Chapter 156 – LV.Twelve Mage Oh Haengun – [Two]

Belatedly, Han Siwoo also approached and stood beside Gaeulbi. From up ahead, the psychic wave of Pygma Mule resonated.

「I will come to meet you.」

Then came a laugh, and that was the end of it. Seo Yun cautiously peeked through the gap and saw that the skeleton had vanished.

“What the hell is this?”

The Paladins were looking at the people of Happy Village with hollow expressions. Perhaps it was difficult to act shamelessly in such a situation, as Vice Commander Sir Marshall cleared his throat and spoke.

“Anyway, we told you it would be dangerous to take us in… Damn it.”

A Warrior Player muttered.

“Could this be… since they’ve pinpointed our location through those Paladins, that Final Boss bastard is now seriously targeting this place…?”

Seo Yun suppressed the urge to snap at him to shut up about what everyone already knew. There was no need for her to do so, as everyone around was already shouting it anyway.

Meanwhile, Oh Haengun was now staring blankly at the spot where the skeleton had disappeared. It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand the situation, but rather that he didn’t want to understand it. Only after a long while did his mouth open.

“There’s… nothing to be done.”

“Nothing to be done?”

In response to someone’s question, Oh Haengun answered in a rather composed voice.

“Let me say it again, that skeleton was going to come crashing down here eventually anyway… It’s just that it happened a bit sooner, hmm.”

Seo Yun looked at Oh Haengun’s face as he spoke. Like his voice, his face also appeared quite calm, and Seo Yun thought to herself. They say the position makes the person; has sitting in the Chief’s seat made him a bit bolder?

Of course not.

That night, while almost all the villagers were asleep, Seo Yun passed by the Chief’s tent. And she ended up hearing the sobs of Happy Village’s new Chief coming from inside the tent.

“Fuck… we’re screwed, fuck…”

Seo Yun sighed inwardly. As expected, she knew it would be like this.

Wasn’t the decision to accept the Paladins into the village Oh Haengun’s? It would have been ridiculous to gather all the busy people for every single village matter for discussion, so that decision was made by Oh Haengun using his Chief’s authority without even holding a separate meeting.

So, Oh Haengun must be feeling that he has roughly plunged Happy Village, and furthermore the entire Korean Peninsula, into a danger where everyone might die.

It wasn’t hard to guess that his Spirit, already sentenced to death and full of cracks, had crumbled even more. Seo Yun wondered if she should offer some comfort, but no suitable words of comfort came to mind. Hadn’t Oh Haengun himself said things like the Final Boss would come here someday and so on?

So, Seo Yun waited for the crying to subside, deliberately made the sound of her footsteps, and then cautiously spoke.

“Um, I have something to discuss, may I come in…?”

Then, a hoarse voice came from inside the tent.

“Seo Yun, at this late hour? I was lying down naked to sleep… I’ll put some clothes on, so wait a bit.”

After a while, when told to enter, she went in. Oh Haengun, having just woken up, recited that his face was swollen so she should understand, and then said,

“So, what’s the matter?”

“I think I need to leave the village for a while.”

“Why now?”

“To reach Level 15.”

It wasn’t such an earth-shattering statement, but Oh Haengun’s eyes widened.

“Is it to cast a Resurrection Spell on me if I die?”

At Oh Haengun’s question, Seo Yun lamented inwardly.

‘He seemed to calmly brush off the prophecy of his own death, but I guess he was actually very concerned about it. Seeing that such words come out right away.’

Well, it’s understandable to be concerned. Lately, the situation has worsened so much that the prophecy declared for Oh Haengun has also become even more bleak.

Did it say that man would be revived twice and die three times? I thought those two resurrections were Resurrection Spells cast by a Priest, but looking at things lately, that possibility seems to have significantly faded.

‘If the Sun Ship was annihilated, then all the High Priests inside must have died too. I’ve never seen any other Priest who can cast Resurrection Spells, so a normal resurrection seems unlikely.’

If so, it was now unclear how he would be resurrected twice. Could it be rising as an Undead? Or perhaps…

To reassure the Mage, Seo Yun said,

“Of course, reviving you, Mister, is also one of the reasons I want to reach Level 15. There are other purposes too.”

“Other purposes? What kind…”

“You’ve read all the books related to the Immortal Kingdom, right? But I don’t think you’ve read this Campaign Book…”

As she said this, Seo Yun held out a book she had brought. It was the Campaign Book given by the Troll long ago. The book featuring the Spring Flower Goddess and Lesser Angel NPCs and such.

Oh Haengun opened the book. The campaign story itself was short, so Oh Haengun quickly grasped the overall content and muttered.

“Becoming a Goddess, could it be…”

“Yes. You’re not going to stop me, are you?”

Oh Haengun hesitated and then said.

“As an adult, I feel like I should stop you… but then it would just be hypocritical lip service. Sorry, really.”

It was a statement that, given the situation, he couldn’t bring himself to stop her. Seo Yun smiled slightly.

“No need to apologize. Anyway, I’m not telling you this in advance to explain that I’ll make a splendid sacrifice (that was a lie. She hoped everyone would recognize this sacrifice and honor it forever if possible). What I want to say is…”

“What do you want to say?”

“Maybe everything will turn out fine.”

Oh Haengun stared intently at her face. Seo Yun got up from her seat.

