Chapter 1036 – The Value of Life

000

“Poentch!”

When a light sneeze came from Sasha’s mouth, Kuon, who was standing next to her, glanced back at Sasha.

The expedition team had stopped for a moment due to an incident that had occurred earlier, and were in the process of unpacking their belongings and taking a short rest.

Artis shot Laplace when he tried to blow himself up.

And although the self-destruction failed, Laplace’s head was recovered and Laplace’s life was cut off, and this time, Lila returned to the center of the expedition’s ranks in order to extract the various information contained in his head.

Therefore, there was an empty spot on the front line, and in order to prevent it, Kuon stayed by Sasha’s side.

Even if everyone took a break, Sasha, who was the eyes and ears of the expedition, could not let down her guard and was constantly on edge while standing in her place.

In order to lessen Sasha’s burden even a little, she needed someone who could help her by her side.

Of course, Sasha may say that she is fine on her own, but it has always been the case that her ‘okay’ is not ‘okay’ at all in the eyes of others.

Meanwhile, when Sasha sneezed like that, Kuon walked up to Sasha and put her hand on her forehead.

“Are you okay Sasha? You don’t have a cold, right?”

“Yes, yes…! It’s okay, Mr. Kuon. Should I just say that my nose suddenly felt itchy…”

As she said that, she rubbed her nose with her hand.

“I guess the air isn’t all that clear in the mountains. Although it’s not the right season, there may be pollen or dust flying around that is so small that it can’t be seen.”

Kuon said that, but Sasha shook her head.

“Hmm… Rather, I should say that I suddenly felt a chill… A shiver ran down my spine, and a tingling sensation touched my skin…”

“Is that okay? Are there any bugs in your clothes?”

“Oh, no, nothing like that!”

At Kuon’s words, Sasha shakes her head and denies her concerns.

Sasha thinks it wasn’t a big deal because the feeling disappeared quickly.

[Hmm…]

And Ruben, who shared Sasha’s feelings, was quietly drooling inside her as if thinking about something.

‘The thing just now is clearly the hunter’s imprint… My power. But it was a very far away place. Why in such a rural corner…’

Ruben’s gaze, beyond-

Heading to somewhere beyond the distant peak.

‘… No way…’

Remains of the primordial world, guardian.

And, the feeling from a moment ago.

Something like a puzzle piece is slowly coming together in Ruben’s head, but-

[No. Did I think too deeply?]

“Huh?”

If Ruben mumbles like that, Sasha will tilt her head.

[It’s nothing.]

As Ruben answered Sasha’s question, she quietly sank into her consciousness.

001

Sasha’s appearance, revealed when she took off her visor, was very similar to the woman Cleon knew now –

I couldn’t help but think that she was different from Cleon’s colleague, Sasha, in that she was a bit more adult and had different hair and eye colors.

“Who are you…?”

Cleon asked that question, but the answer to that question was an act of targeting this direction and casting magical arrows on the demonstration, even though it was an illusion.

An arrow that sparkles in blue at the tip of your finger, killing you with a single blow.

Cleon saw this and reflexively adjusted his stance – this time, holding both Galatea and Caliburn.

[Meteor shower in the sky]

“!”

And, at the words that flowed from her mouth, Cleon looked up at the sky while breaking into a cold sweat.

Piyung! And the sound of cutting the wind was heard.

The illusory arrow seemed to pierce through Cleon, but he was not taken aback.

Instead.

“Hi.”

From behind, a frightened sound could be heard as Yuni swallowed her breath.

I guess he is like that too.

This is because countless arrows of magical energy were falling from above, literally falling in this direction like a meteor shower.

Uni is stamping her feet and wondering how to avoid it.

To her, her guardian spoke quietly.

[Unicorn. If you don’t move, you won’t be hit by the magic arrow.]

She spoke as if she had no intention of attacking Yuni.

Uni had no choice but to stop in place at those words, curl up in her seat and cover her head.

And in the meantime, Cleon.

Kakakakakang!!

Arrows of magic continue to fall centered on where Cleon is standing.

By swinging the two swords at a speed close to the speed of sound, he was blocking them from piercing his body.

As a sound resounded, like a strong rain shower hitting the window, Cleon had to concentrate all his nerves to watch the arrow’s trajectory.

But.

No matter how large and sturdy an umbrella is, it is impossible to completely block its owner from a stormy sky.

It was almost impossible to protect one’s body from countless arrows with two swords whose gaps were much larger than those of an umbrella.

Pak…! Psssssh…!

