Chapter 174 – Chapter 18

Returning to the cabin, Akina smashed all the food and items needed for escape into the 0-dimensional warehouse.

-What’s wrong with a human named Pejeten Charos?-

Artemis asked about Pejeten Charos, who made Akina run away like this.

“A man like a mercenary, in a good or bad way.”
– So, does he have any reason to run away? If you’re a mercenary, there’s no reason to attack unless there’s even a bounty on Akina-sama’s head.

There was no reason for mercenaries to use their strength to do something that did not cost money.

“The problem is that we have reached Origin.”
-Please explain in detail.-

Until now, there have been many people who have reached the stage of Origin, but the strong ones who have reached Ascension are the first emperor who created the Heint Empire in the East Continent and the first Emperor Dimenes in the West Continent.

The two ascenders showed their strength enough to tear the land of this world, which used to be a huge continent, into eastern and western continents.

The problem started there.

Origin masters at the time who felt the formidable power of the Ascendant began to kill someone other than themselves before they reached the Ascension level.

And that trend has continued to this day, and an unwritten rule has settled down that if a master of Origin temporarily loses power or tries to reach the level of Ascension, everyone joins forces to kill.

Of course, this unwritten law is a secret that only a few people know.

-In other words, the idea is that if I can’t become an Ascendant, you shouldn’t either. It’s childish, but you can clearly feel human desire.-
“It’s embarrassing, but it’s true.”

The reason Akina is trying to run away is because he lost his power.

“But, as a mercenary, is there any reason to fight for such an unwritten rule? It’s not even money?”
“The masters of Origin are putting bounties on each other. If I carry my head, the bounty will be given to those who have reached the level of other Origins, so beating my head is good enough.”

Answering Kai Sent’s question, Akina told her of the bounty she had placed on her neck.

An amount that can be maintained for several years by expanding the size of Wolf’s mercenary corps by 10,000 units.

With that amount, it wouldn’t be strange if Pejeten’s eyes turned upside down.

“I’m sorry. If I recovered my mana, I wouldn’t have to run away like this…”
“Don’t say that. Why is Akina sorry? She never apologizes for that again.”
“…Yes, Mr. West.”

Despite being so young, Akina, who relied on herself and tried to stand up on her own without relying on herself, explained her own plan.

“After hiding our traces as much as possible, we have to believe in the dimensional warehouse and endure it from a distance. It induces Pejeton’s misjudgment.”
“Yeah. That would be the best. Even if it’s a week away, if you’re a master of Origin, you’ll come back in half a day.”
“And…”

She thought of something and opened her mouth.

“Sir, I have something to say for your safety.”
“No.”
“Yes? I know what to say…”
“I’m talking about telling me to hide here. I’ll do the dangerous thing myself.”
“!!”

Akina was taken aback by Kai Sent’s ability to pierce her own heart.
But she made up her mind and tried to explain why she needed to be here.

“Pajeton is…”
“No! I don’t want my girl taken away from me again!”

Kaicent, who had been traumatized by breaking up with Dang Seol-yeong due to the malice of others, strongly refuted when he was in a similar situation.

Pounding!

Akina almost shed tears at the sight of Kaicent shouting, ‘I will not take my woman away’, knowing that this was not the case, but at the happiness of her heart pounding.

“But the opponent…”
“I don’t like it! Do you think I’ll be happy if I live alone like that!?”

Pushed by the momentum of her boy, who came only at her own waist level, she was moved by her willingness to risk her own death for him.

Because of her temporary sexual urge, she does not want to hug her, but wants to be with her in life and death.

However, if Pejatten, who is located at the bottom of Origin, attacks, she cannot hold out for more than one minute in a situation where she cannot use mana.

“Kreuk. Kreurre.”

Caicent groaned and breathed heavily as if he was too excited.

Realizing that she couldn’t be persuaded by the intense beast’s eyes staring at her, she crouched down to meet Kai Sent’s eye level.

“Okay. Promise me one thing instead.”
“What?”
“If things go wrong and I die, run away right here.”
“That!”
“I’m not saying to just run away. If you want to take revenge, do it after you’ve recovered. If you rush at me in anger at my death, you’ll only become my companion on the road, okay?”
“…”

Kaicent looked at Akina with complicated eyes.

“If you don’t accept this promise, I will use my strength to confine you to this place.”
– I agree with you there. Fighting the masters of Origin as they are is suicidal.-

When Artemis also agreed with Akina’s opinion, Kai Sent, who was mumbling about wanting to say something about her, opened her mouth a beat late.

