Hit!
Immediately after hitting Beck's bald head with all my might with the Demon Crusher, his skull and scalp burst at the same time, leaving jets of blood from all kinds of holes.
It was a successful surprise attack. However, as befitted a group that had gone through all kinds of hardships, they were quick to react even though their leader's head was crushed.
The goalkeeper took a step back and widened the distance. «Crazy bastard!»
The hand-to-hand combat quickly approached and blocked my left and right flanks in unison like cockroaches.
¡Wooooom!
I used Giantization and dropped my hammer on the shielded warrior in front of me. Surprisingly, the guy didn't dodge. He only raised his shield according to the trajectory of the hammer and shouted: «Stab!».
So you're going to block me while the others stab me in the side?
When I took a look, the shield had a pretty pretty color.
You are diamonds.
It seemed like he trusted that expensive shield to protect himself, but there were better items than that in the world.
Fight, then.
The hammers and shields collided, producing an explosive sound. The guy's shield was slightly dented, but otherwise fine.
¡Chomp!
The guy holding the shield was dripping blood from all the holes, like a drink can that had been pierced by a punch. That was because I didn't wear Swing right at the time. The effect of the double-numbered object could not be seen either. There was a 500 percent damage increase when using a blunt weapon skill, and soul energy consumption was halved. When knocked down, armor penetration earned a 50% bonus.
Plop.
The guy fell to the ground with his eyeballs protruding excessively from the pressure.
Who is next?
Girl.
When I turned my gaze to the third target, he backed away. Taking a quick look to the side, the goalkeeper was the same. Were they trying to flee? If so, it was a little funny, because I had zero intention of letting them go.
Transcendence.
I quickly recited the command of the active skill acquired with Storm.
Eye of the Storm.
¡Bum!
When I stepped on the ground with my foot, a vortex began to swirl. It was different from the vortex Storm Gush used. This was the effect of Transcendence.
¡Whoooom!
The Eye of the Storm no longer attracted enemies within a five-meter radius. Instead, it attacked a designated target within a sixty-foot radius. I attracted only one in front of me.
"¡Ahhhhhhgh!"
Just like that.
¡Chomp!
So there were already three. But I was not satisfied and looked at the final fleeing target, the archer. If he went too far, he planned to follow him with Salto.
Stab.
Amelia had already taken care of the goalkeeper. She was a very reasonable woman. Whether she liked it or not, since a problem had occurred, she would have judged that it was best to kill and silence everyone.
«Ah, ugh, uh, h-ayuda...»
¡A slap!
Amelia then hit the girl who was next to the goalkeeper, Jencia, in the back of the head and left her unconscious before approaching. Then he said briefly: «That was nonsense».
«Why do they work for the lord of the castle?».
«No, because now we have to kill the child because of you».
...Is this how it works? But was she definitely alive then?
«There were many opportunities to kill them, even if it wasn't today. Even if you didn't step forward, I was going to kill them one day too.»
«...Were you going to do it?»
«I also have responsibility in this incident.»
Responsibility, huh? Ugh, I don't know. My thoughts are all scrambled.
Beeeeeeep.
Although I beat them to death, the tinnitus remained. Instead of feeling refreshed, I felt even more congested.
«Why did you do something so reckless? You said you'd never seen your father's face».
That was true. He even knew that if he beat all those bastards to death right now, that wouldn't be compensation for him. Rather, there was no greater hypocrisy than this.
«Just because». There was no better way to express it. «I just... wanted to do it.»
«...I see.» Surprisingly, Amelia didn't get angry. He just looked at me in silence.
I turned my head to avoid Amelia's gaze. As I did so, I saw Yandel Jarku's body. In addition to the injuries he suffered in battle, his corpse appeared to have been treated like a toy.
I clenched both fists and remembered the brief conversation we had inside the crack.
«Did you say your name is Bjon? You should have a child as soon as possible. Leaving nothing in this world is a sad thing».
«... Is it?»
«Yes, I didn't know that before I had a child either».
Jarku said that a blood child was like another you, and that was such a mysterious thing. After having a son, he began to desire more than just becoming an excellent warrior.
«Hehe, he will become a great warrior».
And so I ran away.
«¡High!»
«¿Eh?»
«Stop, I need to go...»
I realized something profound from that single sentence: that even if I lived by the name of Bjorn Yandel, saved many and became a revered hero in the city, I could not be forgiven. Even if that wasn't my wish.
No matter what they said, the truth didn't change. In the end I was an evil spirit, one who stole this barbarian warrior's only precious wish.
«It seems like you've calmed down a bit». As I stared at Yandel Jarku's corpse, Amelia spoke to me.
