Wandering Mercenary in an Open World

Looking at a bizarre symbol with three black, red, and yellow hands complicatedly intertwined, Luon recalled Amela’s story. He asked.

“Are you a servant of Veldusias or something like that?”

“Do not speak his name in vain.”

The man took off his hand covering his face. Blood was flowing from the cut across the bearded square face. The man murmured, licking the blood with his tongue.

“That’s a terrifying skill. A warrior who can cut thrown spears in midair. I wondered why Salvetor died, and now I know why.”

Luon shrugged his shoulders.

“Are you here for revenge?”

“Me?”

The man laughed harshly.

“I don’t care whether that poor bastard dies or not.”

“Then is it because of this?”

When Luon took the slate tablet out of his arms, the man’s face was immediately drawn to it. Seeing that the man’s gaze, gleaming with desire, fell on the slab, he put it back in.

The man said,

“It’s not something you should have. If you let it go, I will kill you without any pain.”

His face was almost cut in half and he was trembling.

Luon laughed at the man inwardly and raised his holy sword. Seeing that, the man grinned.

“You’ll regret not killing me with the previous attack. You will soon realise that it was your last chance.”

An ominous light emanated from the forehead of the man as he said that. At the same time, his body began to grow larger. Rough hairs sprouted from his bloated, muscular arms that tore his clothes, and sharp claws grew from the tips of his fingers…

Luon rushed ahead.

The gleaming holy sword cut through his thick arm at once. Perhaps the vocal cords were also in the middle of changing, as the man let out a scream that resembled the roar of an animal. Then Luon took a step forward and slammed the man’s chest with his shoulder.

Having lost one of his arms, the man was unable to balance and fell down. Luon climbed on top of the man and swung down the holy sword he was holding with both hands. In the meantime, the man who had been growing in size resisted by swinging his other hand, but twisted his body and opened his mouth wide as if in agony as the holy sword dug deep into his palm. Black flames spewed from under his long snout, which he might have opened to scream. However, Luon, who already had his thigh fixed firmly on the opponent’s side, leaned his back like a bow to avoid the attack, and took advantage of his elasticity and punched with his clasped fists with all his might.

Crash!

His fists crushed the bones and the fragile tissues below them, hitting the floor. Luon, who got up, shaking his fists covered in blood and flesh, looked at the man’s face and said,

“I’m half a monster.”

“Who said I would wait for you to transform?”

He’s a tricky guy when he’s shooting spears from a distance. In this confrontation, however, Luon had nothing to feel uncomfortable about. He was a fool who knew how to transform. Anyone can see that he is trying to get stronger, and only a fool will wait for him to complete his transformation.

“What?”

Luon, who was about to pull out the sword embedded in the man’s arm, opened his eyes wide when a soft light leaked from the stag-shaped pommel.

The light permeated the man’s body and pulled out a dark smoke from it. Soon the light swallowed up the black smoke, and then expanded and seeped back into the pommel. At that moment, a short sentence came up on the inside of Luon, who was holding the sword handle, and settled down.

[Devil’s Nemesis]

At the same time as the new ability was acquired, Luon felt a tickling sensation. It was the process of embodying something that he had never realized.

Luon immediately drew his holy sword. And he closed his eyes. Soon, a subtle light began to leak from the holy sword. He swung his glowing transparent sword toward the floor. A large boulder lying on the floor was sliced like tofu sliced by a knife.

“Yeah, that’s how a holy sword should be like.”

Luon smiled. Like a child who had folded his tongue for the first time, he had realised the sensation of responding to his holy sword. He still had to deliberately boost his concentration, but he knew that this too would naturally be skipped over time.

“Ahhhh!”

At that moment, Luon heard someone shouting from behind. He turned his head to see Kyle running up the hill with his shield up front. When he arrived at the scene, he looked alternately at the corpse lying on the floor and at Luon standing next to it.

“…Is it over?”

“As you can see, how’s it going over there?”

“It was a large beast, so it was easy to kill.”

“Good job.”

Kyle shook his head at the remark.

“It wasn’t me, but it was all Amelia. I stayed far away because I was afraid I might interfere with her magic. I tried to block the spears that flew in, but even that flew towards you.”

The awkward answer came just in time as Amelia came up the hill.

She said,

“That allowed me to focus entirely on killing the beast. You worked hard, Kyle.”

Amela, who tapped Kyle on the shoulder, asked Luon.

“Are you okay?”

“No problem.”

“I can’t believe you took care of it by yourself. That’s great.”

Amelia went straight up to the dead man. Luon scratched his head as she looked at the smashed body.

