Chapter 62
Chapter 62
9. Wandering and Settling -4
Truth be told, Noah Won had ulterior motives.
'The guy's dying anyway, and with my skills and ability, deflecting attacks of that caliber isn't hard. I'm not at full condition, so I couldn't fight for 24 hours straight, but for a short-term battle, it's more than enough.'
First, he assessed whether his life was actually at risk. And in his judgment, blocking the elf Joero's last desperate flailing with his shield—while difficult and exhausting—was not dangerous.
'That bastard only has simple swinging-type attacks, so if I relax and take the hit, only my body will go flying. I won't die from falling from a three-story height⋯⋯ Actually, I could even use it to escape.'
Because he could bolt at any time.
Elijah, the person he was protecting, was in the rear, and there was no one here he particularly needed to protect. So he could run away as much as he pleased.
The gray-haired mage who had treated him well was the only one who nagged at his conscience, but⋯⋯ from what he'd checked earlier, she hadn't been caught up in that "plane crash." If she valued her life, she'd run on her own two feet, and if she walked into danger of her own accord, he had no obligation to stop her.
Okay, so he knew it wasn't dangerous.
But hardship is also a risk. Why was Noah Won forcing himself to fight this elf Joero?
'Looks tasty.'
It was, of course, because of 『Download -2』.
Back when he'd just awakened his ability and had no breathing room while adapting to it, Noah Won was the kind of man who deliberately picked fights with other hunters and got beaten half to death while extracting their skills.
As his career accumulated, that old decisiveness had been buried under strategy and softened, but at his core, he was an ambitious man who could throw his own body into the fire at any time.
And that decisiveness and desire bloomed once again upon contact with the System. If he worked hard, he could become as strong as a god from the stories, push back the plants on a global scale and restore normalcy, and as a bonus, enjoy wealth and glory?
So⋯⋯.
The power of those 『Elves』—the power of those plant bastards—that could even cause errors in the System itself and strengthen Joero, who had seemed so mediocre and easy to fight, to this extent.
There was some anxiety that if he misused it, he might end up branded as an elf himself, but if that happened, he could just stockpile it and only bring it out in a true emergency.
Therefore, he couldn't miss the opportunity to scavenge that.
However, setting aside the cold calculations running through Noah Won's mind and looking only at what was visible on the surface, the impression was somewhat different.
Despite having his life threatened with his name on the Hunter Alliance's execution order.
For the sake of a dying Alliance hunter, he forced his trembling legs to move and stood against the elf Joero—a traitor to the Alliance and a traitor to humanity──.
No matter how you looked at it, wasn't that the image of a hero?
"Alright⋯⋯ Round 3, let's do this. Joero."
Step. Step.
He walked, white hair billowing.
The Alliance people who had been knocked down by attacks, exhausted, or fleeing felt various emotions watching his back. Jealousy, envy, acknowledgment, awe. What each felt differed, but they all shared one thing: enough thoughts swirled in their heads to be called passion.
But among all of them, the person whose heart was shaken the most was⋯⋯.
"Noah Won⋯⋯ why on earth⋯⋯?"
It was Hori.
Hori was appalled by that incomprehensible behavior. She simply could not understand it. The question of why he would do such a thing spun endlessly in her head without resolving.
Elijah, watching that sight, murmured as if to herself.
"More important than where you were born is how you appear in someone's eyes⋯⋯ Noah said that."
"⋯⋯What?"
"In Noah's eyes, you all didn't look like enemies—you looked like wounded people. People who needed help. Hmm⋯⋯ Then I can't just sit still here either. Look over there."
Elijah extended a long finger and pointed to a corner of the abandoned airport, dozens of meters away from the fierce battle between Noah and Joero. There, human shadows were writhing furtively.
Remnants.
They'd simply forgotten due to Joero's rampage, but the three who had remained on Joero's side until the end still hadn't been caught and killed.
Hori and Elijah saw it. Taking advantage of the chaos, Joero's three subordinates were roughly dragging the beastman children they had rescued toward the magic circle drawn on the airport ground.
Elijah realized immediately.
"They intend to activate 『Erzsebet's Reforging』."
"⋯⋯What?"
"Ah, Hori, you didn't hear the explanation. To put it simply, this magic circle at the airport and the kidnapped beastman children are for body swapping. Originally, it seems they planned to graft elf ears onto themselves to hide⋯⋯."
There was no reason to transplant ears now. And no matter which body part of a beastman child they took, there was no way for the radicals to turn this situation around. Except in one single case.
The only body part that could create a variable through transplantation.
Elijah spoke while staring at the gaping hole in Joero's chest.
