Chapter 33
Meanwhile, while Park Gi-hyeok’s familiars were voraciously devouring the man-eating tree, a fierce battle erupted at the center of the gate between a masked organization and a claw-handed orc tribe.
“Ugh, urgh!!”
“Hey! Pull yourself together!”
“What’s wrong?”
“He… he suddenly collapsed.”
“Suddenly? Hey, get up. What’s going on?”
The captain slapped the fallen subordinate’s face, but the situation only worsened. Foam began to froth from his mouth, and his eyes rolled back, showing only the whites.
This won’t do.
The captain gestured urgently.
“Do you have a ‘cocktail’? If you do, give it to me.”
The ‘cocktail’ was an emergency drug provided only to officers for such unforeseen situations.
The subordinate shakily handed over a syringe from his pouch. Without hesitation, the captain plunged the needle into the subordinate’s neck.
As the needle pierced the vein, the subordinate gasped sharply, his body convulsing like a shrimp.
Moments later, the subordinate regained consciousness.
“Who… who messed with my… my s-sig….”
However, before he could finish his sentence, the subordinate fainted again.
Sigil? The man-eating tree? Did something go wrong with the man-eating tree?
‘If that’s the case…’
The captain tore open the subordinate’s clothes with a rough yank. With a ripping sound, the fabric was torn apart, revealing the subordinate’s left arm.
“Gasp!”
“…!!”
It was decaying. The arm had turned black, necrotized.
The necrosis that started from the left hand was rapidly spreading.
“Good heavens, Captain! What on earth is this…?”
“Damn it, this is bad.”
Cursing, the captain immediately severed the subordinate’s left shoulder.
“…There must be something wrong with the man-eating tree, but why is it like this? Even if the tree was forcefully unsummoned, it shouldn’t be this severe…”
“Shut your mouth. I already have a headache.”
A demonologist is a type of dark magician who controls familiars like beasts, monsters, or demons. In addition to the sacrificial materials required for summoning, they sometimes offer parts of their own bodies to efficiently control their familiars. If a familiar dies or is forcibly unsummoned, the sigil that binds them shatters, causing backlash damage.
However, as the subordinate had pointed out, the damage should not be this extreme.
The fact that it had led to necrosis implied that it wasn’t merely an unsummoning.
‘It’s been obliterated.’
It wasn’t just killed—it was erased from existence itself.
The captain’s suspicion turned out to be correct.
The man-eating tree, which had been thriving by draining life force, had been completely consumed by Park Gi-hyeok’s Baphomet and Asura, disappearing to its very roots.
But unaware of this, the captain could only jump to conclusions.
‘…This isn’t something an ordinary superhuman could have done.’
Dark magic, though it shares the name with other forms of magic, is fundamentally different. It’s incredibly difficult for ordinary superhumans to annihilate a magical beast.
‘The only possible culprits would be a high-level priest capable of anti-magic, or…’
‘Another dark magician.’
The captain leaned toward the latter.
It wasn’t likely that a busy priest would come all the way here just to obtain a useless levitation stone. Therefore, the only ones left would be those in the same trade who understood its value and knew how to use it.
“Hey, remember that time the Red Circle tried to hit our workshop?”
“Y-yes, I remember. But why do you ask?”
“No reason.”
He wasn’t sure yet. It could just be a suspicion.
Yes, for now…
But soon, news arrived that turned the captain’s suspicion into certainty.
“Captain! Unit 21 has fallen!!”
“…”
Another subordinate had collapsed.
His left hand was decaying, just like before, necrotizing in real-time.
“…You bastards!”
After dealing with the second man-eating tree, I was able to regroup with the younger ones in front of the third tree.
After a brief skirmish, the man-eating tree fell.
Once again, it was time for the feast.
My “two arms,” Baphomet and Asura, devoured the man-eating tree voraciously.
“What the… what are they doing?! The tree is being sucked in! That huge tree!”
“Keep your voice down. They’re eating. It’s bad manners to disturb someone while they’re eating, even if they’re dogs.”
