77 – The Trial of Nothingness – 8
“Ugh..Kuh..Haa..Haa…”
Deep in the woods, where the darkness had fallen and he couldn’t see an inch ahead, there Dredd was catching his breath, stopping the blood from his ripped shoulder.
‘Is that… Is that guy gone…?’
Dread used a tree as his back and sat down in his seat, thinking about the orc he had just met.
‘What is that bastard…! Wasn’t he just an ordinary Orc warrior?’
Something was wrong with the orc that fought Dread. No matter how powerful Orcs are at mid-level 40, Buren, who is level 38, and Dread, who is level 34, are defeated without even touching them…
‘Looks like he’s lost his temper somewhere…’
Dredd trembled as he remembered the ominous black eyes of the orc.
Until a while ago, the orcs had been chasing the wounded Dread as if to kill it, but fortunately, they suddenly felt the strong energy of mana coming from afar and went there.
It was a situation that was nothing short of heavenly luck for Dredd, but now that the Orcs are gone, other monsters will surely appear in Dread’s scent.
‘Ugh… Hurry up… I have to go back quickly…’
Determining that he would return alive for the sake of his younger brother who was worried about him, Dread rose from his seat while enduring the excruciating pain felt throughout his body.
Even if his body didn’t follow his will, he had to endure it no matter how painful it was because it was clear that he would be eaten by monsters if he didn’t keep moving.
‘The rocky mountain is over there, so Boreas is in the other direction.’
Using the majestic rocky mountain as a compass, Dread began to search for a path to Boreas.
He’s not sure how deep he got in as he ran away, but the forest itself isn’t very large, so if you move quickly, you’ll be able to get back to the city in no time.
-Kiik…
“Damn… Are you here already…”
At that moment, Dredd clicked his tongue as he saw the beings watching him from the trees with his eyes shining.
The identity of those monsters are corpse bugs, and although they are not very threatening monsters, they have the characteristic of eating the flesh of corpses or almost dying creatures as their staple food.
It seemed that he had come because he smelled Dredd’s blood and was looking for a corpse.
If Dredd died here from excessive blood loss, his body would be ruthlessly torn apart by those corpse bugs.
‘I can’t see that..!’
But Dredd had no intention of dying here.
He quickly took his handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it against his bleeding shoulder, gnashing his teeth.
“…People…?’
At that time, Dredd saw a figure presumed to be human in the distance.
You can think of it as just a monster with a similar body shape, but among the monsters living in this forest, there were no monsters similar to or imitating humans.
That means there is a very high possibility that the In-Young in Dredd’s eyes is a real person…
“That… Is anyone there…! Can you help me if you hear me!”
Crying out in such a quiet forest is crazy, but right now, the priority is to ask for help from someone in the distance. If you entered the forest at this time, it must mean that you are a skilled person with some level of skill.
“Hey…Hey…!”
“……”
Through his blurring vision, Dread saw the figure of a man standing still and watching him.
He was tall, about 190 cm tall, and his whole body was weak as if suffering from malnutrition. If you look at her wrongly, you could mistake her for a tall woman, but if you look closely, you can tell that she is a man.
What was a little strange was that the men’s clothes were very luxurious, not suitable for the current situation, and the black robes that high-class priests would wear were lined with fancy accessories all over their bodies.
“Heo-euk…Heo-eok…Ho…Any help…”
“…Hmm… Did that orc get you?”
“Ha ha… Ha… That’s… What… Son…”
“Judging by the feeling of chaotic mana, the experiment seems to have been successful.”
Dred couldn’t understand what the man was saying. How did she know that she had been beaten by an orc, and what the hell was the experiment about?
“This confirms my hypothesis…”
“Haa…Do…Help…”
“Thank you, thanks to you, I have confirmed that my experiment was a success.”
“Since a little while ago…What the hell…What…hehehehe?!”
Dredd cast her gaze downward, widening her eyes at the momentary pain she felt.
“What…What are you doing…!”
“Thanks, but I can’t leave no witnesses.”
The identity of the acute pain that Dredd suddenly felt was the pain that appeared as a man’s hand pierced his chest.
Dread was currently wearing a rather expensive and hard iron armor, but the man pierced his chest through the armor as if cutting tofu. Through this, I was able to notice that this man standing in front of Dredd was a tremendously strong man beyond his thoughts.
“Puheuk! Ah..No…!”