He wasn't wrong. They say time is medicine. Before long, the tinnitus subsided and the tremors stopped. Now was the time to think about how to fix the situation I had caused.
I looked at Jencia's unconscious body and said: «Do we really have to kill her?».
«Is there another way? If this girl comes back alive, the lord of the castle will know what we did».
Yes, the slope sea.
When I sighed in frustration, Amelia asked, «Is there any reason not to kill her?».
«She is... still young».
Even as I gave that answer, I had my doubts. Why was he looking for a way not to kill her? After all, he knew the future. After this girl lived a hellish life, she became an adult whose body was taken over by an evil spirit. So it was better to kill her now.
Damn sea.
The curses came freely. What the hell was he thinking? That since she was going to die one day anyway, killing her now didn't change anything? That killing her would rather prove Auril Gavis wrong?
I shook my head firmly. «We can't kill her. Let's find a solution».
«That's not like you».
«What do you know about me?»
You don't even know I'm an evil spirit.
I spoke harshly unintentionally, but I still recognized it deep down. Certainly, if I were normal, I might have made a different decision. But at least today, I didn't want to do it. Today was especially hard. Even if this decision meant fulfilling destiny, he couldn't bear anything else.
«It's like you said. I guess I didn't know you very well. I didn't know you were so weak. If you can't do it, I will».
«For.» I grabbed Amelia's wrist.
«...I advise you to let go.»
«I said we should find another way».
«Another way? There is no safer way than this».
Ugh, honestly! That's why I say we should think of a way together... Oh, sure, that!
I came up with a solution and quickly opened my mouth. «Yes, the pill! Feeding her the medicine created by Noark's alchemist can erase her memories! Did you say they work for the lord of the castle? They may have one!» I spoke with the feeling of a philosopher shouting: Eureka!
Amelia just snorted. «Right now we are in the early stages of when that medicine was developed. There's no way these guys have anything this valuable».
«But, we should at least watch!».
«...Okay, if that makes you give up». Amelia shook my hand. «And I warn you, don't grab my arm again without permission».
Wow, how sensitive.
Then Amelia approached the bodies and began to loot.
Okay, whether the pill comes out or not, that gives me time to think... Oh, wait.
I belatedly realized a mistake. It seemed like Amelia hadn't noticed yet...
This is crazy.
Was it because I lost my mind there? It was a mistake my normal self would never have made.
...I'll deal with this later, when she mentions it first.
I also squatted down, removed the equipment from the corpses, and checked their backpacks. By doing this, I continued to worry about what would happen if the memory elimination pill didn't come out.
«...You're lucky. To think they would have this by now». A pill really came out of his bag.
Once the pill came out, everything went smoothly. Amelia hurriedly put the pill in Jencia's mouth and we waited until Jencia came to.
«A-ahhh! W-what is this...?» After a while, Jencia, who had her hands and feet tied and even an eye patch, regained consciousness. We silently watched his reaction from a distance, judging that an early drug could be defective. «Mr. Beck! Mr. Beck! Help me».
Seeing how he searched for Beck, it was clear that his memory had been erased. So how much of her was gone? We were able to get the information we wanted through Jencia, who was muttering to herself, duly unhinged.
«To think that he would forget everything since he entered the Crystal Cave. Perhaps because it is in the early days, it seems that the performance is excessive compared to mass-produced ones.»
Amelia then approached the agitated Jencia and knocked her unconscious again, and even gave her sleeping pills to prevent her from waking up. Thus the matter was settled.
«The maze will close soon. We just have to stay together for a few hours».
After changing places, we spent time with the sleeping Jencia. After all, a girl couldn't be left alone in the maze. Once the labyrinth was closed, the castle lord's men would take charge of Jencia. They would try to find information about what happened, but she wouldn't remember anything.
«...Um, Amelia. I'm sorry about before». I apologized while we waited, but Amelia just ignored me as if she couldn't hear me.
After he spent a long time in awkward silence, a white light emerged from all directions and the maze closed.
¡Shaaaa!
We didn't have the feeling that the warm sunlight welcomed us or that the fresh air enveloped our bodies, as usual. Only the monotonous underground city welcomed us.
«You're back».
The Plaza de la Dimension was located in the western region of the castle. From here was the difference with Rafdonia. In the overworld, you had to go through a checkpoint at the end of the exploration and exchange mana stones, but here the currency exchange depended on each person.
«Come, let's drink!»
«But what...? Isn't that the guy in Beck's gang? Why is she there alone? Did the others kick the bucket inside?»
«Molares de Hierro will appreciate that news. I was bidding to get to Beck, anyway».
