Episode 197: Desert of Sacrifice (6)
A remote church located somewhere.
-Kwaaaaang!-
“Ugh… .”
-Thud thud-
There, at present, only one old man was standing on both legs, covered in blood.
“Phew… .”
The identity of that old man is.
Ma Dong-cheol, headmaster of the Korea Player Academy.
“… I guess I’m getting old too.”
Could it be because of the endless battle that lasted for several hours?
Ma Dong-cheol, with a tired look on his face, felt the ravages of time for a moment as his body was unable to move as freely as it did when he was young, and then he raised his head and looked around.
-Duribunduribun-
The inner wall was cracked and looked as if it would collapse at any moment.
Blood and drops of blood were painted red here and there on top of it.
A funeral chair that was completely destroyed, with not a single piece left intact.
Countless pieces of flesh, entrails, and bone, buried among the shattered debris or embedded in the walls.
however.
‘Did he already run away…?’
Among the numerous corpses scattered around Ma Dong-cheol.
The male cadet who was believed to be the culprit behind everything was nowhere to be seen.
However, Ma Dong-cheol, who was looking around carefully to see if there was anyone still breathing, soon muttered softly in a hushed voice filled with regret.
“Tsk, if it were like the old days, I would have left a few of them alive… .”
Now that I’m older and have no time to spare, I had no choice but to kill them all.
The level of the villains there was also threatening enough that even Ma Dong-cheol, an SS-class player, would have been in danger if he let his guard down.
Even at the last moment, stamina and magic power are almost depleted.
If one mistake had been made, the one who fell might have been Ma Dong-cheol.
‘Well, looking at the way those guys are rushing at me like they’re going to die, I guess interrogating them would have been pointless… .’
After that, Ma Dong-cheol, who had been taking a short break without letting his guard down, decided to leave this place that seemed like it would collapse at any moment and look around to figure out the situation.
-Swish-swish-
So, Ma Dong-cheol picked up one of the black robes that the thugs were wearing and roughly wiped the blood off their faces.
-Thump thump-
I moved towards the large wooden door in front of me, clearing away the corpses blocking my way.
‘By the way, the huge cross in the back, and the pews that were placed there… Looking at the overall structure, it looks like this is a church.’
A moment later, Ma Dong-cheol arrived in front of a large wooden door and placed his rough palm on the door to open it.
-Thud-
But at that moment.
-Shock-
When I was young, when I was conquering the witch city.
Could it be thanks to the realization about the nature of magic that I got a hint about through a conversation with Jeong Se-bin, a young witch who lived there?
Ma Dong-cheol could feel faint waves of magical power flowing from deep underground in the church… .
-Bang!-
Ma Dong-cheol, who immediately sensed something ominous, roughly pushed open the wooden door with both hands.
I concentrated all the remaining magical power in my legs and ran outside with all my might.
-Taat!-
Then, Ma Dong-cheol started to distance himself from the church.
-Kwaaaaang!-
With a tremendous explosion that shook the earth.
-Kurrrrrr…-
A church that has completely lost its original shape and is collapsing, scattering debris here and there.
one side.
-Knock knock-
Fortunately, thanks to a quick response, I was able to escape the explosion.
Ma Dong-cheol, who felt the hot heat rushing in from behind…
“You’re targeting the moment when I’m the most tired and careless… . He’s a very sinister guy from start to finish…”
I looked around, secretly impressed by my opponent’s thorough strategy, and tightened my grip on the tension that had been loosening up a bit.
And not long after.
‘hmm?’
Ma Dong-cheol could feel a sense of discomfort about the place he was currently standing.
‘It was definitely that time… … .’
That sense of discomfort is exactly that.
The current position of the sun in the sky.
The incident at the academy clearly occurred around 3:30.
And the exact time that Ma Dong-cheol fought the black villains after being <teleported> somewhere is not clear, but it felt like about three or four hours.
So, in conclusion.
It was said that the sun currently in the sky should be setting in real time or have disappeared completely.
But the sun floating above Ma Dong-cheol’s head was currently showing off its presence.
‘… Since the time difference is different, does that mean it’s not Korea?’
