Chapter 98 – Night of the Hounds (2)

“Since you said you were from your academy, do you know the monster identification code?”

“Yes? Oh, I know, but… I don’t use it often in practice.”

Except for a few exceptional monsters, identification codes are attached instead of names depending on the series. However, most Awakeners are not from the academy, so they are not used in practice.

The classification system also has many exceptions, and in addition to that, there are so many types, and crucially, how can a normal awakened person who has not received proper military education know the code?

“But there are exceptions. The country that occupied this continent was a paradise for bugs in the past, and there were so many different kinds of bugs.”

“What do you mean…?”

“It means that the number and types are not small enough to name each one. Probably to the point where it’s hard to see those in the A-6 series who aren’t here.”

Devil, Animal, Human, Phenomenon, Terrain, Plant.

Although there are exceptions, monsters are basically classified into these six categories, and various items branch out under them. A stands for beasts, 6 of which are arthropods. From there, a really complex codename must follow, but this orc didn’t say it. So in one word…

“So you’re saying there’s a lot of fucking bugs out there?”

Lee Kang-woo opened his mouth with an expression asking if what I heard was true, pointing to the traces of the past megacities covered with all kinds of vegetation.

I noticed it only now, but they are in the outskirts of the city, away from the center. Trees and bushes packed so tightly that nothing could be seen inside the center, and huge vines connecting between buildings. In addition, the unwanted information that such an enormous amount of monsters exist in there made everyone in this place tremble.

“That’s right, the mantis you’re facing is just some scouting party. The real legion will gather inside, waiting for you to come in.”

“…If you want to kill us, then you do. Why are you making the job so difficult…?”

At that time, quietly watching the conversation between Lee Kang-woo and the orc, Kang Seung-hoon, the former head of the Fire Dragon Guild, opened his mouth.

All of them were almost killed by a single reconnaissance party that was not even a proper force. No, if this orc hadn’t intervened, surely more than half would have died. But crawling into the stronghold of their true bug army.

Unless you have truly overwhelming power, it is not the power of one individual that shakes the game of war. In other words, it is an issue that is decided at the national level, such as information, supplies, troops, geographical features, and weather.

There is no known information about Australia’s devastated and abandoned land, let alone troops. Material? There is no way to determine whether any of the grass growing there is poisonous or not, and even the water source is unreliable. The humid weather and tangled vines and trees will give overwhelming buffs to the bug monsters and debuffs to the personnel here.

I can imagine. A situation where everything falls into prey before even discovering whether it is Arcasha or something that rules that place. I mean the imagination of dying slowly without anyone noticing, leaving no corpse behind, together with close friends who slowly die while being gutted alive.

“Yu-wen…Does he want to give us such misery…? Minkyung’s mistake… Is that much of a mistake…?”

He didn’t want to hurt his precious junior, who would tremble at the mere mention of his name. I didn’t want to relive the trauma of just one day ago to the guy who would spend the rest of my life deeply atone for it, but I couldn’t help it. Because I had to know what the hell Yu-Won wanted.

“You are mistaken.”

However, in the heavy atmosphere, Elteron sneered as if he thought that your troubles were unreasonable.

“He probably forgot about you. Maybe he’ll remember, “Ah, there were guys like that,” By the time he goes and reports later.”

“Then what do you mean? If you’re going to use us as troops later, if you’re training us by using someone like you, then it’s only natural that you’re trying to extract some benefit from us, right?”

“So what is the conclusion?”

“What I am saying is contradictory.”

If you run a guild, you will naturally find out. If you invested, it is natural to recoup that profit. He couldn’t understand at all why they were willing to drive themselves to death, even though it was only natural to train them with an extraordinary ranker like Elteron.

“He doesn’t want soldiers. He doesn’t even want guild members.”

“Then…”
“A hunting dog, if it’s the owner’s order, it means you want a beast that bites opponents without covering its front, and a dagger that can be used when needed. And it is only natural that the hounds that have eaten the seeds go into the cauldron.”

They don’t need hounds to take care of them. What Elteron thought, what Yuchun needed was a bastard who would bleed even if he was let loose on his limbs and return home with food even if his legs were crippled.

“How do you know that…?”
“Because I am like that too.”
“What…?”
“No, I guess you could say it’s worse. Didn’t you guys even put a slave seal on it?”

