“Dmi, Dimitri….”
“Oh my, friend. What happened to you… Rest now.”
Dimitri drew a longsword from his waist. The drawing motion was concise, and there was no sound. The longsword slid out like flowing water and plunged straight down. The bandit whose heart was pierced opened his mouth with wide eyes before going limp.
“Uh, uh, that kid….”
Angie was horrified by Dimitri’s actions, pulling on Aslan’s garment while saying this, but Aslan had no intention of stopping Dimitri.
Since Dimitri hadn’t done it, she would have thought about doing it herself.
The scattered corpses and soon-to-be-dead bandits were all around. A chilling death clung uncomfortably to the body. The forest in the misty gorge was cold.
Realizing that Aslan was silently watching Dimitri, Angie let go of the garment she had been holding and approached the corpse.
Though it wasn’t clear if they needed to be killed, she assumed there must be a reason.
So what remained was only business toward the corpse.
She intended to bury those who were already dead, as Aslan had taught her.
“Eh, why?”
But just before approaching the corpse, Aslan blocked her with his arm. When Angie stopped and asked him with wide eyes, Aslan shook his head.
“Don’t approach. It’s dangerous.”
Dangerous. That wasn’t a word you’d associate with a corpse. Confused by Angie’s expression, Dimitri agreed after pulling the sword out of the bandit’s heart.
“That guy’s right. It’s best not to mess with these ones.”
As Angie tilted her head in confusion, Ereta dramatically pulled out her flail and struck it down toward the corpse.
Crack!
Rustle!
The flail crushed the corpse’s head precisely. Instead of the grayish-white matter and brain fluid expected to splash, a pile of insects poured out along with a handful of flesh.
Finger-sized insects spilled out from the cross-sections and wounds.
“It’s a blood maggot.”
“What’s a blood maggot?”
As Ereta casually spoke while shaking off the insect corpses stuck to her flail, they fell to the ground. Watching the insects with disgust, Angie frowned and asked.
The one answering was Aslan.
“To put it simply… a parasitic monster that lives off the heart, converting all the blood into more insects. It originated from Henna’s isolation, a creation of the wild wizard Henna.”
It was also a monster created by one of the few existing wild wizards in the world.
At the sound of approaching footsteps, Angie looked up, and Aslan added.
“The victims lose their eyes first. So bugs fill the sockets where the eyes should be, like the ones coming towards us.”
As Aslan nodded his chin, Angie finally noticed something odd about the approaching figures.
Bugs flowed down like tears from the eye sockets where eyes should have been. Leaving behind the eerie cries of the fallen blood maggots, the wet soil echoed with the silent steps crossing it.
Among the sounds, the corpses and bandits rose together. Their eyes no longer held any trace of human sanity.
Aslan reached for his flail at his waist as he watched the approaching hosts.
‘The plan is messed up.’
If it had been just a regular monster outbreak, there wouldn’t have been any disruption to the plan, but with blood maggots, things were different.
He had to break the current deadlock first. Aslan spun his flail lightly while speaking.
“Angie, aim for the heart. With your strength, it’ll be fine. Ereta, do your best within your limits. If it gets too much, you can step back.”
“Yes.”
Angie pulled out her two-handed axe from her back without replying, and Ereta took out both her flail and axe from her hips.
After glancing at his prepared comrades with a sidelong look, Aslan informed Dimitri.
“I’ll create an opening by leading the charge; I’ll leave the finishing blow to you.”
“Good. It’s been a while since we’ve collaborated.”
As the sound of Aslan spinning his flail cut through the silence and grew louder, the blood maggot-infected hosts rushed in. There was no trace of human rationality left in their eyes.
Zarrek, Kwajik!
Then, the flail rotating in Aslan’s hand stopped its movement and charged forward. It struck the lower jaw like flying wind. The blood maggot host violently shook from the impact, and Dimitri accurately plunged his red longsword into where the heart was located.
“One down!”
Cheerfully shouting, Dimitri stepped back, and Aslan faced the gap-targeting attacker. The four heads of the flail lightly thrust forward and wrapped around the neck of the host precisely.
“Huff!”
Ujjik!
Aslan pulled the flail while rising with a knee strike. The host’s head jerked back harshly and rolled on the ground. Aslan swung the flail imbued with light rotation toward the rolling figure.