Several times, I heard the sound of an arrow that neither hit the ‘sword’ nor was stuck in the ‘ground’.

That was the sound coming from the arrows hitting and piercing Cleon’s thighs, feet, arms, and shoulders.

[Wow, Cleon!]

Galatea voiced concern.

If there was a hole in his thigh, the amount of blood flowing out from it was significant.

“Caliburn…!”

[Yes. I’m channeling my magic into healing the body. … Of course, you would know without me saying it.]

“Ah…”

Cleon knew what Caliburn was reluctant to say.

The recovery done with Caliburn’s divine magic was, so to speak, no different from applying unrefined herbs to the wound.

Like potions, it is impossible to heal wounds as quickly as when using a liquid created by extracting the recovery power to its extreme.

At most, it relieves pain, stops bleeding a little, and heals the wound a little.

If the connection between Kuon and the imprint had remained, this wouldn’t have happened…

However, there will be limits to continuing to block the series of arrows and withstanding the hits with your body.

If you don’t do something, something.

[Can you withstand my rain of arrows? If so, how about this?]

As if to drive a wedge into Cleon’s thoughts, the guardian’s voice continued.

‘Do you want to add something more to this?’

In the midst of a rain of arrows that were incomparably stronger than Sasha’s, she shot another arrow from her bow as if there was no problem.

Joining in… Ik…

The protest was so tense that the sound could be heard even from here.

She was looking at the ‘sky’ with sharp and unwavering eyes.

‘Sky?’

At that moment, a ‘squeak’ of electricity flowed through Cleon’s head.

And the very next moment.

The moment she let go of her hand with a clicking sound.

Cleon moved her feet.

“Oooooh!”

Letting out a shout, Cleon ran.

Chasing Cleon, a rain of arrows fell from the sky and left traces on the ground.

[It cannot be avoided. A wasted effort…]

The guardian shook his head as he said this, trying to deny the meaning of Cleon’s actions.

However, where Cleon finds himself-

No, more accurately, he looked shocked when he saw that he was aiming for the swamp of loyalty where his illusion was standing.

[What…!? Did you go crazy because you couldn’t withstand the arrows!?]

The guardian’s voice is filled with embarrassment, and his voice seems to be reprimanding Cleon.

However, Cleon’s steps did not stop, and she took a big leap, desperately protecting both of her moving legs.

And that moment when he thought he was flying through the air and moving ‘above’ Chungso.

I heard the sound of the ground shaking.

“This is…?”

At the sound of that vibration, Uni, who had been curled up, must have raised her head and looked around.

Thanks to Cleon’s plunge into her swamp, the rain of arrows has moved away from her, but the vibrations that rumble through her land are getting closer.

And soon, Yuni was able to notice the identity of the vibration.

Kwaang!

As the sound rang out, a pillar of light pierced the ground and soared up.

It was something that rose up from underground through the mountain, targeting Cleon.

“Oooh!!”

As the ground cracked, the magic arrow burst out as if piercing the sky.

As if he had been expecting it, Cleon twisted his body as he pinned Galatea and Caliburn to the ground and succeeded in dodging the arrow in the air.

And the pillar of light rising into the sky, along with the rain of arrows falling towards Cleon, will fly towards the sky and disappear.

[!]

And Cleon lands on his feet in the middle of the swamp.

“Huh!? Cleon!?”

Seeing that, Yuni stood up and called his name.

No matter how I looked at it, I was standing on top of a swamp.

However, Cleon was catching his breath on the spot without even moving his legs.

Since he was bleeding from holes all over his body, he may have lacked the strength to move.

There was a reason why he didn’t move his feet while standing on top of the swamp.

It-

“Haa… Haa…”

[…

The gazes of the guardian and Cleon intersect.

Underneath Cleon’s feet, there was a large hole in the ground.

Around it, there were poisonous insects that were pierced by huge magic arrows and lost their lives.

Cleon must be catching his breath as he looks at the poisonous insects gathering at a much slower pace than when he cut them down.

[Why did you jump into the swamp?]

The guardian asked.

This is because it was not an action that could be understood through common sense.

“Yuni said that you were in a cave on the side of the mountain… Up until now, even when you were shooting arrows at me from beyond the illusion, you were looking in this direction and pulling the arrow. That means, I don’t know what technique you will use, but the arrow It means that you have the ability to freely control the orbit.”

At Cleon’s words, the guardian flinched and the ears on his head trembled.

Is it okay to accept that as an unspoken affirmation?