——————
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At that moment, Ma Dong-cheol, who was blankly staring at the sun that was still rising, felt a little embarrassed by the fact that this was not Korea.
Because, the smartwatch I was wearing on my wrist was destroyed in a life-threatening fight with some thugs just now.
That means I’m not even in contact with anyone right now.
It was no different from not being able to determine the exact location of this place.
Moreover, considering that there are no buildings around, there is nothing but green nature and neat rice fields.
Ma Dong-cheol estimated that it would take quite some time to get to Korea from the nearby cities.
‘… The most urgent task would be to meet someone and get help.’
Unfortunately, Ma Dong-cheol had no flying skills.
What this meant was that you had to go out and look for people yourself.
At that moment, I was about to take a step forward to find someone.
-Rustle…-
At that moment, Ma Dong-cheol was able to sense with his sharp senses that someone was quickly approaching him, and with a little bit of caution, he immediately walked in that direction.
-Thump thump-
And a little later.
“Ow… . You! Are you, are you okay? We just heard a huge explosion nearby. Did you get caught in it?”
Ma Dong-cheol was able to encounter a Westerner dressed like a farmer and holding a shotgun in his hand.
‘… … It doesn’t seem like much.’
As soon as he encountered the Westerner, Ma Dong-cheol, who had a vague understanding of the nature of magic, was able to immediately notice.
The fact is that the man in front of you is an ordinary person who has no magical powers whatsoever.
So, Ma Dong-cheol let down his guard against men and asked the man about the part he was most curious about.
“Where is this?”
But in this situation, there was one thing that Ma Dong-cheol had overlooked.
That’s right….
“W-what did you just say? Not only does it look like that, but it doesn’t sound like Korean…”
The Westerner in front of him was not a player who could communicate freely regardless of language, so he could not understand what Ma Dong-cheol was saying.
“… … .”
And Ma Dong-cheol, who easily figured out that fact from the man’s words, immediately squeezed out as many English words as he could from his head.
“Where are you here country?”
however.
“…English? I can’t speak English.”
As this was not an English-speaking country, the man immediately replied that he did not speak English.
‘… Nothing works.’
Then suddenly, Ma Dong-cheol thought of the universal language, body language… .
-Swoosh-
He immediately pointed to the floor several times with his thick fingers, then pretended to look around.
“Ah! Where is this place?”
Then, the man, as if he had somehow managed to understand Ma Dong-cheol’s body language, blurted out the words, and Ma Dong-cheol nodded his head repeatedly, his eyes shining with emotion at finally being able to communicate.
And finally.
The man’s answer follows.
“This is the Jura in eastern France. My farm is nearby, and I heard a loud explosion, so I put aside my work and came here in a hurry.”
‘France… You came a long way… But anyway, seeing as how you kept me so far away, I’m sure something must have happened in Korea… .’
But no matter how quickly you get to Korea from here by the shortest route.
It was expected to take at least five or six hours.
‘That’s assuming you catch it as quickly as possible… Realistically, it’ll probably take longer than that…’
Anyway, whatever it is.
Ma Dong-cheol decided that he needed to be indebted to the man who was his only hope at the moment…
“By the way, are you okay? I see you’re covered in blood, so I think you need to get treatment right away….”
Although, of the blood on his entire body, his own blood was only a very small portion.
He started to act like he was sick, grimacing wildly at the sight of his own blood.
“Ugh… Help me… .”
***
-Inside the desert dungeon where Kim Baram and 5 others were sucked in
[No lie! I am not a liar like the owner!]
As soon as I suspected that he was lying, Ho-su immediately started shouting as if he was being unfair.
‘You’re not lying…?’
But apart from the lake’s reaction, which seemed genuinely aggrieved.
I scanned the lake again, but there was only sand everywhere and I couldn’t find anything special.
‘But I don’t think it’s really a lie… .’
At that moment, I felt a subtle discrepancy between the lake’s attitude and the current situation, so I couldn’t help but ask the lake what exactly it had discovered.
‘Hosuya, what exactly is it that you discovered? I don’t see anything unusual at all.’
