episode_0038

‘Jeanne… You’re smiling, but why do you look so sad?’

She looked sad in Eugene’s eyes.

When he got angry, saying that far from abandoning her, he would stay by her side for the rest of his life and take everything from her.

Jeanne’s face, smiling as she asked him to definitely do so, looked that way to Eugene.

‘Is there something I don’t know about?

I thought I knew Jeanne well.

So, even while being embraced by her since childhood,

On the other hand, he also thought he was taking care of Jeanne, who had shadows in her heart.

He thought that wounded trees were hugging each other and leaning on each other, enduring so as not to fall.

But his touch probably couldn’t reach Jeanne as deeply as he thought.

Was it because of the arrogance of thinking he knew her well?

Now, a feeling of apology ached in Eugene’s heart.

But beyond that aching heart,

Swoosh!!

An arrow flew like a dagger and pierced her.

“!!!!!!!”

Jeanne’s figure, full of sorrow,

A cold and heavy arrow poured over it,

Because of that, Eugene Schneider’s eyes widened as if frozen.

“…Ah..”

Sigh…!

A faint sigh leaked from Jeanne’s mouth,

And her eyes slightly lost focus.

In that state, Jeanne couldn’t overcome the recoil from being hit by the arrow and began to fall over.

“Jeanne!!!”

Whoosh!!

Then, as if he had escaped from the frozen time,

Eugene hugged Jeanne’s shoulder as she fell backward, preventing her from collapsing.

ㅡWhoosh!!

Then, by turning Jeanne’s body as if pulling it into his arms,

He created a defensive posture, mindful of arrows that might fly in the future.

“Jeanne! Jeanne!”

Eugene looked at Jeanne and called her name.

This was because Jeanne’s expression felt like a fuse had blown momentarily due to the shock of being hit by the arrow in an defenseless state.

And Eugene’s left hand was slightly directed towards Jeanne’s nose.

Even in a panicked state, he was thoroughly grasping Jeanne’s physical condition.

But at that moment, from behind Eugene,

“As expected, even a sword user is helpless when they’ve let their guard down.”

A man’s voice, filled with an indifferent feeling, was heard.

Swish…!

Eugene, having confirmed that Jeanne was still breathing,

Immediately turned his head towards that side.

Step, step, step, step,

Then, in the middle of the cave where the path split into three in front,

In the darkness there, the silhouette of gray gaiters was visible along with the sound of footsteps.

It is believed that other than the gaiters, the rest is black or

It has a camouflage color that is darker than gray.

‘A considerable expert, so the footsteps are faint but definitely four people.’

It was gaiters worn by those who make combat their profession.

If so, the shoes must also be quite heavy,

Nevertheless, the fact that the footsteps are faint means they are Awakened.

However, Eugene, whose judgment became as sharp as an awl as he entered a crisis situation, accurately extracted the number of enemies even from those faint footsteps.

“But for a common mercenary group, there are as many as three sword users out of four, just what the hell are you guys?”

Step! Step! Step!

Finally, the mysterious beings revealed themselves,

As Eugene judged, there were four of them, and

The man who seemed to be the leader among them tilted his head and raised a question.

‘Those guys are!!’

Eugene’s eyes flashed open as he faced the people who shot Jeanne with arrows.

‘Sophists!’

Black armor and a black cloak,

And a golden sword entwined with a snake engraved on the left chest of the armor,

They were Sophists, a group of fallen sword practitioners of the mystical cult.

‘Four people, and a black cloak, are they the guys that the villagers witnessed and told Thomas about?’

Moreover, it matched the Sophists’ identities that he had been aware of in advance.

It seems highly likely that they are the same guys.

‘According to the information Thomas passed on, we definitely shouldn’t run into them inside Jebodang Village, so what happened?’

He thought there was a fifty-fifty chance that a Sophist would actually appear in Jebodang, but

He didn’t think there was any chance of encountering them in the Dark Forest like this.

First of all, that’s where the villagers witnessed them.

Also, the area near Jebodang is relatively less influenced by the Empire’s security forces to the extent that the current goblin situation has arisen.

So Thomas, who has experience in illegal trading, thought that the Sophists were using the area around Jebodang as their illegal trading route.

If so, they would naturally try to avoid unnecessary conflicts with other forces,

But in the end, the place where the Red Fox Mercenary Corps and the Sophists faced each other was inside the goblin cave, breaking all expectations.

‘Looking at Jeanne’s complexion, it doesn’t seem like there’s any poison, but the area she was hit isn’t very good.’

Eugene couldn’t just be in a state of panic just because an unexpected situation had occurred.

