Ch.18Chapter 18

“Kuhuck! Why, why are you doing this!”

“Shut up. You may fool others, but not me.”

The sight of Wendigo choking the young man was like an evil spirit incarnate.

As Wendigo applied more force rather than loosening his grip, Geron carefully drew his sword. It was definitely not out of fear of Wendigo.

Geron drew his sword because he trusted Wendigo. He wasn’t someone who would act without reason.

‘Did Wendigo see through that young man?’

Geron had been following Wendigo like a butler. He certainly knew that Wendigo had the power to discern people (more precisely, to smell them).

When Geron gestured, the warriors following Wendigo raised their weapons. This was only possible because of their trust.

“Geron, shouldn’t we stop the Djin? He looks completely ordinary to me…”

“You all haven’t served the Djin long enough to understand. He has the power to see into people’s pasts. He must have seen something in that fellow.”

‘It’s not quite like that…’

Wendigo felt awkward at Geron’s explanation.

He didn’t actually possess the ability to read people’s pasts. No matter how you looked at it, how could anyone read the past?

‘Skadi must have fed them strange information again.’

However, Wendigo didn’t correct him. Because following Geron’s words, the warriors who had joined yesterday drew their weapons.

As the warriors emerged from confusion and assumed battle positions, the young man who had been pleading with his eyes while being held by the throat made a dying sound.

“Gack! Sa-save me…”

“If you don’t want to die, reveal your true nature. Otherwise, accept your death quietly.”

Crunch!

“Kyaaaak!!!”

“Wh-what the!”

Just as his neck was about to break, the young man’s face transformed hideously. He drew a dagger hidden at his waist and stabbed toward Wendigo’s arm.

The warriors were too shocked to move. Could someone who appeared to everyone as a pitiful young man who had offended the Djin actually be evil?

Geron rushed toward Wendigo, shouting urgently.

“Protect the Djin…”

Clang!

The moment the young man stabbed Wendigo’s hide with the dagger, it shattered with a clear sound. Wendigo’s hide remained without even a scratch.

“?”

“Seems like it was a futile attempt.”

Wendigo twisted the young man’s neck in one motion. The young man breathed his last with an expression of disbelief.

When the surprise attack failed, the village creatures pulled out their hidden weapons.

Hammers, butcher knives, sickles…

Though they were embarrassingly inadequate as weapons, their ferocity was unmatched.

Creatures with faces reminiscent of demons charged at the warriors, spitting blood… bypassing Wendigo.

Wendigo was utterly dumbfounded.

“This is ridiculous. Is this that fake madness or whatever?”

“Kill them! Kill them! Kill theeeem!!”

The warriors collided with the creatures. Once the warriors realized these weren’t innocent people, they swung their weapons without hesitation.

Wendigo began to summon his mystical power but paused.

‘Come to think of it, I don’t know the warriors’ capabilities.’

What did the level of his subordinate warriors matter to Wendigo, who possessed unrivaled personal strength? Couldn’t he just sweep them all away himself?

Upon careful consideration, it did matter quite a bit.

No matter how strong, an individual cannot defeat a group. That’s a fact known even without referencing Goguryeo’s Subakdo.

Of course, Wendigo himself thought, ‘I could probably handle up to 100 opponents,’ but the world is full of improbable events.

‘There were monster-like figures in my past life too. Cheok Jun-gyeong, Lu Bu, Xiang Yu, Joan of Arc…’

Even superhuman warriors who could fight a hundred or ten thousand couldn’t overcome the limitations of facing a collective. Though not human, he couldn’t consider himself an exception.

Wendigo calmed his mystical power and gazed steadily at the warriors. The first to notice his gaze was Geron. He immediately understood Wendigo’s intention.

“Everyone, gather together! The Djin is watching us. We must not show a shameful display!”

“Yes!”

As expected of Geron, the former village chief. He naturally took command of the warriors and formed a formation.

Shield-bearers in front, axe and sword wielders in the middle, and spear carriers at the back.

“Die! Dieee!!”

Upon collision, the warriors’ shields pushed back the enemies. As the advantage of the charge dissipated, the warriors’ eyes changed.

Forest people generally have poor armaments.

Most weapons are made of iron rather than steel, and armor is mostly leather.

Nevertheless, the self-proclaimed civilized people of the south fear the forest people. The reason is their ferocity.

The warriors roared as they pushed and trampled the creatures. As the dormant ferocity within them bared its angry teeth, the warriors swung their weapons relentlessly.

“Die, di-!?”

“I’ll kill you. I don’t know who you are, but if you’ve drawn weapons, you must be prepared to die!”

Axes severed necks, and swords cut off limbs. Sharp spears pierced through the enemies’ heads.

Witnessing this, Wendigo was impressed.

‘They’re not overwhelmed even against enemies who have lost fear. They’re stronger than I thought.’

“Djin. The stockade gate is opening.”

Geron approached, wiping blood off with the enemies’ clothes. Wendigo looked at the stockade.

The gate, which hadn’t moved even as the village creatures were being slaughtered by the warriors, opened wide.

Wendigo frowned. Armed enemies appeared at the entrance of the stockade.

Creatures equipped with torn armor and blood-stained weapons.

The blood on their armor hadn’t even been washed off and had turned black with rot. This was definitely not the appearance of normal humans.

Most striking was the large warrior at the center of the creatures.

“Just looking at them makes me want to vomit. Are parasites supposed to be muscles or something?”

“…It’s disgusting to me too. Is that warrior even alive?”

Though maintaining a human form, his skin was writhing madly. It wouldn’t be strange if his muscles had been replaced with parasites.

