Chapter 128 – The North (12)

The first one to attack was a prisoner with thick white hair. He lunged at me with his arms open, showing off his massive bear-like muscles. He narrowly escaped his embrace and thrust his fist into his side, causing the creature to contort like a doll and ricochet off his bullet.

“Kwaeeeeek!”

With a sound of death, he disappeared into the fog of the snowfield, and another beastman rushed at me. This guy was a wolf with scars all over his body. He charged at me with his head in front of me as if he were going to chew on my head, and two dogs on the other side jumped at me at the same time.

I grabbed the wolf beastman’s head and swung it like a club to shake off the beastman. Suddenly, his center of gravity twisted, and he heard the sound of his neck bones shattering. The guy who was struggling to open his mouth at any moment, his entire body rattled like a doll, staring into the empty space with his unfocused eyes.

“Ah! Kaaang!”

“Uuuuu!”

The beastmen who were confronting each other shrieked and closed the distance a little. I screamed as I randomly wielded the corpse of the wolf-beast I had captured in order to distance them.

“Hey you fucking bastards! Don’t you guys know how to speak?”

They didn’t seem to want to talk in the first place. It was because he was threatening me with an open mouth, ignoring my swear words. One of the guys who was aiming for our backs was hit by Lorena’s sword and went to the underworld. Red marks were stamped in his eyes like paint, and the new snowstorm erased all traces and corpses.

How many times have you fought like that? Sweat poured from my head like rain, and my breathing became rough. In the middle of the snowy field, fighting these guys while maintaining my body temperature, so the energy consumption was no joke.

More than 10 beastmen were still watching us, and Lorena was also sweating and wary of her surroundings. And Alice, her complexion blue, clung to me. She pretended to be sane, her eyelids fluttering as if she were about to pass out.

“Okay, it’s okay. Oh, oh, Dad. Ha, it’s not cold at all.”

“I’ll get it out right away.”

But realistically, there was no way to escape from here. The beastmen surrounded us with hostility, unable to move fast enough to break through the encirclement in this drenching snow.

They were just staring at us. In the white darkness, the beast’s eyes flashed, watching us like a visitor to a slave market. Lorena trembled her hand. He bit her lip and frowned at her.

The sweat was running cold. Lorena, who had gushed her energy all at once, was staggering and enduring her cold. In this snowfield, they didn’t have to fight us any more. Alice couldn’t stop her lips from turning blue, and her whole body was shaking. Lorena contorted her face as she felt the cold seep into her body.

There was nothing wrong with them freezing us to death in this snowy field. Frozen meat is not a special problem in this cold snowfield.

“Ah, ah, ah, Dad. I, I, I, I’m not cold. Because it’s not cold, that, so, that way, you don’t have to say it, because I’m sorry, that…”

Alice’s condition was not normal. We’ve been hanging around in the cold for too long. Lorena and Alice were not beasts, but were about to freeze to death in the cold.

If I were alone, I could run away. Swearing vengeance, growing stronger, I might be able to honor the deaths of my daughter and Lorena.

By the way, if I break the siege and escape by myself, so what will I be left with if Alice and Lorena die?

Unpleasant memories.

The regret that will go on for the rest of my life that I lost because I was powerless.

It was clear that only the stimulating sadness that would appear in a popular drama would be waiting for me. Alice’s room is empty, and the law office will give her a funeral. At the splendid funeral I will never receive in my life, I will say sorry to Isabel.

I imagined Isabel’s crying face. She imagined Alice lying in a glass coffin. Alice lying down as if sleeping.

With the cry of the beast, I return to reality.

Alice dozes off because her eyelids are heavy, and Lorena seems unable to respond properly due to her stiff body. Reality was as miserable as an imaginary funeral.

Ah.

“Fuck you guys.”

I raised both arms up.

“You said that the boss is a psychopath who is obsessed with men?”

The guys flinched. As if wondering how to respond to that statement, their eyes turned to one place. The biggest beast among them nodded reluctantly. He had the appearance of a snow leopard, and his thick neck was like a log, so it seemed that he would not die even if he was hit by a cannon. I waved my hands and said.

“As long as you guarantee the safety of the two women here, you guys will follow.”

