Chapter 147 – LV.Fifteen Warrior Oh Haengbok – [Four]

The mist that had parted filled the space once more. Both the Spell Shatterer and the enemies struck by that hammer were obscured from view by the fog.

Oh Haengbok picked up the paladin’s halberd that had fallen nearby. He seemed about to enter the mist, perhaps intending to finish off the enemies he had half-killed moments ago, but he hesitated and stopped.

For a moment, he fumbled at his quiver, but the arrows that should have been inside were all used up during the night.

In the end, Oh Haengbok did not enter the mist. He seemed worried that if he went into that fog, he would no longer receive sunlight. If that happened, he would likely lose his sanity again.

Oh Haengbok turned around. A fierce sun was shining there. That leg began to move again.

Oh Haengbok ran toward his own death.

Beneath the Sun Ship, paladins who had emerged from the mist stood in a group. Oh Haengbok, running with earth-shaking thuds, thuds, charged toward them.

The paladins, startled by the approaching monster, raised their weapons, but Oh Haengbok ran straight past them. Ignoring the paladins, who seemed bewildered by the situation and remained on guard, Oh Haengbok moved behind them.

Being close to the Sun Ship, the sunlight grew even more intense. After walking a few more steps under that light, he seemed to lose strength.

Oh Haengbok came to a complete stop. Smoke, not eye light, streamed from his eyes.

Seeing this, Seo Yun belatedly realized she was running. Unknowingly, she had been doing so on a battlefield where bullets were flying. And without giving it any thought, she kept running. She thought that while Oh Haengbok was an undead vampire and ordinary healing spells wouldn’t work, maybe he could be saved if she let him drink blood.

And when she reached him, a thud sounded, and Oh Haengbok knelt.

“Chief?”

Seo Yun cautiously turned and looked at his face, from which smoke continuously billowed.

That face, burned by the sun, should have been hideous. She had prepared herself for that, but it wasn’t.

Seo Yun thought. That man…

She saw the face of a man who was unfamiliar yet somehow familiar. She had seen that man’s photo a few times in the Chief’s tent.

The face from the photo Oh Haengbok had taken in the old world, before he became an orc, was there. It was the face of a taekwondo Master, surprisingly gentle-looking, appearing harmless despite his size, making it understandable why children weren’t afraid and followed him willingly.

What phenomenon was this? Of course, the rulebook contained no explanation that an orc would turn human upon basking in sunlight. She guessed it was probably the new GM’s doing. Or perhaps the final mercy of the meteorite that had changed that man into that form… Both his eyes were likely already burned out, but with them closed, he looked okay.

But it would be a lie to say Oh Haengbok’s face now looked peaceful. He was grimacing intensely, his face clearly bearing the strain of enduring pain.

Yet, it looked more comfortable than the perpetually furious face of the orc. Definitely.

And before Seo Yun could even offer him blood to drink, ashes scattered from Oh Haengbok’s face.

Seo Yun reached out belatedly, but the ashes merely slipped through her fingers. Oh Haengbok’s soul seemed to have already left his body, as it was no longer visible with Soul Sight. His face withered away at a noticeable speed.

Cracks formed on his visage, looking as if it would crumble if touched. Seo Yun lowered her hand.

The light pouring down from the Sun Ship was intensely, overwhelmingly strong. Sweat streamed down Seo Yun’s face, and tears flowing over her eyes and cheeks mixed with it, falling to the ground.

It was a heat she hadn’t felt in a long time since the world became like this, a stifling, sweltering summer night.

The battle cries of warriors were heard, and a group emerged from the gates of Happy Village. They were Happy Village warriors, belatedly trying to join the paladins. At their forefront were two gargoyles with rifles and a massive stone golem.

Oh Haengun, controlling those stone monsters, approached Seo Yun.

“The Chief…”

He began to ask but closed his mouth. His eyes, seeing the final state of the Chief he respected, shook violently.

“He went peacefully. In his own way.”

That was the only consolation she could offer now, and there was no time for more words. She had to do what that man had intended to do last, in his stead.

Seo Yun gripped the Flaming Sword and walked into the mist.

“I’m coming too!”

Han Siwoo, who had followed without her noticing, joined, but Seo Yun didn’t stop him. With that armor of his, he could probably block bullets just fine.

Soon, the purple mist touched her face, and the interior of the fog came into view.

Although it wasn’t far from Happy Village, the inside of the mist was like a world of the dead. Undead skeletons holding up their pale skulls within the fog made it seem so. Han Siwoo, tense, swung his sword and shield, smashing the skeletons blocking the way, and Seo Yun continued walking behind him.

Up ahead, the Spell Shatterer lay fallen. And around it, piles of ashes—likely the vampire officers—were scattered, and vampires not yet completely dead writhed beside them.

First, she saw the vampire centaur in splendid armor. The horse’s lower half was horribly crushed, dripping blood, but true to being a vampire, it was still alive.

It looked at them as if wanting to plead for something. Seeing its mouth opening and closing.

“Shut up.”

Before any words or spells could fly out, Seo Yun stabbed the Flaming Sword into its upper body.

After confirming the death of the slumped vampire centaur, her Level went up by one.

