Chapter 25 - Counterattack (3)
Even though I had insurance.
Even though I had the variable of the ‘Returner's Privilege’ skill.
I couldn't be at ease.
What came next was what mattered anyway.
To be honest, it was true that I was anxious.
I had insurance set up until then, but it was insurance for ‘survival,’ not for ‘victory.’
The means to defeat him had not yet been clearly decided.
Reducing his subordinates ultimately reduced the possibility of defeat, not increased the possibility of victory.
“Hey, Quest.”
[Did you call?]
In the end, whether the method was simple brute force, or some other way.
I needed a ‘method’ to defeat Arges directly.
As I was now, I could only endure; I couldn't defeat Arges.
Because there was a difference in physical strength, equipment, and combat sense.
Of course, there was the additional reward I received from the last quest.
The method of using the ‘Returner's Privilege’ opportunity, which could be used regardless of the situation.
But I had another use for this.
“Is it possible for me to injure him with my current equipment?”
[It would be possible if you had the pistols, but if you used the pistols to take care of the subordinates as planned.]
“Does that mean it's impossible?”
So I asked the Quest about a way to ‘win’ against Arges.
The Quest said I could beat him with the Rekenhate pistols, but I couldn't do that.
The pistols were indispensable for solving the task of dealing with all the subordinates.
“As expected, it's all about the gear here too. I did some grinding with luck because I hated that.”
This was the reality I lived in now, but in that aspect, it was the same as the system of ‘Dargnes Online.’
The good weapon I had obtained through a loophole was the only means to defeat him.
After all, I had no weapon of my own, having been dropped here with nothing.
In the end, there was no other way but to endure somehow and come up with a wit that even I didn't know I had right now.
Just like how I had somehow overcome crises with ‘luck’ in the game.
Believing that I was still Kang Woon of Bad Fortune.
I thought it was ridiculous, but I also thought there was no other way.
[However.]
That thought stopped at that word.
It stopped at the phrase that was updated as if to give hope.
[If his stamina is drained, and his equipment is also broken.]
“Then what?”
[He's no different from being bare-bodied. Though it would be a different story if he applied a ‘body modification option.’]
The Quest window displayed some interesting information to me.
In other words, equipment that was damaged due to a drop in durability had no effect.
It was a roundabout way of saying that if he had no equipment, even I could win sufficiently.
“In the game, you could apply that from Grade 4 onwards. Like ‘Rune Engraving’ in other games.”
[That is correct.]
It was actually like that in the game too.
A grade was ultimately nothing more than a cut-off that ‘allowed one to wear good equipment.’
It was from Grade 4 that stats increased with the grade itself.
“Still, it's hard to reduce the durability to 0. It's not like I can check his durability either.”
But even so, it was still disadvantageous.
As I said, I had no way of checking his equipment's durability.
It was also questionable whether I could even hit the equipment enough to reduce its durability.
In the first place, equipment durability only decreases when hit by an attack higher than the equipment's defense power.
But it was doubtful whether my greatsword had a higher attack power than his equipment.
He would be wearing equipment befitting a Grade 5, but my equipment would not be.
[This place is different from the game. In the game, it must be destroyed only when the durability becomes 0, but not here.]
“What does that mean?”
[It's not damage only when the equipment is completely broken. A hole being pierced is also equipment damage.]
To my question, the Quest window offered another escape route.
I didn't need to destroy all the equipment; I just needed to make a small hole.
If I could aim for that, it would be possible to inflict damage.
For example, if I could quickly deal with the subordinates and wound him anywhere.
If I could buy a moment of the pistol's grace period and make a bullet hole.
If I could make a hole in even one piece of his equipment.
“Heh.”
It would be my victory.
As I was being choked, I looked at his chest.
I looked at the chest that had been pierced by the gun earlier, now staunched with a torn piece of cloth.
“I am…!”
He probably thought he had gained the upper hand by choking me.
But from beginning to end, the momentum had always been on my side.
If he hadn't approached, or had ignored the subordinates, or hadn't known about my ability.
If Namyr hadn't hidden his location or betrayed him.
If Arges hadn't attacked the village in the first place.
I would not have been able to reach this victory now.
All of these possibilities were ‘good fortune.’
So instead of giving up.
I could twist the corner of my mouth up and say proudly.
