The reason for shedding tears
The reason for shedding tears
"Shed!!!"
Serin, having dropped her weapon, rushed out with bare hands. It was a Pitfiend that even with a sword, she couldn't handle. She knew it was useless for her to step in.
Perhaps she might die here. Still, she couldn't just watch.
"Let go of that hand!"
As the Pitfiend saw Serin rushing in and tried to pull out its hand-blade, Shed grabbed its arm with all his might.
"Serin-gong... run... away..."
Meanwhile, hearing the commotion, the Soi tribe members came out of their dormitory rooms one by one.
"A, a demon!?"
"It's a demon! A demon has appeared!!"
The Pitfiend, held by Shed, couldn't use shadow-related techniques. The electric Soi tribe member rushing at it was a mid-level ability user. It was a situation where killing them instantly was difficult.
Now, it was too late to handle things quietly. The Pitfiend changed targets. Toward the powerless Soi tribe members who were frozen in fear at the sight of it.
Whoosh—!
The high-level physical ability Pitfiend blew off a Soi tribe member's head with its hand-blade in the blink of an eye. With that overwhelming speed, even Shed lost his grip and was sent flying.
"Shed!!!"
Serin barely managed to catch Shed as he fell to the floor.
"Cough! Cough!"
An ominous metallic sound mixed into Shed's rough breathing as he gasped for air. It was dangerous. The vitality in Shed's eyes was fading rapidly.
"Get a hold of yourself! Just wait a moment!"
Serin's two hands trembled like aspen leaves. With blood-soaked fingers, even pressing the numbers was a struggle.
Now that the interlopers were out of the way, the Pitfiend began to run wild, soaked in madness. Since it had been discovered anyway, it planned to wipe everything out as it pleased and run away.
Whoosh—!
Thud.
Every time the Pitfiend swung its hand-blade, the screams of the Soi tribe members ceased. Heads that had been spinning in the air fell to the ground with a thud.
"Ugh! Uwaaaah!"
At that shocking sight, the remaining Soi tribe members immediately closed their doors and hid, but to the Pitfiend, doors were no different from paper.
Bang! Crunch!
The Pitfiend, having broken through the door, pierced a Soi tribe member's heart, devoured them from the head down, and then threw the remaining corpse away like trash.
"Kwahahahaha!!"
Along with the Pitfiend's mad laughter, the sound of doors being smashed and bones being crushed echoed terribly from beyond the closed doors.
Thud! Crunch!
"Save me!!!"
Thud! Crunch!
"Aaaack!!"
Corpses with only their bodies left piled up on the floor. The demon preferred the head area. Now that there was plenty to eat, there was no need to tear apart the torso as well.
"If you want to live, come out and run!"
One Soi tribe member shouted at the top of their lungs while escaping through a door.
"""U, uwaaaaaah!"""
At that shout, the other Soi tribe members also immediately dashed out of their rooms and began to flee outside the dormitory.
And the Pitfiend, who had been quietly watching and waiting for that sight from inside the room.
This hell on earth.
It was what the Pitfiend had aimed for.
The Pitfiend, having waited for all the Soi tribe members inside the room to come out, finally released the Azure Slugs it had kept in its shadow storage.
"Your Highness! I'm sorry! It's a Pitfiend! Please! Call Saklasi!"
At that moment, Serin's desperate voice, having finally connected the call, reached the Pitfiend's ears.
"Princess? High Elf? You lowly Soi tribe bitch! I'll kill you first—"
Bang—!! Bang! Bang! Bang!
At that moment, the Pitfiend's body was sent flying faster than the maximum speed it could produce.
An immense destructive power that caused it to pierce through three or four dormitory walls in a row before crashing.
It was Ariun, who had heard the commotion and flown over, instantly manifesting 'Wings of Fire' to slice through the Azure Slugs.
"Ariun has arrived!"
The Pitfiend felt like its entire body was going to crumble from the pain; it was about to lose its mind. It couldn't even figure out what had attacked it.
'Has that monster-like High Elf already arrived?!'
It thought it had caught a glimpse of the figure while flying, but that probably wasn't it.
'A dragon? I must have seen it wrong.'
Regardless, it had to get out of here no matter what. It was certain that a monster it couldn't even handle had appeared.
It was when the Pitfiend was hiding with shadow stealth to assess the situation.
'These trashy cultist bastards!!!!!'
It was a real dragon beastkin. The Pitfiend felt like it was going crazy. None of the information was correct.
'What kind of place is this?! Why is something like that, which only appears in legends, in a dormitory for Soi tribe members like this!!'
It couldn't be helped. A fight itself wouldn't be established against something like that. It knew just by taking one blow. That monster was a Saint-level dragon beastkin.
'For now, I'll stay hidden with shadow stealth and look for an opportunity—'
Whoosh—!
The Pitfiend's plan, which was to stay hidden all day, was shattered in an instant. The entire room was burning with the immense heat of 'Dragon's Breath'.
"Kuaaaack!"
Shadow stealth is not an invincible state, unlike 'Mist Transformation'. It just assimilates into the shadow and hides, so it is fully susceptible to attacks.
Slap!
