Chapter 101 : Chapter 101
Chapter 101. I Survived.
Hyunwoo’s first impression upon facing the ‘Master Event’ was bewilderment.
‘…When?’
Every time Argas’s sword was swung, life and death came and went by a hair's breadth.
He hadn't even noticed his swordsmanship proficiency rising as he was busy walking the tightrope in the face of death.
A fleeting moment in a fantasy.
Vitality returned to his tired body, and his thoughts, distorted by pain, became normal again.
He, in the event, was overflowing with power.
Even without examining his body, he could easily tell whose body this was.
Because the creator of the ‘Herba Swordsmanship’ was ‘Argas’.
Hyunwoo had become Argas in the ‘Master Event’.
He looked around.
A battlefield filled with swords and spears, and corpses all around.
He didn't know how long he had been fighting here, but fresh red blood was flowing over the thick, dried blood on the ground.
A mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
It could truly be called a place that suited Argas.
Swish—
He raised his hand.
The sticky blood and the smell of rotting corpses brought him no emotion.
Only the sword (劍) and swordsmanship (劍術).
He felt a resonance like a soul engraved in his mind.
The Sword Fiend, Argas, the Star of Chaos.
It was a mindset befitting a man called a demon mad for the sword.
Hyunwoo’s thoughts began to synchronize with his.
The sword was him, and he was the sword.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaah—!
The sight of the approaching demonic soldiers seemed to him merely as moving targets for swordsmanship practice.
Shishishishishishishit—!
The ‘Herba Swordsmanship’ unfolded from his hand.
The phantom swords instantly increased in number and split into seven.
Of the seven swords, three with substance pierced the soldiers’ necks.
Crack—!
Crack—!
Crack—!
Finally, a success.
Hyunwoo, who had become Argas, smiled brightly.
As the joy of having mastered the ‘Herba Swordsmanship’ filled his heart.
Hoo-ook—
In an instant, he returned to reality.
The overflowing power in his body disappeared, and he felt a deep sense of exhaustion.
His tired and wounded body was as heavy as a waterlogged cotton ball.
Through the blood flowing over his closed eyes, he could faintly see Argas charging in.
Shishishishishishishit—!
A sword mixed with reality and illusion, split into seven.
As the Herba Swordsmanship reached mastery, it became clear which of the split swords were illusion and which were reality.
Swish—
Hyunwoo forced his limp body up and raised his sword.
And.
Hyunwoo’s sword also began to split.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
The seven split swords surged towards Argas.
As the traces of having mastered the swordsmanship resided in Hyunwoo's sword, a look of surprise appeared on Argas’s face for the first time.
When he blinked and stared at Hyunwoo’s sword.
Shishishishishishishit—!
“……!”
His pupils soon changed to astonishment.
The effect of the Calamity Hunter, a 15% increase in all stats.
That effect also applied to swordsmanship.
Hyunwoo’s sword, which had split into seven, went further and split into eight swords.
A new level that surpassed the mastery of the Herba Swordsmanship!
And.
Crack—!
Crack—!
Crack—!
The two swords soon clashed.
Hyunwoo’s sword collided precisely with the three of Argas’s swords that had substance.
An exchange that seemed to have ended in an exact tie.
But.
Hyunwoo still had an eighth sword with substance left.
The final ‘eighth sword’ hidden among the phantom swords.
Shwish—!
The Herba Swordsmanship, which had surpassed the power of the originally mastered swordsmanship due to the effect of the Calamity Hunter, flew in, aiming for Argas’s neck.
“This is the end…!”
An explosive enlightenment.
The thrill of the battle that followed.
All his emotions were poured out through the tip of his sword.
Argas in front of him seemed to have given up, his sword hanging low.
Even for him, at this distance…….
Just then.
Crack—!
“……!”
Ulkuk—
Feeling the blood coming up his throat, Hyunwoo grasped the situation.
His advancing sword had disappeared, and Argas’s sword was now embedded in his stomach.
The mastery of the ‘Herba Swordsmanship’.
