The Berserker’s Second Playthrough in the Game - Chapter 76



Only Krnovel

Episode 76 Every moment, every time (5)

Kadim stood on the pale dirt and listened.

Voices were heard. Voices that were familiar.

Melissa and Gordon. The wizard and priest of the warrior’s party were having a theological discussion back and forth.

“No, Gordon! It doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t make sense! “If Elgar really created everything in the world, doesn’t that mean he also created those terrible demons?”

“Hahaha, that’s right, Sister Melissa…” … . However, demons were not originally that evil. They disobeyed God’s will and became corrupted, becoming like that… … .”

“No, if they are corrupted, you can just throw them all into hell. Why are you releasing them on this earth and making people suffer? “Is Elgar a pervert?”

“Majestic bringer of light, please forgive this lamb…” … . Sister, you should refrain from such words and actions as much as possible. The sun is the eye of Elgar, who looks over the world, and Elgar is watching everything that happens on this earth… … .”

“What, are you some kind of voyeur? You really were a pervert, right? But anyway, since this is a devil’s land, the sun doesn’t shine very often, so you can just do whatever you want, right?”

“Oh, no. That’s not the literal meaning, but rather a symbolic expression of some sort… … .”

It was not a formal discussion befitting the dignity of those who shouldered the mission to save the world. Rather, the sight of a small girl mage whining at a large priest was like a nephew who was always fussy and an uncle who was comforting him.

The rest of the party did not harass them. I just looked at him with a faint smile. The harsh journey here, in Magyeong, did not allow any time to rest. The time I was able to briefly forget about my mission and focus on other things was a time more precious than gold.

Melissa and Gordon’s discussion had already gone beyond the origin of the devil and the problem of evil, and was moving towards the afterlife. Gordon cleared his throat loudly and gave a serious sermon.

“Elgar said: ‘Those who follow my will with shining hearts will one day be able to meet together, smiling like the moon, in a field where the sun never sets!’ This is the most noteworthy content among the descriptions of the afterlife recorded in the scriptures… … .”

“… … .”

Melissa, who had been refuting every word Gordon said, closed her mouth for some reason and listened in silence. She glanced at Kadim for no reason and then hesitantly expressed her impressions.

“That’s… … I think it’s a word I like. Since the sun doesn’t rise in the Demon Realm, I want to see the sun all day long, and the words that we can all meet together smiling like the moon somehow make me feel warm and cozy… … .”

“Oh, really, sister? Hahaha, this is good news! Then, sister, would you also try to believe in the owner of eternal light?”

“… … No, I never believe it! If you think about it, even if you live a good life, if you don’t believe in wisdom, you will be sent to hell, right? “That’s a back alley gang, what kind of god is this?”

“Sister, I didn’t say that you’d be sent to hell if you didn’t believe in Elgar… … .”

For a moment, I looked at the two people bickering, saying, ‘That’s what you said!’ and ‘No, that’s not true!’ Kadim smiled and turned around. That was enough for the sightseeing, and it was time to finish what I was doing.

He was digging away from his group. I don’t mean this metaphorically, he was really digging with a shovel in the purple earth.

Puck, puck, puck, puck –

There was no question as to why he was doing this. At the time when he was crossing the Demon Realm, digging was an extremely routine task. If he had not buried himself deep in the ground and fallen asleep, he would have gone mad with ‘madness’ and harmed his precious comrades.

But the moment I dug the hole a little deeper… …

chin!

… … Something touched the tip of the shovel.

A strange, trembling feeling. Kadim’s body threw away the shovel handle and quickly lowered its posture. Then he started digging into the dirt with his bare hands as if he had found a vein of gold.

I was anxious. I had a bad feeling about something. No matter how much I remember, I have never seen anything like this before. A hunch that something far more outrageous than a vein of gold lies beneath.

The voices of my colleagues faded away. I quickly tried to stop the gestures. But my body did not listen at all. It was as if it had made it its life’s mission to see the treasures below.

In the end, after digging like crazy until my fingernails broke, my fingers were twisted, and the dirt was covered in blood, I was finally revealed.

An outline redder than the devil’s blood.

… … What is buried inside is so ominous that just looking at it makes your heart stop.

*

Soltana, the city of the alliance territory, was in ruins.

No, actually that wasn’t the correct expression. Soltana had been in ruins for a long time already.

If I had to describe it, Soltana had become a ruin, or something even more miserable. The ground had sunk, the strata had warped, cracked, and the buildings had turned upside down, and in the city center, there was no trace of the once prosperous city.

That catastrophe, almost a catastrophe, was caused solely by two humans.

One person was a giant who fainted with his red eyes wide open.

“… … .”

The other person was a fully armed warrior wearing a horned helmet.

“Whew, whoosh, kekekeuk, huh huh… … .”

After razing a city to the ground, Agon’s angry horn emerged victorious in a bloody duel with the man.

But he wasn’t sure if he could call this a victory.

“Whoo, whoo, whoo…” … .”

He never had the upper hand for a single moment during the entire fight. He occasionally landed a successful attack, but was invariably met with a much stronger counterattack. The main reason the man collapsed was not because of the accumulated damage, but because he could not handle his own energy and became exhausted.

