episode_0034
by adminThe torch illuminated the sword.
Jeong Yu-shin looked at his longsword.
The blade was chipped here and there. There were also traces of hairline cracks.
The sword’s lifespan was not long. A new weapon was needed.
He listened to the sounds coming from outside and made a judgment.
There was a very slight margin of time.
Jeong Yu-shin glanced at Karin and Gilshion. They were unable to come to their senses because of the poison.
Gilshion could at least stammer a few words, but that was it.
He quickly ran and picked up Gilshion’s Zweihander.
“I’ll borrow this for a bit.”
“…Okay.”
Perhaps because it was a two-handed greatsword, it was quite heavy. Next was Karin.
Karin was groaning with a pale face.
“Karin, how are you?”
Karin mumbled something in response to Jeong Yu-shin’s question.
It was difficult to understand what she was saying.
He took Karin’s two daggers and fastened them to his belt.
Jeong Yu-shin looked down at Karin and said.
“As expected, people live by relying on each other, right? Acknowledgment and reflection. Good. Good children should receive a reward.”
He took out a teddy bear biscuit from his pocket and placed it on Karin’s stomach.
When he got up, Roynel was looking at him as if he were crazy.
Jeong Yu-shin ignored him and stood at the entrance of the tower again.
He wiped the blood and oil stuck to the two daggers and greatsword on his robe and sprinkled blood oil.
If he had time, he would have prepared more carefully.
It was a shame.
The shrieks of the centipedes coming from outside were getting closer.
He didn’t think that Karin and Gilshion’s capabilities were lacking.
He was impressed by the skill they showed against a monster they were seeing for the first time.
He watched and experienced the battle, and engraved only the parts he needed to be careful about in his mind.
It was fortunate that he bought the light armor.
As expected, life was full of unknowns.
Jeong Yu-shin stood blocking the entrance to the tower.
‘Me blocking the entrance alone.’
[Abyss Protection]
Ahiman cast a spell.
A dark energy flowed out into the air and enveloped Jeong Yu-shin.
“What is this?”
Jeong Yu-shin was taken aback.
“It’s an alien resistance spell. I was certain. The opponent is a monster from another dimension. You should have some poison resistance. Sca, I’m only counting on you. Block them well.”
Ahiman said.
Jeong Yu-shin was speechless at the reckless trust.
“Isn’t it possible that I won’t be able to block them?”
“Then everyone dies.”
“Shut up!!”
Unlike the calm Ahiman, Roynel was furious and shouted.
Ahiman smirked, closed his eyes, and began chanting again.
It was strange to see him talking about death so easily.
Are mystics always like that?
You never know what people are thinking.
He postponed the question for later. He would do what he had to do first.
Jeong Yu-shin took a stance.
‘It’s coming.’
Thump!!
The tower’s wooden door creaked.
Jeong Yu-shin raised his sword.
Crash!!!
The wooden door shattered and fragments scattered in all directions.
A centipede poked its head through the shattered hole.
A centipede with a goblin’s head.
“Keeeek!”
Paaa!!!
An arrow flew at the speed of light.
The arrow pierced the head in an instant. The centipede was knocked out.
In the meantime, five more jumped out.
Jeong Yu-shin firmly planted his feet and swung his sword.
Horizontal slash.
Tsuaaaaak!!!
Three heads flew into the air at the same time.
He split one centipede’s head in half with a downward slash and kicked the remaining one with his walker.
Bang!!
The centipede with its head crushed flew through the air, crashed into the wall, and fell to the floor.
More centipedes trampled on the fallen centipede and swarmed in.
He grabbed the neck of a centipede flying in from the air and twisted it.
Crackle.
He felt the sensation of bones breaking in his grasp.
The centipede’s body slumped. He threw it as it was.
Several centipedes collided with the flying centipede and rolled to the floor.
Jeong Yu-shin’s sword moved faster and faster.
Sweeeeek!!
Before he knew it, the sound of tearing through the wind began to be heard.
Chwaaaak!!
He cut the cervical vertebrae and split the faces of the swarming centipedes.
Sticky blood poured onto the floor, and the screams of the monsters echoed through the entrance.
Roynel frantically shot arrows like a madman.
Clang!!
Finally.
The longsword broke.
He offered a short moment of mourning and threw it at the centipede horde.
The one hit by the hilt of the flying longsword screamed and rolled its body.
How densely packed they were, the one that rolled was swallowed by the swarming ones like a swarm of bees.
[Sacred Weapon]
He thought of Einhofer.
He thought of his single-edged axe. The image of the dwarf desperately swinging it was still vivid in his mind.
Magical power gathered in his hand. In an instant, he forged a golden single-edged axe.
He lowered his stance and firmly established his center of gravity.
“Huuuuuup!!!”
Jeong Yu-shin grabbed it with both hands and swung it vigorously.
Whooooong!!!
Horizontal slash.
Quaddeudeudeuk!!!