The creature raised a greatsword and let out a monstrous cry. An unpleasant sound, as if tearing through a phlegm-filled throat, echoed through the forest.

“Geron, command the warriors. Have them fight defensively. And if you see the creatures opening their mouths or about to vomit, avoid it.”

“Are they spreading some kind of curse?”

“No, from what I know, creatures like that try to spread parasites when they see an opportunity. Be careful of that.”

Geron wondered how Wendigo knew such things, but he assumed it was knowledge accumulated through the Djin’s long years.

In reality, Wendigo was recalling modern clichés… but as Wendigo’s knowledge, it was half right.

As Wendigo extended both hands toward the ground, ice swords intertwined with roots appeared in his hands.

Crossing the ice swords surrounded by cold air, Wendigo charged toward the enemies.

“Stab them!!!”

The enemies howled as they thrust their spears and blades, charging toward Wendigo.

Wendigo’s arms spread like wings, and then he swung the ice swords toward the enemies.

Mere leather armor couldn’t withstand Wendigo’s monstrous strength. The enemies spilled their entrails as they tumbled to the ground.

But not all were swept by the swords.

“At least humans are smarter than monsters.”

“Dieee!!!”

Were they truly warriors after all?

Some of the creatures dodged the swords and approached, swinging their weapons. Thanks to their loss of fear, they weren’t shaken even by their comrades’ deaths.

But their movements didn’t last long. The cold energy contained in the ice swords swept like an aftershock, freezing their bodies.

Though they had lost fear, they were still living beings.

As the arctic cold penetrated to their marrow, the creatures perished without even being able to scream.

Despite their comrades’ miserable deaths, the enemies charged fearlessly… but Wendigo’s fierce sword strikes didn’t allow even a single hit.

Wendigo taunted as he cut down the enemies’ necks.

“Damn parasite. I don’t know what you are, but this is all in vain. If you bury yourselves in the ground where you belong and never come out, I might spare you.”

“Grrrgh! Go, go kill his minions! I will represent the master’s anger!”

As expected of a command entity. Realizing that the warriors couldn’t match Wendigo, he changed his target.

When the parasite warrior with the greatsword roared, the warriors lowered their stance and threw themselves toward the area behind Wendigo.

Rushing forward while spitting blood, they were clearly overexerting their bodies. Thanks to this, they moved away quite quickly, but…

“Admirable effort.”

Unless Wendigo was a fool, there was no reason to leave them be. He transformed one of his ice swords into a spear and hurled it at the warrior at the front.

The spear flew like lightning, piercing its target and standing upright in the ground.

The parasite warrior with the greatsword burst into laughter. What could be done with just one spear?

“Hehehe, what good does it do to kill just one…”

“You talk too much.”

Cutting off the greatsword para… too long. Cutting off the greatsword parasite’s mockery, Wendigo channeled mystical power through the spear as a medium, and a strange phenomenon occurred.

The ground around the spear froze, and roots emerged, surging like angry wild dogs toward the enemies.

The feet of the enemies who had been charging forward froze, and their ankles were caught by the roots. Geron, quick-witted, encouraged the warriors.

“Wendigo is helping us. Behead these creatures!”

Dozens of warriors led by Geron collided with dozens of warriors controlled by parasites. Naturally, the advantage went to Wendigo’s warriors.

Watching this, the greatsword parasite writhed his face in anger.

“You… you bastard!!!”

“Surely a parasite wouldn’t dare speak of honor? Someone who covets others’ bodies out of shame for their own, surely such a shameless…”

Wendigo didn’t continue. The provocation was sufficient.

The greatsword parasite’s legs compressed like springs, and he approached Wendigo’s side with superhuman speed.

The parasite’s sword swung, aiming for Wendigo’s neck. Wendigo calmly moved his ice sword to block it.

Wendigo was impressed by the mighty strike that was hard to believe came from human strength.

“Quite strong.”

“Dj…in! I’ll face you until your power runs out!”

“I doubt that will happen. And I don’t have a hobby of playing with parasites.”

Just as the greatsword parasite was about to curse, thinking it was provocation, cold energy seeped into his sword.

The blade cracked with a splitting sound, and frost extended toward the parasite’s hand.

The greatsword parasite’s eyes filled with shock. Realizing that the sword would break at this rate, he hastily tried to withdraw it.

“Too late.”

The sword shattered with a clear sound. Frost-covered fragments exploded in all directions.

Wendigo deflected the fragments, but the greatsword parasite couldn’t. The fragments, flying like arrows, penetrated various parts of the parasite’s body.

“Kyaaaak!!!”

With a miserable scream, his posture collapsed, and Wendigo swung his sword, cutting off his limbs.

As the limbs were severed and instantly frozen, the creature fell to the ground. Parasite corpses poured out from the severed limbs.

“Poor creature. I’ll end it now.”

“Wa-wait…”

Wendigo ignored the words and brought down his sword. It was obvious that this was just an act by the parasite.

However… he stopped his sword. Something was climbing up the greatsword parasite’s throat with a disgusting rupturing sound.

As the greatsword parasite’s mouth opened wide, a giant parasite revealed itself. It opened its mouth, dripping blood.

[Cursed Djin. I propose a deal…]

“What deal could I possibly make with a parasite? Stop talking nonsense and die.”

[Wait, I am not the insignificant being you think I am. Our mother…]

Wendigo ignored the creature’s nonsense and brought down his sword. This time, there was nothing to stop the blade.

Wendigo’s sword bisected the giant parasite, and it breathed its last with a resentful scream.