Wandering Mercenary in an Open World

Tarwen was about to approach the fallen corpse, but Igor blocked her way.

“May I ask what you intend to do with the soul?”

He spoke firmly, but not harshly, with a pleasant voice. Tarwen gave him a faint smile. Then she hardened her expression and said.

“What’s the point of telling you? I’m going to bind the soul to the spirit world and torture it until it becomes an idiot. It might resist at first, with a wicked grin, but in the end, it won’t be able to beg for mercy, only wet itself. Then I think it would be nice to implant the soul into the body of a dead pig. Let it live out its remaining life in the rotting flesh of livestock.”

Igor’s face turned cold at the horrible answer.

“Are you serious?”

“What are you going to do if I am?”

As the eyes of the witch and the priest intertwined in the air, Kyle intervened between them. He spread his arms and pushed them apart, then sighed.

“What are you doing? Do you want to fight each other?”

“We’re not fighting. You idiot.”

Tarwen pushed Kyle’s elbow lightly and took a step forward.

“I wasn’t serious about what I said before. I’m not so crazy that I would do such a thing, no matter how reckless I am.”

She added with a bitter expression.

“Sorry for being mean. I don’t think you have anything to worry about, so can you just let me pass?”

Igor was silent for a while, then stepped aside. He didn’t say anything else.

“Thank you.”

Tarwen walked over to the corpse and picked up one of the scales that had fallen to the ground. She clenched her fist, and blood dripped from her pale knuckles. She sprinkled the blood over the corpse like a gardener watering a dry pot, and a spell came out of her mouth.

As if responding to her faint voice, the blood wriggled and drew a complex pattern, then boiled and melted the flesh. Soon, a magic circle was engraved on the monster’s body like a scar, and a flash of light burst and faded.

“It’s done.”

Tarwen slowly got up from the spot where the light had disappeared. In her hand, she held a shapeless glow that flickered faintly. Strabo, who was watching it closely, asked.

“Is that Hella’s soul?”

“Not exactly. It’s more accurate to say that it’s a mixture of Hella and another soul.”

After answering, she walked towards Ruon, who had his arms crossed and a grim expression.

“I’m going to extract some of the memories that the soul has. I’m thinking of distorting them with a manifestation spell and then visualizing them and showing them to you. What do you think?”

Ruon frowned and asked.

“What are you talking about?”

Tarwen blinked her eyes for a long time, as if she had no confidence in explaining it easily. She finally opened her mouth.

“…Let’s share the information that Hella has.”

“Why didn’t you say that from the start?”

Ruon shook his head, feeling drained. Then, the soul that was resting on Tarwen’s palm started to spit out bright light. He thought she was doing some kind of spell, and he stared at it, but he heard Tarwen’s surprised voice.

“Wait? What is this…”

He realized something was wrong from her voice and quickly backed away. But the light that poured out of the soul was faster than him. In the sudden situation, his vision turned white.

***

The sky was scarred with white streaks as fierce lightning moved across the dark clouds. The sky writhed in pain and poured thick tears onto the earth.

Swoosh-

It was a torrential rain that seemed to drown everything on the ground, but it couldn’t wash away the terrible smell of blood. It only took away the warmth.

Where am I?

Ruon exhaled the hot breath that climbed up his throat and looked around. He saw the land that had lost its life and turned black, and the buildings that had collapsed. On top of them, countless corpses were piled up, creating an apocalyptic atmosphere.

He suddenly felt his right hand was heavy and looked down. There was a huge hammer that he didn’t know when he had grabbed.

“You swing that stupid thing without getting tired. Amazing strength. They say you have a giant among your ancestors, and it seems it’s not a lie.”

Ruon slowly opened his mouth to the voice that was full of mockery. But it wasn’t his will.

“Is it you? The monster that turned all the people in the city into living corpses?”

His hammer was dripping with blood. It wasn’t hard to guess what he had hit with it, just by looking at the scene around him.

A voice came from afar. It was strangely clear, without any distortion in the rain.

“I thought it was nice that it was a very small city, so I didn’t have to worry much… I never dreamed that the famous Thunder King’s woman would live here. Did you come to propose? What a disgusting coincidence. By the way, how do you feel? You stopped the army that would have thrown the kingdom into chaos in advance.”

Ruon, or rather, Imrek, growled with bloodshot eyes.

“You’re a devil with a hood on your head. Whatever you plotted here, you’ll pay for it. I’ll smash your head to pieces.”

Then a bolt of lightning fell, and the dark world lit up for a moment. Thanks to that, Ruon, who shared Imrek’s sight, saw the man standing tall beyond the land full of corpses.

The man was wearing a long cloak that covered his whole body, so he couldn’t guess what he looked like, except that he had a fairly sturdy physique.