“He had the same symbol on his forehead as Salvetor… but you can’t see it now.”

Amela laughed silently at the words.

“I know. The beasts just now were artificially modified by the mana of Veldusias. However….”

She withdrew her hand, which had been outstretched towards the body.

“I can’t feel the magic of Veldusias in this man who seems to be this man’s master. No, I’d say it’s too faint. Do you have any ideas?”

Luon tapped his finger on the pommel of the sword and replied.

“This guy sucked in some black smoke; I think it has something to do with it.”

Amelia, staring at the holy sword, nodded her head to say her doubts had been resolved.

“I heard from the villagers that the silver stag symbolises Tibella, but that sword was a real holy sword. Yeah, that’s understandable.”

Luon said, kicking the man’s severed arm.

“From what he said before he died, it seemed clear that he was after the slate. Even with that in mind, I wonder how he knew exactly where we were.”

At the words, Amelia held out her hand.

“Could you give me the slate for a moment?”

“Here.”

Amelia, who received the stone slate that Luon gave, put her palm on the stone slate with a serious expression. So far, it was no different than yesterday, but this time her lips were dry. As if she had burst into a dialect, recited incomprehensible words, her hands gradually began to glow brightly, and a dark red spark popped up from the stone as if she had waited for it. However, Amelia, who already expected it, did not back down and shouted words faster and louder.

“De-Melium-Ascentard!”

A blinding light burst forth. Kyle closed his eyes tightly and turned his head, but Luon frowned and fixed his gaze. White light was seen suppressing the raging sparks.

The light subsided. Amelia stumbled for a moment and swept her hair back. The cold sweat on her forehead and neck allowed him to guess how much power she had consumed. Luon asked.

“Did you find anything?”

Amela nodded.

“Yes, unfortunately it’s not good news.”

She bit her lip without a word, as if organising her thoughts, and turned her head to the two men who were looking at her.

“The power of Veldusias contained in the fragment is more than I expected. Since we know that the shard’s source was the Philosopher’s Stone, it would be no exaggeration to think that it is a relic of Veldusias.”

Amelia shook her head as Luon looked down at the holy sword on his waist without saying a word.

“If you want to break it, it’s best not to do it. Aside from the fact that it’s a fragment of the Philosopher’s stone, if we did, we’d all go crazy on the spot.”

Luon shrugged his shoulders at Amelia’s resolute words.

“Perhaps… Salvetor seems to have merged the source of the power he received from his contract with Veldusias, not in his own body, but in the fragment. It seems to have been that way since then. If I make a guess, the reason he might have done that was because he was trying to amplify the power passed to him through the energy of the fragment.”

Saying so, Amelia held out the fragment. It was a bit embarrassing, but Luon quietly took the fragment. He asked,

“If it’s such a dangerous thing, why didn’t anything happen while I had it? And it’s a little coincidental that I met this guy right after I met you. Did you make any mistakes while touching the slate yesterday?”

Amelia nodded her head.

“···You’re right to say it’s a mistake. I apologise for that. The problem was that I didn’t know what Salvetor had done to the fragment, but I was complacent and was just trying to make sure it was a philosopher’s stone. Because of that, Veldusias’ power leaked out of the fragment. The guy who sensed that energy must have chased us.”

Luon asked without delay.

“So, will this kind of ambush continue in the future? Until we get to the tower?”

“No, not really.”

Amela added with a small sigh.

“I isolated the fragment from reality for a while. It is real, but the essence is in the realm of mirage…”

At her words, Amelia saw the two men looking at her with a soulless expression, and she quickly finished her words.

“It will be easier if you think of it as just sealed.”

“How long will that seal last?”

At Kyle’s worried voice, Amelia answered.

“Well… at least for the time being, it will be fine. But it will become more dangerous as time goes by.”

After those words, silence fell between the three of them. Luon was expressionless, and Kyle scratched his head as if he didn’t know what to say. Amelia.

“It sounds like an excuse, but Luon, even if you had kept holding this thing, something like this would have happened someday. Even if the sword of Tibella had stopped it, the power contained in the fragment must have leaked out somehow. Of course, it’s totally my fault that time has moved forward. There’s no excuse for that. I apologize.”

Luon shook his head.

“No, no need to be sorry. It’s better that it happened sooner.”

‘Amelia seemed to be genuinely sorry that she woke up the power of the fragment, but it was not a bad situation for Luon, who had gained a plausible skill and even realised how to use the power of the holy sword. Isn’t it much better this way than dealing with the devil’s servant without knowing anything?’

Luon, who organised his thoughts, added briefly.

“If we’re done talking, let’s move.”