Chapter 142 – LV.Nineteen Barbarian Warrior Arnold – [One]

“Are you going right now?”

“Yes.”

Seo Yun gave a brief answer to Oh Haengun’s question and stepped out of the tent. She decided not to use the car, as it would be noticeable.

She ran, chasing the blue hawk flying in the distance.

The sky was growing dark. As she ran through the ruins tinged with gray, Seo Yun felt a sense of déjà vu about this situation. It wasn’t a trick of the mind—hadn’t she truly experienced a similar situation before?

Back then, when she had responded to the rescue request, why was the orangutan dying? Probably frozen to death after being defeated by elemental monsters with a low Challenge Rating? And then, she almost got strangled to death by that ungrateful bastard…

As she ran, recalling the ridiculous and absurd past, Arnold’s traces began to appear.

They were the corpses of centaurs. Scattered everywhere.

As seen in the earlier footage, it was possible to guess that Arnold had caused a ruckus among the grunts and then fled. It seemed the centaurs had pursued the fleeing Arnold and ended up being slaughtered in large numbers instead.

The floor was chaotically stained with blood of unknown origin, giving an idea of how fierce the battle during the pursuit had been. Arrows and bullet casings were scattered all over the ground.

Following the blue hawk’s guidance, Seo Yun advanced through the centaurs’ corpses and reached a commercial building.

After confirming the presence or absence of enemies through Soul Sight, she stepped inside.

“Mr. Arnold?”

Arnold was there.

The day had almost completely faded, so the barbarian warrior was buried in darkness. Alongside the corpses of the centaurs he had personally killed.

Even from the faint outlines, there were over thirty half-human half-beast corpses around.

Just as Seo Yun was about to recite a spell to ignite the Sacred Flame, a groan came from ahead.

“Uh, ugh…”

The flame bloomed, and now there was no need to use Soul Sight. Seo Yun looked ahead with her naked eyes.

The light burning away the darkness illuminated Arnold, who was sitting with his back against a building pillar.

He was bleeding profusely.

After the fierce battle, Arnold hadn’t come out unscathed either. Bullets and arrows were embedded all over his body, and one eye had burst out, dripping blood. Despite all these wounds, he had ultimately defeated every enemy.

Seo Yun blinked for a moment and thought. How should she perceive this scene? To express it as she immediately felt…

It was magnificent.

Was it because the lighting of this flame and the darkness gave a peculiar feeling, or because Arnold’s barbarian warrior appearance was inherently close to that of an ancient hero? Or perhaps it felt even more astonishing because it overlapped with that pitiful scene of freezing to death in a similar situation?

Excluding the fact that the setting was a modern commercial building, it was a scene that could literally be used as an illustration for the protagonist of a fantasy hero novel.

As Seo Yun stared blankly down, Arnold looked up at her with his bleeding eye. Then, as if relieved upon seeing her face, he grinned.

“Ah, Seo Yun. You came… me?”

“Don’t open your mouth.”

Seo Yun approached, pulled out the arrows and bullets embedded in his body (the muscles, which could be described as bulletproof gloves, were so thick that they hadn’t penetrated very deeply), and cast a Healing Spell.

Perhaps because his high Level meant high HP, the healing took quite some time. After receiving several spells, Arnold expressed his gratitude.

“Really, I keep receiving help every time. No, if I’m to act like a barbarian warrior, I have no face, Miss, should I recite some line like this…?”

“Save the gratitude for later. How did this happen?”

In response to Seo Yun’s question, Arnold’s answer was as follows.

He had encountered a centaur unit while chasing the giants; he had originally tried to avoid them, but because the centaurs remembered him from that day’s fight, he had to engage in several battles; after repelling them several times, a large unit led by Oh Haengbok had pursued him…

“There was a survivor group in the direction I kept fleeing. They got caught up in the centaur unit chasing me.”

“So you tried to help them?”

“Yeah. Since I caused trouble while trying to flee, I couldn’t just leave them. Anyway, even when fleeing, I should have thought a bit more…”

Seo Yun shook her head at Arnold’s words.

