Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Part 18

“Why does it get colder and hurt more when I’m being healed?!”

“Th-That’s... because my constitution is a little unusual...”

“Unusual? Don’t make me laugh! You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Trying to screw us over!”

As Robertan approached threateningly, Seo Hwarin trembled and stepped backward.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

It was unfair.

She really had done her best.

Because she knew her mana was different from others, she had desperately tried to filter out as much of that alien energy as possible.

But the more she did so, the lower the healing efficiency became.

‘No... I have to suppress it more...’

She instinctively bit her lip.

There, an inky and sticky energy that was the exact opposite of the Saintess’s power was coiled up.

“Leader, let’s just dump her and go.”

The mage beside them, leaning on his staff, chimed in irritably.

Even though he knew party hunting was impossible without a healer, he made no attempt to hide the disgust in his eyes as he looked at Seo Hwarin.

His healing ability was worse than that of a Saintess, but he could still use healing magic himself.

“Honestly, she keeps ruining the flow. Every time I get healed, it feels so disgusting that I can’t even focus on the fight. It was the same last time she treated me.”

“Haa... I used her because she was cheap. Damn, what terrible luck.”

Robertan looked coldly down at Seo Hwarin, who was sitting on the ground.

That was not the gaze one gave a companion.

It was the gaze one gave trash lying by the roadside, or a defective product.

“Get lost. You’re expelled from our party.”

“What...? W-Wait! Here? Right now?”

Seo Hwarin hurriedly grabbed Robertan’s pant leg.

“We’re in the middle of an orc base! How am I supposed to get back down alone...!”

“Why should I care? Crawl down on your own or become orc food.”

It was a merciless answer.

Robertan kicked her away as though she were an annoyance.

Thud!

Seo Hwarin tumbled backward helplessly.

Dust stained her white clothes even more.

“Let’s go. The orcs are gathering more and more. If we waste any more time here, we’ll get surrounded.”

“W-Wait! Please...! I was wrong! I don’t even have to heal anymore, I’ll just carry the luggage! Please just take me as far as the portal!”

“Shut up! Get lost already!”

The party members turned their backs without looking back.

But they could only take a few steps before they were forced to stop.

“Chwik! Humans!”

“Meat! There’s even a tender female!”

Before they knew it, dozens of orcs were pouring out from the ridges and valleys of the rocky mountains.

Orc Warriors carrying rusty axes and saw-toothed blades.

They had completely blocked the humans’ escape route.

“D-Damn it! When did this many gather?”

Robertan panicked badly and drew his sword.

There were easily more than thirty of them.

It was not a number the four party members, already exhausted from the previous battle, could handle.

“Grrrr... Kill them! Skin them alive!”

“Graaaah!”

The orcs roared as they tightened the encirclement.

Their bloodthirsty gazes swept over the party members before fixing on Seo Hwarin, who was sitting on the ground.

“Eek...!”

Seo Hwarin trembled and backed away.

There was nowhere to run. In front were the companions who had abandoned her, and behind and beside her were savage orcs licking their lips.

‘I’m going to die.’

Her instincts warned her.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Her heart pounded wildly.

As her fear reached its peak, the thing that had been suppressed deep within her began to stir.

‘No... Don’t come out...!’

Seo Hwarin desperately suppressed her own energy.

As the life-saving power of the Saintess shrank back, black and sticky energy tried to fill the empty space.

Death Energy.

The energy of death.

It was the authority of the Necromancer, her other power.

She wanted to reach out toward those orcs right now.

She instinctively knew that if she released this energy, she could dry the blood from those horrific green monsters and turn them into rotting corpses.

But she must not.

‘If I use this... I won’t be human anymore.’

She bit her lip until it bled.

Even if she died, she wanted to die as a human.

If she used this death energy, she would gradually be consumed by darkness.

In fact, after using the power of the Necromancer a few times, she had spent nearly two months living as something that was not herself.

“Mage! Hurry and put up a barrier or something!”

At that moment, Robertan shouted urgently.

Bzzzt.

The mage moved his staff and created a shield.

But Seo Hwarin was outside the shield.

“Chwiik!”

Whoooosh!

And just as the orc’s axe was about to fall toward her head.

Bam!

A dull bursting sound echoed across the battlefield.

“...?”

Robertan, Seo Hwarin, and even the orc about to swing its axe all froze.

Because the orc’s head in front of Seo Hwarin had burst apart like a ripe watermelon.

Crash.

The massive headless corpse of the orc collapsed at Seo Hwarin’s feet.

Dark red blood soaked the ground.

“Chwik? Wh-What!”

“Who is it!”

The orcs turned their heads in confusion.

Beyond the orc’s corpse, two men were walking through the thick cloud of dust.

“We’re a little late.”

A calm voice came from somewhere.

A man with black hair, sharp eyes, and a gleaming sword in his hand.