“That’s not a dog!”
“But they’re as cute as one.”
Merry and Jun-woo glared at me intently, as if asking, “Are you out of your mind?”
What, isn’t it cute?
I scratched my head.
“Enough with the nonsense. How many have we dealt with?”
“This is the third one. As for the remaining ones, we’ve only detected one so far.”
“Only one left? Then it must be the one Jun-woo and I saw last.”
“I remember the location. We should head there.”
After confirming that the man-eating tree had been completely consumed, we set off towards the last one.
“So, have you gained enough experience in real combat? Jun-woo, you seem to have a lingering look in your eyes, like you’ve just had a rough fight.”
“…”
“Heh. Revenge is sweet, isn’t it?”
As I patted Jun-woo’s shoulder to commend his hard work, Merry shot me a fierce glare.
“Honestly, Gi-hyeok! You’re way too insensitive. This was Jun-woo’s first kill. And you talk about real combat to someone who’s already in shock?!”
“Really? Oh, poor Jun-woo. Did it shock you?”
“Gi-hyeok!!”
“Okay, okay. I admit it. I wasn’t being considerate enough. I’m sorry.”
She’s not wrong. The first kill is something that should be treated with care.
Even in those rough mercenary groups, there’s a tradition of offering a drink to a rookie after their first kill.
But killing is only called that when it involves taking a human life.
“Doesn’t it feel a bit odd to call it ‘killing’ when it’s just trash lower than a monster? That’s how I see it.”
“What do you mean? I don’t get it.”
“Was that too complicated? Let me put it this way: do you feel guilt when you kill a monster? No, right? The ones we killed were even more worthless and harmful than monsters.”
I placed a hand on Merry’s head.
“Don’t burden yourself with guilt. Not just this time, but in the future as well.”
I wasn’t just saying this for the sake of it.
I’ve seen many people destroyed by unnecessary guilt.
Am I right? Was I justified? Was there no other way? Was I truly acting in the name of justice? Did I have the right to judge them?
Most of the time, freezing up in a critical moment is caused by the doubts that guilt raises.
“For now, don’t question your actions in front of an enemy. You’re not yet at a point where you should be dealing with such doubts. Establish your convictions later, when you’ve grown stronger. Justice, mercy, righteousness—these are all privileges of the victor. Remember that.”
“…Got it. Thanks for the advice.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
“Good. Don’t forget it during the real battle that’s about to happen.”
“…?”
“Huh? A real battle?”
Why else would I bother to give such advice in the midst of all this?
It’s because of the arrows coming at us right now.
I reached out and caught the arrow aimed at Merry.
“There are 23 of them. Remember what I said: when facing a dark magician, avoid magic as much as possible. And don’t let yourselves get separated.”
The gravity of the situation sank in as Jun-woo drew his swords.
He hadn’t forgotten my words, holding a long sword and a rapier side by side for speed.
Merry did the same, storing her tower shield in her spatial pocket and replacing it with a buckler.
A combat stance I was quite satisfied with.
To these diligent kids, I said:
“Go for it.”
I gave them a light push on the back.
With frightening speed, Jun-woo and Merry vanished into the forest.
Now then, let’s see what you’ve got.
The experience point event was about to begin.
The battle was more intense than I had expected.
When two fresh rookies charged at them, the masked organization initially thought this incident wouldn’t be as serious as they had feared.
But when they saw their lead comrade’s head fly off, severed by Han Jun-woo’s dagger before he could even retaliate, they realized the true extent of the threat.
From that moment, the masked men moved with sharp efficiency.
Of course, this was bad news for Han Jun-woo and Merry.
They weren’t fighting individuals.
And certainly not monsters.
These were intelligent humans.
Organized and powerful.
And utterly unscrupulous.
These were opponents they had never faced before, and the slight advantage they had at the start quickly vanished.
Both of them began to be pushed into a corner.
Though they had managed to gain the upper hand at the outset with an unexpected attack, the masked organization quickly recognized the threat and smartly used their numerical superiority to regain control of the situation.
