Genius Corpse-Collecting Warrior - Chapter 79
Mancheonhwawoo滿天火雨 (3)
“Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….”
Glutt, a gnoll warrior of the centurion rank, growled uncomfortably.
Everything in the sky above was hostile.
Archers’ crossbows and exploding stones thrown by catapults.
And even further up, from the dark clouds beyond the cliff to the pouring rain of fire.
The subordinate who was throwing the hook was burned by a barrage of flames just as he was trying to avoid the arrow.
The brother, the centurion, who was born from the same mother, was caught up in an explosion of divine power while leading the battering ram and was torn to pieces.
‘You can’t avoid them on land.’
Glute thought as he looked at the dying gnoll warriors.
However, there was no option to step down.
Because their leader, who led the 5,000-strong gnoll army, was still alive, leading the group and encouraging them.
Although the leader could not be found in the chaotic battlefield, the souls of the gnolls, bound by a special bond, were able to feel the will of their commander.
Even at this moment, the captain’s fighting spirit burning towards the Holy Knights can be felt deep in his heart.
“Grrr…”
Glute struggled.
Numerous attempts to overcome the castle walls end in death every time.
How can I win this fight and chew up the flesh of those dirty humans?
The gnoll’s primitive brain came up with a simple answer.
‘…under the ground. ‘You can go down under the castle wall.’
Awww!
Glute let out a long cry. It was a cry that summoned his men.
Glut quickly ordered his subordinates to start digging.
Instructions to make the tunnel as deep and strong as possible, yet slanted towards the castle wall.
The gnolls, who had a strict top-down system, began digging without asking why.
Puk puk! puck!
Not long after dozens of animals began digging up stones and dirt, the entrance to the tunnel was successfully completed.
This is possible because the gnolls who dig caves in the cliffs of the cracks are far superior to their compatriots in other regions when it comes to digging tunnels.
Glute quickly led his men into the tunnel.
Compared to the ground where the blind dead walk, the inside of the tunnel was very cozy.
There was no need to worry about falling fireballs or flying arrows anymore.
If you go a little deeper, you can even block exploding rocks.
And with the tunnel-digging skills of his men, it seemed like it would be easy to infiltrate under the castle walls.
“Crumbling.”
Glute chuckled.
You’d never guess that we’d emerge from behind those disgusting paladins.
My mouth was already watering at the thought of biting their unsuspecting backside and letting the blood gush out like a fountain.
Rolling…….
It was then.
The tunnel walls trembled slightly.
Did a stone block containing the power of a terrible war god explode nearby? Glute was thinking this and was about to instruct the oyster to dig deeper.
Rumbling…!
The ground beneath my feet shakes. It wasn’t just the floor.
Sand crumbs flowed from the ceiling, and the sturdy earthen walls began to crumble and collapse.
Grrrrrrrrr…. The
tunnel collapses. Mud poured over my head and stones blocked my view.
“Crumbling! “Big!”
It’s an earthquake. Run away.
Glute, who shouted this in primitive gnoll language, immediately turned and started running towards the entrance of the cave.
And that cry was the last words of the Noll centurion.
The next moment, the shaking ground opened its mouth wide and swallowed all the gnolls in the cave.
***
“Whoa.”
Felber sighed.
Atop the spire, which was particularly high in the fortress, he was looking down at the castle walls and making a hand sign.
It wasn’t a complicated prisoner.
Simple hand gestures that draw a few lines and connect them in a circle.
However, the magic manifested at the end of the hand seal was powerful enough to shake the ground of the valley and bury the gnolls that had infiltrated underground alive.
And the number of games buried in his hands was already well over a hundred.
“Congratulations Master! “You have finally achieved it!”
Tommy, who was swinging a large stone spear next to him, shouted.
The disciple’s face was full of joy.
A sight where magic created only by hand and will, without a single spell, moves and plows the ground over and over again.
That was clearly proof that his teacher had overcome a long period of stagnation and reached a higher level despite his old age.
“…okay.”
