episode_0262

“Boy, aren’t your eyes too open? Didn’t you sleep?”

Morning. As soon as I left the barracks, a playful voice was heard as if it had been waiting.

A lively woman approached me with a bright smile and a pack on her back.

“Hmm… … You don’t seem particularly nervous. Were you having dirty thoughts? If so, you should have told me. I could have helped you a little.”

“No, it’s not like that. I just had trouble sleeping.”

I shook my head, but the black cat showed no sign of leaving. She was whistling and trying to avoid the conversation, but then she gave me a secret look and said.

“Well, after spending that kind of time, it’s only natural to be tired. Not one, but three people… ”

“… Have you seen it?”

“Just passing by by chance.”

The black cat answered in a sly voice. By chance, I would freeze to death. It was clear that the commotion yesterday had caught her attention. How dare you linger when you know everything. Anyway, she has a bad personality.

The black cat turned its head around quickly, looking for someone. Following its gaze, it was not difficult to find three other people.

They all had sunken eyes and pouty lips as if they were dissatisfied with something.

“Mhhh… I guess being young is good, huh?”

“That’s not it. We just talked about things that had piled up since it was our last night.”

I denied her words in an irritated voice. Of course, that kind of thing didn’t happen, as the black cat said.

Everyone just tossed and turned uncomfortably all night and returned to their respective barracks before dawn.

“Okay, I guess so.”

The black cat shrugged his shoulders teasingly. I changed the subject before the nonsense could continue.

“By the way…what happened to what I told you?”

The dream in the early evening was, on the one hand, a clue that I was definitely getting closer to them. But the problem is that the feeling was reciprocal.

The witches who know we are near may do something. The best way is to turn the front line demon army around and look for us. If we do that, we will waste our energy before we even reach the nest.

“That’s what I came here to talk about anyway.”

Prejudice is such a scary thing. I often forget that she is one of the most powerful people in the country and a member of the Royal Guard.

I thought you came here to make fun of me.

“I shared the schedule with the command center. They are planning to launch a large-scale offensive at the front line at the same time as we depart. Just in case the Demon Army turns back and surrounds us. ”

“… Is that so?”

My heart was heavy. Tens of thousands of lives had to be mobilized to divert attention from a special force of only about a hundred men.

The situation was already unfavorable. If we had launched an attack in this situation, it was impossible to estimate how many lives would be lost.

“Boy. Don’t burden yourself with other people’s deaths for no reason.”

A rare serious voice broke my thoughts. The black cat was looking up at me with eyes that were slowly settling down.

“You know? It’s normal on the battlefield. If you treat everything like that, you won’t be able to handle it.”

“But… ”

“They are just doing their job. Just like we are doing ours. Pitying them is an insult. It’s very presumptuous.”

“… ”

Every word was right. Thanks to what you just said, I was able to come to my senses a little. I looked down at the black cat with a slight smile.

“You knew how to say that too?”

“Huh? What do you think I am… ”

“Anyway, we have to move quickly. We don’t know our exact location, but there are variables. If the demons are really mobilized, then we really can’t guarantee victory.”

“… It’ll be okay. The only physical ability we have that’s superior to the demons is endurance. ”

The black cat nodded, grumbling.

“The beasts can never keep up with our pace. Now that the rest is over, let’s move on with a forced march.”

“That’s right.”

I answered and turned my head with a tingling sensation. Beyond the eastern plain, a large mountain range cut across the middle. Beyond that, there were thick dark clouds, as if it was raining.

“Is that the direction?”

“Yes. It seems like the power of attraction is getting stronger. It’s like someone is calling me with a voice… ”

I furrowed my eyebrows slightly at Black Cat’s question.

“Do you know what’s over there?”

“… Haslane.”

The black cat thought deeply while looking at the direction of my finger and answered quietly.

“Haslla?”

“Once upon a time, it was one of the main cities of the old civilization. Now, it has been abandoned for over a hundred years. The eastern development also failed a long time ago… ”

She grumbled as if she didn’t like something.

“It’s a place that faces the sea, the exact opposite of the capital. Tsk, since it’s nested in such a deep place, of course it can’t be found… ”

Soon, a preliminary signal to advance rang out from the amplifier installed in the barracks. Hearing the sound, the black cat licked its lips and turned around. Then, as if it had forgotten something, it poked its head out.

“I guess I should go now. But boy, are you sure you’re okay?”

“What are you talking about?”

