Gleberon's soldiers and the thugs stood with only a hair's breadth between them. A ticking time-bomb-like tension that could explode at any moment hovered between them. While the thugs who intended to kill the woman to satisfy their desires watched, one of Gleberon's soldiers grabbed the woman's hair. Unable to withstand the strength of the Gleberon soldier, the woman, dragged along, was once again helplessly thrown down and collapsed at the feet of the thugs.
Not long after, a Gleberon soldier who looked like a senior knight pressed the woman, trembling from cold and fear, under his boot. Spitting out the cigarette he had been roughly holding, he began to provoke the thugs. But the thugs only glared at the Gleberon senior knight with fierce eyes; they couldn't bring themselves to charge him. As if unable to bear reality, they clenched their fists tightly and trembled all over.
"Puhahahaha!"
The Gleberon senior knight laughed loudly several times and mocked the thugs.
"Die!"
One of the thugs, unable to bear the provocation any longer, yelled and swung a fist at the Gleberon senior knight. The thug's punch flew like lightning toward the senior knight's face, but the Gleberon senior knight did nothing — he only sneered and quietly watched the incoming fist.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Just as the thug's fist was about to hit the senior knight's face, several gunshots rang out.
"Ku!"
The thug who had swung at the Gleberon senior knight let out a death cry and fell to the cold ground, and the Gleberon senior knight, holding a pistol in one hand, smiled wickedly and forcibly grabbed the terrified woman by the hair and lifted her face.
"Bang!"
When the woman's gaze met those of the refugees, the Gleberon senior knight pulled the trigger toward the sky.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Was that the signal? Gleberon's soldiers, as if they had been waiting for it, quickly disengaged the safeties on their assault rifles and began to pull the triggers.
"Kyaa!"
"Aaaah!"
Gunfire began to fill the city, and the refugees fled like lizards with their tails cut off, running madly. Bullets from Gleberon soldiers' assault rifles did not miss the refugees; one by one they turned them into piles of corpses.
Like the climax of a bloody action movie, the Gleberon senior knight, watching with his arms folded, aimed his gun at the woman's temple. And as if toying with her, he slowly pulled the trigger.
In the end, my thin hope did not come true — everything ended like this. I had no time to feel guilt or conscience while watching and doing nothing. I simply felt nothing at all.
"Bang!"
Just as I was about to take a step as if leaving after a movie had just ended, a gunshot rang out from behind. I doubted my ears. It was a very different sound from the gunfire that had just shattered the silence of the city. It was definitely a sniper rifle shot.
I quickly turned toward the woman. The Gleberon senior knight was lying on the ground. The woman stared blankly at the fallen Gleberon senior knight, trembling.
"Bang!"
Every time Beltis fired the sniper rifle from a place I couldn't see, a Gleberon soldier fell exactly. While Beltis pulled the sniper's trigger, I approached the woman. Perhaps because of the deep, painful wound engraved on her chest, she showed no movement as if forgetting the cold. I took off my battle coat, stained with the smell of blood, and gently draped it over her shoulders.
She couldn't take her eyes off the body of the Gleberon soldier who had tried to kill her. Her frail appearance looked like a helpless prey desperately wishing someone would end her life. But I did not want her to die. Of course, until just a while ago her life or death had not been my concern. But for some reason, a spark of pity awakened the heroism inside me, and I became deeply involved in her survival.
Even though she did not want to leave, under Beltis's covering fire I barely guided her to a safe place.
"I'll be back soon. I promise. Please wait here."
After saying just that one line to her, I turned away. Now what I had to do was kill again. Meaningless, familiar killing. Before I knew it, like a cat licking a cornered rat, I stepped toward Gleberon's soldiers.
"Bang! Bang!"
"Ah!"
"There!"
I wanted to scream from the pain of my wounds. The saving grace was that Beltis had already taken care of more than half of Gleberon's soldiers. I gripped the greatsword with both hands and advanced toward the soldiers. As I moved closer to kill them, one question I absolutely wanted to verify came to mind.
"Why? For what reason do we humanity exist here on the continent of Dravanis?"
Were we merely divided into privileged and non-privileged, rulers and ruled, existing only to kill one another? Or was it the will of the gods that humanity, mistakenly believing themselves at the top of the food chain, worshipped?
I wanted to find out. No — I had to find out. For that, I had to meet our Beldoras Kingdom's saint, Leana. She would surely know all of this. Above all, she had a different 신기 (Celestial Awareness) than mine.
"Aaah!"
"Ugh!"
Could all this really be the will of the gods? With that question, under Beltis's covering fire I began to annihilate the remaining Gleberon soldiers.
"Bang! Bang!"
"Ugh!"
As if a gear that had stopped began to work again, the city was once more engulfed in screams. The incessant screams carved an unhealable scar of guilt deep in my chest, but my consciousness rejected that feeling and, together with my swung sword, the Guidance Sword, I raged even more ferociously.
Why could we not even refuse the Dravanis continent being engulfed in a massive flame? The more I killed, the deeper my pain became. Above all, the reality that those like me — the non-privileged — had to kill each other tore my heart to shreds. In the history of the Dravanis continent, people — the non-privileged like us — had no choice but to sacrifice each other for the privileged. That was an undeniable truth. And I absolutely wanted to find out those historical questions through Leana, the saint.
Like breaking useless branches, I continued meaningless killings and sank into endless pain.
"Aaaah!"
"Bang! Bang!"
"Ugh!"
By the sharp screams ringing in my ears, my mind had already been seized by madness. The more I felt the sensation of pulling the blade out of bodies pierced by my Guidance Sword, the more I became a demon hungry for slaughter. My body, stained with dark red blood, filled the air with a disgusting metallic smell. Finally, what stopped my frenzied killing was a single moment of silence.
The screams that pierced my ears were no longer heard. Feeling a strange stillness, I looked around. The slaughtered corpses and everything soaked in crimson blood came into view, but I didn't care. What mattered most to me now was Beltis approaching me, gripping the sniper and assault rifle tightly.
It had been a long time since I reunited with Beltis.
"Long time no see."