Chapter 19

You need to make quick judgments.

At this point where the chief has died, I judged that it wasn’t the time to boost my pride.

“Huyul. Request help from the other parties immediately. Assume the target’s danger level is unpredictable.”

“…Understood.”

Even in this situation, Huyul, who seemed displeased, frowned and turned his body.

They probably couldn’t see it.

The bows drawn taut, aiming at them, and those eyes that seemed to be laughing joyfully.

Even in front of the sharp arrowheads, she showed no fear.

Does she not care about pain?

I swallowed hard.

My legs began to go numb.

Even the lunatics born in the slums who committed terrible crimes didn’t carry such killing intent.

Her madness, it was… refined, in a way.

That made it even more dangerous.

“Aaaaah!”

“Damn it! Spread out! Engage her separately!”

Whether the arrows hit or not, she charged in and stabbed with a dagger.

Her speed was too fast.

A warrior with that level of endurance and defense, yet moving more agilely than most assassins.

And this time, she didn’t even get hit by many arrows.

Strange.

“So this is how it is?”

The woman pulled out the arrow stuck in her shoulder and laughed as if delighted.

I took that moment to shoot another arrow.

The arrow, made from windwood, curved strangely following the flow of the wind.

Its trajectory, combined with its speed, drew a line impossible to react to.

Naturally, the arrow hit.

An arrow clearly aimed at her neck was stuck in her forearm.

This makes no sense.

Did she, a human, read the flow of the wind?

She swung her bleeding arm in a wide arc.

With that, the comrades drawing their bows from the trees scattered.

Her blood contained a deadly poison.

The chief’s corpse, now blackened, showed just how potent the poison was.

In that brief moment of distraction, another comrade died.

Now, only three of us remained.

But, coincidentally, we had formed a triangle with the target in the center.

From this angle, we could kill her.

Head. Neck. Heart.

We quickly exchanged glances and decided on our targets.

Even though we hadn’t been together for long, it had been over 20 years.

This level of simple communication didn’t need words.

*Whoosh!*

With that clean sound, the arrows flew through the wind.

Three arrows overlapped in one sound.

It was perfect timing.

When you shoot an arrow, sometimes you just know it’s going to hit.

This is unavoidable.

No matter how she dodges, she’ll get hit in one of the vital spots we aimed for.

Huuuu…

Somehow, I feel the tension easing.

I feel like I might cry.

No matter how dangerous an uncharted dimension is, who would’ve thought there’d be natives like this?

“…Huh?”

Then, something unexpected happened.

The wind flowing around us suddenly stopped.

The arrows also veered off course and fell to the ground.

What’s going on?

Though faint, manipulating the wind is a power only allowed to high elves like the chief.

My head was spinning from the series of incomprehensible events.

First, move.

We need to create distance.

The woman was already charging at me.

Let’s give up on the bow.

I drew the dagger from my waist and blocked one attack.

My wrist shattered.

Before the next attack could land, I barely managed to dodge thanks to the covering fire from my comrades.

The back of my neck was drenched in cold sweat.

My vision swayed, and I sat down on a branch.

I watched my comrades die in my place.

Truthfully, I’m dying too.

I thought I blocked the attack, but in that split second, she splattered her blood on my face.

A tiny amount of the deadly poison entered my respiratory system, slowly pushing me toward death.

Sigh.

I didn’t become a mercenary to die in a place like this.

The woman eventually succeeded in wiping out the entire front line before reinforcements arrived.

Not a single wound on her.

The difference in skill was just too vast.

This was a mission we shouldn’t have taken.

I closed my eyes and opened them again.

This time, she was slaughtering goblins like she was grinding them up.

Lightning. Fire. Ice. Wind.

She swept through the area using multiple elements, and the goblins’ poison had no effect on her.

Of course it wouldn’t.

She carries extreme poison within her body.

But compared to the toxicity, the pain wasn’t too severe.

It seems there’s a paralyzing component.

Though my senses are dulled and I can’t shoot a bow, I think I can still move somehow until I die.

Staggering to my feet, I followed her movements with my eyes.

By the time half the goblin party was dead, humans and orcs arrived.

It’s truly ridiculous, but even after seeing the corpses and her covered in blood, the humans hesitated to attack.

Instead, they tried to talk to her.