The bodies of more than 10 centipedes were torn apart in a single blow.
Fragments of shattered bones and flesh flew, hitting the walls.
“Crazy!!”
Roynel’s astonishment was heard from behind.
The golden single-edged axe disappeared into fragments of light.
He quickly grabbed Gilshion’s Zweihander.
It was heavy.
He had never used a greatsword before.
But he had watched Gilshion swing it.
He could imitate it even a little.
He lowered his stance again and slung the greatsword over his shoulder.
Whooong!!
Downward slash.
Bang!!
The greatsword shattered the centipede and stuck in the floor.
Fragments of stone flew and hit his helmet.
He lifted it again and made a horizontal slash.
The bodies of five centipedes were torn apart.
Jeong Yu-shin swung the greatsword with all his might.
The entrance to the tower was already filled with fragmented and torn centipede corpses, but an even greater number of centipedes were pouring in from outside.
“Damn it!! I’m out of arrows!”
Roynel’s lament pierced Jeong Yu-shin’s ears.
He gritted his teeth and swung the greatsword.
Each time he swung the heavy lump of iron, strength drained away in chunks and his muscles screamed.
Roynel, who had run out of arrows, drew his sword and stood in front of Ahiman.
The situation was getting increasingly bleak.
The number of human-faced centipedes that Jeong Yu-shin missed increased one by one.
Roynel was screaming and swinging his sword.
Bang!!
Another vertical slash.
The greatsword shattered the centipede’s body and stuck in the ground.
At that moment, one of the human-faced centipedes ran up the sword and lunged at Jeong Yu-shin’s face.
He let go of the greatsword and twisted his head.
Clang!
The centipede’s stinger struck his helmet and passed by.
His head rang.
He drew the two daggers he had stuck in his waist and swung them in reverse grip.
Chwaaak!!
The centipede’s tail and cervical vertebrae were cut off at the same time.
Jeong Yu-shin took another step forward and stood closer to the entrance.
The daggers had a shorter reach than the greatsword.
He didn’t think about anything else.
He only pictured Karin swinging her daggers in his mind.
Relying on that, he swung the daggers.
Chwaak!!
Chwaak!!
He only cut the faces.
The owners of the faces were diverse. Elves, dwarves, beastmen, humans, hobgoblins. There were also faces of races he had never seen before.
There was also a face that Jeong Yu-shin knew.
Jeong Yu-shin’s eyes widened for a moment.
Jackson.
An acquaintance he met in the beginner explorer class.
The class was only a week long, but they got along well, perhaps because they were both beginners.
His prejudice against the Barbaroi wasn’t that great either.
The time they spent together became affection, and the affection shook his heart.
Jeong Yu-shin’s hand slowed down for a moment.
The centipede with Jackson’s head dodged the dagger and lunged.
The centipede’s tail stabbed into the eyehole of his helmet.
“Keuk!”
“Sca!!”
Roynel screamed.
The stinger didn’t pierce his eye.
The centipede shook its tail violently. The helmet hooked on the end of the tail was pulled off.
The helmet flew far away, and Jeong Yu-shin’s face was revealed.
He swung the daggers spasmodically.
The centipede’s body was cut in half and fell to the floor.
Thud!
Before he knew it, another centipede’s stinger pierced Jeong Yu-shin’s neck.
“Keup!!”
Poison flowed, gurgling, through his blood vessels and spreading rapidly throughout his body.
He swung the daggers and cut off the tail.
The stinger was still stuck in his neck.
When he pulled it out, poison and blood flowed profusely from his neck.
He avoided the carotid artery. He couldn’t pay attention to anything more than that.
The centipedes continued to swarm in.
Jeong Yu-shin swung the daggers like a madman.
Karin’s movements had already disappeared from his mind.
He forgot the teachings of the Swordsmanship Association.
Only evil and guts remained.
He cut, slashed, and tore.
He ruthlessly trampled and crushed the ones that lunged up from below, without distinguishing between their necks, faces, or tails, with his walker.
But he couldn’t stop all the swarming ones.
Thud!!
Thigh.
Thud!!
Shin.
Thud!!
Right arm.
He was stabbed in several places where the iron plate didn’t cover. His vision flickered.
He didn’t know how he was standing.
But what allowed him to endure was the defensive magic that Ahiman had cast.
But even that was gradually approaching its limit.
His body gradually became dull.
He didn’t hear Roynel shouting something from behind.
Thud!!
Jeong Yu-shin’s eyes widened.
Another stinger was embedded in his neck.
He made eye contact with the human-faced centipede.
‘So that’s how it is.’
They were the ones who stuck their stingers deep into the neck, tore off the head, and inserted their spine into the cross-section of the neck to control the body.
He understood the principle of their actions with his body.
You vicious bastards.
Jeong Yu-shin grabbed the centipede clinging to his neck.
The centipede bit his arm with its sharp teeth.
Jeong Yu-shin opened his mouth wide.
