Ch.23Drive Hunt (4)

The balance of battle tilted in a single moment.

This was the price for recklessly attempting a technique with major openings, overconfident in his own defensive capabilities.

On top of that, by meaninglessly using a failed technique and allowing another attack, the advantage had clearly shifted to my side.

Crunch.

I drove the sword deeper into his side, applying more force.

“Arghhhh!!!”

A scream erupted naturally.

However, his subsequent actions differed from my expectations.

Rather than showing vulnerability from the pain, he endured it just as before, turning his body to face me.

Simultaneously, he raised his greatsword high. Since it wasn’t moving particularly fast, I immediately tried to retrieve my sword and dodge backward.

Squelch.

‘The sword won’t come out.’

If only he hadn’t been gripping my sword with his muscles after it had penetrated halfway through his side.

I tried applying more force to pull out the sword, but it wouldn’t budge even slightly.

With no other choice, I released my firm grip on the sword and immediately threw my body backward.

CRASH-!

The greatsword struck the ground, shattering the spot where I had just been standing.

I could clearly envision the future where I would have been crushed by that greatsword had I engaged in a tug-of-war over my weapon.

“That must be quite a deep wound… Is this the extent of your strength?”

Between his forced attack just now and everything else, I had to admit he deserved credit for his toughness.

‘Just when I thought I had the advantage, I end up losing my weapon…’

I had a feeling that this battle, which seemed nearly over, was about to drag on longer.

The best-case scenario would be if he couldn’t recover from his wound and eventually succumbed to it.

I looked at his side where my sword was embedded. The bleeding, which had definitely been present when I first inflicted the wound, had somehow stopped.

He had simply applied muscle pressure to compress the bleeding area and stop the blood flow.

This went beyond toughness—it was almost freakish. Such abnormal ability likely meant his strength stat was approaching three digits.

No wonder I was overwhelmed when I tried to match his power, even with my strength-enhancing traits.

While I was contemplating my options, my opponent seemed to have finished organizing his thoughts as he glared at me and spoke.

“Whatever you are… I won’t… care anymore… Die here… beheaded… by my sword…!”

No, something was different from mere thought organization. His behavior was too incongruous with someone who had been roaring in pain just moments ago.

But I had no way to determine what that incongruity was.

And I had no time either.

As if no further words were permitted, he closed his mouth. His gaze, fixed on me, was stripped of all emotions except killing intent.

BOOM!!

As if intending to compensate for his lack of speed with raw strength, he focused on his leg power and launched himself at me, shattering the ground.

A blade swung toward my neck as he approached.

I avoided it by pulling my body backward.

The sword tip thrust toward my upper body.

I dodged this by lowering my entire body.

He disrupted my center of gravity by smashing the ground with his leg, then swung his sword down from above.

I threw myself to the right and rolled across the ground to evade.

“Haa… haa…”

With my sword gone, my response options were fixed on evasion, and the more I dodged, the more cornered I became.

As a result, my evasive movements grew larger, and my stamina consumption doubled compared to before.

That wasn’t the only problem.

‘My reach is too short.’

This fight had been mismatched in terms of physique from the start. Now with my weapon unilaterally gone, even if I dodged attacks, I couldn’t get close enough for a counterattack.

“Tsk…”

I wanted to continue the fight by grabbing weapons used by other apostles, like in my previous battle with Raul, but the constant pressure made even that difficult.

“Like… a little… mouse…”

He addressed me with somewhat slurred speech and a mocking tone. A sinister smile lingered on his lips.

As if ready to end this, he leaped toward me again, increasing his speed with leg power.

Whoosh-!

The greatsword instantly approached my neck.

Even if I dodged this attack, without changing my approach, I would eventually die.

I sighed and pulled my body back as far as possible.

A dodge focused solely on avoiding this attack, without considering defense against the next one.

He was about to follow up with a smile of victory.

“Sigh… I really don’t have many bombs left.”

KABOOM–!!!!

It was a bomb powerful enough to blow away castle walls. No matter how tough someone was, they couldn’t remain unscathed from a bomb exploding at point-blank range.

“Urghh…”

Indeed, most of his armor was torn away, and the body that had refused to fall even with a sword deeply embedded in it finally dropped to its knees.

I didn’t miss the opportunity and attempted to approach again.

