Chapter 107 : Chapter 107
Chapter 107. The Witch's Forest
If wild demonic beasts had been approaching, Lucas would have specified that 'demonic beasts' were coming.
It seemed uninvited guests had arrived.
Hyunwoo gripped the hilt of his sword and looked around.
Through the hazy smoke, several black shadows could be seen.
“P-please, spare us!”
Five Demon World residents with their hands raised approached them.
They were unarmed and wore cloth garments.
“Someone is targeting us! Please… have mercy….”
The one at the forefront appealed to their emotions with teary eyes.
Hyunwoo glanced at their attire, then took his hand off his sword hilt and spoke.
“You don't seem like much of a threat. Rest here before you go.”
“Th-thank you! Really…….”
At Hyunwoo's words, expressions of doubt appeared on Van and Lucas's faces, but they watched silently.
“You seem to have been through a lot… can you tell me what happened?”
The newcomers sat down naturally among Hyunwoo's party.
Van remained stoic, while Lucas wore a displeased expression.
The one who had been speaking for the group continued to answer.
“Y-yes. Of course.”
“What happened?”
“We were residents of Count Cremoa's territory….”
A long-winded complaint began.
A single swordsman had attacked the Cremoa territory.
Most of the territory's forces were killed by him, and the residents of Count Cremoa's territory, having lost their defensive power, were scattered in all directions.
'Argas. It must be him.'
While half-listening to their tearful story of the journey here, Hyunwoo nodded, confirming that his guess was correct.
“—and so we ended up drifting all the way here.”
After finishing his words, he gasped for breath, pant, pant.
It was understandable that he was tired, having chattered on without rest.
“Phew… Thank you for listening to our long story. And for even providing us with a place to rest… I don't know how we can ever repay this kindness….”
“It's nothing. Consider it payment for the story.”
It was literally nothing.
He had only lent them the warmth of the campfire.
However, he put on a deeply moved expression and fumbled with his clothes.
“It's not much, but… it's all we have.”
“What's this?”
“It's something we were saving… It's a fruit called a ‘Rumi Berry,’ which sometimes grows on thornbushes.”
He offered a fruit called a ‘Rumi Berry’ not only to Hyunwoo but also to Van and Lucas.
It was a common fruit, and as he said, it was true that it grew on the thornbushes they had seen on their way here.
Hyunwoo nodded and offered the fruit back to him.
“I appreciate the sentiment, but I feel bad eating it. It would be more helpful to you, wouldn't it?”
“…No, it’s not. Please give us a chance to repay our benefactor.”
“No. It’s just that, to my eyes, this fruit looks less like a ‘Rumi Berry’ and more like a ‘Dream Berry.’”
“……!”
The anxious expressions on their faces immediately hardened at Hyunwoo's response.
“The ‘Dream Berry,’ which makes you fall into a pleasant illusion when you eat it. Am I wrong?”
This was the vicinity of the 'Witch's Forest.'
It was a land where fruits different from those that were generally edible grew.
Just like how 'Dream Berries' grew instead of 'Rumi Berries.'
“Wouldn't it be better if you guys ate it? Though it seems you're already having a nice dream….”
“……How did you know?”
Receiving Hyunwoo's gaze, they flinched in surprise and backed away.
Van, who had been bringing the fruit to his mouth, spat it out with a ptooie.
Lucas hadn't even brought the fruit to his mouth in the first place.
Their faces were smeared with dirt and soot, and their clothes were torn with sword cuts in various places, but their bodies had no wounds at all.
To anyone's eyes, they looked less like refugees and more like 'plunderers' disguised as refugees.
“Did you always approach others this way?”
As soon as Hyunwoo finished speaking, other presences were felt around them.
Figures emerged from the darkness and surrounded Hyunwoo's party in an instant.
Their numbers exceeded thirty.
Sshk—
Hyunwoo gripped his sword, let out a smirk, and rose from his seat.
“Looks like I have more people to ask.”
Clank—
The metallic friction sound from the joints of armor rang out loudly from within the darkness.
Hyunwoo raised a hand to stop Van and Lucas, who were about to move, and listened intently.
