Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Logos
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Logos (Fan Art)
The commissions available in Logos ranged from Rank 2 to Rank 4.
The higher the altitude, the closer you got to the rift. Being close to the rift meant the evil god's divine power lingered strongly. As a result, the deeper you ventured into the mountains, the more ferocious and powerful the monsters became. Even the plants grew wildly, making it hard to find your way.
Camping in such mountains was uncomfortable, and there were more things to watch out for than you could count. But when carrying out multiple commissions at once, returning to the village every time was a hassle and a waste of time.
That was why they had come prepared thoroughly.
There were no major issues. With four people, the night watches were manageable with some leeway. Elena's magic and Ha-ryeong's traps made it easy to prepare for nighttime raids.
If there was a problem, it was with travel. The mountain paths were bad enough, but the terrain influenced by the rift was a complete mess. Even their sense of direction felt off.
Fortunately, Jake was a skilled guide. The map he had made himself kept them from getting lost in the mountains where everything looked the same. It also didn't take long to find their target monsters.
Combat was still centered on Elena, but Yuri occasionally joined in. Ha-ryeong had pushed his back. Unlike last time with the goblins, this time it was against humanoid monsters: lizardmen and orcs.
They were far stronger than goblins.
The lizardmen, covered in scales, were slender and tall. Their movements were sluggish but powerful, and the scales clinging to their bodies were as tough as they looked—no bluff there.
Orcs, on the other hand, were bulky. They were about human height and didn't move sluggishly. In raw strength alone, they were a bit stronger than lizardmen, but they lacked scales.
In other regions, lizardmen and orcs formed packs and tribes, often armoring themselves with metal or weapons. But the two humanoid races born in Logos were different.
Still, a few wielded swords or axes looted from dead adventurers. In those cases, Ha-ryeong stepped in first to disarm them.
Yuri inwardly grumbled about that. He wanted to try fighting monsters armed with weapons. But he couldn't complain. A one-on-one between a Rank 3 humanoid monster and a 2nd Tier martial fighter was already mismatched enough. Arming it would risk injury.
‘Doesn't seem like I'd get hurt, though?’
He kept that thought to himself.
The fights weren't difficult, but they were quite helpful in terms of ‘experience.’ Yuri's fists left no scratches on lizardmen scales, nor did they damage bones. He could easily block an orc's wild swings and deflect attacks with Nancheon Flowing Cloud Fist.
With his internal energy restricted, the impact power was reduced. That made killing them a chore.
He would grab a limb, snap it, subdue them... then draw his belt dagger and stab their throats repeatedly until they died.
“Among all the 2nd Tier martial fighters I've seen in my life, you seem to fight the best, Mr. Yuri.”
On the second night, after several such battles, Jake let out a hollow laugh as he said that. Yuri replied it was too much praise, while Elena nodded proudly, as if it were about her.
The fourth night since entering Logos.
“Let's head down starting tomorrow.”
Elena said as she returned after checking the magic barriers around the campsite.
She had washed at the water's edge and changed her robe several times, but after four days in the mountains, her body felt grimy. She sat wrapped in her sleeping bag, brushing her hair.
“Four days feels like enough. We can collect our pay down below, and if we want to do more, we can come back up.”
“Yeah.”
No need for more. Yuri concluded inwardly. At this level, he'd gained all the experience Logos could offer, and he now knew how adventurers lived.
“I'm going to sleep now, so if anything happens... well, no need to wake me. I'll wake up before you do.”
During their stay in Logos, Yuri always took the first watch. It was consideration for the lowest Tier among them.
Nights in the mountains weren't quiet. Especially in Logos—they were noisy. Along with the inevitable cries of insects in such places came monster sounds from all directions.
It wasn't just noise. If he focused on his senses, he could detect things beyond sound or smell.
The awakened instinct of a 2nd Tier martial fighter.
Instincts varied by person, but Yuri—with his exceptional talent nearing 4th Tier—could sense ‘gazes.’ And gazes tinged with hostility or killing intent felt even stronger.
Yuri sat cross-legged by the campfire. He couldn't close his eyes for meditation while guarding the surroundings. Instead, he consciously kneaded the internal energy in his dantian, stared into the campfire, and sharpened his senses like a blade.
Tilting his ears brought in various sounds. Wood crackling in the flames. Sparks dying out. The breathing of Jake and Elena lying around the fire. Listening closer revealed Ha-ryeong's breaths—so faint it was hard to tell if she was asleep or dead.