Felber only slightly raised the corners of his mouth.
He raised his bony hand and patted the head of his disciple, who was a hand taller than him.
The disciple’s face was colored with doubt at the lukewarm response. He said.
“Aren’t you happy, Master?”
“no. happy. “How could you not be happy?”
Felber consciously raised the corners of his mouth a little more.
The disciple was right. He had broken through and it was something to be happy about.
A young man in his mid-thirties who created a small business and was arrogant when everyone praised him as a genius.
What can be compared to the despair of being stagnant and unable to take a single step forward for decades after becoming the youngest senior wizard of the Elgaia Magic Tower?
Rather than using last-minute measures to break through the realm, he chose to maximize the use of his current power and became an expert in the application of earth magic spells.
‘The land not only expands upward, but also expands sideways.’
In his old age, he rationalized his stagnation by constantly declaring in front of his fellow professors and juniors, but eventually became complacent.
In the process, I re-learned the virtues of humility and patience that I had lost when I was young, but it did not change the fact that I had completely forgotten how to move forward.
Like other magic tower elders whose achievements were blocked, he probably lived like that and came to an end.
One day, quite by chance.
If I hadn’t met someone who was like a ray of light,
‘Dallen.’
Felber raised his head.
Looking beyond the crack, I could see dark clouds filling the sky and a baptism of fire pouring from the dark clouds.
A great warrior who casts large-scale magic that overwhelms the battlefield, yet penetrates into the depths of his enemies and single-handedly kills three-digit numbers of gnolls.
With that superhuman ability in front of him, Felber suddenly thought back to their first meeting.
***
‘At that time, it was a relationship between a client and a mercenary.’
It was a time when people were grieving for their disciple who disappeared while following the traces of the executed executioner.
Gawain, the silent company commander of the Bronze Guard, whom I knew, recommended a mercenary, so I submitted the request for nomination without hesitation.
In fact, I had a lot of doubts even after entrusting the request, but how surprised I was when I received my student back not long after.
Curious as to who the person in charge was, he requested a meeting, and soon after, he was able to meet Dallen face to face at the Magic Tower branch.
And he was surprised again.
The power of the realm that was secretly revealed out of curiosity showed that the blood of a dragon was flowing in the veins of a mere mercenary.
‘That’s only half a year old.’
In the short period of only a few months since then, the number of nicknames given to that warrior could not be counted on one hand.
A warrior of God who was recognized as the owner of the Holy Sword by not only killing the leader of a cult and defeating a demon in the labyrinth, but also cutting off the life of a witch.
Now, he went one step further and was even called the dragon slayer who saved the Holy Knights.
Coincidentally, Felber himself broke through a long period of stagnation on the very day he cut off the dragon’s head.
‘They say the crisis of death makes people go beyond their limits.’
The day when I alone held orders and blocked the attack of the special lease team.
Felber, who was hit by Everlock’s blow with most of his magical power consumed, was between life and death for several days.
Fortunately, the Holy Knights’ healing prayers and advanced medical techniques succeeded in completely recovering his body.
However, the magnitude of the shock that the crisis of death brought to him, who had adapted to the stable life of a magic tower, did not change.
And sometimes, only such a shock can create a breakthrough.
The landscape of the area, which had been stagnant for decades, underwent drastic changes while wandering through death.
Ugh……
Just by lifting my fingertips, my magic power trembles.
The expression of will soon became one with the magical wind.
The ascent achieved at the end of the crossroads of life and death is the highest level that all wizards dream of.
‘Large area.’
Felber had finally reached the standard of being commonly called an archmage.
“Master! Request for assistance from the walls of District 11! Elle – Baladum!”
Tommy, seeing the flag waving in the dark, hastily made a hand sign along with a spell.
Skilled at creating close to ten stone arrows with a single spell and delivering support fire at the right time and location.
Felber slowly closed his eyes as he did the same thing with just a flick of his fingertips behind the young wizard, who had recently grown significantly and was now able to eat more than one serving.
Look into the realm beyond imagery.
