Chapter 116: A Clash Between a King-Kong and a Hybrid Species (4)

A strange scene unfolded as a man wearing a priest’s robe appeared in the central square of a village that was built inside the tunnel and started giving a long speech. The priest shouted about the miraculous logic of ‘Those born as nobles are all sinners. All of us here live in powerlessness, so we must grow stronger and beat all the nobles to death!’.

After he said those words, the scene just turned so chaotic and frenzied, to the point that both Lee Han and the status window guy turned dizzy for a moment. But, before long…

“A-An assassin organization?”

“Yeah. I probably know these guys.”

Lee Han revealed part of his past to the status window guy. As they both came from the same world, and were hiding the same kind of secrets, he was just the perfect person to talk about it to. Considering that the rest of his party were all scattered, this really was the perfect time for him to talk about this.

Upon hearing the revelation that Lee Han used to be in a cult, the status window guy…

“…”

“What’s with that gaze?”

“A-Ah, n-nothing. I just realized that your life wasn’t smooth sailing either, Instructor…”

He looked as if he had an epiphany. Also, he muttered, ‘That’s why he has so many traits’.

Hearing that mutter, Lee Han couldn’t help but snicker. He thought that the reaction really fit the guy.

Then suddenly, the status window guy…

“Anyway, from my perspective, I don’t think this is something you should worry about too much, Instructor. To lump someone who got kidnapped and forced to become a member of an assassin organization together with the rest of them as ‘criminals’ just doesn’t make any sense.”

“Hmm, you think so?”

“…Well, there are a lot of lunatics in the capital who’ll make a fuss about it, but it isn’t like you’ll pay attention to those guys, right, Instructor?”

“…You know about me too well.”

“Ahaha.”

Just as he said, Lee Han actually didn’t really care whether the organization he used to belong to was a cult or not. Of course, the revelation was a little shocking to him, but that was it. After he calmed down a little, he realized that it wasn’t a big deal.

I mean, I’ve never killed anyone, I also never did any of the cult’s missionary work.

In the first place, while he was indeed kidnapped by the Black Moon, brainwashed by them, and received training for them, the organization collapsed before he could even complete his first mission.

He was now a free man, so he had nothing to be ashamed of.

The problem here was that, this past of his could never be revealed. As the status window guy had said, there were bound to be people who’d find fault with him. After all, there were countless people back in the capital who wanted to exploit his weakness.

However, if such people really came forward to make trouble for him…

“I’ll just beat them all and run away. Eastern or Northern Continent both sound like a good place.”

“Are you going to take the asylum route?”

“Not a bad route to take, don’t you think?”

“Then, if you decide to do that, um… Can you please tell me? I wanna go with you.”

“Why?”

“Because I think that the kingdom will fall apart without you, Instructor.”

“Haa… You think too highly of me, you punk. The kingdom will run well even without someone like me.”

“I beg to differ…”

Derrick genuinely believed so.

It reflected clearly in his eyes, making Lee Han staring at him dumbfounded.

Even though he was a man who had nothing to fear in the world, whenever he saw someone with such high evaluations about him—so high that it was burdensome—he felt like he was just a helpless commoner.

“A-Anyway, I don’t think you have to worry too much. Even if it’s revealed, you have quite a few people who will support you, don’t you, Instructor?”

“The people who’ll support me, huh…? Not all of them are trustworthy, though?”

A few people who would help him come to mind, but he didn’t trust them all that much. After all, most of them were people who’d gladly use him to their own benefits..

“Ahaha… Well, there’s Sir Jake and Sir Yord. I believe that they’ll trust you until the end, Instructor.”

“Them? Well, yeah, they’re loyal, but what can I expect from them?”

“A lot, actually. In the future, Sir Yord will become the knight commander, while Sir Jake will become a military general.”

“…?”

“Whatever happens, they’re the people whose success is pretty much guaranteed. You know, at times, when I look at your connections, I was just left speechless, Instructor. There are so many people who’ll make their names in the future…”

“Wow…”

Lee Han was genuinely surprised.

He never dreamed that his friend and junior would become such big shots in the future.

It was something he couldn’t even imagine.

As expected, you never know what the future holds for people.

Lee Han was so surprised, but status window guy’s next statement contained even more shocking information.

“Besides, even if the details of the experiment you received are revealed, there won’t be any problems, Instructor. You’re not a Demonic Human.”

“Did you confirm that with your skills?”

“Yes. If someone is a Demonic Human, or a Half-Demonic Human, it will show up in their race section. But yours is only filled with ‘question marks’, Instructor. At the very least, you aren’t a Demonic Human.”

“Wait, wait! Isn’t that more concerning if anything?!”

…What the fuck?! I’m not a human?!

That was the biggest shock of the day.

A wave of dizziness struck Lee Han, but the other guy just continued to reassure him.

“I-It’s going to be okay! The important thing is that you aren’t a Demonic Human, Instructor! Who knows, maybe it’s listed like that because you have a mystical race’s blood mixed in you! S-So, rest assured!

“…I feel even more uneasy now.”

Lee Han threw a distrustful look at him.

“A-Also, if the nobles had conscience, they won’t find fault with you receiving a monster’s gene transplant! That would be like the pot calling the kettle black!”

“…?”

“Huh? You don’t know, Instructor? Oh, right. You’ve never learned Combat Technique, huh?”

“What are you talking about?”

Hearing the unusual information, Lee Han blinked, expressing his curiosity about nobles, conscience and whatnot.

That curiosity was immediately satisfied by the status window guy’s next words.

It was because…

“…The reason the Combat Techniques that the nobles learn, the so-called prestigious family’s Combat Technique, are classified as [High-level Combat Technique] is because consuming a monster’s magic stone is part of the procedure.”

In other words, dogs who were covered in filth had no right to insult a dog covered in chaff.

Not only that…

Wow, this is not even a sore spot… This is a whole fucking beehive…

Lee Han now knew why the high-ranking Combat Techniques were kept secret and no one among the commoners knew about it.

…Those who knew probably had left this world already…

Indeed. Some secrets weren’t meant to be uncovered.

Even though their small talk went on a rather long tangent, it wasn’t like the two guys were joking around while neglecting their work.

“Thank you for your hard work, brother, haha.”

“What? How can you call it hard work when you’re doing it to spread the word of God, haha.”

“That’s true, haha!”

Because as they were talking, they were secretly following the priest.

‘These guys really know this place like the back of their hands.’

After leaving the village, the priest, or rather the provocateur, or the brainwashing expert, whichever, went through the tunnels that were no different from a maze. Even dead ends weren’t a big deal to him, and strangely, no worms appeared in the place he passed through.

‘It seems that the inverted cross really has the effect of repelling monsters.’

‘Yeah.’

The items that Roy Bant had with him were just five: three potions, an inverted cross, and a torn piece of paper.

They found out that the three potions were something made of monster flesh and drugs, and even until now, they still didn’t know the purpose of the torn paper.

And the inverted cross…

‘It emits the kind of waves that monsters hate. That assumption is accurate…’

Though he wasn’t sure about mid-level monsters, the inverted cross could definitely drive out the low-level ones. Looking at this, it was clear that those people didn’t use the tunnel as their hideout because they were courting death.

And then, when they saw the priest’s destination…

“??”

They were genuinely surprised.

“O-Oh my G-Heuk!”

It wasn’t just Lee Han who was surprised, Derrick accidentally let out a gasp of shock before quickly covering his mouth as he realized his mistake.

Lee Han wanted to tell him that there was no need for him to do that.

After all…

[[[Krrr]]].

…The bastard wouldn’t even be able to hear anything because of the Sand Worm’s cries.

What surprised them was a humongous Sand Worm with a size of 110 meters, curling up.

Whenever people saw something so shocking, their brains sometimes failed to keep up. It was like when one saw a gigantic building or creature for the very first time. Their legs would stiffen involuntarily.

That was exactly what was happening to Derrick right now.

I thought the southern Sand Worms could only grow up to 30 meters…

Sand Worms that lived in the desert could grow up to 80~100 meters when they grew into adults, but this was a rare case. Which meant, a Sand Worm that was over 100 meters was something that could only be seen once in a hundred years.

