Wandering Mercenary in an Open World

Last night’s dark clouds were gone, and not a single cloud could be seen in the blue sky today. Only the sun occupied a spot on the blue drawing paper and warmly radiated its presence. It was clear that the weather did not match the ashes of the burnt-out building.

Amelia asked.

“Can we leave now?”

“Oh, yes! I’m coming now!”

Kyle, who was looking at the house burned to ashes, turned around at her words. A large shield hung on his back as he ran straight ahead.

Although not as tall as Luon, Kyle, who has a well-developed body and has a shield on his back, so from his appearance he could be called a warrior.

From his appearance, it would be hard to call him a woodcutter.

Luon smiled and looked up at the sky. He felt as if the warm sunlight on his skin was cheering him up.

It was a sudden journey, but he didn’t mind too much. No, he was rather satisfied. If he could somehow go to the tower and have his fate foretold, he had an expectation that the completion of his story would be a little outlined.

***************

The party stopped by Relyzan to return the horses they had borrowed the day before, and immediately bought two horses. Originally, it was for two people, except for Kyle, who has his own. As they were preparing to leave, the gangs from the back alley rushed out one by one.

They gathered together at the news of the Butcher’s departure, expressing regret. The name of the Butcher in the last few weeks has been a constant topic of conversation for them, and also a joy at the same time. Although Luon himself has stated that it is the most embarrassing nickname he has ever been given.

In the strange experience of going out on the road amid the cheers of the gangs, the group escaped from Relyzan. Kyle didn’t forget to spit out thick phlegm toward the lord’s mansion before leaving.

“Go to hell, asshole.”

As the group entered the highway, Amelia said.

“Let’s speed up while the weather is good.”

With those words, Amelia pulled the reins. Luon and Kyle followed her, who had already begun to speed away with a sound of “hehehe”. ‘Is she more impatient than needed?’

Amelia seemed to have no intention of stopping, perhaps even speeding up. At some point, they got off the highway and continued forward along the distant ridge. The sky was clear and the wind was fresh. In it the horses ran tirelessly. The dynamic movement unique to the four-legged animal was transmitted to the person riding on it. Luon loved the feeling. Except for the throbbing butt.

After running for a while, the party stopped in front of a shallow river.

Kyle, who got off the horse, groaned a little, holding his waist.

“···I almost broke my back.”

While the horses drank and moistened their throats in the river and ate the weeds nearby, the party prepared lunch. Lunch was nothing more than a pre-bought beef jerky, bread, and a few slices of cheese, but anyway, a meal was a meal.

“So where are we going now?”

At Luon’s question, Amelia, who was putting cheese on the bread, stopped.

“···Sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a nice day, so I got distracted.”

She put the bread down for a moment and said,

“We are going to the Clorensis Mountains. The tower is there.”

Kyle, who had been stuffing bread into his mouth, opened his eyes wide.

“Clorensis Mountains? That’s…”

“Right, it’s the mountain range that separates the north from here.”

“Hey, I heard it’s filled with barbarians?”

Amelia gave a mischievous look to Kyle, who had been contemplating.

“I thought I said it won’t be a normal trip.”

Then Luon asked.

“The barbarians aside, the king is about to embark on an expedition to the North. Can we get there without getting involved?”

At those words, Kyle’s face turned gray, and Amelia nodded her head.

“No big problem. Except for the fact that we have to take a little detour thanks to the king who has gone crazy with his desire to conquer.”

“Okay then.”

Kyle murmured in tears as Luon nodded casually.

“What war… Why is everyone aware of it except me?”

“Even a cart-pulling peddler knows . . .”

Without fully answering, Luon got up and kicked Kyle with his feet.

“Ah!”

Kyle, who was about to protest by grabbing his throbbing arm, raised his shield in awe when a spear pierced deep into the place where he had been sitting a while ago.

Amelia also rose quickly from her seat, and she muttered low. A yellowish protective shield appeared around her. She said,

“Kyle, you can protect yourself with that damn shield, so take care of yourself.”

“Alright, I see. What?”

Then a spear flew in once again.