Ariun grabbed the arm of the Pitfiend, whose shadow stealth had been broken by 'Dragon's Breath'.
"Why the hell is there a dragon here, dammit!!!"
Wham! Thud! Wham! Wham!
The Pitfiend, for whom the subject of screaming had now become itself instead of the Soi tribe, soon became unable to say anything.
Immediately, Ariun's indiscriminate beating began. Even if it was a Pitfiend, in front of the physical ability of a Saint-level dragon beastkin, it was just a punching bag with good durability.
"Kuaaaaaack!"
Ariun broke all the limbs of the Pitfiend, who had fainted. When the Pitfiend, overcome with pain, regained consciousness and screamed, this time Ariun beat its face with a fist, turned it into a rag, and dragged it outside.
"Ariun can't do anything for Shed. Ariun will go suppress the remaining Azure Slugs first!"
Wriggle wriggle
One Azure Slug crawled up the wall and into the 3rd-floor window of the dormitory.
Instinctively grasping the location of a sentient being, the Azure Slug encountered three Soi tribe girls running down the stairs.
"Avoid it~"
The Azure Slug sprang up like a spring and lunged.
"Tia!"
The Azure Slug stuck to the face of the blue-haired Soi tribe member called Tia. If they couldn't peel it off quickly, the powerless person would soon be assimilated.
Once assimilation was complete, pouring all the Elixir in the world would be useless. Even if it touched salt water, the host who had already become an Azure Slug would just die along with it.
The yellow-haired Soi tribe girl who was with her tried to peel the Azure Slug off with her bare hands, screaming, but the thing stuck to her skin didn't budge.
Tia, amidst the pain of suffocating, gestured to her friends as if to tell them to run away quickly.
"Over here! Help! There's an Azure Slug on the 3rd floor!"
The orange-haired Soi tribe member opened the window wide and shouted at the top of her lungs, but it was buried in the noise of the chaotic camp.
"I'll bring salt water from the cafeteria!"
The yellow-haired girl, realizing that it couldn't be peeled off with bare hands, ran down to the 1st floor, scattering tears.
Praying that someone would miraculously come.
Bang bang bang!
"I'm opening it, Saklasi."
Katerina, who had been urgently knocking on the door, threw it open.
"Katerina?"
The surprise at Katerina's sudden visit was momentary; there was a deep anger and anxiety that could be felt even on her expressionless face.
"Go to Koopong right now. A Pitfiend and Azure Slugs have invaded. Right now."
What?
The moment I heard those words, my heart began to beat like crazy. And one name flashed through my mind.
Serin.
Without even thinking of answering Katerina, I manifested 'Mist Transformation' and moved to the [Busanosk] beach.
As soon as I arrived at the beach, I crazily manifested 'Mist Transformation' continuously to the maximum distance within my field of vision. There was no time to care about clothes or anything else at home.
Serin...!
Damn it, damn it! Damn it!!!!
Why does the feeling feel so bad? What is it because of?
I sensed it the moment I heard the name Pitfiend for the first time. It's a demon. But how strong is it? I know too little.
Because it hasn't even been a month since I came here?
That can't be an excuse.
That short time it took to head to the Koopong camp felt unbearably long. An ominous premonition constricted my chest.
I haven't heard anything about the situation.
"I don't know what happened at all yet!"
Soon, the main gate came into view. And as soon as I entered the camp, the sight that met my eyes was melted blue liquid and people whose heads had turned into snails...
It was the sight of people with long, snail-like antenna eyes protruding.
"My Lord!"
Seeing my head appear abruptly while floating in the air, Ariun shouted.
"What happened? Where is Serin?"
"Serin is safe! Shed is in danger! His chest is completely pierced!"
I followed Ariun, who spoke and immediately ran off, to the miserable scene that appeared.
"Shed!"
"Saklasi..."
My heart sank at Serin's desperate expression, which was covered in tears and blood.
Blood pooled thickly on the floor. Shed lying with his eyes closed. Serin desperately trying to block the blood gushing from his gaping chest.
Someone around me is dying?
Without even asking about the situation, I generated hundreds of liters of Elixir in the air at once and poured it onto Shed's chest like a waterfall.
"That's an order, Shed! Live!"
The blood that had been gushing out stopped in an instant, and I saw new flesh filling the pierced chest. I quickly put my hand under his nose to check his breathing.
"Phew, he's alive."
Although he hadn't regained consciousness yet, Shed's breathing had returned to a regular rhythm.
"As expected of my Lord!"
"Great Duke!"
Just then, the yellow-haired Soi tribe girl burst through the dormitory door, running over, pale and clutching a sack of salt.
She was the girl who used to joke around with me freely, calling me Saklasi-dongsaeng. She was one of the Soi tribe girls who had approached me and become close after my appearance changed following the ability manifestation.
"3rd floor! There's an Azure Slug on the 3rd floor...!!"
It seemed there was a problem with one of them. Before she could even finish her sentence, while I was going up with 'Mist Transformation',
Drip.
Tears flowed from my eyes.
Why...?
Serin is safe, and I saved Shed, too.
Why am I feeling such maddening sadness?