CH 201

“What’s this?” Woo Ragi, who strode forth in the front of the group, found the body of the assassin I had killed with a dagger earlier. He must have been familiar with the shape of Jung Garam’s weapon, as his gaze was directed exactly at me.

“Uh… He was disguised as a monster; we ran into him.”

“You couldn’t catch him alive?”

I was embarrassed at his immediate follow-up question. After all, I ignored Bae Jaemin, who had been pushing for torture from the very beginning, and released him before killing the man while panicked from his attack. However, Bae Jaemin kept his mouth tightly shut.

I scratched my head and just revealed the truth. “I released him because I thought he was innocent… then, he suddenly started to run away.”

“Is that so?” Fortunately, Woo Ragi accepted my words without digging further. However, he took the time to kick the corpse. I dawdled before recovering the dagger from the assassin’s back; with one shake, I flung the blood off the blade.

Then, when I saw the red blood flowing from the assassin’s back, a strange dissonant feeling washed over me, and I stopped in the middle of my action.

I’ve never killed anyone before, and I’ve never been seriously injured enough to wind up at death’s doorstep… Strangely, my heart felt calm–as if this was just another routine event in my work.

‘Come to think of it, I…utilized the skills incredibly well?’

Considering how I was reacting to unexpected events, I moved unbelievably smoothly. I looked down at my hands for a while. When I saw Woo Ragi stalking forward again, I set aside my uncomfortable feelings.

“[Curtain Call].”

And, as I followed behind the blonde man, I forgot about those dissonant feelings.

Living up to his reputation as Red Lotus’s best DPS, Woo Ragi dealt with the incoming rushing monsters with tremendous skill. I was completely fascinated and mesmerized by his skill.

Woo Ragi’s weapon of choice was an [Echo Blade]. I didn’t know what that sword was made of, but, unlike normal swords, the [Echo Blades] floated around its owner. Like a satellite.

The set of [Echo Blades] consisted of swords of different sizes; the largest of the dozen was almost Woo Ragi’s height. It was used for a wide range of heavy strikes.

The two smallest of his swords–almost the length of one’s forearm–sliced through the persistent and fast-paced enemies rushing in at Woo Ragi’s sides.

In that way, he slaughtered the enemies with four or six moving swords. When the enemy masses became too crowded, though, he often used skills that utilized all the swords he had available.

One of those skills was [Curtain Call].

When Woo Ragi triggered [Curtain Call], the floating swords behind his back came forth and sliced through the gap between Woo Ragi and the monsters, like lowering stage curtains after a play. The monsters paid no mind to the sword’s new movements, though, and gradually sped up, rushing towards him.

Watching from behind, it was like watching moths rushing towards the light. Similar to the fates of those bugs, the monsters exploded in the bright light and crumbled into piles of ashes.

Woo Ragi’s face, in the midst of that blue, cruel light and whirling ashes, looked inhumane. So, when Woo Ragi turned back to look at me, with a faint smile on his lips, my heart automatically trembled. “You sure play around when I’m here.”

“Uh… Yes?” I said.

“Are here to get carried by me? Are you here to observe?”

“…No, well, it’s not like you’ve given me space to intervene.”

“So, that’s why you’re just watching with your arms folded over your chest?”

“You could’ve said something.”

However, Woo Ragi’s angelic dignity disappeared every time he opened his mouth, leaving the image of a frivolous punk behind. His smile earlier was merely bared teeth, belying his irritation.

‘He’s got no class, no class at all…’

Grumbling, I stepped forward to Woo Ragi’s side, dagger in hand.

However, as soon as I stepped beside him, I felt the faint feeling of something gently hugging my back. I barely managed to tamp down a cringe and schooled my expression. Bae Jaemin was silently buffing us from behind. The tactile element to his skills was so unpleasant–it felt like the Priest was holding my hands in prayer.

‘Hypocrite…’

While swallowing those thoughts deep inside, I worked diligently to defeat the [De Xin Royal Bodyguards] and [De Xin Military Archers].

Perhaps I leveled up as I defeated them; at some point, the names above their heads turned from orange to green.

‘Or, did that mean the level of difficulty decreased because Woo Ragi joined us?’

It definitely was less stressful than fighting alone. Because Woo Ragi was so flashy and attracted enemy aggro, he was the perfect partner for my assassination skills. With the blonde drawing all attention, I was able to melt into the shadows and stab the monsters from behind.

