The Headless Knight

At the summit of Cheonchu Mountain, the crew stood before the magic stele.

There was a stone bridge, easily over ten meters wide. A bridge with no railing, perched so impossibly high that clouds drifted past at its side. Cheonchu Mountain itself wasn't particularly tall, so this was a strange phenomenon indeed.

But Won-goo knew exactly why it happened. When the apocalypse began, even the terrain of the planet Earth had been readjusted — that was what produced sights like this one.

And the fact that it's still ongoing is what really pisses me off.

"Hyun-sung. Go and come back."

"Yes, Hyeong-nim! I'll report back with results, Hyeong-nim."

Lee Hyun-sung bowed deeply in greeting and stepped onto the stone bridge. At once, the bridge's edges flickered briefly, and strange letters surfaced on the ground for a moment before vanishing again.

He walked out without hesitation.

"In theory, you're supposed to enter alone, but……"

"Worried?"

"I've never seen anyone get past this trial."

"How many have you watched try?"

"I'm sorry?"

Baek Seol asked again. "How many people have you seen attempt that bridge?"

"Seven, give or take? All of them failed."

"This time you'll get to see it succeed."

"That would take some luck. It's been different every time."

"So it's a gamble of fortune. Worried?"

"I'm fine. The Director isn't the type to do something reckless. He'll size up whatever gets summoned and then give it a 'physical' treatment, won't he?"

"Nope."

"I'm sorry?"

"I have no intention of treating it. Hyun-sung should be able to handle at least this much on his own."

"I know Hyun-sung's abilities, but…… dangerous opponents come out of there too."

"Good enough. Want to bet on whose math is right?"

"……"

"I believe in my crew."

When Lee Hyun-sung reached the middle of the bridge, a capsule machine dropped from the empty air with a heavy thud.

It was the kind of rotating capsule dispenser common enough in the world before the apocalypse.

Grind. Click. Clunk.

He turned the crank, and a capsule rolled out. Inside was a figure: the headless knight, the Dullahan — a knight holding its severed head in one hand and a longsword in the other.

The Dullahan opened the eyes that had been shut, and its tongue lolled out long and wet.

Swish!

The attack came immediately. A horizontal slash tore through the air.

Swish!

Another strike followed it. Lee Hyun-sung parried with the Chinese cleaver and gave ground, backing away.

"The headless knight is classified as a Grade 4 monster at minimum. Is he really going to be all right? Even now, we could have him retreat and—"

The bridge trial ended the moment a challenger left the bridge — and anyone who stepped off could never take the trial again. Stay on, and you had to defeat the guardian. And at this point in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time, there were not many people alive who could handle a Grade 4 monster or higher alone.

That was why Baek Seol was genuinely worried.

"The Dullahan. Tricky monster. The head it stubbornly holds in one hand is a penalty, sure, but it's still strong. The longsword swordplay it unleashes one-handed is fast, powerful, and methodical all at once. And its armor, fused as it is with the body, simply shrugs off anything that isn't a serious hit."

"You know it well. It's a dangerous opponent. It would take at least three enhancement-types of Hyun-sung's caliber swarming it to take it down safely."

"That's the hard part of it, to be sure — but flip it around, and that's all there is to the Dullahan. Anything above that grade, who knows. This level is fine."

But the battle did not go fine at all.

The Dullahan kept raining down attacks while Lee Hyun-sung scrambled just to block them. Blocking them, yes — but not cleanly. Not every strike was turned away.

Clang! Kang! Skreeee!

Some attacks got through. Sword marks bloomed across Lee Hyun-sung's chest, his thighs, his forearms. The wound on his right forearm in particular had cut deep enough that blood could be seen seeping out in a steady trickle.

Yet Won-goo was perfectly calm. The other crew members were silent too. Everyone here knew the rule: when things got serious, you shut your mouth.

Perhaps because of that, the area was hushed. Even Baek Seol, who had voiced her concerns so many times, pressed her lips tightly shut.

Won-goo still didn't seem worried, but the others felt nothing of the kind.

The wind howled loud enough to ring in their ears. The sound of cold steel rang out in time with its rhythm, and light scattered into the air.

CRUNCH! SLAM!

Lee Hyun-sung's body was driven backward. The Dullahan, which had wielded only the longsword until now, had switched to a front kick.

It was the sluggish, crushing force befitting a high-grade monster — even Lee Hyun-sung, a mountain of a man, was shoved back more than a meter and went down.

His strength wasn't weak. But neither was it exceptional — if anything, it sat below the average for an enhancement-type survivor. He had steadily raised the mental-related abilities needed to wield Huang Zhiheng's Chinese Cleaver, and had raised his stamina and recovery alongside them. Prioritizing those stats had left Lee Hyun-sung comparatively low in raw strength and agility.

Less an offensive enhancement-type like Sang-je than a defensive one, built to endure and hold the line.

Defensive enhancement-types only shone when they had allies to shore up their weakness — their attack power.

But right now, there was no one to back Lee Hyun-sung up. He had to overcome the Dullahan alone.

Pack!

Crack!

He scrambled up and caught the longsword on the flat of the cleaver, but the Dullahan immediately followed with another kick. This time it wasn't the belly — it was the face.

