The Berserker’s Second Playthrough in the Game - Chapter 9



Only Krnovel

Episode 9. The One Who Calls the Name (1)

Kadim stabbed the demon in the neck with his dagger.

Puk, gurgling… … .

It pierced the artery exactly, but there was no spurt of blood. It was already quite some time since the heart had stopped beating. Still, a considerable amount of blood that had been pooled flowed out.

Kadim took the blood and filled half of a leather canteen. This should be enough for an emergency. With this, the original purpose of visiting the village was achieved.

The slaughter of the devil was a spectacle that could not be seen in a lifetime. Adults and children alike were terrified, but they swarmed like bees. However, the residents could not help but be bewildered as the savage prepared to take only the blood and leave.

The man who had lent Khadim the hatchet came forward and asked.

“I… … “What will you do with the remaining bodies, mercenary?”

“No need. Burn it.”

“yes?”

The man’s eyes widened.

The devil’s corpse becomes money. Everyone in the village knew that Kadim hunted demons for money. But you’re telling me to just take blood and burn it without any regrets? I couldn’t understand the English text at all.

After that, a deep greed appeared in the man’s eyes.

I don’t know the story, but this was an opportunity. If I kept the corpse and later handed it over to a paladin or a merchant from the alliance, I could make a nice profit…

Kadim read the man’s mind. He gave him a cold look and warned him.

“If we don’t burn it now, the smell of blood will spread. If monsters smell that scent and eat the corpse, it will become a ‘monster’. Do you want to be attacked by violent goblins again?”

The man trembled in pain. Residents’ attention was focused. He hurriedly left, dragging the devil’s corpse behind him, saying he would go immediately to burn it.

Back in the hut, Kadim untied the rag and examined the wound on his forearm. Fortunately, the body was still resilient. The wound where the demon had scratched was healing well, forming a scab without any further damage.

But the wound from the knight’s spear was not like that.

Kadim touched the underside of his shoulder. Throbbing pain, rising heat. It’s been more than 10 days since I was stabbed, and the pain still remains. Even though she disinfected it with salt water and crushed herbs several times, the wound did not heal easily.

‘Damn, that definitely wasn’t a normal window… … .’

A ‘shafting disease’ that freezes wounds. I didn’t know that that window even had the effect of slowing down recovery. The only small consolation was that the same wounds were left behind on the paladin’s body.

Even though the injury wasn’t fully healed, I couldn’t just let it heal. Now that he had finished his business, it was time to leave.

In return for finding the child, residents received various useful items instead of money. Leather shoes, belts, groceries, camellia oil to maintain knives, whetstones, etc… … .

He tied the laces of his waxed leather shoes. I loosened the belt with an iron core attached to it and installed it. Then, a knife was hung on one side, and a leather canteen containing blood was hung on the other side.

The first hatchet I borrowed was completely broken after breaking the ceiling of the cave, so I brought an axe that was used at another house. It was softer and had a weaker handle than the previous one, but it was better than nothing.

Since we didn’t have much luggage, we quickly finished preparing to leave. Kadim checked his simple equipment one last time. Duncan came into the cabin just as he was packing his bag.

“No, Your Majesty! Are you thinking of leaving already?”

“Yes. “You should get dressed too.”

“How about resting today and leaving tomorrow? It seems like your injury hasn’t fully healed yet… … .”

Kadim slowly shook his head. There was a reason he couldn’t waste time.

“Surely there must have been witnesses by now. Even if the soldiers and prisoners don’t know, killing a paladin is not something that can be overlooked. If you’re unlucky, you might be tracked down.”

The peddler’s eyes flashed open. He had completely forgotten in the arduous journey that the monstrous barbarian had killed a knight of the Elgar Order.

In fact, he had been dragged in against his will, but there was no way his pursuers would believe that. If they caught him, they would be treated as accomplices without any excuses. Duncan quickly changed his stance and hurriedly put on his clothes, shaking with fear.

After completing preparations, the two went out to the entrance of the village. Villagers came out as a group to bid farewell. The adults all bowed their heads towards Kadim, and some of the children seemed to have developed a bond and clung to Duncan’s sleeves and cried.

However, most of the children who were captured by the devil were still dazed. Black, dead, empty eyes that seem to be looking somewhere far away, not here.

