Chapter 21: The Meeting
by fnovelpia
In a blinding, raging snowstorm.
“Shit! I can’t see a damn thing, you bastards!”
“Ahaha… Don’t worry. Just keep moving forward and we’ll get there.”
“Hiiiiek…”
“Lord High Priest Liv…”
Hero Luin, High Priest Liv, and two ordinary priests trudged forward with difficulty.
Liv and the priests were physically exhausted, and Luin was seconds away from snapping out of sheer frustration.
Even in that state, they kept pressing on, and finally.
“Hey! Isn’t that it?! That’s the barrier, right?!”
“Yes. It definitely looks like the Icicle Domain’s barrier.”
They had arrived at the Icicle Domain.
Relieved at the thought of finally warming up, Luin picked up both priests under his arms, slung Liv onto his back, and charged ahead.
In his line of sight, something covered in white fur was… dancing.
“What the hell is that freak? Isn’t that a demon?”
“It appears so. Judging by its aura, it seems to be quite strong.”
“Is that so? Well then… just wait right there for a second.”
Telling them to wait, Luin put the priests down.
He immediately drew his sword and sprinted at full speed toward the demon’s back.
So caught up in his twisted joy, the demon didn’t even notice Luin approaching from behind.
And then.
–Shhk!
“GRAAAARGHH!”
The demon was completely caught off guard by Luin’s surprise attack.
It collapsed instantly.
“What the hell? A damn demon dancing out here in the wild? And why are there so many people around?”
Focused only on the demon, Luin suddenly noticed the large crowd nearby.
Everyone who saw him was shocked beyond words.
“Th-the Hero!”
Luin didn’t know it, but the demon he had just stabbed was the one these people had been struggling to fight with their lives.
“You’re the Hero, aren’t you?”
A middle-aged man standing opposite the fallen demon recognized Luin’s identity, and the tension in his posture eased visibly.
“What’s going on? What happened here?”
Still trying to grasp the situation, Luin asked the man politely.
And the man responded kindly.
“The demon you just took down… It was a monster even I couldn’t guarantee victory against. I was prepared to lose my life, if necessary. But thanks to you, we were all able to make it out safely. On behalf of everyone in the Icicle Domain, I thank you, Hero.”
“Huh? You’re not…?”
“I am Polarr Icicle, Duke of the Icicle Domain.”
“The Duke of the North?!”
Luin was shocked at the unexpected identity of the man.
Polarr was one of the top three figures every warrior revered, and now standing face to face with him, Luin’s eyes sparkled with admiration.
Until.
–CRACK!
“Huh?”
A rough hand suddenly grabbed his right leg.
“Grgh… Grurgh…”
The culprit—was the demon, still not dead.
It clutched Luin’s leg and slowly rose to its feet, then hoisted him high into the air.
“UWAAAH!”
Its strength was overwhelming.
Luin was instantly flipped upside down, losing his grip on his sword.
Now dangling, face-to-face with the demon.
“…Oh shit—”
–BANG!
Driven by vengeance from being stabbed, the demon slammed Luin into the ground.
Once wasn’t enough, It gripped his leg tighter and began pounding him into the earth again and again.
“Guhk…!”
He didn’t die from it—he was the Hero, after all.
But blood streamed from his nose like his nose bone had snapped.
Polarr couldn’t just stand by and watch.
–CLANG!
The demon raised one arm to block Polarr’s incoming axe.
Polarr quickly backed off and threw his axe toward Luin.
–Thud!
Even with blood covering his face.
Luin caught the flying axe with ease.
Then, without hesitation, he swung it down at the demon’s hand gripping his leg.
–CRACK!
“GRAAARGHH!”
The demon screamed in pain as Luin tore free from its grasp.
“Hero! I think the demon’s body is tougher than expe—”
“Fuck.”
Polarr tried to warn him about the demon.
But his words were cut off by a thick stream of profanity.
The source, of course.
“Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck…”
Was Luin, wiping the blood from his face using snow.
