Chapter 33 - Life-or-Death Duel
Chapter 33 - Life-or-Death Duel
033
"What the fucking fuck!"
It is an agonizing pain that naturally forces double curses right out of the mouth.
It's a natural enough reaction since an arrowhead is embedded in raw flesh.
My shoulder is burning like it touched fire. My head is heating up, and my arm keeps dropping.
"Just how are your eyeballs wired to look at a living person and call them a tiger ghostyyy!"
What kind of idiot aims a bow at a living person and shoots?
The pain instantly converts into rage. An intense impulse surges to smash the head of the person who made a mistake against me!
"Uh, what."
The adventurer bitch who emerged from the bushes.
Her face was immensely flustered. Naturally, since she almost caught an innocent person!
"I was sure it was a tiger ghost when I saw it from afar."
"You fucking...!"
"Ah, this is going to get annoying."
The adventurer holding the bow casually tossed the bow away and drew the sword hanging at her waist.
It was a long machete. She slowly approached me, exuding a sharpness that looked like it could easily sever an arm or a leg.
"Well, still, is this better than wasting energy catching a tiger ghost?"
This fucking bitch.
She's trying to bury me, isn't she?
'If it's a logical choice, I suppose it's a choice.'
There are a few rules in the Adventurer Guild.
One of them is 'Adventurers must not fight amongst themselves.'
It's a rule established with the meaning of not touching people in the same industry, but...
Almost no bastards actually follow it.
Dead men tell no tales, after all. And it's very easy to make someone a dead man.
'This is fucking bullshit, fuck.'
Adventurers by nature are full of punks, thugs, and fucking bitches.
A fucking matter. It's a natural matter. As natural as a stray dog licking up shit!
"You fucking bitch."
"Hm? What's this. It's a guy. And a small one at that...."
Now's the time.
When she lowers her guard seeing that I'm a man is the opportunity to land a strike.
After readjusting my grip on the morning star, I swung it hard toward this woman's head.
"...Ugh!"
The attack didn't hit. To be precise, it grazed.
"So fucking fast. Looks like a movement learned from somewhere."
One strike, certain kill.
That's a natural rule in the world of adventurers.
Anyone who breaks it receives a harsh punishment.
And that... was no exception even for me.
"If you'd learned just a bit more, it might have hit?"
- Peok!
My side becomes hot.
Wondering what it is, I looked down, and a machete was embedded in my side.
"Huk...!"
Fortunately, thanks to the quilted armor, it didn't burrow all the way to my entrails, but...
It's deeper than expected. Just pulling it out like this will cause the blade to dig further inside and drag out my entrails.
"What's this? Now that I look at it, what a pity-to-kill face. Hn, I don't have a hobby of doing it with corpses, though.... Should I just do it anyway?"
"D, don't do this...."
"Just joking. Then my traces might remain on the corpse, right? I'll just kill you right here."
Dying like this?
Wait a minute. I still want to live more...
'Is this really the end I meet after being dragged to this world?'
If I was going to die, I wanted to die old.
No, since I came to this world anyway, shouldn't I die a bit more stylishly?
Dying in battle while hunting a dragon, for instance. Or sacrificing myself for a comrade...
Just getting my side pierced and kicking the bucket by some passing adventurer?
'Fuuuuck thaaaat!'
I can't suffer such a dog's death after being dragged all the way to this world.
I will definitely survive and live a wonderful life.
Do you know what the meaning of living without committing suicide, while chewing on horribly tasteless black bread, is?
- Because I want to see the light someday.
"Drain!"
Stretching out my hand, I activated the vicious dark magic I recently learned.
A strong green light gushed out and touched the adventurer's body.
"...Ugh!"
The adventurer, struck by the light, staggered back as if hit by something.
Because of that, the machete also dropped to the floor.
It's an opportunity.
"Ah jeez.... Hey, were you a mage? What the hell did you do to my body...."
"All bastards who interfere with my happy life must croak!"
- Shaak!
I scooped up a handful of dirt from the ground and threw it into the adventurer's eyes.
At the sudden attack, the bastard instinctively covered her face.
"Die!"
- Buuuung!
The heavy lump of metal flies, cleaving the air.
But it wasn't the head; it was the leg. Attacking the upper body is out of the question with my current injuries.
Aiming for the lower body, whose guard is relatively sloppy, to collapse her balance.
"Ugh!"