The explorers who came out to the square each dispersed towards their respective destinations and the surroundings became silent. Jencia, who was lying on the ground in the distance, was found by the castle lord's men as expected and transported somewhere.
«We should go too».
«Oh, sure...»
We too left the square and headed to the Melta Mercantile Company, Noark's only merchant company and the clandestine looters' preferred seller to dispose of their equipment.
Unlike the mana stone exchange, where the queue was quite short, people were bustling in front of the merchant enterprise. That was because the mana stones here were money in themselves, so there was no need to exchange them. The exchange of mana stones here was not even exchanged for money anyway, but rather for food or other desired items.
«Hmm, Iron Mask and Emily. The talk of the city these days».
When it was our turn, we took out all the equipment we had been saving. Oh, for reference, we had removed Beck's equipment because if we took it out, they would know we had killed those guys.
«...Did you get all this during this expedition?» As we began to shake the backpacks, the worker's expression became more and more expressionless. Although Noark was full of looters, I figured it wasn't common for someone to steal so many things. «This will take some time. Could you please wait?».
Afterwards, the employee called several more appraisers from the commercial company and they began to settle the accounts together. After about ten minutes, the appraisal came out. We had twenty-one rank 4 mana stones, one rank 5 mana stone, and seven rank 7 mana stones. Ugh, I couldn't even get an idea saying it like that.
«How much is it according to the Rafdonian exchange office?»
«Oh, I guess you're not familiar since it's your first time at Noark. According to last month's exchange rate, the total is 21.57 million stones».
I had heard it from Amelia, but these guys were really thieving bastards. No matter how low quality the equipment was and despite not including any subspace or expandable backpack, this was a steal. «Sold in the overworld, it would be worth more than seventy million stones».
«Yeah. It would be worth it, in the other world.»
So you have an attitude, huh?
«Alright. Emily, let's take this and go.»
«Does that mean you won't sell?»
«Yes, I have no intention of delivering it at this ridiculous price.»
«If you say so».
We picked up the equipment and left. The staff seemed disappointed, but didn't stop us. They probably thought that in the end we would have no choice but to sell it to them.
«Then let's go to the accommodation first».
Leaving the merchant company, we headed to the inn where we were staying. Then we washed in turns and sat face to face to talk.
«Since we passed by the merchant company to show our looted equipment, the lord of the castle will show his interest». This was why we went there with equipment we had no intention of selling. In reality, the lord of the castle was practically the owner of the merchant company. The blood-stained equipment and identification tags and the numerous evidence of our looting would reach their ears.
«Then we just have to wait until then».
«Yes, for now».
After chatting about a few more topics, we put on our daily clothes and lay down on the beds. «If we're done talking, I'll go to sleep first. I'm tired».
Of course, sleeping was not easy. As she continued to toss and turn in bed, Amelia suddenly said, «Are you sleeping?».
"No. ¿Por qué? ⁇
«Suddenly I wanted to ask you something».
One question, huh? I guessed what it could be. Looking back, she must have remembered that mistake from before.
«Question».
«How did you find out about Amern's Blessing?»
Oh, so that was the name of that medicine. It was the first time I learned it, but I answered without proving it. «Oh that? You told me to eat it when we met at the inn».
«But I didn't tell you it was made by an alchemist from Noark».
«I was curious to know what it was, so I captured a Noark scout and had him tell me before I killed him».
What was that tone? I was getting anxious.
«Barbarian, first of all, the name of that pill is Blessing of Lethe. Not Blessing of Amern».
¿Eh?
«My prediction was correct.» Soon, a shadow loomed over the bed where he lay. When I slowly looked back, I could see Amelia standing in front of me, looking down. «You didn't lose your memory then».
It was checkmate. It even seemed like he was still playing innocent despite being aware of my mistake so that I would let my guard down. What kind of person was so manipulative?
I sighed and coldly admitted it. «Yeah. Somehow, I was the only one who was okay».
What could I do if the medicine was defective? What was I going to do about it? At the time I hid this fact, worried that he would come to kill me if he found out, but there was no need for that anymore, right? Noark's existence had also been exposed in the city.
Yeah, what do I have to hide now?
When I thought about it, it was nothing to worry about. I quickly raised my upper body and looked intently and confidently at Amelia, as if telling her to speak up if she had anything to say. But what was this now? His look was strange. Should I say I was feeling a little cold?
«...Why are you looking at me like that?».
Amelia coldly answered my question. «Bjorn Yandel, only evil spirits do not lose their memory with that medicine».
Ah, uh, um... maldita sea.
I didn't know that.