Chapter 284
That night.
At the entrance of the Haldun Mountains.
The rhythmic sound of horse hooves echoed through a narrow path. Five carriages were moving in a line.
Some men were riding on top of the carriages, while others rode horses alongside them, escorting the convoy. What they all had in common was that every one of them had a weapon in hand.
Especially the fluttering red flags atop the carriages—marked with the emblem of a dagger embedded in a shield—were the unmistakable symbol of the feared ‘Sentinel’ gang, notorious enough to silence even crying children.
And inside one of the carriages—
Spacious and luxurious enough to fit five people comfortably, a young girl sat silently, staring emotionlessly out the window.
She was the very girl both Efnelle and Keyzen were desperately searching for—Sasha.
“Ha ha ha! So in the end, that woman—!”
“Ugh, totally lost my appetite!”
Crude jokes and foul language erupted from all around. The girl didn’t understand a word of it.
More than that, who were these adults?
What was going to happen to her now?
Where were they taking her?
The adults told her nothing.
“Hey, brat.”
Then, a gang member sitting to her right spoke in a threatening tone.
“Look straight ahead. Don’t even think about running.”
“……”
Sasha lowered her head deeply.
Two men sat on either side of her, two more in the front, with more men trailing behind on horses.
Just as the man said, it was an overwhelmingly strict guard setup that crushed even the thought of escape.
“But boss,”
One gang member tilted his head and spoke to the front seat.
“Aren’t we overdoing it? It’s just one kid.”
“You don’t know anything.”
The man with slicked-back white hair sitting in the front replied. With deep wrinkles carved into his brow, he had the stubborn look of a hardened veteran.
“There are monsters crawling all over these mountains, and more importantly, the client said there could be an ambush.”
At that, the gang member scoffed.
“Unless some lunatics take an arrow to the head, who the hell would dare attack us? Everyone around here knows the reputation of Sentinel.”
“I still don’t feel safe with this many men.”
The man, referred to as boss, glanced behind him.
“And clean that up while you’re at it.”
“Tch, what a pain.”
By then, dried leaves and twigs were scattered all around Sasha’s seat.
“Damn brat, stop shedding this stuff already. No matter how many times I clean, it never ends.”
The gang member grumbled as he picked up the fallen leaves and tossed them out the window.
Sasha possessed a special power.
A natural-born ability possessed only by a rare few on this continent, neither black magic, nor holy magic, nor pure magic, but an unclassified supernatural power.
“This is just creepy.”
One twig was sticking out awkwardly from her wide forehead.
The gang member irritably grabbed it and snapped it with a crack! Sasha let out a small cry, covering her forehead with her tiny hand.
“What kind of person even is this kid?”
“Heh, that’s why the people in her village treated her like a freak. They were practically celebrating when we came to take her away.”
“Can’t blame them.”
Hearing that, Sasha’s eyes welled up with tears.
“Wh-What the—?!”
“What the hell?!”
Branches began sprouting from her body, stretching out and even shattering the window glass as they reached outward.
Fresh buds appeared on the branches, and those buds quickly turned into leaves that rained down like a storm.
“What the hell is this?!”
“Don’t provoke the brat!”
The white-haired boss shouted, then climbed into the back seat where Sasha was.
“You all shut your damn mouths. You’re not helping.”
Click.
He pulled a syringe-like item from his belt pouch and jabbed it into her arm.
It was a sedative, provided by the client specifically for capturing Sasha.
Once the sedative took effect, the rapidly growing branches and pouring leaves finally stopped.
“Whoa—damn, she’s a real monster.”
The white-haired boss smacked the gang member who made that comment with a loud thwack!
“That’s the second time I told you to shut it. Clean up the mess.”
“Can I switch seats with someone? This spot is hell, seriously!”
The gang members sitting beside Sasha grumbled as they continued to throw leaves out of the window.
The boss returned to the front seat and leaned back.
‘The slope’s getting steeper. We must be close.’
If this job succeeded, he’d be rolling in money. Enough to live comfortably for the rest of his life.
But based on his experience, jobs that paid this much for something so minor always had a reason.
Until the client handed over the gold pouch, he couldn’t afford to let his guard down.
Neighhhh—!
Suddenly, the neighing of horses rang out. The carriages jolted and began to slow.
“What’s going on?!”
Sensing something ominous, the boss jumped out of the carriage. The lead horses were panicking in fear.
Soon, the terror seemed to spread to the other horses—hooves stomped, and the air was filled with frenzied snorting and thrashing.
“B-Boss! Look—!”
A gang member pointed ahead, trembling.
From the dark forest, something white was slowly approaching.
The gang members, pale-faced, screamed.
“U-Undead!!”
“Everyone, battle stations!”
Clack-clack!
Clack!
Skeletons, each wielding a weapon, emerged from the shadows. The sight was horrifying enough to take one’s breath away.
“Wh-Why the hell are there undead here?!”
The white-haired boss scowled. That wasn’t a natural undead, for sure.
“Be on guard! necromancers!”
“Huh?!”
Just then—
A small silhouette soared through the night sky.
A girl with flowing lavender hair and crimson eyes, silhouetted against the blood-red full moon behind her.
Her hands came crashing down.
<Full Bloom>
Fwoooosh!
Like a beast descending from the sky, the girl landed on the carriage and swung both arms downward. A crimson wave of blood, over six meters tall, exploded outward, obliterating the carriage into countless shards.
“Uwaaaah!”
“Gah!”
The gang members inside the carriage were swept away by the wave of blood. Sasha, caught in the center, widened her eyes in shock.
Of course, not a single scratch was on her. The wave had bloomed with her at its center.
Step.
The girl landed softly and approached Sasha, pulling her into a tight embrace.