The road that leaves the village entrance and enters the forest. Duncan sighed bitterly.

“Wow, I feel uneasy seeing you do that at an age when you can’t even laugh all day long. Well, I’m sure those kids will all recover soon, right?”

“no. “That won’t happen.”

“… … yes?”

A barbarian well versed in demons awakened us to the cruel reality.

“Those children were brainwashed by the devil for nearly half a day. Your parents abandoned you, and you are the most useless of all children in the world. Hearing the devil’s whispers like that would destroy even a strong priest’s spirit, but since it happened to children who didn’t even have blood on their heads, it was inevitable that they would be unable to recover.”

“… … !!!”

“No, if you think about it, you can’t even call it brainwashing. Because it is true that the parents abandoned those children. “I just engraved it in my mind so I could never forget it.”

Duncan’s face turned pale. Kadim continued speaking with a gloomy look in his eyes.

“Those children will no longer be able to grow up normally because they were betrayed by their parents, who meant everything to them in the world, and have been reminded of that fact countless times. You will become a cold-blooded person who cannot trust anyone, cannot love anyone, and cannot feel any joy. “Maybe I will suffer from terrible nightmares every night and become a madman.”

“Oh my god… … That’s so horrible… … . “Why, why did the devil do that?”

“Because that is the nature of the devil. Human pain and despair are their greatest joy and nourishment. “It is a natural principle, just as animals breathe and eat food, and plants root themselves in the soil and absorb water.”

Duncan’s breath caught in his throat.

Only then did he realize why Kadim had said, ‘If the devil were less cunning and evil, he would have killed the children.’ Until now, he had vaguely thought of the devil as ‘a dangerous monster to meet.’ However, the nature of the devil was much more horrifying and ugly than he had expected.

‘No, but then… … who is this person who deliberately hunts down and hunts such demons, and even drinks their blood… … .’

Duncan looks at Kadim with a sense of sadness.

My questions about this barbarian warrior continued to increase. Why do you know so much about demons, how can you obtain superhuman strength through demon blood, and why do you go to the Magic Tower… … .

It didn’t seem like there would be a proper answer. On the contrary, even trying to offend someone for no reason may be in vain. So Duncan asked another question.

“Well, even so, Your Majesty, if the parents repent their sins and take care of their children with all their heart, wouldn’t they be able to recover? Why, isn’t there a saying that sincerity moves heaven?”

“You can’t say it’s impossible at all. but… … .”

Kadim blurted his words and glanced sideways. Duncan immediately realized what that look meant.

It means that parents who abandon their children to save themselves can really do that.

“… … .”

Duncan bit his lip and lowered his gaze.

*

An afternoon just after noon. Gentle sunlight, fresh greenery, and a plain swarming with maggots and flies.

A woman wearing plate armor walked among the corpses without hesitation. Her golden hair fluttered in the wind, and her green-jeweled eyes scanned the faces of her dead. She was soon able to find her body, wearing armor with a 10-pointed star pattern entangled like a knot like her own.

The woman scolded in a business-like voice.

“Here you are, Linton Felipus.”

The head was crushed and decayed, and the facial features were unrecognizable. Fortunately, the paladins had a more certain means of identification. The woman raised her hand to indicate that she had found her target.

A moment later, another paladin approached him. He was also wearing plate armor and a blue-tasseled iron helmet pulled down low.

The man frowned behind his mask.

“Are you sure it’s Linton Felipus, Helia? There is a possibility that it is another paladin… … .”

The woman boldly expressed her displeasure in front of him.

“How arrogant are you to doubt your superior’s insight? I saw it clearly with my own eyes during the investiture ceremony. “This spear is clearly Linton Felipus’ axil.”

“… … .”

The man pretended not to hear and cautiously approached the body. After looking at her closely, she clicked her tongue briefly.

“It looks like the enemy has temporarily taken over the axes. Still, this wound is unlikely to be the direct cause of death. “I think he was hit in the head first with a blunt object or something, but it looks like he was already dead at that time.”

“Ha, do you really need to go there and look into it? Even a three-year-old child can understand this just by looking at it… … . “As expected, there was a reason why you could not escape the status of ‘Paladin’ even though it had been a long time since you were ordained, Ethan.”

A vein appeared on the forehead of the paladin, Ethan. But I didn’t dare to question it.