What’s even more shocking is that he fought with a ‘new weapon’ and the man fought with his bare body until the end.

What would have happened if the ‘Judgment of Atala’ had not happened to him, or if the man had held the right weapon, or had held out a little longer… … . Just thinking about it gave me chills and made me shudder.

Thud… thud.

The tattered right arm fell off like the limbs of a clay doll.

“Khuhmm… … .”

Agon’s angry horn drooled and picked up the fallen arm. He took out an iron canteen, poured its contents into the cut, and managed to attach it back to his shoulder. Not only were there side effects from the magic, but there were also multiple fatal injuries. He had to finish his work and go back before his body collapsed further.

He gripped the axe handle tightly and looked down at the man.

“… … .”

The identity of this man was still unknown.

Judging from the fact that he claimed to be the master of the new recruits without context, he was clearly a madman, but at the same time, he was stronger than anyone he had ever met in the world. Not only the champions of the arena, but also the northern relic soldiers clad in dwarven relics, the old monsters of the Magic Tower Elders, and even the most elite high-ranking paladins of the Elgar Church, ‘Decagram’, seemed to be one level below Izabo.

That’s why I couldn’t leave it alone.

If we met later, not now, when this man had become stronger, I had no confidence that I could ever win. The power of the interest was too destructive for one person to handle, especially for someone who was not of sound mind.

‘If it had run wild in a big city instead of a ruin like this, how many victims would there have been…?’

Agon’s angry horn tightened its grip. It made up its mind. It was necessary to get rid of this interest right here and now. For the sake of the alliance and the peace of the continent.

‘Judgment of Atala’ was raised high. As the name suggests, to judge with the will of Atala.

A faint ray of light shone down from the sky where black clouds were scattered, and the pitch-black axe held a piece of reflected light like a crescent moon. Suddenly, the axe handle gave off a faint recoil as if rejecting an attack. Agon’s angry horn furrowed his brow, but soon dismissed it as an illusion.

Finally, the muscles in his torn arm begin to tighten, and the heavy axe blade is about to fall on the man’s neck.

Sigh!

A burning sensation spreading through my calf.

Whoosh whoosh – !

And the strong smell of sulfur.

“… … !”

Boom!

As he lost his balance and stumbled, the ax blade hit only the remains of a brick.

Agon’s angry horn distorted his eyes. The heat that penetrated deep into his muscles was no illusion. A fire was really burning from the back of my calf.

Whoosh whoosh – !

I hurriedly focused all the energy remaining in my body on that area. The ‘magic’ that grants immunity to all harm managed to extinguish the hellfire.

“……after.”

Agon’s angry horn took a breath and glared at the small Shinyoung who stabbed him.

I completely forgot. She definitely told me to stay hidden. Why did she stick out here? How did she approach right behind me without any sign? Why did she stab her own calf?

Whatever the reason, interfering with the referee was unforgivable. The bridge of her nose was twisted fiercely.

“… … What are you doing, peddler?”

“… … .”

“Do you want to be crushed to death like a bug?”

The pea-sized Adam’s apple rippled dangerously.

Duncan was pale and his legs were shaking, but he never let go of the hellfire dagger.

*

Duncan thought he was crazy.

What have I done now? You stabbed Agon’s angry horn? I? The most famous mercenary in that alliance? The champion of that legendary arena? The hero of the Atalans with countless warriors under his command?

I, I pierced ‘Agon’s angry horn’?

It couldn’t be helped. If I hadn’t come out there, Khadim would have lost his life. But I couldn’t believe it. I really… … the angry horn of Agon… … .

The harsh voice of reality seeped through the unrealistic haziness.

“So, that guy… … is the ‘demon slayer’ you mentioned?”

Duncan barely managed to come to his senses and answered.

“That’s right! This is the demon slayer of the Golden Road, Lord Kadim!”

“… … So, what do you want me to do? Are you asking me to spare your life?”

“Yes, yes! That’s right! I’m not a bad person at all, so, please, please, have mercy just this once… … .”

“How absurd. Stab me with a dagger first, and then ask for mercy. Is that the way peddlers negotiate these days?”

“… … .”

I feel like my blood is running cold. Duncan gathered his facial muscles so tightly that his facial features were brought together into one point. Agon’s angry horn spoke with a face as cold as metal.

“Even if you hadn’t stabbed me, I wouldn’t have let you live anyway. This guy has too much dangerous power. And he’s not even mentally sound. Keeping him alive is like releasing a sword-dancing lunatic into the streets.”

“Well, that’s not always the case! He does it very occasionally, but he says it’s just a chronic illness or something! It won’t be long, so please wait a little… … .”

“In a short period of time, a city became like this. Is there any guarantee that the chronic disease will be cured? “What if the condition gets worse?”

“That, that is… … .”

Duncan couldn’t answer properly and was speechless. Agon’s angry horn let out a deep sigh.

“What I mean is, why should we take such a risk? It’s just one person dying. Are you really saying that we should keep the person alive even if it means risking the destruction of the city and the death of countless innocent people? Seriously?”

