Episode 68
A mercenary on the left wall of the castle gate shouted at me. I took out my mercenary badge from my bosom and held it up, saying:
“I am Lewis, a C-class mercenary from the Canaan Mercenary Corps. You guys… … You held out bravely. From now on, leave it to me.”
It was generally believed that C-class mercenaries were somewhat skilled and had similar combat prowess to regular soldiers.
However, the mercenaries dispatched here were B-class.
The captain leading them was an A-class. He was one of the centurions of the Canaan Mercenary Corps and specialized in rescue operations.
‘I thought your name was Woods?’
A large man came running, stomping like a bear. Despite being clad in iron armor and carrying two large circular shields, the mercenary managed to accelerate without falling.
“You idiot! Get here right now! That monster is your match… … .”
A Greek worm popped out of the ground.
The creature’s mouth split open into four prongs, revealing teeth packed tightly together inside.
‘It’s a sawtooth. Its tongue is about 40 centimeters long. Is it sucking up meat juices with the needle on the tip of its tongue?’
It was the appearance of a monster that had only been seen in text and pictures.
When the distance became so short that I could smell the bastard’s breath, I summoned my friend.
“Inferno.”
A phoenix burst from my fingertips. The superior fire spirit shot like an arrow towards the wide-open maw of the Greek Worm.
The thick, long body of the Greek Worm, which had swallowed the Firebird in a panic, suddenly popped out of the ground and twisted. It looked just like a salted loach.
The Greek Worm’s mouth is half melted.
The part that goes from the mouth to the throat also melted.
‘It doesn’t have the ability to regenerate, but it’s quite tenacious.’
The greek worm went into the ground. I thought it was digging the ground with its sharp teeth, but upon closer inspection, I saw that it was pushing the soil away with its skin protrusions. The greek worm went into the ground while spinning violently, and its structure was quite interesting.
“There really are so many interesting things in the world.”
Kaaaaah!
I kicked the ground and jumped up, swinging Serenade. The sharp tentacles tried to pierce me, but failed and went into the ground.
chuck!
Serenade slightly turned her blade. That was enough to stop the tentacle from retreating. The Greek Worm stopped as the sharp blade gnawed at its tentacle surface.
Reinhardt’s 4th sword technique, suction sword.
The tentacle that had been rising curiously became helpless. It fought with me as if it had become attached to my serenade.
Suddenly, another tentacle sprouted from behind me.
Whoosh whoosh!
I blocked the tentacles of the Greek Worm approaching from behind with the flames of Inferno.
Before it could reach me, it turned to black ash and fell to the ground in clumps.
Seo-eok!
As I cut off the tentacles that were sucking it, the Greek Worm tried to run away from me. It moved along the ground, shaking without even having time to hide its body or disguise its presence.
I thought that it would be okay to just dig deep into the ground, but surprisingly, the Greek Worm only dug in the ground close to the surface.
It was because of an injury.
“Blood cell, let’s go.”
My blood boiled. The blood spirit parasitized my blood and stirred my insides. Blood was the source of life, and it was also the basis of aura. That must be why my aura was amplified.
Sardia’s maneuver technique.
I caught up with the Greek Worm that was desperately running away.
As I injected aura into Serenade, a soft sword sound rang out. The moment that faint vibration reached my heart, I buried Serenade in the ground.
Kwajik!
There was a feeling that something was caught in the tip of the sword, or rather, the aura that exploded at the tip of the sword. The ground shook and then sank several meters away.
“Inferno, inhabit my sword!”
Whoosh whoosh!
Red flames could be seen between the cracked ground.
Black smoke rose from various places on the ground. The ground shook violently and then collapsed.
“I think it’s pretty much done. Inferno, what do you think?”
-He’s dead.
“Then I’ll ask you to stand guard.”
-joy.
A phoenix rose above my head.
Although it was small in size, its momentum was stronger than that of a Greek worm.
I sat down and practiced Aura.
Louis Ora’s method of training.
It was a stable training method that allowed one to easily accept a large amount of magical power and spread it to the veins of the entire body.
Quagwaquagwaqua!
The magical power of the branded Greek Worm poured out like a waterfall, but I was used to this now. I could endure it without gritting my teeth. As the hardened veins slowly sucked in the magical power flowing along the Aura Road, the amount of magical power soon decreased by half.
‘This is the life of a Greek worm… … .’
This time, we get to glimpse into the life of a branded monster.
A fragment of a memory flashed through my mind. But it wasn’t a picture or an imagination. It was an experience.
Cheeeeeeek!
His forehead was hot. No, this pain was the Greekworm’s. Someone had put a seal on his forehead.
‘The Trickster’s Fingerprint… … .’
I recognized the identity of the round scar carved into the center of the branded monster’s forehead.
It was the fingerprint of God.
My eyes shot open. I could still feel the heat on my forehead, so I touched it with my fingertips. A single strand of flesh bulged out.
It was a scar that appeared when I destroyed the seal of the Swan. Other than that, I didn’t feel anything special.
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“Are you okay?”
I heard someone’s voice.
The moment I opened my eyes and turned to look at the owner of the voice, something strange filled my vision.
“omg!”
I held my breath without realizing it. It was a world of hallucinations I had never seen before.
A darkness so thick that it seemed as if the god of darkness had descended, but there was hope even in it.
No, an unidentified light was flashing.
