Chapter 24 - Counterattack (2)
It was only natural for Arges to come running in a state of panic.
After all, he had heard the unmistakable sound of hundreds of gunshots, ‘rat-tat-tat-tat.’
Because none of his subordinates had guns.
To be honest, Arges probably had braced himself for this to some extent.
He must have had a faint guess about this result, even while thinking, ‘no way.’
“Huh.”
Even as he stopped in surprise, instead of letting out a pathetic scream like ‘Uwaaah.’
It wasn't strange for him to just stop, letting out a sound like air escaping.
“Kang Woon, you bastard….”
“Yeah. Kang Woon, that's my name. The name of the person who will cast you into hell.”
Inwardly, I had hoped that he would lose his reason and charge at me.
I hoped he would fail to accept the fear of another impending defeat and rush at me like a beast.
I hoped I could plant a bullet in his head during the remaining 3-minute grace period.
“Wouldn't it have been better if you had just accepted the offer from the beginning?”
“This bastard!!”
However, Arges didn't easily charge at me despite my repeated provocations.
Even though the flesh and bone beneath his clothes trembled with anger like an aspen tree.
Even though he shouted with intense fury in his voice, as if pouring it out from his abdomen.
A cold ruthlessness still lingered in his eyes.
A will to kill me, but also a will to not get excited, was contained within them.
In that case, there was only one thing for me to do.
Finish it quickly, before the guns disappeared.
“Here I go!”
I extended my arms toward Arges, who was still in a guarded stance, and aimed both muzzles at him.
I thought if I just kept firing as time allowed, he might die.
I hoped he would die.
“Keuk!”
“Here it comes, you punk!”
Arges held his Morningstar close to his body, assuming a defensive stance.
And I immediately started firing rapidly at his head.
He raised the head of the Morningstar to defend his own head.
The cheerful sound of ting, ting rang out as bullet and Morningstar, iron and iron, clashed.
However, neither side gave way.
I changed my target.
Not his completely covered head, but toward his torso.
His vision was obscured by the Morningstar, so he wouldn't even notice me turning the direction of my guns.
Of course, as long as he had a ‘coin’ like me, the probability of killing him in one go was low.
No, rather, if the coin landed on heads, it was highly likely that I would be in danger.
A protective barrier of the same form as mine would be created, and I would lose my balance.
The impending timer would make the guns disappear, and I would face him with my bare hands.
From there, it's another battle of probabilities.
A battle of luck, fought with the momentum already against me.
Even so, I had no choice but to do it.
That's how people are.
Sometimes, you have to jump even when you know it's a cliff ahead.
Sometimes, you have to stubbornly twist your body even in a situation where failure is certain.
So I fired.
Bang, I fired.
I fired towards his empty chest.
Hoping his coin wouldn't land on heads.
Hoping the flow of stopped time would quickly return to normal.
“Keo-eok!?”
But what I heard was not the sound of a coin being flicked, nor the sound of time stopping.
It was a scream.
Not mine, but Arges's scream.
A scream from being shot.
I wondered if it wasn't a fatal wound, so the skill didn't activate.
I wondered if the bullet had failed to damage him.
But when I lowered my gun and looked, he was bent over, letting out a painful groan.
He had even broken his defensive stance and was clutching the gunshot wound, pouring out blood.
There was only one thing I could know.
He didn't take out the coin.
“Uh, uh? Damn it!”
Caught off guard by the unexpected situation, I ended up missing a precious opportunity.
I failed to seize the moment and deliver a finishing blow.
The 3 minutes were faster than I thought.
The pistols turned to ash and scattered into the air.
I had given Arges time to grit his teeth and get up.
“Cough, …Ha! Was there a time limit?”
“Tch!”
Even so, there were plenty of weapons lying around anyway.
The weapons of Arges's subordinates who died around me.
Killing an injured guy like that would be a piece of cake.
So I casually picked up a Halberd lying on the floor and swung it straight at his neck.
I thought this was finally the time to put an end to this ill-fated connection.
But.
The sound I heard when I felt the reaction of striking down the Halberd.
Wasn't a slice sound.
It was a clang sound.
“Keuk, don't get cocky!!”
He blocked it.
He blocked the Halberd's blade.
And with just one arm.
Even in an awkward stance, kneeling on one knee, he managed to block that attack.
He blocked it simply by raising one arm and intercepting its trajectory.
Was that all?
He pushed the Halberd away with his arm, breaking my balance.
I was sent flying far away with the Halberd and fell flat on my back.
“Die!!”
Arges didn't miss that opening.
Staggering, he somehow got up.
He flew at me with a speed that made his injuries seem trivial, scraping the ground and swinging his Morningstar upwards.
And just before the vicious iron ball of that Morningstar was about to directly hit my side.
A ‘skill’ activated.
I could tell by the world turning gray.
I could tell by the coin materializing on my thumb.