“…Okay. But I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen.”

Akina walked out of her dimensional warehouse with a smile of relief at the sight of Kai Sent, who had made her promise.

Seeing the traces of the hut where all traces of their lives had disappeared, she couldn’t hide her bitter heart.

Although her life was narrow and humble, her life in this place was the happiest of her own life.

“It’s just the location that’s different.”
“Western?”
“What matters more than the place is what we do together. I think so.”
“…Yes.”

Kaicent reacts like an adult to the point that it’s hard to think of him as a child younger than his daughters.

Rather, it is the adult himself who has to lead and reassure them, but when he talks, he always becomes comforted and relieved.

‘But from here I have to wake up.’

As Akina touched the cold air, she devised a plan to evade Pezeton with her cold reason.

What she chooses is to leave her own mark on purpose.

“Are you deliberately misleading?”
“Yes. It leaves a clear trace as if it were tempting you, but when you follow it and track it, the trace suddenly disappears? Your head will be confused.”

When she finds an occasional winter fruit, she picks it up to last a while in the dimensional warehouse.

“The person I missed is a low-ranking knight, so even if I go back to full strength, it will take several hours.
“Ugh!!”

At that time, the faces of the two people were distorted as they felt a huge energy running at a tremendous speed.

It’s not that the feelings of the two have widened.
A huge presence that radiates without even thinking about hiding its own energy.
The presence was running at a tremendous speed.

“Ahhh~ This was Count Akina for real~?”

Unexpectedly, as if she had been taken care of, a middle-aged woman with soft hair and a relaxed smile appeared in front of Akina with a languid voice that showed no sense of tension.

He looked like a mercenary, armed with armor, gloves, and boots that seemed to be made from the hide of a peculiar monster, and carrying numerous spare weapons.

Another unusual thing is that he came with Denny, a knight who succeeded in escaping, on his side.

“Pezeton…How…?”
“I was lucky. I was moving around a village that was recently raided to subdue this species. But then, some knight, a braggart, said that there is a species that calls itself Akina?”
“Ugh!”

Pezeton slammed Denny in the right place and opened his mouth again.

“I happened to have a teleport scroll for emergency escape, so I was able to get there quickly by borrowing this guy’s memory. My employers will say shit, but if I can get your haircut, that’s nothing.”
“…”
“If you miss such a low-level article, you must have really weakened, so if you take care of it quickly and go back, they won’t be able to say it’s a breach of contract.”

Akina, who had never imagined it would come so soon, forced her poker face to collapse desperately.

She quickly turned her head as she stifled remorse for not being able to handle Denny’s bizarre temper.

‘It will take at least 30 minutes to open the dimensional warehouse. What should I do?’

It takes 1 hour to open the dimensional warehouse once with a belt that has not yet been fully repaired.

Thinking she had plenty of time, she put household items and food from the cabin into the dimensional warehouse, never expecting to be caught in 30 minutes.

‘I have to buy time somehow.’

“Pajeton. I…”
“Oh, stop.”

Akina tried to say something, but Pezetten drew her sword from the scabbard at her waist.

“I’m not here to talk, I’m here to work. With a bounty on your head, I can raise my level a few levels.”

Then, her relaxed smile turned into a piercing gaze and posed.

“I don’t intend to miss this luck like an idiot. It’s okay to be mean. It’s actually a mean attack aimed at a weak spot.”

While he was delighted with this good fortune, he had no intention of teasing or playing with Akina, who had lost her power, and was full of thoughts of killing her at once.

I’d rather have an arrogant personality.
If you’d rather be cruel.

He would have taken advantage of that personality to gain time somehow, but Pejeton was a cold-hearted person who only took care of what he had to do.

“If you don’t want to lose the dignity you reached at the end of Origin, just stick your head out. I don’t mean to insult you, so I’ll just use it as proof to get the bounty and send it back to my family.”

In addition, unlike the violent mercenaries who live only for one day, they have their own honor.

‘The more dangerous this kind of person is.’

Kaicent felt that Pezeton’s personality was more dangerous than his ability.

Calmness, a sense of value that has its own honor while taking practical benefits.
The seriousness of not being vigilant even in a situation where you can relax.
A person who has his own distinct ego is difficult to shake his emotions easily.

On top of that, since he must have accumulated a lot of experience as a mercenary, he would regain his composure in an instant, even if he embarrassed him somehow.

“I cannot die like this.”
“Are you going to fight under these circumstances?”

Quaaaaa!

