novelraw Chapter 72 : Chapter 72
Chapter 72 : Chapter 72
Chapter 72
I wonder when that was.
Deciding to follow Trimia in the newly started game was half a joke.
At that time, Trimia was just a somewhat unusual extra.
A self-proclaimed king with no traits, no land, and no people.
A mercenary group with nothing but bandits.
It was also around that time that Trimia got the nickname Mad King .
“Let's run.”
The so-called king was more adept at running away than a neighborhood thief.
“You want us to fight?
Why?
If the guys from Valheim don’t come, we’re not going either.”
If it wasn't running away, it was always calling someone else.
‘Crazy bastard.’
A win rate of 20%, and a survival rate of 90%.
Despite all that, the mad king would habitually say.
“No one fights thinking they're going to lose.
That's not a fight, it's suicide.”
So he didn't even start fights he thought he would lose.
Even in battles he thought he would win, if the opponent seemed too confident, he would run away first.
Even if someone screamed and was certain of victory, his answer was always the same.
“You think those guys are just sitting there, certain they're going to lose?
What's the point of being certain of victory?
What's really needed is the certainty that you won't lose, no matter what.”
Just like a madman.
His philosophy was like that.
“When you're sure you won't lose no matter what, that's when you bet exactly half your life.”
The king, who cherished his people dearly, even said so to Ian, who he had brought in as a slave swordsman.
“Because it’s all useless if you die.”
In a world full of absurdity, could there be any better advice than that?
***
-□□□□□□!
A roar that seemed to tear the soul echoed.
Silence fell upon the battlefield.
‘So this is how it is.’
The fear ingrained in my genes, the will to survive passed down through generations, screamed.
To lower my body and hide my presence immediately.
That the ruler of the forest had come, so I should prostrate myself and beg for mercy.
Thump, thump-thump.
Indeed, Orcs who had lost their reason to fear dropped their weapons and prostrated themselves on the ground, covering their faces.
‘Now.’
The duration of the fear roar is 3 minutes.
A Legion Commander would come to his senses within 30 seconds.
As I swallowed the blood I had been holding in my mouth, sensation returned to my body.
“Ugh-cha.”
My body, feeling as awkward as if it weren't my own, creaked as I slung Reina over my shoulder.
“…Ah?”
Surprised, she looked at me with wide eyes and let out a shrill sound, but there was no time to enjoy it.
“Sorry, we have to run right now.”
I continued as I kicked off the ground.
“Because there's nothing scarier than a beast that has lost its young.”
Moreover, since that beast was an Ogre that was said to rule a decent-sized mountain, it was best not to be seen.
***
Even as I stepped on and jumped over the haphazardly scattered corpses, my mind was busy with calculations.
‘Is he not planning to move?’
Unlike the common warriors who had tucked their tails, the surviving Great Warriors and the Legion Commander must have endured the fear roar.
Even though he could have used his fighting spirit to move the confused legion, the Legion Commander remained silent.
Well, if he was the kind of pervert who would enjoy a full-scale battle with an Ogre, he would have settled the score with it before setting a trap.
‘Then that's a relief for us too.’
Somehow, things had gone according to plan, and in the end, we had survived.
But if you ask if this could be considered a success.
‘No, we just got lucky and survived.’
It was definitely a battle that had assumed the worst.
I had no intention of fighting to win from the beginning.
The goal was to lure the Ogre to fight the legion, and I should have pulled out the moment he let out the fear roar.
‘3 seconds.’
My body had frozen at the fear roar that I had thought I could naturally withstand, so I couldn't move immediately.
Even if it had been just 1 second instead of 3, I wouldn't have survived if the Legion Commander had been nearby.
Grind.
Blood dripped from my clenched teeth in self-disgust.
Because I had survived an encounter with an enemy far beyond my league?
Because I possessed several traits that were more than I deserved?
No, it was just carelessness and arrogance.
If I had known about the existence of the fear roar, I should have gotten an artifact, or at least some cotton and leather, and plugged my ears.
And in a battle with Reina on the line, to have dared to use her as a mere pawn.
