◈ Episode 285. Dawn
[The Great Evil, the Seven Deadly Sin Envy, appears.]
[The Zero Mountains tremble with negative emotions.]
[The field is being transformed.]
A being that had entered the realm of the bizarre.
One of them had been a dragon.
The Ice Dragon had altered the field and created a hidden piece.
Envy was the same.
The plants of the mountain range withered rapidly.
The earth lost its vitality.
Dark clouds swarmed over the mountains.
Indeed, it truly lived up to the name of Great Evil.
However, who was Granfell?
“How noisy.”
Far from shrinking before a Great Evil.
He was the owner of a pride that regarded even a Great Evil as insignificant.
Would such a Granfell possibly stand by and watch this sight?
“Do not be afraid. It is because it is light that it is loud.”
Speaking earnestly to plants?
Compared to the prideful acts I’d committed until now, that was nothing.
I drew up my mana.
‘It won’t measure up to Hiel’s blessing, but.’
Even if I don’t look it, I am the owner of the hidden piece, [Garden of Dignity]. There is a saying that even a dog at a village school can recite the Thousand Character Classic after three years. Did you think Granfell’s talent merely watched the elixir herbs grow all this time?
Gooooo—
The mana I emitted seeped into the mountain range.
At the same time, the scenery of the mountains began to regain its color.
Yes, this too was pride that refused to yield even a single thing to a demon.
“Do not lose your beauty to fear.”
An aesthetic sense that would not break under any circumstances.
Though thanks to that, I was the one who suffered.
But right now, it was fine.
I don’t know how this got updated into reality.
A demon.
And a Great Evil I had once let slip had rolled right in, so for the first time in a while, [Natural Enemy Relationship] had activated. Properly, at that. With this level of mana consumption, there was no reason to complain.
And that wasn’t all.
A message appeared.
[One Who Awaits Dawn 5/5]
[Set item effect is being applied.]
[Currently applied set effect: 5/5]
Self-luminescence.
As if wearing a glittering outfit.
There was also the Dawn Set I had endured the shame to equip……!
I raised my head and looked at the sun in the sky.
They say there cannot be two suns in the sky……
What a mouth, spouting nonsense so easily.
“Have you hidden because you fear the Great Evil, O sun?”
Now I had reached the realm of speaking not only to plants, but to the sun as well.
“There is no need for you to overexert yourself, for I am here.”
Truly, even before a Great Evil, I remained consistently myself.
I swallowed my reluctant sigh for only a moment.
My demon hunter’s senses, sharpened beyond compare, twitched.
The Zero Mountains were vast enough to be called a new continent.
Of course.
‘Even with a skill like Clairvoyance.’
It would be impossible to find a desired target in the Zero Mountains.
However, within [Natural Enemy Relationship] existed something that transcended common sense.
I knew because I had experienced it all this time.
‘Since before I was even level 100.’
I had hunted demons hundreds of levels above me and survived to this point through absurd methods. Perhaps thanks to that, there was a voice burrowing into my hearing, developed by the effect of [Natural Enemy Relationship].
“So it’s there.”
Because I had cut off his right arm.
Loudly.
The voice of the bastard who had been screaming.
However, there was not just one voice.
—“The contents of that request were…… what was it?”
—“You do not know about it?”
—“That’s right…… I only became captain a few days ago.”
I had wondered, just in case.
But the moment the word request came up, I was certain.
Isn’t that Wolf’s voice?
‘Why is Wolf in the Zero Mountains……?’
In truth, I could guess the reason.
He must have moved to find Kichi.
But the Zero Mountains? Had he learned of a way to acquire an access device in the Zero Mountains?
I thought for only a moment.
Then I pricked up my ears.
‘The Great Evil’s request.’
I had been curious about it anyway.
To think a Great Evil had commissioned the Shadow Mercenaries.
And what that request had been.
And why Kichi had vanished after saying she would take responsibility.
However.
I wasn’t even given the leisure to listen quietly to that story.
Envy’s voice continued.
—“Clau……”
Whaaaaat?!
Claudi?!
Why is that name coming out there again?!
No, even hearing that much, I think I already understand.
Please, don’t you dare start blabbering about the Claudi family.
If I manifest a portal, I’ll be too late.
I have to shut that bastard’s mouth even faster……!!
“Tempest.”
[Skill, ‘Akshan’s Guardian Spirit,’ is activated.]
“Awooooooo—!”
My dark history.
No, the brutal history of the Claudi family.
That demon trying to dig it up to the bitter end.
Bite him to shreds!
*
Even if one had suffered a fatal wound, the body’s senses did not go out.
