Episode 18. Heretic Inquisitor (4)
The hooded crow flapped its wings as if sensing something alien when the parasite burrowed into its body. But the parasite blocked its senses, calming the hooded crow.
“Hmm?”
Gebel raised his head upon hearing the hooded crow flap, but Isaac had already retracted his tentacles.
When the hooded crow began flying in a certain direction, Gebel changed course.
“Isaac, come this way!”
“Yes!”
Isaac followed behind Gebel. He already had a thorough grasp of the surrounding situation and the path they needed to take through the hooded crow. He was observing the situation around the Heretic Inquisitor in particular.
An area where trees were completely toppled, shattered, and in shambles came into view. Several wolves were prowling nearby.
‘Five, six wolves… no, eight? Quite a lot.’
In the center of the wolves’ circle was a person wearing thick robes over armor. Isaac had no trouble recognizing that this was the Heretic Inquisitor.
Though the distance was great, the Heretic Inquisitor looked utterly exhausted. They were barely holding on. If they fell, they would immediately become wolf food. Isaac regulated his breathing as he moved so he could act the moment he arrived.
‘They won’t be able to fight for long. I hope they still have the strength to fight over there…’
Then Isaac suddenly felt something odd.
‘But why is the surrounding area so devastated? The wolves couldn’t have done that… Is the Heretic Inquisitor that strong?’
If they were that strong, they would have easily beaten the wolves by now.
Only then did Isaac discover something.
“Mr. Gebel, to the side!”
Kukukukung!
Something they had mistaken for a massive boulder lunged from right beside the path they were running on. Gebel had not predicted this sudden ambush at all, but the brief moment Isaac’s warning gave him was enough to prepare.
Kwang!
As Gebel’s sword flashed, fresh blood scattered. The beast’s roar shook the winter night violently. Snow piled atop the trees came cascading down.
“A bear? No, a monster?”
What had suddenly appeared to ambush Gebel was none other than a giant bear. But it was grotesquely large to be a mere bear. It had the build to smash through monastery doors.
Moreover, the fierce stench wafting on the wind was severe. It was not the musk of an ordinary beast.
Isaac recalled a memory from the past.
‘It smells like when I caught the plague boar.’
Hidden in darkness, it was difficult to see clearly, but even the glimpses of its silhouette showed the bear was not normal. It bore signs of fur falling out and rotting flesh as if diseased. It seemed unlikely to feel pain from a wound like the one Gebel had inflicted.
“Isaac!”
Gebel shouted as he faced the giant plague bear.
“Check on the Heretic Inquisitor!”
Though the bear’s body already bore wounds that seemed to have been inflicted by the Heretic Inquisitor, its momentum was still tremendous.
But Isaac was not worried about Gebel. If Gebel performed as he had shown, it would only be a matter of time. Though considering the bear’s size, it would take some time.
Isaac ran toward the Heretic Inquisitor.
***
Growl, bark!
The wolf pack barked ferociously at the Heretic Inquisitor, who reeked heavily of blood. They had been cornering the Inquisitor for hours, but the opponent had already taken down four of their companions while bleeding and fleeing.
But even that was nearing its end. After relentless pack hunting, the opponent already looked half-dead. The pack leader thought only the finishing blow remained.
Swish!
That was until Isaac burst through the bushes and plunged his blade into the leader’s throat in one breath.
Isaac, who had already been observing the situation, chose the strongest-looking one among the wolf pack for the ambush effect and subdued it immediately.
The wolf leader jumped in surprise, but it couldn’t even scream because of the blade lodged deep in its throat.
But the beast did not go down easily either.
Clang! As the wolf thrashed violently, Isaac’s old, crude sword broke.
“Damn it…”
It was his mistake for thrusting the worn-out sword too deeply.
‘So damn tough. Is this really a wolf?’
Isaac gave up on the broken sword and kicked its carcass. Fortunately, the wolves surrounding the Heretic Inquisitor were startled and stepped back. Isaac hoped the rest would flee now that their leader had fallen.
Indeed, they looked demoralized. Isaac pretended the broken sword was nothing and inched toward the Heretic Inquisitor.
The Heretic Inquisitor looked at him as if unable to believe someone had appeared.
