108. Padix Kingdom (3)
108. Padix Kingdom (3)
"Heok...! Heok...!"
Before the body of Gluttony that was slowly crumbling and disappearing, the hero slumped to the ground.
The hero dropped his sword on the ground.
Even though knights and adventurers learn never to let go of their swords, the hero had no choice.
"Kkeueuk—!"
The hero clutched his stomach with both hands.
Because it felt like his organs would spill out if he let go with one hand, he had to hold on with both.
"Oppa!"
"Hero!"
"Zeon!"
The hero party members gathered around the hero.
The hero's younger sister, who served as the party's healer, quickly used healing magic.
With little remaining holy power and mana, just using healing magic made her head feel like it was splitting, but she didn't stop.
"Thanks, Jena. Huu... That was really close."
The hero Zeon slowly stood up after being healed.
"Kkeueung."
Though his abdomen returned to normal thanks to the healing, until moments ago all his organs from the intestines onward had been ruptured, so the pain remained.
Normally, after taking this much damage, one would need to rest and slowly recover the body, but there was no time for that now.
They had to subdue the gigantic worm-shaped creature that was trying to destroy the Padix Kingdom.
"It's impossible right now."
The man who served as the mage in the hero party said, looking at the hero.
No matter how much healing he received, the damage didn't completely disappear.
As if to prove that, the hero kept clutching his stomach with one hand.
It was to alleviate the constant pain, even a little.
"I'm fine. This much is no problem."
"What do you mean no problem? Can't you see your hand right now? It looks like you can barely even hold your sword. Is my eyesight wrong?"
As the mage said, the hero Zeon's hand was trembling slightly.
"But I can't stop here. Because right now, at this very moment, many people are dying. And the mere fact that I came will give strength to the knights and adventurers. But if I retreat here? All the remaining hope will disappear in an instant."
The hero set his sword upright on the ground and slapped his own cheek a few times.
"That's what I need."
The hero tried to take something out of his pocket.
"Oppa...! No. Just rest here for about 10 minutes and then go."
"Jena, I'm fine."
"No, absolutely not. Oppa is too impatient. I know people are dying right now, but if you move this hastily, only more people will die."
Jena, the hero's younger sister and healer, grabbed the hero Zeon's shoulder and forced him to sit down.
"Wait... Something's strange."
Then the archer of the hero party lifted her head and looked up at the sky.
"Why are the birds... looking at us?"
It might be different with one bird, but over ten birds were flying in the sky, all of them staring at the hero party.
Jena shouted as soon as she saw the birds.
"Eonni! Attack those birds right now!"
"Got it!"
Without any further comment, the archer immediately drew her bow and shot arrows at the birds.
Jena's unique ability was none other than the ability to distinguish hostility.
A simple ability to tell if someone is an enemy or ally.
With ordinary birds, it would be normal to feel nothing, but the moment Jena saw the birds flying in the sky, she sensed a tremendous amount of hostility.
That alone proved they weren't ordinary birds, so Jena shouted without hesitation to attack them.
"Kkieeeeeek!"
The creatures, which had almost no combat ability and were specialized solely in reconnaissance, couldn't dodge the hero party archer's attacks and fell to the ground.
"This is..."
The hero party frowned at the creatures that had fallen to the ground.
From the sky, they had looked no different from ordinary birds, but up close, they were clearly a type of creature that had recently appeared.
Many monsters hostile to humans exist in the current world.
First, the monsters that created the adventurer profession.
Then the demonic beasts created by the demons to kill humans.
And the creatures that suddenly appeared in the world.
The characteristic of creatures is that they have pitch-black bodies and red eyes.
The appearance of the birds perfectly displayed those features, so anyone could see they were creatures.
But the important thing was why the creatures had been watching them from the sky.
"Were they scouting?"
"To gather information about us? Do they have that much intelligence?"
"They're not demons, so could it be..."
"But if not that, then why were these creatures, which seem to have no combat ability, so blatantly staring at us?"
"I don't think this is a good situation. The fact that so many creatures, not just one or two, were watching us means—"
Before the archer could finish speaking, numerous creatures gathered near the hero party.
==
"Heok...! Heok...!"
"Huu..."
"Damn it! How many of them are there?!"
After killing Gluttony, the hero party had to deal with creatures for over an hour.
They had tried to take a short break and then move to subdue the giant worm, but numerous creatures gathered and attacked.
Fortunately, unlike Gluttony, these creatures were very weak and not too difficult to handle, but their overwhelming numbers left the hero party extremely exhausted.
Mana, holy power, energy—almost everything was depleted.
The mage found it hard even to stand, unable to support himself with his staff, and collapsed to the ground. The archer's fingers were covered in blood from drawing the bow too much.
Jena was vomiting stomach acid due to poisoning from continuously drinking mana potions, and the hero Zeon, while keeping watch on the surroundings, caught his breath and opened his mouth.
"The creatures intentionally gathered towards us. Even though there were civilians fleeing nearby, they ignored them all and charged at us. That means there's something controlling these creatures."
The archer said while pouring a healing potion over her fingers.
"Could it be that giant worm? I heard the worm summons creatures. Or rather, not summons but spits them out? Transports them? Anyway."
"No matter the creature, the most important commander doesn't appear on the battlefield."
The mage shook his head.
"That also makes sense."
"Could it be that creatures also have a Demon King-like entity like the demons? It's frustrating that we don't have much information yet. Is there anyone around with a Status Window unique ability?"
"As far as I remember, I heard there's someone named Viviant in the Holy Kingdom."
"Really?"
"But I heard she went missing while trying to subdue a creature."
"Damn."
The hero party tried to talk as much as possible to ease the current situation.
Because if they didn't, they felt they would be swallowed up by this desperate atmosphere.
Buildings destroyed beyond recognition by the acidic blood of countless creatures, the overwhelming stench of blood and disgusting creature corpses all around.
And then...
A woman?
A woman who definitely wasn't there a moment ago appeared before the hero party.
==
Through the released creatures, I found the adventurers who killed Gluttony.
An adventurer party consisting of two men and two women.
They didn't look old, a party in their mid-twenties, and even after killing Gluttony, they seemed to have taken minimal damage.
I wanted to check through the Status Window what power they used to kill it, but to use Viviant's Status Window, I needed to see it directly through Viviant's eyes.
First, just in case, I ordered all nearby Ners to attack those adventurers.
Ners are creatures that can be increased anytime as long as there are humans.
If I could get information on that party through those Ners, that would be enough.
In my heart, I wanted to bind living humans to the bodies of Ners and make them fight those adventurers.
But there are almost no living humans nearby right now.
The children ate humans little by little, but with the command that they could eat without limits, they went berserk, so now most humans in the vicinity are only adventurers and knights.
At the moment when the Ners I sent were annihilated and even the children on reconnaissance were killed, I arrived in front of the adventurer party.
Calmly, I used the Status Window on the adventurer party.
Adventurers with stats higher than any other humans I've seen so far.
And that man holding a sword.
His unique ability is none other than Soul Cutting.
Reading through the Status Window, it said it's an ability that can deal direct damage to the soul.
Probably because of this, Gluttony couldn't escape and died.
"You're not human."
The mage man looked at me and raised his staff.
"You clearly have murderous intent towards us."
"It seems like a creature wearing a human form."
"Everyone, prepare for battle. We don't know the opponent's information, but maintain the highest danger level."
For me, who holds the title of Queen, to come to the middle of the battlefield is actually something I shouldn't do.
But.
When my child is dead, there is no parent who will stay still.
Leading my body, which had grown stronger from eating humans recently, I walked forward towards the adventurers.