The impact was brutal enough to snap the head back of Lee Hyun-sung, who hadn't fully found his feet. And in full plate armor, the limb itself was as good as a weapon. One blow was enough to leave his face a bloody mess.

And yet his eyes held not a shred of intimidation. His faith in Won-goo.

As if he had foreseen this very day, Won-goo had told him to invest in recovery and stamina. Thanks to that, even after more than ten minutes of ferocious combat, Lee Hyun-sung showed not the slightest sign of exhaustion.

This was no simple footrace — it was a fight where one wrong step meant death. Worse, the pace of the battle was abnormally fast. The Dullahan attacked without pause or mercy, and Lee Hyun-sung blocked, over and over. Holding that pace past the ten-minute mark spoke to monstrous stamina.

The battle continued in much the same shape. Attack and defense. Lee Hyun-sung showed no intention of attacking at all.

Then, before long, a crack opened in the fight.

Something went wrong with the Dullahan — the one that had poured out attacks at a relentless pace from first to last without tiring.

It wasn't the Dullahan itself. Precisely speaking, it was the weapon it carried.

The longsword shattered.

It broke with a crack!, fragments flying out and washing over Lee Hyun-sung's body. Only then did he begin his attack.

No matter how high a grade the Dullahan was, without a weapon it was nothing more than a monster with endless stamina and brute strength. Within just a few exchanges, Lee Hyun-sung drove the Chinese cleaver deep into the Dullahan's head.

Everyone watched it happen with astonishment on their faces — everyone except Won-goo. Baek Seol especially stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Gear matters just as much as abilities, doesn't it?"

"That wasn't an ordinary weapon, was it?"

"It's the Dullahan's weapon that's weak."

"You knew that going in?"

"Nope."

"Then……"

"I trusted Hyun-sung. He fights best once his body loosens up."

"I…… see."

"If you want to know more, you'll have to join our crew. Even for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you, I can't tell you anything beyond this."

Baek Seol asked no more.

"Hyeong-nim."

"Good work."

"The reward has come out, Hyeong-nim."

It was a whisper, and Won-goo ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nodded as if he had been waiting for exactly that.

"What did you get?"

"The Dullahan's swordsmanship and a summoning capsule, Hyeong-nim."

"The Dullahan's swordsmanship is good, sure — but you can get even stronger without it."

"Then I'll take the capsule, Hyeong-nim."

"Good."

Lee Hyun-sung bowed crisply once more and stepped back. Jo Mu-sa immediately came over to inspect his wounds.

"I'm fine."

"Then get in. Time is of the essence, as it were."

With that, the crew filed into the Trailer.

"Baek Seol."

"Yes?"

"Guide us to the entrance of the descent path. We part without goodbyes. We settle up after I'm back — you know that, right?"

"That's how we'll do it."

Baek Seol and Kim Seok-bong each mounted their motorcycles. Baek Seol took the lead, and the Trailer followed behind.

"Oh, right! The Named item curse! That's what you used, isn't it?"

The moment Hye-ji said it with a delighted face, a brief silence fell over the Trailer.

"Noticing that — that's an impressive thing you've done."

Mu Beob-sa made no effort to hide his surprise.

Lee Hyun-sung and the Dullahan. What had decided the outcome between them was, more than anything, the weapon.

Jeon Hye-ji had been turning over a strategy built around that weapon the whole time, and she had arrived at the proper answer.

The curse bound to Named items. Named items carried curses so specialized they could not be undone by ordinary means — and paradoxically, it was that very curse that granted them their indestructibility. One only had to look at how Cullen's Syringe had emerged from that brutal battle without a scratch.

But deducing that through inference alone was no easy feat. You had to watch the matter with genuine interest, and you had to be able to think in many directions at once. On that count, Jeon Hye-ji was showing remarkable talent — enough to startle the crew of Hardened Field Veterans again and again.

"Then the option attached to that sword is……"

Her voice trailed off. She realized at once that she was overstepping. At the sight, Mu Beob-sa smirked — because she was quick on the uptake, too.

The words Director Gong had said came back to him.

"Ttugi!"

"Yes, Hyeong-nim."

Won-goo, who was driving, called out to Lee Hyun-sung. Hyun-sung leaned his head into the driver's seat, listened to a few words, and returned to his place.

Tap.

He drew the capsule from inside his coat and set it down.

"I-is this the r-reward?"

"It is. And Hyeong-nim wants Geum Chul-soo to be the one to use it."

At that, Geum Chul-soo, who had been sitting quietly, straightened up at once.

"Me? What even is this……"

"A capsule that can bring out and control the Dullahan."

A flowing silence.

The Dullahan was more than strong enough as a monster, and the ability to control one made this an extraordinary item.

"In that case, wouldn't it serve me better than him?"

Mu Beob-sa stepped forward.

"Venerable sir. Without a summoning-type Gift or ability, your ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠field of vision is said to be limited."

"Then I too would be seeing through……"

"The Dullahan's eyes, as it were. That's why it goes to Geum Chul-soo, then?"

Mu Beob-sa laid it out cleanly.

"As it contributes little to combat at present, this method is the better one, I see. In any case, it must be acknowledged that Director Gong's head turns quickly."

Mu Beob-sa picked up the capsule and handed it to Geum Chul-soo.