Ch.103103. Bjorn and Beginner’s Mind (2)

When I opened my eyes after falling asleep as usual.

Bjorn found himself, as always, in a place he had never seen before.

By now, he was so accustomed to it that he barely reacted—his master, the God of Vengeance, had sent him somewhere for training.

In most cases, he would be dropped into what his tribe called a “demon realm” dungeon, and his task would be to conquer it while honing his skills.

On the other hand, though not frequently, he would sometimes be assigned missions such as exterminating bandits somewhere.

Thinking that what he needed most right now was to assess his surroundings, Bjorn looked around…

‘…What a mess.’

Before him lay part of a village, damaged beyond habitability.

With about 70 well-built houses clustered together and the remains of well-maintained wooden palisades and watchtowers, it must have been a fairly sizeable village…

But that would have been before its destruction.

About half of the wooden houses had been consumed by flames, leaving only traces of their existence, while the others appeared to have been left damaged and abandoned for a long time.

Throughout the village lay the half-decomposed bodies of what must have been villagers, and the unnatural amputation marks often visible on those corpses were enough to make him frown.

It was as if someone had cut off the limbs of fellow humans after their death—traces that appeared to be evidence of cannibalism.

Though it was quite a leap in reasoning, Bjorn was certain.

It was likely the result of that culture—originally practiced by the upper class who claimed to be civilized, indulging in forbidden pleasures by eating sentient beings, which had somehow spread to the lower classes.

Since some of Bjorn’s former subordinates had been treated as “spoils” and eaten in this manner, just seeing these signs brought back unpleasant memories. With a hardened expression, he was trudging through the darkened village when…

Just then, his keen hearing, honed to an advanced level, caught certain sounds.

‘…’

The crackling of a bonfire. The boisterous voices of people talking. The screams of humans and… the sizzling sound of something unknown being cooked.

Unable to think of anything positive, Bjorn didn’t hesitate to use the power of chaos to conceal himself and approach the source.

Going beyond mere invisibility to block even sound and scent, as he walked, he began to see a faint light.

Almost certain that this light was the source of the sounds he had heard earlier, Bjorn prepared to draw his divine weapon at any moment before approaching again.

Soon, when he had closed to within about 500 meters, Bjorn could clearly see what was happening with his superhuman senses.

“Ahahahahahaha!!!”

“Another drink!”

It was the encampment of the Roman Empire’s legion, presumed to be responsible for devastating the village.

About 1,000 soldiers sat around fires, roasting meat and drinking alcohol in raucous celebration, with what appeared to be human bones and looted goods scattered everywhere.

From inside tents erected throughout the camp came vulgar moans and screams of agony. In one area, naked, wounded boys and girls lay collapsed helplessly, while in another, potential slaves and victims of abuse were chained together.

‘…Grrrr.’

Having once experienced something similar and been captured by the Roman Empire, Bjorn ground his teeth, wanting to attack them immediately… but several things held him back.

Would attacking them go against the will of his master, the God of Vengeance?

As an apostle of Ma-Duk, the God of Vengeance, Bjorn couldn’t act rashly, but just then, a voice echoed in his mind.

《Follow your own will, Bjorn.》

‘…Thank you, my great master.’

Believing this was meant to ease his hesitation and that it contained intentions for his benefit, Bjorn expressed his gratitude to the voice’s owner and thrust his sword into the ground.

‘…Come. 《Beasts of Chaos》.’

Immediately after, Bjorn summoned several black figures using chaos magic.

They resembled feline animals, but most of their fur had fallen out, leaving them emaciated and desolate, their bodies stained black with chaos energy, giving them an even more bizarre appearance.

After summoning about 30 Beasts of Chaos, Bjorn mentally commanded them to attack.

‘From the darkness, attack them.’

…Swoosh.

Following his command, the Beasts of Chaos instantly vanished and began to charge, and upon confirming this, Bjorn also began to run after them.

It was a mountain path, and a rather difficult one at that, so the actual perceived distance was well over 500 meters… but for the Beasts of Chaos, specialized in long-distance pursuit, and for Bjorn, it wasn’t that far.

Soon, Bjorn approached the very front of the legionaries’ encampment and, without a moment’s hesitation, wrapped his great sword in a massive amount of aura—

“—Die!!!”

Just before the Beasts of Chaos arrived, deliberately shouting loudly to disrupt their minds, Bjorn unleashed a massive slash made of aura…?

‘Wh-what!??’

It was an accident that even Bjorn hadn’t anticipated.

In dungeons, sustained combat ability was more important than such powerful single strikes, and since he usually kept his power hidden, he had no experience unleashing attacks at full force like this.

As a result, the slash that erupted from his sword was dozens of times more powerful than he had expected, instantly engulfing hundreds of legionaries who were eating that “meat” in the center.

KWAAAAAANG—!!!!

Dozens who directly touched the aura forming the massive slash simply withered away and vanished, while others were killed or severely injured by the energy radiating from it.

Those who were in the center and completely annihilated without a trace were none other than the elite and veteran soldiers of the legion.

Thanks to this, having accidentally turned 40% of the encampment’s forces into casualties with a single attack, he ultimately decided to just brazen it out.

Thus, as the Beasts of Chaos rushed into the chaotic encampment, and with Bjorn hiding in the darkness casting spells…

Before long, not a single Roman legionary remained in the encampment.

※ ※ ※

After impulsively eliminating the legionaries and rescuing the people, Bjorn first revealed himself to them and began treating the wounded.

“M-mommy…”

“It’s okay, it’ll be alright, it’s okay…”

“…W-who are you? Did you… did you save us?”

The people were quite frightened by the appearance of a black knight leading hideous beasts, but that didn’t last long.

“…!!”

“…It’s alright. This will heal everything.”

Bjorn explained that he was an apostle of the God of Vengeance, then treated the wounded people, and simultaneously removed his helmet to prove he wasn’t some monster but one of the northern tribes like them.

Though the people were now reassured, the real problem began here.

They wanted to rely on him, but Bjorn, who would have to return after this night, couldn’t accommodate them.

So as he sat in the commander’s tent, lost in contemplation…

“Hehe, you seem to be in trouble.”

“Y-you are… His…”

“Yes, I am His messenger.”

Without any warning, one of the great God of Vengeance’s messengers—the so-called Vampire Messenger—appeared before him with a characteristically confident expression.

“Leave the minor issues to me. That is what the Great One desires.”

“…The Great One? That’s a relief then.”

Though this messenger seemed slightly less reliable compared to others, Bjorn was reassured by the claim that it came directly from Him.

However, this summoning was merely the beginning of a greater flow of events.

Yet unaware of this, Bjorn was simply relieved to have escaped his immediate predicament.