novelraw Chapter 9 : Chapter 9
Chapter 9 : Chapter 9
Chapter 9: Watcher
Screech-
The Witch tilted her head.
‘Just what is this human?’
Was it because he was a person beyond her predictions?
From barging onto the ship, to killing the Ogre and fighting Seo Yeonhwa, everything was exceptional.
‘Hmm……. Well, it’s fine. He could grow into a good Incarnation.’
The great Constellations were very interested in humans.
Someone like that man, competent yet peculiar, would be scored highly.
He was someone who could be seen as a hero or a psychopath, depending on the perspective.
In reality, there were several Constellations paying attention to him.
Surely, when the ‘Time of Choice’ came, a good being would take him in.
However.
‘I suppose I’ll have to be the one to teach him how to bow his head.’
He was far too arrogant.
Before forging a connection with a great being, he needed to be taught some simple etiquette.
-Haa? Very well.-
Thus, she planned to torment him only to the brink of death.
-To the brave, praises for their courage…….-
Even as the Witch spoke, Han Chulwoon just stood there, loosening his tired body.
He knew just how dangerous that ‘Witch’s Gaze’ was.
It was a disadvantageous situation in every aspect, not just the gaze but physical abilities as well.
The Witch felt no pain, and healed trivial wounds within seconds.
Nevertheless, he had more experience.
The Witch's minor habits.
Psychological weaknesses.
And the limitations that followed.
‘How many times have you and I faced each other…….’
I understand it all.
Your incompetence.
She was one of several Observers.
Her current role was to instill fear in people to tame them.
Fear came from the unknown, and the Observer had to be an unknown existence.
It had to be an unflinching terror that wouldn't even be scratched by mere humans.
Everything must seem easy to her.
She must think looking just once is enough.
‘……She’s probably thinking the same thing.’
-A barbarity fitting for that mythological age!-
The moment the Witch’s sentence ended.
Pah!
Han Chulwoon moved.
He had thrown the Gu-poisoned Goblin corpse at the Witch.
Thwack!
The Goblin exploded.
-What?-
The Witch was a little surprised.
She hadn't known her ability could be blocked this way.
It was a ‘Gaze’ that no wall or shield could block.
-Such petty tricks!-
But the Witch did not retreat.
She didn't dodge or block.
She just focused her ‘Gaze’ and tore the incoming Goblin to shreds.
Booooom!
Kwad-deu-deuk…….
The Goblin exploded in mid-air.
First the head, then the shoulder, then the torso.
Peur-reureuk.
Scattering flesh and drops of blood.
As if ground in a blender, the Goblin was torn and burst until its original form was unrecognizable, and the area became a mess.
In that instant.
Within the blood mist that blurred her vision.
‘Ugh. This is!’
The Goblin corpse was coated in ‘Gu’, a curse that contaminated even the mind, so even the Witch, who was insensitive to pain, couldn't help but be affected.
She recovered in an instant, but she blinked for a moment.
‘Huh? Where is he?’
She had lost sight of the man.
Because it was an ability activated only by ‘seeing’, it also had the weakness of narrowing her field of vision during an attack.
‘Where on earth?’
Hwik!
The sound of wind brushed past the Witch’s ear, and suddenly the shadows deepened.
Han Chulwoon had gotten behind her.
Next, the Witch felt something strange in her abdomen, but she ignored it and tried to look at Han Chulwoon.
‘Uht!’
But something was strange.
Geek.
Her body had become sluggish.
Han Chulwoon had driven two kitchen knives into the Witch's neck and spine, obstructing her movement.
“……?”
Geu-deu-deuk.
‘Knives in my body? Since when?’
The Witch felt almost no pain, so she only realized it a moment later.
‘I have to pull them out!’
By the time she tried to grab and pull out the knives, Han Chulwoon had already begun his next attack.
He put his weight into the axe and brought it down.
Thud!
The heavy impact shattered the Witch's balance.
-Keuk!-
She, who had been treading the air elegantly, lowered her head and set her feet on the ground.
-You damn bastard!-
She belatedly tried to pull out the knives embedded in her body, but couldn't remove them completely.
Broken blade fragments remained inside her body.
Every time she moved, wounds accumulated from within.
With every moment, the Witch's body was becoming duller.
‘A measly wound like this!’
The Witch ignored the wound and tried to look at Han Chulwoon.
If she bought just a little time, she could regenerate even this wound.
She thought she had to break the flow of the attack first.
‘Obvious.’
Han Chulwoon, having read even that thought, grabbed the Witch's long hair.
Grasp!
-Geuk!-
The Witch's head snapped upwards, her ‘Gaze’ following, and she naturally lost sight of Han Chulwoon.
Stab.
Stab.
Two knives were embedded in her back.
But the Witch wasn't someone who couldn't move just because her hair was grabbed.
Even her strength was far superior to a human's.
-Now die!-
The Witch turned her head, spewing rage.