Alice couldn’t hear me properly. But even so, he held onto the hem of my clothes as if he couldn’t let me go. Lorena shook her head and said.

“Evan, you can fight. Because it’s okay…”

“Hey, who am I?”

Lorena looked at me again. Those eyes looking at me with an anxious face gave me a feeling similar to Isabelle’s. I knew all too well what emotions those teary eyes contained and how to get rid of them.

“A devil as great as me, what will happen to them? You’re taking good care of yourself. We will return proudly.”

The snow leopard beastman opened his mouth.

“These women are coming too. If you go from here to the village, you will freeze to death. Our nest is closer, so I will warm up and treat you there.”

I said with a smile.

“Fuck, did you know how to speak Korean?”

“Burn it.”

Following the instructions of the snow leopard, the beasts approached. A furry beastman carried Alice on his back, and Alice burrowed into her fur like her kitten, trying to comfort her. Lorena looked at the beastmen with a worried face and reluctantly climbed onto their back, and I was put on the snow leopard beastman’s back.

They rode through the woods as fast as dogsleds, as they drove us through a blizzard. It seemed impossible to make out the topography of this forest in the fleeting shadows. All I could tell was that their lair was deep in the forest, and that each one was a formidable warrior.

The wind was cold against my face. And, I was really scared because I didn’t know what would happen in the future. I muttered in a low voice so that the snow leopard couldn’t hear it.

“Fuck, it would just bounce.”

******

There were holes in the bedrock of the winter mountain, like beehives. The hole in the mana and the burning bonfire gave me the illusion that hundreds of animals were looking at me. The beastmen standing guard showed their teeth when they saw me riding on the back of a snow leopard, and I ignored them.

Alice, who was being picked up by a hairy prisoner, was moved to the warmest seat as soon as she arrived in the village, and female beastmen came over and began to check on her condition. Lorena also had her weapons confiscated, but she was not handcuffed or shackled as if to ensure her safety.

I got off the back of the snow leopard, and the snow leopard warmed up and said,

“If you don’t resist, you won’t bully. Those two women are your hostages. Be smart and don’t be rude. Especially, what I said in the snowy field earlier… You must not use the expression in front of our boss.”

I didn’t want to provoke them. Alice and Lorena were in a state where resistance was almost impossible. If they made up their minds to do it, the two of them could have been cooked for my breakfast the next day. After making sure they were both safe, I followed him deeper.

The village of prisoners was a place that had everything it needed. There were tanners who made leather into clothes, and there were also merchants who sold meat. There were also vendors selling human goods, but most of them didn’t look so good.

I looked around and asked.

“Who are you dealing with?”

The snow leopard replied.

“Originally, they made deals with humans who came to this forest to hunt. They bring us useful things, and we give them meat or hides. It was possible because the previous boss was from the north here.”

“Until the old boss?”

“Now the boss is from the Demon Realm. He came over from the Demon Realm, killed our boss, and took the position of boss. Now the boss rapes or kills all humans who enter the forest. These days, they even go outside the forest to hunt people. It is a coincidence that you got caught.”

“Right.”

It meant that they didn’t attack us from the beginning. Wouldn’t this have happened if we had left a day later? Anyway, I thought it was a relief that only Lorena and Alice weren’t sent away.

The snow leopard told me

“You can go inside here. Devil.”

There was a huge barracks in front of me. Laughter spread through the barracks, and the sweet smell of alcohol wafted out.

I asked the snow leopard.

“Are you satisfied with your life now?”

The snow leopard did not answer. I asked him again.

“There must be a desire to live like in the past, but don’t beastmen have something to be proud of?”

“Go in quickly. And, don’t resist in vain. All those who resist become like that.”

The snow leopard stretched out a finger and pointed at the barbed wire. There were people who were tied up with leashes. I looked up and looked at the name attached to the barricade, and it was written like this.

[Room of Reflection]

“Town! Oops! Town!”

The gagged man shook his head violently at me. Blond hair and tanned skin. I knew that man

“Fuck, are you Orlando?”

“Oops! Town! Ugh! Town!”

Orlando nodded frantically and shouted. The snow leopard asked me.

“Do you know someone?”

“No, I don’t know.”

I said that and went into the barracks. Behind me, Orlando’s screams continued to echo.

“Ugh! Ugh!”

Fuck.