Episode 42. Dragon Claw (1)
The Forest of Beginnings was swept away by a wild snowstorm after a long time.
Even though it is an afternoon when the sun is still up, the forest creates a dark and gloomy atmosphere.
All over the place, in their respective nests, the reserve riders were waiting for the snow storm to stop.
From nob le mt l dot com
Most of the prospective riders are reaching their mental and physical limits due to the survival test that lasted about a month.
In such a situation, even the weather was noisy, so the atmosphere could have deteriorated, but contrary to expectations, the atmosphere of the reserve jockeys was not bad overall.
Because January 1st is approaching.
Of course, the new year was not what the prospective jockeys were waiting for.
I’m just glad that in the next two days, I’ll finally be able to escape this damn forest.
From nob le mt l dot com
Most of the reserve jockeys had one thought in their heads.
‘If you hold out a little longer… Become the 50th Horseman of the Cradle!’
It was a hope that I could get my hands on soon.
The day when the reserve jockeys slowly let go of the tension in the hope that was placed in front of their eyes.
Despair came in, mixed with the blizzard pouring obliquely.
* * *
The forest of the beginning where darkness fell due to the dark clouds that covered the sky.
Whoo oh-.
In the pitch-black darkness of a violent snowstorm, a weak light emanated from a small hut made of sloppy weaving of wood.
In fact, it was a flimsy hut close to a house made of snow, but it was enough to block the cold wind.
Dennis Wayne, squatting in it, hung out his tongue as he watched the raging blizzard.
“How did this damn weather go crazy until the end?”
Although he grumbled so much, deep down he was content with his current situation.
‘But this is much better than the first.’
In the early days, I did not know how to make a fire and could not find food, so I endured for days and days, swallowing only the cold snow.
Compared to that time, it would not be strange to call the current situation with small huts and campfires an innovation.
‘It’s all thanks to the store!’
A store I met while I was on my way to ring the bell after deciding to give up.
The taste of tosaba I ate there seemed to be something I would never forget until I died.
Of course, he used up all the silver coins he received, but he does not regret his choice at the time.
‘Because of the one tosaba I got there, I got the courage and hope to endure again!’
Dennis, who gained courage and hope, steadily led others who were about to give up like him to the store.
‘Good things should be shared, Aam!’
Of course, thanks to that, I lost a little bit of food and flint and other benefits, but… … .
‘After all, they got to know the shop quickly thanks to me… Well, wouldn’t that be nice to each other?’
Reasonably rationalizing the fact that he sold out others, Dennis cast his eyes out again.
Looking at the pouring snow, he groaned softly.
“Ha, if time had passed quickly… … .”
Why is the time not passing?
The remaining two days felt like two years.
“Haaa… … .”
Dennis’ thick sigh sublimated into pure white steam in the cold weather.
The moment I let out a deep sigh like that.
“huh?”
Dennis noticed something moving in the distance, in the snowstorm.
At this, Dennis’ brow twitched.
‘That’s… what?’
At first, I thought I was wrong.
But no.
‘Hmm… … ?’
Something black wriggling in the light darkness.
The movement gradually grew.
“uh?!”
Soon, through the fierce snowstorm, I ran quickly toward Dennis’s hut.
Only then did he realize that it was people moving in the blizzard.
“Uh huh?!”
Surprised, Dennis hastily drew his knife.
However, ‘something black’ was faster than Dennis’ reaction.
shook-.
A silvery flash that broke through the blizzard.
Dennis instinctively swung his sword towards it.
visor!
Woodeuk-.
Immediately after colliding with the silver flash, Dennis felt a dizzying pain in his arm and shoulder holding the sword.
‘What, what power?!’
just one crash.
That tore Dennis’ grip, and the missing sword flew far away.
At the same time, a silver flash lightly brushed Dennis’ cheek, splitting his hut in half.
It took about 10 seconds to get there.
Only then did the silver flash, which had finished its task, change into the form of a sword.
chuck-.
Dennis was startled by the anticipation of the cool sword he felt at the nape of his neck and stomped his butt.
dump-.