“You were scared all alone, weren’t you?”
“……”
“It’s okay now.”
She was a stranger. But even so, Sasha thought—
Her voice felt indescribably warm.
“To the carriages!”
The gang members who saw this unsheathed their swords and charged.
“They’re after the brat!”
“Block them!”
Thud—!
As the gang members rushed forward, a towering wall of ice suddenly erupted from the ground, blocking their path.
“What the hell is this now?!”
Kwakwakwakwa!
Kugugugu!
Ice walls kept rising from the ground, slicing through and separating the gang members like pizza slices.
“We… we can’t get through!”
“Over there! Are you alright?!”
At the same time, the waiting skeletons began charging toward the gang members trapped behind the ice walls.
“Damn it! The undead are coming!”
“Hold them off from this side!”
Clang! Kaaang!
Weapons of the living and the dead clashed, scattering sparks.
There was no tactic, no strategy—just a frenzied melee to eliminate the enemies before them.
‘Goddamn it!’
At the very front of the convoy, the white-haired boss spat on the ground.
‘Judging by the number of skeletons, these necromancers aren’t acting alone.’
“Boss!”
A gang member pointed ahead.
“Th-There…!”
At the front of the convoy, on the shadowed forest path, a boy with his hood pulled low approached slowly, the hem of his robe fluttering.
He was alone.
“There’s another necromancer!”
As the gang members raised their swords in alert, the white-haired boss’ eyes gleamed. Necromancers usually stayed hidden behind their undead, why had this one come to the front?
“If we take him out, we can stop most of the skeletons! Go take him down!”
As soon as the boss gave the order, the gang members charged through the dust in a frenzy.
From beneath the dark hood, the boy’s sharp eyes gleamed.
“Hup!”
The first gang member raised his sword high.
“You’re dea—!”
Splat!
It was almost imperceptible. In an instant, the gang member’s nose shattered with a sickening crunch, blood spraying from the blow.
The boy stepped forward, grabbed the man by the hair, and hurled him with force.
Thud!
He collided with another gang member rushing from behind, and as the two stumbled, the boy leapt up and kicked both in the stomach.
“Gahk!”
“Urgh!”
The two were sent flying, and the boy landed softly.
“You bastard!”
Another gang member tried to flank him and swung an axe with a loud shout.
Bwooom!
The heavy blow sliced the air. The boy nimbly stepped aside and gave the man’s ankle a light tap with his foot.
“!”
As the gang member lost his balance, the boy soared like a raptor and drove his knee into the man’s face, sending him sprawling.
“Raaagh!”
Whoosh!
Another attacker came from the side, aiming for the boy’s back, but he ducked effortlessly, as if he had eyes on his back.
“You little shit!!”
The gang member slashed wildly with his sword.
Whoosh!
A vertical slash.
Whoosh!
A horizontal slash.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Blue blades of energy repeatedly targeted the boy, but he dodged them all with minimal movement—shifting his weight, rotating his body—barely moving, but completely avoiding the strikes.
From the gang member’s perspective, it was like fighting a ghost—his blade missed every time.
“Why the hell isn’t anything landing?!”
Crunch!
The boy’s foot slammed into the gang member’s face. With a choked cry, blood poured from the man’s nose and mouth as he collapsed.
“He knows how to fight!”
“Surround him!”
The gang members formed a perimeter, keeping a set distance.
Seeing this, the boy bent his knees low, then kicked off the ground with force.
BOOM!
In an instant, the boy appeared near the rear by the ice wall, where a bow-wielding gang member had half-destroyed the barrier—now, the man was embedded in it.
The boy flowed smoothly toward his next target. His fist, shrouded in deep, dark Darkness, shot out.
Whack! Thud! Crack!
It was overwhelming.
Like a wolf among sheep, the boy left destruction in his wake, gang members sent flying into the air with every move.
“!”
Then, for the first time, the boy faltered and stepped back.
A sharp, deadly black sword slash grazed his neck.
The boy touched the trickle of blood, then looked up with surprise in his eyes.
“If you think necromancers are the only ones who can wield Darkness, you’re mistaken.”
The white-haired boss stood there, holding a sword infused with Darkness.
At the same time, his left hand moved, flinging something in a sudden motion—small black objects shot forward with a shick!
Thunk!
Tunk!
The boy raised a shield of Darkness just in time. The objects embedded into the ground were black throwing knives.
“People who live by the sword aren’t idiots.”
The white-haired boss lowered his stance.
“These days, we gather money to unlock our Cores too. That’s the era now. That power—it’s no longer just yours, necromancer!”
Then, the necromancer pulled back his hood.
Shimmering bluish hair blew in the wind, revealing the face of a youthful noble-looking boy.
“…Oh?”
Even younger than expected. The white-haired boss’ eyes widened.
“You were talking about Darkness just now, right?”
As the boy said that—
Pop!
He vanished.
Startled, the white-haired boss turned around. The boy was charging at him from behind. The boss hastily raised his shield as the boy’s punch connected with it.
<Hongpeng Original – Sky Calamity>
Wham!
A shockwave burst from the boy’s fist, blasting past the shield and slamming into the boss’ abdomen.
“Guhk!”
He choked, saliva spraying between his teeth.
‘I blocked it—so why?!’
Tossing aside the now-useless shield, the white-haired boss gripped his sword with both hands and swung wildly.
The boy leaned back to dodge, then clenched his right fist and swung it overhead.
“More important than who uses Darkness—”
<Hongpeng Original – Impalement>
Shhhhrrak!
Suddenly, blood spurted from the boss’ shoulder.
His eyes rolled in panic, and the boy, his arm still infused with Darkness, let out a smile.
“—is who taught you to use it, don’t you think?”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters