Chapter 112
When I entered the hideout, I first thought it had been a good thing I’d taken a look from outside.
Because it had let me prepare myself.
The sickeningly fishy stench of blood seeped deep into my lungs.
Inside the building, blood was splattered everywhere—the floor, the walls, the ceiling.
Here and there, the torn-apart corpses of bandits lay strewn about like garbage.
"……."
We had come because we heard screams, but now it was ominously quiet.
The lights were out, but inside, the scattered chunks of flesh cast strange shadows, as if candlelight were flickering over them.
Stia walked at the front.
We followed after her as if entranced.
I wasn’t sure what the others were thinking.
I simply wanted to confirm what had happened.
Before the imagination running wild in my head could create a fear I couldn’t bear.
I wanted to see it with my own eyes and be disappointed.
The first-floor hall where the blood festival had taken place.
I slowly counted the human heads with my finger.
I lost track midway and counted again.
"……Thirteen."
Thirteen, including the patrol team.
I looked back at Rofus.
Rofus, too, was trembling with a terrified expression.
"I remember now.
Including the boss, that’s all of us!"
"What?"
"U-uaaaaagh!"
Rofus, who had lost his mind, screamed and ran outside.
We stared after him blankly.
Stia knelt down and carefully examined the floor.
Then, as if she had found something amid the clots of blood, she moved her hand.
"It’s a red soul stone."
"……."
In Stia’s hand was a soul stone shining a vivid red.
I took out the lantern.
"Let’s search. For the other one, too."
Before someone came into the hall.
We searched every corner of the hall thoroughly.
This shouldn’t be happening.
We found the two red soul stones far too easily.
In other words, the humans who had absorbed the soul stones had already died here.
As Rofus had said, it was indeed the entire bandit group.
"They were annihilated…… Who on earth did this……?"
Stia muttered.
It was then.
From the hallway came the sound of a woman humming.
All of us froze.
"Hm-hm-hm~♬"
Something was approaching, singing as if it were incredibly happy.
I instinctively realized it was dangerous.
"Everyone, gather around me!"
I put away the lantern and spread the Veil of Concealment, hiding us all.
"Hm, I thought I heard voices."
The woman who appeared in the hall was, unexpectedly, a cute woman with braided black hair.
Moist, glossy black eyes and thick eyebrows. Slender arms and legs.
The only unusual thing was that her entire body was covered in blood.
At first, I thought she was a victim.
But seeing how happily she walked through the sea of blood, there was no doubt.
This woman was the culprit.
Holding a chopper in one hand, she suddenly swung it and cut off the bandit boss’s arm.
"Uaaaaagh!"
"No pretending to be dead♬"
"Ugh! Uuugh! Save me, please……!"
"No."
"Save me! Please save me!"
"Where are you looking while you’re talking, mister?"
"……."
The woman whipped her head toward us.
There went my sleep for tonight. The woman’s wide-open eyes had pupils dilated to a dangerous degree.
Wait…… She looks familiar.
No way. There’s no way. I repeated it inwardly.
Then the crazy woman said,
"Hyeonu oppa?"
"……."
The moment the woman pointed the chopper this way.
Stia broke out of the veil. Diana immediately prepared magic.
"Oh~?"
The woman lightly dodged Stia’s rapier thrust and struck it aside with her chopper.
"What…!?"
When her surprise attack was easily rendered useless, Stia couldn’t hide her bewilderment.
Then Karen and Ava charged in, pressing the woman.
The woman retreated one step at a time, avoiding their attacks.
"Everyone, move!"
Diana shouted as if making a declaration.
"Lightning Square!"
The woman rolled her eyes as if reading the flow of Diana’s magic, then shattered the lightning by striking it with her chopper.
With a sharp screech, the magic was canceled and vanished.
"……She c-canceled magic with a blade?"
"Why are you attacking me all of a sudden?"
"……."
Everyone seemed to be at a loss for words.
"Let’s talk?
I’m so happy to meet you, oppa."
"Oppa? Dekal! What on earth is this crazy woman talking about?"
Diana demanded.
What was I supposed to say?
Cold sweat streamed down my body.
"Are you introducing me, oppa? I’m so happy. Are the people here your friends?"
I nodded.
Words wouldn’t come out properly.
"Park Seoyeon……."
There was no mistake.
I knew this crazy woman acting shy in front of me.
How could I forget?
The woman who killed me.
"Eek. Oppa said my name……!"
"How are you here?"
"Of course I followed you, oppa. Did you think I wouldn’t know if you ran away to another world?"
"……."
"I was really, really sad back then. I thought we could be together forever, but only your empty shell was left.
Killing you was a failure. Don’t worry. They say failure is the mother of success, right? I won’t kill you again."
She was speaking clearly, but it didn’t feel like a conversation was possible.
Park Seoyeon was insane.
The cause was, without a doubt, me.