And with the added effect of the ‘Calamity Hunter’, he had displayed an even stronger ability.
But it didn't reach.
It was for a simple reason.
‘Is it the overwhelming gap in… physique?’
Even though he had swung late, he was able to nullify all of his own sword’s attacks and succeed with his own, simply because his physical abilities were that far superior.
That was all.
“Damn…it……”
Ulkuk—
As the sword churned inside his stomach, his ruptured organs flowed out of his mouth with blood.
The exhilaration from his enlightenment sank as coldly as his cooling body.
Swish—
“……!”
As the man pulled out the sword embedded in his body, he felt dizzy from the blood that gushed out of his stomach.
“Proof.
No, it’s more than that.
It’s astonishing.
Your talent.”
“Ku, cough—!”
“Judging by your eyes, you seem to have something to say?
Why the resentful look?”
Ptooey—
After spitting out the sticky clot of blood in his throat, he laboriously raised his head, and the man leaned in to listen.
Argas despises those who tremble in fear.
Hyunwoo spat out his words slowly, as if chewing them.
“You bastard…… I should have landed a strike on your face…”
“……What?”
A different reaction from the common trash who would just cry out to be saved before they died.
At that, Argas burst into a wild laugh.
Kahahahahahahahaha—!!
‘Keuk……!’
The aura mixed in his wild laughter made his entire body tingle.
He was in such a bad state that even a small amount of aura made him extremely sensitive.
“The more I see you, the more I like you.”
Shwak—
The man flicked his sword and turned around.
“I’ll come looking for you in a year.
You’d better satisfy me then too.”
Thud—
Argas threw something next to Hyunwoo and slowly moved away.
A small orb.
It was a precious object containing his swordsmanship.
As Hyunwoo bent down to pick up the orb,
Thud—
He had the orb in his hand, but his bent knees hit the floor on their own.
In the end, he had lost to him.
It hurt like he was dying, and his head was spinning, but.
Anyway.
‘I survived.’
This game was ‘Surviving in the Demon World’.
It was a game where the sole purpose was to survive the calamities and resolve them.
Therefore, it was his victory.
Sreureuk—
A smile blossomed on the lips of Hyunwoo as his eyes closed.
Tiring—!
The scenario quest has been updated…….
Hyunwoo—!
The system message and the sound of his comrades calling him and running over wrapped around him gently like a lullaby.
* * *
Several days had passed since Hyunwoo had collapsed at the end of his fight with Argas.
“……”
Hyunwoo, who was receiving treatment and lying down, had not yet regained consciousness.
But the shaman had said he would be fine, so he would probably wake up soon.
Lucas looked blankly at the figure of the sleeping Hyunwoo and recalled the fight with Argas.
‘……I couldn’t possibly stand against him.’
Even with him, Van, and Conrad combined, they could not stop him.
A man like a monster with overwhelming strength.
But.
When Lucas regained consciousness, Hyunwoo was facing such a man alone.
If the High Orc shaman hadn't stopped him, he would have rushed out to help him as soon as he came to his senses.
[Why are you stopping me!]
[That monster is not someone who can be faced alone!]
[Do you think you can stop him if everyone joins in?]
[Just watch the path that Sir Guide leads.]
The deep sense of helplessness and defeat he felt from the man.
And he felt a sense of relief from the fact that he didn't have to fight him, and at the same time, he felt a deep sense of self-loathing.
Because all he could do was just watch the path Hyunwoo had chosen.
And.
Hyunwoo had proven his path.
A monster-like man who seemed as if he would kill everyone at any moment.
Hyunwoo had succeeded in turning such a man away.
‘Is that guide thing… really true?’
He had thought it was just the ramblings of an old man.
He didn't know what the shaman had seen in Hyunwoo, but he thought that he might really be a special being.
Vwoom—
Mana gathered in Lucas’s clenched fist.
He was continuing to regain his mana, but even if he regained all of it, he had no confidence that he could win if he met that man again.
He had to get stronger.
