If There Is a God (2)
Dealing with the golem itself hadn’t been particularly difficult.
Once a single Chamgyeok had carved through its body, that massive frame was nothing more than an oversized target, and its sluggish movements were almost too easy to dodge.
The surrounding interference wasn’t much of a problem either. I was more than skilled enough to handle that much. Once the Ragged Golem’s aggro locked onto me, herding the rest of the pack even became a bit of fun. Not bad at all.
Yes. Things were fine right up to that point.
The real issue was how ridiculously tenacious the Ragged Golem’s vitality proved to be.
At the very least, once you’d severed its limbs, toppled that thick torso, and carved out its throat, it ought to have the decency to die.
I stared at the body parts still twitching weakly even after being separated from the trunk, then at the head I had finally dug free. From within the caved-in face and sagging skin, bloodshot eyes stared straight at me.
“Filthy demon scum.”
I planted my foot on that round skull and raised my sword.
“Dare not look me in the eye.”
Thuk!
The blade punched clean through the glabella, right above the snub nose.
Black fluid began to trickle from the split. Faintly visible inside was a grotesque organism, as if a human embryo had been swollen hundreds of times over.
Splash.
I shook off the black water and checked for signs of life. The eyes had gone cloudy; the thrashing limbs hung limp.
It was definitely dead.
“Th-the monster’s dead…!”
“The monster’s dead!”
“Push the zombies back already!!”
“Kill these sons of bitches!”
The incident wasn’t over, yet the biggest headache had been removed. People who had begun to feel a glimmer of hope from the moment I appeared finally had their morale soaring.
Kyaaaaak!
I tore through the bodies of the gargoyles that lunged at me, clearing out the ones that were hardest for ordinary people to handle.
That meant I ended up fighting a few aerial battles I never expected to, but… it didn’t feel bad. Maybe because I’d already gone a round with the Sea Dragon out on the ocean; it almost felt comfortable. After all, back then falling meant instant death!
Uwoooogh!
“Hiek!”
I rescued people who nearly got killed by former comrades, and I cut down every last pirate belonging to Bipurit.
With the gargoyles wiped out, only the human-shaped enemies remained.
“Ugh… ghk… kuh…!”
“…! Finn, Finn?!”
“Shit, get away!”
But was that easy? Honestly, I almost wished two Ragged Golems had shown up instead. Those just caused temporary damage; kill them and it was over.
Bipurit’s gang was one thing, but the zombies were another matter entirely. I’d thought they were demon parasites, yet getting bitten still infected you exactly like ordinary zombies. Even the delayed onset of symptoms was the same.
The cleanup was the real nightmare, and the aftertaste was bitter. With people and zombies thoroughly mixed together, I couldn’t just wipe the whole area clean in one go.
“Finn, snap out of it!”
“Get away, you want to turn into a zombie too?! Finn’s already gone!”
“Finn!”
Just like right now.
Kraaagh!
I snatched up the one who was coughing and about to attack his own comrade.
Crunch. I tightened my grip and felt the neck bones snap. The vivid sensation of crushing flesh and breaking the bone inside was crystal clear.
It’s a demon, after all.
But it was a demon. Even if I wanted to give it a chance to reclaim its self, the situation simply didn’t allow it.
If a Demon Energy antidote would work, maybe—but even that wasn’t certain, and I didn’t have any on me right now.
“Finn!!”
In the end I ignored the resentful glare fixed on me and went after the rest. There were still plenty of enemies left to kill.
“Damn it, why, why again?!”
“Y-you weren’t bitten, right?”
“Anyone who got bitten, confess right now! This isn’t like forty years ago! Report bites immediately!”
“Gather at the castle gate—we’ll reorganize there!”
For the moment I only dealt with those wearing red cloth and anyone already showing symptoms. There might be more bitten people among the survivors, but I had no time to check them one by one.
Since Baramson had asked me, I needed to find the lord of the castle.
“Hey.”
So I grabbed one of the people searching for the bitten. His clothes looked far too civilian, yet the way he was barking orders around him didn’t feel like a low rank.
And higher ranks tended to know more.
“Ah, you’re…”
“Where’s the castle lord?”
“Th-the lord?”
Apparently I’d chosen the wrong person. He just looked thoughtful and didn’t give an easy answer.
Whether it was suspicion of me or genuine ignorance, I couldn’t tell.
“The lord is inside the castle—no, he is inside the castle!”
Fortunately someone else stepped up to answer. He wore a soldier’s uniform, looking like he worked at the castle.
His injuries were severe, but the fact that someone was supporting him suggested infection wasn’t a concern.
“He most likely took the secret passage, but Bipurit’s men entered the castle with the zombies! They’re targeting the lord!”
