## Chapter 740 – Paladin Kim Kat

“Aaaaaaaargh!!!”
“Kyaaaaaaaargh!!!”
“Neeeeeek!!”

The bandits, still with their heads attached to their necks, screamed and scattered in disarray. They numbered about a dozen at first, but with each blink and breath, a shower of blood erupted, and their heads fell to the ground, orphaned.

—Whoosh!

“Haaaaaak!”
“Geuhaak!”

Karin didn’t even unleash sword energy as she sprinted across the ground, slicing off the heads of those trying to escape. Karin was faster at killing one and chasing after another than they were at scattering.

The whole operation took less than ten seconds.

“Wow.”

It felt like a brief, random happening on the way to a trip, but a professional serial killing had just occurred.

In the blink of an eye, the last robber was dead.

“Ugh, it feels refreshing to do this after so long, you know?”

Karin, looking as refreshed as could be, slashed the air to remove all the blood, sheathed her sword, stretched, and approached me. She had killed them so cleanly that not a single drop of blood was on her body.

“M-Monster! Get out of the village!!!”

I shouted reflexively.

“What nonsense are you spouting? More importantly, you said there’s a mage.”
“I’m going to go catch him now. Wow, sis, you’re a real serial killer. I saw it properly this time.”
“Hey, hey. Killing guys like these doesn’t even count as murder.”
“I think so too. Anyway, you just killed them all in an instant?”

I could kill them all at a similar speed if I went all out, but Karin’s movements were as lively as a pure girl enjoying a spring picnic.

In other words, she slaughtered the bandits as if she were playfully joking around.

“Kyahaha, it’s just killing guys like these.”

Karin chuckled, gently kicking the heads on the ground.

“More importantly, who robs in broad daylight these days? A fragile woman like me might be too scared to sleep.”
“If you’re fragile, then Il-ryong is a dragon.”
“You’re talking nonsense again. Anyway, that mage seems to be the leader of these robber bastards, so go kill him quickly. We have to eliminate any future problems.”
“Okay.”

I should kill that bastard first.

I immediately sprinted towards the place where the mage had shot fire bolts at me. A full-speed sprint, just like when I was tracking Garos.

—Whoosh!

My expanded senses allowed me to clearly recognize the surrounding terrain even while sprinting, and I avoided them all with minimal movement, chasing after the sound of people.

—…!

Turning towards the source of the presence, I soon saw the back of a man wearing a robe. He was running with difficulty, but there was no way a mage like that could escape me.

“Hey, buddy! Stop right there!!! Come here!!!”
“Hu, huff…! S-Save me…!”

—Kwaang!

I stepped down hard, launching my body forward. In that state, —Whoosh! I spread my arms and legs wide, preparing to grab him like the claw of a crane game.

“I’m going to hug you like this!!!”
“Aaaaaaaargh!!!”

After that brief flight, the moment my body touched him, I used my outstretched limbs to hug him tightly.

—Thump!

The impact of the collision sent us rolling across the ground.

“Ugh…!”
“You bastard!”

As soon as we stopped, I stood up, grabbed him by the neck, lifted him up, and asked intensely.

“Hey! Who are you guys? Why are you robbing?!”
“Cough, cough…! P-Please save me…!”
“Why are you asking me to save you, you son of a bitch!!! Why are you giving me a non-answer, why!! Why!!! Why!!! I asked you why you’re robbing!!! I asked, but why the fuck aren’t you answering and just asking me to save you!!!”
“Cu, cough…!”

This fucking bastard!!!

I gripped his neck even tighter.

“Why do these bastards always fail to answer properly when I ask them something, huh!!!! Answer me!! Answer!! Why did you rob!!!”

The pattern of criminals is always the same!!! When you catch them and ask them why, they just repeat “Save me” like a broken record!! They pretend they don’t know until the very end, acting innocent and trying to pull some bullshit because they think admitting their crime will be disadvantageous!!! A fucking skill that only shameless trash with not a single ounce of guilt can display!!!!!

You goddamn bastards!!!!!

These kinds of bastards all deserve the death penalty, you pests!!!

“Why!!! Why!!! Why did you rob, why!!! Answer me!!! I’m asking you the reason right now!!!!!”
“I, I was wrong—”
“—Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!”

Unable to contain my anger, I slammed an Asura Blood Rending Fist into the bastard’s face while still gripping his neck.

—Kwaang!!!!!

With an explosion, his head disappeared without a trace, leaving only his lower jaw. —Flutter, flutter. The tongue remaining in his jaw shyly fluttered, greeting me.

Blood flowed from my fist. Fortunately, the shockwave prevented the blood from splattering on me. The tongue’s greeting was also entirely due to the shockwave.

“Damn it…! I didn’t get the reason after all…!”

—Thud.

I threw away the dead mage’s body and rummaged through his pockets. This bastard didn’t answer me until the end. As expected of a criminal, he deliberately pretended not to know, pretending not to understand until the very end.

But what does the reason for the crime matter, really? I don’t care about this bastard’s circumstances, and I’m not particularly curious about his identity. He just happened to cross my path, so I’ll kill him and take everything he has.

But there wasn’t anything worth money in his pockets.

“You bitch, really.”

I immediately trudged back to the carriage.

“Did Blackie come?”
“Yeah. Winia. Did you come out for a bit?”
“I had to come out with all the commotion. Did these robbers attack?”
“They suddenly attacked.”
“Ugh, these trashy bastards. So you killed them all?”
“I think I killed everyone who wasn’t hiding, including the mage.”
“Good job.”

As I approached, Winia reached out and touched my head.

“Hehehe.”

Then should we move to a good spot and rest for a bit before going?

“Really, just because it’s a remote place, there are so many robbers.”