This is because he has to keep looking at Jeanne’s condition.

Looking at Jeanne out of the corner of his eye again,

It seems that he has avoided the worst situation he can think of right now.

“You showed an amazing sight earlier.”

At that time when Eugene turned his attention to Jeanne,

The man who seems to be the leader among the four Sophists,

A man with white hair pointed at Eugene.

“He wasn’t affected by the shaman goblin’s debuff magic. From the looks of it, he’s not an Expert, but a Sword User Alpha.”

The white-haired man, speaking very detailedly about the situation that occurred to the Red Fox Mercenary Corps’ main infiltration team,

He had been watching Eugene Schneider’s side from a long time ago, not just from the current point in time.

Moreover, the white-haired man noticed Eugene’s Awakening level, as befitting his affiliation with the Sophists, the order of the sword.

However, it seems that he is more interested in other parts than that.

Swish…!

Eugene, looking forward again,

The white-haired man’s reaction was enough to make Eugene focus on the Sophists again.

“That’s what I was curious about. Okay, I’ll answer you. However, after handing over my comrades to our camp and coming back.”

However, Eugene’s current greatest concern was, as would be expected, saving Jeanne’s life.

So, Eugene even put aside the fact that the humans in front of him were the ones who shot Jeanne for a moment,

He suppressed the animosity of wanting to immediately draw his greatsword and butcher them, and entered into negotiations.

“Heh heh, you’re talking nonsense. When you first saw us just now, your eyes knew the identity of this symbol on my left chest. If so, we, who do not discriminate in means and methods for the truth of the sword, would never respond to such soft negotiations like idiots.”

Then, the white-haired man sneered.

A group that uses crossbows while following the sword,

A group that attacks defenseless opponents while pursuing the truth,

The Sophists, the order of the sword that once pursued the sword saint, had become such a devil’s den.

But the man seemed to be very proud of the current tendencies and teachings of such Sophists.

“Kill that woman, and drag you away after cutting you down just enough not to die. A guy with black hair who shows immunity to the crimson shaman goblin’s debuff magic… Jedi would also be interested.”

Screeching…!!

Afterwards, the white-haired man drew his sword, which had a hilt mixed with the Sophists’ unique black and red colors, and aimed it at Eugene.

Then, the remaining three Sophists moved as if surrounding Eugene and Jeanne.

“…..”

Eugene grasped the situation of that movement only by the sound of footsteps and did not look at it.

His eyes were only directed at the white-haired man who was aiming his sword at him.

Eugene Schneider’s expression, which had been negotiating, began to change little by little,

He is releasing the suppressed murderous intent.

“Absolutely not,”

Screeching…!!

Having released the limit like that, Eugene also ended the silence of his greatsword.

It was Eugene Schneider’s figure, grabbing the hilt of the greatsword with his left hand behind him and pulling out the heavy thing.

If negotiations had fallen through,

The card that Eugene would naturally choose was to kill all the humans in front of him and take Jeanne out of the cave.

“You guys won’t be able to touch a single strand of Jeanne’s hair. And your heads, as well as your bodies, will be cut off by my sword.”

ㅡThud!!

Moreover, what they did to Jeanne, his precious family,

Eugene could never forgive them, and

He couldn’t even be satisfied with an appropriate level of retaliation.

Afterwards, Eugene Schneider, who stuck the greatsword blade into the ground so that it was directed towards the white-haired man,

In that way, he responded to the opponent’s declaration of war.

“Heh heh! I like it.”

Chow!!

It was Eugene’s murderous intent that could be felt as cold as ice.

If he were a normal human, he would feel that it was unusual and show vigilance,

But the white-haired man reacted by raising the corners of his mouth with madness.

“With that level of murderous intent and spirit, you’ll be able to ruthlessly stimulate my madness.”

Chow!!

Sophist’s intermediate seeker Claymore,

These are basically people with Awakened abilities above the Runner level.

Even though there were four such Awakened, Eugene did not feel intimidated at all,

He exuded murderous intent to the point that it did not even feel like a bluff.

The white-haired man also claimed to be a human crazy about swords, so

He revealed his intention to welcome Eugene, saying that he would be able to draw out more than 200% of his abilities. He then took a fighting stance.

“Let’s go crazy together, black-haired greatswordsman!”

ㅡWhoosh!!!

Then, he explosively kicked off the floor and went out,

He narrowed the distance of about 15M from Eugene in one go.

Thwack!

Eugene Schneider, watching that figure, slightly released Jeanne’s shoulder

ㅡTsuaaaaak!!

He slid forward in an instant.

ㅡWhoaaaaak!!!

