Genius Corpse-Collecting Warrior - Chapter 86

Dragon Family (3)

“The holy sword and key… were taken by Cheonglin himself.”

The elf spoke in a voice suppressing a moan.

The paladins’ expressions hardened. If that’s true, it was the worst situation.

The Holy Sword and the Key to the Rift Wall are without a doubt the most important treasures in the Knights.

The magic and power of the Jinryong were comparable to those of the devil, so if Cheongrin directly performed a trick on the knights’ treasure, it would be difficult to predict the results.

At that time, I didn’t know that the problem was that a fortress had collapsed.

“We must also consider the possibility that this elf is lying. It is known that Cheonglin is not recovering from an injury sustained a long time ago.”

Interrogator Pydna stepped forward. She glared at the elf with suspicious eyes.

“This guy is known to be difficult to keep alive. If the elf’s words are true, then we must find out how Cheonglin was rejuvenated enough to touch the knights’ treasure.”

“That is correct. As with the holy sword, the key to the crack barrier cannot be touched by unauthorized persons. “No matter how Jinryong is, he won’t be able to deal with that in the current state of today and tomorrow.”

Deputy Chief Interrogator Domer agreed with her. Dallen gently stroked his chin. So, to sum it up, I’m asking you to open your mouth a little more, right?

He looked down at the elf with indifferent eyes. The shadow elf was slowly rolling his eyes again.

Even though his cheeks were swollen and one knee was crushed, his eyes were sharper than ever. He seemed to have come to his senses after hearing the perplexing conversation between the paladins.

The elf raised his eyes and spoke with a sneer on his lips.

“that’s right. Cheonglin has already recovered from his long-term injury. If you kill me, Cheonglin will personally see your limbs cut off and your rabbit-like wives and children reduced to pieces of meat between his teeth.”

A clear threatening declaration. Dallen chuckled.

The night was quite long and there were plenty of healthy joints waiting for his touch. I can’t just say what I have to say and let them shut their mouths. He was just about to reach out to the elf.

Someone spoke at the back of the group.

“I have a way.”

It was the elder wizard Felber. He began meditating with his student and regained some of his condition within a few hours.

Now, he can walk alone with a cane without the help of a student. Felver stroked his neatly tied brown beard and approached the shadow elf’s face.

“My small area of ability is reading the earth’s memories.”

“If you say it’s the memory of the earth…?”

“It’s complicated to explain in detail, but you can roughly think of it as being able to read someone else’s past.”

Felber smiled kindly and answered. Several paladins slowly turned their heads when they heard the words about reading the past.

Reddened face. Small shaking eyes. Well, it’s difficult for people to be honest in all aspects.

As Dallen was scratching his chin, the elder wizard noticed some subtle aura and burst into laughter.

“Hey, don’t worry. “I have no hobby of secretly looking into other people’s private lives.”

Felber spoke like that and walked towards the shadow elf.

The elf was also listening to the whole story, so when the wizard who was said to be able to read memories approached him, he was frightened and took a step back.

Of course, I couldn’t resist any further. Just by moving her body even a little, her broken knees started throbbing, making her aware of the presence of the monstrous northern warrior standing next to her.

“Are you okay, old man?”

Dallon said. Felber smiled leisurely.

“This is okay. “It’s dangerous to mess with the timeline, but just taking a peek is something we’ve done before.”

If it’s okay with you. Dallen took a step back.

Felber stood leaning on his staff in front of the elf.

With his eyes half-open, a soft spell flows out from between the old man’s beard.

“Elle – memento elegus.”

Ugh……

A faint wave spread out.

A sound that can only be felt by invisible magic power.

The sound that started from beneath the wizard’s feet did not spread as widely as usual.

Instead, it resonated in more detail within the range surrounding Felver and the elf, revealing its presence.

‘It’s definitely changed.’

Dallen crossed his arms and thought.

To his eyes, which penetrated the mystery, the magic power resonating around Felber looked like a golden wave.

He knew about Felber’s small area.

Reflecting on the past of life that stepped on this land in the memory of the earth.

And furthermore, the ability to predict the future, albeit vaguely, based on numerous precedents in the earth’s memory.

However, the ability that seemed like a fantasy version of big data had now lost even one of its original limitations.

As he looked closely at the golden wave, he could vaguely see it.

Unlike what we saw before at the Elgaia Tower, Felber’s ability is not just about reading the earth’s memories.

And the guess was correct.

Felber’s ability, expanded to a large area, was no longer limited to reading the physical ground beneath his feet.

As long as the basic image of land was satisfied, there was no need to determine the limit based on the place where one set foot.

In addition to the physical earth, the basis is the image of the earth reflected in the image and memory of its existence.

The memory of the land in the image contrasts and resonates with the memory of the original land, and we look into the timeline of a previously unseen area.