She continued walking through the mist. Another familiar face appeared.

“Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon.”

As if he hadn’t been nearby when the Spell Shatterer crushed his fellow officers, Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon stood still with a flustered expression. For some reason, soldiers were not around him.

A burning, crimson gaze turned this way, then the fire in those eyes vanished.

“Seo Yun. I wanted to see you again…”

“Are you satisfied seeing me again like this?”

It was a sarcastic question, but Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon smiled awkwardly.

“Yeah, very good. This is really… I couldn’t ask for more.”

“If you say so.”

Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon wasn’t even holding a pistol. Being an LV.5 Mage wasn’t much of a threat now, so Seo Yun asked.

“You know the situation is over.”

“Yeah.””Shall I take you prisoner?”

Lee Hoon shook his head.

“No need.”

Seo Yun understood what he meant. She drew the spare longsword she carried at her waist and said,

“I won’t ask how things came to this.”

Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon seemed about to say something, then nodded with a weary expression.

“Yes, thank you…”

When the blade pierced his heart, Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon didn’t even let out a groan. It seemed less about pride making him endure the pain, and more that he was simply too exhausted to even have the energy to suffer.

Since the Experience Points rule had changed, Lee Hoon’s soul should also be absorbed here, raising her Experience Points, but for some reason, that didn’t happen. Seo Yun closed and opened her eyes, then continued walking through the fog. She left the Dawn Corps soldiers alone and finished off any skeletons or occasional vampires she saw.

By the time Seo Yun finished her tasks and emerged from the fog with Han Siwoo, the Centaurs weren’t fighting in an orderly manner but were struggling desperately to survive, and the Dawn Corps soldiers were either screaming or raising both hands high to surrender. This was because all the Vampire Centaurs who should have been giving them orders, along with the Dawn Corps officers, had been killed.

From the Sun Ship, Commander-in-Chief Cairo Simon had already descended and was swinging his radiant sword, cleaving through both darkness and Centaurs at once. The trajectory of that glowing blade scattered even the fog, causing the skeletons hiding within to crumble as well.

By this point, even if the Centaurs still had more troops, it was meaningless. The Solar Rays of the Paladins struck the backs of the fleeing Centaurs.

The warriors of Happy Village gathered the surrendered Dawn Corps soldiers together. They lacked the numbers to chase down the soldiers who were still fleeing, so they let them go.

“As for the scattered Dawn Corps soldiers, we can request that Ga Huiyeong lady gather them together so they don’t cause any strange accidents.”

In response to Seo Yun’s words, Oh Haengun replied with a vague “Hmm…” and didn’t even look her way. Seo Yun was about to say something more but stopped, letting Oh Haengun continue to gaze at the final moments of the Chief he respected.

Oh Haengbok’s face, though its expression had softened, had turned ashen gray again, like when he was an Orc. The blood within his body had completely dried up, and his entire face had turned to ash.

The people of Happy Village gathered around him. One or two began to cry, and soon everyone was weeping, while the Paladins were shouting cries of victory.

Oh Haengun glared at them for a moment, then blinked. He approached them and spoke. Seo Yun, having a rough idea of what he wanted to ask, accompanied him.

“Excuse me…”

One of the Paladins turned his head.

“Hmm?”

“Could you… resurrect the deceased like last time…”

As Seo Yun also looked on, the Paladin nodded.

“If it’s the Archangel’s request, we have no reason to refuse.”

Oh Haengun’s expression brightened slightly. He spoke in an earnest voice.

“Really? If you can resurrect them like that… if you can bring back the dead, then perhaps…”

And Seo Yun continued the sentence for him.

“Can you revive a Vampire too? I mean, our Chief.”

At that moment, the fact that the Paladin’s expression didn’t visibly contort was only because he was wearing a helm and his face couldn’t be seen—it wasn’t because he felt no displeasure at the request. Still, seemingly unable to bring himself to speak harshly to the gloriously radiant Archangel, the Paladin seemed to choose his words carefully before opening his mouth.

“I will at least convey the message. To the Commander-in-Chief.”

After the Paladin walked away, Oh Haengun waited anxiously for a reply with restless eyes. A short while later, the Paladin returned with a giant of a man.

Cairo Simon spoke.

“That request cannot be granted.”

Oh Haengun shouted angrily.

“Why!”

Meanwhile, Seo Yun only furrowed her brow, not overly disappointed. It was the answer she had expected.

From the beginning, she remembered seeing in the Rulebook that the Sun Priest’s Spells only have adverse effects on Vampires. Naturally, a Sun Priest reviving a Vampire wouldn’t just be something they disliked doing—it would be outright impossible. She had only made the request on the off chance.

“What cannot be done, cannot be done.”

Oh Haengun likely wasn’t unaware of that fact, but he didn’t stop being stubborn.

“I heard, I heard that the Paladins themselves saw what choice he made at the end! Does that look like a Vampire who deserves to be cursed!”

Oh Haengun shouted, and the Paladins around Cairo Simon looked their way.

Then Cairo Simon opened his mouth. Seo Yun thought he might get angry at the blasphemous request, but he did not. Lord Cairo simply remained silent, letting Oh Haengun continue his stubborn insistence.