“Kang Woon of Bad Fortune…!!”
“What…?!”
And to end this situation, I reached for the ‘weapon’ I had been keeping hidden for the past few days.
When I first came to this world.
The weapon I had kept preciously without throwing it away after the battle with the Dark Dog, I took it out of my pocket.
The weapon's name was ‘Dirt Spoon.’
A chopstick made of sharply honed dirt, like a part of my own self.
I thrust it straight towards Arges's chest.
Through the hole in his clothes, no longer protected because it was pierced by a bullet, I gouged the wound.
Grit your teeth, Arges.
My Dirt Spoon is going to hurt a little.
I put strength into my arm and thrust the chopstick in.
And it seeped into my arm with the heavy sensation of cutting through meat.
“Kkeuhaaaaaaaaaaak!!”
A scream so cheerful that it seemed the sensation was not a lie was heard.
It followed the thwack sound of skin being pierced.
Blood that was not my own poured over my body.
“Euheok, kkeuaaaaaaaaa!!”
He couldn't maintain his chokehold on my neck and rolled off to the side.
He clutched his chest as if in pain and screamed like a four-legged beast.
And only then could I, too, escape from that brutish grip.
I could exhale the breath of life.
“Cough, keok, heok, heok….”
“Heueok, heueooooo…!!”
Unlike my leisure as I caught my breath and slowly got up, he could not.
He writhed in pain, flailing his hands in vain to pull out the dirt chopstick.
However, the sharply honed chopstick did not come out easily.
Rather, being made of dirt, its durability was weak, so if he applied force half-heartedly, it would just break.
I could tell just by seeing Arges break the chopstick while trying to pull it out.
“Keoheok, heooo-eok… you, you…!!”
I walked up to Arges, who was screaming and writhing like that.
I looked down at him and sneered.
I twisted the corner of my mouth and smiled, baring my teeth.
Arges still looked up at me, groaning in pain.
His eyes were filled with venom and hatred, and he clearly had no intention of giving up.
He clutched his chest, yet staggered to his feet to face me.
“Heu, heuhahahaha…! You think you can beat me just by doing that!?”
“…….”
“The fundamental difference between you and me is severe. No matter what tricks you pull, you can't beat me!”
He forced a laugh, and to prove his words were not a lie, he approached my side again.
In response, when I took out the other chopstick from my pocket, he flinched and stopped moving.
“Keuk…!”
“What, you scared?”
“You damn bastard!!”
He was so scared of a single chopstick that he couldn't think of charging, and simply assessed the situation.
He became extremely passive, only preparing to counter my attack.
The tendency to charge for victory, to abandon his weapon and try to kill with his bare hands, had long since disappeared.
It meant the momentum and morale were completely on my side.
Because he was injured and wary, the distance between us had widened like this, allowing me to use my ‘final move.’
It was time to put an end to this tiresome two-day fight.
I took a step back and spread both arms slightly to the sides.
I shouted with a sternness, like a teacher lecturing students.
“Arges, how many people have you exploited until now?”
“Uh-what?”
At my clumsy lecture, Arges looked genuinely bewildered.
I could tell how flustered he was by the way he broke into a cold sweat and made a dumbfounded sound.
“How many weaker than you have you exploited, killed, and used?”
“Ha! Don't be ridiculous. Are you planning to preach some useless theory of justice?”
Nevertheless, as my lecture continued, Arges sneered as if he couldn't stand it.
And his words didn't stop at a sneer, but led to a rebuttal.
“You're no savior who came for justice! You're just a stranger!!”
“Hmm.”
“If you're going to put it that way. My subordinates also had families to feed. They had children, wives, husbands!”
Arges emphasized the point that I was not fundamentally different from him.
Rather, he cornered me as the villain, emphasizing that his subordinates also had their own circumstances.
“Are you trying to justify your actions with a clumsy theory of justice? If so, try justifying your actions as well!”
“My actions?”
“Yes. The justification for my subordinates who were mercilessly wiped out by you!!”
With those words, as if having delivered a finishing blow, Arges made a triumphant expression.
He looked into my eyes, wickedly, and with one corner of his mouth raised similarly to mine.
It seemed he was mistaken in thinking that the reason for my silence was because I was completely taken in by his logic.
But of course, I felt nothing at those words.
In the first place, my mentioning of justice and what not was a simple stall for time.
