The Truth Revealed (1)
The fighter?
Arho felt a strange unease as the uncommon fighter stepped forward. Among those who had climbed the mountain, there were spearmen and dual-wielders, yet sending out a bare-handed fighter made him uneasy.
“By the way, where did you hear that I use a demonic sword? I run my own forge and only use the blades I make myself. I’ve never wielded a demonic sword.”
“The truth isn’t that important. What matters is the request that says the one called Arho uses a demonic sword, so he must be dealt with.”
“Even though it’s an uncertain false accusation?”
“That makes it even better. It means he won’t have a demonic sword when he fights us. So, do you want everyone behind you to die as well?”
At Lieutenant Polman’s words, Arho glanced behind him. These were the friends and family who had come with him when he said a group was coming for him, offering to fight together. And his family…
“If we settle this in a one-on-one duel, I promise we won’t touch those behind you.”
He had promised not to lay a hand on his family and friends, but Arho couldn’t trust it. He carefully observed the faces of those standing before him. The composition was varied: a mage, an archer, a dual-swordsman, a spearman, a fighter, and even a summoner who had called forth a small demon-like creature.
He wondered if he and his friends could win against them. The conclusion was that it would be difficult.
Yet as he observed them to gauge their strength, something odd caught Arho’s eye. The bow held by the one who appeared to be an archer was no ordinary bow. Both wings of the bow had round pulleys attached—a shape he had never seen in this world.
Compound bow?
Even in Lotipl, a land full of mercenaries, he had never seen anyone using a bow fitted with pulleys. The arrows in the quiver also had plastic fletching instead of feathers.
Tahro thought something was off. But before he could process it properly, the fighter who had stepped forward charged at him.
[Whoosh—BOOM!]
Flames flickered across both of Aoyama’s hands. When they clashed with Arho’s sword, the flames were repelled with a violent explosion. Arho thrust his blade, but the fighter simply blocked it with his bare hands. The long leather bracers on his wrists must have been special; the sword couldn’t cut through them.
“That’s it! That’s why they called it a demonic sword.”
[Crackle! Rumble—]
When Aoyama kept blocking the sword with his arms, Arho’s blade turned blue. Sparks of electricity began to surge around it. The following thunder and lightning made it clear why he was called the Storm Sword.
“Yes! This is exactly what I wanted! Just like a demonic sword!”
Aoyama, thrilled to be fighting such a strong opponent, unleashed flaming fists from both sides.
“Thunder Light!”
Electricity shot from Arho’s sword like a spear, striking at Aoyama’s fist. But the electric current was instantly repelled by the flaming fist and diverted elsewhere.
“Wh… why…”
Arho was shocked that his technique had no effect. Jinu finally understood why Polman had sent Aoyama out. If they had sent Sergeant John Low with his dual swords or Lucas with his spear, that electric attack would have traveled along the metal weapons and electrocuted the wielders. But Aoyama fought with bare fists and only leather bracers—nothing conductive. On top of that, his fists were wreathed in fire, so the electricity flowing through the air couldn’t penetrate the flames properly.
Arho’s electric sword was powerful enough to be called demonic, but it had terrible compatibility against Aoyama.
“Water Wall!”
As the fight dragged on, Lieutenant Polman raised a wall of water that separated the dueling pair from the seven people waiting in front of the house. As if they had been waiting for that exact moment, Sergeant Taylor drew his bow.
The pulleys on the compound bow spun rapidly, gathering power. When he released the string, the carbon arrow shot forward like a bolt of lightning, piercing straight through the water wall and embedding itself in a person.
“Kill them all!”
The group had already been agitated when the magical water barrier blocked their view. Now that an arrow had flown through the wall and struck one of them, they panicked and scrambled for their weapons.
“Pull the arrow out of Ken’s shoulder first! Then use a potion!”
“What the hell are those?”
Small monsters resembling the goblins summoned by the summoner, Sergeant Hobbs, charged forward with blades in hand.
“S-stop them!”
“Crimson flames, manifest and burn them all—aaargh!”
A mage who had begun chanting was suddenly attacked by an eagle that swooped down from the sky. His spell was canceled, and the mage collapsed, blood pouring from his gouged eyes.
Even so, these were veteran mercenaries. They tried to regroup and defend themselves, but Sergeant John Low with his dual swords and Lucas with his spear charged in.
John Low’s rapid swordplay made his blades invisible as they slashed left and right, severing limbs from several foes. Lucas’s spear extended and thrust forward, piercing the side of a warrior who thought he was out of range and rendering him combat ineffective.
It was over in the blink of an eye.
The water wall rising, arrows flying, summoned creatures and an eagle interfering—all of it happened in a single breath. Then two masters, a swordsman and a spearman, rushed in and killed seven people in another single breath.
In just two breaths, seven men were dead.
The surprise attack, combined with skills and various supporting elements, made victory effortless. They probably would have won in a fair fight too, but the ambush turned it into a massacre.
Arho heard his friends’ screams and caught glimpses of their deaths. He tried to pull away to help them, but he couldn’t shake off Aoyama, who clung to him at close range. The moment he realized the area behind the water wall had gone silent, Arho’s mind fell into chaos and his movements grew sloppy.
