Old People Don’t Hold Hands - Chapter 121



Only Krnovel

Episode 121, Dragon’s Nest (1)

“… … Huh, huhhhhhhh!”

Let’s approach slowly while covered in blood.

Berman looked as if he had seen a ghost, lost in thought and tried to step back.

I sat down and struggled with my arms and legs.

He could never get away from me.

Well, I was holding on tight to the chain connecting me to him.

“T, t, ah, you’re like the devil… …! Oh, how can you imitate someone who worships God… …!”

The bastard kept shouting at me as if he was seeing something.

“devil?”

“That, that’s right. The devil! If you’re not the devil, how could you do something like this… …!”

“Then what were you trying to do?”

“… … What, what?”

“You also tried to kill us to protect your comrades and get revenge.”

“That, that, that is… … .”

Berman seemed like he wanted to say something in response to what I said.

I couldn’t say anything else.

I guess he knows that too.

That our positions of killing each other are not all that different.

So I didn’t give him enough time to think about his answer.

He raised his sword high.

Berman looked at the tip of the sword, which was covered in blood, and muttered:

“… … Ah, Veronica.”

Phew.

The black sword that had stabbed him deeply pierced Berman’s heart.

I casually pulled out the sword that had pierced his heart, and thought long and hard about the last thing I was going to say.

I chewed on it again.

‘I am only doing this to protect myself and my colleagues.’

‘So you and I are no different.’

‘… … never.’

I turned my back to the falling Berman and roughly wiped my face with my sleeve.

Well, no matter how hard I rubbed my face, it didn’t really help.

Blood was not only on his face and sleeves, but was also splattered everywhere.

“Ha, fuck… … .”

Let’s just swear in disgust.

Someone handed me a piece of anonymous cloth.

I looked over there and there stood the leader.

“… … I thought you might need it. Please use it.”

“… … .”

I looked blankly at the man who was speaking while bowing his head politely.

I picked it up and rubbed my face with it.

After rubbing it a few times like that, the white cotton cloth soon turned bright red.

While I was wiping my face, the leader was bowing politely.

He bowed to me with one knee bent.

“… … I have received grace.”

“Can this be considered a favor?”

It wasn’t something I did to help him in the first place.

The decision to release him wasn’t ultimately to help him.

Because he just felt useful to the group he belonged to.

Besides, the reason I fought the battle was to cover up what I did.

However, the leader never got up and paid his respects with sincerity.

Here, in the Red Thorn Swamp, it is inevitable that the lower half of your body will get soaked in the blood that pools on the floor.

“… … No. In any case, isn’t it obvious that you saved me and my colleagues? If it weren’t for you, Mr. Declen, we wouldn’t even be alive.”

… … Hoo, what.

Now they also call him ‘Dicklen’.

“What is that… … .”

That wasn’t a wrong statement.

Even the guys we just fought weren’t a typical combination for conquering a labyrinth.

The powers of stealth, shooting, and hyperbolization.

In fact, it is a specialized assassination combination that neutralizes the opponent, hides, and exploits an opening.

If I hadn’t been there and there hadn’t been an all-out war, they might have been hit at any moment.

“Although we are humble beings, we never forget your kindness.”

“……okay?”

“Yes. I will definitely repay this favor someday.”

Instead of answering the leader who said that, I handed back the red-dyed muslin.

Only then did the man stand up on one knee and accept the cloth respectfully.

“Then, go now.”

“……yes?”

When I said this, waving my empty hands as if it was annoyance, the guy just asked me back with a dumbfounded expression.

“Go ahead.”

“……All right.”

Let me say it again while looking straight at you, you bastard, as if you have no other choice… … .

No, Nokin backed down as if he had no choice.

It disappeared in an instant.

It seems that one of my colleagues used the power of movement.

After confirming that Nokin had retreated, I looked around.

There were four corpses strewn about in front of me.

… … Well, it’s a shame that he ended up dying like this.

Anyway, I have work to do here.

Looking around, I listed the powers each of them had.

From left to right: Power of Hypertrophy, Power of Shooting, Power of Annihilation, Power of Steel… … .

Well, I used to confuse the power of extinction with other powers of a similar series until the fight.

I could be sure when I saw the sign.

The power of destruction.

It is literally the power to temporarily annihilate something without making a sound.

Functionally, there’s nothing more fraudulent than this, but it does have some pretty severe restrictions on what elements can be destroyed.

So usually, no matter how high the level is, it annihilates your presence and appearance.

All I did was hide.

Of course, it is a high-level stealth class that can completely kill the presence, so it will be very helpful in battle… … .

“This is a pass.”

There are many restrictions when deciding on the target of destruction, and the penalty for using this power is enormous.

When you gain this power, your actions are greatly restricted.

In short, you can’t speak, you have to sleep in certain places, etc…

Well, this is such an annoying restriction.

Considering that he didn’t scream even once during the entire fight, it seems likely that it was because of this restriction.

Not being able to even make a sound was the most common penalty for inheriting this power.

Besides, I’ve already ridden the Bruiser tree… … .

Well, hiding cowardly behind the bruiser concept doesn’t help.

After all, it’s because he’s the type of character who fights while getting hit hard.

So let’s pass on this and next is…

The power of shooting.