At the same time, using that rushing force as propulsion,

He pulled out the greatsword that he had just stuck into the ground himself.

Due to that, a gruesome friction sound was released,

Because the greatsword was pulled out as if it were rotating in terms of structure,

The ground was roughly dug up beyond the existing space where the sword was stuck.

ㅡBuoooooooak!!

As much as that, tremendous rotational force and repulsive force were fully contained in Eugene Schneider’s greatsword,

That greatsword was swung vertically towards the white-haired man who was rapidly narrowing the distance, along with a roar that seemed to tear the wind.

ㅡSwoosh!!

ㅡKwaaaang!!

“Khah! Amazing!”

Eugene’s swung greatsword struck the ground.

And the white-haired man barely avoided Eugene’s first attack.

It was not the sound of a sword being stuck, but the feeling of a flail crushing the ground,

It was so gruesome that it sent chills down his spine.

Then, the white-haired man shook his head as if the majesty of the greatsword, which he had been watching from afar, was more amazing than he thought when he faced it directly.

“But it’s still clumsy, a crude movement that can’t find the path of the sword!”

The white-haired man’s movements were like a bullfighter.

That is the concept he set when hunting Eugene Schneider.

The man’s Awakening level is Sword User, while Eugene’s is Sword User Alpha.

However, the man had previously encountered Eugene’s battle, and

He had grasped that he was far behind him in sword skills.

In other words, by taming a physical beast through advanced skills,

The white-haired man seeks to stimulate the extreme of the sword that he pursues.

ㅡChuaaaaaak!!

“This is the sword, you black-haired beast!!”

Afterwards, unlike Eugene, he unleashed a concise and efficient stabbing attack.

“Cut the sword bullshit.”

Then Eugene Schneider

ㅡKkaaaang!!

He struck and deflected the wide surface of the white-haired man’s sword with his elbow, which had solid armor.

“!!!!!”

It was an unbelievable reaction speed, agility,

And it was boldness.

Also, above all, it is a response that he has never heard of or seen before.

The white-haired man’s expression, faced with that comprehensive gift set situation,

It was an astonishment in which the self-confidence he had had until now had disappeared.

ㅡSpin!!

The man’s astonishment seemed to continue.

After the left-hand elbow,

Eugene’s huge body rotated rapidly, and

“I’m fighting now, you bastard.”

ㅡSwoosh!!

ㅡWhooooak!!

At the same time as pulling out the greatsword stuck in the ground,

He used a turning back kick to strike the white-haired man’s abdomen.

“ㅡKueook!!!”

The white-haired man’s scream burst out,

ㅡThud! Thud!

He flew about 5M and fell haphazardly.

However,

The white-haired man, who was incapacitated in that way, was no longer Eugene’s primary target.

ㅡWhoosh!!!

“Where are you looking, you bastard.”

Eugene’s goal is to protect Jeanne,

So he immediately charged at another Claymore closest to his line of movement.

“Th, this!!”

Swaaang!!

Another Claymore, who was giving his attention to the white-haired man who had fallen out,

He noticed Eugene’s figure rushing towards him belatedly,

He immediately drew the sword from his waist.

“It’s too late.”

ㅡWhoaaaaak!!!

However, it was already Eugene’s greatsword that had begun to be swung first, and

As a result, the end of that greatsword neatly cut the second Claymore’s head in two.

‘This guy is a sword runner, unlike the white-haired guy,’

Eugene Schneider’s explosive line change, which moved without a gap,

Nevertheless, he rushed in while focusing on the opponent’s response situation.

This is because the action must be different depending on whether the target is a Runner or a User.

If the opponent was a Sword User, he would have been familiar with mana footwork, so he would have tried to step first.

However, seeing that the second Claymore was trying to draw his sword first,

Eugene, who judged that the guy was a Sword Runner, swung his greatsword without hesitation.

‘That guy is also a Sword Runner.’

ㅡChuaaaat!!

Eugene picked up the sword that the second Claymore had dropped and immediately threw it to the opposite side.

ㅡWhooooak!!!

“Keuh!!”

That sword hit the abdomen of the third Claymore, who was running to take the kneeling Jeanne hostage.

‘Then the guy on the last escape route is,’

Glance!

Afterwards, Eugene glanced at the rear side based on Jeanne.

ㅡPapatpapat!!

‘As expected, he was a Sword User.’

It was a man with blond hair.

He was approaching in a zigzag pattern using mana footwork.

‘Eat this, you bastard.’

ㅡWhoooooak!!

Since the opponent started first, a situation was about to occur where they would arrive at Jeanne almost simultaneously,

Eugene used his greatsword to strongly scrape the floor.