[BOOM! THUD!]
With his coordination ruined, Arho finally took a clean hit to the chest from Aoyama.
“Ugh… why the hell… hack, hack…”
Even as he coughed up blood, Arho asked why they were doing this.
“Heh heh. You’re already dead!”
Aoyama flipped him off like a madman and charged at the suffering Arho.
“Wadadadada! Achoo! Chocho!”
Aoyama swung both fists like a madman, not even giving him time to breathe.
“Is that crazy bastard Bruce Lee?”
“It’s that thing. Hokuto Shinken. In English, North Star Divine Fist!”
“Ah, so that ‘you’re already dead’ line is from that too.”
Bortas laughed as if he understood. And it wasn’t just for show—Arho, who had been punched and knocked back, began to tremble violently all over.
[Crack… crunch… snap… craaack…]
His limbs began bending in unnatural directions as if his muscles were rupturing. Then, just like in the real Hokuto Shinken, his entire body tore apart and fell to pieces.
“Is that a fighter’s skill? Jeez.”
“It’s a real bloodbath.”
Even the ones who had just been swinging swords and spears frowned at the gruesome scene, calling it cruel. A sea of blood spread across the ground.
“Te… tester…? Same… tester… why…”
Arho, on the verge of death, spoke in a voice that barely came out. His dying words didn’t carry well. But Aoyama, who had been posing right in front of him, heard it clearly. And Jinu, who had been watching from afar with pity, could read his lips.
Aoyama flinched when he heard the word “tester,” but he casually resumed his Hokuto Shinken pose and shouted.
At Aoyama’s loud shout, everyone seemed to snap back to reality.
In this fight, neither the Antarian priest nor I had done much. We had provided buffs, but no one had been injured. That made the unheard words and lip movements from the dying Arho weigh even more heavily on my mind.
He had definitely said “tester.”
Fuck. That means we just killed another tester user. Why? So we came all this way just to murder a fellow user?
Arho didn’t seem like a bad person. His friends had rushed to help him when he was in danger. If anyone in our party was worse, it was Aoyama, Sergeant Hobbs, or Lucas. This wasn’t the execution of an evil user.
I couldn’t understand why Changing Company was going through the trouble of killing gamer-turned-users they had worked so hard to gather.
Could they be killing them all to replace them with soldiers?
The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if I was in danger too. I wanted to ask Lieutenant Polman right away why they were killing users as a user himself, but I couldn’t reveal that I had figured out Arho was a user.
It was frustrating and unsettling, but I had to wait until someone explained it to me first. The situation was twisting in a very strange direction.
“Burn the place and let’s go. Collect the mercenary tags from the other corpses too.”
Lieutenant Polman took Arho’s mercenary tag and other items that could prove his identity from his pocket. The others ransacked the house, taking anything of value. Since it was a forge, there were plenty of iron ingots and weapons. Everyone was busy stuffing them into their inventories.
While the forge and house burned, they threw the corpses inside. Polman used water magic to wash the blood off everyone, and they descended the mountain.
They rode hard to a small village and stayed at an inn, but the atmosphere was extremely tense. Sure enough, when they split into two large rooms to sleep, an attack came at dawn.
“What happened to the ones who went to help Arho? Did you kill them all?”
The villagers seemed to know Arho. Since those who had gone to help him never returned and we had come instead, they must have realized what happened.
“We only killed those who deserved to die. If you all want to die too, then step forward! Jinu, buff!”
Even without Lieutenant Polman’s order, Aoyama attacked the villagers like a bloodthirsty wolf. But the villagers didn’t die easily.
“As expected of the Mercenary Kingdom. They all know how to use a spear properly.”
When Aoyama, along with his weed buddy Lucas and Sergeant Hobbs, stepped in to help, the screaming attackers quickly fell, spraying blood everywhere.
“Polman. The villagers are willing to go this far for him. Just who was Arho? Why did we kill him? Was he really someone who used a demonic sword?”
Polman hesitated at Jinu’s question, debating whether he should answer, then finally spoke.
“Everyone, go to sleep. This isn’t something I can talk about here. Because Changing and the Department of Defense are working together, I’m not allowed to speak.”
“You expect us to sleep in this sea of blood?”
Aoyama grumbled, but he dumped water from the well over himself to wash off the blood, then collapsed onto the bed still soaking wet and fell asleep.
Polman only checked to make sure the fire hadn’t spread to their lodging before logging out with the rest.
You have played for 7 hours and 38 minutes. Vital signs are normal. All systems are stable.
As soon as everyone emerged from their capsules, they headed to the conference room. Yasuke Yamashiki arrived first, followed by the others one by one. Once Elon Busker and Major General Michael entered, the conference room door was shut tight. Anti-bugging devices were checked and blue shields to prevent eavesdropping were deployed all around.
The thorough anti-surveillance measures made everyone realize something serious was going on.
“Arho has been taken care of. In truth, Arho was a tester user just like all of you.”
At Major General Michael’s words, Aoyama—who had personally dealt the killing blow—stiffened his expression. Or rather, he pretended to.