Behind him stood a large man carrying a massive shield like a fortress wall.

They were Han Yugeon and Cha Mincheol.

“Mincheol.”

“Yes, Brother!”

Bang!

The moment Yugeon gave the order, Mincheol struck his mace against his shield.

Giant’s Roar.

“Aaaaaaaaah!”

“Chwiiiiik!!”

Mincheol’s original area-wide taunt skill.

When the skill activated, the orcs began rushing toward Mincheol as though mesmerized.

Even though humans were right in front of them, the monsters headed toward Mincheol in the distance.

‘That was close.’

Yugeon looked toward Seo Hwarin in the distance.

If he had arrived even a little later, she would have released her power.

The Calamity of Floor 78, the Queen of Corpse Flowers.

The woman who, in his previous life, had slaughtered countless Awakened and turned an entire floor into a land of death, becoming one of the worst bosses.

Yugeon had arrived just before the seed of that tragedy could sprout.

Step. Step.

Shing.

Walking slowly, Yugeon drew the sword at his waist.

Slash.

Slash.

Slash-slash-slash!

Yugeon’s smoothly moving sword began severing the orcs’ necks.

The speed of his steps did not change.

He merely swept his sword lightly to the side.

And yet the heads of the charging orcs began flying off.

“Wh-What... Who is that guy...”

Robertan swallowed dryly.

They were Orc Warriors.

Even if his entire party attacked together, they could barely deal with a few orcs at a time.

Yet that man was cutting them down as though mowing weeds.

“Chwik! Strong! Stop him!”

An Orc Captain about three times larger than the others thrust its weapon forward and gave an order.

But a single shield charged forward and knocked the orcs away.

“Not a chance!”

Bang!

Screeeeech!

Charging like a bull, Mincheol shoved several orcs backward.

Perhaps they were even losing in raw strength, because the orcs were being pushed back while leaving marks in the ground.

“Good work, Mincheol.”

Shaaaaa.

A tremendous killing intent erupted from Yugeon as he readjusted his grip on the sword.

Ding!

【One Sword of Heavenly Destruction】 has been activated.

[Consumes 1 Feat.]

The enormous Orc Captain visible in the distance.

Toward it, Yugeon unleashed One Sword of Heavenly Destruction.

KRAAAAAAAAAANG!

“What in the...”

Crack.

When Yugeon’s One Sword of Heavenly Destruction was unleashed, the wasteland and the Orc Captain were split in half.

“Ch-Chwik!! Run away!!”

With the captain dead and even the wasteland split apart.

The terrified orcs began fleeing in a stampede.

“Wow... You made a canyon.”

Once the situation ended, Mincheol lowered his shield and looked down into the split wasteland.

A canyon so deep that its bottom could not be seen had been created.

All from a single swing of a sword.

Step. Step.

“Are you all right?”

“Ah...”

Yugeon approached and held out his hand to Seo Hwarin.

She stared blankly up at him.

A black-haired man.

His eyes were deep and calm.

A gaze that seemed to see straight through the suppressed darkness buried deep within her.

“H-Hey!”

At that moment, Robertan, who had been standing there blankly, came to his senses and approached Yugeon.

“Who are you?! How are you so strong... No, no. I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Robertan, leader of the Flame Awl Party. If you don’t mind, perhaps we could join forces and...”

“Get lost.”

Yugeon cut him off coldly.

He did not even spare him a glance.

“...What?”

At being told to get lost, Robertan’s face twisted violently.

“Get lost? You think you can act crazy just because you’re a little strong... Hey! Are you ignoring me? Do you know who I am? And that healer is a member of our party! You can’t just—”

Shing.

Yugeon’s Godslaying Sword pointed at Robertan’s neck.

As the chilling sword energy brushed his nape, Robertan sucked in a short breath.

A killing intent even denser than when Yugeon had slaughtered the orcs pressed down on his entire body.

“You abandoned her.”

Yugeon spoke in a low voice.

“You threw her away because she was useless, and even when you put up the shield, only you people were inside it. And now you’re calling her your companion?”

“Th-That was a misunderstanding...”

“Move your mouth one more time, and I’ll cut off your head too.”

He meant it.

Robertan realized it instinctively.

This man would not hesitate to kill a person.

He screamed and backed away.

“L-Let’s go! He’s insane!”

Robertan and the other party members fled without looking back.

They did not even glance at Seo Hwarin, whom they themselves had abandoned, and simply ran for their lives.

Step. Step.

As Yugeon approached, Seo Hwarin curled up tightly.

“D-Don’t come closer... I-I’m...”

She rejected him in a trembling voice.

But Yugeon did not stop and held out his hand.

“Can you stand?”

Seo Hwarin hesitated, then looked down at her own hand.

A faint black energy was still lingering around it.

If she took this man’s hand, he would know too.

That she was something wearing the guise of a healer.