“Fucking bastard.”
As I spat out a curse in unbearable disgust, a cold hand touched my cheek.
“Ah……?”
Even without looking, I could feel it.
That Reina, slung haphazardly over my shoulder, was worried about me.
As I was ignoring my flushed cheek at her touch and hurrying my steps.
Whoosh!
I heard the sound of an axe cutting through the wind.
“Damn it!”
I hastily threw Reina and rolled on the ground to dodge.
Kwa-deuk!
From behind me, I heard the sound of an axe splitting the ground and a chilling voice.
“Krrk, you’re lucky, you are.”
As I got up and looked back, the Legion Commander, who I thought would be running away from the Ogre by now, was picking up the axe stuck in the ground and smiling.
“Too bad, but you die.”
As if that declaration was by no means an empty threat.
From behind him, a sinister fighting spirit flowed down like a waterfall.
***
As a sword knows no fear, a knight knows no fear.
Even Vergil, who was born and raised in the fortress and had made death his companion, believed so.
Even as he sent off hundreds of comrades and sent thousands of monsters to their side, Vergil knew no fear.
Because he had prepared for death every moment he held a sword, his life was always the goddess's, and his survival was also considered the goddess's mercy.
That was until that night he faced the goblin king, Teheki.
‘Run.’
That day he met Teheki.
For the first time, he felt fear as he looked at the back of the Young Lord who was ordering him to run with an awkward gesture.
Not the fear of an irresistible enemy, but of his own weakness in failing to become a sword.
And he became his sword.
-□□□□□□!
His heart stopped at the ear-splitting roar, and darkness engulfed his vision, but the sword did not tremble in fear.
-Krr-deuk.
Although his arms and legs trembled like an aspen tree in the Ogre's fighting spirit, and he couldn't move a single one of his limbs as he willed, he did not doubt.
-Krr-deu-deuk.
The blood vessels in his glaring eyes burst, and blood flowed from his clenched teeth.
And between the dripping blood, a thread-like voice flowed out.
“In the end─”
As he thought of the young master who would be somewhere beyond that green wave, the mana that hadn't budged began to move.
The mana, which had moved on its own according to the breathing method of the Count's family that he had practiced since the moment he first held a sword, gripped his heart.
-Thump, thump, thump.
In his brightened vision, he saw Orcs.
The one prostrated on the ground, covering its face with both hands.
The one foaming at the mouth, its eyes rolled back.
The one having a seizure, as if it would collapse at any moment.
Seeing that, he moved his lips with all his might.
“─Moner will be victorious.”
At that thread-like declaration, the secret art of the knightly order responded.
The mana that had spread through his voice gripped the hearts of the knights who shared the same secret art and took the place of their heartbeats.
-Thump, thump, thump.
As thirty hearts beat in unison, the fear that had been rummaging through their minds subsided.
The darkness disappeared, and their minds became clear.
Soon, a sense of elation that he had never felt before stimulated his entire body.
-Thump, thump, thump!
The sound of thirty-yet-one heartbeats, the mana that gripped their hearts, urged them on.
To quickly raise their swords and offer the rightful victory.
Vergil, who had readjusted his grip on his shield, kicked off the ground.
The knightly order followed behind him.
No one opened their mouths, but everyone running on the battlefield heard it.
-Victory to Moner!
The resounding shout that echoed across the battlefield.
***
The moment my eyes met with the Legion Commander who was standing proudly, trampling the ground, a sigh escaped me.
“Of all people, Hlyundeyrr.”
Hlyundeyrr reacted to my annoyed voice.
“Do you know me, human?”
“I know you well.
Hlyundeyrr, the Knight Hunter.
A bastard who goes crazy whenever he sees a knight.”
Hlyundeyrr was as unusual a bastard as his epithet suggested.
Because he was the very definition of absurdity, who would even jump over castle walls to kill any knight with potential.
There was no way to stop a Legion Commander-level bastard if he was targeting a single knight.
The next best thing would be to aim for him after he had finished his hunt.
