episode_0071

[ Ugh… Partner, help me… ]

Moonguem moaned in pain, trembling weakly with a sound of crying out. Unlike my partner, Iris, who had no consideration at all, lightly ignored Moonguem’s reaction and swung her sword.

Kugugugung!

As she swung her sword, the arena where she fought the champion collapsed. The only champion who had clashed swords with her for a long time was now rolling on the ground as a corpse.

Many people in the arena tried to escape, but most of them couldn’t get out except for a few.

“What, what is this!”

“Damn it, let us out!”

A dome-shaped barrier engulfed the entire arena, preventing them from leaving. Even among them, there were those who successfully escaped outside.

“Sister…!”

“Run, just run ahead!”

Only good souls untouched by ‘evil’ could escape over Iris’s barrier.

The spectators who enjoyed the cruel matches and the slaves who had harmed others for their own amusement could not escape.

Ugh – …I wanted to kill them all. It’s annoying. Damn divine power.

A sluggish voice hidden deep within Iris spat out curses.

Well, there are still plenty of things to kill.

‘That’ whispered in Iris’s ear, singing a tune. Let’s hurry and kill those dreadful bastards, let’s get rid of the trash that caused my beloved brother’s death.

Even without hearing such a voice, Iris, who had already lost her reason to anger, had no intention of stopping.

Kugugung! Kwagwang!

With an unbelievable thunderous sound, the arena began to collapse as she swung her sword. Countless sinners in the building died one after another.

Barely returning to the office with his life intact, Odooki looked out the window, limping.

“Please, please…!”

He was waiting for Jiso’s response. Surely, he would have left for the arena as soon as he sent the response. This means that as long as a response comes, Odugyi can survive.

Flutter -.

“…! It’s here!”

With a joyful smile as the crow he had sent returned, he quickly checked the crow’s legs.

“Huh…?”

The letter he thought was a response turned out to be an SOS letter sent by Odugyi. This means… this letter did not reach Jiso.

Odugyi had experienced this kind of situation several times before.

“Jiso… isn’t here, right?”

When Jiso leaves in a hurry, like now, the crow returns without receiving a response.

Thud.

The crow sitting on Odugyi’s desk suddenly spread its wings and flew away.

Caw -..

The crow’s terrifyingly fierce attack raked the office. The clever crow left the broken arena without looking back.

***

Thump, thump.

Iris was walking somewhere, her steps leaving long streaks of blood.

“…Oppa.”

She stopped in front of Lian, who was discarded in one corner of the morgue. Iris stared at Lian blankly, then collapsed to the ground with a distorted expression.

Clang!

The dark sword rolled on the ground, but Iris didn’t even glance at it.

“Oppa, oppa…!”

With a numb expression, she, who had overcome numerous people, held Lian with a more affectionate expression than ever before.

Due to the endless flow of tears, she felt suffocated and dizzy. It seemed like she would suffocate in an unfathomable, distant sorrow.

Holding him with all her might, no matter how much she pleaded, there was no return. Everything was too late. My family, salvation, love -… died in my hands.

She doubted whether she was trying to make a river with tears, and brought her ear close to Lian’s chest, endlessly shedding tears to the point of suspicion. No sound was heard. In the eerie silence, Iris despaired, pleaded, and repeated hatred.

Due to crying too much, her young body began to feel feverish and her ears started to feel stuffy. Iris wanted to die on Lian’s body. She wanted to return to him even if it meant dying there.

Like an animal seeking a place to die, she closed her eyes and held her breath.

“Uh… where am I…?”

Was Iris’ effort successful? Along with the barely audible pulse, Lian’s voice tickled her ear. His murmuring voice was heard.

Perhaps she didn’t know that she was dreaming the past memories as a dream. Afraid that if she opened her eyes, she would wake up from the dream and face his corpse, she held her breath as much as possible.

“Ah…Iris?”

“…!”

The moment Lian called her name, her eyes blinked uncontrollably and her head turned towards the direction of the sound. As if it were an instinct engraved in her body.

“Uh, uh? Ah, Iris?”

“Huk…! Why, why is Iris like this, who, who made our Iris -…”

When met with affectionate eyes, Iris suppressed her deep-seated sadness and pleaded and expressed hatred.

“Huk, huuung!”

From that day on, to her, Lian became her death, salvation, and love.

To the extent that she would want to die if he died.

Unbeknownst to himself, Lian was bound by the shackle called ‘Iris.’ Now, even if he didn’t want to, she would not leave his side. Forever.

