Episode 98. Let’s kill Woohyo. Woohyo is my enemy!
The subjugation in the cave was not only smooth but simple enough to make me yawn.
As soon as the undead snooping around in the cave sense my presence, they come rushing towards me, and when they recognize my presence, they scream and cut me repeatedly…….
After this happened about three times, Jean, who was following me, started clicking his tongue next to me, who was collecting tokens by cutting off the nose and ears of the corpse.
“Even if you have this ability, they still treat you like a foreigner. Anyway, those imperial bastards have such poor eyesight.”
“Yes, I also never thought it would be this effective. “If I had known earlier, I would have specialized in killing undead.”
It was inevitable that I would notice it too late.
When I was working as a porter, I watched the situation from behind as much as possible, and the only time I came face to face with the undead was when I was directly captured by a death knight.
After that, as soon as I started working as an adventurer, I encountered undead forces, but at that time, it was not easy to recognize them properly as they were non-standard beings such as Gorgon Zola and the Red Knight of War.
“But it doesn’t work for entities with egos… …. There would be a problem with thinking that he had risen to the level of a hero with just this.”
“You are so insecure. Do you realize that too much humility can actually be harmful?”
“hahahaha… It’s not easy to have confidence since I’ve seen so many people who are stronger than me die.”
Anyway, I’ve only seen close to half a hundred dead or fallen warriors, so how can I have this much confidence?
Things are going smoothly for now, but this world is a heartless dark fantasy.
Since even the slightest inattention could lead to death, I could not easily let go of my tension in this darkness.
-Rattling.
Yes, I am starting to see signs even now.
A strange sound starting to come from the other side of the cave.
From the sound that sounded like the joints of old armor rubbing against each other, I became aware that an enemy on a different level from the undead I had encountered so far had appeared in front of me.
“… “Elder, please stay behind.”
Eyes sparkling in the dark.
And an ominous aura rising from the sword in his hand.
“The enemy, the enemy… ….”
That alone is threatening, but what you need to pay more attention to is that what is coming out of your mouth is definitely ‘language that humans can understand.’
“Enemy, eliminate. We, the enemy of the field…….”
There was nothing very surprising. In fact, not all undead are mindless cannibals.
At least the four knights I met were acting with a clear purpose and will.
I could understand the reason simply by reflecting on what I had heard when I encountered the Death Knight in the past.
‘Creating an undead with an ego like mine requires a strong attachment to life. A desire more powerful than the instinct for survival that all living things are born with!’
A strong desire to go beyond the survival instinct that humans inevitably have.
An imperfect reason awakened from such foolishness.
An undead born that way will grow into an entity with greater power as it awakens its emotions and sense of purpose.
“… “I am not your enemy, so can you just quietly pass by?”
So, if we can understand each other, I want to move on without fighting as much as possible.
Although all the undead on this mountain are targets of extermination, I still do not have the confidence to fight such a powerful entity.
“Wow… …. Woohyo?”
As I was passively confronting him, the undead guy looked at me and tilted his head.
That reaction was no different from any undead I had ever encountered, but even that only lasted for a moment.
“Woohyo, woohyooooo!”
The shouting sound coming out of his mouth grew louder, and the sword’s aura flowed more violently starting from him.
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The blood-like airflow gushing from the empty eyes even flowed violently like tears in response to the emotion.
As if the abilities I possess act as poison to that individual.
“I finally found it. The enemy who killed me, the enemy who killed me and my colleagues is in front of me!!!!”
“No, what is an enemy…”
“Don’t act like a fool. If it’s not my enemies that I remember so clearly, what’s the point?”
…Damn, it seemed like the power to imprint my memories had replaced the object of revenge.
At this point, it is virtually impossible to avoid a fight.
As he ground his teeth and raised his spear, the undead also began to shout, raising his magic-filled sword.
“Die, Woohyooo! Die, my enemy!”
“f*ck, my name is not Woohyo, but Woohyo…”
-Toong!!!
It’s okay to scold them for a moment.
Immediately after a loud noise erupted from the hastily raised spear, the undead guy followed suit and started swinging his sword at me.
-Tuong, tuong!
The sharply struck sword repeatedly collided with the spear.
My body was pushed by a force that was enough to make embers fly, and soon I was pushed away one or two steps from the spot.