“This, experiencing it firsthand, feels pretty damn awful.”
Spitting, I gripped my sword, and the beast sneered and said.
“Wait, human.”
I glared at him without letting my guard down.
To be precise, at the axe he was holding.
‘Why is he still flapping his mouth?’
The guy I knew was far from having self-control.
The patience of a guy who would infiltrate an enemy camp to pluck a flower that hadn't even bloomed was obvious.
With the difference in our skills, he could have cut off my head and run away.
While I was lost in such thoughts, the beast asked.
“Who is your master?”
“Huh?”
For a moment, I was at a loss for words and swallowed a breath of air.
Seeing that, the beast grinned and said.
“You will tell me in the end.”
The beast, who had raised his axe, seemed confident in his words.
Of course, an axe of that size wouldn't be a bad bargaining chip, but…….
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Who is my master?
I didn't even understand the intention of the question.
My mom?
Dad?
Or, the Duke?
No, why is this bastard conducting a background check in the middle of a battlefield?
***
I rolled on the ground to avoid the fiercely descending axe.
Boom!
“Ah, come on!”
I shouted urgently, but the beast's axe did not stop.
Whoosh!
The axe that had grazed the tip of my nose spun once in the air and then came at me with a fierce speed.
Thud!
As I rolled back, exploding the mana I had gathered in my feet, the axe, wrapped in fighting spirit, slammed down.
“You said you’d let me talk!”
This is why you can't trust the words of Orc bastards.
The axe, which had been swung playfully at first, was getting fiercer.
The smile on the beast's face was also getting deeper.
“Hey!”
While shouting in a wronged voice, I continued to run back.
While he was toying with me, I couldn't rest for a moment if I wanted to get even a little farther away from Reina.
Kwa-deuk!
I had definitely dodged, but my arm was deeply cut.
I had only been dodging without once crossing swords, but the number of wounds was increasing.
‘It's okay.’
I won't die from this.
It's okay to bleed.
Because the gluttonous 『Desire for Blood』 doesn't distinguish between friend and foe.
As long as I don't die, I can escape.
If I run farther, Reina might live.
‘Now that it's come to this, I have to lure the Ogre.’
I don't know what he's obsessed with, but I have to stall for time while he wants something from me.
“So!”
No matter how much I thought about it, I didn't know.
Since I couldn't even say that I had a master as a lie, I shouted the words I had said several times again.
“I am the master!”
At the same time, I poured a lot of mana into the ground and kicked off.
If the reaction was the same as before.
Kwa-kwa-kwang!
The ignorant bastard, thinking I was deceiving him, would fail to control his strength.
“Hey!
Control your strength, control your strength!”
While speaking to him as if pleading, I looked around for an escape route.
A squishy Orc, a prostrated Orc, an Orc arm, an Orc leg, an Orc body.
Everywhere my eyes landed, the dark green species was there.
“Shit.”
I couldn't see a way to escape.
He was only keeping me alive because there was information he wanted, but the moment he roared, all those dark green clansmen would rise and thrust their axes at me.
No, before that, the moment he decided there was no information to be gained, his axe would split my neck.
“Would it be less frustrating to die knowing what it is?”
My master?
There was no way there was a master other than me.
I had come here under the Count's orders, but I was the master…….
“Hey!”
For a moment, a figure that a stupid bastard might think was the master came to mind, and I shouted.
“Hoodwock!”
As soon as the question was answered, the beast's axe flew at me as if to split me in two.
‘You shameless bastard.’
I had told him what he so desperately wanted to know, but instead of letting me live, he was trying to split me in two.
I glared at the approaching axe with my eyes wide open and counted the numbers.
‘One, two……’
Just before his axe split my head, a shield appeared from somewhere and blocked its path.
Kwa-ka-kak!
Thud!
Sparks flew before my eyes as the axe and shield clashed.
I had never imagined that a shield, not a sword, would appear, but that wasn't what was important.
Because if I didn't say it right now, I might die of frustration.
“You bastard, didn't I say I was the master?”
Here is my sword.
No.
My shield has arrived.