The answer that the lake gave me when it returned was a bit strange, outside my expectations.
[I can’t see it with my eyes either. But there’s definitely something in front of me.]
‘Huh? What’s there that I can’t see?’
[Yes! There’s something huge and pointy lying on the sand!]
‘… something huge and pointy is lying on the sand?’
At that time.
‘Hmm… huh?’
After hearing the lake’s words, I looked closely at the sand in front of me and felt a sense of discomfort that was different from before… .
‘Lake, fly high in the sky for a moment and then look at that something.’
[i get it!]
He made me go straight to the lake and look at something high in the sky.
‘… … .’
And the sight that immediately came into view made me realize that the lake was not lying.
‘If I had explored it myself, I might have just passed it by without even noticing it… .’
Because the place the lake specifically mentioned is different from the other surrounding areas where there are large and small sand dunes.
Upon closer inspection, it seemed as if something was really lying there, as the sandy bottom was extremely flat.
‘How on earth does the lake know this? I thought its sensing abilities hadn’t awakened yet…’
[Hehehe, this isn’t an ability, it’s a characteristic that only our great race has had!]
‘Race…? Are you talking about bats?’
[Kishyaat! This body is not of a lower species like a bat!]
The lake immediately seized up at the mention of bats.
As soon as I thought of the animal called a bat, I suddenly remembered the characteristics of bats that I had read about in books when I was young.
‘If that’s really the case, then this situation might be explained sufficiently… .’
That characteristic is precisely this.
Ultrasound of bats.
As far as I know, bats originally lived in caves and had poor eyesight.
So bats evolved another trait instead of sight to hunt their prey: ultrasound.
Simply put, bats generate ultrasound waves in a range that humans cannot detect at all.
It had a sensory organ that detected the reflected waves that were reflected when the transmitted ultrasonic waves hit an object, and thus detected the type and distance of the object.
[That’s right! No! This body is not a bat, and what it emits is not ultrasound, but magical waves, but the principle is the same!]
At that time, the lake read my thoughts and told me that it was right to use this principle.
‘Anyway, it’s certain that there’s something there… .’
This is just my guess.
It was speculated that this something was not something that could be found through such tricks, but rather something that would become visible when the dungeon’s special conditions were met.
‘And if it’s not visible to the naked eye yet, then it means the condition has not been met… .’
But now that we have discovered the existence of a singularity.
I decided that now, with time running out, it was not the time to be leisurely looking for conditions.
‘I think it would be good to go and check it out in person…’
By the way, it wasn’t even visible, but the reason I wanted to go and check it out myself was simple.
‘Maybe I can figure out exactly what shape that thing over there is….’
Because it was sleeping in my inventory.
This is ‘Detective Watson’s Glasses’ that allow you to see things that are invisible.
***
And I don’t know if it’s because of the luck 70.
Luckily, before long, the opportunity presented itself without me having to plan for it.
“Whew… I think I have a grasp of it, but I’ll go and quickly look over it with my disciple to see if anything has changed.”
“Okay. Okay, Arin. Then we’ll go and mine some magic stones in the meantime. Oh, Yuha, you’ve worked hard, so you should rest.”
“Dabin, you underestimate me too much. This is nothing more than a morning walk.”
A huge mountain of corpses made up of demonic beasts, of which there appear to be at least a few dozen at a glance.
Did he decide that he had caught enough of the tall corpse mountain?
Baek A-rin suggested to the other two that she would go explore the dungeon with her again, and the two seemed to agree with her opinion without much disagreement.
‘Nice timing, Master.’
-Bam-
As I was eavesdropping on the conversation between the three people, I immediately got up from my seat and approached Jeong Da-bin first.
– Doctor, Doctor –
“…Ah, you want me to cast the <Compass> spell?”
Then, Jeong Da-bin, who had discovered me, immediately grasped the intention of my actions and, as she said those words, grabbed my left hand with both of her hands like before… .
“Yes, please.”
I tried to ignore the stinging gaze of Baek Yoo-seong from behind, and successfully received the <Compass> magic from her once again.
And a little later.