"In this case── it would be the heart, wouldn't it."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯!!"
"I should go. I wonder what would even happen if a monster like Joero got a heart, but that's exactly why. If he really does revive, that would be a problem, wouldn't it?"
So someone had to stop it.
Elijah winked at Hori, as if to say 'wait here,' and threw herself into battle without a single 『Coffin』 to heal her injured body. To stop Joero's subordinates from offering the sacrifice.
Step. Step.
After Elijah, who had been staying by her side, left, Hori sat slumped alone in a daze. She had always viewed the world through a single lens—but cracks kept forming in those thick glasses.
She was certainly right. The law of the jungle. This world was a ruthless ecosystem. That simple truth would not change or alter no matter how much one turned away from it or cried out against it.
That the weak die is natural, and that the strong devour is natural.
The death of the beastman child about to be sacrificed—that too was the fate of the weak, and therefore natural.
The cruel bullying young Hori had suffered⋯⋯ was also natural.
"⋯⋯Huh, hk."
As she thought that, her breath caught. A single question welled up.
The world is always divided into the 'strong' and the 'weak.' Unless one exists alone in this vast universe, everyone inevitably has their own superiority or inferiority.
Then, then this world.
Are all the tragedies that occur in this world simply natural?
"⋯⋯⋯⋯."
She didn't know. She didn't know.
But even so.
"⋯⋯You asked if I looked like a pet dog that waits when you tell it to wait! Damn it!"
That white back, the one that mocked her common sense and ideology and smashed through them head-on, kept flickering on her corneas. And the smiling eyes of that blonde who threw herself into battle right after—it made her blood boil.
As if someone had shoved her from behind.
Hori surrendered her body to an unknown passion and threw herself onto the battlefield.
The way to fight a giant is simple.
'Don't get hit.'
Because giants usually have strong attack power. It's basic physics that if something is big and heavy, the impact you receive rises steeply.
But this approach has one blind spot: it's not easy to avoid getting hit even once by a giant. If the body is large, isn't the attack range wide too?
Only by resolving this contradiction can you fight and win against an opponent whose weight class far exceeds yours.
Boom, thud, kugwagwagwagwa──!!
A massive arm made of intertwined hollow bamboo slammed into the asphalt, producing an eerie resonance as it swung. Seen up close, it looked like a huge green wall flying at you.
But if you focused and looked closely, that wall's thickness wasn't uniform.
There were parts rotting and rapidly withering from lack of nutrients, parts thickened by overgrowth, parts too weak because they hadn't grown properly, and⋯⋯ parts where more than ten bamboo bundles overlapped thickly, and parts where only about three overlapped shallowly.
Judging comprehensively, he dove toward the part that looked weakest.
"『Quick Flash』!"
Seogeok, kwajajak-!
He slashed his shortsword in a cross pattern to make an incision, then kicked and smashed through it. This opened a hole just big enough for a person to pass through.
At that moment, a System window notification popped up.
[-> Download Slot 1 : 『Overgrowth』 (Downloading⋯⋯ 12%)]
[-> Download Slot 2 : 『Moso Bamboo』 (Downloading⋯⋯ 1%)]
[The following 2 downloads were canceled due to insufficient slots]
Insufficient slots?
Screech!
"Hup."
He slipped slightly, and the sound of rubber scraping came from the sole of his shoe.
His condition was already bad, and he was squeezing his muscles to force movement, but the sudden flood of notifications scattered his focus and he almost failed to get through. If he'd fallen here, he would have taken a big hit. Focus, Noah Won.
He'd made a small mistake, but he got through naturally and dodged Joero's attack, then kept running to close in on his main body.
He thought as he ran. 『Download -2』, regarding duplicate downloads, prioritizes the one with the fastest download speed for slot assignment. He'd tested this long ago with about six hunters.
And download speed is generally inversely proportional to performance or grade.
Which meant that behind that 『Moso Bamboo』 skill, there were two more skills of even higher grade contained within. His mouth watered.
If he could, he'd keep Joero alive for about a month and drain every last skill out of him.
Pasas──
But that body was rapidly withering even now. There probably wasn't time. And saying he'd get beaten by that arm to increase download speed was no different from saying he'd commit suicide.
Even if extending Joero's life succeeded, his own condition wasn't normal, so it was out of the question.
He was out of breath just from running.
So he'd set aside this regret with the expectation that if he could take down another elf later, he might obtain something similar.
While he was thinking, he arrived right in front.
"Must⋯⋯ go back⋯⋯."
"Go back dead."