The light was not one. There was light everywhere. However, the light was dim and could not reveal its presence in the absolute darkness.
‘Bright!’
Someone came up to me.
He was the man with the most intense light in this area.
‘Could this structure be…?’
The flow of light felt familiar. I lowered my head and looked down at my stomach, just in case.
I looked at my hands and legs.
‘iced coffee!’
At that moment, everything fell into place. I wondered if it had been a momentary illusion, and I felt anxious. I was worried that the blessing I had just experienced would disappear forever.
‘I can see it!’
As I concentrated my mind, the scene that had disappeared for a moment appeared before my eyes. I saw an intense light dwelling within me. It was moving at a fast speed.
‘Magic! Could it be that the Demon Eye has awakened?’
To my surprise, I was able to see a world made of magic.
The world seen through the eyes of the demon… … All things in nature were imbued with magic. Even the air was imbued with magic. The concentration was so low that it was difficult to detect even with this ability.
Just as we cannot see air with our naked eyes.
I heard that in ancient times there was a technique to examine magical power with the naked eye.
However, it was just a story dismissed as the old people’s boast, and they called this ability Ma-an or ‘Devil’s Eye’.
Conversely, the priests of Brecha, who sought the truth, also regarded the eye of the devil as a blessing from God.
‘That’s right. That’s how it was. That’s why stones are hard. That’s why water flows. That’s why magic… … aura strengthens the body!’
The moment I faced the structure of the world, I was able to control the aura I had been using as a fist.
The absolute value of the aura I possessed did not increase.
“Are you alright? My name is Captain Woods of the Canaan Mercenary Rescue Team. Are you by any chance the Viscount Hebron?”
As I caught my breath, the boiling blood and aura calmed down.
I felt a little dizzy, but my eyes felt brighter. My eyesight had definitely improved, and I could see farther away more clearly than before.
‘Was the ability of the branded Greek Worm an eye that could see through the truth?’
“I heard there’s another branded monster nearby.”
“A monster called Scotch has appeared in the northeast of the Srein Viscounty, Viscount Hebron!”
Woods was convinced that I was the Viscount Hebron. When he called me the Viscount, there was a murmur of approval.
The gate opened, and a man with a thrilled expression approached me. It had to be Baron Prozy.
“Take the lead.”
“ancient!”
As Woods put his finger in his mouth and whistled, a large horse, like an ox, came galloping. He must have had to bulk up to carry his large master.
“What is this? Are you mixing it with another species?”
“I don’t know either. Wizard Tristan said it was a mixture of monster and wild horse blood.”
Woods’ horse began to pick up speed. Surprisingly, the mutant horse was so fast that Syang had to snort while running.
“Can I take a look sometime?”
“Oh, of course. This guy likes people, so if you pet him or give him a treat, he’ll follow you right away.”
“Good.”
Even though we ran hard with Woods, it took a full day to get from the Baronial Territory of Prosey to the northeastern Viscounty of Slane.
It was the result of running without stopping.
“Eww!”
Woods looked as if his whole body was about to break apart. The muscular mutant horse also looked exhausted.
Even though I ran so hard, when I arrived at the scene, the marked monster was not there.
Instead, there were a few mercenaries who I knew.
“I would like you not to interfere with my missions from now on… … .”
“I apologize. I expected you to be late, Your Majesty. Instead, I will pay the commission fee as promised.”
The Canaan Mercenary Commander bowed his head to me.
In the mercenary company, he was my superior, but I was a noble and Canaan was a commoner. Also, officially, the Canaan Mercenary Company and the Viscounty of Hebron were allies.
Mercenary Captain Canaan was surprisingly slender. I thought he was a bear-like man because of his heavy armor, but his armor was said to have been engraved with a lightening spell, so it didn’t feel very heavy.
“That’s fine, just stand guard for a moment.”
As I placed my hand on Scotch’s body, Canaan asked warily.
“What are you trying to do?”
“Come, Yeon-gong. It won’t be too dangerous to touch me, but don’t touch me unnecessarily.”
Scotch was a monster that looked like a giant wolf. It was larger and stronger than a bear, and was said to be able to tear through armor with its claws.
Canaan dealt with such a formidable guy without even getting hurt. Looking at the people standing behind him, they had magical powers similar to or slightly stronger than Uz. In particular, the man holding the magic staff called Wand had twice as much mana as I did.
‘That person is Tristan, the exclusive wizard of the Canaan Mercenary Corps.’
I ignored everyone’s gaze and continued to cast my Aura. This time, a large amount of magical power flowed in, but the monster’s memories and special abilities were not absorbed.
‘Is it because it’s been dead for a long time? Or because I didn’t kill it?’
It was just a pity. In order to raise my abilities, I had to hunt branded monsters and steal their special abilities.
“Oh, what did you do?”
I knew a simple way to get out of a difficult question.
“Some people are born with talent.”
Canaan’s complexion darkened.
The man who stood at the top of the mercenary group after breaking through countless battlefields poured out emotions of distrust, despair, and anger in his eyes.
“You got to that position because you had natural talent, didn’t you?”
“I tried.”
I laughed.
Effort was only meaningful to those with talent.
“Do you think I wouldn’t have done it?”
“I fought on the edge of death my whole life.”
“Yeah, I tried.”
I endured 10 years with poison in my body. The line of death is a crossroads between life and death, but I struggled to escape the death that was destined for me.
