The Ogre in the Pocket (4)
Divine power emerged from the equipment, appearing as golden energy covering the armor and shield of the man in front of the group.
Before entering the pit of evil spirits, they thought that they prepared enough to deal with the ghost race monsters.
Of course, even with such reinforced equipment, it was difficult to stop the Ghost Horse’s attacks.
Quaduk!
The glowing shield was crushed effortlessly.
The Ghost Horse is a risk-3 monster and could decimate a city alone.
“Anything… Find a way!”
The man with the crushed shield screamed, but the six hunters who stood behind him were standing helplessly, unable to do anything.
“Huh!”
The only thing left for the man was his body armor.
The Ghost Horse poised for another attack.
The hunters behind shouted at the man.
“Don’t stand still; you have to step back!”
Nevertheless, he did not retreat.
“Kyaaaaah!”
He threw himself against the Ghost Horse.
If he dodged, he knew the Ghost Horse would rush into their group, and the hunters behind him will be killed.
Wouldn’t it be better if his life was lost in saving several other lives?
“Sir!”
Someone’s voice came through the screams of the tumultuous evil spirits.
Are you trying to stop my sacrifice?
The man laughed bitterly, and at the last moment, he turned his head to see the faces of his colleagues.
And.
“Cadet Jeong Si-woo, you can’t go!”
What was seen the next moment was the face of a young man who followed him from the rear.
It is the face of Jeong Si-woo, surrounded by a dazzling light.
‘What… is that?’ The man stared.
* * *
I wanted to save it. I was thinking about using it for a more important situation.
But looking at the hunters’ helpless situation, they will surely soon be wiped out.
The letters on the large white roulette in front of me caught my attention.
Activate! I gave the command.
The roulette started to spin.
There were lots of names of various beings on it, and they all sounded grand.
[Seven Sins]
[Demon Lord]
[The Man Who Made the Sky]
.
.
.
The roulette can help you overcome risks that you cannot cope with.
Such as the dangerous situation we’re on now.
By using the roulette, aside from getting out of danger, I defeat the Ghost Horse and take the treasure it possesses.
Chk chk chk chkk…
The roulette seemed that it would take a long time before it stopped.
I looked at the wheel and slowly pulled out my sword.
[Engraved Blue Forge No. 39]
[The sword has divine power.]
[The sword’s durability increases by 700%.]
[Mana infused to the sword is converted to divine power.]
With various preparations, the imprint on the training sword was changed in advance.
Because there I have not enough training, the magic flowing through my body was very weak.
The power from the sword wrapped around my whole body, and I felt my senses go sharper.
“Cadet! What are you planning to do?”
Kang Joon-ho asked as he saw my movement.
However, I did not respond to him and moved forward without hesitation.
The smell of blood and dust.
The screams of evil spirits and scared hunters.
The sounds of metal, the sounds of magic attacks hitting monsters, arrowheads hitting monsters and walls all around me.
The voices of hunters and Kang Joon-ho calling my name.
The look on the faces of hunters, full of desperation and despair.
The Ghost Horse and its wild movements.
With the sharper sense, all the sounds, smells, and images were very clear.
[Casting ‘Balstaya Imperial Fencing’]
I processed them all and started to cut down the monsters near me.
With equipment enhanced by divine power, and swordsmanship that has long surpassed the cadet level…
With knowledge of monsters gained after studying for decades…
It was all infused with my sword, and I erased evil spirits from the world one by one.
Monsters of the ghost race started to melt as my attacks connected.
Nevertheless, I could not take on the overwhelming number of ghost monsters all around us.
Their sheer number alone would have been enough to wipe out the group, even if there was no Ghost Horse here.
And then,
Chkk!!!
The roulette wheel, which had been spinning hard, finally stopped.
It pointed to a golden cell, with the words:
[The Hero Who Drives Away the Darkness]
At the same time, I felt strange power filling my body.
I heard a strange voice inside me: “Where there is darkness, I am always there.”
The pale blue mana wrapping my body gradually increased its brightness and became pure white, symbolizing the sacred.
The power bloomed weakly at the beginning, then exploded, swallowing up my whole body.
[The Hero Who Drives Away the Darkness]
[Rating: D]
“Kiee eh eh!”
The white glow that burst out of my body thoroughly swallowed the roaring evil spirits near me.
Ghosts that were touched by the sparkling particles began to melt.
“As long as I am here, the night will not come.”
When I looked down, I could not find a trace of the sword I was holding earlier.
Instead, there was a glowing cross on my hands.
[You were lucky. You got the right one for the situation you’re in.]
The traveler laughed a little.
“I didn’t know it’s going to be this powerful,” I said as I looked around.
The hunters were all staring at me with mouths wide open.
Wielding the glowing cross, I pondered what excuse I could tell them later…
* * *
‘How… what?’
Kang Jun-ho, an Explorer’s Eye hunter, couldn’t believe his eyes.
The situation unfolding before him was too unrealistic.