Of course, even if that wasn’t the case, I was thinking of following Yuchun. If what he said when he was imprisoned a month ago is true… The sweet devil’s offer to make it come true by reciting his own wish added to it, if the man who has the ability to make it come true really does, then he’s already done everything. Because I was willing to sacrifice this life I lost.

“Yeah…Then I understand. But isn’t there one more thing left to do?”

“Something?”

“What is the most important thing to a hound? Loyalty. Do you really think we’ll be loyal to him? No, even if he were loyal, would he have to believe it?”

They say they have a justification and a reason, but even so, the opponent is the one who dropped them to hell. The core of the heart, which cannot be rationally judged, was not something that could be easily resolved.

“You have an undeserved delusion of loyalty. But that’s not such a big deal.”

Elteron, a knight who devoted his faith to the nation and the imperial family, knew how powerful faith was, but at the same time, he knew that there were many things that could replace it to the present self who looked at it with a more dry gaze. .

“After all, a dog is loyal to its owner who feeds it well.”

“…You mean to buy it with money…?”

“I am not giving it to you. Do your families still exist in Korea?”

There was no one here who was an orphan like Yoo Kyung-ha in the first place. Families connected by blood were still living in Korea.

“They will enjoy the best welfare. In the name of your dispatch.”

Balto would take care of everything, food, clothing, and shelter, and if there was an awakened person in the family, if they wanted to enter the academy, they could have made it into a special case. Even if it wasn’t that, if you wanted to get the education you wanted, you could get into any university.

Even if the guardian contract guild does not intervene in domestic politics, that is just a stated issue. Even Dragonia is intervening secretly while supporting the US. In such a situation, even if Balto enjoys such evil, there is no one in Korea who can open his mouth recklessly.

However, even though they were promised the best welfare that no one in Korea would receive, their expressions darkened even more as they grasped the inner meaning of it.

“…Threats…?”

“Of course, with that too. But if you set yourself up as wild dogs in the dark, your whole family will be able to live as much as they want.”

“Well, I see. I will gladly accept the situation.”

“…Compared to asking this and that, you’re more likely to understand than I thought?”

“What can I do?”

Kang Seung-hun smiled, looked at his colleagues around him, and turned his head in satisfaction when he saw the faces of everyone accepting their situation.

“No matter how weak I am, I have felt the harshness of the world of the Awoken firsthand. And that overcoming the approaching crisis is also at each person’s own discretion.”

“Ohh? Your expression has changed. Earlier, he looked like a prisoner climbing the scaffold. What kind of change of heart is that?”

“Because I was convinced by your words.”
“What?”
“If we really judged ourselves as tools that would easily be thrown away, why would we need to talk at this length? I would have just kicked him in the ass.”

The Orc Knight in front of me never seemed to have a talkative personality. Nevertheless, he judged that his sincere attitude in answering annoying questions meant that he acknowledged the other person to some extent.

Based on previous fights, it was judged to be useful power. If so, I wouldn’t just throw it in on the way to die, so why did they exchange conversations as if they were wasting time? Why didn’t the ranker I was with still show up? At the end, one assumption emerges.

“The ranker who was with you has worked hard. Please clear the way for guys like us.”

Whether it’s working on refining that fixed hell into a rough area where you can return alive if you wake up, or reducing the number of monsters that are too many to handle.

“It’s quite right.”
“…It’s too much praise. Could you please refrain from approaching me like this? I feel like my heart is about to drop.”

At that time, I was startled when I heard a beautiful voice like a oriole from the side, but I turned my head after deciding that it was an ally based on Elteron’s quiet appearance and his voice that I had heard once.

There, Karen, a beautiful woman with gray hair and bright yellow pupils like a beast, was wrapped in her arms, all covered in blood.

“But I’m not qualified.”
“In what sense…”
“It means that you don’t have the value that a manpower like me can get by doing this kind of labor.”

They were quick to notice, but in Karen’s eyes, their qualities, talents, and mental strength were failing points.

“But he entrusted this job to you, not me. And, unlike me, senior judged that you guys were useful.”
“…Should I say thank you for praising me…?”

“It is not a compliment. The one I respect is the senior, not you. In other words, if I considered you unreliable.”

“Kuh-!”

The rough and violent bright yellow flesh that flowed from Karen’s body, similar to that of a beast of prey, wrapped around the necks of Kang Seung-hun and his party and began to growl like a beast, raising her claws. Went.

“You mean I would have killed you myself. Understand?”

If he hadn’t respected El Theron as a warrior, he would have concluded that Yuchun’s hound was infinitely insufficient, and would have returned after confirming her death.