“That’s all. So, when I leave the village, explain it properly to the villagers yourself. So that there’s no backtalk like that damn Priest chick ran off alone when the village was in danger.”

“Got it. But is there anything the village can do to help…”

“Not right now. It would be nice to have someone to take me to a dungeon to level up immediately, but there’s already someone who said they’d help with that.”

“Then when are you planning to leave?”

“Hmm, the sooner the better, so right at dawn?”

Oh Haengun shook his head with a heavy gesture. Seo Yun left the tent.

The next morning, before leaving with her team members, Seo Yun thought she should at least say a brief goodbye to the villagers. ‘Boooooooooooooooooooo…’ The sound of a Horn Trumpet echoed.

Are they calling for another meeting? Seo Yun also headed for the Chief’s tent for now.Amidst the gathered village Players, Oh Haengun emerged from the tent. Seo Yun was no longer surprised by his haggard face, but she was startled by his words.

“I stayed up all last night thinking desperately, and I’ve concluded we must leave Happy Village.”

Seo Yun was aghast. What on earth was he saying now? The others also showed shocked reactions.

“Are you saying we should evacuate?”

“No, where on this cramped Korean Peninsula is there to run?”

“Then what?”

“Only the Players… only those who can fight should leave. Like a hunting expedition.”

Seo Yun suspected Oh Haengun was now suggesting something akin to what that Dark Mage she’d met before had done, but fortunately, that wasn’t it. As everyone murmured amongst themselves, Oh Haengun continued.

“We Players will leave Happy Village to go and help the survivor groups that are fighting all over the place right now. We’ll help those people and fight alongside them. Let me be clear upfront, this isn’t about doing good deeds for others. This isn’t a volunteer activity.”

“Then what is it?”

“The Prophet Angel said that skeleton legion would come to Happy Village in 67 days, right? At first, we thought those 67 days were coming too fast, but looking at it now, it seems they’re actually coming quite late. No matter how you look at it, if things continue like this, those skeletons will be stamping their feet here within a matter of days… In my view, it’s not because we’re staying put that they’re coming so late.

The fact that skeleton legion is coming in 67 days probably means that’s how long we can delay them storming the village if we struggle with all our might. Well, we could hold out here in our village and fight at our fortress wall… but does anyone actually want to fight a siege battle in our own village?”

No one would. The tents had been torn to shreds by the Centaurs’ bombardment. Even the originally ample leather supplies had run out, and several people had died back then because they couldn’t evacuate in time. If they absolutely had to fight, for the village’s sake, they had to fight as far away as possible. And they shouldn’t fight just among the Happy Village Players; they should fight together by supporting other survivors in the region.

“Of course, I’m not sure if this is a good decision or not either. I lack confidence. So, anyone who thinks they don’t want to do this or that it seems foolish, stay in the village. We’ll need plenty of people to defend Happy Village anyway…”

The Players gathered here turned away. And shortly after, the village Players who had left the spot returned, each having fetched their gear. Even at a glance, Seo Yun could see no one was missing.

Oh Haengun spoke with a voice that held a bit more confidence than before.

“Seo Yun will be going separately, as she has other business to attend to? Please understand she’s going to do something more important than what we’re doing…”

As he said this, Oh Haengun looked her way. It was a gaze that seemed to have much to say, a truly complicated expression.

From Seo Yun’s perspective, it seemed the thoughts that mage had last night were influenced by what she had said. In a way, she had let him know there was something akin to hope.

Thus, Oh Haengun must have come up with the idea that they must delay the foretold end. They had to hold out somehow until that one girl reached Level 15 and left this Mortal Realm.

As everyone subsequently looked at her, Seo Yun gave a slight bow of her head in acknowledgment.

That morning, Seo Yun left the village with her two team members. From behind her, cries of “Long live Happy Village!” echoed multiple times.

After leaving Happy Village, Seo Yun drove the truck. Gaeulbi, riding in the passenger seat, asked.

“What now?”

Seo Yun answered simply.

“We have to go to the Troll.”

“To ask him to send you to a dungeon right away?”

“If that’s possible.”

Gaeulbi shot her a disapproving look, but Seo Yun ignored it. Gaeulbi said.

“What about Rayeon? Aren’t you taking her?”

“Why Seo Rayeon?”

“They say she’s a Goddess candidate too, right? Don’t we need to raise her Level as well?”

“She says she has no intention of becoming a Goddess? The priority is raising my Level quickly, why would we bother with her…”

Just as they were having such a conversation about Seo Rayeon, the Communication Orb glowed and Seo Rayeon’s voice came through.

「Unni, where are you? Are you hunting? Are you near our village?」

Her words were uncharacteristically fast. It seemed something urgent had happened, so Seo Yun also asked quickly.

“I’m not hunting right now, but I am near your village. Why?”

「Then can you come quickly?」

“I can come. Why?”

「The village is surrounded.」

One could guess what it was surrounded by, but Seo Yun asked anyway.

“By skeletons?”

「Yes! So hurry! Okay?」

“Got it. I’ll come, so hold on.”

Seo Yun immediately instructed Gaeulbi to return to Happy Village and request support, then continued driving the truck with Han Siwoo.

And not long after, the neighboring village came into view. Thousands of walking skeletons were encircling its fortress wall.