Chapter 145: Mental Illness
Chapter 145: Mental Illness
After
“Honestly. Did you do that on purpose? Did you want me to kill them?”
“What are you talking about? Anyway, you really made a scene. I never thought you’d go this far….”
“Am I disappointed? Hmm~. Of course not. I was just surprised to see a different side of you, that’s all. I told you, didn’t I? It was the first time I’ve laughed since you left on your expedition.”
“My honest feelings? Hoho…. Yes. To be honest, I think I got a little excited. No, a lot.”
“I knew it. You’re not just some kind-hearted softie who only bluffs.”
“What am I going to do? I won’t be able to sleep tonight. You had all the fun by yourself.”
“I already told you I was excited. Are you going to keep making a lady say such embarrassing things?”
“If you don’t believe me, why don’t you touch my underwear? I think it’s completely soaked right now.”
*
Two people stood before me: one mage User and one axe warrior User. Despite my sudden charge, the mage stepped back while the axe warrior moved to block the front. It seemed they weren’t complete idiots.
“───. Shield.”
At that moment, a translucent barrier formed around the warrior’s body, accompanied by a husky-voiced incantation. I had been confident I could reach them before they cast any magic, so this was unexpected. It seemed the mage, like Jung Hayeon, had mastered Rapid Incantation.
“Hraaaah!”
If the sword I was holding had been enchanted to increase its cutting force, a Shield spell of the same tier could have offset it. The axe warrior, trusting the mage’s Shield, ignored defense and raised his axe with all his might. The problem was that my sword was just an ordinary iron sword, and its power came not from a cutting force spell, but from the Authority of a Sword Specialist.
Before his axe could swing down, I kicked off the ground once more using the Bowstring Shadow Step technique. The axe warrior’s eyes widened as I rapidly closed the distance, but he seemed to answer by putting even more force into his swing.
I entered his immediate range, the cold edge of the axe descending from above. At the same instant, the tip of my sword touched the shield magic. The warrior let out a triumphant laugh and brought his axe down. And then…
Crack! Cra-crack!
My thrusting sword tore through the shield magic and plunged inside. A look of pure shock filled the man’s eyes, as if he’d never imagined his shield could be broken. It was the last expression he would ever make. The tip of my sword cleanly pierced his throat.
“Gurgle. Gurgle.”
Bloody bubbles frothed at the axe warrior’s lips. The axe that had been coming down to split me in two lost its direction and buried itself uselessly in the earth.
“Holy Strike! You son of a bitch! Die!”
Before the axe warrior’s body had even collapsed, I heard the heavy sound of something cutting through the air behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see a mace glowing with white light and the viciously contorted face of a Combat Priest.
These guys were definitely Vagabonds. Except for the first one, Kim Seungbeom, none of them showed any agitation at their comrade’s death. Instead, they used it as an opening, focusing only on taking me down. However, the Agility stat had been my specialty back in the first run, and it remained so now in the second. Even if they landed the first blow, Agility was the stat that could turn the tables. I quickly leveled my sword horizontally and spun my body hard.
Slice.
The vivid sensation of cutting through soft flesh and hard bone traveled up the blade. I saw the man’s upper body, his chest sliced in half, fall to the ground with a look of disbelief. My Agility was 98, a value pushed nearly to its limit. Therefore, unless a melee-type User could dramatically increase their speed, drastically shorten the distance, catch me when I wasn’t defending, or attack from multiple directions, it was almost impossible for them to seize the initiative from me.
Including Choi Joohyun, I had now dealt with a total of five people. That left two Vagabonds: the mage with the gloomy voice and a female archer wearing a hood. Less than thirty seconds after the battle had truly begun, I had killed more than half of them. I decided to take care of the nearby mage first and had just turned my body.
“───. ───. ───.”
The mage had already put more distance between us. He was sweating profusely, his hands forming seals as if preparing some grand magic. I wasn’t particularly afraid, but I didn’t want to get cocky and be caught off guard. Just as I was about to use Bowstring Shadow Step again, I saw the mage’s eyes fly open. This is why I hate mages who’ve learned Rapid Incantation.
“───. ───. ───. Flame Spear! Rapid Fire!”
