Hero w/o Blood and Tear: Chapter 63
Chapter 63. The Ultimate Swordsman (3)
I certainly did not stop.
Kwaaang! Koooowoooong!
Let me finish it completely. With such a determination, I called down the lightning of darkness without pause. I applied every bit of magic power and darkness levels I had.
“Let go! Let go of me!”
“Not until at least you are fallen, bitch!”
The protectors would barely fall even when they were relentlessly attacked. Giving them any tiny opening would only invite their incredulous counter attacks.
Kwaang! Kwaaang!
Thick dust rose. Small stones roughly struck my cheek as they exploded in the air. I squeezed out everything I had to the limit.
Kwaang!
The final lightning rod struck down.
“….. Huh. Huh.”
I was gasping for air as I pushed myself. Contrary to that, it was quiet all around. Even Palke, who was screaming, could no longer be heard.
Pazzzzz.
Dark sparks were still bursting from the surface of the ground. The area was a total mess. The dry grass in the winter caught fire and burst into flames. The dark thick smoke rose, and covered the sky.
Plop.
As I released the pressure in my arms, Palke fell to the ground like a falling leaf. As so many lightning has exploded, her appearance was a complete mess.
“Damn bitch.”
She put me through so much trouble. Gritting my teeth, I took out the long knife that was staked into me.
“Kraaaahk!”
Blood spewed out of my abdomen. It was certainly not a pleasant experience to have punctures in my body, let alone having the accompanying pain. I have gone through a number of occasions where my internal organs had even gutted out of me. The memory of recollecting the internal organs and putting them back in, on my own, was something that I did not ever want to recall.
Pong!
After opening the healing potion, I poured some over the wound and drank the rest. I, first, waited until the slow working potion started to heal the wound.
The pain was throbbing, all over my body, like a wild beast. I barely endured it by biting my lips. All the while, I became more irate. It was because I was on my merry way after winning Tilly over, only to get nearly killed.
Puck!
As soon as the punctured hole in my abdomen has disappeared, I kicked Palke who was lying down, dead.
Shooook!
With the powerful kick, Palke was sliding down the road for about 10 meters, and flew up into the air after hitting something. Then she fell again, causing dust to rise.
“You stay right there, I won’t let you go in peace.”
After picking up the fallen Rubleyana, I approached Palke. And immediately, I cut off both of Palke’s arms. I, first, debilitated her by severing the arms which were considered to be the life of a swordsman. Completely being at the verge of death, Palke did not even scream.
“Hmm…..”
I was in a thought as I was going to kill her immediately. It was a simple matter to kill a protector and gain strength, like this. However, I had to think about the reactionary measures to it.
<The protectors are like the seals which seal the great dark army, just by being in their own existences. Should a protector be killed, the world’s sealing strength would be weakened.>
Their places were that special. Therefore, as more protectors were to be killed, the higher the chances for problems to rise.
Should the seal get weakened, and the dark army shows up, there would be terrible incidence which will be beyond anyone’s imagination. Rather than a happy ending, an end of the world scenario would play out.
Would it really be OK?
Of course, it was not without a merit. It was because a note was attached to killing a protector, as below.
<If you collect 5 essences of the protectors, you would be reborn as a transcendental being.>
As of now, I wasn’t sure what it meant to be a transcendental being. It was only a guess.
“Hm…..”
The internal debate has gotten deeper. If it was up to me, I wanted to kill her. However, I was also concerned about the possible outcome from that. Having a balance in the world was important. Especially, as the protectors were the best tools in terms of keeping the demon kings at bay.
“Aaaa….”
As the battle was intense, every part of my body was aching. Sitting on top of now fallen Palke, I started to weigh the pros and cons.
There was one more important thing, and that was, how did Palke know of the one who squatted at the grave.
Certainly, she seemed to have been receiving someone’s support. It was because ultimate swordsmen did not have powers like foreseeing the future.
Who hired her? What was the payment? It was possible that money might have been given, or some naïve ambition or fame could have been used.
“Certainly, to leave her as is….”
It was intolerable that Palke immediately sought my life, yet the power of darkness was a bigger problem. It was possible to crush a visible enemy, but invisible enemy that was in hiding was much more difficult to deal with.
Especially, since I was right at the verge of the grand plan to advance towards the south western part of the empire. I’ve decided to seek out that dark power and destroy it. In order to that, I had to get information out of Palke, and there were two ways to do so.
One way was to interrogate her while she was alive. The other way was to kill her and ask her after making her an undead.
Certainly, the latter was the overwhelmingly favored way, but there was a problem. If there was a deity that Palke was serving, it would be a big zonk. It was because no matter how high my master of command skill was, it would be impossible to take away the faith from a deity.
“Let me see….”
First, I looked all over Palke’s body. Fortunately, there were not any symbols which might be representing her faith.
Yet, that was not the complete solution to the problem. Unlike Phillip who was killed from the get go, she was a protector who has risen to a certain level. She would most likely resist against my master of command skill, so the issue was whether everything would work as I wished.
If much time was to be wasted in that process, the concern was whether or not the clues which might lead to the hidden force behind it would be lost.
“Gosh…. This bitch is trouble to the end.”
My concern was growing deeper. It was said that prolonging a decision for a long time leads to bad maneuvers, so should I just go with my guts? As I was thinking things over like this, Palke let out a moaning from underneath me.
“Ewwwhhh…..”
“What is this? Are you awake?”
As I looked at her after I stood up, I saw her eyes were trembling. Gosh. A protector was a protector after all. She was still alive even with such conditions. Suddenly, fear rushed over me.
Certainly, I must kill her.
Even before considering other things, it felt like there would be much bigger risks if I was unable to kill the protector, right here. After all, a protector would do anything as long as a breath of life was in her.