The hut was blown away and the bonfire Dennis had lit shook as if it would go out at any moment in the blizzard.
In the meantime, Dennis could see the mysterious assailant aiming a sword at his throat.
‘Black Swordsman?!’
The opponent was a man dressed in black.
But it wasn’t the Black Swordsman.
He looked too young for that.
A difference of at most two years from you?
In addition, the black suit the man wore was the same as the one he was wearing.
‘A spare jockey?’
But I also thought that it was not.
It was the same clothes as the reserve jockeys, but one thing was different.
‘That’s… It’s an epaulet, right?’
A yellow epaulet on a man’s shoulder.
No reserve jockey wore epaulettes like the man.
Jureuk-.
Thick blood flowed from Dennis’ cheek as he sat down.
The man’s eyes were cold.
Then, a colder voice came out of his mouth.
“Skills like garbage, at least it looks like a yellow dragon.”
The moment he said that, the man’s sword quickly swung.
Fish meal -.
The black that made a sharp sound went through Dennis’ whole body, turning his clothes into rags.
Dennis froze and could not even move at the sharp murder that flashed in front of his eyes.
and that moment.
Less-.
Something hard got caught in Dennis’ clothes.
“This is it.”
In response, the tip of the man’s sword bounced it up.
‘uh?!’
Dennis widened his eyes as he saw his yellow dragon plaque rising right in front of his eyes.
For some reason, at that moment, all my nerves were focused on the Yellow Dragon Palette, to the point where I felt like all time was passing slowly.
Thanks to this, he was able to recognize the silver flash flying into his yellow dragon card.
little by little.
The Yellow Dragon Palette and the sword are gradually getting closer.
And finally, the moment when the silver blade touched the Yellow Dragon Palette.
‘uh?’
Anticipating what was about to happen, Dennis let out a scream inwardly.
Shhh-.
‘Oh, no!’
However, despite such screams, the assailant mercilessly slaughtered Dennis’ Yellow Dragon plaque.
Seoseok-Seoseok-.
The yellow dragon plaque made of copper was easily cut like a piece of wood.
A total of 4 sword attacks followed in the air.
Toutuk -.
The yellow dragon plaque that fell to the floor was broken into 8 pieces.
“ah… … .”
Dennis stared blankly at the fragments of dragon plaques scattered on the floor.
He felt that what had just happened seemed like a dream.
‘my… my… A dragon’s shield?!’
In the Forest of Beginnings, the Dragon Plaque was like life.
The fact that such a dragon plaque was shattered meant that Dennis’ life was also shattered.
‘like this… Is this the end?’
How did I last a month?
Can we just hold on for two more days?
In two days, I’ll be a rider on the cradle, too?
The hope that had come within reach had completely evaporated.
Seeing the dragon’s shield shattered right in front of your nose, the sense of despair and despair is indescribable.
“Ahh… no… No, no, no!”
Dennis, who let out a loud scream this time, collected the scattered pieces of the Yellow Dragon with trembling hands.
In the meantime, the assailant who was looking around Dennis frowned.
“Sheesh, is it dog hair?”
The assailant clicked his tongue as if he didn’t like it.
He spoke coldly at Dennis, who was still unconscious.
“Get off now. Someone like you doesn’t deserve to be my junior. A buggy guy.”
After leaving cruel words, the assailant left.
After a while, Dennis, who finally came to his senses, quietly repeated the words the assailant had left behind.
“after… ship?”
With watery eyes, he stared blankly in the direction the assailant had disappeared.
* * *
The time when the despairing screams of prospective riders began to erupt from all over the Forest of Beginnings.
Only one was screaming happily.
“hehehehe, hehehehe! I am rich!”
jjallang jjallang-.
Yuri’s face as she rubbed her cheek against the heavily inflated cloth bag looked like a full-bodied cat.
The back side of that glass.
The stockpile piled up on one side of the hideout was completely gone.
Instead, what took its place was a sturdy wooden box.