“Hey. You got a spare sword? Lend me a blade for a moment…”
“…An angel?”
But instead of lending a sword, the Heretic Inquisitor muttered something absurd and collapsed.
Isaac looked down at the Heretic Inquisitor incredulously.
‘What, it’s a woman?’
The face revealed beneath the torn hood was that of a fairly young woman. She was beautiful enough to briefly captivate him, but he didn’t lose his focus.
Though some severe wounds were visible beneath the torn hood, her life didn’t seem in immediate danger. It seemed she had endured with superhuman patience in a state where collapsing wouldn’t have been strange, only to let go of her tension when someone appeared.
‘This is actually better.’
Isaac snatched the sword from the Heretic Inquisitor’s hand. It was light yet well-balanced, far better than what he had been using.
And the moment Isaac gripped the sword, he was startled by a floating window.
[Sword of Judgment (Legendary)]
[A holy sword blessed by the Codex of Light. It generates heat upon contact with the unholy, inflicting burns. This applies to the wielder as well; however, a qualified one who grips it shall exhibit mighty power.]
‘Is it really okay for me to hold this?’
Isaac flinched at the mention that the sword inflicted burns upon touching the ‘unholy.’ But his hand gripping the sword didn’t feel like it was going to burn. No, rather, a warm heat seeped into his hand, and he felt his strength growing.
But it wasn’t hard to guess what reaction would occur if his tentacles touched this sword.
‘Alright, I don’t have another sword, so I’ll be careful…’
Isaac gripped the sword tightly and glared at the wolves.
The wolves seemed intimidated when a different, threatening enemy appeared instead of the prey they thought they had cornered. The death of their leader also greatly contributed to breaking their morale.
Isaac, whose breath was ragged and could only swing the sword a few times, secretly hoped they would flee.
Then, a strange wind blew.
Isaac felt the stench in the wind grow even worse. As the stench enveloped the area, the wolves’ eyes grew even more savage.
The wolves were being stimulated by an intense hunger that provoked their instincts.
Bark, bark bark! Awoo!
With their ferocious barking, they became confident in their numerical superiority and momentum. Here, the only prey was the human before their eyes.
Soon one of the wolves lunged. At the same time, Isaac repeated a motion he had practiced countless times over the years.
Moving the least while being the most fatal.
The moment Isaac let out a short breath, the blade pierced the wolf’s chest.
Tak.
The blade seemed to catch on the ribs for a moment, but the Sword of Judgment, befitting a famed blade, split the bone in one stroke and pierced the heart.
The smell of burning flesh burst forth fiercely.
Seeing the Sword of Judgment glow red after cutting through the wolf, it seemed its ability had activated.
But the wolves excelled at pack hunting.
While the sword was stuck, two other wolves lunged at Isaac’s legs and side. Isaac, without even armor, looked like easier prey than the Heretic Inquisitor.
The next moment, Isaac’s sword moved strangely once more.
Srrrrk, crack, kwang!
As the sword slid into motion, the two wolves lunging from either side were cut down and sent flying. Isaac’s ears rang from the belated thunderous roar.
[Avalanche Swordsmanship: Omen (Advanced)—???? Interpretation]
“Keuk…”
A technique that attacks surrounding enemies at a speed surpassing the speed of sound.
It was precisely the “Omen” technique of Avalanche Swordsmanship that Gebel had shown during the day.
Isaac had reproduced the technique Gebel performed after seeing it just once during the day, without any practice.
Performing the technique itself was not difficult at all.
As a portion of the practice movements he had repeated over the past two years naturally flowed out, his body moved without the slightest error. It felt so easy to use that it was almost like activating a skill.
But the aftermath was no small matter.
His palm was bruised as if blood vessels had burst, and the back of his hand was burning red as if scorched. The intense pain throughout his entire body was considerable as well.
‘I can’t use this freely. The power gap compared to when Gebel uses it is huge too.’
Isaac glanced at the fallen wolves and thought.
Had Gebel used it, it might have been different, but the power of “Omen” that Isaac displayed was only enough to cut down two wolves.
‘The blade marks are a bit different too.’
It was incomparably savage, as if they had been bitten and torn with fangs.