Watching the initial stages of the battle, my assessment was:
“They’ve got a long way to go. That lucky punch at the start has now become a disadvantage. If they had hidden their strength and waited for a counterattack, they wouldn’t be struggling this early… They definitely lack experience in human combat.”
Amidst this strange standoff, it was Han Jun-woo and Merry who moved first.
Originally, Merry would support with spells while Han Jun-woo delivered the final blows. But seeing that this strategy wouldn’t work here, they decided to completely change their approach.
Han Jun-woo threw himself into the thick of the oncoming magic barrage. Naturally, this drew the attention of the masked men towards him.
But he dodged everything.
He avoided every single attack.
With elegant turns, he evaded the ice spears and, with a single step, moved out of the range of the flame burst.
He deflected targeted spells with his sword and slipped into blind spots to avoid area attacks.
No blind spots? His sword flashed, creating openings where there were none.
Like a rose in full bloom, like a lily in grace.
Dancing beautifully like a single blossoming flower.
When the blood of the dancer family in Han Jun-woo fully awakened, no attack could touch him.
It was a scene that showcased just how broken the Dancer family’s “sensory control” ability was.
And all the while, Merry was diligently preparing.
Preparing the decisive blow to turn the tide of battle.
A grand-scale spell.
A combination of three spells: “Binding Roots” to entangle enemies with roots, “Wolf’s Jaw” to summon mana-made wolves to tear at foes, and “Raging Blood” to send them into a frenzy.
Lunar Wolf
The roots scattered all around surged forth.
The masked men, startled by the oncoming roots, scrambled backward, but their decision was wrong from the start.
There was nowhere to escape.
The area was filled with trees and roots.
As the surging roots touched their enemies, they transformed into wolf heads, baring sharp fangs.
And the moment the wolves bit down, the spell “Raging Blood” activated through the wounds.
“Raging Blood” is a beneficial buff when used moderately but can turn a person into a frenzied beast if overused.
In other words, half of the masked men who were bitten turned into berserk animals.
With over half of the masked men convulsing and losing control, the battlefield descended into chaos.
And in this chaos, one man shone brighter than anyone.
Han Jun-woo.
The last dancer took the stage.
On a bloodstained battlefield.
Amidst the flashing blades and the scent of blood, Han Jun-woo and Merry were growing bit by bit, but unmistakably.
Well, even so, for now…
“…It’s too much. Are you okay?”
“Huff, huff.”
“…I… I can’t move. My legs won’t move.”
Exhausted, Merry and Jun-woo collapsed to the ground, and I quickly retrieved them from the battlefield, tossing them behind me.
“You did great. Really, you exceeded my expectations.”
I meant it.
Originally, I had planned to praise them if they managed to take down five. After all, this was their first time facing enemies with murderous intent.
But look—they cut down eight and incapacitated two more.
Thirteen remain standing, meaning they’ve taken out nearly half.
How impressive is that?
A perfect score of one hundred.
“Rest easy now. I’ll take care of the rest.”
With a smile, I stepped forward.
The remaining men eyed me warily. Being bested by just two must have been a humiliation. Their eyes burned with malice.
I like it.
Even better.
“Let me give you some advice. First, you can’t escape. Don’t waste your efforts.”
As I spoke, I considered my options.
Should I use my sword or my magic?
“Second, don’t touch my friends who are resting over there. If you even try and fail, I promise I’ll make you beg me to kill you.”
Magic seemed like the better choice.
I sheathed my sword and activated a magic circle.
“Third, this isn’t so much advice as it is a consideration.”
The magic circle flared up, engulfing the surroundings.
“Come at me with all you’ve got.”
You’re all going to die here anyway.
Dark magic? Sacrifices?
Use up every last bit of life force you have.
That way, you won’t feel as regretful when you meet your end.
And I’ll have more fun.
“Let’s begin. Attack.”
The magic circle blazed with a radiant glow.
Black flames roared up.
Hell had descended upon this place.
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