He had no intention of stopping in his current state of helplessness and defeat.
Flap—
Lucas stepped out of the tent.
The 'Stigma' engraved on his shoulder.
The High Orcs' 'tattoo', which had a similar power.
He had a vague feeling as if something was about to come to mind.
Normally, he would have researched that power on his own, but he didn't want to hesitate for even a moment.
'A tattoo.
If I learn about that power… I might be able to find a way to use the Stigma in a different way.'
The High Orc shaman, Gracia.
He might have the answer to this problem.
Thump—
Lucas made his way to Gracia’s tent.
* * *
Hoo-ook—
As Lucas entered Gracia’s tent, he felt a dry, ash-like air inside.
‘Magic’ was the power to forcibly shape and materialize mana, while curses were a supernatural power that used mana as it was.
Thus, because the two powers were completely different in their principles of operation, methods, and results, ‘mages’ and ‘shamans’ tended to dislike each other.
This was the same for Lucas.
“Hoh.
This is… an unexpected guest has arrived.”
Gracia welcomed Lucas, who had visited without any warning.
Whatever his inner thoughts were, on the surface, he seemed pleased with Lucas’s visit.
Lucas met his eyes.
Yes.
It’s those eyes.
The biggest reason Lucas thought shamans were awkward was those eyes.
“……”
The arrogant gaze that looked him up and down and the strangely twisted corners of his lips as if he knew everything, he didn’t like any of it.
He had no intention of facing the shaman for long.
Lucas immediately got to the point.
“Shaman.
Can you tell me what a tattoo is?”
“A tattoo, you say… what are you curious about?
Since you are a comrade of Sir Guide, I will make a special exception and tell you.”
Kek, kek, kek—
Gracia twisted the corners of his lips and clicked his tongue.
“I heard that High Orcs accept the power of their ancestral spirits through tattoos.
How can they use the power of a god without any price?”
“No price, you say… it might seem that way to others.”
“…Is there some price I don't know about?”
There were no side effects on the warriors who had used the power of the tattoo.
They just accepted the power of the ancestral spirits with their red eyes and manifested it through the tattoo.
In between, it didn't seem as if any price was being paid.
“There is.”
“What is it?”
“Our souls.”
Fwoong—
Gracia’s eyes turned red.
And.
Hoo-ook—
“……!”
Behind his head, the form of wailing souls appeared.
Dozens, hundreds, thousands of overlapping souls circled around him.
“After death, the High Orcs remain in this world for the glory of the race.”
“…Is that the price for using the power?
To remain as a specter forever after death?”
“It is a glorious power to be called a price.
Because we can become immortal.
Kek, kek, kek……”
“Is there any meaning in eternal life if one becomes a medium of power without any consciousness?”
“It depends on how you think about it, doesn’t it?”
A question suddenly occurred to him.
The power the High Orcs used was the souls of their ‘ancestral spirits’.
He wondered if the human, Hyunwoo, would also become one of those souls after he died.
“Will Hyunwoo also become such a soul in the future?”
“That, I do not know.”
“…You don’t know?”
“Since a human has never used our power, no one would know what will happen after his death, would they?”
The first human to receive a High Orc’s tattoo.
The shaman’s words that he didn’t know what would happen to him in the future made sense.
Lucas nodded his head.
He had learned the price of the ‘tattoo’, which he had thought was a power without any price.
But it was not a method he could use.
The ‘Stigma’ was a power that granted temporary strong power through a wound engraved on the body, but it left great side effects.
The more he learned, the clearer the difference between the two powers became.
It seemed it would be difficult to get a clue about the ‘Stigma’ through the ‘tattoo’.
Lucas nodded and was about to leave.
Just then, Gracia opened his mouth again.
“Are you perhaps wanting to use the power of the ‘Stigma’?”
“……!”
Did the High Orc shaman also know about the ‘Stigma’?
His surprise was brief.
Lucas turned his body, which had been about to leave, and faced him again.
“That story.
I would like to hear it in detail.”
It seemed he had come to the right place.