It meant that time had stopped for a judgment.
I flicked my thumb.
With a ting sound, the coin flew up.
It began to spin round and round in the air.
I was no exception, so I couldn't move in this stopped world.
I couldn't open my mouth to shout something like ‘land on heads.’
And naturally, Arges also showed no reaction in this stopped time.
The guy who had been taunting me when he was the one flipping the coin was now completely frozen.
The guy who had uttered things like ‘It's heads,’ was also frozen with a distorted expression.
Wait.
Strange.
He was clearly, when he threw the coin to kill Maletta.
Didn't he say something in the stopped time?
Unlike me right now?
And also, didn't he definitely rummage through his pocket and throw a coin?
Unlike me, whose coin was automatically generated by a skill?
If my guess was correct.
I might still have a chance.
But unlike my observation, the momentum was not yet on my side.
Tails.
The coin I tossed landed on tails.
And without a moment to prepare, I felt an indescribable shock and pain.
“Keo-eok!!”
My body, sent flying into the air, plummeted and rolled on the ground.
The sky spun.
It spun round and round.
A wave of nausea washed over me, and the colors of the world disappeared.
The journey ends.
[ Equipment Notification ]
The wearer has sustained a fatal injury!
The effect of the +12 Rekenhate-made Pants activates!
Emergency Revival : When the wearer's health is above 0% and below 10%.
Restores 30% of health, for one time only.
The equipment's durability decreases by 10.
But the goddess of fortune hadn't completely abandoned me yet.
Even if she had turned her head, she hadn't lost interest.
“Gasp, heok, hooo….”
I didn't know exactly what 30% health was, but.
It certainly hurt, but it was enough to be able to walk.
“It's not over yet, get up!!”
“You're quite worked up.”
Even so, I couldn't rest easy.
Arges, that guy, was still standing there with his eyes wide open.
In that brief moment, he had torn his clothes and staunched the bleeding on his chest.
This was good.
Even if he had recovered from a fatal wound, there was no need to be impatient.
I just had to think of it like chess.
One attack, one defense.
If I endured the moment, an opportunity to attack would surely come.
Having been on the offensive until now, it was time to take a defensive stance.
Unfortunately, I didn't even have my original weapon, the greatsword, to take a fully defensive stance.
I had left it behind for the sake of acting, and for a faster escape.
Thanks to that, I senselessly grabbed the weapons of the subordinates scattered around and swung them wildly.
Of course, it wasn't an attack I thought would actually work.
“You think you can stop me with weapons like that!”
What he said was true.
The subordinates' weapons I held were shattered one by one as they entered the trajectory of the Morningstar.
Regardless of whether it was a shield, a sword, or a spear.
“For dragging me to this point, I will grant you the most brutal death.”
Arges, who had swaggeringly deflected all those weapons, seemed to be pleased with the situation.
I could tell from his expression, smiling with the corners of his mouth torn wide, even while panting with anger.
“You're quite angry.”
“I'll tear you to shreds!”
Even when I scoffed at the sight, his voice only grew louder.
As if to keep his word, he raised his Morningstar high into the sky.
He jumped towards me, over the pile of corpses.
“You don't have a coin anyway!”
He delivered an attack that left no room for doubt, as if certain of his words.
An attack so large that if blocked, it would surely be countered.
But an attack so powerful that if it landed directly, it would surely kill the opponent.
Those words dug into my heart, but.
It also meant that he ‘hadn't noticed at all’ the coin that was tossed earlier.
No.
In fact, it didn't even dig into my heart.
Arges, who floated in the air and cast a shadow over me, immediately.
Swung his Morningstar at my head.
“That luck of yours is over, die!!”
Unlike before when he aimed for my torso, if I got hit this time, I would really die.
Unlike my upper or lower body, I wasn't wearing any equipment on my head.
If I got hit by that, I would explode like a firecracker.
As if to prove my thoughts right, time stopped again, and a coin was generated.
I flicked the automatically generated coin with my thumb, and the coin floated into the air.
Please.
I already got tails once.
If I get tails here, my insurance becomes meaningless.
Fate made some kind of expression, and it answered with the face of the coin.
Are you heads, or are you tails.
“Uuk?!”
The result was splendidly heads.
A dull thud sound was heard, but.
The Morningstar had hit empty air, and it was his body that was being pushed back.
Arges's body was pushed back significantly by the generated shield, just like in the village.
Taking that opportunity, I was able to escape the difficult pile of corpses and run.
I threw my body, picked up the greatsword that had fallen far away, and was able to assume a defensive stance.
“No way, I definitely broke your coin!?”
As if he couldn't understand this situation.
He just shouted desperately even as I assumed a defensive stance.
With a dumbfounded expression as if saying, there was no such variable.
As he said.
Certain that he had broken my only ‘variable,’ the coin.
I don't think Arges is stupid.
Because that was my ‘insurance.’
A while ago.