The traces were so gruesome that one would doubt whether they had truly been cut by a sword.
The wolves seemed frozen in shock at the sudden explosion of sound. But rather than fleeing, they surrounded Isaac.
Rather than believing in their numerical advantage, they seemed mentally suppressed by something.
In an atmosphere where they seemed ready to fight until they all died, Isaac steeled his resolve as well.
‘It can’t be helped.’
Of course, Isaac had no intention of fighting to the death either. His breathing was already reaching its limit anyway. Isaac glanced at the Heretic Inquisitor. She seemed to have completely lost consciousness.
Isaac slowly spread his left hand to the side.
If there were no eyes watching, there was no need to go through the trouble of swinging a sword.
“Then let’s see who is whose prey.”
Like a crimson flower blooming from his hand, the tentacle slowly began to unfurl. The tentacle stretched nearly 10 meters as when it had targeted the hooded crow, and its thickness had grown to about the size of Isaac’s forearm.
Squirm.
As the tentacle wriggled and cast a grotesque form, the wolves felt something more terrifying than the plague curse that had been stimulating them.
Whiiir, crunch!
Isaac’s tentacle flew out swiftly and grabbed the corpse of the wolf leader he had killed earlier. The tentacle instantly disassembled and devoured the wolf’s corpse with the suckers and teeth that had sprouted within it.
It took less than ten seconds for the giant wolf’s corpse to be dismantled, leaving only a few drops of blood.
The instinct to flee immediately was already screaming in the wolves’ minds. But it was already too late.
Feet frozen in fear held them captive.
Grrk.
Isaac let out a short belch and muttered.
“To think I’d come to another world and end up eating dog meat too.”
***
Shick, crunch, crack!
After felling the last wolf, Isaac plunged his tentacle into the back of its head. The tentacle burrowed into the wolf’s nape, instantly churned through the inside of its hide, and rapidly sucked out flesh and bone. The wolf was reduced to nothing but hide as it was sucked up, and soon even that hide disappeared without a trace.
[You have devoured the ‘Plague Wolf’.]
[Absorption efficiency increases due to the ‘Dead God’s Entrails’ trait.]
[Night vision brightens.]
[Weakness tracking ability improves.]
[Resistance to low-grade diseases increases.]
[Blessings are maintained until digestion is complete.]
‘With this amount, it should be maintained for several days.’
The total number of wolves Isaac had devoured was five. The rest were nowhere to be seen, perhaps having fled upon realizing they were the prey.
It wasn’t his first time hunting wolves, but it was his first time consuming such a large quantity at once.
Thanks to the mass consumption, the minor wounds Isaac had sustained while using the Omen skill also healed quickly. If he were in an environment where he could freely consume, there would likely be fewer restrictions on using advanced swordsmanship.
‘I’m glad the Heretic Inquisitor fainted.’
Had he fought with swordsmanship alone, it would have taken much longer, and he might have been injured. But if he mobilized his tentacles as well, he could overwhelmingly crush foes of this level. Though they were like a nemesis, the tentacles were reliable comrades in urgent situations.
Isaac examined the Heretic Inquisitor’s condition once more. Her breathing was irregular and shallow. It was clear she would gradually worsen if he didn’t get her out of there quickly.
Thud, thud thud.
Isaac turned his head toward the direction of the noise.
It was where Gebel was.
‘Is he still fighting?’
Isaac shared his vision with the hooded crow once more. The hooded crow was flying low in the sky, surveying the surroundings.
Gebel was still fighting that giant bear.
However, the giant bear was covered in blood and had lost one arm, while Gebel didn’t have a single visible wound. It was obvious which way the fight was going, but the giant bear still maintained its vicious momentum.
‘It’s impressive that Gebel can face such a monster.’
Had Isaac faced the giant bear, it would have been difficult to win without injury. At best, the outcome would have been precarious, like when he fought the boar, or he might not have won at all.
As Isaac looked at the giant bear, a strange thought suddenly came to mind.
‘A big, savage, violent bear… but if that thing goes into my stomach, what trait bonus would it give?’
[Nameless Chaos gazes upon you.]
[Nameless Chaos wishes for you to find ‘bigger prey’.]
[Chaos’s reward awaits you.]