“Anyway, you did well. You defeated them all in the end, didn’t you?”

Then Arnold spoke self-deprecatingly.

“As I think I’ve said several times, no matter what feats I perform or what help I give others, it’s not something to be praised for.”

“Why, because you’re the one who made the world like this?”

“Yeah.”

Arnold wiped the blood flowing down his cheek with his own hand.

Seo Yun stared intently at Arnold and said,

“You are not the criminal who made the world like this.”

“You believe that nonsense I said last time? That was just bullsh…”

“Not that. The real culprit confessed. Look at this.”

Seo Yun took out the crystal ball given by the troll earlier. It was a magical item containing a message.

When she infused it with soul, the ball glowed and created a hologram.

The hologram was the figure of a stout person, a familiar appearance to both Seo Yun and Arnold. The figure of a troll mage wearing a silk robe and a golden mask.

The troll’s illusion spoke.

「Arnold? It’s me, Bae Gyeong-woo.」

Arnold’s eyes widened.

“Bae Gyeong-woo? That’s…”

「You’d remember that pathetic name. The name of the Korean GM who created a bunch of personal settings not in the rulebook and wasted an hour just on setting-explaining conversations with NPCs. I realized too late, but you probably wanted to go play Diablo back then…」

While Seo Yun was inwardly shocked, thinking, ‘Why would he do such a thing…’, Arnold seemed shocked for a different reason.

“You were that bastard? Really?”

Of course, the illusion couldn’t converse. It continued with its own speech.

「To confess now, I deceived you. I said you had to become the Sun God. That you were the most suitable to become a god, so you should ascend as the Sun God and devote yourself for the world’s people. You, who had sins, agreed to make that sacrifice… I did what I said you had to do.」

“You became the Sun God?”

「Not in your place. I just did what I originally had to do but tried to make someone else do… As you probably guessed, I was the one who made the wish that turned the world like this.」Arnold was already in a state of shock, but at those words, his eyes widened even more in disbelief.

“What?”

And Seo Yun continued with the explanation she had heard earlier. The Troll went on and on about what wish it had made, why it had made such a wish, and why it had deceived Arnold, before continuing.

「So, you are not a sinner. You have no obligation to do anything.」

As Arnold listened blankly, the Troll declared.

「You are free, Arnold. Perhaps you always have been.」

Arnold muttered.

“I am not guilty…”

「Taking this opportunity to offer a one-sided apology, I am sorry. Arnold. I have wronged many people, but I feel truly ashamed before you. To think I tried to burden one of the few who was generous enough to associate with someone like me with all the sins and obligations?

Looking back now, the time I spent with you and the Immortal Kingdom was one of the happiest periods of my life. I don’t know if you felt the same, but at the time, I was so filled with dissatisfaction toward everything in the world that I failed to realize it…」

The holographic Troll removed its mask. With its characteristically ugly face, it made an expression that was hard to tell whether it was crying or smiling, then bowed its head in greeting.

「I am truly sorry. Goodbye, Arnold. I hope this confession brings you some peace of mind.」

With those words, the illusion vanished.

Seo Yun groaned inwardly. Even after all the hard work and effort she had put in, his lack of confidence was pitiable, so she had decided to deliver this video, but was it really the right thing to do?

Wasn’t this man a timid fellow who had fought on, motivated by the idea that he owed a debt to the world and had to repay it? And if this confession from the Troll had now removed his reason to fight, she would be losing a formidable ally—a Level 19 Orangutan.

Seo Yun looked at Arnold with concern. For now, she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Arnold was silently staring at the space where the Troll’s video had just disappeared.

Seo Yun tried to break the ice with a joke.

“That Troll only called you Arnold, not your real name. Did you not tell him your real name?”

“Huh? No, I did tell him…”

But there was no time for further conversation.

The sound of hooves echoed from beyond the building corridor. As Seo Yun activated her Soul Sight, Arnold muttered.