As he finished the incantation, long, spear-shaped bolts of magic, wreathed in blazing fire, rushed toward me. One, two, three, four, five, six shots. Oh? He’d learned Applied Magic Circuits, too. There was a reason he seemed like the leader. I let out a short sound of admiration and raised my sword, but then I lowered it again. There was something I wanted to test.
Seeing that I had given up on defending, the man burst into a mad laugh.
“Khahahaha! That’s right, give up! Just die!”
At the same time, a single message floated into the air.
『Blessing of the Battlefield (Rank: EX) activates.』
Boom! Boom!
The Flame Spears exploded against my body with a deafening roar. Thick smoke billowed out, and stray sparks ignited the surrounding grass, turning it black. I recalled seeing with my Third Eye that his Magic Power stat was exactly 90. Or was it 89? In any case, I felt a heavy impact shake my body.
“Heh heh heh. I got him. That was a direct hit. Ahn Soyeon! Go check on him! Heh heh heh.”
He sounded so pleased. I found his laughter grating, so I took another step forward. As I emerged from the thick smoke, the mage’s gleeful laughter abruptly stopped. Soon after, several messages began to appear in the air.
『Luck Stat: 88… Initiating defense reduction check. Blessing of the Battlefield (EX-rank) confirmed. Upgrading to partial defense. User’s Magic Power Stat: 96 confirmed. Effect reduced due to lack of Magic Resistance. Flame-elemental magic detected. The Eternal Flame within your body is responding. Upgrading to complete defense.』
Just as I thought. By now, he must have seen a message saying, “Complete defense. No damage was dealt.” As expected, the mage, who had been staring blankly into the air, began to speak in a stuttering voice.
“W-what the fuck? He blocked it completely? That’s impossible! How can a Year 0 User have magic resistance? Even if he does… D-don’t come any closer! Aaaaargh!”
“It’s not magic resistance.”
I spoke calmly as I walked quickly toward him. The mage stumbled backward as if he’d seen a ghost, but he was in such shock that I caught up to him easily. Staring at his slack-jawed, dazed face, I lightly grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and lifted him up.
“Uh, uh-buh-buh.”
“What was that? You were going to rape my companions in front of me? And cut someone’s limbs off? Ah. Ahn Soyeon, was it? You, lower your bow. The moment you shoot, I’ll rip your arms off just like that other girl. If you stay quiet, I’ll give you a clean death.”
I spoke without looking back, but I felt the female archer flinch and retreat. I raised my sword to cut the mage’s throat, but a brilliant idea struck me. I swung the sword with both hands. Like chopping a rotten log, his arms flew off, spraying fountains of blood as they fell to the ground with a thud.
“Hwaaaah! Hwaaaaaah!”
The mage screamed in a hoarse voice, shaking his head wildly. This was better. I couldn’t stand his arrogant attitude from before. After cleanly severing his remaining two legs, I let go of his collar. Amidst the arms and legs littering the ground, I could see the face of the man, now just a torso.
“Aaaargh! Aaaaaargh! Save meeee! Aaaaaaaargh!”
“‘The whimpering priestess is mine?’ You thought she’d cry? ‘The foul-mouthed bitch is mine?’ You were curious what kind of sounds she’d make?”
Of course, this guy wasn’t the one who said those things, but he was the one who started it all. This was surprisingly infuriating. These were my companions, whom I’d raised through so much hardship, treating them like precious jewels. Feeling a surge of anger, I lifted my foot and stomped on his lips, crushing them. I must have put some emotion into it, because I felt the crunching sensation of his teeth breaking.
“Eeeeh! Uoo-eh-ooh (Kill me)! Ah-oh-ae-oh (I was wrong)! Uoo-eh-ooh-ooh (Kill meeee)!”
Watching him wail like a child, the tightness in my chest seemed to ease a little. It was then that I felt a cold, piercing killing intent from behind. I sighed and spoke quietly.
“I’m pretty sure I told you not to shoot your bow… Huh?”
Fwing!
“Kgh!”
The arrow she fired flew past me and accurately pierced the throat of the mage, who was still screaming in agony. She hadn’t been aiming for me at all. Feeling a mix of disappointment and bewilderment, I slowly turned around. There, having pulled back her hood, was a cute girl aiming at me, her eyes blazing fiercely.
