Ch.98Chapter 98. Let’s Kill Woohyo. Woohyo Is My Enemy!

The cave extermination was beyond smooth—it was yawn-inducingly simple.

The Undead lurking in the cave would rush toward me in hordes as soon as they sensed my presence, and once they recognized me, they’d make “woohyo” sounds before getting sliced up repeatedly…

After this happened about three times, Jean, who was following behind me, started clicking his tongue as he watched me cut off noses and ears from corpses to collect proof.

“To think someone with your abilities is treated as a Foreign Laborer. Those Imperial bastards really have no eye for talent.”

“Well, even I didn’t expect it to be this effective. If I’d known earlier, I would have specialized in hunting The Undead.”

I couldn’t have noticed it sooner.

When I was working as a porter, I observed situations from the back as much as possible, and my direct encounters with The Undead were limited to when I was captured by the Azure Knight of Death.

After that, I did encounter undead forces as soon as I started adventuring, but since they were non-standard beings like Gorgon Zola and the Red Knight of War, it wasn’t easy to properly recognize the pattern.

“But it doesn’t work on entities with self-awareness… So this alone wouldn’t be enough to reach Hero level, right?”

“You lack confidence in yourself. Are you aware that excessive modesty can be harmful?”

“Haha… After seeing so many amazing people die, it’s not easy to have confidence.”

Well, I’ve witnessed nearly fifty Heroes die or fall from grace—how could I be confident with just this?

Things may be going smoothly now, but this world is a ruthless dark fantasy.

Even the slightest carelessness can lead directly to death, so I couldn’t easily let my guard down in this darkness.

-Clank.

Yes, I’m starting to sense something now.

A strange sound beginning to echo from the depths of the cave.

From what sounded like the friction of joints in old armor, I realized that an enemy of a completely different caliber from the undead I’d encountered so far had appeared.

“…Sir, stay behind me.”

Eyes gleaming in the darkness.

And an ominous aura rising from the sword in its hand.

“The enemy, the enemy…”

That alone was threatening, but what was more concerning was that what came out of its mouth was clearly “language that humans could understand.”

“The enemy, must be eliminated. The one who killed us…”

It wasn’t particularly surprising. Not all undead mindlessly eat humans.

The Four Knights I’d met had clear purposes and intentions guiding their actions.

The reason could be understood just by recalling what the Azure Knight of Death had said when I faced him:

‘Creating an undead with self-awareness like me requires a powerful attachment to life. A desire stronger than the survival instinct all living beings are born with!’

The survival instinct inherent in all humans, and a desire even stronger than that.

An imperfect rationality awakened from such attachment.

Self-aware undead born this way naturally grow into more powerful entities as they awaken to emotions and purpose.

“…I’m not your enemy. Can’t you just let me pass quietly?”

So if reasoning works, I’d prefer to avoid fighting if possible.

Although all undead in this mountain were designated for extermination, I wasn’t yet confident in fighting powerful entities.

“Woo… woohyo?”

As I was cautiously facing off, the undead tilted its head while looking at me.

That reaction was no different from other undead I’d met, but it lasted only momentarily.

“Woohyo, WOOHYOOO!”

The shouting from its mouth grew louder, and the sword emitted an even more intense aura.

The blood-like energy surging from its empty eye sockets flowed intensely like tears in response to its emotions.

As if my ability was acting like poison specifically to this entity.

“Finally found you. The one who killed me, the one who killed me and my comrades is right in front of meee~!!!!”

“What do you mean by enemy…?”

“Don’t play dumb. If something so clearly etched in my memory isn’t my enemy, then what is!”

…Damn, it seems my ability to imprint on memories has somehow replaced its original target of revenge.

At this point, avoiding a fight was practically impossible.

As I raised my spear shaft with gritted teeth, the undead also raised its magic-infused sword and began to shout.

“Die, woohyooo! Die, my enemyyy!!”

“Fuck, my name isn’t Woohyo, it’s Hyoseong Woo…!”

-BOOM!!!

My shouting was cut short.

After a thunderous sound erupted from the hastily raised spear shaft, the undead began swinging its sword at me.

-BOOM, BOOM!

The sword struck down violently, repeatedly colliding with my spear shaft.

The force was so strong that sparks flew, and my body was pushed back a step or two.

Damn, how is this already-dead corpse so strong?

“WOOHYOOO…! I’ll make you pay dearly for killing me!!”

But what struck me even more was the torrent of emotions emanating from a corpse—something I never expected.

The mana drawn by those emotions swirling around the sword was threatening, but I couldn’t focus solely on evasion.

Not only was it fast, but its movements were unpredictable.

-Whoosh! Clang!

Distorted, staggering footsteps.

Despite its unstable center of gravity, the sword swung with relentless power, threatening to carve through my body.

I tried to gather mana in my armor to strengthen my guard, but without Pailoi, my power was less than half of my usual strength.

“KRAAAA! AAAAAAHHHHH!”

Seemingly stimulated just by seeing me on the defensive, the undead began to scream as if coughing up blood.

If this one-sided defense continued, my stamina would run out and my body would be sliced to pieces.

-Clang!

I have no choice. It’s not quite ready for actual combat, but I’ll be done for if I stay like this.

I retreated as far as possible from the creature and immediately tried to summon more mana from my armor.

According to Irie, the armor’s limit had already been released.

With just the will to use it, I should be able to exert the same output as before, even without Merilyn’s performance.

-Creak!

But that certainty was shattered in an instant.

Just as I was about to swing my spear, my body froze in place as if caught on a wall.

Just as I was about to act, the armor’s will strengthened and put a brake on my actions.

“Hey, hey, what are you doing?!”

-Bothersome.

“You lazy piece of…!!”

This slothful bastard sometimes acts stubborn and sometimes doesn’t.

But by the time I realized my mistake, it was already too late.

The creature’s sword rushed toward me with enough force to split my head in half.

Damn, is this the end?

-Clang!!!

Suddenly, sparks erupted from a staff wielded by someone who had abruptly intervened.

As the undead staggered back from the force, the old man who stood in front of me raised his staff toward it.

“My, my, how can someone who can’t even age anymore vent their anger on a young person with many days left to live?”

Jean Cleo.

The man who brought me here, like a master.

“You, youuu… How dare you interfere with my revengeee…!”

“That armor, it looks familiar.”

Jean casually remarked to the undead as it tried to charge forward in agitation.

The undead stopped momentarily and began to listen to what Jean was saying.

“Were you an enemy soldier who fought against my homeland?”

Its trembling body showed a reaction that couldn’t ignore the current words.

“Enemy of your homeland…? You, you can’t be…”

“Yes, I was a soldier of Britannia, your enemy nation. Just a low-ranking soldier at the time.”

“Bri, ta…”

“But how is a soldier who died in a war half a century ago still wandering the afterlife? Your homeland must be far from here, in a frontier land.”

“Ugh, guh…!!”

The undead clutched its head and cried out in pain.

Considering that corpses shouldn’t have any sense of pain, this reaction was quite anomalous.

“Britannia, my enemyyy…!”

“Yes, that’s how it was in those days. The higher-ups started it, and the subordinates took on the hatred, despising people they’d never even met…”

The moment its hatred shifted from me to Jean.

Yet Jean maintained a calm attitude, simply raising his staff straight toward the undead.

“But spirit, this is no longer an era of war, but an era of calamity. It’s not a time for humans to fight each other, but to join forces against disaster… Why are you pointing your sword at the living?”

“That’s, not my concern!”

-Swoosh!

Its body, which had stopped, began moving again, and mana gathered in its empty eyes, spreading outward.

“I just want to kill. All those who made me like this, all of them!”

The reddish-glowing sword seemed to carry even more power than when it was directed at me.

“So die… Atone for my homeland with your blood!!”

Despite the sword strike aimed right at him, Jean remained unconcerned, simply holding his staff upright.

The mana in his staff was much less than that of his opponent, but his actions were carried out quietly, with composure.

“…Spirit still trapped in the past, even though times have changed.”

Maintaining that unwavering attitude, he simply swung the staff in his hand.

-Slash!