“Get… away!!”

He swung his greatsword as if to block my approach, but perhaps due to the explosion’s impact, it was just a meaningless struggle without proper force behind it.

Thanks to that, I could be certain. Now I could move my sword and finish him off.

“Let’s end this now.”

I grabbed the sword embedded in his side and applied force.

Creak…

Despite his condition, the muscles gripping the sword still hindered its movement. But this time, the sword definitely moved.

Slash-

Finally, the sword came free, cutting a large gash across his upper body.

“It’s about time I changed swords anyway.”

I looked at the sword I had retrieved.

Though I hadn’t used it for long, the sword was in poor condition.

Considering it had been within the blast radius and had directly clashed with the Executioner’s greatsword, this state was understandable.

It had lasted this long only because it was a sword focused on durability.

For now, I decided to think about more detailed plans for the sword after returning.

With that conclusion, I focused on the apostle again.

“Cough… cough…”

The apostle with an ogre’s body was clearly dying.

It was certain he would die within three minutes even without further action from me.

He was in no condition to fight, let alone perform the final desperate act that apostles naturally attempt.

And seeing him like this, what kind of feeling arose in me?

Was I moved by what seemed like a hidden story?

I opened my mouth to hear his last words.

“Sigh… Any last words?”

“Ah… finally… free…”

The apostle smiled faintly one last time, and I cut off his head without showing any expression.

Thus, the apostle who could be called a formidable opponent met his end.

I stared at his corpse for a while.

As I was deep in thought, Lilly, who had been observing the fight, climbed onto my shoulder as if accustomed to it.

“Really… so many incomprehensible reactions. Traveling with you makes me feel like common sense is being twisted.”

I silently agreed with Lilly’s words.

Apostles are beings who came to this world through contracts.

Clearly different from me, who was dragged here after smashing a computer monitor.

So why were there so many who seemed unhappy with their situation?

I couldn’t tell if it was because the reality differed from what they had imagined when making their contracts, or something else.

For now, I decided not to think about it too deeply.

“Either way, the fact that I need to cut them all down hasn’t changed.”

“That’s true… So, shall we move to the next location right away? Or do you want to rest a bit?”

“I think we need to check the lower area… the inside of the tomb first. And we should also collect the Executioner’s greatsword.”

I recalled what the apostles had done first when they emerged.

The task that everyone from the minions to the ogre had performed identically.

Extinguishing the fire.

In the ogre’s case, it might have simply been because it was his base, but I needed to confirm directly.

As for the Executioner’s greatsword, though it was too large for me to use, it was clearly a demonic sword and needed to be handled separately.

Lilly said she would take care of it and moved toward the greatsword.

“If you’re talking about that ominous greatsword, I’ll take care of… huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“This thing is completely shattered! Its energy has completely disappeared.”

At Lilly’s words, I quickly approached her and found the greatsword, shattered and devoid of all energy.

“Could it be…”

A sudden feeling of unease crept up my spine.

I quickly drew my sword and sliced through the ogre’s body.

Slash-

The ogre’s body was cut through too easily with a single stroke. Despite being dead, a body that should have been difficult to cut gave the sensation of slicing through tofu.

‘Has all the energy… disappeared?’

One ominous thought crossed my mind.

* * *

Putting my unsettling hypothesis aside, I entered the tomb.

As expected, various traps awaited us inside.

The fortunate aspect was that the traps weren’t particularly threatening, and there was no one left to ambush us alongside them.

Except for the time consumed due to the tomb’s size, we could proceed smoothly.

After proceeding for several minutes, Lilly was the first to detect another presence.

“Hmm… There’s definitely a trace of magical energy ahead.”

“Please tell me the general direction.”

“The general direction? It’s that way.”

Since the place was somewhat large and maze-like for direct guidance, I relied on the direction Lilly provided and my own memory to proceed.

“Hii… hieek?! The Executioner was defeated?!”

Waiting for us at the end was a mage who was communicating with someone.

The mage wasn’t particularly strong, perhaps being there more for communication than combat.

Breaking through just two layers of barriers was his limit.

I cut down the mage in one stroke and smashed the communication orb placed on the table beside him.

“There’s no need to check the other areas.”

There was no need to tire ourselves chasing them down anymore.