The howl of a beast.
Its source was somewhere endlessly far away.
‘……How is it echoing all the way here?’
A cry clearer than anything.
Wolf clutched his side and looked at the Great Evil, the Seven Deadly Sin Envy.
He wondered if he had heard things.
‘It isn’t my imagination.’
However, the howl seemed to have clearly reached Envy’s ears as well. But its reaction was astonishing. The Great Evil, who had not once been shaken until now, was trembling.
“……It’s him.”
Him?
It even muttered to itself all of a sudden.
Wolf thought.
Did “him” mean it knew the owner of that howl?
At the same time, a question arose.
The opponent was a Great Evil.
If one were to rank it among demons……
‘It’s so strong it can’t even be compared to a Demon King.’
Wolf and the Shadow Mercenaries had encountered a Demon King while attacking the Demon King’s Castle Rift. It was no exaggeration to say that comparing it to a Demon King would make him feel sorry for the Demon King.
‘A being that can make such a Great Evil tremble in fear?’
The only person who came to mind was the Commander-in-Chief.
Only Hoyeol.
However, Wolf muttered without realizing it.
“The Commander-in-Chief goes awooooooo……?”
Cough—
As if his body, listening in, also found it absurd, did it not spit up blood?
However, the question did not last long.
The one that had released the howl was no ordinary wolf.
It was a storm.
Tempest.
A being worthy of such a grand name.
Pah!
“Grrr!”
At last, a wolf leapt out from the bushes and charged toward Envy.
Like a raging storm, it drove Envy into a corner.
Wolf doubted his own eyes.
“……!”
The Shadow Mercenaries.
The Arcana Continent.
A big shot of the underworld.
If there was money in it, they would not refuse any request.
Information on the Arcana Continent for such Shadow Mercenaries?
It was at the level where it rolled in even without collecting it.
—“I do not know if you are aware, but recently in Hessia City in the southern Empire, resentment toward the lord has reached its peak. In other words, a fine pretext to stir up trouble has appeared!”
From the political situation of the Empire, which he had no interest in.
—“What I want is the treasure that insolent baron is said to possess. An antique he picked up in the southern sea, you see. Putting aside its value, I want to see that bastard fall into despair!”
Stories of gold, silver, and treasure.
—“Have you perhaps heard of Akshan’s wolf?”
And even unbelievable rumors that occasionally drifted in.
Akshan’s wolf.
Likewise, there had once been a capture request that came in to the Shadow Mercenaries.
Wolf remembered the rumor about Akshan’s wolf.
—“Since you’re Wolf, how about you take it, hehe?”
Because of the pointless joke Kichi, who had been vice-captain at the time, had made.
Even if he had not tried to remember, he ended up remembering it.
Just hearing it told was enough to understand why someone would invest an enormous sum and even risk making an enemy of Akshan in order to obtain that wolf.
—“It is far too beautiful to be called a wolf. Should I say it is like a single statue? However, there is no doubting its bravery. It is a creature far, far too wasted on those Akshan beggars.”
Regardless of the reason, they did not refuse incoming requests.
However, the request to capture Akshan’s wolf ended anticlimactically.
Because they had learned in the middle of carrying it out.
‘That isn’t an animal.’
A being that guarded something, a guardian spirit.
Just as the Shadow Crow, the guardian spirit of the Shadow Mercenaries, guarded their hideout.
Akshan’s guardian spirit, Akshan’s wolf, guarded Akshan.
‘In other words, it was Akshan itself.’
That was why, in this moment, Wolf could not help but flinch.
Yes, there was no longer an Akshan on the continent.
Because Akshan had vanished without a trace during the Holy War.
“Awooooo—”
But if the wolf that was overwhelming the Seven Deadly Sin Envy from beginning to end.
Was not Akshan’s wolf, then what in the world was it?
Moreover, the moment he watched its movements, raging like a storm.
The information he knew about Akshan’s wolf surfaced over it.
Wolf could be certain.
That was definitely Akshan’s wolf.
“……Akshan has revived?”
It was the moment Wolf muttered.
“Aaaaaaaagh!!”
Envy, whose body had been torn to pieces by Akshan’s wolf, began to scream. For some reason, it clutched its right forearm, which would not regenerate from where it had been severed.
“How, how are you here……!!”
It shouted into the air as if demanding an answer from someone.
“I definitely heard it……! That you could not leave the cave for a while. I was told so clearly……? Damn it, don’t tell me……!!”
Soon, its face twisted hideously.
“Liuo Junchun. As expected, you were in league with that damned bastard! To think you dared. In order to hunt this Great Evil. The Seven Deadly Sin Envy. You tried to deceive me……!!”
