34. Desperate Struggle
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Translator: JayM
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Desperate Struggle
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The torchlight flickered on his sword.
He examined his long sword.
The blade was chipped and cracked.
Its durability was nearing its end. He needed a new weapon.
He listened to the sounds outside.
He had a little time.
He glanced at Karin and Gillian. They were incapacitated by the poison.
Gillian could still speak, albeit haltingly.
He quickly ran over and picked up Gillian’s zweihander.
“I’ll borrow this.”
“…Go ahead.”
The two-handed great sword was heavy. Then he went to Karin.
Karin’s face was pale, and she was groaning.
“Karin, how are you feeling?”
She mumbled something incoherently.
He couldn’t understand her.
He took her two daggers and secured them to his belt.
He looked down at Karin and said,
“See? People need to rely on each other. Acknowledge that and reflect, alright? Good. Good children get rewarded.”
He took a bear-shaped biscuit from his pocket and placed it on her belly.
As he stood up, Lionel looked at him like he was crazy.
He ignored the elf and returned to the entrance of the tower.
He wiped the blood and grease off the daggers and the great sword with his robe and applied the blood oil on them.
He wished he had more time to prepare.
The centipedes’ shrieks grew louder.
He didn’t doubt Karin and Gillian’s abilities.
He was impressed by their skills against these unknown monsters.
He had observed their battles and memorized the things he needed to watch out for.
He was glad that he decided to buy his light armor.
Life was full of surprises.
He stood at the entrance, blocking the way in.
‘One-man defense.’
[Abyss Protection]
Ahiman cast a spell.
A dark aura emanated from him and enveloped Jeong Yoo-shin.
“What’s this?”
He asked, startled.
“A protection spell against otherworldly entities. I was right. They’re otherworldly monsters. This should give you some poison resistance. Skar, you’re our only hope. Hold them back.”
Ahiman said.
Jeong Yoo-shin was taken aback by his blind faith.
“What if I can’t hold them back?”
“Then we all die.”
“Shut up!!”
Unlike the calm Ahiman, Lionel shouted angrily.
Ahiman chuckled and closed his eyes, resuming his chant.
His casual talk of death was unsettling.
Were all mystics like this?
The human heart was a mystery.
He pushed aside his questions and focused on the task at hand.
He took his stance.
‘Here they come.’
Crash!
The wooden door of the tower creaked.
He raised his sword.
Boom!!!
The door exploded, sending splinters of wood flying.
A centipede poked its head through the hole.
A centipede with a goblin’s head.
“Kreeek!”
Whoosh!!
An arrow flew at the speed of light.
It pierced the centipede’s head. The centipede was thrown backward.
Five more entered the tower.
Jeong Yoo-shin braced himself and swung his sword.
A horizontal strike.
Slash!!
Three heads flew through the air.
He cleaved another centipede’s head in two with a downward strike and kicked the last one with his work boot.
Bang!!
The centipede, its head caved in, flew through the air and crashed against the wall.
More centipedes swarmed in, trampling over the fallen ones.
He grabbed the neck of an airborne centipede and crushed it.
Crack.
He felt the bones breaking in his hand.
The centipede went limp. He threw it hard.
It collided with several other centipedes, sending them sprawling.
His sword moved faster and faster.
Whoosh!
It began to make a whistling sound as it sliced through the air.
Slash!!
He severed the cervical vertebrae and split the faces of the oncoming centipedes.
Sticky blood splattered on the floor, and the monsters’ shrieks echoed through the entrance.
Lionel fired arrows frantically from the back.
Clang!!
Finally…
His long sword broke.
He mourned its loss briefly before throwing it at the centipedes.
A centipede, struck by the hilt of the broken sword, shrieked and rolled across the floor before disappearing beneath the swarm of oncoming centipedes.
[Sacred Weapon]
He thought of Einhorfer.
And his great axe. He could still see the dwarf wielding it with grim determination.
Magic power surged into his hand. He quickly formed a golden great axe.
He lowered his stance and braced himself.
“Haaaa!!!”
He swung the axe with both hands.
Whoosh!!!
A horizontal strike.
