Traveler: Derek Walker 24
In the Solary World, there are powerhouses lurking everywhere that demand caution. The Moon Clan, led by the Moon Demon King Halo Bluelune, is naturally the top enemy to watch out for. The Four Heavenly Kings, the Legion Commanders, and if we expand the scope a bit, even former executives like Moonshadow. The Moon Clan has far too many foes to be wary of.
But the Moon Clan aren't the only ones to watch. The continent is teeming with formidable experts who've reached impressive levels. Among them are some I might recruit as party members, but plenty others I won't. My top criterion for selecting party members? Looks. Not every powerhouse on the continent is a stunner like Luna or Sera. If they're not on our side, they're the enemy. In the brutal world of Solary World, that black-and-white mindset is only natural.
This level of skill means he's no dime-a-dozen extra...! Ugh!
Blood spurted from the deep gash in my chest. The enemy's attack had been insidious, deadly, and razor-sharp. My blood pressure plummeted suddenly, leaving my head spinning. I staggered, losing my balance.
"Master!"
Sera caught my crumbling body.
"Focus on the enemy, Sera!" I barked at her. This wasn't the time to worry about me. We had to defend against the next attack. But Sera ignored me. The sudden crisis had shattered her calm judgment too.
"Master's chest...!"
"I came to the gambling den for some fun after so long, and this is what I get?"
A voice dripping with boredom echoed from the ruins of the gambling hall. Amid the shattered debris that had once been the entrance, a section lifted slightly. And from there, a man emerged.
I clung to my fading consciousness, frantically recalling countless original game characters. At this point, a powerhouse like this had to be someone I knew. I'd memorized every useful character from the game. There had to be info on this guy in my database.
That bastard... no way, the wandering mercenary Gendt?
Curl after greasy white curl, dead-fish eyes. Worn leather armor like a newbie's, a rusted sword at his hip, and those murky eyes fixed on me. Pinning down this striking mercenary's name wasn't hard. There aren't many characters that distinctive in all of Solary World.
The guy was the wandering mercenary Gendt. A solid B-rank mercenary. As a top-tier Sword Expert, he's one of the enemies the protagonist Jin faces in the original game. Not a major story boss, but one of those mid-game foes that gives players hell.
Of all the damn luck, this prick's here!
Gendt wanders the continent as a mercenary. Come to think of it, I'd read somewhere in the setting docs or novel that he loves gambling. At the time, I just skimmed it, figuring most mercenaries do. But for him to be in the Bastrey barony's gambling den of all places! What an absurd coincidence.
"Maybe it's a stroke of luck for me, though? I lost big today. If I drag you two to the lord, I'll get a fat bounty. Even corpses should fetch a nice price, right?"
Gendt drew his sword as he spoke. For a mercenary whose life depends on weapon maintenance, it was laughable—a rusty iron blade pitted in spots. But rust on the sword didn't mean rust on his mana. The slash that carved my chest proved that.
Blood poured from the wound, soaking the ground. To survive, I needed to use a recovery skill. But I didn't.
"Master! The bleeding's bad!"
Sera's frantic cry rang out beside me. Unlike her panicked voice, my mind cooled to ice. From the start, planning this terrorist act, I'd accounted for countless variables. A wandering mercenary like Gendt was actually a relief.
In the worst case, I figured a Sword Master might show up. But it's not, thank god. The gap between Sword Expert and Sword Master is night and day.
My vision darkened. Feeling my strength ebb away, I closed my eyes.
[You have died.]
*-*-*
Sera was a woman honest with her emotions. Like most beastkin, she moved more by feeling than reason, and that personality had caused her no end of trouble. She'd smoothed it out some while traveling the human world after leaving her homeland, but she was still an emotional wildcat at heart.
"Master...?"
Her breath caught. Her head spun, her vision went black. It felt like she'd been swallowed whole by an endless mire. Even when bandits captured her and she fell into slavery, she'd never known despair like this. It was a horrific shock, like a piece of her soul had been severed.