“It seems the pursuit has caught up. I’ll…”

Seo Yun stretched out her palm to stop him.

“It’s fine, so rest.”

A moment later, the door burst open, revealing two Centaurs holding rifles. They aimed their muzzles toward them but then twitched their eyebrows.

“You are?”

And Seo Yun did not answer. Instead, she focused her gaze and caused the firearms they held to explode.

As the Centaurs panicked, Seo Yun swiftly waved her hand and launched a Fireball.

“What the…”

The Centaurs easily dodged the explosion even in the cramped room, but the smoke billowing from the explosion inevitably obscured their vision.

Meanwhile, Seo Yun could see their souls even through the smoke.

A Flaming Sword cleaved their souls apart. Screams echoed, and two more monster corpses were added to the room.

“How about that? Pretty awesome, right?”

Just as Seo Yun was boasting, a thud, thud sound came from the corridor.

It was the kind of sound a heavy tank would make if it walked on two legs.

Seo Yun closed her mouth and gripped her sword hilt again. Unconsciously, tension crept in.

Although Seo Yun had defeated quite a few formidable enemies so far, there were almost none who emitted such noise and presence. Among allies, she had seen only one.

And now, that ally was no longer an ally.

As Seo Yun hurriedly cast more Spells on herself and Arnold, a loud thud echoed, and the expected Orc revealed himself.

The massive Armor, crimson like fresh blood, was the first thing that caught her eye. Removing his horned Helm, Oh Haengbok grinned.

“Oh, our pretty Seo Yun.”

Seo Yun replied without loosening her grip on the sword hilt.

“Chief.”

Seo Yun looked at Oh Haengbok, feeling the urge to step back.

The red Armor reflected the flames lit for illumination, gleaming blood-red. Had he painted that Armor with blood? No, blood would discolor over time, so that couldn’t be it. In reality, it must have been some kind of dye, but somehow, it still looked like blood.

Seo Yun then looked at Oh Haengbok’s thick neck. The necklace that increased Spirit by 1 point was nowhere to be seen—who knows where he sold it off. If so, was his current Spirit level the same as during that unstable period in the past?

Her speculation seemed correct.

From behind her, as if pulling himself together, Arnold spoke.

“Oh Haengbok.”

And as Oh Haengbok’s gaze turned toward him, the crimson Eye Light streaming from his eyes began to reveal uncontrollable rage. A beastly growl escaped his lips.

“You fucking foreign bastard, how dare you call an adult by their name so casually?”

“Sorry…”

“You little shit came to my village as a guest, ate free food, and now you dare to defy me and act up. You shameless bastard.”

It was unclear what exactly he was dissatisfied with in his rambling. All that was clear was that he was angry.

Seo Yun said.

“Don’t be too angry. It’s not like he just ate free food—he’s been working hard for our village lately…”

“I said get lost because I don’t need it. Tell him to stop wasting my village’s chickens and potatoes. It’s killing me, seriously. Does that bastard know how hard I worked to grow those Vannes potatoes?”

Each word carried an undertone of infrasound. Seo Yun, sensing the mood, cautiously asked.

“Your language ability seems intact. Can you keep conversing?”

“Of course I can. Do I look like an idiot to you, Seo Yun?”

Even the gently uttered voice was now utterly terrifying.

“No, that’s not it. Anyway, if your reasoning and language abilities are intact, could you return to the village…”

At Seo Yun’s words, Oh Haengbok nodded.

“I’ll go back, of course.”

“Really?”

“I said I’ll go back, why are you doubting me?”

“It’s just that you seem to be up to something elsewhere…”

The next moment, Seo Yun’s body shook. Oh Haengbok had suddenly roared.

“I’ll go back soon, soon! Do you think I’d abandon my village and leave forever—!”Seo Yun took note of the fact that the phrase ‘my village’ was being repeated. Through that word, she could guess in what form that Orc, who had shown a distinctly dictatorial temperament, intended to return to Happy Village.