But he was already gone.
When you turn your head, your hair swings the opposite way.
He just had to entrust his body to that flow.
No matter where the Witch turned her head, Han Chulwoon was outside her gaze.
The more violent her movements, the easier it became to read and dodge them.
In the end, she couldn't win with her ‘Gaze’, so resorting to her arms was the natural course.
Woo-deu-deuk.
The Witch twisted her shoulder joint bizarrely and swung her arm towards Han Chulwoon behind her.
Kwang!
Her fist hit the wall, and the metal wall crumpled instantly.
But it was just a futile swing.
She couldn't catch Han Chulwoon.
She couldn't strike him, couldn't drive him away.
She could definitely feel his presence behind her, but no matter how she swung her arms or turned her body, Han Chulwoon was at her back.
Bbi-geok.
Eu-deuk.
The more she struggled to pursue Han Chulwoon, the larger her wounds became.
Just how much her body was damaged, and what parts she could still move.
The Witch, insensitive to pain, couldn't gauge the loss to her body.
She couldn't correct her tactics in the right direction.
‘That is your weakness.’
The Witch, after swinging her arms a few times, now threw her entire body.
‘Let’s see how long you stick to my back like an insect!’
This time, she planned to slam Han Chulwoon into the wall by pushing him with her back.
She gathered all her strength and kwak! shot forward.
Han Chulwoon moved left and dodged.
Jjeo-eong!
Meanwhile, the Witch slammed her own back into the wall.
It was truly a ridiculous sight.
‘Now he won't be able to avoid my gaze.’
The Witch, having blocked her back with the wall, was certain of victory.
And she turned her head to the left, where Han Chulwoon was.
However…….
‘A-a Goblin?’
On the wall to her left, a Goblin was impaled and stuck by a knife.
It was blocking the Witch's gaze.
‘Since when…… Don't tell me?’
Meaning.
This was the Goblin Han Chulwoon killed when he fought Seo Yeonhwa…….
Chills!
-This crazy-!-
This movement didn't make sense.
All of the Witch's struggles were no different from being caught within the net Han Chulwoon had spread.
‘If this isn't a coincidence……!’
In that gap.
Han Chulwoon's hammer struck down on her helmet.
Kkaang!
The Witch's head snapped down.
Without even a moment to lift it again.
Kkaang!
He was slamming down on her head.
Kkaang!
Ttu-uk.
Ttu-uk.
The Witch's gaze was being driven toward the floor.
‘I have to lift my head…….’
But, she couldn't move her neck.
The hammer struck down before she could even lift her head.
The damage was accumulating faster than her wounds could regenerate.
Her neck kept snapping down.
Kkaang!
‘I have to at least raise my body…….’
Her legs and waist wouldn't move properly either.
Her feet couldn't properly stand on the floor, merely floundering.
‘At least my arms!’
Her arms were also broken.
Her fingers twitched, moving erratically.
‘Just what is wrong with my body……!’
It was unclear what was broken.
It was unclear how badly it was broken.
Was it nerve damage?
Muscle damage?
The Witch tried to move anything, but couldn't move any part of her body properly.
-Goblins! Hurry and help me! Attack this bastard!-
It was useless to shout.
According to the rules of the first scenario, Han Chulwoon was already a Monster, so they wouldn't budge.
They weren't following the Witch's command, but the scenario's.
They just wandered around like harmless beasts.
“Looks like you thought the scenario was on your side.”
-Yiik!-
Then.
Kkaang!
Ttu-duk.
The Witch's neck broke completely.
She could no longer move her head.
“Tough. I almost got tired first.”
Han Chulwoon thought as he pulled out the short sword that had pinned the Goblin to the wall.
‘If the Witch had fought while retreating, I would have had trouble even approaching.’
The Observer overwhelmed Han Chulwoon in every aspect.
They were beings who had long transcended humans.
Even with modern firearms, it would have been impossible to defeat the Observer.
But the Witch relied too much on that ‘eye’.
She was arrogant.
Having buried all chances of victory in her arrogance, the Witch collapsed miserably.
“---------!”
The Witch couldn't even make a sound.
“----?”
Han Chulwoon spoke as if this situation was familiar.
“Let’s just get this over with, shall we?”
He lifted her collapsed head.
Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
And smashed it into the floor.
Her head was half-buried in the crumpled floor.
“You know it’s already over.”
Next, he destroyed the passage where Magic Power flowed in the back of her neck.
He had to strike it repeatedly with the axe.
“Let's both take the easy way out.”
With this, the Witch's final weapon, her ‘Gaze’, was completely shut down.
“We’ll be seeing each other again.”
The Witch now just lay there like a puppet with its strings cut.
After that.
Han Chulwoon stretched, juu-uk-, loosening his body.
‘About 70 points.’
Despite the almost one-sided attack, he felt a crushing fatigue throughout his body.
