Ch.22Chapter 22 – The Thirteenth

“Hey there, are you alright?”

Shin Jaehyuk shouted loudly as he approached Lee Jaeyeon, who had collapsed. He was about two meters away from her. But getting any closer seemed dangerous. Stone statues with flickering blue eyes were monitoring the surroundings from all directions.

“Ugh…”

A groan came from among the corpses. It was definitely Hunter Lee Jaeyeon’s voice. She stirred weakly. It seemed like she was trying to get up. If she stood up like that, she would end up within the attack range of the statues. Shin Jaehyuk panicked and urgently shouted.

“Wait! Don’t stand up. Stay right where you are. Even the slightest movement will be detected by the statues’ sight.”

Whether she understood his words or not, she stopped moving. A moment later, a sobbing voice was heard.

“S-save, save me… Please…”

She pitifully begged while lying face down on the ground, unable to move an inch. Her voice was unnaturally drawn out. Was she injured? Shin Jaehyuk reassured her.

“I’ll save you soon. Stay still right there. I’ll figure something out.”

Shin Jaehyuk racked his brain. Fortunately, he had avoided the tragic future where she would rise and be hit by the golem’s magic beam, but the problem was how to rescue her from that state.

‘Think. How can I save her? Cover the statues’ eyes? With what? What’s the chance a statue will turn around the moment I cover its eyes? Should I destroy the problematic statue?’

Since the surrounding statues were watching in all directions around her, she was like a fish trapped in an invisible death net. Literally surrounded on all sides. The paladin pushed himself.

‘Keep thinking. Don’t stop thinking!’

Shin Jaehyuk glanced sideways at one of the statues to his right.

‘Yes. If I can somehow deal with that statue, it seems like we could escape straight ahead…’

Luckily, the area between Shin Jaehyuk and Lee Jaeyeon was being monitored by only one statue, so if he could eliminate the golem on the right, he might somehow be able to get her out of that net. The other directions were being watched by multiple statues, making them too risky to approach. Escaping in this direction was the best option.

Shin Jaehyuk checked if he had any items that could deal with just that one statue without being detected by the others.

‘Armor, spear, pistol, hiking hip pack, water bottle, magic compass, shield… Shield? A shield…’

It was a durable shield made of demonic iron. Could it withstand the magic beam for even a few seconds? While blocking the right statue’s line of sight with the shield, he might be able to pull her out during that brief window.

‘But…’

But conversely, if the shield couldn’t withstand the statue’s magic beam, Shin Jaehyuk would evaporate along with his shield and Lee Jaeyeon. This method carried too much risk.

Yes. Instead!

Having made his decision, Shin Jaehyuk gripped his spear. He planned to destroy just the statue’s head with his spear from a distance, outside the golem’s field of vision.

Shin Jaehyuk remembered how E-rank hunters’ hammers and guns had broken the golems. Their durability was definitely weak. If so, he should be able to destroy it with his spear too. Recalling how the other golems hadn’t even reacted when their companions were destroyed, breaking just this one shouldn’t cause any problems…

However, he needed to thrust the spear with minimal movement, without entering the statue’s field of vision.

Of course, Shin Jaehyuk was confident.

He was a master of the spear who had wielded one for decades.

“Hoo…”

Shin Jaehyuk gripped the end of the spear handle in reverse. This was to make the spear tip reach as far as possible. He raised his arm holding the reversed spear to head height, aiming at the statue’s neck.

There would be no second chance. He had to break it in one go.

‘Eloarch…’

Shin Jaehyuk gulped once and held his breath. Holy power flowed through his body, strengthening his physique. He sensed Lee Jaeyeon writhing in pain.

“Hup-!”

Shin Jaehyuk’s arm moved as swiftly as a swallow, leaving an afterimage. The spear, united with his swift and precise movement, plunged into the statue’s neck like an arrow.

Thud-!

“Good!”

Success! The sensation from the spear tip felt clean. As the spear roughly penetrated the statue’s neck, cracks formed with a crunch, and the head fell to the floor.

Before the statue’s head even touched the ground, Shin Jaehyuk quickly lowered his posture. This was to be cautious of possible attacks from other golems.

Fortunately, no such mishap occurred. As Shin Jaehyuk had predicted, the golems simply remained in place as if nothing had happened.

‘Phew- I’m glad my prediction was right.’

Shin Jaehyuk offered a brief prayer to Eloarch in his heart. Now he could rescue Lee Jaeyeon through the hole created in one side of the statues’ encirclement.

Shin Jaehyuk carefully approached Lee Jaeyeon. Her body was trembling. Four steps away. Shin Jaehyuk took one more step forward.

“Help meeeee-“

“It’s okay now. I’ll save-“

It was when he was just two steps away. He felt a faint vibration near his waist. Shin Jaehyuk looked down to check the source of the vibration.

The dagger with Parma’s rune that he had crafted at the forge was trembling.

And Parma’s rune,

reacts when a demon is nearby.

-Shin Jaehyuk reflexively threw himself backward.

He saw Lee Jaeyeon’s face, now raised.

She was grinning like a child caught in mischief.

“Oh my, I’ve been found out?”

Lee Jaeyeon’s body explosively swelled up and lunged at Shin Jaehyuk. Translucent flesh multiplied like cancer cells. Arms sprouted from the enlarged body, trying to grab Shin Jaehyuk.

“Kuk-!”

‘What is that!’

Shin Jaehyuk continued to think even as he dodged the bizarre arms lunging at him. What was the enemy’s identity? Why Lee Jaeyeon?