Did you plan to set off right away without any special preparation?
“Can we leave right away, Master?”
-Swoosh-
Instead of answering my question, Baek A-rin stretched out both arms without hesitation and wrapped them around the back of my neck… .
-Snap-
Seeing Baek A-rin’s actions, I also naturally hugged her waist like flowing water, and at the same time, I activated the ill-fated [Flight].
‘flight.’
-Tiring-
[Uses the unfortunate special ability <Flight>. The direction can be controlled by the owner’s will.]
-Swoosh!-
Baek A-rin and I were separated from our group so quickly.
-Glance-
And as soon as I gained some distance and the three people including Cheon Yu-ha were no longer visible…
-Shooooooong!-
-Whoaaah!-
“Ugh… why all of a sudden… .”
Not at the right speed for the first time exploring.
Moving at the same top speed as when returning, he quickly headed towards where the lake was waiting.
After about 5 minutes,
-Knock knock-
Baek A-rin and I were able to land safely near our target location, and I immediately tried to explain to Baek A-rin why we landed there.
At that time.
“Wind Cadet.”
Before I even open my mouth.
Baek A-rin called me with a voice that sounded a little cold.
-Swoosh-
So, at her call, I turned my gaze towards Baek A-rin, who I was holding, and I was able to find her right away.
I’m talking about Baek A-rin, who is staring at me with pointed eyes and slightly sticking out her lips, as if she’s dissatisfied with something.
‘…Huh? Why on earth?’
Whatever the reason, it seems to prove that my guess was correct.
Baek A-rin immediately opened her mouth to me with a voice full of complaints.
“Wind Cadet, it’s not good to just hold back too much.”
“… Yes? W, what are you holding back?”
And when I heard Baek A-rin’s story, I could immediately understand why she was dissatisfied.
“I was talking about earlier. When that person started a fight. I think I should have gotten an apology this time instead of just letting it go.”
“ah….”
“This is already the second time. If this continues like this, he’ll definitely pick a fight again… … .”
“I, Master. That… Actually, I already received an apology.”
“… … Yes? You received an apology? When?”
Baek A-rin asked me a question in a flustered voice, perhaps surprised by the fact that Cheon Yu-ha, who has strong self-esteem, had apologized, and in response to her question, I immediately explained the situation at the time.
“That… should I say it was a transmission of sound? Anyway, he used that technique and apologized to me in secret.”
“Earth….”
“So I did receive an apology, and since the dungeon raid was more urgent, I let it slide. I’m sorry for not telling you in advance and for upsetting you.”
As I offered my sincere apology, the discontent on Baek A-rin’s face disappeared and only confusion and regret took its place.
“Ah, no… It’s not the Wind Cadet who should apologize. … I’m the one who should be sorry. Because he has such a bad teacher, the Wind Cadet is always suffering… .”
At that moment, Baek A-rin’s gloomy expression made her feel scary as she reproached herself.
‘… … .’
I felt something pounding in my chest, so I immediately refuted her opinion in a slightly blunt voice.
“I have never once thought of myself as a bad teacher. I am truly proud of you.”
“… … .”
Then, hearing those words, Baek A-rin felt a little better, and the corners of her lips twitched slightly.
But that was only for a moment.
“… But just like last time, this time too, Cadet Wind was the victim. Besides, to be honest, I’m not as skilled as that person. So if that person had been a little more sincere, I might not have been able to protect Cadet Wind.”
Baek A-rin returned to her gloomy expression and began to reproach herself again for her lack of skills.
And I, who was silently listening to her story… .
“Master, look at my face.”
I immediately called her over and made her look at my face, and soon I stared into her emerald eyes and opened my mouth.
“I don’t think that Master is lacking at all. On the contrary, I think that he is far superior to Guild Leader Cheon Yu-ha in many ways. In addition, when I was holding the Demon Slayer earlier, Master’s splendid swordsmanship was so cool that I even thought that I wanted to learn from Master right away.”
“… … .”
“Master, you said that you could tell right away if someone was lying. Am I lying right now?”
When I asked in a serious voice, Baek A-rin avoided my gaze and answered in a small, crawling voice.