It was a secret that only Yuri knew that there were two more pockets the same size as the one she was holding inside.
“Ah, this heavy feeling… Isn’t that great?”
Even though it wasn’t real money, he had never had this much silver coin in his life, so Yuri was enjoying vicarious satisfaction.
‘If this was real gold… … .’
Through this incident, the total amount of silver coins that Yuri collected exceeded 200,000.
In addition, the original 100,000 silver coins that Yuri had.
If this was real gold, it would have been a whopping 300,000 gold.
Yu-ri, who was feeling vicarious satisfaction at that thought, saw a slight regret in her eyes.
‘I swept the silver coins of so many prospective jockeys, but it was only 230,000 silver coins… … .’
The secret of numbers engraved on silver coins.
It belonged to the latter of the two cases Yuri predicted.
The number of silver coins in the pocket changed according to the way they entered the cradle.
The yellow dragon plaque that came in as a donation recommendation is 500.
The reserve rider recommended by the silver dragon leader is 3,000.
The reserve jockey recommended by the gold dragon leader is 10,000.
‘I couldn’t confirm who was recommended for the White Dragon Plaque… Roughly between 30,000 and 50,000.’
In other words, the reason he received 100,000 silver coins was because he was recommended by Yohan, the leader of the Black Dragon.
And the 100,000 silver coins he received thanks to John was a huge amount indeed.
‘There was no one who did not use my store except for about 30 out of 503 people.’
Even most of the people with the Yellow Dragon Plaque purchased items using their own stores.
In the process, it was no exaggeration to say that more than 95% of the silver coins released by the Yellow Dragon belonged to Yuri.
Even so, it was 230,000 silver coins.
The only thing Yuri received was 100,000 silver coins.
“I really… I never thought I would benefit from inspiration like this.”
If, indeed, as expected, this unique silver coin will serve as currency in the cradle… … .
‘I’ll forgive you for being condescending.’
In Yuri’s head, ‘Are you crazy? Just blow away that precious dragon shield and eat it!’ Yohan’s face passed by quickly.
That moment.
daughter-.
Yuri’s expression changed at the sudden sound.
The happiness that was full a moment ago is nowhere to be found, and the face of the glass hardened coldly.
He quickly stood up, holding the sword beside him.
‘intruder.’
Yuri, who made a quick decision, acted like the last time the one-eyed man came.
He extinguished the campfire, threw a couple of sticks of firewood down the aisle, and ducked into the darkness.
The moment when the eyes have completed dark adaptation to some extent.
Yuri glared toward the aisle and listened.
Just right! – Kang!
‘The trap worked properly.’
After the one-eyed man’s attack last time, Yuri took that incident as a lesson and reworked the hideout’s traps.
The result was that sound you are hearing now.
Just- Chaeng- Daughter-grak-.
All kinds of noise coming from across the aisle.
If it does not pose a threat to intruders anyway, the purpose of the trap has been changed so that it will beep even if the power is lowered.
Just-just-Chang!
Gradually the sound was getting closer.
At this, Yuri’s eyes flashed.
‘A guy with some skill.’
However, the sound of breaking through the trap was loud, as if it wasn’t enough to ignore the trap he had set.
Yuri closed her eyes.
He focused more on the sound and drew the locations of the traps he had set.
Then, a three-dimensional trap map appeared in Yuri’s head.
Chang-Kang-Kung!
The trap map that Yuri recalled was mixed with the constant sounds.
‘Judging by the sound, there is only one intruder, and the current location is still at the beginning of the passage.’
Soon, a vivid playback of an intruder running amok to escape the trap began.
just- less so-.
I wonder if this sound is the sound made by a trap that has been set up somewhere.
visor-.
What time and how the intruder blocked or knocked it out, and so on.
Yuri perfectly analyzed the sound he heard and inferred the intruder’s skill.
Just like that, most of the traps were destroyed and the sound gradually faded away.
After figuring out how strong the intruder was, Yuri opened her eyes.
at the same time.
Siik-.
In the dark, her red lips twisted and twisted, forming small dimples.