It wasn't exhaustion or a dangerous blow. Sera hadn't spilled a drop of blood. Yet she hurt. A pain she'd never felt in her life. It hurt so much she wanted to die.
"Master!"
Derek Walker's body collapsed. The blood gushing from his chest was far too much for a living man. Sera's animal instincts told her Walker was gone. It was like a thread connecting their souls had snapped. Her master had entered eternal sleep.
After despair came loss. Sera learned for the first time that loss alone could hurt this much. The mental shock hit her body too. The air tasted bitterly foul. She couldn't breathe right. The world spun dizzily.
Staggering like she'd lost balance, Sera reached for Walker.
"Master! Master!"
She shook his body. But he didn't respond. Sera knew it was futile, yet she kept calling.
"Master!"
"Master and slave, huh? Don't grieve too much. I'll send you to join him."
Gendt gripped his 150cm longsword in an overhead stance. To others, it looked like a rusted iron sword, but it was actually high-grade with mithril alloyed in. A master needs a master tool. Gendt had a blade that let him unleash 100% of his swordsmanship. Mithril's excellent mana conductivity made it perfect for mana sword users like him.
"You... killed... Master... "
Sera looked up at Gendt. Her eyes held no trace of humanity—just pure killing intent. Right now, she was more beast than human. She'd taken countless lives with her claws, but she'd never wanted to kill like this. She'd gouge out his eyes, snap his neck, rip out his guts, and never stop. Sera swore it to herself.
"Haha. Looks like you've killed plenty down there yourself. Gonna try it on me?"
Gendt mocked her, pointing his sword at the ruined arena. As he said, dozens had died to Sera's claws. The coliseum, not a single cornerstone left, was their tomb.
"You... I will... kill."
Sera declared it, her voice gut-wrenching, each word deliberate, laced with razor-sharp killing intent.
Gendt whistled and twitched his raised sword.
"If you can."
Gendt moved. The wandering mercenary Gendt had two nicknames. One was "Gendt of the Fangs."
"Ten meters is as good as point-blank for me."
His mithril longsword, cloaked in blue mana, thrust through the air. Gendt's blade was a streak of light. Reacting after seeing the trajectory was already too late. With this swift swordplay, he'd massacred over a thousand monsters and butchered hundreds of humans. Surviving his mana sword was bragging rights alone for any mercenary.
"Let's see what you've got!"
Even Sera, confident in her speed, had to pour everything into dodging. In other words, it was an attack she could evade at full power. Gendt's sharp mana sword, slicing empty air, ended in vain.
"Oho! What footwork! Rare for a human! I know every speedster with a name in Miles Kingdom! But you're new to me! Makes me curious about that face under the mask!"
Gendt grinned with delight, pressing with a combo. Gambling was his vice, but fighting was his greatest thrill. That's why he became a mercenary—to roam the continent freely and battle. Monsters were fun, but nothing beat fighting people.
"Let's crank the speed higher!"
Thick blue mana poured from Gendt's body, reinforcing his physique. A technique any sword user at his level could employ, but far from weak just because it was basic. A powerhouse like him could amp his body to near-reinforcement magic levels.
"This is 70% of my speed! Block this, and I'll go 80%, 90%!"
The foe was toying with her. Sera felt it as she parried. He wasn't holding back strategically—he just enjoyed watching her flail and mocking her. Sick hobby. Sera wasn't angry. Her mind was filled with killing Gendt. She was ready to counter the moment an opening appeared, even if it cost her life.
No gaps. This man's strong.
He wasn't mindlessly aggressive. His transcendent speed erased post-attack openings, and he chose trajectories that gave no counter chances. Superior physicals paired with intelligent combat style. Moves honed crossing countless death lines, veteran mercenary through and through.
A battle-hardened vet who's fought this a thousand times.
Could she win head-on against this man? Sera calculated her odds. She had to beat a foe matching her full power at just 70% speed. No matter how she crunched it, her win rate was slim.
But it wasn't impossible. The world wasn't designed for the strong alone. The weak could seize chances too, if they paid the price.
But sacrificing this body changes everything.