Cries of insects, birds, monsters. Even as night deepened, intermittent fight sounds continued.
A bit more. He sharpened his senses further. His instincts caught gazes next. Clear hostility and killing intent stabbed at him like needles. Monsters. They watched from afar, blocked by the magic barrier.
A bit more.
Pushing senses further inward at this point no longer expanded outward but focused ‘inside.’ That was how Yuri looked within himself. His pounding heart. Blood flowing through veins. Internal energy flowing from dantian through meridians.
A burning sensation. Though not meditating, Yuri focused on the internal energy flow rooted in his dantian. The campfire before him kept burning. In the pitch-black mountain night where the sky was barely visible, the only light here was that fire.
Crackle, crackle. The sound of the campfire being devoured by flames. To sustain and grow the flames, whether wood or whatever, fuel was needed.
‘What do I need to burn my fire?’
More internal energy? No, that wasn't it. While internal energy and mana helped raise Tiers, Yuri's intuition told him otherwise.
To reach the ‘next’ stage of the Heavenly Principle Annihilating Evil Art, internal energy wasn't what was required.
‘What could it be...’
He had thought experiencing real combat during half a year of training might give him a vague sense, even if the levels differed greatly. Manwol Yue-hee and Kwon Rang had spoken of insights gained in ‘real battle.’
But real combat in Logos hadn't given Yuri what he needed most. Because it wasn't true real combat?
‘Well, it was all overprotected, after all.’
Yuri gave a wry smile and turned his head. He saw Elena sleeping soundly.
At most a bit over a month ahead. Return to Lutran from Logos, spend a few days at the mansion talking about next steps, eating, packing...
‘I’ll send a letter.’
‘See you next time.’
They would probably part with words like that. A strange feeling welled up. When he first met Elena and came to Lutran, he had desperately wanted to leave as soon as possible—but now that departure loomed, he hesitated.
He knew he shouldn't let these emotions sway him, but the feelings built over half a year ran too deep.
Lee Soo-hyuk had lost his parents at 14. It was an accident. Fortunately, not a complete orphan, he went to a distant relative's home instead of an institution. But the sense of family remained faint.
He left home as an adult. The family hadn't been wealthy to begin with, so his parents' inheritance was small, but there was insurance money. The relative who had taken him in for six years and acted as guardian thankfully wasn't shrewd enough trash to embezzle it.
From then on, he lived alone. Looking back, it felt like he had always been alone. During his sensitive teenage years of puberty and such, he had shut his heart completely. After independence, he tentatively opened it, but no one was around.
That was why the half year in Lutran felt so vivid.
*
On the way down after packing camp, they spotted a corpse.
A corpse with limbs torn off.
It wasn't the first corpse in Logos. Just yesterday, they had seen two eaten by monsters, with remains left.
In Logos, teeming with monsters, adventurers dying was commonplace.
No matter how prepared or how well they navigated, land with rifts always carried chaos.
“Ugh.”
Elena grimaced at the corpse spotted from afar. Having lived long in the city, she had little tolerance for human remains. She didn't approach and turned away, while Ha-ryeong stood by, scanning the surroundings.
“No monsters nearby, but let's change paths.”
Even if a Rank 4 or higher monster appeared, Elena and Ha-ryeong could handle it. But Ha-ryeong had no intention of choosing a potentially dangerous route.
“I'll check the corpse for a moment.”
Jake, who had been watching, spoke up. Same as yesterday. Upon spotting a corpse, he rushed over, checked it, and recovered the adventurer registration and possessions.
He claimed it was out of mourning for a fellow adventurer and for the family, but the face he made upon finding money suggested not entirely.
“I'll go with you.”
Ha-ryeong said. They would change paths, but she wanted to grasp what monster had made the corpse. Jake thought ‘no,’ but he had no say. In the end, Jake and Ha-ryeong approached the body.
“It's a wolf bear. A rare Rank 4 monster born around here. It moves alone, not in packs—a grim reaper to Rank 3 adventurers.”
Jake inspected the corpse while showing off his knowledge.
“See? The limb cuts are rough, right? The wolf bear rips them off with brute force. It doesn't like human entrails much, so it eats the limbs.”
Rambling unasked, Jake rummaged through the corpse's pockets. He checked the neck registration first. Rank 4 adventurer. Jake's eyes gleamed.