From beyond the darkness, he could hear the sound of spears and swords being drawn, and the click of crossbows being loaded.
The enemies were heavily armed.
It seemed that about half of what they said was true.
The land of Count Cremoa, called the 'Iron Lord' because of its abundance of high-quality iron.
It seemed these men weren't refugees from that place, but deserters.
The sounds of busy footsteps and the metallic clash of iron armor and weapons could be heard.
As if well-trained, the thirty soldiers tightly surrounded the campfire.
Throughout this, Hyunwoo's party showed no particular reaction.
When the red faces of the Demon World soldiers became faintly visible in the campfire's light, they stopped in their tracks.
Hyunwoo observed the soldiers and then looked at the one with horns protruding from his helmet.
Not only did he have horns on his head, but the man was also a head taller than the other soldiers.
He was probably the one leading them.
“What's your reason for targeting us?”
At Hyunwoo's composed question, the commander frowned.
A group of a human, an orc, and a vampire.
Because there was a vampire in the group, he had his men approach disguised as refugees, but….
He didn't know how they found out, but just three vagrants wandering the Demon World were no problem.
The plan to deal with them without a fight had failed, but he was confident he could kill them with thirty elite soldiers.
Judging the human's calm voice as a bluff, the commander spoke with a sneer.
“A mere wandering vagrant… you must have lost your mind from fear.”
“We may be homeless, but our minds are perfectly fine.”
Tap, tap—
The commander's brow furrowed even more at Hyunwoo's relaxed attitude as he tapped his temple with his finger.
“This bastard…”
“So, what's the reason for targeting insignificant wanderers and refugees?”
“……”
At the word 'refugee,' the man's red face turned even redder.
“Don't tell me… you're trash who hunt down the people from your own region after they became refugees… Looks like I'm right? Seeing as how your ugly mug is crumpling so completely.”
“…What are you doing—! Hurry up and strike!”
The man turned his head and waved his hand at the soldiers.
It seemed he felt shame, despite committing such trashy acts.
Shing—
As Hyunwoo drew his sword, Lucas and Van also moved.
Against opponents of this level, there seemed to be no need to join forces.
“Handle them on your own—!”
Hyunwoo shouted to his companions as he launched himself forward.
His body was dyed black, and the sword in his hand swung.
There was still a considerable distance between him and the soldiers.
As Hyunwoo's sword cut through the empty air, the charging soldiers made baffled expressions.
Those baffled expressions soon turned to terror.
A black sword aura spread through the air.
It was a skill that only a clear superior, a stronger being, could possess.
⌜Crux (3-Star)―100%(M)⌟
⌜Cross Barrage ⌟
A volley of cross-shaped sword auras, dyed black, rushed towards the soldiers.
Shhhk—! Shhhhiiik—!
The sound of the wind being torn apart echoed fiercely, and, making a mockery of their reputation as an army of steel, the soldiers' limbs were severed, armor and all.
Slice— Slice—
Kuaaaaargh—!
Aaargh—!
In an instant, the surroundings turned into a scene of carnage.
The stench of blood from the soldiers, who were holding their severed limbs with expressions of agony, brushed past the tip of his nose.
It seemed there was no need for Van and Lucas to step in.
An overwhelming strength that could not be resisted.
A thick sense of defeat, familiar to the deserters, began to well up.
This couldn't be allowed to continue.
The end for soldiers who lost their morale was only defeat and death.
Moreover, it was needless to say for deserters who had already fled from the enemy once.
The commander, who knew this fact well, bit his lip hard and rushed at Hyunwoo.
“Die—!”
If he didn't turn this situation around now, there was no hope.
But.
When his steel flail, which had smashed countless opponents' heads, collided with the human's sword, he realized the situation had already gone wrong beyond repair.
⌜Ichtus Swordsmanship (3-Star)―76%⌟
Kwang—!
When the thick flail met the thin blade, he felt a strong recoil, as if his wrist would break.
“Keuk…… What is this…?”
Kwang—! Kwang—!
The commander didn't give up and continued to swing the flail, but nothing changed.
It didn't feel like he was clashing with a blade.
It felt like colliding with a club.
Yes.
A club the same size as the flail in his own hand.