Dread grabbed the man’s arm, which was piercing his chest, with both trembling hands. However, Dredd, who lost all strength in his body, couldn’t move the man’s arm even 1mm.
Of course, even if he was in normal condition, he wouldn’t have been able to force the man’s movements, but that wasn’t what was important to Dredd at the crossroads of life and death.
“As expected, humans don’t know how to humbly accept death.”
“I…I have a…Brother…! Never…Absolutely…!”
“Little brother…That’s also a human shortcoming. Feeling useless affection just because you inherited the same blood.”
The man pulled his arm through Dredd’s chest while maintaining a cold expression.
Then the man’s arm, which had been lodged in Dredd’s chest, gently slipped out and created a large hole.
“Heuk…..”
“Just close your eyes.”
“This…Illi…Ah…I…”
The man stared at Dredd, who lay motionless on the floor for a while, then put his hand to his head.
At the same time, ominous black mana gathered in the man’s hand and a special magic was manifested. It was [Memories of the Dead], A magic that absorbs the memories of corpses.
Giying…
“Hmm…”
The man slowly savored the memories coming through Dredd’s brain.
“…This is a really fun situation.”
The man gave a bizarre smile as he recalled the face of the gray-haired girl who appeared most often in Dredd’s memories.
***
-I will look for a man named Dredd myself. The king will take the child and return to Boreas.
“What the hell…?”
Currently, I was flying back to Boreas with Illyana, who had fallen into a deep sleep, on my back.
Originally, I was trying to find the missing Dredd, but Veronica sent me back half-forcibly, saying that she would look for her.
Considering that the last time I saw Veronica’s face was quite stiff, it was clear that something was wrong.
Of course, that wasn’t the time I could do anything about.
“Ko…”
“…You sleep so peacefully.”
Illyana, who was riding on my back, was sleeping so peacefully that I doubted if this was really the person who had just randomly spewed out her ferocious mana.
When it was comfortable, they laughed and even talked in their sleep.
“Hey…Masiddah…”
“What do you eat that you like so much…”
“Chew… hehehe…”
Yes, shouldn’t we be happy even in our dreams?
“Look, we’ve finally reached the city.”
“Kuu…Yum…Champ…”
“…What am I doing to a sleeping child? Seriously…”
Originally, thanks to Veronica always being my companion in my shadow, she was never bored. But when such Veronica disappeared, she was very bored because she had no one to talk to.
It was amazing how she could live alone in the labyrinth.
“By the way, where does Illyana live? Should I just take her to the inn I’m staying at?”
But now that I think about it, I didn’t know Illyana’s home address.
Where is your address in another world? You might think that, but in reality, even in a fantasy world with a medieval background, there was definitely a home address in this world.
For example, the Street of the Sun house located in Eos, the capital of the empire, has an address of Street of the Sun xxxx…Well.
Of course, as a newcomer to Boreas, it was clear that even if I knew the address, let alone the location of Illyana’s house, I would not be able to find it.
“…Wait…Is that?”
Then, at the entrance of the city, I noticed a man with a familiar face running towards the forest.
“..Buren?”
The identity of the man was Dredd’s colleague and an impressive red-haired adventurer, Buren.
I heard that he was seriously injured by an orc and fell down… Actually, looking closely, he had bandages all over his body, and in the case of his arms, he was wearing something similar to a cast.
‘…Looks like I’m going to the forest…Are you insane?’
Is it really crazy to go into the woods when you have so many scars that it’s hard to move? Besides, it’s not even daytime, it’s dark night… That was an action no different from advertising to see monsters and eat them.
“Ha..Ha..”
“Buren! Where are you going!”
“I’m going to find Illyana…!”
“It’s too late! By now, I could have been eaten by monsters!”
“But it’s not something you should look for!”
At that time, someone stopped Buren from going to the forest.
She was a warm-hearted woman in her early 50s, but considering the similarity between her appearance and Buren, she was very likely to be his biological mother.
“And…I’m cheap even if I die!”
“What do you mean?!”
“It’s okay to die if you abandon your teammates and run away…!”
“Stop! Come back now!”
Buren started running back into the woods, leaving her screaming mother behind.
No matter how seriously injured Buren was, it was an undeniable fact that he was a level 38 advanced adventurer, so Buren’s mother, who had a low level, couldn’t catch him.
“Oh… I don’t even get overtime pay for this…”
I let out a deep sigh as I watched Buren disappear into the forest.
Anyway, it seems wrong to sleep today.