“… But. The final blow… As for that, I honestly pulled the string towards the ‘sky’. Since it was an attack whose trajectory could not be controlled using the original shooting method… It was aimed ‘in a straight line’ towards where I was. There was a need to shoot.”

Such a thick arrow of light…

No, it’s not even called an ‘arrow’ anymore.

You could almost say it was artillery fire.

[Just based on that level of speculation… It’s like he’s throwing his life away. … It’s hard to understand.]

Even as the Guardian said this, he closed his eyes and seemed to regret showing up as an illusion.

“Obviously… They attacked me because they didn’t want me to kill these bugs…? Haha… So you’re an accomplice in this…”

Anyway, Cleon spoke as if he was teasing, but he couldn’t continue his words for very long, perhaps because he was bleeding so much.

And when the guardian heard that, he quietly made a new arrow and tried to hang it, but-

Pajik.

With a sound, the gathered magic was quickly dispersed.

[Is it because he broke the ‘taboo’… Surely, he knew the ‘conditions’…?]

The guardian muttered that, but Cleon could not understand what he meant, so he continued to talk about his business while breathing heavily.

“Hey… Let’s stop here… I have to pass through here somehow to join my colleagues… It looks like you can’t shoot arrows anymore either…”

[Just a moment. After a few hours, control of magical power will be restored.]

“Okay… Then I guess… In the meantime, I guess I’ll have no choice but to create a path in the swamp by applying more magic slashes like I did before.”

[… Even if they are insects. Each one of them has a life. Is there no such thing as guilt?]

When the guardian spoke while glaring, Cleon shook his head.

“I’m not a decent human being who has lived my life worrying about such things one by one…”

[…

In response to Cleon’s response, the guardian didn’t say anything for a moment and stared straight at him-

Soon, he returned the bow to his back and put the visor he had removed on his face.

[Great. Let me accept your offer. From the beginning, I had no intention of taking his life, so if he got injured and became unable to act, I planned to have him transferred to that unicorn.]

“What… You leave people in tatters like this, and you say things like that…”

[I am different from you.]

She said that in a cold voice.

And when she snaps her fingers.

The poisonous insects that had been gathering stopped and moved aside in front of Cleon, making way for him.

“… Could even poisonous insects be controlled…”

[… You will be able to climb to the top with this. Of course, if you don’t heal the wound, you won’t get far. It would be good to get help from the unicorn there.]

“Of course! Cleon, are you okay!?”

Yuni, who had been absentmindedly listening to the conversation between the Guardian and Cleon, suddenly came to her senses and ran towards where he was.

And when he tries to stretch out his arms to support Cleon…

“Aaaaah! Don’t touch me now!”

Cleon was able to make sound even through his sick body.

While spitting out blood and saying, “Wow.”

“Ah, that’s right!”

And Yuni looks embarrassed and takes his hand back.

[… Let’s go quickly. And please don’t come back to my area again.]

A guardian who does not hide his bitter hostility.

When Cleon said that with that face and voice, for some reason he became a little depressed.

“… Okay. But… I have one question to ask.”

When Cleon said those words, the guardian crossed his arms and looked in this direction, as if asking if he would answer.

“… Are you Sanasia Lupenwolf?…?”

[… Ha?]

To Cleon’s words, the guardian reacted as if it was an unexpected question.

I soon sigh.

[I am not that kind of person. I don’t know if I’m mistaken with someone, but… I am one of the six guardians created to protect the sleeping ruins in the Four Dragon Mountains. This is Guardian Type S (Sigma). It’s not even a ‘life form’ like you.]

“It’s not a living thing…? So, it’s a machine?”

When Cleon asks that question, the guardian sighs once again.

[Anyway, it looks like you came to find the ruins buried in the mountains. If you have so many questions, let’s go into the ruins. … If you can get in.]

With those words, the guardian’s appearance unilaterally disappeared.

Looking at that, Cleon was blank for a moment.

Geek…

And the body fell forward.

“Huh, Cleon!?”

“I’m sorry… I think it’s dangerous to have holes here and there…”

Uni becomes restless after seeing Cleon lying on the ground.

I can’t move it myself, what should I do!?

At that time I was thinking.

Cleon’s two swords changed shape again and took on human form.

“Move over, get out of the way. We’ll take this guy away.”

As Galatea said that, she picked up Cleon’s shoulder.

“Pupu- The magic sword holy sword train is leaving-“

Caliburn lifted both of Cleon’s legs and passed through the swamp making a chugging sound.

Yuni stared blankly at that strange sight.

“Now, wait a minute, let’s go together!”

I had no choice but to urgently raise my voice and chase after him.