Even though the demon was growing larger, none of the statues attacked the demon that had entered their field of vision.

‘Could it be that they can’t recognize it because its body is translucent? No. If automatic golems judged intruders by physical sight, there would be many malfunctions. Mages wouldn’t be that simple, ugh-‘

One snake-like arm narrowly grazed his head, removing Shin Jaehyuk’s helmet. Shin Jaehyuk hastily retreated, stepping carefully. Having to retreat while also being mindful of the statues’ attack range, he was barely able to dodge the enemy’s attacks, let alone counterattack. Eventually, one translucent hand grabbed Shin Jaehyuk’s armor.

Shin Jaehyuk’s tongue reflexively recited an aria.

“Light-!”

Holy light flowed through Shin Jaehyuk’s armor. The reaction was as violent as acid dropped on marble.

K̵̢̨͙̰̼̩̙͚͙̘͍̈́̅̓̄̐̇̌͒̃̿̋͘̚͜͝ͅí̵̹̬̟̖̣̩͕̉̏ͅͅe̷̟̩͇͕̬̺̗̳͚̘̊̆̏͆͒̋̉̈́̕͘͝ẹ̸̢̲̠̫̘͓̱̗̗̋ȩ̷̧̖̩̥̮̪͖͔̟̺̰̻͆̈́́͗̂̓͐̎e̸̤̽̉́̌̌̑̈́̈̑͑̑̽g̶̢͚̦͛̈́̆̓̽̈́̎̂̂͝͝h̸͉̮͇͖̱̳̥̾̋̅̒̓́̕h̵̡̜̭̺̝̣̓̍̈̈̽̔̀̍̑̈́̄͠͠h̷͕̥̣̼̭͑̎͛̔̎̊͒͂̎́͜͝h̵̨̡̰͖̪̤̰̲̮͚̼̹͕͍̔͌̔h̶̡̠̲̻̙͙̝̞̬̰̮̺̺͛̉h̵͇̤̹̼̖̤̤̠̹͂̅̆̽͜͜-̶̧̻̣̮̗̻̬̺̺͕̬̲̖̼̟̽̓͌̄̅̿͒͛̒͆̕͘̚!̵̨̧͓͙͈͓̜͈͍̗̬̼̽̀̐́̐͂͋͜͠

The demon jerked its hand away from the armor as if burned. The tentacle’s skin that had grabbed Shin Jaehyuk was sizzling and its flesh was turning red, burning up.

Meanwhile, Shin Jaehyuk caught his breath and regained his composure. Covering his entire body with the shield in his left hand and pointing his spear-wielding right hand at the demon, Shin Jaehyuk shouted.

“You, what have you done to Hunter Lee Jaeyeon-!”

Lee Jaeyeon, or rather, that strange mass of flesh was clearly a demon. Its violent reaction to holy power, like a poisoned rat, confirmed it.

The question was, ‘Had Lee Jaeyeon been a demon from the beginning?’

‘Could it be… that demons have already infiltrated human society outside the gate?’

If that were truly the case, it was impossible to guess how far the hand of darkness had reached. The image of a disgusting centipede crawling deep into cracks disturbed his thoughts. Shin Jaehyuk broke into a cold sweat as he imagined the worst possibilities.

As he remained vigilant with his holy power still active, the mass of flesh hesitated, looking for an opening, then suddenly began to contract.

The flesh mass gathered in one place, compressing into a smaller form, then took on a human shape. It formed into the appearance of Hunter Lee Jaeyeon that Shin Jaehyuk remembered.

With a voice like gurgling phlegm, the demon in her form spoke.

“Krrk, you’re a paladin-! A cursed dog of the mighty Eloarch-!”

Shin Jaehyuk felt a chill down his spine. A demon with intelligence. That meant it was at least a mid-level demon. If it was mid-level, there might be a chance of victory, but if it was high-level or above…

To hide his anxiety, Shin Jaehyuk shouted loudly.

“Reveal your identity, creature of hell!”

“You dare ask my name with that tiny mouth of yours- you worm aaaaaa──!”

Burble, burble

Perbuk, puk! Pung!

As if responding to the demon’s anger, her skin boiled violently like the surface of boiling water. The flesh on the surface swelled like bubbles and then burst repeatedly.

“However, since this is our first conversation in decades, I shall personally answer you-!”

‘Good. Fortunately, it’s a bit stupid.’

The previous question was a kind of test. To determine whether the opponent was cunning or not. A cunning one would hide its identity and refuse conversation, making it difficult to deal with, but if it was a simple creature that revealed its identity out of arrogance and carelessness, he might find a weakness in its self-introduction.

“I am a rightful knight directly under the true Demon King, His Majesty Satan, the glorious direct subordinate of the coffin, the only being who has been granted a part of his power of deception!”

As the demon spoke, its body began to change. The demon’s body gradually became lighter in color and translucent, eventually transforming into something like a puddle of water.

“A puddle..!”

Watching this transformation, a lightning bolt struck Shin Jaehyuk’s mind, piercing through all his questions.

When did Hunter Lee Jaeyeon start showing abnormalities?

Since she stepped in the puddle.

Why was this gate rated as merely E-rank?

Because the mana concentrated in the statues couldn’t be detected from outside the gate.

What was this ruin guarding?

A magic power source with formidable energy.

What was the identity of that energy source?

And where was the boss?

Right in front of him.

“My name is Litem, the last name you, worm, will hear in your insignificant life-!”

Invisible hands from all directions lunged at Shin Jaehyuk.