Whether it was sharp intuition or fierce loyalty to the lord, I couldn’t say.
Either way, I understood. The information that the lord was still inside the castle and possibly in danger was extremely useful to me.
“Got it.”
Next stop: inside the castle.
I grabbed the nape of someone whose body was already twisting grotesquely as symptoms set in, and headed toward the castle.
Thud!
When teeth sank into my gauntlet I simply hurled the body forward and sliced through it as I passed. Clatter. A curved blade like a scimitar fell to the ground. It looked pretty useful.
“Wait, are you heading into the castle?!”
The soldier and a few others whose outfits could have been either military or civilian called after me. Kick. My foot flicked the scimitar upward into my hand a second later.
A two-hander would be awkward inside the castle, so I’d just borrow this for a while.
“We… we want to go too.”
I didn’t really care about getting permission for every little thing. In fact, since I didn’t know the paths inside the castle, having them tag along and give directions might actually be convenient.
But there were still zombies and pirates left outside. Was it okay for them to follow me? What about their subordinates?
The fighting had quieted a little, yet shouldn’t at least one officer of command rank stay behind? The ones insisting on following all looked like they could handle themselves in a fight.
“If you get in the way, I’ll leave you.”
Then again, my concept wasn’t the type to stop them either. Respecting their choice, I smashed through the castle gate and charged inside.
Suddenly my right arm itched, pointing me in one particular direction.
“Kill every pirate! After that, root out the bitten and defend the gate! If zombies approach, slaughter them all!”
Some of those who had said they would follow me left instructions with the ones staying behind, then quickly fell in behind me.
My stride was quite long, so they kept up as best they could even while grimacing from their injuries.
“The secret passage. Do you know where it is?”
“…We don’t know that much.”
“Useless.”
Strictly speaking it would have been stranger if they knew a secret passage, but not knowing made them useless anyway. I muttered that bit of nonsense and headed toward the direction that felt oddly irritating.
Soon people already infected by zombie bites began ambushing us. Some hadn’t even finished transforming and simply lay on the ground with chunks of flesh torn out, decorating the floor.
Clang, clang! Kaaang!
“…!”
Then the clash of blades rang out from one side. I picked up speed.
“Hold the line, hold!”
The moment I saw armored knights fighting a mixed force of zombies, pirates, and robed demon contractors, the borrowed curved blade moved.
Guh!
My sword cut down the rearmost zombie, then pierced the heart of the demon contractor who had been chanting under its protection.
“What the—!”
There were two of them, not one. I seized the next demon contractor’s head with my right hand.
Thud!
The skull smashed against the stone wall, spraying blood as it slid down.
“What in the—!”
“Damn it, he’s dead!”
“Kill him already!”
This curved blade was pretty good.
Satisfied with the surprisingly decent grip for a substitute weapon, I poured mana into it and swung. A lightly fired Chamgyeok stretched forward and sliced through the torsos of several of Bipurit’s men.
“We’re here!”
“Reinforcements?!”
“Just hold a little longer! Help has arrived!”
“Reinforcements!”
“W-we’re saved!”
Was this all of them? Their numbers were decent, but none of them were particularly strong.
I narrowed my eyes and collected the lives of the remaining stragglers. Only then could the knights who had been desperately holding on catch their breath.
Yet among them there was no one who looked like the castle lord.
“The lord?”
“The lord is… ah!”
One of them urgently pointed to one side—toward something like a fireplace.
“We have to save the lord! A gas-like monster passed through the wall and went after him!”
A Draugr, then. I identified the target easily and looked at the barely standing knights.
“Open it.”
After three seconds of hesitation the knight bit his lip and operated something. The secret passage opened.
“Uwaaagh!”
A scream echoed from beyond the passage.
“The lord!”
The ongoing sounds of blades clashing suggested the lord hadn’t fallen yet. That was a reasonable assumption.
With that thought I kicked off the ground. Traps seemed to trigger here and there, but I was simply too fast for them to matter. When the path split I just followed the sounds of fighting.
Of course the people following me would have a harder time of it… but I figured them suffering was still better than the lord dying.
“R-run—”
“Tia!”
Hooooooo
When I finally reached the source of the fighting, a fully materialized Draugr was raising its blade against a woman.
Directly beneath the Draugr lay a freshly dead body and the torch it had been holding, both fallen to the floor.
“You.”
With a soft shwick my sword severed the Draugr’s head.
It used to take two hits, I think. Whether it was because my level had risen or because I’d put more force into the swing than usual, the Draugr’s gaseous form melted and scattered downward.
“Are you Lord Piuon?”
Once the Draugr was gone, I saw a woman with pointed ears and a face lightly lined with wrinkles.
