It was difficult to clearly scrutinize the person holding those two ambiguous swords from this distance.
Injecting all of my mana in Ancient Flame, flames closely enveloping the sword as I charged forward. It is the first battle immediately after obtaining a body of an Asmodian. It was more agile than I thought it to be, as I was able to move my body quite easily at a fairly rapid pace.
That person’s face moved closer.
‘A woman’
It was a woman with short hair, with extremely crazed eyes. When I gazed into her eyes, I could feel the goosebumps jumping out of me as she smiled creepily, thrusting her swords down onto me. Even though she was slamming her swords down without any form, they were definitely aimed towards my joints. It wasn’t even a blow with great power. She was playfully raising her swords, and playfully lowering them down on me.
‘I will use all my strength.’
Rather than displaying an ambiguous amount of strength, I decided that it was rather better to fight her with all my strength as I began to churn my mana. A great deal of heat and flames began to surround me as I clashed against her swords.
It was impossible to control the blaze of Ancient Flame before, but after evolving into an Asmodian, I had realized that I was able to control them to some degree. Then, I started to move them slowly the way I wanted, but she blocked it. She was definitely suppressing my flames.
Then…
“Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik!”
Despite knowing that I intended to block her blow, the woman scraped my sword with hers in an instant. My flames were not threatening to her at all, and she was definitely scratching it.
What I heard was an intensely unpleasant sound.
Afterwards.
“Ugh.”
Blood began to burst out of my body instantly.
“Fuuuck..”
I was sure that her sword hadn’t touched me, but after hearing her voice, I was able to realize roughly what her ability was capable of.
‘Sound’
That unpleasant sound had definitely inflicted damage to me. The invisible blade continued to bury itself through my whole body. The sound was probably a form of her Unique Ability which allowed her to change the sound into a form of either blades or inflict internal damage.
While I was distracted for a second, a sword was thrusting towards me. I raised Ancient Flame once more to block her strike.
But that creepy sound wave echoed through my body once more as blood began to pour out again.
“Shit…”
I was dizzy, as this woman was clearly toying with me. She certainly had the opportunity to kill me, but despite that, she did not try to attack me. It was a sign that she was definitely looking down on me. In other words, I was a bug that she could squish whenever she felt like it.
“Die!”
With that playful tone, she struck out her sword. All I could muster in time was a hurried block of her sword with Ancient Flame.
“Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik!”
“Blargh!”
My whole body became tattered in an instant. It did not take long for the battle to begin, but that time span felt like an eternity to me. Victory and defeat had already been decided, but to be precise, it was correct to say that there was no hope for me here. I knew best better than anyone else of this answer.
But…
I will not die in this place. I only had one opportunity. I began to slowly assess her movements. The moment she swung her sword, she turned to her left. While doing so, she consistently scraped my sword, inflicting constant pain on me, so I had no time left to react.
It was important to monitor how she moved. Left, right again, left again. Soon, she disappeared from my sight.
“Die! Die!”
‘Back.’
A sword was flying towards me. I reflexively deflected it away with a dagger in my left hand and switched weapons with the dagger I was holding to the sword she was wielding with all my strength.
Unique Ability Weapon Switch.
This was the one opportunity I was aiming for.
I did not know if it was possible or not, but luckily, the Rank Up of the Unique Ability did not betray my expectations. The sword she was holding was replaced with the dagger in an instant.
“Huh?”
She had a puzzled expression, unable to comprehend what had just happened. But what was certain was that now my dagger was being thrusted towards me.
“Kereeeeeeeuk”
I quickly activated Weapon Switch to quickly swap out her sword with my Greatsword Too Large to be a Sword. I did not try to counter her blow. Instead, my greatsword immediately came right in front of me and blocked her blow.
She will probably scratch my greatsword.
“Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik!”
As expected, blood began to simultaneously gush out of me. However, like before, the damage was not lethal enough. This was what I was aiming for.
I did not mind my injury as I switched swords once more and began to thrust Ancient Flame at her face. She was flabbergasted. I pretended to be okay, but I was reaching my limits as well. In fact, I can admit that this was my final attack.
I swung my sword at her.
“Sizzzzzzzzzzzzzle”
The burning fire soon shook as it swallowed her. I felt her body retreat so I leapt forward and swung my sword at her.
‘I caught her.’
She was definitely within my range. I began to look at her with an irritated face, and in the end, my sword had definitely struck her.. When I thought that I had won, I heard a voice.
“Not bad, Asmodian Ahjusshi.”
Suddenly, my body was shoved against the ground.
‘Damn…’
I could feel that she was on top of my back.