“…no.”
Meanwhile, since I was on the subject, I took advantage of the opportunity to talk about what I felt and my true feelings while watching Baek A-rin firsthand, rather than through the novel.
“You are the best person I have ever met, Master. And I am proud to say that becoming a disciple of such a great person was the best decision of my life. So please don’t blame yourself too much.”
At that moment, I wonder if my sincere feelings were conveyed well.
“… … Yes, I will. I’m sorry for showing my weakness.”
The gloom that had been on Baek A-rin’s face until just now seemed to have completely disappeared.
Her face was gradually turning red, as if the empty space was filled with emotion and a bit of awkwardness.
‘Well, I was a little embarrassed as the one speaking…’
Anyway, the atmosphere was starting to get awkward as my confession that wasn’t really a confession started.
[Master, have you forgotten me…? I’m so hot…]
-Porr… –
The lake that had been waiting nearby couldn’t stand it any longer and flew towards me, and only then was I able to recall the original purpose of coming here.
‘Oh, sorry. Do you want to eat?’
[I want to rest now… Send me home…]
‘Yeah, I understand.’
So I put the tired lake in my inventory at the same time.
-Swoosh-
He took out the famous detective Watson’s glasses from his inventory, turned his head towards something the lake had discovered, and put the glasses on.
-Gulp-
And just as I had hoped and expected.
As soon as I put on Detective Watson’s glasses, I was able to find out.
‘… … This is the crazy, huge, pointy thing.’
I’m talking about the ‘pyramid’ of enormous size, which I’ve never seen in real life, but only in pictures.
***
Immediately after that, I decided to tell Baek A-rin about this fact.
He took his gaze away from the pyramid and turned his head towards her.
Then, was there someone there watching my actions?
Baek A-rin was there, staring at my face with a strange gaze.
“… Your glasses suit you well.”
“Yes…? Oh, thank you. More importantly, Master….”
After that, I thought it was better to see it with my own eyes rather than listen to an explanation in words.
-Swoosh-
He immediately reached out and carefully tucked Baek A-rin’s snow-white hair behind her ear.
-shudder-
I took off the glasses I was wearing, put them on Baek A-rin, and pointed towards the pyramid.
“First, could you please take a look over there?”
At that moment, I was afraid to ask for a favor.
Baek A-rin, who had a slightly embarrassed expression and a blush on her face for some reason, soon regained her composure and turned her head in the direction I pointed… .
“That’s….”
Suddenly, he opened his eyes wide and let out a voice full of surprise, as if he had discovered a pyramid right before his eyes.
Meanwhile, I quickly started explaining to Baek A-rin about the glasses of the famous detective Watson.
“Those glasses have the ability to make you see things you can’t see. Last time, I said I could see the nameless thread because of those glasses.”
“Ah… I see… Then that too… .”
“Yes, I guess it’s probably a singularity that can only be seen if you meet special conditions, but I think I can see it when I wear those glasses. Oh, by the way, my spirit that was sent out to scout this place discovered it. I heard that my spirit discovered it by emitting some kind of magical wave.”
“Magic wave… … .”
“Anyway, I think the most important issue is whether or not we can make this pyramid visible to others without having to meet the conditions. Of course, I just saw that there is an entrance, so I thought about a way for the Master to put on his glasses and go in and explore on his own, but that’s too dangerous… .”
But at that moment.
-Sreung-
Baek A-rin, who had been blankly staring at the pyramid, suddenly pulled out her sword… .
“…Just a moment.”
After walking a few steps towards the pyramid.
She immediately and slowly swung her sword down from top to bottom once.
-Crunch-
Then immediately.
-Pfft!-
“… Huh? How on earth… .”
Even though I wasn’t wearing Detective Watson’s glasses.
The magnificent pyramids began to appear before my eyes… .
-Tiring-
[Player ‘Kim Baram’s’ unique ability <Irregular> is activated.]
At the same time, [Irregular] was activated and I was able to obtain a whopping 2000 VP points.
[Helped character ‘Baek A-rin’ gain enlightenment about magic. Earned 2000 VP.]