“Then I will treat you with respect as well.”
“Keugh…!”

Pezeton was not vigilant and spread all his momentum as Origin.

The sword, which seemed to be a magical weapon, began to flow with a sharp sword river that could cut through anything.

‘I can’t die! I finally found happiness as a woman! I want to enjoy this happiness more!’

Akina, who had a strong will to never give up, focused all her nerves as she stanced.

“Goes.”

Hung!

Pezeton’s posture disappeared, and dust and fallen leaves spread around the place where he was.

Kagak!

“Ugh!”

At the sound of something being cut, Akina desperately leaps to the side, erecting a spear pole.

As Pezetten appeared behind her, her spear split in half and her side cracked open, her blood gushing out.

“Hmm. I was thinking of splitting them up at once. Some of them have the body of Origin, but the ones with good spears are bigger.”

Pejeton was amazed that he had finished his attack to the point of injury, but showed a relaxed appearance due to the overwhelming power difference.

‘That’s right. If it wasn’t for the spear Artemis made for me, my body would have been split in half from this blow.’

“Akina!”
“Hey, wait!”

Then, from his point of view, the wolf Akina seemed to have tamed called her name and used her divine power to heal her injuries.

Akina hurriedly tried to stop her, but the wound on her side disappeared in an instant as a divine light hovered over her body.

“Divine power?”

It’s amazing that wolves can speak human language, but even divine power?

“The loot has increased unexpectedly. But that’s okay.”
“You think you’re going to leave it like that!”
“We have to make it so.”

Pezeton moved again and charged Akina to death.
This time, aiming for the neck, not the body.

Kaaang!

“Hmm?”

As Akina had lost her strength, he tried to decapitate her with a quick monotonous attack, his eyebrows twitching at the unexpected turn of events.

It was monotonous, but Akina took her own speed.

‘Divine power. Is it body strengthening?’

Thanks to Kaicent giving Akina all sorts of strengthening blessings, some resistance is possible.

“Haaaaagh!”

Akina received a blessing from her spear, which was split in half, and was only cut in half, allowing her opponent to attack her.

As she desperately counterattacked by swinging the severed spearhead she was holding in her opposite hand, Pezetten frowned and distanced herself from him.

“Hook! Whoop! Hook!”

‘What? Was Count Akina originally this stubborn?’

When I met her once before, I thought she was an aristocratic nobleman who pursued the dignity and honor of a nobleman.

But what about Akina now?
With her strong will to survive somehow, she desperately resists and tries to carry on with her miserable life.

‘Did I see it wrong?’

Surely, if it was the Akina he knew, she would neatly defend her honor rather than struggling in an ugly way.

His prediction was correct.

Normally, she would have easily killed herself, but now that she has known her love and happiness as a woman, she is full of will to survive even if she rolls in the shit.

“Whoa. Still, I tried to kill it as cleanly as possible for your honor.”

In order to keep Akina’s corpse clean for returning to the family, he purposely simplified her attacks with restrained power, putting more mana into her sword.

Kwaaaaah—-!

Then, his sword, which seemed to be able to cut anything until just now, began to release momentum that could destroy anything.

“If dying in pain is your wish, I will do as you wish.”

Even if Akina is fine, if she takes it with her bare body, a dangerous momentum will spread.

‘Die.’

Until now, Pezeton, as he himself said, continued monotonous attacks to tidy up Akina’s corpse.

But now he tries to attack Akina with all her might, assuming Akina is in her normal state.

Kaicent felt his overwhelming energy and recognized that Akina would die at this rate.

-Master. Akina gave me a wink to run away.-

Artemis, who had been quiet until now so as not to break her concentration, delivered Akina’s last wish.

‘You want me to run away like this? Also!?’

If he runs away from here, he will lose his woman twice.
In the same way too.

Kaicent, whose pain at that time was left as a trauma, felt fear, shame, and anger that he had to feel the same pain as then, and contemplated something bubbling inside his body.

-For a moment! Master! That’s not okay! I’m still in a state of not recovering, but I’m going to pull out the birth protector!-
‘Shut up!’

When Kaicent’s Danjeon began to fill up instead of his inner energy by forcibly extracting his life force, Artemis hurriedly stopped him, but he couldn’t overcome Kaicent’s will.

“Kaooooo!!”
“Ugh!?”
“Oooh!”

Pezeton and Akina, who suddenly felt great power from Kaisent, were startled.

This is because Kaicent, who was the size of an ordinary wolf, became bigger than a bear and burst into energy that surprised even the masters of Origin.