A rat in a trap. I had thought that I had become stronger, but I had never expected things would end so simply like this. Such a ridiculous situation. I was surprised that this kind of monster existed, but it was also surprising that the majority of these people were cut down by the Queen of the North. It was hard to imagine that I could ever become as strong as them.
‘Our levels are too different.’
Truly, she was on another level as she toyed with me. She probably revealed her true strength in that last attack which swallowed her. The movement which caused me to become stuck on the ground was evidence of her strength.
My body was already in tatters, with my limbs showing no signs that it would function for a while.
“It was rather…fun…should I kill? I should kill, right?”
My life was dangling in her hands. I had no choice but to swallow back my saliva as I looked around. Due to her, I had no chance of checking out my clansmen properly. As if they had engraved the command I gave them, there were no signs of any Green Skins. It seems they have believed in me, more so than the fact that they had an obligation to heed to my words as Chief.
If they were still here, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that all the clan members would have been annihilated. With my body stuck to the ground, I turned my head and looked at her.
She was extremely plain. A face that wasn’t a rare sight to see outside the world. But such killing intent from her eyes was surreal. The moment I made eye contact with her, I could feel my whole body trembling before I even knew it. Noticing that I was trembling in fear, she looked down at me.
“What a good response. I should kill you.”
‘Fuck…’
When I had thought that I was fucked, it was then.
“Victory! For Victory Only! Ggirik!”
“For Blood Dagger ! Ggirik! Ggirik!”
I began to hear voices from a random place. I had definitely ordered the clansmen to return back to the village, but to hear these voices suddenly. They were not voices of Gark or Hark, but those of extremely normal Goblins.
Turning my head, I looked at the source of the voices. Mortified, they were the three Goblins who had come out from the Forest Worm Cave.
The Goblin Who Draws Maps along with the two Goblin Assassins. They were the three whom I had inadvertently rescued from within the burrow of Forest Cave Earthworms. When all of the clansmen had listened to me and were heading for the village… they had definitely hid themselves inside the cave. Due to this extremely confusing situation, even Gark and Hark would have not noticed it. I did not know why exactly they had not listened to me, but they were awkwardly running towards me.
‘Fuck…’
What I was more worried about other than them disobeying me were their own lives. It was obvious, but there was no way for them to become her opponent. They will surely die in vain.
“I told you to run away!”
Subconsciously, I began to scream in a loud voice. The Goblin Assassins’ movements were a bit fine, but the way the Goblin who Draws Map was running were really awkward.
“I will repay your grace! Ggirik!”
“I cannot let Blood Dagger die! Blood Dagger must live!”
“De…Defying the Chief’s words can only be repaid with death!”
Hearing those words, I was certain. They knew that they would die here.
I tried to raise my body, but the problem was that I could not move. I could not do anything with this woman holding me down.
The woman, with an extremely interested expression, began to look at me. This woman knew that I did not want them to die. After sending a mischievous smile towards me, she immediately ran after the Goblins. I knew what she intended.
It was then that I finally realized why she liked to kill humans.
“Stop!”
“For Blood Dagg!….”
The Goblin Assassin who was running in the front had its head cut off first. The Goblin Who Draws Maps in an instant began to sprint towards me. Abruptly, holding onto me, they dragged my powerless arm along as they ran for it. There is no reason why they wouldn’t be caught. That woman was surely enjoying this situation.
“I…I told you to run away…”
It wasn’t like I didn’t feel grateful for them trying to save me by dragging my arm. I was definitely thankful for their desire to save me. But there was no point. They will die.
“Defying the Chief’s words can only be repaid with de…ath…!”
As expected, the other remaining assassin also fell down with a deadly sword pierced through it’s neck. All that remained of my would be rescuers was the Goblin Who Draws Maps. Despite knowing that he would die, he was not afraid as continued to drag me continuously. It was heavy trying to drag me alone, he was panting as he pulled me, but I knew that he would soon become a pool of blood…
“I am a father who has lost his honor. I am a father who rebelled against the Chief’s words. Ggirik. Ggirik! Please tell her I’m…sorry…”
In the end, he collapsed as well.
“For…Blood…Dagger.”
I bit my lips fuming in anger. I was powerless. So powerless and helpless. I had no choice but to ask myself what part of me had become stronger, or how could I exact vengeance with this much little strength. I wasn’t able to protect Seulgi in the past, and I realized that now – I was no different from my past life.
TL Afterword:
Calvis: Nico-Nicole Father :'(
PR Afterword:
Sai101: That was freaking memorable… when the least expected characters step up to shine the brightest… a lesson for the MC to well remember – only the strong survive.
Translator: Calvis
Editors: Sai101 Borderline Masochist