After hiding in the shadows, I rose up from their ankles and slit the enemy’s necks. At that time, I felt a thrill rising up from deep within me. I felt a sense of freedom that I had never felt before… As if I had found my true calling.

Flushed with those feelings, we began clearing the raid excitedly, when…

“Oho?”

“What is it?”

“…Something’s flying at us from the other side?”

After fighting for a long time, we stepped across countless wooden poles stuck in the pond and slowly headed towards the ship.

However, I could hear the sound of something heavily ripping through the air from somewhere. I was the first to raise my head and turn to look in that direction. Following me, Woo Ragi also frowned his brows; the monsters rushing towards us also stopped rowing their oars and looked back.

“What is that…?” I used my powers of perception in the direction of the strange sound. Now that my vision was enhanced like a telescope, I quickly glanced through the sky and soon noticed a small white dot flying towards us.

“There’s something quickly approaching us from the 1 o’clock direction…  Huh? Is that a monster?” I said.

“Monster?”

“It looks like…hm… a dragon? I think…”

I suppose it’d be more accurate to describe it as a long dragon–from oriental paintings. Startled by the unexpected sight, I almost forgot to speak; the dragon approached us as if it were swimming through the sky.

It was a real dragon–complete with purple glass orbs within its mouth. It was so bizarre to see it flying through the sky, yet simultaneously, the glittering light reflecting off its scales seemed so magical.

Strangely enough, I couldn’t see the monster’s name. Even more alarming, the dragon, which had been flying at a constant speed, suddenly disappeared and reappeared at a far closer distance, as if it were warping.

Threatened, I watched the sky closely and brought the dagger across my chest. However, Woo Ragi reacted unexpectedly; even though the unidentified dragon was closing in on us, he narrowed his eyes, keenly staring at it, before relaxing his expression. “What the–that’s Seo Dawon.”

“What?”

“I guess he met and joined forces with Jo Chanyoung.”

How unbelievable–Startled, I looked back at the sky again; I discovered a previously overlooked black dot, something I couldn’t see because the dragon was too far away before, above the dragon’s head.

As I focused my eye on that black spot, the dot soon turned into a clear silhouette of a man.

Flowing robes with a luxurious glossy luster; a few large, flashy rings adorned his fingers… The man, whose appearance was even flashier than his accessories, was looking our way.

It really was Seo Dawon.

The Mage was carrying a staff taller than he was in his right hand. The black staff looked like a tree root that had just been pulled out of the ground; A golden jewel shaped like a human eye that shone like a star adorned the staff. At that moment, Seo Dawon looked like an evil wizard riding atop a dragon–straight from a fairytale.

“[Gravity].”

The dim sound of him uttering a spell carried on the wind to us; the resulting effects of the spell were bizarre and gruesome.

As if time had stopped, the wind brushing past us stopped; soon, all surrounding noise had vanished. Not just the Immortal Fairies’ music, but also the reverberating sounds of insects that had been chirping around the pond. It was as if everything were holding their breaths.

In the midst of such ominous silence, the moonlit pond lost its shine and darkened, as if it were the void of an abyss. Not long after, the white ship sank into the black pond, as if it were being sucked in.

However, the ship did not sink fully. On the contrary, it slowly began to lift off into the air. The blackened pond began to boil, like heated soup; the droplets slowly began climbing upwards, one at a time.The white boat soon separated itself from the liquid’s surface, and the alcoholic pond began to evaporate.

Atop that rising ship, the Normal Mode boss monster, [De Xin], seemed to be suffocating; struggling, he grasped at his neck. However, no one was able to help him–his loyal men were already ruthlessly smothered till dead, blue from lack of oxygen.

[De Xin] continued to rise into the air. Even higher than the ship. In addition, as the pond began to evaporate and turn upside down, the corpses, that were originally tied to the pillars at the bottom of the pond, began to rise as well.

The corpses surrounded [De Xin] as if they were spectators watching him choke to death. The boss, grasping onto his neck and floundering in silk garments, seemed to be dancing.

[Cough…]

When finally [De Xin] stopped struggling and was simply suspended midair, the dragon, which had been floating in the sky, gently landed. Leaving the reality-bending sight behind, Seo Dawon jumped lightly from the dragon’s head.

TL: Hey guys, Still working on so much stuff so I don’t have as much time to TL and draw lately. Still, I wanted to give you all a bonus chapter.

Also, I noted that there’s something strange going on with Lee-kyung and the way he’s getting used to Jung Garam’s body~ Weird~