However, the southern Sand Worms were different. They were bred for the sole purpose of making fertilizer. Moreover, since the environment was not suitable for their growth, they never exceeded 30 meters no matter how big they were.

Of course, 30 meters was a size that would shock most people, but even so, it was still at a level that mages and knights could confidently kill. After all, It was slower and weaker compared to sand worms in the desert.

…But that thing is different.

Even if it was slow and weak, its ‘size’ was…

Indescribable, to say the least. If the thing were to run wild here, the whole ground would just collapse and they’d be buried without being able to resist and be sent to the afterlife.

Gulp…

Just imagining it made Derrick’s spine shiver, and he began to sweat profusely.

So this is the method they are going to use…!

Derrick finally realized the method they were going to use to throw the royal capital into chaos.

While he didn’t know exactly how, since they had succeeded in growing this giant Sand Worm… The moment it ran wild…

The tunnel will collapse.

The collapse of the kingdom, or rather the largest fertilizer production area in the Southern Continent, meant that it would affect the ‘food’ production. While the damage might not be too apparent in the near future, it would build up and result in a huge decline in the amount of crops they could produce.

If it keeps up, it would lead to food problems, and the ones who’d suffer the most from food problems were none other than the people who supported this country.

After that, naturally, what would happen was…

Peasant uprising.

The prediction might be a little exaggerated, but if it happened, the kingdom would collapse from inside out.

Those damn bastards—!

Knowing their plan of starving everyone to death to destroy the kingdom, Derrick had to offer his compliment. Soon enough though, he used his [Crisis Detection] skill as he realized that he couldn’t just stay flustered forever, and measured the danger level of the Sand Worm.

“…It’s two levels lower than the Ghost King. It’s big but you can kill it, Instructor.”

“…”

“B-But you need to kill it in a single blow. If it isn’t, it’ll run wild, and if it does, the tunnel will…”

“…”

“O-Or, we can call reinforcements now…”

“Status Window Guy.”

“Yes?”

“I want to call reinforcements too, but I think it’s too late.”

“…”

“…Do you want to get out of here first?”

“…!!!”

Derrick realized it too late.

“You dirty rats, we’ve finally caught you.”

Just as they were chasing them, they also already knew of their presence.

Right now, countless black-clad men were surrounding them.

The aura that the black-clad men exuded was unusual.

Considering that there were so many skilled people hiding their aura and had remained hidden until now, that showed how skilled these people were.

There were a total of thirty of them.

And these thirty people were more skilled than the rabbles at the Silver Lion.

Not only that…

“Surround them!!”

“They are people who deserve to be punished!”

“They are the cursed knights of Pendragon…!! Kill them!”

[[Kill them! Kill them, kill them…!]]

They also brought the prisoners with them, gradually surrounding the two.

This was probably the so-called human wave tactic.

Lee Han had never seen this kind of spectacle before; so many people gathered just to capture two people.

Looking at the large number of people…

“…So, how did you know that we are secretly following you?”

“Hehe, you actually scared me a little. I didn’t actually feel any sign of your presence.”

When Lee Han asked as such, the priest unexpectedly kindly gave him an answer.

In a relaxed tone, he continued.

“But, you made a single mistake. Have you seen a similar piece of paper?”

“That…”

What the priest took out was a blank sheet of paper.

And it looked very similar to Roy Bant’s torn paper.

The priest let out a faint smile.

“How that piece of paper works is that it’ll be torn apart the moment someone from our side encounters a problem. You probably thought you’d achieved something by catching one of our people, but… It was a foolish move. Do ‘we’ look so sloppy to you? Hehehe.”

“So you knew everything from the start?”

“It’s too late for you to know that now, but that is indeed the case. How could the knights of the kingdom be so incredibly stupid? Ahahahaha!”

The priest wore a delightful expression. Just the fact that he got to surround a group of people who seemed to be the knight of Pendragon already made him satisfied enough, but realizing that he had a complete advantage over them threw him over the moon.

It was as if the idea of trampling on someone offered him so much satisfaction.

“Surrender now. Then I will let you go without pain.”

“So, you aren’t going to spare me?”