Crack!!
He cleaved through more than ten centipedes with a single blow.
Fragments of bone and flesh splattered against the wall.
“Holy shit!!”
Lionel’s shocked exclamation echoed from behind.
The golden great axe dissolved into particles of light.
He quickly grabbed Gillian’s zweihander.
It was heavy.
He had never used a great sword before.
But he had observed Gillian’s swordsmanship.
He could imitate it, at least to some extent.
He lowered his stance and rested the great sword on his shoulder.
Whoosh!
A downward strike.
Bang!!
The great sword shattered a centipede and embedded itself into the ground.
A fragment of stone flew up and struck his helmet.
He pulled the great sword free and swung it horizontally.
Five more centipedes were bisected.
He swung the great sword with all his might.
The entrance of the tower was piled high with the mangled remains of the centipedes, but more kept pouring in from outside.
“Damn it!! I’m out of arrows!”
Lionel’s cry reached his ears.
He gritted his teeth and continued swinging the great sword.
With each swing of the heavy weapon, his strength drained, and his muscles screamed in protest.
Lionel, out of arrows, drew his sword and stood in front of Ahiman.
The situation grew increasingly dire.
The number of centipedes slipping past him increased.
Lionel fought with grim determination.
Bang!!
Another downward strike.
The great sword smashed another centipede and embedded itself into the ground.
A human-faced centipede, crawling on the wall, lunged at his face.
He let go of the great sword and turned his head.
Clang!
The centipede’s stinger struck his helmet.
His head throbbed.
Drawing the two daggers from his waist, he swung them while holding them in reverse grips.
Slash!!
He severed the centipede’s stinger and cervical vertebrae.
He took a step forward, moving closer to the entrance.
The daggers had a shorter reach than the great sword.
He didn’t think about anything else.
He focused only on Karin’s dagger techniques, replaying them in his mind.
He swung the daggers, mimicking her movements.
Slice!
Slice!
He targeted only their faces.
The faces were diverse: elves, dwarves, beast-people, humans, goblins, and other races he hadn’t seen before.
And then he saw a familiar face.
His eyes widened.
Jackson.
From the newbie explorers class.
As fellow rookies, they got along well despite only having known each other for a week.
Even though he was a barbarian, Jackson had not harbored any prejudices against him.
The time they had spent together had created a bond.
His hand hesitated for a moment.
The centipede with Jackson’s face dodged his dagger and lunged at him.
Its stinger pierced the eye slit of his helmet.
“Ugh!”
“Skar!!”
Lionel screamed.
The stinger hadn’t reached his eye.
The centipede thrashed its stinger, and his helmet flew off.
His face was exposed.
He swung his dagger instinctively.
The centipede was bisected.
Thud.
Another centipede, which had approached him unnoticed, stung him in the neck.
“Gah!”
The poison coursed through his veins.
He swung his dagger, severing its tail.
But the stinger remained embedded in his neck.
He pulled it out, blood and poison flowing from the wound.
It luckily missed the carotid artery though he couldn’t worry about it now.
More centipedes were swarming towards him.
He swung his daggers frantically.
Karin’s techniques were gone from his mind.
He also forgot the Sword Master’s teachings.
Only instinct and rage remained.
He slashed, sliced, and tore.
He stomped on the centipedes crawling on the ground, crushing their heads, faces, and stingers with his work boots.
But he couldn’t stop them all.
Thud!!
His thigh.
Thud!!
His shin.
Thud!!
His right arm.
He had been stung multiple times in areas not protected by his armor. His vision blurred.
He didn’t exactly know how he was still standing.
It was probably thanks to Ahiman’s protection spell.
But even that was reaching its limit.
His movements were becoming sluggish.
Lionel shouted something from behind, but he couldn’t hear him.
Thud!!
His eyes widened.
Another stinger struck his neck.
He met the gaze of the human-faced centipede.
‘I see.’
These centipedes pierced their victims’ necks, ripped their heads off, inserted their spines into the neck stumps, and controlled their bodies.
He suddenly understood their modus operandi.
‘These vicious bastards.’
He grabbed the centipede clinging to his neck.