Kwajijik!
Keeeeeek!
The four iron balls that came plunging down shattered the host’s heart precisely. The worms crawling out were flipped over by the poison contained in the iron balls, wriggling as they died.
Meanwhile, another host emerged beside him. Without even turning his gaze, Aslan extended his leg from his seated position.
Click, Kwajik!
Caught precisely by the foot, the host wobbled and fell. Before the fallen host could rise again, Dimitri’s blade flashed eerily red, piercing from the collarbone down to the heart and splitting it open.
The sight of worms spilling out from the collapsing host’s body was repulsive, yet neither Aslan nor Dimitri showed any reaction as they stepped back.
Behind the squirming dying worms, several hosts were approaching.
Without time to glance back, Aslan rushed in again, and Dimitri smiled in sync as he followed.
On the other hand, Angie was flustered.
“Uwaak, what is this?”
Following Aslan’s orders to target the heart was good, but Angie didn’t know exactly where the heart was.
So she had no choice but to wildly swing her axe at the hosts, and from the shattered bodies, worms poured out like a flood.
These worms crawled onto Angie’s legs, burrowed into her body to eat her heart, and smashed their jaws against her skin.
“Ugh, it burns!”
But Angie’s skin was already beyond what the worms could penetrate. Irritated by the slight stinging sensation, she swatted her hands over her body. Each swat killed a handful of worms.
“Annoying brats, die already!”
With a crunching sound, Angie stomped on the heart, and only then did the worms stop their futile biting. She quickly lifted her axe to find another host.
Aslan remained calm despite having only one arm, and after realizing her skin couldn’t be penetrated, Angie fearlessly charged in. She wildly swung her axe, smashing the bodies apart to find and crush the hearts underfoot.
Though the method differed, everyone in the group except Ereta dealt with the blood maggots comfortably.
Except for Ereta.
“…”
Ereta was no longer a priest.
Thus, her remarkable strength disappeared long ago, and although she possessed skill, her physical abilities were lacking.
Moreover, her weapon.
Ereta’s weapon was unsuitable for targeting the heart.
‘If only I had fire… it would have been better.’
She muttered while still working diligently. She smashed the chest with her flail and used her axe to tear open the crushed chest.
Even so, decayed veterans are still veterans, and Ereta gradually reduced the number of hosts.
Each time the four moved, the hosts died.
A pastoral hunt without any real danger. Eventually, it came to an end.
Pwoeok!
With the final host felled by Aslan kicking its leg and Dimitri piercing the heart, the forest regained its silence. Only the grotesquely broken or dismembered corpses decorated the forest.
“Hmm, sweating makes me hungry. Let’s head back.”
Dimitri surveyed the ominous atmosphere of the forest with satisfaction and urged the group onward, leading them back toward the abandoned village.
“Dimitri, you son of a bitch!”
Jjaak!
What greeted Dimitri upon entering the ruins was a sharp slap. The leader of the bandits and slave merchants, his face flushed red, slapped Dimitri without hesitation, causing Dimitri’s head to turn sharply as he wiped his lips.
“Shouldn’t you have stopped it in time?! Do you know how much I paid to hire you?! You bastard…!”
Contrary to Angie’s expectation that Dimitri might draw his sword at any moment, he shrugged indifferently.
“Ah, sorry. I did my best.”
This reaction was perplexing to Angie, who didn’t know Dimitri well.
His aggressive demeanor shown to Aslan was completely different from this docile attitude. An unexpected appearance made Angie grab Aslan’s garment. When Aslan subtly turned his gaze, Angie whispered into his ear.
“He’s such a nasty-tempered guy, right? Why is he being so tame? If it were me, I’d punch him…”
Aslan briefly smiled and whispered back into Angie’s ear.
“Dimitri is a meticulous mercenary when it comes to contracts and favors. That fatso knows what he’s doing, and Dimitri probably doesn’t want to bother either. Dimitri won’t betray any employer who recognizes his skills and pays for his sword, no matter what happens.”
And that was one of the reasons why Dimitri, a surly mercenary, became a major player.
Angie shivered slightly as if her ear tingled and recalled something.
The threat to cut off the arm of the bandit chief and employer.
Thinking about that, a legitimate suspicion arose within her: Was he really not betraying?