Damn it, why is this guy so strong over an already dead corpse?
“Woohyooooo….! “I’ll make you pay dearly for killing me!!”
But what touches me even more than that is the torrent of emotions I never thought a corpse could exert.
The mana that was attracted to him swirling around the sword was threatening, but it wasn’t easy to just focus on dodging.
Speed is speed, but the movement itself is done in an unpredictable direction.
-Whoop! Cough!
Unnaturally staggering steps.
Even though my balance was at stake, the sword I swung at the end of my tenacity, and despite my precarious posture, did not die with its power, and was swung with the momentum to cut my body.
I tried to hastily gather magical power into my armor and use it as a guard, but without Filoi, my power was less than half of what it normally was.
“Claraa! aaah!”
As if motivated just by seeing me being so outnumbered, the undead began to shout with the force of spitting out blood.
If it becomes a one-sided defensive battle like this, your stamina will run out and your body will be slaughtered.
-Kyaang!
There’s nothing we can do about it. It’s not something that can be used in actual combat yet, but if it stays like this, you’ll be punished.
I backed away from him as much as possible and immediately exerted my will to gather even more magic power from the armor.
According to Airi, the armor’s limits have already been lifted.
If you have the will to use it, you will be able to achieve the same output as before even without Marylin’s performance.
-Clud!
But that confidence was lost in an instant.
The moment I was about to swing the spear, my body froze in place, as if it had caught on the wall.
Just as I was about to take action, the armor’s will became stronger and put the brakes on my actions.
“Hey, hey, what are you doing!”
-Troublesome.
“Hey, what a mess…!!”
There are times when this lazy bastard acts up and there are times when he doesn’t.
But by the time I realized my mistake, it was already too late.
Soon, the guy’s sword came in front of me and came rushing towards me with the force of cutting my head in half.
Damn, is this the end?
-Kyaang!!!
Immediately after that, sparks burst out from the staff wielded by the intruder.
While the undead guy, pushed back by the force, hesitated and retreated, the old man standing in front of me began pointing the staff in his hand towards him.
“Wow, is this really useful for a man who can’t get any older to take out his anger on a young man who has many years to live?”
Jean Cleo.
A person like the teacher who brought me here.
“Yes, nenooom…. How dare you interfere with my revenge…… !”
“That armor is memorable.”
Jean hurls a word at the undead who is provoked and tries to attack him.
The undead guy stopped for a moment and began to listen to what Jean said.
“Are you a former enemy soldier who fought against my country?”
The trembling body along with that is probably a reaction to the fact that what is being said cannot be overlooked.
“Enemy soldiers of the homeland… ? You, your guy…….”
“Yes, he is a soldier from your enemy, Britannia. “At the time, I was just a low-ranking soldier.”
“Brie, ta…” ….”
“But how is it that a soldier who died in a war half a century ago is still wandering around the Nine Heavens? “Your hometown is probably far away from here, in a borderland.”
“Ugh, that drama…… !!”
An undead clutching its head and complaining of pain.
Considering that pain sensation did not exist in corpses in the first place, the current reaction was extremely heterogeneous.
“Britannia, my enemy…… !”
“Yes, it was like that in that era. It starts with the superiors, and the resentment is carried out by the subordinates, who hate people they have never met…….”
The moment when the direction of hatred shifted from me to him.
Nevertheless, Jean took a calm attitude and simply raised the cane in his hand straight towards him.
“But you dead man. This is not a time of war, but a time of disaster. “It is a time when humans must join forces to respond to disaster, rather than fighting against each other… Why are you pointing your sword at the living?”
“That’s none of my business!”
-aaah!
The body that had stopped moving again began to gather magic power in the two empty eyes and spread magic power.
“I just want to kill everyone who made me like this, all of them!”
At the same time, I could feel the sword shining red, with a force stronger than when it was applied to me.
“So die… …. Atone for my country with your blood!!”
Even though such a sword strike was aimed right in front of his eyes, Jean didn’t care and just straightened the staff in his hand.
The wand has much less mana than the one in front of him, but he still carries out his actions very quietly and with composure.
“… “Even though times have changed, you are still haunted by the past.”
I maintain that attitude unwaveringly and just swing the stick in my hand.
-Shahahahak!
