Chapter 250: Side Income
Chapter 250: Side Income
As I lifted it by the hair with one hand, the others flinched and took a step back.
“I told you earlier, right? This is the Weeping Girl. It's my first time seeing one in person, too.”
“Oh, Oppa!”
“?”
“That thing… Ugh…”
Lee Yoojung stared at the Weeping Girl, her face scrunching up as she let out a pained groan. It wasn't just Lee Yoojung. Most of the clan members looked as if they'd seen something they shouldn't have. Among them, only Ko Yeonju maintained her initial composure. She glanced at the girl before striding over to where the corpse lay.
Is it really that scary?
I tilted my head. I let go of its hair and brought the sword I'd stabbed it with closer. The Weeping Girl had that same grotesque appearance as described, but I didn't find it particularly repulsive.
When I looked at the others again, I could see their faces were still colored with fear. Fear. Every human being has a latent anxiety about the horrors that lie deep within their hearts. I was no exception. As long as I was human, I, too, possessed the emotions of terror and fear.
The only difference between me and them was our threshold for fear.
Back when I fell to the lowest level of Hell… now that was truly terrifying.
Avici Hell, the lowest of the Eight Hot Hells, where only the most vicious beings gathered. There, I was forced to experience every kind of horror imaginable, assaulting all of my senses. It was such a dreadful place that I personally consider surviving Hell and returning to be the greatest stroke of luck I had during my first playthrough in the Hall Plain.
To be honest, compared to the heralds of Hell who constantly threatened me with death, the Weeping Girl was no more than a pet rabbit.
I twisted the Sun and Moon Divine Sword about half a turn and pulled it out, and the Weeping Girl's body dropped to the ground with a thud. The moment it hit the ground, its remaining upper torso began to decay at a rapid pace. Soon, its body had turned completely gray. I gave it a light kick, and it crumbled into a handful of dust, scattering into the air. For such a grand (?) entrance, it was a pathetic exit.
“H-Hyung. Is it dead?”
“Hard to say.”
“What?”
“Ko Yeonju. Did you find anything?”
Ko Yeonju was crouched down, examining the corpse. At my question, she placed a hand on her thigh, pushed herself up energetically, and let out a deep sigh.
“Nothing out of the ordinary. Judging by the severe bite marks all over, it was definitely attacked by the Weeping Girl…”
“Anything worth salvaging?”
“Nothing at all. The body is too badly damaged.”
“Tsk.”
As I clicked my tongue and ran it over an innocent molar, Ko Yeonju flitted over to me and spoke.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“What do you mean?”
“I never thought you'd deal with the Weeping Girl in such a brutish… ah, no, I mean, so skillfully. The immediate danger is gone, but it doesn't seem like that man was the only one attacked.”
“Hmm…”
Ko Yeonju had a point. No one in their right mind would go exploring alone at night.
I thought for a moment before speaking in a low voice.
“Then you should be able to track the Weeping Girl's path here.”
“Goes without saying.”
“Well, it looks like sleep is out of the question tonight anyway…”
Not just the ones who were already awake, but even those who'd been roused from a deep sleep now looked completely alert. Going back to sleep wasn't a bad option, but the circumstances felt a little too strange. I figured it would be best to follow the trail for now and stop if it went on for too long.
If that doesn’t work, we can just do a night march.
I inwardly imagined the others screaming if they heard my thoughts and gave a slight nod toward the campsite.
“Let's pack up the camp.”
*
After packing up, we had Ko Yeonju lead the way as we backtracked along the Weeping Girl's path. Her tracking skills were truly admirable. Even though it was still the middle of the night, we were able to press on without a single stop.
Fortunately, the tracking didn't take as long as I'd feared. Just as I was starting to think we should give up, Ko Yeonju reported that she'd found another campsite.
She sniffed the air, then examined the ground closely before raising a finger and pointing in one direction.
“See that over there? The grass is pressed down shorter than the surrounding area. I think that's the spot.”
“Mm. Let's go.”
As we followed her direction, a gruesome scene, completely out of place on the quiet plains, slowly came into view. The closer we got, the more we could see the scattered corpses and the shattered pieces of a camping Magic Stone.
“Whoa.”
“Gah!”
Finally, as we neared the campsite, the foul stench of blood assaulted our nostrils. At the horrific sight before us, some were struck speechless, while others let out faint screams. Even Baek Hangyul, who had been holding it together well until now, seemed to have reached his limit. He dropped to his knees and threw up on the spot.
Three Users lay dead in the campsite. Two men and one woman. Including the man from before, it meant a caravan of four had been on the plains.
One of the two men had his throat torn out, while the other's abdomen was ripped open, his organs spilling out. Still, their bodies were in better shape than the woman's. The woman, dressed in a white priest's robe, had no head. And through her torn robe, her breasts were visible, severely mauled. Looking at the scattered fragments of eyeballs and flesh, we could roughly guess what had happened to them.
“This is a little strange. Judging by their gear, they don't look very skilled.”
“The Plains of Wailing is a fairly well-known field. They must have known not to provoke the Weeping Girl.”
“But isn't it hard to provoke it in the first place? I heard it rarely even shows itself.”
“It's not like there have been zero casualties. If you look at the old records in Barbara's Library, there are a few cases of attacks. That's where the warning not to provoke the Weeping Girl came from.”
Ko Yeonju nodded at my words. But even though I'd refuted her, I didn't understand it either. Something felt off. Looking at the scene, it was hard to believe they had deliberately provoked the Weeping Girl.