Just as Angie was about to ask, Aslan seemed to already know and preemptively answered.
“It’s not betrayal because someone with no arms doesn’t die immediately.”
Although it wasn’t entirely convincing, Angie accepted it and decided to thank Aslan for explaining by pulling his earlobe down.
“What are you doing?”
“Hyeek.”
As elves approached and spoke, Angie stiffened momentarily.
A group of elves was staring blankly at Angie and Aslan who had been whispering.
Ereta stood a step away, observing the scene expressionlessly, while behind her, the boss continued to vent his anger at Dimitri.
There was almost no trace of her usual smile on Ereta’s face.
Seeing that frosty expression, Angie unknowingly began to explain herself.
“Ah, nothing. We’re just talking secretly! I, I need to go! Hey, crazy woman!”
Her face bright red, Angie stumbled over her words as she approached Ereta, who greeted her expressionlessly.
Only the elves remained in front of Aslan. Six pairs of eyes gazed innocently at Aslan.
One of them, filled with innocence, spoke.
“Thank you for protecting us from the monsters!”
However, the elf hesitated, clutching the tattered cloth near their clothes, before continuing.
“Can’t we avoid fighting? Fighting is bad. Can’t we talk to the monsters and resolve this?”
The drooping posture of the elf reminded Aslan of something familiar.
Elves were originally that kind of race.
A race that not only avoided conflict but detested it. Created by the deity of nature and creation, they instinctively disliked and avoided destructive behavior.
Such elves generally couldn’t survive in Geladridion.
Of those elves, only Phey, the broken elf, knew of struggle.
Aslan felt the childish innocence of the elves and bowed.
“Don’t worry. I’ll properly pacify the monsters and send them away. Since they lost to us, they’ll listen to us now. They might think it’s better not to fight because we’re too strong.”
It was a lie, but the elves, who couldn’t discern lies and didn’t even know they existed, happily thanked him repeatedly before leaving.
Watching the lively elves leap around, Aslan turned his attention to Dimitri who approached.
“So, what about the duel? Are we doing it?”
Responding, Dimitri gestured for him to continue.
“If there weren’t blood maggots.”
“Hmm.”
“If we solve the blood maggot issue, I’ll duel with you. Killing you now would only result in losses.”
At Aslan’s words, a flicker of doubt crossed Dimitri’s face.
“Well, that’s true. Then… understood.”
Dimitri appeared to have guessed something based on that doubt but retreated quietly since Aslan didn’t say more. Aslan watched him retreat and sighed, a sigh mixed with irritation rather than relief.
The frustration stemmed from the disrupted plans.
Aslan couldn’t find Phey. Finding Phey hidden in the forest would be nearly impossible even if Aslan raised his luck to 20.
Thus, Aslan intended to lure Phey out.
Through weakening the prey.
That way, Aslan’s original plan was to incapacitate Dimitri and sow chaos among the bandits, creating an opportunity for Phey to exploit.
If a significant opportunity arose, Phey wouldn’t miss it.
However, the presence of blood maggots prevented that flow.
‘Now I understand why Phey maintained a passive strategy against a bandit gang of this size…’
Had there been no blood maggots and only the bandits, Phey would have already killed Dimitri and wiped out every single bandit. The reason he didn’t was simply because he couldn’t.
Blood maggots weren’t opponents that could be taken by surprise, nor were they small enough in scale to handle with just a sword.
‘If exposed, it’s equivalent to exposing all the blood maggots… Understandable that Phey is cautious. I would have done the same.’
Moreover, a sort of three-way battle was occurring within this Randi Gorge.
A tripartite battle between Phey, the slavers, and the blood maggots.
‘Complications have arisen.’
Unless someone intervenes on one side, the situation won’t resolve. But intervening randomly won’t lead to a positive outcome either.
If Phey merely wanted to end the situation, he wouldn’t reveal himself.
Therefore, Aslan had to use two of the three factions—blood maggots and the bandits—as much as possible.
The most ideal condition was one:
Both blood maggots and bandits should be exhausted enough for Phey to calculate that ‘acting now will end the situation,’ leading him to appear.
Confidently, Aslan signaled to Angie and Ereta. To the two who approached, Aslan quietly explained the revised plan.
“Eeeek?”
Angie didn’t particularly like the revised plan, but ultimately, she acted according to it.