Clearing the blood from his eyes to regain vision, he then focused divine power into his nose.
The nosebleed stopped instantly, and he wiped the rest of the blood away.
His face, now cleaned, looked like pure rage incarnate.
And the cursing didn’t stop.
“I’m gonna kill you. No matter what, you’re fucking dead, you shitty fucking demon bastard.”
–FWOOM!
A massive surge of divine power burst from Luin’s body.
Blinded and overwhelmed by the radiant force, the demon instinctively took a step back.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going, you fucking bastard? I’ve never gone all out, not even when fighting those lunatic holy knights, but for you—I’ll use a whole 50% of my divine power to personally beat the shit out of you, you son of a biiiiitch.”
–BOOM!
With a leap, Luin vanished in an instant.
The demon frantically searched for him.
But faster than it could spot Luin,
–THWACK!
A massive axe buried itself in the back of the demon’s neck.
“GRAAAHHK!”
The demon reeled in pain.
Luin was already behind it—his sword now gripped in his left hand.
“Die, you demon bastard.”
–STAB!
“GREEEEEEAGH!”
His sword pierced clean through the demon’s neck.
With his arm broken and his entire body covered in bruises, Ace had lost consciousness.
Luin, on the other hand, was coughing up blood like he was about to die.
In that moment, Ariana had no room to spare for Luin.
Her eyes were locked only on Ace.
Polarr grew increasingly distressed watching Luin’s condition worsen.
And then.
“Oh dear, Hero! You’ve done it again, haven’t you?”
A man who looked like a high-ranking priest came running up, gasping for breath.
“!! A priest!”
“Ah! I’m High Priest Liv! I’ll skip the explanations—Hero’s in critical condition!”
Still smiling, Liv rushed to Luin’s side and activated a sacred healing spell.
Luin’s violent coughing began to settle.
About five minutes later.
“Phew… Thought I was seriously gonna die.”
Luin sat up and wiped the blood from his mouth with a handkerchief Liv handed him.
“Hero, did you recklessly use your divine power again? I’ve told you many times—”
“Shut up.”
–WHAM!
In the blink of an eye, Liv was sent flying from a punch to the face.
The knights all turned toward Liv in shock.
Only to see something unbelievable.
Liv’s body, slammed into the snow, suddenly shimmered with divine light and returned to normal in an instant.
“Seems I upset you, Hero. My apologies.”
“Shut up. You’re seriously pissing me off.”
Ignoring the bowing Liv completely, Luin turned toward Polarr.
“Hero, thanks to you, the demon has been—”
“Ariana!”
But Luin walked right past him without a second glance.
Behind Polarr was Ariana, still tending to Ace.
Luin smiled brightly when he saw Ariana.
But his face twisted in annoyance when he noticed Ace in her arms.
“…Why the hell is this bastard Ace here again?”
“Watch your mouth! Ace fought so hard—!”
Ariana snapped at him before he could say more.
Luin shut his mouth with a sour look.
“Yeah, Ace is amazing.”
“?”
A woman’s voice suddenly rang out behind Luin.
Startled, he turned around.
A beautiful woman with silver hair and piercing blue eyes.
The armor she wore still bore marks from the battle, proving she’d just been fighting the demon.
“That demon, even someone at Ace’s level lasting 10 seconds against it would’ve been impressive. But he held out until my dad arrived… He’s definitely not like the others.”
Having personally faced the demon’s strength.
Karmen explained to Luin just how incredible Ace’s feat really was.
Luin just stared at her in silence.
“Hmm? What’s wrong?”
Karmen tilted her head at his odd reaction and reached a hand toward him—
–Grab.
Luin suddenly caught her hand.
“W-What…?”
Karmen blinked in confusion, and then, out of nowhere, Luin said something that stunned everyone present.
“You’re fucking gorgeous. Wanna be mine?”
At the Hero’s sudden confession, Karmen immediately responded.
“I like women, dumbass.”
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