Chapter 42 - Temple (2)
There was a monster called a Lycanthrope.
Commonly known as a werewolf.
They only appeared under a full moon, their bodies were shaggy, and they were characterized by sharp claws and teeth.
-!
And the things pouring down from the ceiling right now looked exactly like that.
“…Tch! Kill them!”
“If they're Demonic Beasts, there's no need to show mercy!”
Says the guys who wouldn't show mercy even to humans if things went south.
As I smirked at that thought, the guys nearby gathered in twos and threes and began to deal with the werewolves.
As they say, a diamond in the rough is still a diamond, and they each somehow managed to engage in battle like professional Climbers.
“Hold them down! I'll cut through!”
A vanguard Climber shouted and raised a greatsword as tall as himself.
It was so ridiculously large that one might wonder if it was meant to strike with its weight rather than its blade.
“Hup!”
And as the greatsword, swung with terrifying force, slammed into a werewolf, the sound of tearing leather was heard and the werewolf's neck was twisted.
Its head was bent at a grotesque angle, a sight that anyone would recognize as an instant death.
At that sight, a triumphant smile appeared on the face of the Climber who had swung the greatsword.
“Haha! Nothing spec… huh?”
To be precise, that would have been the case if the werewolf in that state hadn't still been staring at him with glittering eyes.
“Wh-what?! It's still ali… Aaargh!”
Without even a moment to continue his words, the Climber was sent flying, spraying blood everywhere.
He was wearing armor that looked quite expensive, but the werewolf's claws, clad in blue Mana, tore through the protective gear as if cutting through soft tofu.
“Damn it! Everyone, respond!”
“If we focus our firepower, even a guy like this will die!”
With urgent shouts, the attacks were focused on the werewolf again, but this time too, not a single one of them seemed to be properly damaged.
Instead, no matter how much they attacked, they just walked around unharmed, swinging their claws at the Climbers.
As time passed, only the number of people collapsing and bleeding on the ground increased.
“C-crazy!”
“Run!”
And when the situation reached this point, it was always the thoughtless small fry who got swept away first.
The way they immediately turned their backs without a care for anything else showed what kind of people they were.
“…Damn it! Dammit all!”
“We’re surrounded!”
However, the surroundings were already filled with werewolves.
The number of people whose faces were turning pale was increasing as the werewolves closed in, thrusting their ferocious yellow eyes at them.
“M-Mr. Kim Gyu-sik?! W-w-what do we do?!”
Seo Ah-in pleaded from the side, her eyes almost welling up with tears.
The hand holding her sword was trembling, a clear sign of her panic.
I gave her a wide grin.
“What do you mean, what do we do?”
“Pardon?”
“I told you.”
“…Ye…es?”
She couldn't understand a single word, but an instinctive anxiety, as if she felt it from my words, immediately consumed her expression.
Well, as I said before.
This one's intuition has gotten a little better.
I gave a thumbs-up towards Seo Hye-in.
It meant I was going to execute the ‘plan’ we had agreed upon before entering.
And seeing that, Seo Ah-in, realizing that something bad for her was about to happen, her complexion instantly turned ashen.
“Uh, M-M-Mr. Kim Gyu-sik? N-no, right? It's not what I'm thinking, is it-?!”
“What are you thinking?”
“You're not telling me to fight with those ridiculous movements you made me practice continuously before we came in here, are you?!”
I placed a hand on the shoulder of the still teary-eyed Seo Ah-in.
A benevolent smile was blooming on my face.
“Do you remember what I said before we first came up to the 11th floor?”
“…Pardon?”
“That you'll do well.”
“You did… say that, didn't you? But why now…!”
“Do you also remember why I said you'd do well?”
“…”
“Remember the very first move you did.”
She seemed to have roughly guessed what fate awaited her.
Seo Ah-in's complexion began to turn from ashen to dark.
But before she could answer, I gave her a push, sending her right into the vicinity of the approaching werewolves.
While the other Climbers were gradually backing away, she alone was sticking out.
As a natural course of events, the gazes of the werewolves that were slowly approaching immediately focused on her.
“…”
It took a few seconds for Seo Ah-in to properly grasp her situation.
Her thoughts probably started to properly function around the time the growl of a werewolf pierced her ears.
“Haha, really. Really, you know.”
The one who had been standing blankly muttered that. With a newfound sense of detachment, she drew her sword.
Then, she smiled brightly as if something had broken, and continued the sentence she had just spoken as if spitting it out.
“Kim Gyu-sik, you son of a bitch.”
And immediately, the werewolves charged at her.
***
If Seo Hye-in had any thoughts about her recent life, it was that surprising things happened particularly often.
In the comics she had watched as a child, she often found it bizarre to see the surrounding characters react with exaggerated surprise to the protagonist.
She thought, no matter how surprised a person is, reacting like that is a bit funny, isn't it?
And now.
For the first time since she was born, she could understand such a portrayal.
‘In this conquest, we're going to put your sister on the front line alone.’
