Genius Corpse-Collecting Warrior - Chapter 54
Rumor (1)
The rain of fire soon subsided. It wasn’t powerful enough to cause that much damage in the first place.
The reason was that Dallan’s skill proficiency was not yet high, and the excessive expansion of the range also had the effect of reducing the power relatively.
Therefore, the spell ‘Hegaleus’ Rain of Flame’ cast by Daelon did not completely burn the forest, but instead only lit up flames here and there that would soon be extinguished.
Grumbling.
Of course, more than 90% of the Mandrakes, which are sensitive to changes in the air, would die within a day or two just from the smoke generated by that small fire.
The merchants who flocked in after hearing the rumor will suffer some losses, but what can they do? That human life comes first.
Dallen, who wrapped himself in the wide cloth that Lucia had brought him, waited for the rain of fire to stop and went down into the pit.
Inside the pit, four ashen corpses were lying side by side. Dallen reached down and retrieved the body.
[The body of the helpless herbalist has been recovered. Ability is inherited.]
[Inheritance reward: Senses +1]
[The body of a just and brave warrior has been recovered. Ability is inherited.]
[Inheritance reward: Strength +1]
The corpses of the herbalist and warrior only gave one ability value. It was what I expected.
The warrior was a corpse when he first encountered the boss mob, the Ash Witch.
An ending where I was able to progress through the growth process in the early part of the game, but couldn’t properly adapt to it in the middle part when the apocalypse begins to creep in.
And the herbalist was literally a corpse who died unexpectedly after being caught by a trap spell deep in the forest while playing the concept.
‘It wasn’t even Lvivbach Forest back then.’
This was why Dallen wanted to kill the witch as quickly as possible.
Even after annihilating the residents of Lvivbach, the witch gained strength by offering hundreds or thousands of sacrifices to the evil spirit in a similar way on several occasions.
Dallen reached for the next body.
[The body of the crusader who stalked the witch has been recovered. The ability is inherited.]
[Inheritance Reward: Stamina +1 Curse Shield Seal (D)]
“…….”
The strange name of the corpse keeps catching my eye. Dallen tried to look away and only looked at the reward items.
The curse’s seal is a power gained by engraving it on the skin, similar to a sacred tattoo.
Feeling an itch in my shoulder, I slightly lifted the hem of the cloth wrapped around my body and found a rune the size of my thumbnail engraved on it.
‘It basically blocks minor curses from local warlocks, and as your skill level increases, the power of stronger curses is halved.’
When I think about how I acquired the skill, I feel ashamed.
After fighting the Ash Witch as a paladin character and seeing her body for the first time.
Dallen, on the other side of the monitor, was fascinated by Mi-hyung’s unexpected appearance and followed the Ash Witch for an entire episode.
In the past, he was so sincere that he received a rune sign from an elf wizard he had a relationship with because it was difficult to handle the curse placed on him by a witch with his divine power alone.
‘I was crazy for a moment. ‘Why are game characters so good?’
Shaking his head, Dallon placed his hand on the last corpse.
[The body of the silent assassin has been recovered. Ability is inherited.]
[Inheritance Reward: Prowess +3 Magic Power +1 Dark Moon Spell Slayer]
“Hmm?”
As the body is recovered, a dagger falls into one’s hand.
Dalen, who was enjoying the exhilaration of his increased abilities, slightly raised his eyebrows and looked at the dagger.
It was a dagger whose thin sword body was split into two stems, bending left and right like waves and crossing each other.
‘Spell Slayer.’
A treasured sword that simply destroys spells of a lower level upon contact and allows even powerful spells to be countered with physical sword strikes.
In addition, it was also a sword with a curse that caused temporary confusion in the wizard’s magic sensitivity with just a slight cut.
‘I didn’t know I could get an item here.’
I knew that items could also be inherited. But this is my first time actually experiencing it.
Moreover, considering that the number of corpses recovered so far reached double digits, it was no exaggeration to say that there was absolutely no expectation about the item.
Moreover, even if it did come out, the question was whether the item would actually be useful.
‘If it’s the treasure of Dark Woldan, it’s worth a C-grade skill.’
Dallen tore a bit of the cloth and wrapped it around the dagger.
As he came out of the ash pit, he opened the status window and invested the level-up abilities into his stamina.
“hmm?”
Then suddenly I turned my head and looked down at the feet I had just passed.
A little outside the boundary where the lightning struck.
I noticed two red flowers that had grown intertwined with each other, blooming while avoiding the risk of turning into ashes.
