episode_0057

I lowered the holy sword for a moment.

It’s not that I let my guard down because I thought we might fight. It’s just that I felt the need to talk for a moment.

For some reason, my heart started pounding. Just from hearing a single word.

I know the curse. I realized the curse that was attached to my body.

Someone has finally come forward to recognize the curse that has driven my social status to rock bottom and eaten away at my spirit.

And it seemed to affect my emotions much more than I thought.

I asked with a slightly trembling voice.

“How···?”

How on earth did you notice?

It is a curse that neither the saints of the continent, nor the knights of the empire, nor the elves who have lived for hundreds of years, nor the genius wizards have noticed.

Tens of thousands of people have already been affected by this curse, but none of them have been able to break through its chains.

But how did this guy recognize it as soon as he saw it?

When I asked him that, the guy laughed heartily and answered.

“I am a master black magician. And my specialty is curses. How could someone like me not know about the curse that is so attached to me?”

The guy clicked his tongue and continued talking.

“By the way··· What a truly vicious curse. A curse related to fate. Now that I look at it, I understand why your reputation is so low.”

The guy’s three eyes turned towards me. They were dirty and red, but strangely enough, there was a strange compassion in them.

“It must have been hard.”

Ugh.

The moment I heard that, I felt my nose tingle for a moment. It wasn’t a reaction that came out of thought.

As soon as I heard those words, my body and mind reacted.

Of course, it wasn’t to the point of tears, but I still had to control my emotions for a while.

I never thought that I would be comforted by a member of the Four Heavenly Kings whom I met for the first time in my life.

“Is it because I’ve seen something new and interesting after a long time?” he asked me in a slightly softer tone.

“How did you get cursed like that? Even I can’t cast such high-level curses···.”

“···Somehow it happened.”

I was careful with my words.

“He was different from the previous warriors in many ways. He was a guy who seemed to have melted the justice of the whole world into his appearance. With his brave and holy appearance, his outstanding sociability, and his brilliant talents, he was loved by many people. In the end, he was just an empty shell.”

It seemed like the guy had met the previous warriors. After all, the puppet master was one of the most veterans among the Four Heavenly Kings.

As I was thinking about the guy for a moment, he opened his mouth again.

“I’m glad to see something interesting after a long time… but unfortunately we have to pass by there now. Can you please step aside?”

“···I’m sorry, but that won’t work.”

I picked up the holy sword again. The short conversation time was over.

Anyway, the guy was the enemy. Now it was time to talk with the sword.

“It’s sad. The fact that our positions are so different that we can’t compromise. If that’s the case, we can just break through with force.”

Then the monsters started to rush in.

Goblin King Knight and Shaman, Mutant Kobold, Lizard Warrior, and Werewolf Chieftain.

Even among the monsters, those that can be considered elite soldiers rush in in droves.

I caught the Bright Ryu rider.

The level of the guys you can see with your eyes is not easy.

It was definitely lower than me, but it wasn’t an overwhelming difference.

If several people rushed at him, he would definitely be a burden.

‘It’s fortunate that the space is small.’

Because the space was narrow, there was a limit to the number of people who could rush in.

It seems that the guy took that into consideration and made his monster force comprised of relatively small elite soldiers, but that doesn’t change the spatial advantage.

So I swung my sword.

Knock down all the flying weapons from all directions, then counterattack in a split second.

The sorcerer’s magic flying from afar surrounds the barrier.

After killing a few of them, other monsters would fill the space. There were still many named monsters left in the sewers.

It was definitely tough to take on those guys alone… but I was able to endure it.

‘It’s worth a try.’

Thanks to that, I was thinking about this at the time.

Suddenly, my body suddenly stopped listening to me. It felt like my entire body’s muscles were rejecting my commands, and my body itself suddenly ‘slowed down’ by a level.

As soon as I saw it, I immediately realized what it was.

The curse of slowness.

“I told you. I’m a sorcerer.”

Suddenly, I looked over there and saw the guy drawing a magic circle with a calm face.

Yeah, it can’t be that easy.

The guy wasn’t done with the curse of slowness.

I am plagued by numerous curses, including weakened attack power, decreased defense, and impaired senses.

The feeling of suffocation I had felt when I first decided to take on the power came back to me after a long time.

Phew!

To make matters worse, he even allowed himself to be hit in the side.

Maybe it was because my body was slowing down a lot. A monster dug into my side.

Blood gushed out from its torn flank, but I ignored it and slashed at the monster with my sword.

“Wow, you’re tough.”

It’s a good thing. I didn’t plan on taking on all of those guys with just swordsmanship anyway.

I thought it would be a good idea to try out a new skill this time.

[Use ‘Blood Flow Control’!]

Blood flow control.

A skill that literally moves and controls blood. It was an item I received in a trade from the Magic Tower Master a few days ago.

Actually, it was one of the most basic magics in Blood Magic, but somehow I ended up learning it only now.