The sound that occurred at the end was far from hitting flesh with a blunt object, or from an explosion caused by gathering mana and exploding it.
As if cutting paper with a very thin knife,
With only such quiet sounds filling the space, he passed by the undead that was running towards him, retrieved his staff, and spoke softly.
“I will remember you, so put down your sword. Please rest in peace.”
-What a blast!
The sound of flesh splitting resounds before you know it.
Afterwards, the undead body split in half and fell limp on the floor.
A cold corpse that does not even have rigor mortis. But what caught my eye even more than that was that the sword in his hand was also split in half.
He is sharp enough to split a sword with his staff, and swings it at a speed that causes it to become an afterimage….
Is that really a level that a person without any special privileges like a warrior can achieve?
“Oh my, it’s a joint. “It’s not easy for me to move because I’m old.”
However, the person who performed such a feat only complained of stiffness in his body.
I approached him and immediately asked in an excited voice.
“… “Old man, what was that just now?”
“This is the level you must reach from now on.”
The answer is that it is not that big of a deal.
But I felt my heart pounding from his words.
“To become a warrior, shouldn’t the moment of fighting be enough to transcend human limitations?”
Same as what was shown before, an art that rivals the level of a hero.
I was confident that I would soon be able to achieve it with my own hands, because I felt his gentle attitude.
****
Jean Cleo.
I didn’t want to create a situation where he would come forward if possible.
Respecting the elderly is one reason, but it would also be difficult if the person who came here to watch the training fell down.
“Okay, we’ve arrived at the right place.”
The place we arrived for training with him was a place with a completely different atmosphere than any place we had passed before.
The blue light that illuminated the surroundings even without a lantern was generated from the outer wall of the cave.
“It’s an amazing place. “Where are we?”
“If I had to give it a name, I would have to call it Yongmaek.
“…Dragon Vein?”
“This mountain area is where dragon bones are buried. “It’s a place where the dragon’s residual power spreads and pools around, so wouldn’t it be better to call it the dragon vein?”
Is it a dragon vein because it is a place where a lot of the power left by the dragon gathers?
It’s an intuitive and good name.
“I’ll tell you later why I chose this location for training, so let’s check the necessary things first.”
With that said, Jean, who was sitting on a nearby rock ledge, pointed his staff at me and gave instructions.
“Then first, young people. “Can you try creating a circle here?”
“Yes? A circle…….”
“Have you never used it before?”
“No, I have tried it before. “With the equipment intact.”
If you couldn’t do that in the first place, would you have been able to beat up the fallen warriors?
However, a circle is something that can control mana to the point where it can collect and form mana in the form of a ring in one part of the body.
A person who is not familiar with the use of mana would naturally not be able to even attempt it, so it was something that I, who needed Filoi’s help, could not even dare to do in the first place.
“Couldn’t we at least give it a try? “Try doing it like you did when you created her circle with that child’s help.”
“Yeah, whatever. “I’ll give it a try.”
No matter what happens, there’s a reason, so they’re doing it. After thinking about it, I gathered the mana of my armor again and immediately concentrated the power into my hands.
Of course, I didn’t have any expectations. When I was working as a hero hunter in the first place, it was Philo, not me, who was in charge of creating the circle.
So, even if I thought back to when I dealt with Philoi, I thought there was no way it would work out…….
-Jiying.
As if to overturn my expectations, a ring-shaped haze was created near my wrist.
It means that the mass of physical force driven by will was concentrated in the form of a ring at this moment.
“… “This is it.”
What happened?
Not long ago, you had to borrow the power of both armor and the spear, but now you can create a circle just by wearing armor.
“hehehe, I expected it to some extent, but I guess I did something wrong.”
But Jean looked at the circle formed on my hand with serious eyes, as if he understood it right away.
I had a question about that, so I quickly turned to him and asked.
“Do you know something?”
“Yes, I am sure she knows that you are loved by her.”
“Do you receive love?”
What does it mean to be loved?
As I looked at him with incomprehensible eyes, he soon gave me a clearer answer to my question.
“Tachia Philoi, I told the girl I introduced you to that you were loved by her.”
“…… Yes?”
Even after explaining it, I still couldn’t understand it.
Love. Tacia me?
Why on earth did you reach that conclusion just by creating a circle?