***
When I returned to the clearing, Lucia was treating the boy.
The divine power flowing from the hand placed on the forehead was restoring the dying boy’s body.
Dallen put his hands in his belt. No, I tried to stab it.
After struggling with his hands for a moment, he realized that all he was wearing was a large piece of cloth, so he just lowered his arms. he asked.
“Is the kid okay?”
“For now. I made sure not to die right away. But to be completely cured, you must visit the priest of the temple.”
Dallen nodded. He turned his attention to the other captives who had been sacrificed.
“What happened to them?”
“…He died. “Without any time to do anything.”
“Well, being alive is a great thing.”
Lucia pursed her lips and lowered her head at Dallan’s words.
As can be seen just by looking at the traces left in the vacant lot, the witch’s human sacrifice was different from the usual.
It was common to remove an arm to make a totem or remove an eye and feed it to an animal, then cut open the animal’s stomach and burn it.
The torture of pulling out organs, putting them back in, and peeling off the skin causes terrible pain, but ultimately saves the victim.
When the cries and screams of people who had experienced hell-like pain were sacrificed and the battered body became insensitive to the pain, she slit the victim’s throat.
A form of human sacrifice similar to the Great Daisho.
But more than that, the ship was carried out in a cruel and evil way.
It is impossible for the victims who were so cruelly violated to live normally.
Most of what was locked up in the iron cage were actually live corpses. These were people who were forced to live by a witch’s spell.
The boy mercenary Farn’s life was spared because he was the latest to be brought in as a sacrifice.
“Fuck Enaxagus.”
Dallon muttered softly. If you think about it, the scene of these heinous human sacrifices was all connected to him.
Beyond the monitor, we see the atrocities of evil spirits that we have become accustomed to.
Scenes of tragedy that were overlooked because they were not real.
However, the ground he walked on and the air he breathed were now real realities, and the tragedies he had once overlooked pierced his heart with bitterness many times over.
Why did I fall to this earth? Is it to prevent that?
If I hadn’t played this game in the first place, would this world have become reality? Maybe I am the source of tragedy.
Voices that had been silenced a long time ago stir within me once again.
The rugged barbarian warrior who was now a part of him did not flinch from those voices.
The man who was clicking the mouse that remained deep in his heart was not that strong.
A moment of confusion that feels like a long time passes behind an emotionless face.
Dallen opened his mouth.
“…let’s go. “The day will be bright.”
“yes. Parn will also need to be treated quickly.”
Lucia got up from her seat. Dallen carefully carried the boy mercenary on his back.
The boy’s body temperature felt warm through a thin piece of cloth.
It was a small consolation.
***
The group returned to Lviv and rested for a day.
To be exact, only Dallon rested. Lucia stayed awake all day nursing Parn.
In fact, after visiting the priest early in the morning on the day she returned and receiving the miracle of healing, there was nothing left for her to do.
However, the young trainee nurse nursed the young boy by changing warm wet towels and pouring watery porridge into his mouth.
It seemed like an older sister wondering if something strange might happen to her sick younger brother while she was sleeping.
And was such sincere nursing really effective?
The boy mercenary Parn came to his senses early the next morning.
“…I screamed for an entire hour and then lost consciousness again.”
Lucia said to Dallen, who came to the room to see the boy.
Her eyes are darkly shadowed. His face was at the limit of fatigue.
“It must be a difficult memory to handle at such a young age. “It was hard for you to be by my side.”
“There is nothing to call it hard work. As the priest at the temple said, he was a child with a strong soul, so he was able to endure well on his own.”
“No matter how straight the core of a young tree is, it needs support to grow well. “He played the role of support well.”
Lucia was silent for a moment. She raised her hand, rubbed her eyes, and asked.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Some extent.”
Dallen responded by relaxing his shoulders.
In fact, he had not originally planned to leave Lucia to nurse the boy alone.
However, as soon as I returned to the inn and relaxed, tremendous fatigue took over my entire body.
It wasn’t long, but the reason was that he was exposed to a witch’s curse and survived it with only the regeneration factor of dragon’s blood.
In the end, Dallen just slept all day.
Of course, Lucia fully understood this because she had spent a considerable amount of time with him and knew a little about his abilities.
“Get some rest. “I will watch for you.”
When Dallen said that and patted her back, Lucia stood up and yawned softly.
“Please wake me up if anything happens.”
“Okay, go to sleep.”