The blood that flowed out of my body floats into the air. Not just my blood, but even the blood from the bodies of those I cut down. When it comes to blood, I have an absolute upper hand.

It’s just blood that has already lost its ownership, so you can control it however you want.

I sprayed the blood that had risen into the air widely onto the guys.

Choaaaak!

Crunch?

Kriririk?

The guys who were suddenly splashed with blood tilted their heads.

These guys probably have no idea what’s going to happen next.

[Use ‘Blood Power Replacement’!]

[Combined with ‘Fire Ball’!]

[All the blood you control has the fire attribute!]

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The flames blazed. The monster’s agonized screams echoed off the walls.

Oleg exclaimed in admiration as more than 10 monsters died in an instant.

“The ability to use it is also special.”

Chewing gum···.

The torn off side was already in a state of regeneration.

“The countermeasure is also perfect.”

“I don’t know why all the guys I fight talk so much.”

“Hehe, if you live long enough, this is what happens naturally.”

Despite losing a lot of monsters at once, the guy still looked calm.

Is it because there are still many monsters left behind? Or is it because the guy still has a lot of means to show?

The correct answer was the latter.

The guy casts a spell while boiling black magic.

“Since ancient times, corpses have been good offering materials.”

And the magic was directed at the corpse I had just knocked down.

Then, they quickly begin to devour the corpses, as if the magic itself were greedily devouring their corpses.

Oleg, who had been carefully extracting magic from the corpse, soon threw a spell at me.

Shhh!

A black, black, black mass is heading towards me.

I tried to strike back with my holy sword, but I couldn’t.

This time, it was a curse magic. However, this time, it was more vicious than last time.

“Ugh···!!!”

Stick!

In an instant, a huge headache rises in my head. It feels like someone is hitting the inside of my skull with a hammer.

This level of pain should have triggered my pain tolerance, but strangely, the skill didn’t respond.

“No matter what, the flower of curse is definitely a mental one.”

It seemed like he had used some kind of mental magic that had nothing to do with the physical body.

That son of a bitch. The things he uses are so vicious that no one would think he’s a sorcerer.

Certainly, this pain was far from being physical pain.

When I listened closely, I heard numerous voices muttering in my head. There must have been hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of voices.

The voices chattering among themselves reminded me of a market street. There were so many voices talking at the same time that I couldn’t even focus on what was being said.

The amount of information coming in was so overwhelming that my head started to hurt.

As I was holding my head like that, the guy opened his mouth.

“Do you know this? Our brain remembers more than we think. However, most of it is unnecessary information, so we don’t bring it out of our consciousness. There is a lot of information accumulated in our subconscious.”

◦ ◦ ◦ · · · ·!

“Right now, words you’ve heard before are playing in your head again.”

The moment I heard that, I knew what these market-like words meant. All kinds of gossip and malicious comments directed at me.

Words that I had heard at least once before but tried to ignore are now playing in my head again.

“Sigh··· Huh···!!”

When I realized that, I quickly made a decision.

You should ignore it. It’s just words that are not good for your mind.

Rather than listening to such things, it would have been better to swing the sword one more time.

That’s why I swung my sword.

Whack! Whack!

To forget the words flowing into my head.

To focus my mind elsewhere.

I cut and cut again. I tried to ignore my head that felt like it was going to break and erased the monsters that were rushing towards me.

“Oh, that’s amazing. It must be a pain that can’t be endured.”

Every time that happened, blood would pool around the area.

“You are definitely a great person. Strong, calm, and mentally strong. I can understand what happened to King Chung.”

The stench of corpses and sewer water mixed together.

“But, I have a little doubt.”

Before I knew it, the area around me was filled with countless corpses.

Sigh··· Sigh······.

The sound of breathing echoing underground is rough.

Is it because I fought continuously while receiving numerous debuffs? My condition wasn’t very good either. My body was constantly being injured and regenerating, and I was feeling exhausted in real time due to my declining magic power.

Still, there were still a lot of monsters left.

Still, I can’t back down like this······. That was the thought that came to my mind as I raised the holy sword again.

“Why do you take people’s side even when you’re being treated like that?”

Stop. My body, which was about to draw the sword, stops for a moment.

Strangely enough, even though there were still countless gossips echoing in my head, the guy’s words sounded so clear.

I asked back reflexively.

“···What?”

“Isn’t that right? No matter how hard you try, all you’ll get in return is criticism. Why are you trying so hard?”

···As expected, that kid talks too much.

I wanted to cut it down right away, but there were too many monsters around.

No matter how great the country was, it was impossible to break through all of that and run to the guy in one breath.

As I frowned, the guy continued.

“I liked you. Your spirit, your ability, your mentality. Everything was greater than I thought!”

The guy spreads his arms wide.

There was a strange mixture of anticipation and excitement in the three eyes.

Finally, the guy takes a deep breath and speaks to me.

“How about it? Why don’t you join the Demon King’s Army now! Our Demon King’s Army will warmly welcome you!”

“?”

I tilted my head.