‘Whether my body has rotten or my mind has rotten. I’ve become half-crippled too.’
He wasn't satisfied even after achieving an impossible victory.
It felt like his past self, who had done better than this, was reprimanding him.
Asking if this was all he could do.
‘Is it both?’
He was indeed a man whose body and mind had both rotted.
He took off the Witch's helmet.
No, it would be more correct to say he tore it off.
As if the helmet was stuck to her skin.
When he pulled the helmet, the skin was pulled along with it, and jjeo-jeo-jeok- the face was torn away.
The Witch's revealed face was shocking.
The part that could be called a woman's face only went down to her nose.
Above that.
From the eyes to the brain, her entire head was missing.
Instead, there was only a single large eyeball, the size of a skull, embedded there.
Tentacles extending like blood vessels from the eye were attached to the woman's body like parasites.
The bloodshot eye looked back at him, but it couldn't cause any harm now.
“Right, it was nice meeting you.”
He began to cut the blood vessels attached to the eye, one strand at a time.
Slice slice.
Snip- Snap.
The tentacles, as if still alive, tried to entangle Han Chulwoon's hand or reattach to the Witch's body.
But it only amounted to slowing down his work speed slightly.
He said, feeling a little annoyed.
“Can't you understand words? I said let's go the easy way.”
Ta-da-dak.
Tu-uk.
Finally, when the last blood vessel tentacle was cut and snapped like a rubber band.
He held up the eyeball.
Looking at his reflection in it as if it were a mirror, he said.
“You must be curious who I am. And how this is possible.”
“…….”
“If you're curious, come back for revenge.”
“……?”
“You must come.”
“……!”
Afterward.
He made a cut in the eyeball and threw it.
The thrown eyeball shriveled like a deflated balloon and flew away.
It disappeared into the dark night.
[The Constellation ‘Ruin of the Gigantes’ sends praise for your martial prowess.]
[100 coin have been sponsored.]
[The Constellation ‘Six-Eyed Prophet’ expresses doubts about your prediction-like fight.]
[100 coin have been sponsored.]
Including this sponsorship.
A total of 243 coin had been gathered.
‘See you again, Witch.’
The ‘Observers’ he would meet steadily from now on.
The Witch from just now was a rather helpful one among them.
Because he knew how to exploit her personality flaws.
Besides, if they spent time together, she had a pretty cute side to her.
Afterward, he looked at the Witch's remaining body.
‘Shall I wrap this up?’
He looked around for a moment, picked up a broken knife fragment, and imbued it with ‘Magic Power’.
And he plunged it into the Witch's heart.
‘This is enough for the Witch.’
Finally, he retrieved the short sword that had stabbed the Witch's eye.
A faint magic power was seeping from its blade.
‘I should store this power.’
It was a volatile power that would dissipate if left alone.
If he paid a little attention, it could be a useful weapon in the early stages.
As Han Chulwoon focused.
Seu-reu-reuk-
The light that was leaking out flowed into the kitchen knife.
Only then did a message appear on the status window, [(No name has been given.)]
[This is a knife imbued with Magic Power.]
[Slash E]
[Thrust E]
[Magic Power D]
In addition to its existing abilities, it was now imbued with Magic Power.
‘Hmm. What should I name it?’
Since Han Chulwoon, the original creator, hadn't given it a name, there was no particular description.
‘I used to call it Eye Poker…….’
He gave it a name.
[Eye Poker]
[This is a knife imbued with Magic Power.]
[Slash E]
[Thrust E]
[Magic Power D]
‘With this, I’ve obtained everything I can get from here.’
Han Chulwoon looked at the status window.
Surely, around this time, the ‘Constellation of Regression’ should have at least spouted some nonsense.
‘It’s quiet.’
It was a fact that was baffling no matter how many times he re-checked.
It was hard to believe.
Did that bastard really disappear?
Is this truly the last regression?
‘If so, that’s welcome news.’
In his past lives, he had focused only on ending the regressions, so there were a few promises he couldn't keep.
This time, he would be able to fulfill them.
‘I’ll be able to die with a clear conscience.’
However, it wasn't without questions.
Causing this much of a commotion should have drawn significant interest from the Constellations.
The current distance felt subtle.
‘They are sending sponsorships, but…….’
Well, it wasn't bad.
In any case, he was starting with more coins than in his past lives.
Now, one last thing.
There was something he had to collect.
‘Though I’m dead tired.’
Jju-u-uk.
He stretched his muscles and picked up the ‘Eye Poker’.
‘I have to clean up.’
32 Goblins.
He killed 31 of them and earned 310 more coins.
And one was left with its arms and legs broken.
***
On the floor above.
When it was the exact time Han Chulwoon had instructed.
“What happened? There was so much noise……”
Kang Yuha came down.
As she frowned at the pile of corpses and the thick smell of blood.
Han Chulwoon pointed at the Goblin and said.
“Kill this one with your own hands.”