As I was thinking that, Liz-noona said, looking at the corpses of the robbers with a disgusted expression.

“There are usually a lot of robbers in this world.”
“That’s right. That’s why I used to do it a lot…”
“A lot?”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”

Liz-noona waved her hands as if trying to hide something she already knew. According to Karin, this noona used to be a crazy destroyer too.

“Hehehe, she’s embarrassed again.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

There’s no need to be embarrassed, though.

“Kat, did you find anything useful?”

Claudia asked me, poking the corpses of the robbers with her drawn scimitar. I rummaged through the pockets of the headless corpse lying right in front of me and answered.

“Not at all. These bastards are broke. It seems like we caught them right before they were about to make a killing.”
“Hmph… That’s a shame. To kill them and not have anything to take.”
“Hehehe, that’s right. Ah, this is really frustrating. I can’t stand this.”
“Hehehe, you can do better next time.”
“Of course.”

We wasted time, but there were no gains.

Maybe these bastards were planning to rob us, make a fortune, and then go somewhere else. But their combination was pretty good. A mage and a skilled warrior?

No matter how I looked at it, it would have been better for these bastards to do something other than robbery… Well, actually, robbing and making a killing is quite lucrative. You can earn more money with just one heist than you can by working diligently.

That’s probably why they did it.

I decided not to think about it too much.

“They’re really stupid people. They should think about earning money by working diligently instead of trying to steal from others. That’s why they get annihilated for doing things like this.”

Hilde said, looking down at the corpses and spitting out her words.

“Hilde? Suddenly saying such righteous things?”
“Really, Kat-nim. I’m already a righteous succubus influenced by Fusion Confucianism. From a Fusion Confucian perspective, these people deserve to die! That’s just common sense!”
“Fu, Fusion Confucianism…!”

—Kuhuk!

Tears flowed!

“Hilde…! You were properly considering my teachings…!”
“I remember everything Kat-nim taught me!”

Hilde remembered Fusion Confucianism so well that my heart swelled and I began to feel overwhelmed with joy.

“Tears!!!!”

Then, for some reason, the corpses of the robbers lying here, having lost their heads, began to look like heartwarming objects.

“Anyway, let’s go. Let’s go a little further and rest there.”

I ran my finger across my nose and thought.

Actually, weren’t these robbers like spirits of joy?

Good spirits who fill our minds.

“Ah!”

They were spirits who came to bless our journey to the dungeon!

This feels very good from the start!

* * *

After that, there weren’t any more attacks, and we were able to drive the carriage all the way to our destination.

—Halpen.

Located closest to the dungeon, this city was overflowing with people who had crawled in from all over the kingdom, creating a boom.

There are just so many damn people.

We barely managed to drive the carriage, and we were able to secure a large room by paying an inflated price with extra money. As expected, prices are damn high in places where people gather. You bastards.

Anyway, we unpacked our luggage and rested well for a day before conducting some simple information gathering.

It seems that dungeon exploration is still in full swing. There doesn’t seem to be any particular progress, and the number of people gathering is only increasing.

However, many people who enter never come out, so it seems to be balanced somehow. If you don’t have the skills, you’ll just die after entering.

“Blackie, I heard that catching golems makes the most money? Mages are buying the cores of those golems for a lot of money.”
“Golems? But, well.”

A question.

“Isn’t it a really ancient dungeon? How are the golems still working? Aren’t they usually things that operate for hundreds of years?”
“Absolutely not. That’s why they’re selling for so much.”
“I see.”

Golems… I’m kind of looking forward to it. Golems guarding an ancient dungeon? They must be pretty strong. But more than anything, the fact that they’re still working is the most interesting thing.

“What do you think, Risha?”
“Without a power source, even the best-performing golem cannot move.”
“Then was the power source replenished? Continuously for hundreds of years?”

Or did they remain in a dormant state and start operating when people invaded the dungeon? Since this isn’t scientific but magical, we can only speculate.

“I cannot say for sure, but that is what I think. Wouldn’t something that serves as a power source be sleeping underground? I cannot explain it otherwise.”
“Ooh, as expected of the witch’s knowledge. That’s convincing.”

Hearing it directly from Risha, it seems like that’s right.

Well, figuring this out will also be a gain.

“Then are we all ready? Let’s go.”

With that, we packed all our luggage and headed towards the dungeon. Il-ryong and I-ryong were left at the parking lot with extra money. I booked them for two weeks, which should be enough.

The dungeon wasn’t that far from the city.

It was close enough to walk.

Apparently, no one knew about it until they were digging up the surrounding land for a large-scale civil engineering project.

Modern Korea also finds various artifacts when doing construction, so it seems similar here.

Anyway, as expected, a huge number of people had gathered near the dungeon, and a large tent village had been set up from the entrance.

The shapes are diverse, and the sizes and scales vary greatly. A tent village that clearly shows the differences between those who have and those who don’t, a small-scale version of our society.

Those who look like nobles set up several huge tents, complete with fancy flags and small fences. I don’t know about anything else, but fences seem like overkill, but who would dare to criticize a noble? Even if you have a complaint, you have to shut up.

Ordinary people just pitched tents, and those who had even less made some kind of shitty thing and slept inside.

On top of that, there were peddlers and merchants… Even bastards selling various tools and food had created a commercial district. But those bastards are the better ones.

There will definitely be theft and pickpocketing rampant.

It’s only natural since all sorts of criminal reserves are gathered.

Perhaps the inside of the dungeon… will be even more terrible?

Terrible guys gathered in a terrible place with terrible purposes, so I thought it would definitely be like that.

“Hmph, there are too many people. Will we be able to enter the dungeon?”
“Well, they’re not charging an entrance fee, so we can just go. Let’s go.”