That woman, Helia Munel’s sacred title is ‘Arch Paladin’. And not just any Arch Paladin, she was the youngest Arch Paladin in the empire, having single-handedly defeated twenty demons and ascended to the throne.

Even if his personality is half-baked, his skills are certain. He was only on top of the Paladin Castle, so he was not an opponent worth challenging. Ethan could only frown behind his helmet and grit his teeth.

Whether so or not, Helia ordered in a cold tone.

“Don’t say anything obvious and try to guess what the culprit’s intentions are. Since all the prisoners were shot dead, it was not a ploy to save the prisoners, and there were no traces of theft of the soldiers’ equipment… … Why did they cut up the devil’s body again? What kind of unholy group would do something like this… … .”

It was beyond common sense for someone to slaughter the Paladin and so many people on his own. Therefore, the two naturally thought that the cause of this division was a group or group.

But from there on, there was no progress at all. There was a period of silence and deep thought.

In the end, Helia made a decision and held out her hand.

“I can’t help it. Ethan, take out the holy relic that Archbishop Erensko gave you.”

“… … Are you really talking about ‘Damien’s Twin Mirror’? Please reconsider this once, Helia. “It’s been less than ten years since the other mirror broke.”

‘Damien’s twin mirrors’ are relics that can reflect the future and past scenes, respectively. Because it was such a precious item, it was impossible to give it away in most cases, but this time was an exception. The dead paladin, Linton Felipus, was the nephew of Archbishop Erensko.

Anyway, this mirror originally had a pair, as its name suggests, but now only one left, the one that sees the past, was broken because the one that previously saw the future projected the image of an ‘extremely powerful being’.

Helia had no intention of listening to Ethan’s advice. She wrinkled her nose and lifted her chin haughtily.

“Who said you were going to break it? It was given to me to use if the search was blocked. Then are you going to report to the Archbishop yourself that you have absolutely no idea why Linton died?”

“… … .”

“Stop worrying about useless things. The mirror will never break unless it contains the image of the ‘Great Devil’… … .”

Ethan had no choice but to hand over the holy relic. As Helia reflected the landscape of the plains, various illusions began to appear on the mirror.

A procession of paladins and soldiers escorting prisoners. A brief commotion whose cause is unknown. Linton stabs a prisoner to death. One of the barbarian prisoners ran aft and broke her chest. He suddenly starts biting the devil’s corpse and randomly killing soldiers… … .

Clink – !

… … Suddenly, the mirror was shattered horribly.

The two paladins looked at each other with bewildered eyes. If the mirror broke, there was only one reason.

That this mirror just reflected a being that was comparable to a ‘Great Demon’.

Ethan barely made the sign of the cross with trembling fingers.

“Oh my God, Elgas… … . What kind of weird thing is this? … Helia, we must quickly return to the capital and report… … .”

However, Helia controlled her embarrassment and gave a firm command.

“No, the culprit has been revealed, so why return to Chengdu? “We will continue our search like this.”

“… … yes?”

“I will personally kill the evil spirit wearing that sword with my own hands.”

A wry smile appeared on the ambitious Arch Paladin’s lips.

*

“… … Let’s prepare for camping here today.”

“Oh, I understand, Your Majesty… … .”

Some time has passed since I accompanied the barbarian. Duncan deftly laid out his bed and took out his fleece blanket. Then he took the flint and the pot and ran towards the stream.

I poured water into the pot, sprinkled roasted oat powder, and added carrots and potatoes into chunks. Thanks to the slash-and-burn farmers who provided us with groceries, we still had something to eat today.

But the peddler’s expression was not so bright.

‘I can’t trust anyone, love anyone, and become a madman for the rest of my life…’ … .’

I felt uneasy all day thinking about what would happen to the children of that village in the future. The face of my eight-year-old son back home kept coming to mind.

Duncan shook his head. Still, he couldn’t stay depressed. He had to force himself to be cheerful in order to please the savage and safely return to his family.

“Hoo, hoo… … ! Ah, hot… … .”

I started a fire on the firewood with a flint and brought it to a boil, then picked up the pot when it was finished cooking. I hope this dish will please the barbarian.

“Come on! A hot evening has come!”

But as soon as he returned to the campsite, Duncan couldn’t help but freak out.

“Uh… … ? Nau… … Lee… … ?”