The size of the area has expanded to a level that was previously unimaginable.
‘Elle – memento elegus.’
As he muttered the chant with his mouth so that no one could hear, ripples spread beneath his feet.
Faint waves that even humans cannot sense, forming an invisible and unfeelable realm.
The wave instantly covered the entire battlefield, and thousands of lives within its range were simultaneously imprinted in Felber’s mind.
A crusader gasping in fear.
A gnoll cavalry aiming a javelin at the crusader.
A hatchet that flies in like a flash and splits the gnoll’s head, and even the owner of the will connected to the axe.
Felber’s gaze, which recognized all beings simultaneously as if God were looking down at the earth, was not even limited to the present.
The past of each living being unfolds like thousands of panoramas, and based on that past, the future planned for each person is drawn.
The power of a realm that is not just about reading the memories of the earth, but also something that goes beyond that.
It was a power that could be said to have reached the level of some of its parts, even if it did not reach the omniscience that is the power of God.
‘And maybe even more.’
Felber thought. No, I was sure.
The power of the domain he achieved was not something that was limited to simply observing the past and future.
However, when its hidden true value is brought out, will the old and decrepit body be able to endure?
Felber was able to answer that clearly as well.
The moment he uses that power, his journey ends there.
Grumble.
Warm liquid flows down from the nose. Without his disciple’s knowledge, Felber took out a handkerchief and wiped away the blood that had flowed down.
‘Hehe… Anyway, it seems like there isn’t much left.’
As short as a few weeks. Half a year at most.
Felber laughed quietly and roughly counted the remaining days.
‘Still, it’s a pity. It’s a power I’ve finally been able to reach.’
It was something that could not be helped.
Although he achieved a rapid rise in his realm in his old age, his power was too much for his aging body to accept.
It is said that the realm is a vessel that contains power not permitted to mortals, but the role of the body as a conduit was just as important as the size of the realm.
Even if you do not necessarily draw out the power of the realm, it is natural that part of that power constantly leaks into reality through the body, like water in a bowl lapping.
If the body was so old that it could not even accept a part of it, it would inevitably break down in a short period of time.
‘If you’re going to face the end anyway, it would be better to end it meaningfully.’
Felber looked away.
In the distance, in the middle of the Gnoll army, I could see a particularly sparsely empty space.
That was a vacuum created by a mercenary who single-handedly slaughtered hundreds of gnolls and began fighting against their leader.
Luckily, Felber’s piece of omniscience was able to find out a little bit about the mercenary’s past, whose origin was unknown.
‘I thought it strange that I had no memory of the earth. ‘I didn’t expect you to be a regressor.’
What Felber saw was someone’s life.
It is not just one life, but the beginning and end of many lives.
There was an old man with the face of a wise man, and there was also a mercenary like Dallon now.
Felber witnessed lives that took many different directions, regardless of gender or age.
Dozens of life trajectories that start from the same point, live their own lives, and eventually face the end and fight fiercely.
‘I only saw dozens, but there were hundreds more that even I couldn’t foresee.’
Felber could only explain the fact that one person’s past contains so many lives through the phenomenon of regression.
The soul of a returner who constantly repeats the same point in time under various conditions, as if born to prevent the apocalypse.
And at least from what he saw, there has never been an episode that has broken the momentum of the apocalypse as successfully as this one.
“…What is a meaningful ending in a life with a set deadline?”
Felber muttered a thought that was passing by without his knowledge.
The student turned his head to see what was going on, but Felber just smiled and did not explain.
Instead, he tapped his disciple on the shoulder and raised his hand to point to a clearing in the middle of the battlefield.
“Ah! Finally…!”
Tommy shouted, turning his head to follow the finger.
The softly smiling eyes of the elder wizard sparkling with magic light were also reflecting the same scene that the young man had seen.
The formation of the gnoll army begins to rumble and spread.
In the middle of an empty lot, corpses piled up like a mountain.
A warrior holding a holy sword shining blue was cutting off the enemy’s head and holding it high.
The fight was over.