This wasn’t of much use either.

To begin with, long-range attacks can be compensated for to some extent through tracking.

The penalty for gaining this power conflicts with mine.

This is because there is a minus added to the strength and stamina stats.

Let’s skip this one and next is…

The power of hypertrophy.

This would be quite helpful.

From my perspective, where I have to do some tanking, being bigger in and of itself is advantageous.

There may come a time when you need to protect your colleagues.

In addition, since there were adjustments to physical strength and muscle power, the compatibility was even better.

If you gain this power, there is a penalty in that you cannot receive physical strength and strength stats from the gods… … .

It didn’t matter to me.

In the first place, I am a manifester.

Because I know a more efficient way to increase your stats without the help of a god.

So, without hesitation, I put my hand on the chest of the guy where the mark was drawn.

And then next… … , the power of steel that Berman had remained.

This too I absorbed without hesitation.

Well, Berman was a second-level successor to the Power of Steel, higher than me.

As I absorbed it, my body suddenly became boiling hot, but then quickly cooled down.

The reason it got hot was because new powers were being added to the body.

On the other hand, the ones that cool down quickly are… … .

As the power of steel became stronger, the penalties for it also became stronger.

After the penalty was strengthened, I saw Berman’s body.

It also seemed like the inexplicable discomfort I had felt before had lessened… … .

Anyway, I picked up their bodies and burned them.

The ashes of the corpse were scattered straight into the blood.

After completely destroying the evidence, let’s go back.

The three of them were still waiting for me, warming themselves by the fire.

“That’s really not right, really, really… … .”

Biella kept muttering about something she didn’t like.

“… … Ugh, ugh!”

Looking at that, Nowen looked restless for some reason.

“… … .”

Finally, Diana continued to watch over Nowen as if she was watching him.

As I approached, among the three, Nowen, who had been fidgeting, suddenly sat up.

“D, DeClen! You came back safe and sound!”

“… … Yes.”

Nowen strode towards me and looked around my body.

He screamed as soon as he saw my side.

“This, this wound on my side… what is it…!”

I grimaced at the loud voice of Nowen, but then smiled awkwardly and said.

“It’s an injury sustained during battle. It will be healed with a potion, so don’t worry.”

“I was worried that I might have to go because I heard a huge explosion earlier. But… … !”

“I stopped it. I thought Mr. DeClen could handle it on his own.”

Diana cut off Nowen’s words as if she was saying something.

… … Okay. Nice defense.

Thanks to Diana, Nowen won’t find out about this for no reason.

“But isn’t it strange… … . You weren’t a difficult opponent for someone to use that much force against!”

“Well, I guess I’d rather have something more certain. And I brought proof too.”

When he said that and showed his pocket, Nowen couldn’t say anything and just stood there in a state of nervousness.

“Ugh, uh-uh. But it’s not like something really happened, right?”

“Yes, absolutely nothing happened.”

… … Well, it was understandable that Nowen would find it strange.

Even when we fought battles before.

Because it was an opponent that could be subdued with just simple goods.

Besides, Nowen knew that I didn’t waste my energy unless it was something serious.

So, for some reason, he had an uneasy expression on his face, but I decided to let it go for now.

After drinking the potion and recovering a little, I immediately moved.

There are now only about 15 minutes left until the cataclysm.

However, it was enough time to take down the boss, including the guardian.

So after quickly clearing out the base camp, we headed straight to the boss room.

“… … Hmm? Why does it smell so bloody here?”

Although Biella, who had a particularly developed sense of smell, sniffed around and told this story.

“Isn’t the smell of blood all over the place here?”

“… … No! Other than that, I’m telling you it’s really happening?”

“Well, isn’t Mr. Nowen right? The smell of blood was always there because of the boss’s characteristics.”

“That’s true, but um… … .”

Nowen’s tactless rebuttal.

Biella also seemed to quickly clear her doubts at Diana’s logical words.

As we entered the boss room, the first thing that appeared was the guardian.

It was a red thorn troll.

Catching him wasn’t that difficult.

While Nowen was marking the guy, I was able to finish him off quickly by focusing my attacks.

In fact, I was able to finish it off with one blow by maximizing the damage.

After that, let’s go to the boss room… … .

There was the bloody cradle, the boss spewing blood as unpleasantly as before.

Of course, it didn’t take him that long either.

As the four people attacked, I left the fallen man behind and grabbed the branch.

The four of us immediately looked at the portal that had appeared inside the bastard’s body.

“If you take this… … , it will take you to the 3rd floor.”

At Diana’s words, I nodded silently.

“Is this your first time going to Dragon’s Land? You must be nervous! Hahaha!”

As Nowen spoke with a nonchalant smile, I was reminded of the third floor I had seen in EndWorld.

… … Commonly known as the dragon’s home.

A glorious worldline where dragons once lived, but now abandoned after losing its master.

On the third floor, there was only one world line, the dragon’s home, so no cataclysms occurred.

And above all, the biggest feature of this worldline is.

There was no boss.

Of course, instead of having a boss, it was a difficult place because each regular mob was stronger than the 4th floor.

In fact, it says it all, as the nickname ‘Adventurer’s Grave’ suggests.

And we… … .

“Let’s go in and take a look.”

I was going to go here.