He started to laugh.

“Good and evil are nothing but academic and subjective concepts. If you can’t get rid of the balanced binary thinking, you can’t even dream of trying to escape from the providence.”

Lightning flashed again.

Surprisingly, the man had approached within a mere ten steps in that short moment. Considering the distance he had been apart, it was an unbelievable speed.

He licked his tongue briefly as he looked at the corpses lying on the ground.

“I didn’t expect that a warrior who was obsessed with heroism would ruin the plan while I was checking the movement of the church. Have I become too numb to the variables?”

Lightning flashed again.

The man had already reached his nose. Close enough to hear his breathing!

“What?”

Before Imrek could react, the man’s fist, cutting through the raindrops, hit his abdomen. Then, as if the gate hit by the battering ram, the armor was horribly distorted.

He desperately regained his fainting mind and swung his hammer in his hand repeatedly to counterattack. But as if he had expected it, the man who easily avoided the attack spun his right foot, which he used as an axis, and stretched out his left leg.

Bang!

Ruon, who flew far away, instinctively tried to minimize the damage by spreading the fall, but his body did not follow his mind. No, he couldn’t move at all as he wanted. After all, this body was not his own.

Hee-hee-hee-hing!

The black horse, who was breathing heavily in the middle of the corpses, limped and ran towards him. Imrek raised his arm to prevent him from coming, and swung his right hammer vigorously.

Kurung!

The lightning that stretched from the hammer head tore the wet ground and swept the body of the man standing in a smoky posture.

Imrek did not stop there and grabbed the hammer handle with both hands and tried to continue the attack, but before that, a ray of light that cut through the smoke pierced his shoulder.

“Kruk!”

He swallowed a groan and swung his arm with all his might. The man who gently blocked the fist with the rock-breaking strength by raising his elbow pulled out the sword from his shoulder and stabbed both thighs in turn, then cut his side long.

The series of movements were so smooth and fast that they couldn’t be followed by the eyes.

Soon after, he kicked Imrek’s wobbly knee, forcing him to kneel, and muttered as he washed his blood-stained sword in the rain.

“It’s fair to give you the pain that suits you for ruining the plan I’ve worked hard on. Unfortunately, I’m severely lacking in that kind of imagination. Who would be good… Can I trust and leave it to Fleur?”

Then Imrek got up and shouted.

“Shut up!”

He bled from his thigh and shoulder with a reckless movement, but he seemed to have nothing to do with it, and he slammed the short hammer handle.

The man tried to avoid the trajectory with a smooth movement this time, but Imrek’s strong opposite hand grabbed his shoulder and his feet were tied for a moment. Then thunder fell over his head.

Kwariung-!

Imrek, whose upper body was burnt red by the reckless attack at close range, lifted his melting eyelids and hit the man who was spewing smoke with all his might. He had already made up his mind to die.

But the decisive blow was blocked by the sound of metal clashing and vainly. The man who raised the sword obliquely over his shoulder to perfectly block the attack slowly raised his head.

The burned cloak pieces fell and something revealed his face. The reason why he expressed it as something even after seeing his bare face was because only the dark darkness was in place where the facial features should be.

At that moment, a dark slash appeared in the air.

Imrek, who was fascinated by the slash, realized too late that his chest was split in half.

He fell with a thud and felt a cold sensation spreading throughout his body along the spine. It implied that death was imminent.

“Damn it.”

Imrek left the blood coming from his mouth and nose as it was and looked at the other person looking down at him.

The dark face contrasted with the flashing armor dazzled his eyes. He finally saw the lion carved on the shoulder and muttered incredulously.

“Why is the knight of Ganacus… here? How far has the heavenly, courage… fallen?”

The dark being who put the sword in the sheath in the swaying darkness calmly replied.

“Are you so shaken by the appearance that is revealed on the outside? Maybe it’s natural that you can’t look beyond it because you despair and break so easily.”

Hee-hee-hee-hing!

The black horse ran madly toward his fallen master. The guy who rolled his limping legs without rest raised his front legs as if to crush the man standing upright.

Of course, that was impossible.

The man who looked at the eyes of the black horse who was gasping for breath with his neck grabbed said.

“Both the master and the beast are the same reckless.”

Then, with a thud, a creepy sound, the black horse’s neck broke and fell to the cold ground.

Imrek had no time to mourn the death of his friend who had fought together. He had bled too much and his consciousness was fading.

The being wearing the armor of the follower of the god of courage put his foot on Imrek’s dying face and said.

“Don’t be afraid. You won’t die like this.”

With that, he crushed Imrek’s face with his foot.

What the hell is that bastard.

Ruon cursed inwardly, but his sight was already sinking into the darkness. His consciousness was cut off.