It was thanks to the expansion of the concept that we got even a little closer to the convenience of omniscience.

“Hmm….”

The senior wizard let out a small sigh. Did he notice that something was going wrong? The elf’s eyes shook slightly.

Soon, Felber fully opened his half-glaring eyes. He opened his mouth, his golden eyes shining like fog.

“Cheonglin made a deal with an evil spirit. What he gave Enaxagus in return is unknown. However, it is clear that he is planning something new with the holy sword and the key to the rift barrier based on the knowledge and energy he received from that transaction.”

“What if it’s something new…?”

Maug asked. Felber took a moment to catch his breath and continued.

“You will directly destroy the knights and kill the leader with your own hands.”

***

The next day, a messenger departed for the headquarters.

In addition to reporting the progress of the mission, it was to deliver a message to prepare for a possible invasion.

The remaining twelve members of the party continued their mission as originally planned.

Four of them set up a temporary base at the ruined Estra Fortress, and the remaining eight followed the river into Cheongrin’s territory.

However, the goal of the mission was slightly different.

Instead of retrieving the holy sword and barrier key, the main goal was now to observe the enemy’s movements.

Since Jinryong personally took the two treasures, the risk of clashing head-on with his current power was enormous.

Rather, a better option would be to infiltrate Cheongrin’s territory, investigate its plans, and then return with full strength.

The group chose a boat at the dock in front of Estra Fortress. Most of them were destroyed, but a few remained.

The small sailboat began to move slowly along the river, and Dallon sat quietly on the deck, lost in thought.

At some point, it became a habit to contemplate the realm beyond imagery in my spare time.

The familiar scenery of snowy mountains that I have seen for longer than I have been on this land.

Rumbling.

As I looked at the scenery changing little by little, I felt like my mind, which was complicated by numerous variables and possibilities, was calming down a little.

Phew.

A cold wind passes by my cheek. It was a wind that blew from inside the crack all year round.

Dallen suddenly opened his eyes to the feeling of popularity. The blond young man who approached cautiously stopped in place.

“Are you awake?”

The elder wizard’s apprentice, Tommy Valentino.

The immature young man who came back to life after dying in the sewer just a few months ago has gone through many things and has now become a mature wizard.

“What about your master?”

“You went into meditation alone in your cabin. I was feeling motion sick and stuffy indoors, so I came up, and it seemed like he was meditating, so I thought I’d join him…”

“It’s not meditation.” “I don’t know how to do that.”

Dallen gave a cursory answer and relaxed his sore back and shoulders.

I was a little hungry. It was noon when we departed from the dock, and the sky was already dark.

I don’t think it’s evening yet. Should I go down to the dock and pick up something?

While I was thinking that, the blonde wizard who had been hesitating next to me just sat down.

Dallen stopped relaxing his shoulders and slightly turned his head. what. whatever?

“Are we going to fight… a dragon?”

The young man lowered his head and muttered.

“well.”

Dallen lifted his head, thinking that the snack was bad.

The lower reaches of the Boundary Estra River, which goes into the heart of the rift, had strange terrain.

A cliff that is well over 10 kilometers long. A river that starts from a huge waterfall falling from above.

On the ground, the Estra River, the border between the Empire and the Kingdom of Noria, played a similar role even after falling under the rift.

It flows slowly along the crack, dividing the realm between humans and monsters.

The waterfall, the starting point of the river, was human land, and the complex valleys tangled like a spider’s web around the flowing river were the territory of monsters.

The land that occasionally appeared on either side of the wide river was the entrance to one of these valleys.

Inside, there would be a tribe of Gnolls, Frogmen, Goblins, etc.

‘The valley leading to Cheongrin’s territory can be reached by taking a boat down in about a day.’

When going down, all you had to do was follow the waterway, and when coming back, all you had to do was open the sails and ride the wind. There was virtually no need for oarsmen.

“I heard that the true dragon is something that cannot be killed.”

Breaking through his thoughts, the young man muttered again. Dallen slowly lowered his head, which had been tilted up high. He said.

“Even the dragon dies.”

“Then why are they called immortals?”

“Because they don’t grow old like us.”

“Then how can I kill you?”

Dallen scratched his chin. The dragon died when stabbed with a sword and defeated with a spell. They just have to be stabbed and stabbed a little more and harder than mortals.

But instead of saying that, Dallon asked the young man a question.

“Are you scared?”

“…yes.”

The answer came back as if I had been waiting for it. Dallen shook his head. The young man slightly raised his head and asked.

“How did you know?”

“Yesterday, when you interrogated and killed the shadow elf, you didn’t look very good. “Isn’t that what you thought your future might be like?”

“…you’re right.”

The head that had been raised fell down again.

Dallen laughed lowly. It’s scary. How could it not be so?