“A second-grade student at the academy… How?”
The boy, who was only a cadet, was covered in white light and thoroughly destroyed the monsters that had put the whole team in despair.
Was it a reawakening of the ability of the divine power line?
No, the swordsmanship being shown was also exceptional. Surely, it was not just a divine power awakening.
Kang Jun-ho’s head was in a mess.
Admittedly, the sight of the boy jumping into the waves of monsters and tearing them apart was thrilling.
Kang Joon-ho realized that it was not just him – the hunters around him were watching the boy with hearts beating fast.
This boy was more powerful than the hunters around him.
And how long has it been?
Kuung!
Hundreds of evil spirits, including the giant Ghost Horses, were completely destroyed.
Without even a single scratch, Jeong Si-woo casually walked out of the battlefield.
Without even a single shot, Jeong Si-woo walked out of the battlefield with a casual face.
Still staring at the boy, the hunters didn’t ask questions such as “Have you been hiding your powers?” or “Did you lie about being a student?”
Their messages were the same: “Thank you.”
Above all feelings of awe and shock, there was gratitude that their lives have been saved.
It was not polite to harass the person who saved you with pointed questions.
Of course, Kang Joon-ho, his guide, had to speak to him.
“Cadet Si-woo, I want to talk to you once the attack is complete.”
He turned to his colleagues, “Please don’t share what happened to other people. The cadet may have reasons for hiding his abilities, so I’d appreciate if you keep your mouths shut.”
“Certainly,” the hunters nodded their agreement.
“Excellent. We’ll make the decision whether to get the rewards for the achievement or to reveal that it was the cadet’s work once I’m done talking with him.”
Suddenly, Joon-ho noticed something weird and called out.
“Cadet Jeong Si-woo, what are you doing?!”
The cadet was squatting in front of the Ghost Horse’s corpse, poking his hand inside the body, and seemed oblivious to Joon-ho’s question.
“Ah, found it.” The cadet stood up, smiling, as he pulled out something filled with blood.
Kang Joon-ho and the other hunters were confused, what did Jeong Si-woo find?
They couldn’t understand why he smiled like that.
* * *
“… Thus, Cadet Jeong Si-woo, he can freely participate in any Explorer’s Eyes attacks in the future, and support the warriors at a certain salary.”
“Well… I’m glad.”
When Kang Joon-ho’s story was over, the man nodded and opened his mouth.
“But will that be a big salary? Give him a little more. The incident could have been a big blow to the Explorer’s Eyes if he wasn’t there. Don’t think of him as a cadet when you write up his contract, think of him as a hunter that helped us, okay?”
“Ah… Yes. Okay!” Joon-ho answered.
“By the way, it’s very interesting.”
The man turned to the papers again and muttered.
“The cadet said that he was able to exert such powers by awakening the abilities of Divine power line, and he was lucky enough to be able to bring out powerful magic, and usually, he was unable to produce such strong powers…”
“Yeah. He didn’t want to get too much attention, so he said that the achievement could be turned into the Explorer’s Eye, and he said that he simply would like a proper relationship with the company along with an appropriate salary.”
“That’s not like how a cadet speaks. Listening to that, I would believe that a high-ranking player was hiding his ability and pretending to be a cadet… I want you to investigate him.”
The man’s sharp eyes glowed, and Kang Joon-ho faced him and immediately bowed his head.
It was burdensome to look at that face.
Just looking at it, his hands were turning cold and sweaty.
It was the face of one of the world’s leading hunters.
A real monster compared to other humans in terms of power.
The man murmured, and Joon-ho struggled to hear him.
“I need to find out more about this Jeong Si-woo. I’m going to go crazy just by talking.”
There was a little madness in the voice, as it added.
“I think I have the child I want to have in a long time.”
* * *
“It’s really good for me right now”, I thought.
When the attack was over, I tried hard to give Kang Joon-ho excuses. Fortunately, I easily tricked him, and he believed me.
“I told him that I awakened with Bing’s ability. It’s quite a common ability.”
[Why did you choose Bing’s ability? There is a big difference between the ability of Akasic Record and Bing…]
“I chose it because there is a big difference. Less suspicious.”
[Just honestly, is there a problem? I’d love to see someone else appreciate your abilities properly.]
“We’ll come to that later.”
It is not yet the time to show off my strength.
I took the thing I found in the body of the Ghost Horse and laid it down gently in the corner of the room.
I have a good relationship now with Explorer’s Eyes and have obtained the item I wanted.
I was able to make appropriate excuses about my ability and reversed what could have been a tragic incident at the pit of evil spirits.
Can it get any better than this?
I smiled and was satisfied with the results of my actions so far.
Only
And then…
Someone knocked on the door outside.
“Hey, Jeong Si-woo. Are you here now?”
I heard Lee Jin-woo’s voice.
“You didn’t participate because you applied for going out? I went for you, and I picked up the end-of-month exam. Open the door.”
End-of-month exam.
I had totally forgotten about it.
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