The sound that followed was neither that of a blunt weapon striking flesh nor the explosion of gathered mana.

Like a thin blade cutting through paper,

Only such a quiet sound filled the space as Jean, who had already passed by the undead that had rushed at him, retrieved his staff and spoke softly.

“I will remember you, so please put down your sword. Rest in peace.”

-Crack!

The sound of flesh splitting echoed.

The undead’s body was bisected and collapsed limply to the ground.

A cold corpse without even post-mortem rigidity. But what caught my eye even more was that the sword in its hand was also split in half.

To display such sharpness with a staff that could cut through a sword, and to wield it at a speed that left afterimages…

Could this really be a feat achievable by a human without any special privileges like those of a Hero?

“Oh my aching joints. Well, at my age, it’s not easy to move around.”

But the person who performed such a technique only complained about the stiffness of his body.

I approached him and asked excitedly:

“…Sir, what was that just now?”

“That’s the level you’ll need to reach from now on.”

A response suggesting it wasn’t anything special.

But I felt my heart swell at his words.

“If you want to become a Hero, shouldn’t you be able to transcend human limitations, at least in the moment of battle?”

A technique comparable to that of a Hero, like what he had just shown.

I was confident that I would be able to achieve it with my own hands before long, feeling it in his composed demeanor.

****

Jean Cleo.

I didn’t want to create situations where he had to step in if possible.

Respecting the elderly was one reason, but it would also be troublesome if the person supervising my training collapsed after coming all this way.

“Well, we’ve arrived at a suitable location.”

The place we arrived at for training had a completely different atmosphere from where we’d been before.

The blue light illuminating the surroundings without the need for lanterns was emanating from the cave walls themselves.

“What an interesting place. Where are we?”

“If I had to give it a name, I’d call it a dragon vein.”

“…Dragon vein?”

“This mountain range is where a dragon’s bones are buried. It’s a place where the residual power of the dragon has spread and pooled in the surroundings, so wouldn’t ‘dragon vein’ be a good name for it?”

A place where the power left by a dragon is particularly concentrated, hence dragon vein.

That’s an intuitive and good name.

“I’ll tell you later why I selected this place for training. For now, let’s check some prerequisites.”

Saying this, Jean sat on a nearby rock ledge and pointed his staff at me, giving instructions.

“First, young man. Could you try creating a circle here?”

“What? A circle…”

“Have you never used one before?”

“No, I have. When my equipment was intact.”

How could I have beaten fallen Heroes if I couldn’t even do that much?

But a circle is something that can be formed when mana control ability reaches a certain level, concentrating mana into a ring shape on a part of the body.

Since those unfamiliar with mana usage naturally couldn’t even attempt it, it was something I couldn’t even consider without Pailoi’s help.

“Couldn’t you at least try? Try doing it like when you created a circle with that child’s help.”

“Well, okay. I’ll give it a try.”

Whatever the reason, he must be asking for a purpose. I gathered mana from the armor again and concentrated power in my hand.

Of course, I didn’t expect much. Even when I was working as a Hero Hunter, it was Pailoi, not me, who was responsible for creating circles.

So even if I tried to recall how I handled Pailoi, I didn’t think it would work properly…

-Zing.

But defying my expectations, a ring-shaped shimmer formed around my wrist.

It meant that a mass of physical force guided by will had concentrated in the form of a ring at this moment.

“…This actually works.”

Why is it working?

Until recently, I needed the power of both the armor and spear, but now I can create a circle with just the armor.

“Heh heh, I had some suspicions, but she really did make adjustments.”

But Jean seemed to understand immediately, looking at the circle formed on my hand with serious eyes.

Curious about this, I quickly turned to him and asked:

“Do you know something about this, sir?”

“Yes, I can clearly see that you are loved by her.”

“Loved?”

What does he mean by being loved?

As I looked at him with puzzled eyes, he soon gave a clearer answer to my question.

“I’m saying you are loved by Tachia Pailoi, the one I introduced to you.”

“…What?”

His explanation made even less sense.

Love? Tachia loves me?

Why would he reach such a conclusion just from my ability to create a circle?