The centipede bit his arm with its sharp teeth.
He opened his mouth wide.
Crunch!
He bit down on the centipede’s spine and ripped it out.
“Kreeek!!”
The centipede shrieked and went limp.
“Tch!”
He spat out the bone fragments and gathered his remaining magic power in his hand.
[Sacred Weapon]
He willed a war hammer into existence.
He gripped the radiant, golden war hammer with both hands and swung.
Kaboom!!!
Dust and debris filled the air.
Living and dead centipedes were crushed into paste.
This was his last resort. He had no magic power left. This was the end.
Thud!!
Thud!!
Thud!!
The metal plates of his light armor were torn away.
Sharp stingers pierced through the leather and embedded themselves into his body.
The viscous poison spread through his veins.
He felt death approaching.
And then…
[Abyss Barrier]
An immense force erupted from behind him, pushing back the human-faced centipedes.
The centipedes clinging to him as well as those swarming through the entrance were all repelled.
It was a barrier spell that banished otherworldly entities.
Some of the centipedes were crushed against the wall.
He knelt down.
Lionel rushed towards him.
Karin and Gillian, having regained some mobility, crawled towards him.
“Skar…”
Karin’s voice trembled.
Jeong Yoo-shin opened his mouth.
“Blech.”
He vomited a mouthful of black blood.
“Don’t talk. Just stay still.”
Lionel ran to his bag.
“…Why… why did you do that?”
Karin looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears.
“…To… survive…”
“How is that surviving?!”
“You… survived… Now… you… save… me…”
Jeong Yoo-shin’s words were slurred as he collapsed, his face hitting the floor.
Karin shook him and shouted his name, but he didn’t respond.
“Skar!!”
Darkness closed in.
His consciousness flickered.
He heard the voices of his party members.
“…Is there nothing we can do?”
“…All the healing potions…”
“Block them!!”
“Get me more arrows!!”
“Cast the barrier again, Ahiman!”
His mind and body were tossed around like leaves in the wind.
His eyes closed, and darkness returned.
He then woke up.
His body was stiff and unresponsive.
His stomach churned.
He managed to sit up and look around.
He was still in the tower.
But not on the first floor.
A single flickering torch illuminated the dark space.
“You’re awake?”
Karin said.
She was sitting nearby.
Her face was pale, and her lips were dry and cracked.
“…Where are the others?”
“Gillian and Lionel are searching the tower. They’re probably upstairs.”
Karin haltingly explained the situation.
Two days had passed since he collapsed.
He had clung to life thanks to Ahiman’s protection spell, and he was finally able to recover with the help of some healing potions and Gillian’s Purification magic.
“She used Purification on you four times before you finally started breathing again. It was a close call.”
He nodded, then stopped.
Purification?
“What’s Purification?”
“A holy spell used by clerics. It cleanses impurities.”
So it wasn’t an imprint ability, but a paladin’s holy spell.
But wouldn’t you need to be in good condition to cast magic?
“How did Gillian recover?”
“The Abyss Barrier dispelled some of the otherworldly energy within our bodies. After that, we used the Anti-Poison scroll to help Gillian recover, and then Gillian used Purification on you. And on me.”
That explained why Karin and Gillian had been able to move, albeit with difficulty, after Ahiman cast that barrier spell.
And Gillian had been able to speak, though haltingly.
So paladins had some resistance to otherworldly energies.
Karin continued her explanation.
They failed to hold the first floor.
And the second.
They had to retreat to the third floor.
Ahiman was currently maintaining a barrier spell on the stairs leading to the third floor, preventing the human-faced centipedes from advancing.
“He can’t hold it much longer. Ahiman's at his limit.”
Karin’s voice was grim.
“…”
Jeong Yoo-shin listened silently.
Two days had passed since they were trapped in the tower.
It was too late to hope for a rescue. They couldn’t wait any longer.
They had to find a way out themselves.
Clatter!
One of the two wooden doors at the end of the third floor burst open.
The right door.
The torchlight between him and Karin flickered.
He turned his head.
Someone was standing in the doorway.
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T/N - See? What did I tell you… Metal as f*ck!