The spear approaching in a parabolic arc strangely did not feel fast, but the moment it began to fall, it fell at a terrifying speed. Luon’s holy sword moved faster than that. When the transparent blade hit the tip of the spear hard, the spear, which had lost its strength, fell to the floor and rolled.

Luon shifted his gaze toward the direction from which the spear flew from. There was someone standing on a small hill by the river. His face was hidden since he was wearing a mask, but his size made it clear that he was a man. Next to the right foot of the masked man, throwing spears were embedded in the ground at regular intervals.

Luon, who was running straight ahead to take away the advantage of throwing from a distance, stopped as an unidentified animal showed its face to the side of the man.

There were two monsters with faces that seemed to have a mixture of bears and wolves. The monster snarled as if it was about to rush through the ground with its ragged forelimbs.

Wheeee!

The monster kicked the ground, moving at the sound of a sharp whistle from under the mask.

Whoosh!

The two beasts, which began to race down the hill, split in two and ran towards Amelia and Luon respectively.

“Stand back!”

Amela shouted at Kyle and reached out her hand.

“He who sustains everything-!”

At the same time as her cry, the monster’s front paws, which had been roughly narrowing the distance, slumped to the floor. As Amelia ran toward the roaring monster, Kyle just rolled his feet, unable to do this or that. Then Luon shouted.

“Kyle, protect Amelia with the shield!”

Confirming that Kyle, who had come to his senses, nodded, Luon turned his head. Before he knew it, the other monster had reached him.

Heh heh!

The monster raised its upper body and slashed with its huge front paw. Luon moved the handle of his holy sword, which he was holding with two hands, to his right hand, and at the same time raised his free left arm in the direction of the front of its paws.

His fists collided with the monster’s forelimbs, and a dull sound resounded. If it were an ordinary person, his arm would have been shattered like a cane, but Luon’s superhuman strength succeeded in stopping the monster’s front paws in mid-air. Blood dripped down his forearm, scratched by the sharp claws, but he didn’t care and moved the sword in his right hand towards the monster’s neck.

The monster’s neck was much tougher than it looked, but the sharpness of the holy sword and Luon’s superhuman strength overcame all resistance and penetrated inside.

In an instant, the monster that had been pierced at its neck lost its strength and fell forward. As Luon, who had been clinging to the monster, was about to draw his sword while supporting its weight on him, a spear that flew from the hill fell.

For a moment, Luon lifted his hand from the handle of his sword and pushed the monster’s corpse in front of him with both hands.

Kwajik!

The spear that came out of the monster’s mouth by breaking its back stopped short in front of Luon’s nose. Luon pushed aside the corpse of the monster whose head had exploded, and drew his holy sword, wiping the blood and flesh from his face with the back of his hand.

“You are annoying.”

Luon, who growled at the masked man on the hill, immediately kicked the ground.

A spear ripped through the air and flew towards him as he narrowed the distance. Because Luon narrowed the distance himself, the spear that flew in a straight line instead of a parabola was twice as fast as before (Tl Note: Relative speed). Then Luon opened his eyes wide.

Luon’s extremely expanded five senses compiled all the information around him into his head.

The air is calm and has a soft grassy scent.The spear that ripped through the air. The direction of the spear blade rotating counterclockwise. A pounding heartbeat. The handle of the holy sword that can be felt vividly.

The high mental power level gathered all the information and presented the flow of time as slow to Luon artificially. In the slowed time he swung his sword. There was no waste of power in the trajectory of his blurred arms.

“What?”

The masked man let out a gasp at the incredible sight of the spear thrown with all his might torn in half. He quickly pulled out the last remaining spear.

Luon, who covered the distance in an instant, drew his sword. His concentration, which was still effective, cut through the opponent’s spear, and the mask behind it was split in half.

“Ahhh!”

Luon, who was trying to chase the man who staggered back, stopped walking in a momentary dizziness. The decelerated time was slowly returning to its original state.

Luon, shook his head vigorously to shake off dizziness, corrected his posture. He said,

“What are you doing? No, you don’t have to tell me.”

On the man’s forehead, who was holding his blood-dripping face with one hand, a symbol of several intertwined hands was blazing.