“Karen, go there.”

As her magical power flowing from her fingertips of El Theron scattered her own life force that was oppressing Kang Seung-hun and the others, Karen glared at him.

“It is the same with seniors. Knowing the value of what he gave, he shouldn’t have passed the first test so easily.”

“The size has to go up anyway. It wouldn’t hurt to take this opportunity to make a training manual in advance.”

“But…”

“There, the skills of the guys are not that low. This is my judgment as a former article.”

“…The responsibility should be taken by the senior. I… Am afraid of him.”

She still couldn’t forget. The time when a mass of power in the shape of a mighty ruin swept through him. His emotionless golden eyes, as if looking down at an insect.

Just by thinking about it, she felt the fear that her lower abdomen would unleash, but she was too embarrassed to collapse in a place like this, so she gritting her teeth and driving the memory of her out of her head.

“If there is a problem, I will take the blame. So why don’t you release it soon? Karen.”

“…I really don’t know.”

She sighed and took out her six wooden boxes from her bosom, set them down on the floor, and quickly left. The fear imprinted on her psyche beyond her memory could not be solved by simply expelling it from her head. No, as long as she didn’t kill Yuchun with her own hands, she would be with her forever. And considering the power beyond Sangri… Until the day she dies, she won’t be able to escape his grasp.

But… More urgent than that was to solve the paroxysmal physiological activity.

‘Chi… How did Karen Osten get to this point…’

Feeling her shame and embarrassment at the fact that the honor of her High House was running because she couldn’t hold back her pee, she ran like mad with her face red.

“Um…It’s still the same.”

“Heh…Heh…Why did he suddenly…”

“You don’t have to know.”

I can’t carelessly talk about her shame as she values ​​her honor as a warrior. He didn’t know what reason she ran out, but at her thought that this was an insult to her, he shook her head and pointed at her wooden box.

“Each of you, eat one.”

“What is that?”

“It is precious. As Karen said, it is an infinitely precious thing for you now.”

Elixir. It was not the highest grade, but a low-end type, but it was an elixir that could be treated at least intermediate level in the central world as it came out of Kai’an’s assets. And in the central world, the intermediate elixir was like saying that it was something that was difficult to find on Earth.

“After eating, have a breakfast for luck here. I’ll look after the escort myself.”

“I think the treatment is better than I thought for a bastard who is released…?”

“I have no intention of pampering you, so don’t get me wrong. This is also a test. Karen said they cleaned it up, but that place is not an easy place where you guys can come back alive.”

To fully absorb the opportunity. It is also an ability. A filthy life flowing from the forest. According to his calculations, if even one of these people cannot properly absorb the elixir, it will be very difficult to survive.

“Only half a day from now. I’ll give you half a day to eat and rest. I will put you to death right after that. How much…”

“So you’re saying that eating this will make you stronger?”
“Min Kyung-ah!”
“Ohhh… The most stupid one has finally come to his senses.”

At that time, Min-kyung Kim, who was still sitting quietly, stood up, picked up her wooden box, and stared at him with her bloodshot eyes. El Theron grinned.

I don’t know if it was miasma or guilt that made me wake up from self-reproach, but it wasn’t bad. A person with such a mind will grow up quickly even if he is not the degree.

“So you can be strong? Eat this.”

“Yeah, that’s because it’s a miracle drug you’ve never encountered before.”

“That’s all right.”

As soon as Minkyung Kim heard that, she opened her wooden box. What was inside was a small medicine, and the smell of strong herbal medicine came out. Remembering the saying that if the elixir is in contact with the outside air for a long time, her energy is dissipated, so she ignored her colleagues who were shouting behind her, put it in her mouth and sat cross-legged.

She held her breath and grinded her mouth as if she would not leave even a single bit of her pain that her bitter taste and mighty mana pierced her mana circuit.

‘I’ll…Save them all.’

Because of my sins, my precious comrades fell to the ground. At this rate, I’m sure one of us will die, and it’s all our own fault.

‘I’m going to send them all alive without missing a single one…’

She had no intention of burying the bodies of her comrades in a foreign country like this. No, I won’t let anyone die even if Yu-Won later takes on a hellish mission under that terrifying man.

Such a will to kill gradually degenerates into madness and tenacity.

‘Even if it takes my limbs, or even my life, I’ll save them…!’

She began to lead Min-kyung Kim, who exudes red-hot speculation, to a different fate, surpassing her mental strength that had reached its limit.