episode_0069

Arthur, who had purchased a large quantity of daily necessities with the gold he had, walked north without any hesitation.

A considerable amount of time had passed, and about a month after the journey began, Arthur could see something strange floating before his eyes.

“Is it because I’m not feeling well these days..”

A blue, translucent window with nothing written on it.

I didn’t think much about it after seeing it.

When you think about it logically, it doesn’t make sense for something like that to be floating around.

It would be more correct to see it as a relapse of a mental illness that had been fine for a while.

“This isn’t what’s urgent right now… Let’s get moving.”

What was important now was not the unidentified object floating before my eyes.

I’m looking for a person named Muyeon.

“Haa-”

There wasn’t much time.

As we entered the northern snowy region, the daily necessities we had bought in large quantities were running out.

The pure white breath coming out of his mouth showed that the temperature here was murderous.

Because the sun was setting so quickly, the time to move was extremely limited, so we had to move quickly.

“Shall we go over there today..”

The destination is the third snow-covered mountain in front of you.

Since I hadn’t heard the exact location from my father, I had to climb every mountain I could see.

In fact, there was a snow-capped mountain that boasted an overwhelming size on its own…

A person named Muyeon wouldn’t be in a place like that… People can’t live in a place like that.

… … …

“Ugh…”

I shivered from the cold that felt like my flesh was being cut off, and prepared to camp out for the night. I didn’t want to be a cold corpse the next day.

What were the results of the Seolsan exploration?

I don’t know. There are hardly any animals here, and all I can see is a white snow field. Considering I didn’t see anything, I guess there wasn’t one here.

“Ugh… I have to find it tomorrow… I’m going to freeze to death at this rate.”

Arthur, who was well prepared, got into his sleeping bag, put his face in it, and closed his eyes.

“Is this okay..”

“Should I climb a big mountain tomorrow?”

“I’m so tired, I want to go home.”

“In fact, it was all an illusion, and what if there was no one named Muyeon?”

“That’s right! It’s been over 20 years since my father died, how do you know where Mooyeon is?”

“What? So you’re saying it’s a lie?”

“You can’t give up! You have to kill them all and get revenge!”

A multitude of voices echoed in my head.

Could it be because I often talked to myself to relieve the loneliness that came from spending long periods of time alone?

Maybe my head was telling me that my mental state was serious right now…

“I think I made a friend..”

Arthur liked it better now than when there was only silence.

“Shh! Did you just hear that?”

“Scary, scary, scary.”

“Ka, where is the knife?”

I’m dizzy.

The voice in his head was warning him that the situation was serious, so Arthur opened his eyes and got out of his sleeping bag.

At the same time, my head cleared and all the voices that had been bothering my ears disappeared.

Because those voices were the only ones I could hear with my eyes closed.

Krrr…

My heart is pounding.

Judging by the sound, it was definitely a wolf.

Even though the distance was quite close, I could feel the wolf’s presence.

“Whew..Whew..It’s okay. You can win..”

Arthur took a deep breath, grabbed his sword, and quietly walked out of the tent.

If the distance got any closer, there would be no chance of winning, and if they didn’t get their eyes adjusted to the darkness as soon as possible, they would become wolf food without even knowing why they were dying.

“… ”

Arthur quietly slipped out, turned his back to the tent, and held his breath.

The hand holding the sword began to sweat, and the sight that did not seem to be brightening brought about tremendous fear.

“Huh…”

The intense cold made it difficult to breathe properly, so my breathing became increasingly ragged and my sounds began to leak out little by little.

Sabak. Sabak.

With extreme concentration, the sound of footsteps was heard.

Sabak. Sabak.

The footsteps of the messenger of death.

But Arthur had no intention of dying before achieving his revenge.

“Huh-”

Crunch-

One breath.

One bell ringing.

Slow mobility on snow.

Since your stamina is not at full capacity, the longer the battle goes on, the more exponentially disadvantageous you become.

For these reasons, he attempted an attack that could be called a one-hit kill, and the wolf that was trying to attack Arthur was cut in half without making a single sound.

“Hoo..”

Arthur sighed in relief, and thanks to his eyes that were just beginning to adjust to the darkness, he was able to see the wolf split in half.

Now that the threat has been eliminated, let’s go back…

Sabak. Sabak.

“Huh..? It wasn’t just one-”

Arthur quickly turned around at the sound of footsteps coming from behind, but fell to the floor with a great shock.

“Kkaaaak-!!!”

I swung the sword I was holding wildly as I felt the excruciating pain in my left thigh.

Luckily, the wolf that had been biting Arthur’s thigh moved away for a moment to observe Arthur, wondering if the attack was meaningful.