She didn’t look like an adult. She still had baby fat on her cheeks and gave off a very youthful air. Then again, it wasn’t as if only adults were in the Hall Plain. Still, for someone so young to be running with Vagabonds meant she had a strong will and considerable skill. My curiosity piqued, I spoke in a gentle voice.
“Little girl. Lower your bow.”
“……”
There was no reply. Instead, she only fueled her hostility toward me, putting more strength into her drawn bow. An undeniable amount of magic began to gather around her, and the entire shaft of the nocked arrow began to flash with a yellow light. I let out a dry laugh and immediately raised my sword. This ability was definitely…
“Sightline Alignment.”
Her youthful voice reached my ears, and at the same time, the flashing yellow light converged into a single point at the arrowhead. Then, Ahn Soyeon released the bowstring, her voice filled with anguish.
“Arrow of Collapse!”
I quickly gathered my magic power and watched the arrow fly toward me. I moved my sword with precision, calculating the exact point of contact between the arrowhead and my blade. I never dreamed I’d encounter the Arrow of Exorcism, one of the Unique Abilities of the Archer class, here of all places. And to focus its power into a single point with Sightline Alignment, no less. If it had been my past self from this time in the first run, my entire body would have been shattered the moment the arrow grazed me.
Krrrrk. Krrrrrrrk.
“Hmph!”
Clang! Claaaaang!
Finally, the arrowhead met the tip of my sword, and a grating screech of metal filled the clearing. It felt as if the very air around us was being torn to shreds. I was starting to understand why she hadn’t participated in the battle until now. A normal arrow wouldn’t have been effective, and if she used Arrow of Collapse, she would have worried about her allies getting caught in the crossfire. Or perhaps she felt guilty for foolishly losing the priest at the beginning due to her own misfire (though it wasn’t really a misfire). Either way, her actions were uncharacteristic of a Vagabond.
But surprising as it was, it wasn’t a life-threatening situation for me now. Not unless I had presented my back to her without taking any precautions. The arrow, which had initially seemed capable of destroying everything, began to lose its power as it clashed with my magic-infused sword. With a sound like a firecracker popping, I lightly sliced the arrow in half.
Watching the bisected arrow fall powerlessly to the ground, Ahn Soyeon collapsed, her legs trembling. It must have been hard to believe, but it also seemed she had poured every last bit of her strength into that one shot. To satisfy my curiosity, I activated my Third Eye. Her stats were so-so, but this time I intended to examine them in more detail.
Player Status
1. Name: Ahn Soyeon (Year 3 User)
2. Class: Archer (Normal, Archer, Expert)
3. Nation: Barbara
4. Clan: Middle Way Clan
5. True Name · Nationality: Exorcism—One Granted the Fifth Wing · Republic of Korea
6. Sex: Female (18)
7. Height · Weight: 165.8cm · 47.2kg
8. Alignment: Neutral · Wandering
[Strength 64] [Durability 62] [Agility 88] [Stamina 70] [Magic Power 78] [Luck 82]
Achievements (0)
Unique Ability (1/1)
1. Arrow of Collapse (Rank: B Zero)
Special Ability (1/1)
1. Sightline Alignment (Rank: A Zero)
Latent Abilities (3/3)
1. Insight (Rank: B Plus)
2. Tracking (Rank: A Zero)
3. Clairvoyance (Rank: C Zero)
Her Strength and Durability were a bit of a problem, but as an archer, she could cover for that with her high Agility. And above all, the synergy between her class, special ability, and Latent Abilities was excellent. The rank of Arrow of Collapse was a little disappointing, but the fact that she had a Unique Ability at all was significant.
In any case, being a Year 3 User meant she had come to the Hall Plain at the age of fifteen. There was a reason a girl that young had managed to survive this long. Her stats weren’t what you’d call amazing, but looking at the whole picture, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she was not a User you could find just anywhere.
I whistled and walked toward her. The defiant look on Ahn Soyeon’s face was gone, replaced by terror as she scrambled backward, pushing herself along the ground with her feet.