So I nonchalantly shrugged my shoulders and said.
“Yeah. I was just asking this for fun. It's better for writing a hero's tale if you're the villain.”
“What?”
“Like you said, I'm just an outsider. I'm not very interested in justice or good.”
Arges seemed greatly enraged by my light expression.
His dumbfounded face soon turned beet red.
He was so agitated that a stream of blood even spurted from his wound.
“Then why!! Why would you, an outsider with no connection at all!!”
“Hmm.”
“Then, and now!! Couldn't you have just gone on your way!? Why the hell are you making a fuss, a fuss!!”
He clenched his fists and protested, arguing with me.
It was a voice that sounded almost desperate, scraping his throat to scream.
So much so that if I were a third party who didn't know the whole story, I would have felt sorry for his voice.
My words were not a lie.
I have no interest in justice or judgment.
My purpose is simply ‘for me to survive.’
My goal is to survive for two years as defined by the quest and return to reality.
The reason I cared about Reblen Village was not because of justice, but simply because it was a village to stay in.
“No. I'm not an outsider.”
“What did you say?”
“From the night you touched Erin. From this morning when you killed Maletta.”
However.
Touching my comrades is a different story.
If it's about touching people directly related to me, it's a different story.
Especially if the other party is just a kid who has barely hatched from an egg.
Or if it's a being no different from my alter ego in the game, who went through my painful days with me.
“I'm not an outsider.”
“That's an excuse…!!”
Of course, Arges had no intention of listening to me.
He no longer had the courage to charge because of the coin or the chopstick, but he just kept yapping, as if wanting to get on my nerves.
As expected, an enemy is an enemy, and a villain is a villain.
I shook my head.
“I really can't forgive you.”
Of course, unlike my words, I had no intention of forgiving him no matter what he said.
And I had also achieved my purpose.
“Quest. Activate the additional reward privilege here for me.”
I whispered quietly into the air, and as if in response, something materialized in my hand.
I lifted it, something I didn't even need to check, and placed it on my thumb.
The privilege.
To activate ‘Returner's Privilege’ once, regardless of the situation.
In other words, I could create a situation I wanted ‘once.’
“Did I say I couldn't beat you?”
“D-don't tell me…!!”
Arges, having confirmed that a coin was placed on my hand, was about to charge in horror.
But, it was too late to run over and stop me like before.
Not only did he not have his Morningstar in his hand now.
The reason I had a conversation in the first place was to draw his attention.
Thanks to that, I was able to back away and create a distance so that he couldn't stop me even if he charged.
It meant that when he was distracted by my provocation, I was already thinking about the next plan.
“That damn coiiiiiiiiiiiin!!”
Arges shouted as if screaming and rushed over urgently, but.
I threw the coin without any hindrance.
The coin ultimately didn't reach anyone's hand and fell straight to the ground.
“If I can't beat you. How about ‘someone else’?”
The Returner's Privilege skill is not omnipotent.
Even if it lands on heads, it doesn't give a dramatic effect.
The reward I would receive is limited to the extent of ‘reversing this situation.’
It means there's no situation where I become a ruler who dominates the world, or I become the strongest in the world.
In the end, it means I can only request a realistic outcome that ‘can happen to me right now.’
That's right.
If it's something that can happen to me right now, anything is possible.
Arges was right.
Even though he was injured, the fundamental difference between him and me was severe.
In terms of equipment, combat sense, and so on, there was no field in which I could beat him.
If it were me, I probably couldn't defeat him.
But someone else could.
I recalled the ‘Coin of Revival’ that first resurrected Maletta.
I remembered the situation where she was splendidly resurrected and defeated the Dark Dog.
I remembered her strength as she appeared like a hero and swept away the enemies with crimson flames.
So I didn't bother to check if it was heads or tails.
Momentum and bad fortune.
Just by recalling those two words, I could know the result.
“Heo, eok….”
Arges looked at the coin that had fallen on the ground and took a ragged breath.
It was natural for him too.
Because a loud bang was suddenly heard from the coin.
Because crimson flames, thicker and darker than blood, began to overturn the heavens and the earth.
“Hello, Captain.”
Slashing through the surging crimson flames with a Scythe.
A woman familiar to both me and him waved her hand as if in a happy greeting.
“This is the second time I'm seeing you in person.”