Even when she heard those words, she thought nothing could surprise her more.
After all, her sister had never once swung a sword against a Demonic Beast in her life.
No.
It wasn't that she ‘hadn't’, but that she ‘couldn't’.
Seo Ah-in had shown a pathological fear in combat against Demonic Beasts since the ‘incident’ she experienced as a child.
So no matter how much the one who said it was the most reliable person recently, she had no choice but to dismiss it as madness.
‘Trust me.’
She remembered that man, Kim Gyu-sik, saying that with a relaxed smile.
“…”
So she had planned to rush in and save her herself if she was in danger.
But now, that thought was completely gone.
“No… way…”
Unable to even finish her sentence, Seo Hye-in's mouth just hung open.
She couldn't even remember the last time she had been this surprised in her life.
Her sister.
Her sister who had lived her life with a sword in hand and fear as her companion.
Was slaughtering Demonic Beasts right before her eyes.
-!
Dodging the claws of a werewolf coming from the side with a spin, Seo Ah-in, with an acceleration following her smooth rotation, slashed the werewolf's chest.
Someone who had learned ‘formal swordsmanship’ might curse it as clumsy.
The shift in center of gravity, the way she held the sword, the attack method, even the parts she aimed for.
From the perspective of swordsmanship, they were all movements that were no different from a mess.
However, as a result, the werewolf's center was forcibly opened, the yellow Mana Stone inside was revealed, and it was shattered by the ensuing combo.
And as soon as the Mana Stone shattered, one werewolf collapsed powerlessly. Even though just before, it had charged so fearsomely no matter what attack it took.
Her sister's 'completeness' as a Climber was originally not something any veteran would be ashamed of. It wouldn't have been strange to see her like this at any time.
But her fear of Demonic Beasts was almost like a disease, so how on earth?
“S-so that's how you kill them?”
“How on earth did she know that?”
At the bewildered voices from the surroundings, Seo Hye-in's gaze reflexively shot to a man with his arms crossed.
To the person who always made her wonder such questions.
“…”
Kim Gyu-sik was watching the feat with a completely expressionless face.
As if he knew this would happen.
And seeing that, a certain hypothesis was being established in Seo Hye-in's mind.
In any case, she was her sister who had trained to the bone with her on the path of the sword.
There was no way she would have practiced such movements so suddenly for no reason.
It would be better to see it as someone intervening in the middle and 'teaching' her such things.
And, in that respect.
It would be reasonable to assume that this man had taught her those flawless movements.
‘Flawless?’
No. This wasn't on that level.
What should I call this?
It was a movement that seemed to have been entirely ‘calculated’ in advance.
From A to Z, including all variables, as if it had been done dozens of times, it was undoubtedly created by the hand of a master.
“…Hey, what are you so scared about! A girl who isn't even dry behind the ears is fighting so well! Pick up your weapons!”
“Fuck, those things weren't that big of a deal after all!”
And at the sight of a girl not even half their age putting on an overwhelming performance, the Climbers all let out harsh words and changed their demeanor.
Although they didn't understand the ‘depth’ of her sister's movements as much as Seo Hye-in did, the tide of the battle changed dramatically just with the shift in perception that it was worth fighting.
Watching the Climbers charge towards the werewolves again, Seo Hye-in turned to Kim Gyu-sik with complicated eyes.
‘…Just what.’
That man.
How far was he seeing?
How much was he predicting?
A chilling sensation crept over her entire body.
***
“…Trash, trash, trash, trash…”
“Yeah. You did well.”
I patted Seo Ah-in, who was pouring out curses without breathing, even though her whole body was drenched in sweat.
The way she kept muttering with unfocused eyes showed that her mental state was quite gone, but for now, this state was enough.
In fact, being a little mentally gone might even be helpful.
This one would have to suffer like this for a while.
With that thought, I looked around.
The ‘settling of accounts’ over the scattered corpses of the werewolves was in full swing.
Everyone's morale was probably sky-high at the thought of their pockets getting fatter.
A good phenomenon.
No matter what adversity lay ahead, at least they wouldn't turn their backs and run away.
And for them to follow the steps one by one and conquer their way to the center of the temple was what I wanted as well.
What was needed for that was.
Hmm.
I turned to Seo Ah-in.
“Good. Just keep doing that from now on.”
“...Pardon? Do what?”
Because things go well when you suffer.
“Wait a minute. Your expression is sinister again, isn't it? Don't tell me you're going to do something bad to me again-”
“Yep. That's right.”
“…Try to deny it, even as a pleasantry, you piece of trash.”
I grinned at the one who said that.
“The moves I taught you, that wasn't the only one just now, was it?”
“...Wait a minute.”
“Whatever enemy you meet from now on, just do them in order. I trust you'll remember everything.”
“No. First, listen to me. You son of a bitch.”
“Fighting!”
“...”
I wasn't sure, but.
It wouldn't be strange to feel from Seo Ah-in's expression that she might kill me before the enemy.