Book 6-8.3
The continent was struggling with the suddenly expanded number of monsters.
Other than the occasional war, the continent was peaceful. They had not dealt with monsters for a long time that the damage caused by these monsters continued to grow day by day, and all nations had no choice but to struggle with how to respond to this issue.
Although they were certain they could reduce the damage if they increased the number of soldiers stationed in each city and town, they could not easily move soldiers who were stationed at the border.
All of their soldiers except the minimum amounts to ensure the safety of the cities were stationed at the border, making it difficult to move them without being wary of what the other nations may do.
But a sudden change occurred that nobody expected. The Rojini Kingdom was the first to withdraw their troops from the borders.
Nobody cared about the other borders, but the fact that they even removed the soldiers stationed on their border with the Silence Empire was a big issue. The Rojini Kingdom may have won their war against the Silence Empire, but the Silence Empire was a strong enough force that would not disappear that easily.
But even more shocking was the Silence Empire’s movement.
Even the Silence Empire withdrew the soldiers who were stationed at the border with the Rojini Kingdom.
Nobody knew whether there were any secret agreements between the two large nations, but it was true that the damage from the monsters decreased once the border soldiers were moved to the cities and villages.
Thanks to that, all of the other nations in the Eastern Continent slowly started to withdraw their troops at the borders as well, and this change caused a similar change in the Western Continent as well.
The small scale battles between nations at the border started to disappear. Right now, they all had their hands full trying to defend against the increased number of monsters.
A rumor started to spread at that time that the location where the most monsters were generated was the desert and that the number of monsters in the continent was nothing compared to the desert.
The surprising part of the rumor was that the desert’s strong forces, the Pareia Kingdom and their sworn enemies the Shuarei tribe, were successfully fighting back against the monsters.
It meant that all of the desert warriors were being utilized to defend against the monsters.
The nations of the continent were praying that the desert does not get destroyed. If this defensive line on the desert was destroyed, then the chaos they were facing right now would multiply by quite a bit.
Another new change occurred during this time, it was a temporary alliance between all of the nations.
All of the nations suffered a lot of damage every time they met against a new monster. The goal of the alliance was to share informations about monsters with each other to reduce the damage to all of them.
They could not just sit back and let the monsters destroy them.
Pareia held an important role in this continental alliance. It was because the Monster’s Desert was the spawn location for all sorts of monsters.
That was why many of the nations created a special forces team that was sent over to Pareia and Shuarei.
There were also some free adventurers, mercenaries, and sages not associated with any nations who chose to head to the desert on their own accord to help keep the monsters at bay.
Crack. Crack.
The dry branch was burning well and warming up the inside of the paoe. On top of the bonfire was a pot of boiling drier (a type of desert tea), with Yulian sitting next to it trying to figure things out under the light of the lamp.
‘Would it be better for me to take a trip on my own?’
Yulian was concerned about the growing opposition from the monsters. It might be better for him to head to the Monster’s Desert on his own to experience a lot of the different monsters before coming back to train the other warriors.
‘No. We need to also figure out what is generating these monsters and destroy that as well.’
Even he could not take care of everything on his own.
Honestly speaking, he thought about heading there with just his master, but for some reason, Chun Myung Hoon shook his head and objected. His reason for the objection was that it was not something he should be involved in as he was not from this world.
Yulian could not fall asleep as he thought about all sorts of things as the night grew deep.
Swiiiish~
Yulian snapped out of his thoughts after hearing the paoe flapping from the wind.
Seeing both the lamp and the bonfire shaking vigorously, Yulian looked around with curious eyes. There was nowhere for the wind to enter the paoe.
But the flame continued to shake and the noise of the paoe flapping did not stop. Yulian slowly got up from his seat.
Shiiiiiiiiiing.
Yulian slowly pulled out his greatsword and held it in his hand. Although it was not an evil aura, an existence that was resonating a strong sense of grief was heading his way.
As time went on, that sense of grief continued to get stronger. Yulian pulled up his ki to fight against that feeling.
It was an oppressive aura that made it difficult to breathe. He had not felt such a feeling in a long time.
Yulian flipped his greatsword upside down to protect his chest.
Hoooooooooooong~
A violent wind rushed into the paoe and blew out the lamp and the bonfire. Yulian’s body also moved back and to the sides as he stabbed his sword forward.
Flash.
He then saw two red lights in front of him.
As he took a closer look, he could tell that they were pupils. Although it was red, there was a clear distinction between the pupil and the sclera. It was definitely a set of red eyes.
“You must be a monster.”
The moment Yulian let out his aura and tried to stab one of the eyes, his surroundings became dark before starting to glow red once again.
The red eyes had blinked.
“I did not come here to fight.”
It was an unbelievably gentle and serene voice. However, Yulian did not lower his sword as he glared at the red eyes.
The eyes blinked once again.
“Please do not be tricked by my outer appearance. The difference between light and dark is the brightness of light, and the difference between good and evil can be a single step away.”
The moment it felt like the red eyes were going to blink once more, the surroundings became bright.
This time, it was a white light instead of a red light. And what Yulian saw this time was not the monstrous red eyes.
This time, it was a woman with red hair rolled up in a bun, a beauty that made it difficult to approach, and clothes as white as snow, standing in front of Yulian.
The woman held her long hem that could reach the ground up to her chest as she bowed.
“Will this be enough for you to lower your sword? Yulian-nim’s sword will cause severe injuries to even someone like me.”
Yulian glared at the woman for a while before starting to speak.
“Who are you?”
“Greetings. The maiden who walks the path of chaos, Origin Renaria, greets the Desert Conqueror, Yulian Provoke-nim.”
Yulian did not lower his guard as he asked.
“Which is your true appearance?”
“Just like a coin has two different sides that are part of the same coin, both of the appearances I have shown you are my true appearances.”
“I do not like to joke around. Is it magic?”
The woman let out a sigh as she answered.
“Sigh~ I was hoping you would be different, but Yulian-nim is just the same I suppose.”
“I do not like to beat around the bush. Are you human? A monster?”
The woman opened up her arms and a light that was not too bright but bright enough shone into the paoe, as if she was an angel that came down from heaven.
“I asked you to not be tricked by my outer appearance. If I appeared in front of Yulian-nim like this, would Yulian-nim be treating me like he is treating me now?”
“......”
“I don’t think that would be the case. You would have at least given me enough respect to listen until the end of my story.”
Yulian slowly nodded his head and put his sword away.
“Please take as eat over here.”
The woman smiled at Yulian’s respectful tone and sat down on the chair that Yulian offered her.
“Alright then, please tell me. Who are you and why have you come to find me?”
“Will you not offer me a cup of tea?”
Yulian lightly frowned before pouring a cup of the tea that had been boiling over the bonfire and placed it in front of her.
“Thank you very much.”
The woman grabbed the cup and did not hesitate as she took a gulp of the tea that was still steaming hot.
“Uh...it is very hot.”
The moment Yulian tried to take the cup from her, she had already finished drinking the whole cup of tea.
“It’s really good. Really good. Compared to the slightly sweet, bitter, bland, or randomly assorted taste of the continent’s tea, it is much better. May I have another cup?”
Yulian was flabbergasted as he looked toward her and picked up the cup. She just smiled and peeked toward the pot of tea.
Yulian poured another cup and placed it in front of her as he started to ask.
“Alright, now, please tell me. Who are you?”