Wolf swallowed a groan.
“Good. I shall properly play along.”
Crunch—
Cruunch—
Envy, who had been helpless until just moments ago, began to change the shape of its body. Then, as if the wounds they had inflicted, and the wounds Akshan’s wolf had inflicted, meant nothing.
It completed a perfect transformation.
“I acknowledge it. I have no choice but to envy you.”
Pah—!
Enormous demonic wings spread from its shoulder blades.
At the moment they were struck with shock, Alkari’s strained voice reached them.
“……Phase 2.”
“Phase, old man?”
“Kekeke.”
Tremble, tremble—
With trembling hands, Alkari opened a potion bottle and wet his throat.
Elixir.
A potion made by extremely refining rare and precious elixir herbs, its value was beyond imagination. Alkari rolled another bottle containing elixir toward Wolf.
Roll, roll—
“Kichi had put that aside as your share.”
“……The captain did?”
“Kekeke. Don’t worry, I have no intention of cheating you out of something like this.”
The effect of the elixir was tremendous.
Enough to negate the fatal wound status abnormality.
Even as he staggered, Alkari checked on the fallen members.
Seeing Rockkid’s state……
“Tsk.”
His tongue clicked of its own accord.
“Except for Rockkid and Henderson, it seems they can be saved.”
The two men who had faced the Great Evil alone.
They had suffered wounds so severe that even the peerless elixir seemed put to shame.
Alkari looked at Envy.
“Acting Captain Wolf, I will ask you politely.”
“As much as you like.”
“In the words of adventurers, the Great Evil has entered its next pattern.”
Alkari was open-minded despite his age.
It had been quite some time since he fell into the world of adventurers.
Meaning he had roughly grasped the language of adventurers.
“We do not know how many more times it will repeat such molting.”
That was why he felt the gap.
They had been all but annihilated by only the first pattern.
There would be no chance of victory against Envy, who had entered its second pattern.
Even knowing that fact, Alkari asked Wolf.
“Even so, will you fight to the end?”
Wolf barely emptied the elixir and examined his own body. Thanks to the elixir’s effect, his vitality was rapidly filling up, but bone and flesh could not fill the gouged-out side in real time.
The brain of a cold-hearted commander spoke.
There was no chance of victory.
It presented the best choice.
They had to abandon Henderson and Rockkid, who had no hope, and leave the area. Yes, his past self, who had once turned away from defeated allies and become a traitor, was shouting him down.
Wolf laughed softly.
“It’s funny to make a decision like this now, old man.”
Was the problem that he had stared too hard while pondering?
The adventurers who had died after trusting Liuo Junchun.
They overlapped with the members who had fallen after trusting him.
So Wolf picked up his crossbow.
“Even among trash, there are grades, aren’t there?”
Click—
Wolf loaded the crossbow and thought.
‘Is this what they call pride?’
Well, he didn’t know if he had the right to mention a word like pride about himself. However, one thing was certain. The decision he was making now was by no means meaningless.
‘The goal isn’t to win.’
Commander-in-Chief.
It was to buy time until Hoyeol arrived.
Now that Akshan’s wolf had joined them.
They might be able to stall for a while.
Alkari let out a deep sigh.
“In the end, you’re starting to resemble Kichi too.”
But at last, you are like a Shadow Mercenary.
If you were not twisted, you would not be our comrade.
Alkari raised the corner of his mouth and rummaged through his inner pocket.
“Let’s see, what poison can be used in a situation like this?”
It was the moment he searched through his memory.
……
Twitch!
The vein bulging on Henderson’s head twitched.
A groan flowed from Rockkid’s tightly closed mouth.
Wolf and Alkari doubted their eyes.
‘……What is this?’
Even if the two men seemed to have muscles packed all the way into their heads.
Those were wounds that could not naturally heal, as long as they were human.
In other words, it should have been impossible for them to regain consciousness on their own.
However, the question did not last long.
Soon.
Change came even to those who had regained their senses.
Click—
“I will hear about the situation later.”
It was a being who, with only his appearance.
“Therefore, all of you are to rise until the hunt is over.”
Drove away the darkness blanketing the mountain range.
“The Shadow Mercenaries I hired are not so weak as to fall to a trifling demon.”
It was dawn.
...
[One Who Awaits Dawn 5/5]
[Set item effect is being applied.]
[Currently applied set effect: 5/5]
[1. When serving as commander, the morale of allies becomes ‘maximum.’]
……
In the Arcana system, what “maximum” meant was significant.
For example……
It was an expression on the level of saying it could even bring the dead back to life.