They told her to come to our dimension.

That this primitive dimension isn’t suitable for humans to survive.

They said they’d come back for her someday, even if it’s not possible now.

They were speaking in a sweet, coaxing tone.

They must’ve mistaken her for some kind of beautiful princess.

Are they just gathering idiots and fools?

I couldn’t help but laugh.

I…

Clearly, they must have warned about the danger level.

– Yeah, I hope so.

Of course, the woman started with the person who said that and instantly killed a total of five humans.

It’s chillingly concise.

Whoooa!

The moment the humans stepped back in horror.

The Orcs, who had been watching the situation all along, were the first to scream and charge.

The Orcs, wearing helmets and fully equipped with iron armor, are the highest C-rank among us.

Seeing them gives me hope.

Winning might be impossible, but we can buy some time.

If Huyul stabs them with swords and arrows in the meantime. Maybe.

Thud-

But the woman’s hand, mounted on the Orc’s body, turned pale.

All plans fell apart.

What followed was brutal.

She tore apart the thick iron armor with her bare hands and plunged a dagger into the heart.

Using the instantly dead Orc as a shield, she regained her posture.

I couldn’t see it clearly, but that was definitely an aura.

Aura.

A symbol of a master-level powerhouse.

In terms of mercenaries, it’s a level that could immediately earn an A-rank.

I thought her physical strength was threatening, but what was truly astonishing was her level.

This is weird.

It was clearly a C-rank request.

It was a blatant scam.

Someone should have gone back to the guild and reported it immediately.

But the woman doesn’t seem to intend to let anyone live.

Seeing her pull her hand out of the Orc’s heart, trample the corpse, and smile brightly, it’s clear.

– Not coming?

Still, there’s a possibility.

We still had the upper hand in terms of strength.

Compared to her level, the woman’s physical abilities were at most upper C-rank.

It’s not that our attacks didn’t work.

Even though she could use aura, she didn’t have the strength and speed to back it up.

So, we just need to charge.

If we have the courage to die first.

If we’re willing to sacrifice our bodies,

to lay the foundation for completing a mere C-rank request.

If we’re willing to risk our lives and jump in.

It was a laughable story even as I said it.

As the intense fighting spirit and killing intent made my whole body tingle, I realized my grace period was over.

With my blurring vision, I watched the mercenaries fall one by one and vomited the blood I had been holding back.

******

It was truly a valuable experience.

A life-and-death battle is dangerous, but it greatly helps in improving skills.

Calculating the wind to dodge the Elves’ arrows.

For a moment, I even stopped the wind itself using my abilities.

I also learned how to wrap my body in aura.

I figured out how to mix poison into my attacks.

Especially, by considering and testing the characteristics and countermeasures of various races, I felt my observation skills had significantly improved.

After extracting various information from the last remaining human, I didn’t hesitate and dealt with them immediately.

“It wasn’t wrong, what you said about coming to get me.”

[Literally, it’s possible.]

I remembered the human who was flirting with me.

For some reason, they spoke theatrically.

That guy asked me to go to his dimension with him.

Listening to him, it seems that moving between dimensions requires a warp device.

It’s a unique artifact, one per dimension, and in this mercenaries’ dimension, it’s exclusively managed by a place called the guild.

How did he plan to bring it here?

It seems it was just a bluff.

I felt a bit bad for having a moment of hope.

Still, I pinpointed the coordinates of the dimension where the voice guy lives.

I also learned about the characteristics of the Watcher race.

Outwardly, they look like ordinary humans, but they are actually the administrators of a dimension.

If you look closely, they have an eye mark somewhere on their body.

Right?

[···Right.]

Okay.

If I ever go out, I’ll find a way to find them.

It’s far, too far. The road ahead is too long.

Looking at my significantly increased stats and new skills, I turned around and headed back to the academy grounds.

I wanted to let the kids out, but thinking about it, I was covered in blood.

I immersed myself in the flowing river, lay back comfortably, and thought about what to do next.

There’s so much information I’ve gained, I’m not sure where to start.

But one thing is certain.

This dimension, those guys can come anytime.

So, there’s no time to rest.

Even if an enemy far stronger than me appears, I need to prepare weapons to face them.

And I need to find them.

Before I get taken down, I need a way to completely flip the board.

That method.

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