The suggestion that “if I’m not there, you’ll become unhappy” had last been sealed with Park Seoyeon.
Because I had learned through death that this suggestion drove women mad.
Just how long had Park Seoyeon remained unhappy?
She was the very embodiment of the karma of my hypnosis.
"Before I came to see you, there were a lot of things in my way, so I killed a lot. I killed lots and lots.
And I got incredibly strong. You know, I heard from god. I heard you were in a place called Dry Village, oppa.
Can I ask you, too? How did you know where I was?"
"I……."
I was about to say it was a coincidence, but Seoyeon kept speaking as if she had gone out of control.
"It’s fate. We were destined, oppa.
Because we were destined to be connected, in another world, on this vast land, we were able to run right into each other♥"
As if that kind of fate could exist.
But how else could I explain this except by calling it fate?
She came chasing after a dead person. Just who was the god that allowed that?
The god of this world?
No. From the standpoint of someone who would find interference inconvenient, there was no reason to invite another god in.
Not someone pushed away by me like Bella, but a separate god who granted Seoyeon’s request exists.
In other words, the number of gods who had intervened in this world, from what had been revealed so far, was three in total.
This joke had gone too far.
To guide the woman who killed me over here—what kind of god are they?
"Ugh, kkuuuugh……!"
At that moment, the bandit boss made a sound while secretly crawling away.
Seoyeon gripped the chopper.
"Wait!"
I stretched out my hand to stop her, but it was already too late.
Seoyeon darted over and brought the chopper down into the bandit boss’s back.
Once, twice, three times.
Only after she had completely split open the bandit boss’s back as if chopping firewood did Seoyeon’s movements stop.
Seoyeon, drenched head to toe in the blood that had spurted out, wore a fervent smile.
Seeing that, Diana shouted.
"Dekal! Say it, quickly. Is she an enemy or an ally?!"
"Kuh…!"
I wanted to know that too.
"Seoyeon. Look at this!"
"Hm?"
Snap.
I snapped my fingers.
But nothing happened. I had half-expected it.
"……What are you doing, oppa?"
Hypnosis didn’t work on her.
In my experience, every human being, no matter how trivial the action or words, has their consciousness gather and disperse in some way when they act or speak.
There is no human being who lacks that process.
But there was such a human right in front of my eyes.
It seemed like we could communicate, but in truth, we couldn’t.
I don’t know the world Park Seoyeon is seeing. This isn’t something that can be done through inner acting.
This woman was talking about me, yet she didn’t know me; she understood and accepted everything from a perspective different from that of an ordinary human.
The reason hypnosis didn’t work was simple.
Because this woman was completely insane.
Seoyeon lifted the chopper and took one step closer.
"She’s an enemy!"
I shouted.
"Lightning Bolt!"
"Ugh!?"
Seoyeon, who had been standing defenseless, staggered after being hit by the magic.
Stia didn’t miss the chance and leaped in, stabbing Seoyeon.
"Ah…… ah!"
Seoyeon twisted her body, but she was stabbed in the shoulder and stepped back to catch her breath.
"I’m sorry, oppa."
"……."
What am I hesitating for……! Damn it!
"Fire Ball!"
I launched a condensed Fire Ball at Seoyeon.
It didn’t touch Seoyeon’s body directly, but the Fire Ball struck the wall behind her and exploded.
Seoyeon flung herself out of the blast radius and staggered to her feet.
"I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You’re angry because I didn’t come to meet you in time, aren’t you?
I should have gone to Mareun Village even a day sooner. You’re angry because I didn’t, aren’t you? Believe me. It wasn’t because my love was lacking……."
The smoke from the explosion cleared.
Seoyeon’s chopper caught the moonlight and gleamed with a cold, deadly edge.
"I’m the one who loves you most, oppa. I’ll prove it from now on. I’ll kill all your toy women and tear out their intestines.
Then the two of us can sit on top of them and talk about love, just the two of us."
Seoyeon charged.
"Oppa! Look out!"
Karen rushed out and blocked the chopper with her sword.
"Oppa? Who are you! I’m the only one in the world allowed to call Hyunwoo oppa!"
Seoyeon fiercely swung her chopper, pressing the attack.
"Ugh!"
"Fireball."
I calmly cast the spell and poured in my MP.
The sphere grew larger and, at the same time, compressed.
Karen, barely managing to defend, shouted.
"Stia!"
Karen slipped to the side, and Stia moved in to attack Seoyeon together with her.
Seoyeon dodged the rapier thrusts while taking on the two of them at once.
Even Ava joined in from behind.
"I’ll help too!"
With her eyes wide open, Seoyeon even steadied her breathing calmly as she fought all three of them at once.
Is she insane?
She may have come here as another god’s proxy, but how did she get that strong in such a short time?
"It’s ready. Get back, and get down!"
The three of them broke away from their struggle with Seoyeon, retreating and throwing themselves down.