“How could I? Oh, you certainly seem skilled, but your comrades, including the child next to you, will definitely die. We, no, I will personally make sure of that.”

“…”

So he knew the other three’s existences, huh?

“I-Instructor…”

They were cornered on all sides.

Realizing that the situation was overwhelmingly disadvantageous to them, Derrick showed a gloomy look.

I-I should have been more careful… Damn it!

I got plenty of Skills I could use! How could I fall into such an obvious trap?!

Remorse welled up in him, and he was prepared to take out the dagger from his bosom.

While yes, everything was ruined now, but he should still save those who needed to be saved.

“R-Run away, Instructor. I-I’ll try to kill them…! A-As long as I use the Sky Full of Flower Rain, I should be able to take half of them away somehow!”

“Haa… Have you ever shed someone else’s blood?”

“T-That…”

Indeed.

It wasn’t like Derrick had never killed any living beings before, but the things that he killed were just monsters, and never humans.

This was proof that he hadn’t resolved himself enough yet. That he was still a person of the Modern Era at heart.

And yet…

“I-I’d have to do it sooner or later either way… A-And now is the time—”

“…You’ve grown a bit, you brat.”

Pat-! Pat-!

“…Instructor?”

Lee Han patted him on the back as if he was impressed by his display, while Derrick wondered why he complimented him in this kind of situation. For a moment there, he thought that the instructor had given up, but as far as he knew, Lee Han definitely wasn’t that type of person.

“Get out of the way for a moment. I’ll teach you how to deal with this situation.”

“??”

Lee Han stepped forward as if to teach him something, and the murderous aura exuded by the priest and the men in black grew stronger.

“You’re making a foolish choice.”

The priest laughed at Lee Han.

In his eyes, the foolish knight seemed about to take out his weapon from his bosom, as if he was going to fight them, so the priest raised his hand and was about to give the order to attack, but…

“I’ve buried 100 flame scrolls each in various parts of the tunnel. If I just detonate half of them, the whole place will collapse.”

[[…?]]

…Hearing that, the men in black, including the priest, stopped moving.

“…What?”

The priest wondered if his ears were wrong. He wondered what kind of nonsense that guy was talking about.

But…

“What? You don’t believe me? Well, I guess you couldn’t just believe me without evidence, huh? I’ll show you something simple first then.”

The thing that Lee Han took out from his bosom wasn’t a weapon, but a bag of grape-sized beads.

And then, he…

Crack-!

Broke it with ease. And in the next moment…

BOOOOOOOOOOOM-!

…A loud explosion shook the underground.

Crackle-!

Rumble-!

“…”

The priest and the black-clad men were stunned.

They were shocked as they witnessed the unusual earthquake in the tunnel.

However, even after seeing them like that.

“You still don’t believe me? Alright, I’ll make it bigger—”

“Stooppp it you bastaaarddd!”

“What’s with that rude tone, huh?”

“…?”

“Hey, do you think I’m your friend or what?”

“??”

“How dare an asshole like you try to order me around?”

Crack-!

Just like that, he cracked another bead in his hand, and soon after…

BOOOOOOOOOOM-!

A huge explosion filled the underworld again.

Rumble-!

This time, both the earthquake and cracking sound were even louder than before.

Dust fell, and everything was about to shatter, then finally…

[[[Krrr…]]]

…The Sand Worm, no, the Mother Worm, began to make noises as if it was about to wake up, prompting the priest’s face to turn pale.

“Uh, uh… Uh…?”

The priest’s brain froze as if it couldn’t adapt to reality.

Meanwhile, Lee Han…

“I can do it again, so watch your words carefully.”

“H-How could this be…”

“Hey!”

“…”

“Don’t you know how to use honorifics? You bastard, how dare you…”

“…”

“Rather than that, get on your knees first. Unless you want me to fuck you up.”

“…”

An unprecedented situation where a terrorist, who was trying to bring down a kingdom was threatened instead, happened. It was an absurd, if not outrageous, sight.

Then the priest…

Thud-!

Fell on his knees.

“Tsk, you should have done that sooner.”

“…”

It was just natural. After all, fake madness couldn’t even dream to match real madness.