Fortunately, the plan went well.
Simultaneously with a creepy sound of ppudeudeuk-, her leg snapped, and she lost her balance and collapsed.
"Huk! Huk!"
"It hurts! M-my leeeog!"
Speaking of who the person standing on top is now.
It's me. Although a hole was punched in my side and blood was gushing out, I was standing straight.
Conversely, this woman is in a situation where one of her legs is broken and she has fallen.
They say the victory or defeat of a fight is determined by altitude difference.
Does that mean I won?
"Not yet."
I can't confirm victory yet. If I die, it's a draw, right?
"Drain!"
Once again, a green light gushed out from my hand.
As that gloomy light wrapped around the adventurer's body, I could see her vitality visibly draining away.
So this is what it feels like. I didn't know well back then.
"Huk! Huuk! Y-you! What kind of absurd maaaagic are you doing right now...!"
"Shut your mouth."
- Ttuk.
The arrow embedded in my shoulder suddenly drops to the floor.
When I checked to see why, it was because the flesh was rapidly filling up and pushing the arrowhead out.
This is pretty good. The yield rate is fantastic.
"Gyaooor.... S-spare me!"
The woman who looked to be in her 20s or 30s just a moment ago instantly aged drastically into a white-haired elderly person.
In proportion to that, the wounds carved into my body rapidly regenerated.
My side, from which blood had been gushing continuously since earlier, was neatly patched up, and whether it filled my blood too, there was no more dizziness.
Very nice. Thanks to that, my condition improved too.
"I'm still reluctant to kill people, but...."
I am a person born in a law-abiding country and raised under the protection of morals and laws until adulthood.
Naturally, harming and killing someone is hard to imagine.
But.
"If it's a bad person like you, I suppose I can kill you."
If it's someone who deserves to die, can't I just kill them?
Thinking that, I lifted the mace upward.
And kung. I smashed the head of the half-mummified woman.
Not even blood comes out. It must be because her life force was sucked out too much.
"Damn it."
I ended up losing my armor in an unexpected place. Buying this back will cost quite a bit of money.
I can only hope this woman has a lot of money.
To conclude, that adventurer possessed average wealth.
30 bronze coins.
It's an amount that can buy about 30 black breads. Not a very large sum of money.
Still, this much is fine.
'The equipment....'
The bow is so worn out that I'd rather have to pay disposal fees for it, and at best, the five or so arrows might have a little value.
The machete's condition is so-so. Wouldn't it fetch 40 bronze coins?
The quilted armor is tattered, and like the bow, I'd get cursed out if I brought it in, plus if I have too much luggage I can't carry it, so I decided to leave it behind.
Walking around, I even cut off the ears of the tiger ghosts I killed.
In total, I earned 1 silver coin and 20 bronze coins.
Is this too little considering I almost died? But come to think of it, since I need to acquire new quilted armor, more money will go out.
"Fuck."
It's truly a situation where curses can't help but come out.
Annoyance shoots up to the top of my head.
'If I had used dark magic from the start, there wouldn't have been such trouble.'
Acting up by trying to catch her with a morning star for no reason led to this mess.
Well, it can't be helped. What's done is done. Now is the time to do what needs to be done.
"I've arrived."
Chatting away, before I knew it, I was in front of the city.
I only left for a few hours, but my emotions are truly... as if I've been on a long journey.
'I should go straight to Karl.'
I need to share what happened today with her....
I headed toward the inn where Karl stays with drained, staggering footsteps.
"Hm, where are you going. Little warrior Dennis."
"...Karl? Am I seeing things right now."
There was no need for that.
She was waiting for me at the city entrance.
"Karl! You wouldn't believe what happened to me today...."
"Is that so."
- Deobsseok
Before I could even finish my sentence, Karl pulled me by the waist.
"Uhh?"
"Since you've returned as you said, we will mate."
"Ah, no, aren't you curious about what happened to me?"
The barbarian warrior gripped my waist tighter. It hurts like my bones are about to crush.
"I am not curious. You'd better prepare yourself for what's going to happen from now on."
"Aah...!"
I need to dispose of items and fill out various paperwork, though.
It seems there won't be time for that.
"We're heading to that inn over there. Brace yourself. I'm going to completely smash you to pieces today."
Just how is she going to smash me to pieces?
I'm extremely curious, but since she'll have her own unique method, I didn't bother asking.