I fired the prepared overcharged Fireball straight at Seoyeon.
There was no hesitation.
At first, I had been surprised, and I had been glad to see her.
She was the only person who knew me from the world I came from.
Maybe we could have become close.
But that didn’t mean I was going to let the others die.
I pushed aside useless thoughts and fought.
This was the most powerful magic I could use.
A tremendous shock swept everything away.
I spread a curtain of wind to protect myself from the aftermath of my own spell.
The walls and ceiling shook as if they were about to collapse.
The explosion was strong enough that it was hard to stay standing. My ears rang, and my skin trembled.
"……."
"Ugh, hngh……."
I raised a wind with my spirit and cleared away the smoke.
Everyone had been knocked down by the aftermath.
Seoyeon was barely standing, groaning in pain.
It seemed she had some means of suppressing magic damage.
But Seoyeon was badly injured.
Her clothes were scorched, revealing bare skin here and there, and she was bleeding heavily.
"Op… pa……. I love you. Oppa……. Without you, I……."
"……."
For a moment, I thought Seoyeon was pitiful.
I had toyed with countless women, but there was still a line I could not bring myself to cross.
Was there no way to bring her back somehow?
Couldn’t I hypnotize her once more and weaken the effect of the suggestion?
"Park Seoyeon. Put down your weapon!"
Seoyeon moved.
A chill ran over my neck.
But Seoyeon’s target wasn’t me. It was Karen, who had collapsed.
I used Spatial Leap and cut in between the two of them.
There was no time to use a spirit or a Barrier, so I raised my arm in a hurry to block it.
The chopper sank into my arm.
"Ghh…!"
Indescribable pain surged in violently, as if it would shatter my heart.
"Why? Why……?"
Seoyeon looked shocked. She let go of the chopper and took one step, then another, backward.
"Because she’s…
a toy I like……."
My consciousness grew hazy.
I had no idea how such slender arms could produce that kind of strength; the chopper blade had sunk halfway through my arm.
Fuck, holy shit! If my level had been any lower, I’d have died, wouldn’t I?
It hurt like hell just to look at. Though it hurt like hell in reality too.
"You can’t die."
For the first time, Seoyeon spoke in a weak voice.
"Then we won’t be able to meet again."
"……."
Then don’t swing things like this at me…….
Seoyeon yanked the chopper out of my arm with force.
"Gaaah!"
You’re sure you don’t want to kill me?
I dropped to one knee and used the Starlight Shell to suppress the bleeding.
"Oppa! Oppa! Are you okay?"
Karen clung to me and shouted.
I didn’t think I was okay.
I couldn’t move. But Seoyeon was only standing there, staring down at me blankly.
Had she decided it would be difficult to remove the obstacles without harming me?
Just then, an electric current ran along the wall.
Crackle!
"Lightning Square!"
Diana’s magic struck Seoyeon.
Seoyeon was sent flying far backward, then looked at Diana.
"Hey! Obsessive bitch.
Don’t touch that bastard. He’s mine!"
Diana wiped the soot from her cheek and shouted.
As Seoyeon charged in with her chopper raised, Stia cut in and shoved her back.
"Ugh?!"
Because her injuries had slowed her movements, Seoyeon failed to completely deflect the rapier thrust and retreated.
"I’m grateful you dealt with the bandits, but that’s as far as you go."
"……."
Ava watched for an opening, then shouted.
"I-I’m here too!"
"……."
Seoyeon lowered her chopper.
"Oppa. Next time, I’ll prepare properly and come to meet you. Let’s meet again."
"No."
"Ohoho."
Seoyeon smiled brightly.
It seemed she had no intention of accepting information that was unfavorable to her in the first place.
Seoyeon left through the hole I had made in the wall.
A lunatic promising there would be a next time…….
I couldn’t tell whether she was insane or coldly rational.
I wasn’t sure I had done the right thing.
I had left trouble for the future…… and yet, at the same time, part of me felt relieved.
I was glad I hadn’t killed her.
"Everyone’s exhausted, right? Let’s go back."
We returned to Kepa Village.
Rofus had curled up and hidden in the nearby bushes, but I caught him immediately.
Because I was using my Search skill.
With that, the bandit group was annihilated.
We also obtained the Red Soul Stone intact.
The villagers were overjoyed to hear that the bandit group had been destroyed.
It took only an instant for life to return to the village that had been silent as the grave.
The dark houses lit up, and soon the mood turned festive.
Despite their difficult circumstances, everyone brought out food and drink,
and the bandits I had forced to kneel could do nothing but watch with sour faces.
Rofus was locked in jail, but he received the bare minimum of food.
I planned to take the remnants to the Enforcement Office.
I would tell them that Rofus had cooperated, but I would leave judgment on his punishment to the enforcer.
After that, I decided not to concern myself with the bandits’ fate.
And then, the lodging.