“Yes, that’s right!”

“Why is that so?”

Duncan stood still.

I was suddenly speechless. She was at a loss for words to refute, but another, more important fact came to mind.

Kadim promised to give him a huge amount of gold and silver treasures at the end of his journey, but there was no need to wait for that promise. His backpack was already filled with the money that Kadim had earned. If Kadim died here, he could take all that money and return home to be reunited with his family.

I had forgotten about it for a long time, but he was kidnapped by force. What saved his life was something he wouldn’t have had to go through if he hadn’t been kidnapped in the first place. The faces of the family I left behind in my hometown were now barely visible. Even if he betrayed Kadim here, there was no one who would criticize him.

Is it really necessary to defend Khadim in this situation? Even while facing the fearsome ‘Agon’s Angry Horn’? If you think about it, isn’t it true that it’s dangerous? If Khadim really decides to go crazy and run wild, wouldn’t countless innocent people, including himself, lose their lives?

After wandering around in confusion and agony until my soul was sucked out.

Duncan shook his head.

Even so, I could never betray him.

… … Because that wasn’t ‘all’ of the Atalains.

He felt an indescribable sense of guilt at having been swayed by temptation for even a moment. He smiled sadly and barely opened his trembling lips.

“Great Agon’s angry horn… … . Just a moment, just a moment, listen to me.”

“… … .”

“I, I… … “He is a terrible human being.”

The eyes wandering into the past tremble.

“I am a cowardly, mean, pathetic, and excessively greedy person who only cares about money… … I am a worthless person who trembles in fear when I meet even a single goblin, flatters the strong without any shame because I want to live, and immediately thinks of betraying them when they are weak, and is not even honest with my wife and son back home, that kind of trash person is me… … .”

The voice of self-repentance trembles.

“Well, to me, Nauri seemed like a truly amazing person. No matter what enemy he faced, no matter how terrible and powerful the devil he encountered, he was not afraid, did not give in, and always fought with all his might and won. I would like to be someone like the hero of legend, strong and courageous, incomparable to a small person like me… … .”

My heart trembles as I face a strong enemy.

“But… … such a great person spoke to me, a very lowly person. Yes, your life has value, and you have proven your worth, and… … .”

and.

The moment when all those tremors suddenly stop.

“… … Those who do not struggle, achieve nothing.”

Duncan’s eyes changed.

Whoosh whoosh – !

There was no more trembling. His body and soul were filled with blazing fire. He stood guard in front of Khadim, aiming his hellfire dagger at Agon’s angry horn. Although his stance was somewhat awkward, his determination was clear.

Agon’s angry horn hardened his mouth.

“I understand that the author is a significant benefactor to you. However, personal feelings cannot cover up the cause. “Are there any other reasons for keeping the author alive, other than your narrow-minded personal opinion?”

“… … .”

Duncan looked up in silence. Agon’s angry horn followed him, looking up.

The clouds that had gathered magical energy had almost all disappeared, and the sky had regained its clear color.

“… … Before you came, you clearly said that there was a central demon in this city?”

“… … .”

“But as you can see, the central demon has disappeared here, and the sky is clear. The only person left here is you, my lord. So who on earth killed the central demon?

“… … !”

The pupils under the horned helmet shook violently for a moment.

There was certainly truth in what the peddler said. The presence of the central demon that had been viciously delving in until recently had completely disappeared, and the miscellaneous demons and monsters that had gathered around him were scattering.

Nevertheless, Agon’s angry horn steeled itself and maintained its stubborn attitude.

“… … I could handle the central demon with my own strength. Even if I were unable to step forward, the ‘unyielding army’ that would follow me would remain. There are alternative forces, so it is absurd to insist on keeping such an unstable danger alive.”

“No. It would have been impossible with anyone else’s power. Surely, only this person could have defeated the demon.”

“On what basis are you saying that? “How can you be so sure?”

Duncan had a gentle smile on his lips. Without a moment of hesitation, without a stutter, he answered with a voice full of conviction, as if he were stating the unshakable truth of the world.

“This person is the ‘Great Warrior of Atala.’”

“… … .”

“Because he is not a fake warrior who fights for wealth and fame, but a real ‘warrior of Atala’ who fights with his life on the line even though no one recognizes him.”

There was no conversation for a while.

Silence, staring at each other persistently without backing down even an inch.

A cold wind blows from the edge of the distant sky, suddenly swallowing up the silence of the ruins.

Clang –

Agon’s angry horn pulled down his helmet and raised his axe. A gesture that determined that further conversation was meaningless. A dark shadow fell under his helmet, obscuring his eyes. It was not difficult to guess that there was a clear murderous intent hidden within.

Duncan was still smiling. Common sense dictated that he could not possibly face that unstoppable warrior. But strangely, he was no longer afraid. Even if death were to come at the end of this, and he would soon meet the gods of heaven, he felt he could speak confidently.

Although I lived a life full of shame, I never died a shameful death.

Duncan put down his bag and picked up his dagger. Then he uttered a spell to give him courage.

“Get behind me, fucking shit… … .”

It’s time to fight.