“A Rank 4 shouldn't lack experience... Must've let guard down. It happens sometimes...”
Before Jake finished, Ha-ryeong leaped back suddenly. She spun in midair, kicked off nothing, and flew toward them.
“Ha-ryeong?”
Elena looked puzzled. Ha-ryeong didn't answer. Her spread arms grabbed Elena and Yuri. Thud! Her descended foot kicked the ground again.
“Why all of a sudden?”
“Hasn't been dead long, and it's not a monster kill.”
Ha-ryeong answered quickly. Clutching Elena and Yuri firmly at her sides, she kept running.
“What...?”
“No monster tracks. And I felt a gaze.”
Her tone held no humor. Elena's face stiffened too. She hurriedly looked back. Jake stood awkwardly, confused by Ha-ryeong's sudden move.
“W-what's going on?!”
Jake shouted in surprise. That instant—splat! Two feet dropped from the sky, flattening Jake headfirst like a pancake. Splurt! Blood sprayed from his crushed, aluminum-can-like body.
“True, it doesn't like entrails much.”
A white-haired elder raised his head. Ghostly eyes flashed in scarlet pupils.
“Entrails taste bad. A hassle to eat. This old one prefers chewing fresh flesh.”
Blood from the stomped corpse strung sticky threads from his raised foot. The elder strode forward with a chuckle.
“Think you're unlucky? Wrong. Don't think that. This old one has been watching you since yesterday.”
Despite the distance, his voice sounded right beside them.
“The unlucky one is this fool with limbs torn off. I worked all night clearing the area, and this idiot stumbles in from elsewhere. Didn't have time to clean up. Heh heh, if you'd stayed away from here, no misfortune.”
He eyed Ha-ryeong. Sweat beaded her forehead, brows furrowed, lips tight. Her face wasn't expressionless.
“Think you can escape? I said I've been watching since yesterday. No one around to help you. Blonde girl, your magic was noisy, flashy lights—quite the racket. But impressive. So this is inevitable. Your fault. Your flashy magic caught this old one's interest.”
Looking back, the elder had lowered into stance.
“Wanted you deeper in, but you're descending—no choice. Belly not full yet, but must catch you early.”
Thud! The elder shot forward like an arrow. Far faster than Ha-ryeong running with Yuri and Elena. Biting her lip, Ha-ryeong hurled Elena and Yuri forward.
“Miss, run!”
“Ha-ryeong, what about you?”
“Don't worry about me.”
An oversight. Watching since yesterday? But no gaze felt. Unavoidable. Never let guard down. Simply the elder's gaze too stealthy for even Ha-ryeong to notice.
‘Who is he?’
In Logos, monsters weren't the only danger. As Ha-ryeong had warned—not others, but villains exploiting rifts where corpses were no surprise. Bandits targeting adventurers, fiends lurking behind monsters.
They knew and came to Logos. Worry too much about risks and you'd never end. Logos was low-risk among rifts, strictly managed.
‘Who'd think this escort duty would truly risk my life.’
Ha-ryeong swallowed a sigh and swung her arms. Shwick-shwick-shwick! Daggers in her hands flew at the elder. He grimaced and laughed hideously at the assault.
Kicking the ground, the elder leaped low and spun. Boom! Blood light exploded, batting the daggers. Beyond the blood light, he spread his hands wide. Crack! Crimson force engulfed Ha-ryeong.
‘Energy projection...!’
Meaning the elder at least 5th Tier. Ha-ryeong didn't meet it head-on, dodging sideways. Boom! The ground where the force hit flipped, dust rising.
In the billowing dust, Ha-ryeong pulled up her mask. She gripped new daggers in both hands.
Crackle!
A bolt of lightning pierced the dust.
“I said run!”
Ha-ryeong screamed like a banshee.
“You can't take him alone!”
Elena, wand aimed, shrieked back.
“Then it'll kill you and chase me?! I! Can't run as fast as you! Better to fight together here!”
“I can buy time! Maybe even injure it if lucky...”
She couldn't finish. Said watching since yesterday. Ha-ryeong hadn't fully unleashed martial arts, but Elena had used magic constantly. With his age and experience, he'd gauged Elena's Tier and roughly Ha-ryeong's too.
Yet he advanced to devour them—because he was confident.
“Truly, such flashy magic.”
Whoosh! A massive gust swept away all the dust.
The elder stood unscathed, grinning with yellowed teeth.