Eudeudeudeuk!!
He bit the spinal bone with his teeth and tore it off roughly.
“Kkeueeek!!”
The centipede let out a final scream and slumped.
“Tuet!”
He spat out the bone fragments and gathered the remaining magic power in his palm.
[Sacred Weapon]
The weapon he desired was a warhammer.
He grabbed the brilliant golden hammer that formed in an instant with both hands and struck down.
Kwaaaaaang!!!
Dust rose.
Living and dead centipedes mixed together, shattered, and scattered in all directions.
This was the last. There was no more magic power. This was the end.
Thud!!
Thud!!
Thud!!
The iron plate of the light armor was torn off.
Sharp stingers tore through the leather of the light armor and were embedded in his body in droves.
Viscous poison spread throughout his body.
He sensed death.
It was then.
[Abyss Barrier]
An enormous force erupted from behind and pushed away the human-faced centipedes.
It drove away not only the centipedes clinging to Jeong Yu-shin’s body, but also all the ones entering the entrance.
It was a barrier magic that expelled the energy of another dimension.
Among the ones being pushed out, there were some who crashed into the wall, were crushed, and exploded.
Seeing that, Jeong Yu-shin knelt down.
Roynel rushed to Jeong Yu-shin in a hurry.
Karin and Gilshion, who had regained consciousness, crawled on the ground and came closer to Jeong Yu-shin.
“Sca.”
A trembling voice leaked from Karin’s mouth. Her eyes were shaking.
Jeong Yu-shin opened his mouth.
“Beuheeek.”
A handful of black blood spilled out of his mouth.
“Don’t talk. Just wait a moment.”
Roynel ran to the baggage.
“…Why so much?”
Karin looked up at Jeong Yu-shin and muttered. Her pupils were trembling.
“…Survive. To remain.”
“How is this surviving?!!”
“You. Survived? This time. You. Save. Me.”
Jeong Yu-shin spoke haltingly and slammed his head on the floor.
Karin shook Jeong Yu-shin’s body and shouted, but it didn’t reach Jeong Yu-shin.
“Sca!!”
Darkness approached.
* * *
A faint consciousness remained in reality and floated.
Occasionally, he heard the voices of his party members.
“…Is there no way?”
“…All the recovery potions…”
“Block them!!”
“Bring some arrows!!”
“We have to cast the barrier again! Ahiman!”
His consciousness and body swayed back and forth like wind-blown leaves.
His eyes closed and darkness came again.
* * *
Jeong Yu-shin opened his eyes.
His whole body was stiff and didn’t move well.
His stomach was churning and he felt nauseous.
He barely managed to raise himself and looked around.
He was still inside the tower.
However, it didn’t seem like it was the first floor.
Only a faint torch remained, illuminating the dark space.
“You’re awake?”
Karin said.
She was sitting close to Jeong Yu-shin.
Her face was haggard and her lips were parched.
“…Where are the other party members?”
“Gilshion and Roynel are searching the tower. They’re probably on the upper floors.”
Karin haltingly explained the current situation.
Two days had passed since Jeong Yu-shin had collapsed.
Jeong Yu-shin had barely clung to life with the defensive magic that Ahiman had cast, and was barely able to survive with recovery potions and Gilshion’s purification magic.
Karin continued.
“He used purification magic four times. Only then did you breathe. It was touch and go.”
Jeong Yu-shin nodded as he listened, then stopped.
Purification magic?
“What is purification magic?”
“It’s a holy magic exclusive to clerics. A magic that cleanses the unclean.”
It was a holy magic exclusive to paladins, not an engraving.
Still, wouldn’t his body have to be in good condition to use magic?
“How did Gilshion recover?”
“The Abyss Barrier drove out some of the energy of another dimension that was also in our bodies. In the meantime, we used an anti-poison scroll to recover Gilshion first, and Gilshion used purification magic on you. And on me, of course.”
He could understand why Karin and Gilshion were able to regain some consciousness and move when Ahiman cast the barrier magic.
Besides, Gilshion had been stuttering before that.
He realized that paladins could resist the power of another dimension to some extent.
Karin continued to explain.
Failure to block the entrance on the first floor.
Failure on the second floor as well.
They were pushed back to the third floor.
Ahiman was currently casting barrier magic on the stairs leading up to the third floor, preventing the invasion of the human-faced centipedes.
“He can’t hold out much longer now. Ahiman has reached his limit.”
Karin finished speaking with a gloomy mutter.
“…”
Jeong Yu-shin was silently listening to Karin’s words.
Two days had passed since they were trapped in the tower.
It was right to consider it too late to hope for salvation. Nor was it a situation where they could wait any longer.
They had to overcome it with their own strength.
Clunk!
One of the two wooden doors at both ends of the third floor burst open.
It was the wooden door on the right.
The torch between Karin and Jeong Yu-shin flickered.
Jeong Yu-shin’s head turned.
Someone was standing in the doorway.
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