“Ugh..!”

Arthur, who did not miss the brief gap, stood on shaky legs and aimed his sword at the wolf.

My thighs were on fire, and the intense pain kept blurring my vision with tears.

I had to concentrate as much as I could because if I didn’t concentrate now I would definitely die.

Krr… Krrr…

The confrontation with the wolf continues,

A critical situation.

At that crucial moment, the unbelievable began to appear.

─────────

We encountered a pack of wolves that had come up from the snowy area in search of food.

Kill all the wolves to survive.

Clear Condition: Kill the wolf (1/3)

Upon success: Obtain the linked quest

If you fail: The linked quest disappears.

─────────

A blue window that informs you of the current situation.

Among them, one thing caught Arthur’s eye first.

Clear Condition: Kill the wolf (1/3)

One wolf has already been killed, and the other one is in a standoff.

That meant there was one left somewhere.

“Ugh… Ugh…”

But no matter how much I looked around with my tired body, I couldn’t see any other wolves.

Since he couldn’t afford to keep worrying about an invisible enemy in his current situation, Arthur returned his focus to the wolf in front of him.

Why aren’t you attacking..?

And in the ensuing confrontation, I was able to realize one thing.

The wolf in front of him was waiting for him to die.

In fact, my head was getting dizzy because of the continuous bleeding from my legs, and the cold of the snowy mountain was making my body dull.

That is, if you don’t go in first, death awaits you.

So Arthur slowly walked towards the wolf with his bloody legs.

Krrrr..!

The wolf also continued to howl threateningly and kept moving further away.

Ultimately, Arthur, who had no means of attacking from a distance, had to make a decision.

You have to use mana to close the distance and kill the wolf in one blow.

“Hoo.. slurp..”

Have to.

Can you do it?

It has to be a success no matter what.

I didn’t think about what would happen next.

Now that they were getting weaker in real time, I had to kill them all as quickly as possible.

“Write- Hooo..Write- Hooo..”

Ignore the pain in your legs and focus on your breathing.

And move mana.

Compared to the master of the technique, my mana is woefully lacking, but I’ve seen it a lot, so I was able to imitate it just once for now.

The thing you need to be careful of is the wolf in front.

And because it’s a snow field, you have to use different methods.

Bam.

Before I knew it, a snowflake fell from the sky and tickled the tip of my nose.

But Arthur, who was aiming for the perfect timing to catch the wolf, was so focused that he didn’t even realize that it was snowing.

On the contrary, the wolf’s eyes were turned elsewhere than towards Arthur, and Arthur did not miss the momentary opening.

Thunder Dragon Nine Type – Type 1 Lightning

Crunch-!

It’s not as fast as the original technology, nor does it have the destructive power of a lightning bolt.

It was enough to cut off the wolf’s neck before it could even react.

Bam.

A fallen wolf’s head.

The lifeless eyes were focused on one spot, and Arthur also naturally turned his head towards the place the wolf was looking at.

There was the corpse of the first wolf Arthur had killed, and something small was seen moving around it.

Squeak… squeak…

That something was none other than a wolf cub.

He was crying, rubbing his face next to the corpses, as if he couldn’t believe that his parents were dead.

I only killed to live.

There was certainly no need to feel guilty or anything.

It was a bad feeling to see a wolf cub lose both its parents in an instant.

“There’s no need to kill them..”

It was just a wolf cub the size of a puppy. It would run away on its own if left alone, so there was no need to kill it.

The problem is,

─────────

We encountered a pack of wolves that had come up from the snowy area in search of food.

Kill all the wolves to survive.

Clear Condition: Kill the Wolf (2/3)

Upon success: Obtain the linked quest

If you fail: The linked quest disappears.

─────────

If you don’t kill it, you won’t get the reward written on the blue window.

It never occurred to me that the window in front of my eyes was an illusion.

Because I knew the exact number of wolves, and because one sentence concerned me.

Kill all the wolves to survive.

I am already alive.

But it didn’t make sense to kill the wolf cubs.

Because you can live without killing.

So, it would be right to think that it was just a rough outline…

“To live..”

The word ‘living’.

Does it really mean just breathing?

No way.

If it were alive, it would have killed itself long ago.

For Arthur now, living was for revenge.

In order to live a life of revenge, it might be right to kill the wolf cub.

If he couldn’t even kill that, he might fail to kill the emperor at a crucial moment.

“… I’m sorry.”

From the moment he decided to live for revenge, Arthur was ready to become a monster.

Because that’s the life of an avenger.

Arthur, with tears in his eyes, raised his sword high.

After a while, the sound of something being cut was the last thing that could be heard on the snow-covered mountain, and only Arthur’s breathing remained.