“That’s…our plan.”

She rarely showed any sign of hesitation.

“According to that, your chances of survival are… ”

“It’s okay.”

And I fired off an immediate reply.

“This is something I’ve already prepared for. I’ll do it well, so don’t worry.”

“That’s not what I meant… Oh my.”

The black cat sighed and smiled with a slightly lonely look.

“… I’ll believe you. If it’s the boy I know, I’m sure he can do it.”

“Thank you.”

“I have to entrust my life to a guy who was doing dirty things until the day before departure… There is no misfortune more unfortunate than this.”

“That’s not it…!”

The black cat laughed and disappeared without even listening to my angry response. Having lost the target of my anger, I stood there dumbfounded.

…who is calling whom a broad-minded person?

***

We soon reached the shadow of the mountain range. We were able to move very quickly thanks to the fact that we had kept our luggage as light as possible, except for our combat gear.

-Bang!

Sporadic artillery fire had been heard from the west for several days. This must mean that the false attack that Black Cat had spoken of was underway.

Occasionally, a large-scale magic formula for range magic would flash across the sky. I tried not to look in that direction because I felt like I could hear people screaming when I looked at him.

And finally we set foot on a strange land where everything was painted purple.

“The leaves are purple, the river is purple, the grass is purple… Even the raindrops are purple.”

The large man walking in front glanced at the sky and frowned.

“This is what they call erosion. Are the sky caves really just child’s play? ”

“Later, this whole land will become like this… It’s really horrible… ”

Beyond the falling acid raindrops, the voices of Choi Woo-jin and Ryu Seung-heon can be heard. We continued to march in groups of four.

Even now, the purple earth was gradually expanding its radius.

A sense of oppression engulfed my body, as if I had stepped into an ant hell. The native creatures here were grotesquely twisted, and all of them were reacting hostilely to us.

“Ugh… I feel sick… This is ominous… ”

Muyeong, who was walking next to me, trembled.

“How can there not be a single demon in a place like this? With this level of pollution, it wouldn’t be strange if a level 1 demon popped out… ”

“It’s better if it’s not there. It’s better than wasting power for nothing.”

“The spirits are so anxious. And I saw some cat footprints earlier… ”

“Why is there a cat here? Did I see the footprints of a devil?”

Choi Woo-jin glanced around and answered.

“Or are you already hallucinating? Should I take some antipsychotics?”

Erosion eats away at our minds with hallucinations and auditory hallucinations. The dream leader also had such things on him while chasing the witches. It’s just the way witches taunt their victims.

Although the symptoms were already appearing in those with weak mental strength, Muyeong shook his head and denied it.

“I’ll be fine. Most of my brain activity is already allocated to contracts with the spirits. If you think about it, hallucinations and auditory hallucinations are probably caused by pollutants flowing out of this land disrupting the brain… ”

Muyeong said, drawing attention by hitting the cheek.

“Come to think of it, we’re like a warrior party.”

“What is that?”

“It’s a term from classical literature. It’s a tragic story of great warriors who shoulder the fate of humanity and go on an adventure to defeat the leader of an idealized evil… ”

Mooyoung spoke excitedly. We listened to him in silence, trying to pass the time.

“Chief, do you know? In the past, enjoying such a story along with beautiful and delicate paintings was a symbol of class.”

“Really? I had no idea… ”

As it turned out, Muyeong was also a member of a club that enjoyed such literature. Choi Woojin, who had been listening to the story ahead of him, smiled and said.

“Is this a symbol of class? If you look at your club’s promotional materials, they’re almost like pornographic pictures… ”

“Chun, a Chunhwachop! That’s not it!!”

“Yeah, yeah. Got it, got it.”

Mooyoung was going crazy. I interrupted and changed the subject.

“Muyeong. By the way, are you doing well with that senior? Why, at the shadow banquet… ”

“Of course. We’re still dating.”

Muyeong took something out of his bosom. A boy wearing glasses smiled shyly as he saw a picture of a healthy and beautiful female student.

“I’ve already decided on something.”

“Determination? What is it?”

Muyeong, who had an extremely embarrassed expression on his face, closed his eyes tightly and shouted.

“When I get back, I’m going to ask my senior to formally get engaged… !”

“Uh… ”

“Coolook… !”

Choi Woo-jin and Seung-heon each made awkward expressions. The atmosphere ended up becoming more tense.

For some reason… I feel like I heard something I shouldn’t have heard.