Sseuk-
He put his full weight into it and slashed as if forcing the blade through, taking the head off first. Joero's neck, dried and twisted like an old tree, snapped off and rolled on the ground. But his body still moved.
The arm swung again.
Right now, I was practically pressed against Joero's torso. In this position, for him to attack me with that arm, he'd have to hit himself too. What was he planning to do now, headless as he was⋯⋯.
Shurururureuk──
Joero's massive arm unraveled. The tangled bamboo bundles came apart, becoming hundreds of bamboo tentacles moving independently. And all of them swung wildly.
"Shit!"
I lowered my center of gravity and properly planted my legs first. I sharpened my focus and prepared to block. Using Joero's torso as a blind spot, the range from which attacks could come was about 290 degrees.
If I only protected my back, it was manageable.
Teodeodeodeodeong-!!
I blocked the attacks raining down like a storm. And as much as I blocked⋯⋯
[-> Download Slot 1 : 『Overgrowth』 (Downloading⋯⋯ 57%)]
[-> Download Slot 2 : 『Moso Bamboo』 (Downloading⋯⋯ 18%)]
The rewards were piling up. I couldn't help but smile, the corners of my mouth rising on their own. It was hard and felt like I might die⋯⋯ but I really wouldn't die.
I'd prepare the finishing move soon, drain it until the very last moment, and then end it.
Joero was rotting away as his nutrients ran out. But that didn't mean I needed to watch his final struggle to the end. If I carved out the rotten parts piece by piece and chopped him into chunks, no matter how tenacious his vitality, he wouldn't be able to move anymore.
I could see the cracks.
The spreading rotten parts, the bamboo snapping loose at each joint with a pop. What I needed to sever these in succession wasn't strength but clean trajectories.
When the wildly flailing, flexibly bending bamboo aligned at an exquisite angle. That timing—I waited for one breath.
Focus. Focus──
A glinting wire.
Seogeok.
"Kek⋯⋯!!"
A death cry. One of Joero's underlings died with his throat wrapped in a wire strung in the darkness. She'd started by reducing their numbers with a sharp ambush.
"Y-you bitch! You, block that bitch while I conduct the ritual!"
"M-me?! Why me?!"
"You dumb bastard⋯⋯ If the ritual fails, we all die anyway!"
"U-uaaaaah!!"
The remaining one drew his sword and charged at Elijah, nearly in a panic. He was so flustered that he didn't even let go of the beastman child tucked under his arm.
"⋯⋯Hmm, a hostage⋯⋯?"
But that became a strategy of its own. Elijah couldn't easily attack. If she swung her wire wrong, the beastman child would be sliced too. She wanted to save the child.
And she would have. If only there had been enough time.
Time.
The last remaining man used the time bought by throwing his comrade at Elijah efficiently. He practically hurled the beastman child he'd dragged along onto the magic circle.
"Kyaak!"
"Don't move a single step from there, you beast brat! If you leave that circle, I swear I'll skin you alive and kill you horribly!"
And just as he was about to chant the spell needed for the ritual.
"Oh, will you?"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯?!"
Ppak-!
A flying kick carrying Hori's entire body weight slammed into the radical remnant's side. Fifty kilograms of mass struck his ribs precisely, and the remnant was shoved back and toppled over.
"Kuk!"
"Ugh!"
One person was attacked, but there were two screams. Because Hori failed to break her fall and crashed straight into the ground.
The remnant screamed at the top of his lungs.
"⋯⋯Hori!! Are you going to interfere to the very end?!"
"Yeah. Of course I'll interfere to the end, you dumb bastard⋯⋯ Another faction's project—you think I'd just let it happen?"
"Damn it, dammit! I was next in line! Just a little longer and I would have received 『Sowing (播種)』 and become an elf!"
"Heh heh⋯⋯ Good for you. Team up with Joero, die, and then receive it. Perfect."
Hori bared her fangs in a fierce grin and strode forward. The remnant backed away at the sight, then suddenly stopped and stood tall. He realized.
"You⋯⋯ you didn't use 『Nail』 just now!"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯."
"Right. You didn't use it. Your body's so wrecked you can't even use skills. Yeah, that's right! You got beaten that badly by President Joero, so of course you're half-crippled!!"
"⋯⋯You son of a bitch."
If only he'd realized a little later.
The remnant changed his attitude like a hyena. The Hori before him wasn't that vicious, dangerous assassin—she was closer to a wooden doll about to fall apart. Which meant she was far weaker than him.
Hori felt something similar. In the current situation, that remnant was stronger than her. And the weak are, by nature, beings devoured by the strong.
