Chapter 115
Chapter 115 Demon King (1)
A sense of dread arrived. She felt stuffy for no reason, and her heart started beating faster than usual.
“…”
Shiori Mobilla, the fairy elf who chose the only level of difficulty. She was in that situation right now.
‘What’s going on…?’
Shiori observed Yoon-seok and Miller’s conversation, but she couldn’t understand at all. Whether she liked it or not, Yoon-seok and her fought together on the battlefield together during the mission. There was no way they wouldn’t know each other’s skills. But how could he be so confident when he was so greatly outnumbered?
At first, she thought he was just a strange person.
‘No, there must be a reason why.’
Even now, unknown anxiety was slowly rising from the tips of her toes up through her whole body. The instinct that saved her from several crises before was screaming. She was missing out on something important.
‘But was the terrain here normally like this?’
After being ordered to kill the lady who left the sacred land, Miller received a carefully produced map from the rangers. Shiori also looked at the map multiple times. The current point marked wasn’t supposed to be in a canyon but on a ridge. However, there were too many things to dismiss the matter as some location error. Looking around carefully, she realized what she had been missing.
‘What is this place? It’s weird no matter how I look at it.’
There were holes here and there. The grass and trees were swept away as if a typhoon had passed, and the cut surfaces were too clean. And most of all…
‘Monsters?’
At the end of the cliff, dead bodies split in two were scattered about. Only then did she realize a flaw in Yoon-seok’s prior explanation.
‘He said he took her from the sacred land, right?’
In other words, he kidnapped their lady. There was no way the heathens wouldn’t send troops after her. However, a day later, upon their arrival, Yoon-seok was alive and sound. How was that possible? Once again, she looked sideways at the dead bodies. It seemed like she knew the answer.
That’s why.
‘Oh, no…’
A shudder flowed down her spine as if she’d been hit by lightning. But there was no time to be shocked. She had to stop him now; Miller, who was stepping fearlessly over the line. Shiori reached for him.
But.
“Wait, stop…”
It was already late.
Thud.
Miller’s feet touched the ground. It was alright to say that at the same time, Yoon-seok’s hand moved to slap Miller’s cheek. Why was it his hand and not his sword? When such a question arose.
Shaaaaaaaaa-!
A strong wind blew from under the cliff. After some time, she realized the fact that Miller disappeared without a trace.
「Victory.」
After dragging Miller to a duel and ending it all at once, Yoon-seok returned to his original position. No noise was heard except for the wind. Yoon-seok stared at them as if he had forgotten to even breathe and asked.
“What about you guys?”
“…We’re leaving.”
The answer came from the wizard named Shiori. None of the soldiers nor challengers who came along opposed. Everyone could sense faintly that they couldn’t go against him on their own.
“…”
The soldiers who arrived with high spirits turned and began to leave. Yoon-seok, who was watching for a while, suddenly stopped them.
“Wait.”
Was it that shocking when Miller turned into powder at one gesture? He didn’t pull out his sword nor used any commands. Nevertheless, they flinched at Yoon-seok’s call.
“Can you give me a blanket or something to eat?”
“…What does that mean?”
Shiori gulped with a determined look and asked.
“Do you mean that you’ll skin us alive and turn us into meat lumps?”
“…”
Yoon-seok was speechless. He couldn’t understand how asking for a blanket and food could be interpreted this way. However, if he kept quiet about this, the misunderstanding would grow out of control.
“It’s just what I said. The person I’m guarding is still young, and she’s not feeling well.”
“Ah… I see. If that’s the case…”
Shiori moved the items Yoon-seok requested into a bag, put them on the floor, and left.
‘I guess this will easily last through the mission.’
Yoon-seok moved the items she left behind in the subspace bag and returned to Elle’s place. Then, after covering her with a blanket, he put beef jerky and water in a pot and boiled it. He was thinking of asking her to eat when she woke up.
As he worked, Elle began to sleep-talk.
“Mister… no, please…”
Rick Gerssey. What did he do for a living? For some reason, it kept bothering him.
The 8th, 9th, and 10th day. There were no other visitors except for the occasional attacks from heathens trying to get Elle back. Perhaps because they were engaged in a war of nerves with each other over the plains in the middle, they couldn’t afford to pour all their energy toward Yoon-seok.
During that time, Yoon-seok tended to Elle diligently. Not only guarding but also feeding her, putting her to sleep, and even helping her go to the bathroom. It wasn’t long since she lost both her eyes, so Elle needed support in every part of her life.
‘I’m sure Elle is looking here, right?’
He laughed for some reason when he thought of her; who would hate to have her dark history revealed. But perhaps the sound of him laughing was too loud.
“Why are you laughing? Is there something on my face?”
“No. I just thought of something funny.”
“What is it? Tell me!”
Was it because she was trapped alone in the sacred land for a long time? Or because she had no one to rely on? Either of the two was plausible, but Elle was more comfortable around Yoon-seok than she was 3 days ago. He had once asked how she could cope after everything happened, and he received a very impressive answer.
“You look similar to that man. No matter if it’s your voice or aura. Of course, you’re a little cooler.”
It wasn’t just a random alias Yoon-seok was given during his last mission. The name was written on the mercenary plaque found in the inn room where the mission had begun.
‘Maybe he was a real person living in this era like Wellington and Kanna.’
In the original history, he was the one who saved and cared for Elle, who was kidnapped by heathens, for 3 years and was almost like a father to her. Yoon-seok, who felt the need to understand Elle in more depth after becoming an admin, collected information while he was with her. She was someone who grew more mysterious the more he discovered.
‘I think he hid it on purpose…’
Well, that didn’t mean he was a bad person. There was no way that such a person would risk his life to take care of Elle without any reason for three years. There must have been a story behind it, and Yoon-seok was very curious about what that was. However, it was a question that couldn’t be resolved for now.
“It looks like a guest is here.”
Yoon-seok, who was facing Elle, stood up. It was the afternoon on the 11th day. About 30 people had gathered near them.
“You’re here again.”
Yoon-seok spoke briefly to Shiori, who stood out. Why did she return when she’d run away before?
“I’m not here to fight. This is the saint. She said she wanted to meet you after I told her about you.”
After Shiori’s brief introduction, the saint pushed back the hood she was wearing. After seeing her face, Yoon-seok froze. Although a few years had passed and she’d grown a little older, he could still recognize her at a glance.
“Kanna Blitz…”
“You know me?”
Of course, how could he not know? They had spent nearly every day together during the last mission. However, this was a memory that only Yoon-seok had.
“Then we’ll talk quickly; I’ll get right to the point. Pass the kid to me. To establish justice in this world, the child must die.”
Kanna went straight to the point. Hand over Elle so that she could die for the world. At her keenly sharpened voice, Shiori’s face turned white.
“Uh, saint…? I’m sure you said you would only try to persuade with words.….”
“Yes, I’m doing so now. Persuasion.”
“…”
Shiori closed her mouth. When the lady died, Yoon-seok’s mission failed. But killing the saint in front of him? That was why this wasn’t persuasion but her directly begging for death. However, she couldn’t say anything about the tower because she might be treated like the heathens.
Yoon-seok focused on Kanna as he thought.
‘Somehow, she’s changed a lot since then.’
At that time, their relationship was good enough for Elle to call her sister and follow her around. What happened to Kanna in this history?
“I heard about you. I heard you were once special…”
“It’s the only past I want to erase. The heathens must die.”
Kanna cut off Yoon-seok’s words and recited her own coldly. He could feel her hatred toward the pagans deeply embedded in her voice. However, as if that wasn’t the case for Elle…
“Unnie… is that you?”
Elle slowly walked in the direction of Kanna’s voice. Since she couldn’t see, every step was dangerous, but eventually, she stood in front of Kanna with Yoon-seok’s help.
“Elizabeth Lorwen…”
emotions were swirling in her eyes as she looked at Elle.
“If I hadn’t saved you then, Lord Wellington wouldn’t have died. And if I… even if I hadn’t gone through that…”
Yoon-seok could feel it briefly. What Kanna went through, and what kind of mental changes it had caused.
“U-unnie? What do you mean?”
However, Elle, who was only glad to see Kanna after a long time, didn’t know about her changes.
“Kill her… kill her!”
Did her emotions cause her rational judgment to blur? Kanna took out a silver knife hidden in her sleeve and swung toward Elle. Of course, as long as Yoon-seok was there, her attempt would never succeed.
Thud.
Yoon-seok hit Kanna on the back of her neck and knocked her out. Shiori had a dismayed expression as if she had never expected her to resort to such an extreme method. Elle, who couldn’t even see ahead, didn’t even know she tried to kill her.
“Unnie? Unnie?”
But as if she could sense something was wrong, Elle squirmed out of Yoon-seok’s grasp and floundered in the air. And it was then.
“Argh, arghhh!
Elle collapsed on the floor, holding her head. She murmured, looking gently into the air with eyes that could not see.
“No, no…! Don’t die! Don’t die! Arghhh!”
Yoon-seok, who was rushing to Elle, paused.
‘Is it clairvoyance?’
For some reason, that thought appeared, but Elle’s painful scream grew worse and worse. Her voice cracked, and heat began to spread around her body. Yoon-seok grabbed Elle’s shoulder and shook her. Then Elle, returning to reality, hugged Yoon-seok’s arm tightly and begged.
“Mister, please save me. The man is here.”
He didn’t know if she saw the future. But if that was true… he might be able to meet him in person during this mission.
Rick Gerssey.