Just as the commander was vaguely realizing the technique Hyunwoo had deployed, Parrying.
Hwiiik—
The human's sword suddenly changed without any warning.
It looked more like a ferocious saw blade than a sword.
His sword was swung,
⌜Raketer Swordsmanship (4-Star)―57%⌟
Fwoooosh—!
With the sound of the wind being torn, two streams of tyrannical energy flew at him.
In an instant, terror filled the commander's eyes.
'This is……!'
A slashing attack that carved a wound like the claws of a beast, which he had only been able to watch from a distance, holding his breath.
The human's sword reminded him of the strike from the swordsman who had split the gate of 'Cremoa' Castle into four pieces.
And.
Kwajijik—!
“Kuaaaaaaaaaaargh—!”
With a horrifying sound, his steel armor and body were torn apart whole.
“Heok…… Huk…!”
At the terrible pain from the wound carved into his body, the commander lost his ability to think .
The other fallen soldiers around him were no longer his concern.
Before he knew it, he was the only one left breathing.
Thud—
Hyunwoo slowly approached him.
“Keuk…… Keuk… Kill me… please…….”
In his agony, the will to live had long since been hopelessly crushed.
The commander screamed, fumbling at the wound on his body.
He hadn't known for sure before, having only used his swordsmanship on demonic beasts that couldn't speak, but now he knew for certain.
The 'Raketer Swordsmanship' was a single motion that included mana burrowing into the open wound.
The result of that led to excruciating pain.
Thud—
“……”
As the commander, who had been writhing in pain, died, the battlefield instantly fell silent.
Lucas, flicking his wrist and dispersing his mana, frowned deeply.
“We should move. This place is filled with the stench of filthy blood.”
“Didn't you drink just any blood?”
“I suppose you're the type to pick up and eat bread that has fallen on the ground?”
When he compared blood to food, he roughly understood what he meant.
Regardless, the stench of blood shed by over thirty people was so pungent that sleeping here was out of the question.
Hyunwoo nodded and returned to the campfire to extinguish the embers.
“We'll have to move diligently to find another place to sleep.”
With Hyunwoo's words, everyone finished cleaning up the area and began to move.
Unfortunately.
Although the party moved diligently, they couldn't find another place to sleep.
“…Why are there so many of them? They're not cockroaches, but they're absolutely swarming.”
The closer they got to the Witch's Forest, the more frequently 'plunderers' appeared.
They were all opponents not even worth fighting, which was incredibly annoying, but thanks to them, he was able to gather a lot of information.
Count Cremoa's territory had been completely destroyed by a single swordsman , and the forces that lost the land they were supposed to protect scattered around the territory, causing chaos.
The aftermath was reaching all the way to the vicinity of the 'Witch's Forest' here.
Deserters who had become 'plunderers' roamed everywhere.
While hunting them, Hyunwoo took the time to collect the 'Dream Berries' they possessed.
Watching Hyunwoo put the 'Dream Berries' into his subspace pocket, Van grumbled.
“Why are you collecting something you can't even eat?”
“It has its uses.”
A fruit that was no different from a 'poison,' plunging one into a pleasant illusion upon consumption. It had uses other than feeding it to the enemy.
'Namely, dispelling hallucinations.'
The 'Dream Berry' fruit could be processed and used as a medicine to dispel hallucinations.
'Poison' and 'medicine' were separated by a fine line.
As Hyunwoo moved while collecting the fruits, the day gradually began to break.
However.
Even as the day broke, the ground Hyunwoo stepped on was still dark.
'…A shadow?'
Instead of the dawn of the rising sun, a dark shadow fell thickly over the party's heads.
Tall trees surrounded them densely.
Trees in front, trees behind, trees in every direction. When he came to his senses, he was in the middle of a dim forest suffused with a purple hue.
“When did we enter the forest?”
“What in the……”
Van just had a bewildered expression, but Lucas looked around for a long time with a wary expression.
It seemed the bizarre phenomenon that surpassed his cognitive abilities had put him on high alert.
A strange phenomenon that blurred one's cognitive abilities.
'The Witch's Forest, I presume.'
Hyunwoo nodded, having unknowingly arrived at his destination.