If he were to become an elder wizard’s disciple, his talent would not have been ordinary. But that was all. An extraordinary wizard who is nothing special and can be found in any magic tower.

Then, as the young man ends up going through various journeys, he gets caught among the superhumans and ends up in a crack that is said to be infested with monsters.

It wasn’t even a smooth journey.

It had been several days since the siege was waged against an army of 5,000 gnolls, and in the middle of the night, they were attacked by the dragon’s minions.

Now, if that is not enough, I will stick my head into the jaws of the dragon who is behind all of this.

I’m going crazy with frustration. Other superhumans here say they have the skills to pull themselves off, but you can’t do that, right?

On top of that, even the teacher I trusted started to get annoyed not long ago. It is not strange for someone to immediately sit down and cry and say that they are going home.

The reason I don’t do that is because, as the only disciple, I can’t bear to lose my teacher’s reputation.

‘hey. ‘Devil bastard.’

[…Yes, master.]

‘Take out the piece of cloth you got from the ruins.’

When I put my hand in his bosom and called for Arbor, the devil wriggled, opened the space slightly, and placed a neatly folded cloth in my hand.

Dallen handed it to Tommy. The young man suddenly accepted it and asked.

“What is this?”

“It’s an invisibility cloak.”

Little old Olga’s invisibility cloak.

It was an item obtained after recovering a corpse from the ruins of the Sandstorm Dynasty.

The cloth, which was large enough to cover one person, was imbued with a powerful magic that could block almost any presence the moment it was covered.

The downside is that it is too small for Dallon to use.

At most, it would be fortunate if only the upper body was covered.

It wasn’t something that couldn’t be used in some way, but it would have been more useful to this blond young man than that.

Dallon added in a grave voice to the young man who looked at the cloak and himself in confusion.

“If you’re scared, you can always turn on your head and run away. “You get to choose where you die.”

“…….”

The young man did not answer.

And after a while, he quietly stood up.

He bowed low and slowly walked towards the cabin entrance.

It was a walk full of worries. Both hands were desperately grasping the invisibility cloak.

Dallen, who was alone again, looked up blankly at the sky. The young man’s question lingered in my head.

‘Are we going to fight a dragon?’

“well.”

One more question popped into my head. This time it wasn’t the young man’s voice.

‘If I fight a dragon, can I win?’

“…….”

‘You have no experience fighting Cheonglin.’

A voice in my head spoke in a bitter tone.

It was right. Unlike most boss mobs, Jinryong Cheonglin was originally a background setting that there was no need to deal with.

True to its nickname, the Left Arm Armor of the Dragon God, Jinryong was once said to be one of the strongest among its compatriots.

Having to fight such a being meant that this episode was twisted to an unprecedented degree.

‘If you do something wrong, you die. Do you want to end it in vain like this?’

A voice in my head said. Concerned tone. Sweet temptation.

Can I win? I do not know. I barely caught the dragon. If you lose, you’ll die, right? That’s for sure. Are you running away now? Then you can live. okay. You just have to wait for the next opportunity.

The questions and answers in my head continue one after another. Rational and fascinating logic and persuasion. Familiar comfort invades my mind.

Dallen had a headache for some reason. He took a slow breath.

Cold air fills my lungs, and the throbbing dragon’s blood heats my veins.

He said.

“You bitch. Are you going to spend your whole life running away in this world?”

‘…….’

“I don’t want to live like that.”

The voice didn’t answer. Dallen grinned.

Every game has a turning point. It was the same with this game.

A turning point where you can choose whether to avoid a fight or engage in it.

Perhaps the former was a more rational and strategic decision. The latter may have been the greed of an ignorant barbarian.

If it were really a game, he would have chosen the former.

The attitude is, just step back and watch what’s going on, and if you don’t like it, there’s another round.

The man in his thirties, who prided himself on being a master of this game more than anyone else, wanted that.

“Seup-”

But the cold air that filled the bun was real.

A one-time opportunity. The reality is that if you make a mistake, it’s over.

Dalen, the muscular, gold-plated mercenary who lives and breathes in this reality, was not a coward who hid behind the shield of rationality.

I admit that rational judgment might actually save his life. It might be a step back to take two steps forward.

But what if at the same time, if you take just one step back, you end up on an endless cliff? Aren’t all the battles we’ve fought so far like that?

Moreover, his life was not the only thing at stake in this game.

Relationships built over a short period of time.

But the relationships are deeper than any fate experienced by a man in his thirties.

Those relationships were already too heavy to be weighed on the scales of rational judgment.

“Ugh.”

Dallen stood up. A delicious smell wafted from somewhere.

Now that I knew it, it was almost dinnertime. Judging by the smell, today’s menu seemed to be grilled food.

Suddenly thinking that he wanted to eat Lucia’s grilled tunnel rabbit, the large mercenary walked languidly on the shaking deck.