Just then, Kim Hanbyul, who was patting Baek Hangyul's back, spoke up cautiously.
“Could these Users be victims, too?”
“Hm? Victims?”
“Yes. I don't know the details, but it seems to be the only way the pieces fit together…”
“Victims…”
If that were true, it would mean someone provoked the Weeping Girl and then deliberately directed its aggro toward this group. It was a plausible theory. Could this be the work of a User capable of such a feat?
A thousand different thoughts ran through my head. There was too little information and too many possibilities. I decided to be satisfied with what we had for now. It didn't seem like we'd gain any more information by staying here. Rather than waste any more time, I needed to get our plan, which had been derailed by the Weeping Girl, back on track as much as possible.
Still, it felt like a waste to just leave, so I looked around for anything to loot, but unfortunately, there was nothing. I tried to strip their equipment, but most of it was so badly damaged it was basically trash.
I sighed in disappointment and turned away.
*
The dim light of dawn began to illuminate the plains, slowly driving away the darkness. The morning fog limited our visibility somewhat, but not enough to seriously hinder our march.
After leaving the campsite with the bodies, I had decided to continue with a night march. Since things had turned out this way, I intended to cross the Plains of Wailing as quickly as possible.
The clan members' faces were etched with fatigue, and the atmosphere was heavy. Perhaps because they had seen those horribly murdered corpses just a few hours ago, everyone was focused on following me in silence.
“Alright, let's take a short break here.”
The monotonous night march must have been quite tiring and tedious, because the moment I spoke, Ahn Sol collapsed to the ground. She would have normally whined about how tired she was and how she couldn't keep up, but seeing her follow without complaint this time made me feel a little proud of her.
“H-Here, Clan Lord. Have some water.”
“Oh. Hangyul? Is your stomach feeling better?”
“Y-Yes. I'm fine. I'm trying to get used to it. You don't have to worry. Hehe.”
“Hah. Alright. Thanks for the water.”
Baek Hangyul was clearly aware of his current position. Even with a high-performance Secret Class like Aegis, he seemed to have realized that his abilities were currently the lowest in the group. Perhaps that was why he was looking for other ways to be helpful, since he couldn't contribute much in combat.
“Man, I'm exhausted.”
Ahn Hyun, who had also received a bottle of water from Baek Hangyul, plopped down next to me with a groan. I took a sip of water, and my conversation with Ahn Hyun by the campfire suddenly came to mind.
“Ahn Hyun.”
“Yes?”
“Come to think of it, didn't you say you had something to ask me earlier? Back at the campfire.”
“Ah. That was nothing, really. I was just curious if there were actually ruins in the Canyon of Illusions.”
Ahn Hyun laughed sheepishly, as if it were truly nothing important. I looked around and saw the clan members sitting here and there in silence. Dark shadows hung over all their faces. To liven up the bland atmosphere and to kill time during our break, I decided to tell them a story.
“Speaking of which, there's an interesting story about the Canyon of Illusions. Want to hear it?”
“Of course I'll listen to anything you say, Hyung. It's always good for me. What's the story?”
“An old record from the Hall Plain.”
“An old record? You mean like a myth or a legend?”
I subtly glanced around and saw their gazes gathering on me, their ears perking up. With a faint smile, I slowly began the story.
The beginning was nothing special. Just like in any common fairy tale or novel, the ancient continent of the Hall Plain faced a crisis, and heroes gathered to resolve it. A human swordsman, a human priest, a human mage, a elven archer, a dragonkin mage, and so on—many skilled heroes.
They overcame countless hardships and trials, finally confronted the forces of evil in the final gateway, and at last, seized victory. And so, peace returned to the continent of the Hall Plain.
Ahn Hyun listened with a serious expression at first. But when I mentioned that after peace was restored, the human swordsman who led the heroes got engaged to the elf queen who was the archer, he made a deflated sound.
“Aww, what? That's such a cliché story.”
“Up to this point, yes. But the really interesting part is that the story doesn't end here. Remember the human mage I mentioned earlier?”
“Um. Most of the heroes died in the final battle, and he was one of the survivors, right?”
“That's right. The hero, the elf queen, the archmage, and the saintess. Those four survived. But the record mentions several times that the archmage secretly admired the elf queen.”
Ahn Hyun still hadn't taken a single sip of his water. He moved to open the bottle cap again, but froze at my next words.
“Ehh? Didn't you say the archmage was super old? Ah, are elves old too? Still, the difference in their appearance must have been huge… Anyway, what happens after that?”
“After their engagement ceremony. He invited the hero and the elf queen to his stronghold under the pretext of congratulating them. That place was the Canyon City, located in the Canyon of Illusions.”
“Oho. I see. And then?”
“That's the end.”
“What?”
“What did you say?”
The question didn't come from just one person. It seemed that despite everything, they had all been engrossed in my story, and they looked deflated by the abrupt conclusion.
“The hero and the elf queen gladly accepted the archmage's invitation. And they entered the Canyon of Illusions. That's the end. There's nothing more to the story. Now you see why I said it wasn't a myth or a legend, right? The record stops there because no one knows what happened after that.”
“Hyung. So the three of them just went missing?”
“Hmph. No way. Then other people could have gone to the stronghold to look for the missing heroes…”
“Well…”
I was about to answer Ahn Sol's whining when I suddenly stopped talking and turned my head forward. And the moment I caught a faint presence at the edge of my senses, I frowned for the first time since the expedition began.
Is that… the sound of four footsteps?