She must be tired too. Because I had to deal with Calchas’ two hounds alone, and couldn’t even rest, I had to treat and nurse the boy.
After confirming that the paladin entered the bedroom, Dallon sat in front of the cot where the boy was lying.
‘This is ridiculous.’
The boy’s appearance was miserable.
The left arm was cut off just below the shoulder and the left eye was roughly pulled out as if it had been pecked out by a bird’s beak.
Thanks to Lucia’s divine power and the priest’s miracles, the rotting extremities of the wound were completely healed, but the lost parts did not sprout new ones.
It was fortunate that it did not suffer the torture of having its organs ripped out and its skin peeled off like other sacrifices.
If that were the case, it would have been difficult to save him even with a priest’s miracle.
smart.
I must have been watching like that for about two hours.
Someone knocked on the door from outside.
“Who are you?”
“Uh, Dallan? It’s me! Volkma!”
Why did a busy merchant come here? Dallen tilted his head and stood up.
When I opened the door, Volkmar Galios was staggering around carrying a large tray.
The stew, lamb ribs, bread, and beer on the tray were shaking precariously. He said.
“Can I come in for a bit?”
“Put it down for now. Then I will pour it all out.”
Dallen took the tray and set it down on the table in the room. Only then did Volkmar sigh and enter the room.
As he adjusted his clothes and smoothed his mustache, he froze for a moment when he saw the boy lying on the cot.
“That boy is a mercenary who escorted this trip. I heard that after being promoted to bronze rank, he immediately took charge of the next request and left…”
“That’s right. “I accidentally discovered that he was injured during that request, so I brought him in and treated him.”
“…Siselas. “To suffer such cruel treatment at such a young age.”
Volkmar rummaged through his belongings and pulled out a money bag.
Then he took out half a gold coin from his pocket and placed it gently on the bedside table. He said.
“When the child wakes up, tell them that this is a consolation gift from me.”
“I think it’s a bit of a lot of money to give to a mercenary with bronze medals after completing a request.”
“How much money can that be? Compared to this boy’s bright future, half a gold coin is an infinitely small amount. “I just want to make a small investment in the future as a merchant with whom I once had a connection.”
Dallen silently raised one eyebrow. This guy started talking nonsense again. That wouldn’t be the end, would it?
“Of course, by showing such kindness, he also intends to impress his guardian, who killed three hundred orcs in one go.”
Looking at Dallen’s gaze, Volkmar added with a chuckle.
“The iron skin is thicker than before.”
“Isn’t that the virtue of a merchant? Hahaha!”
Dallen smiled lowly and raised his beer glass. He asked after drinking half of it in one go.
“So what is going on here, a merchant who is busy? “Hold the tray like this.”
“Since you and the paladin haven’t come down all day, I thought we should at least bring you some food. Ah, all the busy work has disappeared. “All scheduled auctions and transactions have been canceled or postponed.”
Dallen chuckled.
“Me again. “I thought you got re-employed as an employee at an inn because your business went bankrupt.”
“…don’t say such horrible things.”
The owner of the top trembled. Dallen smiled once more and raised his beer glass.
I had already been sleeping all day, and as soon as I woke up, I was hungry because I was nursing Farn.
He drank the other half of the large glass in one go, ate a piece of lamb ribs in one go, and continued speaking.
“What do you mean the auction and transaction were cancelled?”
“I heard something strange happened in the Lvivbach Forest the night before yesterday. “The sky was covered with gray energy, lightning struck through it, and then flames fell like rain.”
Dallen’s hand, which was tearing open lamb ribs, paused for a moment.
Of course, it was only for a moment. Dallen’s mouth naturally inhaled the meat attached to the ribs.
“All the herbalists were angry and said they couldn’t go into the forest for a while. There are all kinds of stories going around, such as the devil opening the gates of hell and being punished by heaven, or the archmage of a magic tower having a duel with a witch.”
Dallen thought as he dipped his bread into the stew, chewed it, and swallowed it.
People’s reasoning skills are much more accurate than we think.
Of course, Sang-Sang-ju thought the rumor was a lie and lamented that herbalists were all steeped in superstition.
Dallen ate the food brought to him on his tray, complaining in one ear.
As the lamb ribs and stew were about to run out, Volkmar changed the subject as if he had suddenly remembered something.
“Oh, by the way, did you hear that rumor? I heard that the dead are rising in the northern outskirts of the empire, about a week away from here.”
At those words, the hand that was constantly picking up food suddenly stopped.