"I'll use you as a sacrifice too. If I shove your heart and blood and everything into President Joero, he'll move for a few more minutes at least. Then that saintly bastard getting beaten over there will struggle and die too!"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯."
Glance.
Hori's eyes moved toward the fierce battle. Noah Won was enduring desperately, blocking Joero's rain-like onslaught with his shield and shortsword.
Of course, a person can't fully block rain without an umbrella. Due to biomechanical limits, damage was steadily accumulating across Noah Won's entire body. Every time the bamboo struck his body, flesh burst open.
Even so── Noah Won was smiling.
So Hori smiled too. It was because she thought that if that bastard was smiling, she couldn't lose in nerve. Then, conversely, the remnant grew greatly flustered and expressed anxiety and rage. The strong and the weak were clear, yet the appearances were reversed.
"I think⋯⋯ I get it now. I've come to understand something that's hard to explain in words."
"⋯⋯What bullshit are you spouting!"
"Heh heh heh⋯⋯."
Hori didn't bother answering. This answer, precious as treasure, was far too valuable to show to that jackal. Hori quietly recited in her heart.
Are all the tragedies that occur in this world simply natural?
Yes.
'But.'
⋯⋯She didn't want to accept them as natural.
"Ha."
A laugh released with a shallow sigh.
It felt like the puzzle pieces had finally clicked into place. Hori threw herself forward with a feeling of release. It felt like she'd finally pulled out a thorn that had been lodged in her gums. Had her head ever felt this clear before!
She simply wanted to save the beastman children.
So that's what she would do.
Tat-!
"⋯⋯⋯⋯!!"
Hori began what might be her final sprint. Could she win with a wrecked body that couldn't use skills and had been beaten to tatters? She didn't know. Probably not.
But she could at least buy time. The time for Noah Won to kill Joero, and for Elijah to rescue the children from the remaining remnant.
"Hori!!"
With the remnant's shout, a gleaming blade swung. A cold wind was sharply coiled around that blade due to a skill. If she could have used 『Nail』, she would have driven nails into his joints one by one and cooked him.
But it was fine even without that. A sword needs acceleration. Actually, most attacks do. So blocking before the acceleration occurs is the way to minimize damage.
Hori extended her left arm like a shield—and grabbed the blade.
Chwaaaaak-!!
Hori's left arm split apart. It was cut down to the bone, so it was probably damaged beyond repair. But the blade couldn't advance any further.
"⋯⋯Ha!"
Hori swung her remaining right arm and struck the remnant's jaw.
"Kuk!"
But it wasn't a fatal wound. The remnant quickly regained his stance and prepared to finish off Hori, who had lost an arm. Her left arm had only bought about ten-odd seconds.
But those ten-odd seconds.
From that instant, everything flipped.
The remnant saw a whitish afterimage flickering at the edge of his vision. A single line streaking like lightning. It wasn't hard to realize that the tide of battle had changed from that alone.
"Now, 『Quick Flash』!"
Seugeogeok──!!
"A-aaaaah⋯⋯!!"
Noah Won slashed through dozens of bamboo bundles in a single stroke, and Joero, having lost his means of attack, collapsed, losing even the last vestiges of his human form.
Which meant.
Hwiririk──
Hwooooooosh──
"I wondered what you were doing—so you were planning to use the ritual."
"Good work, Hori. The children are all safe."
It meant she had endured until the wind and the wire arrived.
Seogeok-!
Noah Won's 『Azure Wind Wanderer』, which had closed the long distance as if teleporting, bound the last remnant's limbs, and Elijah's wire cut his throat. With the rising fountain of blood as the finale⋯⋯.
Blink.
Hori lost consciousness on the spot.
[Hunter Alliance D-Grade Branch Elf Incident Damage Report]
● Elf Forces (Radical Faction)
-Radical Faction President Joero (confirmed as elf) deceased
-Radical Faction Joero's close aide (confirmed as potential elf) deceased
-3 Radical Faction Alliance members deceased
● Traditional Faction
-Traditional Faction President Muyeon injured
-Traditional Faction assassin Hori injured (skill degradation due to left arm amputation a concern - Gold grade revocation should be discussed)
-8 Traditional Faction Alliance members deceased / 13 injured
● Neutral Faction
-Neutral Faction Priest Minion survived (did not participate in combat)
● Stage Natives
-Beastman tribe village burned to the ground
-Approximately 10 beastman tribe children survived / 4 deceased
● Outsiders
-Noah Won injured (settlement of bad blood and cooperation discussion needed) / Plan under review to pin it on Hori's personal grudge and, if necessary, eliminate her to pursue reconciliation.
-Elijah injured (cooperation discussion needed)