“Are you awake?”
“…..You wicked bastard.”
“Do you have something to say?”
Even the executioner would allow the last words. Compared to the callous executioner that severs convict’s heads without hesitation, I had a lot of heart. Nothing would prevent me from listening to her last words.
“Don’t think this is the end of it… One of us will definitely come after you….”
“Hm, cliché. It isn’t a worthy enough last word to remember.”
Only that one inference was possible. She said one of us. Certainly, there was some kind of an organization. It was still a mystery as to how they knew about the one who sat, squatting at the grave though.
“Palke, I have a proposal.”
“…….”
“Tell me who hired you, and how you know about the one who sits squatting at the grave. If you do that, I’ll spare your life.”
“You…make me laugh. I will not submit….to someone who is getting… the help from the darkness.”
I knew it. This kind was tightly rolled into a ball of some kind of disturbed mindset. Alright, I should just kill in a case like this.
That was that, but I had a feeling that this lady was being manipulated. Such a naïve and stubborn kind was easily manipulated by a schemer, wearing a mask of goodness. She might be thinking that she was fighting for the righteousness, but in fact, all that she was, was a pawn on the chess board.
So, people were entitled to have their own opinions. Like me.
It was acceptable for me to use others as pawns, but I could never forgive others from using me as the pawn.
“By the way, do you have a deity that you believe in?”
I asked her one question before I moved to put the sword into her throat.
“No…Such things… You dare to bring up deity… Laughable.”
“Well, that’s welcoming news.”
I aimed the sword with joy.
“Rest for a little bit. I’ll call on you again.”
“What are you!”
As if she had understood me at that point, Palke opened her eyes widely. It was obvious as to what it meant when a master of command said that he will summon her again.
“Bastard! Krrr! You cursed one! You are fooling with death!”
There was only one thing that a master of command could say to her in that irate condition.
“In fact, life and death is one in the same.”
Puck!
The blade of the Rubleyana penetrated the neck of the ultimate swordswoman. Trembling wildly, she raised her waist. However, that did not last long.
“You… Krrrr. Wicked…..”
Losing the fighting spirit in her eyes, she closed them as they lost focus.
That was that, but why did Palke thought that I was wicked? She did not even have a sincere conversation with me, nor asked me about my belief.
She immediately told me to die since you used the power of darkness. Would she know what I was fighting for? It felt a bit unfair. So, I have decided.
“I’ll raise you from death. And, I will tell you, the cadaver, through the night. That is, my big plan. And, my dream.”
I hoped that you would regret then. That was, after learning that the world was not as simple as black or white, or good or evil.
So many heroes and warriors have failed, so far. In that case, wouldn’t there be a time when the evil might save the world.
<You’ve killed Palke, the ultimate swordswoman!>
Finally, the 2nd protector has died. With the popping up of a message, experiences poured in. As a result, I was immediately leveled up.
<Congratulations! The level of the one with no blood and tear is rising to 5!>
[Monster hunter level 32]
[4->5 level for the one without blood and tear]
[Hero level 4]
Life force: 3,010 ->3,090 (Cursed birth +654, Mandrake +200, Rubleyana +310)
Magic power: 2,720->2,910 (Marble Karka’s magic bone staff +50)
Darkness: 1,130->1,240 (Cursed birth +122, Marble Karka’s magic bone staff +70)
Power: 511->522 (Cursed birth +32, Rubleyana +12)
Intelligence: 249->290
Agility: 312->319
Health: 550->565 (Mandrake +40, Rubleyana +120)
Charisma: 475->532 (Marble Karka’s magic bone staff +13, Rubleyana +110)
Resistance to magic 11.2%
An interesting new skill was earned after becoming the one without blood and tear level 5.
It was the S-level skill <Undead capture>.
As it was described, it was the technique to capture an undead from the wild. The world is filled with strange and rare undead, and it was now possible to capture any of them with this skill.
If proficiency level 5 was passed, the ability to submit undead with intelligence gets added. It was a very useful skill, also a skill that could be called the king of the dead, which could be used when I would want to have an undead which was not one of my creations.
“Excellent.”
Feeling satisfied, I examined the new skill which I obtained after killing the ultimate swordswoman.
“Truly what kind of SS-level skill… Hum?”
I couldn’t help, but freeze from smiling widely.
Kkkkkkrrrr.
Suddenly, the ground shook once. Something passed by, making waves.
“What the…!”
Was it an earthquake? I perspired, perhaps as I was baffled. As far as I knew, this game did not have any natural disaster effects, like earthquakes.
The timing was strange, but there was nothing that would prevent earthquakes from occurring…..
Kkkkkkkkk!
Then the ground swayed. This time around, it was a really big earthquake.
“Uk!”
As a person that was balancing himself from high up above, I stretched both my arms out and bent my knees. The ground shook wildly and I heard Philly cry from a distance. Although the earthquake came to a stop after a moment, I did not have any time to calm my palpitating heart.
It was because suddenly, a terrifying bellow burst from somewhere in the distance.
Krrrrraaaah- Woooong-!
From extremely far away, it came from somewhere that was too far to even estimate how far away it was coming from.
“What, what the….”
As soon as I heard it, my body shivered wildly, and awesome fear overwhelmed me as I wasn’t even able to control my own body. For crying out loud, it wasn’t possible to even guess as to what the identity behind this sound was.
However, one thing that I knew intuitively was that this sound was coming from a being which I couldn’t even fathom. And that it seemed to be laughing out loud very happily.
It was filled with sneering, jeering, and ridiculing.
“Uuk!”
There came a severe headache. Although that bellowing has dissipated, the sound kept reverberating in my head. And I wasn’t able to take my eyes off of the new message which has popped up.
<The hidden scenario, the new level, ‘killing of a protector’ is commencing.>