The ‘item’ for the trick I had asked Maletta to bring.
It was a coin-shaped chocolate.
That chocolate, wrapped in gold foil, looked like nothing but a coin from a distance.
Arges had happily crushed it, and I had played along, pretending to be flustered.
Thanks to that, he believes my coin is gone.
It means he doesn't know everything about my skills.
And that means the ability he received is, in the end, incomplete.
The coin for the ‘Returner's Privilege’ skill and the coin for the quest are different.
He doesn't know about the former.
If he doesn't know everything about the information.
Wouldn't the ability be the same?
It was worth testing.
“Ha, have I finally gained the upper hand?”
“The upper hand? Did you forget I still have a coin?”
As I aimed my greatsword and shouted triumphantly.
As if he couldn't lose, he slowly approached me and shouted confidently.
But I was planning to exploit the loophole in that ‘confident’ statement.
It's not good to explain at length, ‘why didn't you throw the coin earlier.’
I have to push forward quickly as if I'm certain.
“Of course, it's to my advantage. Your coin is a fake, isn't it?”
I raised one corner of my mouth, feigning confidence, and tested the waters.
And as if that reaction was the right answer.
His feigned composure crumpled in an instant, but.
“What if it is?”
It was literally for a moment.
He quickly returned to his original expression full of anger.
He came at me, swinging his Morningstar around, as if to say it wasn't a lie that he didn't even care.
“Still, the momentum is with me!”
Arges, who kicked off the pile of corpses and flew at me again with a declaration.
He must have been weakened from his injuries too.
So this time, I thought I could block it sufficiently and raised my greatsword.
“Keok!?”
However, the impact had only gotten stronger, not weaker.
With my numb arm, the most I could do was raise the greatsword and assume a defensive stance again.
I couldn't even dream of a counterattack.
He was injured, but so was I.
It meant the conditions themselves were similar, except for the coin.
And in terms of basic physical strength, there was still a difference.
“Die, die, die!!”
The sound of hitting the greatsword didn't stop.
The sound of frantically banging on an iron door, clang, clang, continued.
It felt like my shoulder would dislocate from the shock of the relentless assault, as if to completely break it.
Still, it was bearable.
I was at a disadvantage, but I wasn't being pushed back.
If we went into a defensive battle like this, I didn't know what variables might arise.
For example, he might make a large move out of anger like before, and I could aim for that.
But that fantasy doesn't come true.
Suddenly, the thud sound from beyond the greatsword stopped.
A silence enveloped us for a few seconds, making the fierce attack from a moment ago seem colorless.
I wondered what was happening and slightly lowered the blade of my greatsword to check the front, but.
That was a misjudgment.
I shouldn't have relaxed my grip on the greatsword.
A hand suddenly shot out from the front.
The hand that shot out grabbed the blade of the greatsword.
“This is crazy…!”
He intends to settle this completely.
Trusting that his equipment is superior to mine.
Instead of engaging in an endless contest, he intends to settle the match with superior physical strength.
I struggled to not have my greatsword taken away, but.
I couldn't shake off the physical strength of the guy who was now grabbing the blade with both hands.
From the moment I first relaxed my strength, the outcome of this tug-of-war was already decided.
The greatsword was taken away and thrown aside.
Without a moment to regain my posture.
Aiming for that opening.
“Die!!”
“Keok!!”
Arges's fist rushed in.
The rushing fist accurately struck my nose.
And I had no choice but to clutch my nose and fall flat on my back.
Arges got on top of me and began to pummel my face with his fists.
Head, jaw, temple, he hit me indiscriminately.
Even when I belatedly covered my face with my arms, the shock was transmitted just the same.
“Die, die, die, die…!”
“Keok, heok…!”
“Pay the price with your whole body for daring to challenge me, Arges…!”
The attack didn't stop there.
Arges, who had muttered almost like a madman, withdrew his fists.
He extended that withdrawn arm again and began to strangle my neck.
The pain of suffocation washed over me.
“Keuk, kaak….”
“Die, die, die…!!”
Even when I tried to grab his wrist and pull it off, I couldn't shake it.
The difference in physical strength was more significant than I thought, and his arm was planted almost like a giant tree.
Saliva dripped from my unclosed mouth, and groans escaped from my throat.
But Arges didn't stop.
He just looked down at me, smiling with the expression of a complete madman.
“I… am….”
“Yes, that's how you die in vain. You die helplessly like that!!”
Am I really going to die here as he says?
Am I going to die helplessly like this, unable to resist?
He taunts me, laughing as if I can't answer.
I don't avoid Arges's eyes.
Without avoiding his eyes, I answer.
“I, am! Kang Woon of Bad Fortune…!!”
“What…?!”
Because of your words and actions just now, the momentum has shifted to me.
I didn't struggle to break free from Arges's arm like I had been.
Rather, I lowered the arm I had been holding.
As always, I put my hand in my pocket.