***

“It’s been a while since I worked at Mosaic.”

Seeing mosaic scattered everywhere, it made my head spin. I wandered around the collapsed arena, rummaging through people’s pockets to collect money.

“Hehe, now I think I’m getting used to the dark fantasy world, right?”

Am I not picking the pockets of corpses!

Praising himself, he gathered supplies to survive in the land of Iris and the cruel demon king. Luckily, he found a space bag. He took all the good-looking items from there.

When he thought he had gathered everything, he felt a presence outside the collapsed arena. People in rags were coming into the arena, glancing around.

They looked like beggars or thieves. Knowing they would be sold as slaves if caught, he quickly left the arena.

“Hey, Iris, put this on.”

“Yeah.”

Iris stubbornly nodded at my face. I changed her into good clothes I had in my hands and put on a hooded cloak. Since we had to travel a long way, I also gave her good shoes.

Dressed like Iris, I also put on my clothes and walked through the chaotic streets.

“Damn, who blew up that arena?”

“Wasn’t it a fight between the Four Heavenly Kings?”

“That’s probably highly likely. Well, if we go now, we might die… but we could harvest some pretty good stuff…”

“Hey! If not now, when will we raid the arena? I’m going!”

There were several types of arenas on the land of Jiso, but the main one seemed to be the one I was in. Just looking at the size, it seemed so.

I tightly held Iris’s hand and urged her to walk faster. Like bundles of straw during harvest season, weaklings lay everywhere in the alleys.

“First, let’s get as far away from the arena as possible. It’s more dangerous here than anywhere else.”

“Yeah.”

Iris nodded her head in agreement. Since there was a limit to walking, we boarded a carriage that circled the city regularly like a bus.

I figured out the cost myself. The bargaining voices were so loud that it wasn’t difficult to figure out the right price.

Riding in the open carriage, some people secretly tried to hang onto the carriage and move, only to be whipped and fall off.

“Wow… it’s a wild city. Totally…”

I glanced at the person whose face was a mess as they rolled on the ground and nodded. Thanks to the carriage, we could soon reach the city entrance.

“Let’s stop by the store before we leave.”

“Yeah.”

Originally, the plan was to leave the city right away, but it seemed unavoidable to stop by since we lacked camping gear. As I saw a nearby mercenary shop, I approached it.

“Sleeping bag and lantern… Oh, I need this too.”

I quickly scanned the items and jotted down what to buy in my mind. Money was abundant, having looted a safe accidentally found at the gambling den and the pockets of the deceased gamblers.

Without hesitation, I was about to sweep up the necessary items when…

Kwaaaah!

A terrifying roar echoed. Reflexively summoning Gargantua, I looked towards the source of the sound.

Iris was standing in front of me, wielding a sturdy iron sword she had picked up from the gambling den.

Seeing her standing bravely with her small body to protect me brought tears to my eyes, but I had to assess the situation first, so I looked toward where a huge cloud of dust was rising.

“What’s that?”

It was quite far away, so I couldn’t tell what it was, but something shot up over the towering dust cloud, reaching even higher than the 10-story building.

“A person…?”

As I watched the silhouette of a figure soaring higher than 10 stories and then beginning to fall, I furrowed my brow. Quickly turning my body towards the store, I picked out all the items I had planned to buy and paid for them.

“Oh… thank you!”

Coolly completing the payment without haggling, the shop owner smiled broadly and added a few extra items.

“They sell groceries at another store, so let’s just stop by there and then leave the town.”

“Yeah.”

I didn’t know if the city was generally prone to incidents and accidents, but if such a big disturbance occurred, I didn’t know when peace would return. He seemed to like Iris and me quite a bit, so we might end up back in servitude. That fact hastened my steps.

“Oh, there.”

As he was heading towards the store inside the alley.

“Hey!”

A hoodlum appeared!

“Yeah, you, give me some money -….”

As the hoodlum was about to pickpocket.

Shooooo!

A sound of wind splitting from above was heard. Wondering what it was, I looked up. A shadow fell inside the alley.

“If you hand it over quietly -…Kwahack!”

Kwaaaang!

Someone wearing a torn and worn-out robe landed on top of the hoodlum in a stable posture. Seeing the suspicious figure, Lian grabbed Iris’s hand and said. No, tried to say.

“Snniff…Huh?”

The stranger with a hood pushed down, turned his head and looked at me.

“Huh?”

“Oh no!”

Recognizing the familiar red hair.

“Joo-in-nim!”

Jess ran towards me and tackled me.