened, was now completely enveloped in pitch-black darkness.

It was impossible to discern anything just a step ahead.

“Hold on.”

Ashton let go of Remy’s hand.

Not wanting to get separated, Remy pressed himself close to Ashton and froze in place.

“Let’s light something. It’ll be safer.”

Ashton pulled a match from his pocket.

He always carried them in case he needed to light a candle.

Finding a dry branch nearby, he deftly struck the match and set the branch aflame.

Whoosh.

In an instant, the branch caught fire, lighting up the surroundings.

Though it wasn’t as bright as daylight, it was enough to make the path visible.

“Can you see better now?”

“Yeah… I can.”

Remy nodded.

“It’s scary, right? This must be your first time on a mountain.”

“No, it’s not that scary.”

“Really? That’s good to hear.”

Anyone could see that Remy was trembling like a leaf, but Ashton didn’t call him out on it.

“I think we’ve made a lot of progress down.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t feel like we have…”

“No, we’re close. The camp should be visible soon.”

“That’s a relief.”

It was a lie.

Far from the camp coming into view, they seemed to be walking the same path over and over again.

The forest path looked entirely different at night compared to during the day.

To make matters worse, this was only their second day climbing Mount Molaris, so even someone with a good sense of direction like Ashton found it difficult to locate the right path.

Even so, Ashton didn’t let on about their struggles for Remy’s sake.

He also made sure to periodically release calming pheromones for the omega.

“Ah!”

Relying on the torchlight in the darkness, Remy misstepped and stumbled.

He had been prone to tripping even during the day; at night, it was inevitable.

“Remy! Are you okay? Did you fall?”

Ashton hurriedly bent down toward the fallen Remy.

“Ah… yeah…”

“Are you hurt badly? Does it hurt a lot?”

“This time… it kind of hurts.”

Ashton brought the torch closer to examine Remy’s foot.

* * *