Her hair, braided into eight plaits, briefly caught my eye before the situation forced my thoughts into order.
“…Yes. And who are you?”
Wow, I made it by a hair’s breadth. The bodyguards all seemed to be dead… but without their sacrifice I never could have saved Piuon.
I offered a quiet prayer for the fallen and switched the sword to my right hand. Then I extended my empty left hand.
“I came on Baramson’s request.”
Piuon’s eyes wavered.
“Suriya…?”
“Get up.”
I gave my hand a small shake to emphasize its presence. Piuon took it, tears quietly slipping free.
“Did that child… succeed?”
“You’re looking at the result with your own eyes and still asking?”
“…Yes. So it is.”
I helped her to her feet and turned around. I didn’t know where the secret passage eventually led, but returning to the castle proper seemed better. There would be soldiers there.
“Outside, the knights…”
“My lord!!”
“…They’re alive.”
The voice booming through the secret passage didn’t wait for my explanation. I moved at a speed that showed no consideration for the lord.
I could judge the distance between us by the sound of her footsteps, so there was no need to keep looking back.
“You… you…!”
“I am unharmed, so do not worry.”
“My lord!”
It was nice that the guards were rejoining us, but hey—blocking a narrow path isn’t exactly helpful. I glared at them and moved my lips.
“Clear the way. Now.”
The knights hurriedly pressed themselves to one side.
Time to leave.
“The situation—how is the situation? How many survived?”
“Including myself, only three knights remain… and just five soldiers.”
“Outside?”
“It’s a mess. Thanks to this person we managed to deal with the giant monster and most of the zombies and pirates, but… the infection spreads too quickly. The town must be in ruins by now.”
I considered my next move while walking the passage that felt longer on the way out than on the way in.
I’d saved the lord, so should I escort her all the way to Baramson? That seemed far too inefficient.
Then clear the remaining enemies outside? I’d prioritized the castle, but earlier I’d seen a few more gargoyles still flying over the town.
Or I could investigate the section of wall the Ragged Golem had smashed through. More demon contractors might still be lingering there.
“Lord.”
But I lacked the information needed to choose the last option. And if I went hunting on foot and found nothing, I’d only waste time.
“Answer me. Is this the full strength of the enemies that entered the castle?”
“From what my knights could determine… yes.”
“Then when and where did the demons first appear? Is there anything else as dangerous as the Ragged Golem? Where do you think support is most needed? Can you answer any of that?”
I decided to just ask everything outright. I didn’t normally talk this long, but there was no one else to ask for me, and the situation demanded it.
Besides, no one here knew my concept, and none of them would go around broadcasting that I’d once asked a long string of questions. The risk of getting caught later was low.
I could set aside concerns about breaking character and focus on resolving the incident.
“I actually know that better than the lord. I saw almost everything from the beginning to the end.”
Someone in civilian clothes cut into the conversation between me and the lord. One of the people who had followed me into the castle.
“Explain.”
At the lord’s order he tapped his fingers and continued.
“It started at Amsen Wharf. While the flying monsters were thrashing the harbor, three ships reached the pier… and then the monster you just dealt with appeared right after. Bipurit’s men disembarked from those ships as well.”
Uh… right. I still didn’t know where Amsen was, but okay…
“When the pirates released something, some of the people turned into zombies. After that a portion spread into the town, while the giant monster came up the path behind the castle and smashed through the wall.”
“That’s everything?”
“Yes. There didn’t seem to be anything else as dangerous as that huge monster. But the zombies and pirates have scattered all over the city…”
I didn’t know the local map, so I couldn’t track the enemies’ exact routes. As long as there was nothing on the scale of the Ragged Golem, though, that was enough. It meant there was nowhere I needed to rush off to immediately.
So now I could calmly set priorities and clear the zones one by one…
“Where is Amsen Wharf?”
No more enemies inside the castle, so I could ignore that. The place where the demon contractors and pirates had landed was the next target.
Given the nature of those dank demon-worshippers, there was no telling what they might be preparing after coming ashore. Just as the zombies had started there, further disasters could still unfold.
“If you leave the castle and head south… but why don’t you know where Amsen Wharf is…?”
“Either climb out through the hole the monster made and turn right down the hill, or leave through the gate, turn left, and keep south. You’ll reach the wharf.”
The lord, who knew I was an outsider brought by Baramson, added the directions in a soft voice. Extremely useful interference.
“Hold the castle until I return. You can manage that much, can’t you?”
I exited the secret passage and walked over to the window of the room that held its entrance.
“Where are you going?”
Crunch.
The lord’s voice and the sound of shattering glass came one after the other.
“To kill demons.”
“Wait—”
My body dropped straight down from the fourth-floor height.