Only the Party Members Returned, Not the Hero

40. Prayer of the Apostate (4)

40.

In the pasture under the split moon.

The hero stepped on the fallen black wolf’s neck with his foot.

An old saying came to mind.

A warrior must be beautiful.

You have to be just, you have to be strong, you have to have an indomitable will, literally.

“…… Ha.”

A heavy sigh is let out.

I am not beautiful.

It wasn’t fair.

There is no indomitable will.

Keuk ugh-

When the first wolf trod under my feet let out a groan of pain.

The second moon turns black, and the pasture becomes darker once more.

I looked up at the sky once, lowered my head again, and thrust my sword into the gap between the first fake wolf’s wounds and began to burst mana.

aaah-!

The wolf howled as his wounds gradually opened, but he could do nothing.

Because all the legs were already crushed.

Every time I explode mana, the blood of the monster that spurts out is soaking my face dark red.

Kreurreuk.

The second piece of the moon.

Again far away, in the darkness of the forest, a new shape appeared.

I looked up and made eye contact with the second wolf.

Still unstoppable bursting with magic within the body of the first wolf.

The second wolf seemed confused.

Even if you look through the eyes of a monster.

It must be because I didn’t look like a warrior as I hacked the inside of a wolf with my sword inserted into the neck of a wolf that had already lost its will to resist.

Kuhuhhh-!

The wolf struggles to shake off his fear and lets out a menacing howl, but collapses helplessly at my feet.

The first wolf’s body wriggles.

It was not a movement to counterattack, but a spasm of life, giving up everything and accepting death.

It was only then that my sword, which I pulled from the neck of Colcasus, came out dirty with dark red blood and veins.

Tap, pop. Shiver.

“Hello, you bastard.”

No answer came back.

The light fades from the first wolf’s eyes.

The second wolf was searching for me.

We were glaring at each other, just as I was about to wipe the blood and flesh from the sword off the hem of my clothes.

Perhaps it was a gap, the second wolf rushed at me.

The wolf was fast, and the surroundings were dark.

I couldn’t see well.

Darkness deepened as the blue mana emitted from the sword became thicker, and Elise’s magic circle no longer shone.

Even the scarecrow, set up as if abandoned on one side of the pasture, was splattered with the blood of Caulcasus and looked like a cursed doll.

As if brushing black paint horizontally on black drawing paper.

I stand up with my sword to block the swinging front leg trying to crush my back at once.

Kwaaang- Kwajik-

I can’t get pushed off to the side, so I float in the air and get stuck on a rock in the corner of the meadow.

I feel a crushing pain in my back.

I could taste the fishy blood in my mouth.

“… Ugh.”

Close your breath and teeth, and don’t scream.

A bowed head, between the bangs that came down unfashionably.

I just tried not to miss the movement of the wolf that started to circle around me.

The instinctive movement of a predator to start hunting.

Under the feet of such a wolf, the first verse of the apostate’s prayer shining from the floor was jarring.

The goddess was taking my life and forcing me to read.

“Heh, hehehe.”

Instead of moaning in pain, laughter came out of his mouth.

Does the goddess know?

When I see my life threatened so much, I feel like my life is not mine.

It’s funny how you threaten me with such a rolling life.

It’s sad that the existence of the goddess is the only threat that can be made to me.

So I laughed.

I couldn’t laugh for a long time.

Because I gradually felt that the wolf’s quest was coming to an end.

The wolf seemed to think that I had run out of strength, so he aimed at the front and charged me.

I spurred off the rock and quickly threw myself to the ground, dodging the wolf by rolling under it.

Quad Deuk-

At some point, the rock was smashed by the wolf’s paws.

My whole body ached from the rough floor, but I forced my legs to stand up and trampled the dizzyingly shining first verse of the prayer with my bloody shoes.

The darkness rushes at me like the wind again.

My sword, aimed at the claw that it raised, became a blue thunderbolt again.

It is struck from top to bottom.

Kagak-

Kheuong-Kiaaak-!

As the sword cuts between claws and toenails, the wolf’s tearing scream echoes through the forest.

A claw fell off and was thrown in front of the scarecrow.

It’s a present, scarecrow.

I cut my claws off, but the inertia of the heavy body that rushed at me remains and attacks me like a headbutt.

My vision is shaken by the difference in weight. The shock as if a rock hit the entire shoulder and upper body took over.

As I twisted my sword diagonally, my feet, which had been supporting the floor deeply, were pushed back.

And then push it away again.

Step by step.

“…Suck.”

As I push the wolf forward, my toe touches the second verse of the shining goddess’s prayer.

I step on the second passage and cut the sword horizontally.

The wolf, still unable to escape from the pain of having one of his toes blown off, hurriedly backed away, but it was slow.

A deep cut is left on the lower part of the wolf’s neck.

Jurruk.

Dark red blood soaks the wolf’s fur.

Kahak, Karrureuk, Kreurreuk-

A wild wolf howling like boiling phlegm.

Its eyes were already full of pain and fear.

I stepped forward again and stepped on the third shining passage.

The shoulder of the wolf, which was cut off by the horizontal slash, is ripped off and dangling.

A deep claw cut was left on my shoulder as well as on the other front leg that had been swung while screaming.

Human blood soaks your forearms.

I didn’t scream.

Instead, I gripped the handle of the old sword with a screaming heart.

aaagh

The evil wolf howls wildly.

I stepped on the fourth verse.

The wolf loses a leg and collapses to the floor.

I stepped on the fifth verse.

Keuuu….

A wolf’s breath is heard.

Sixth verse.

My face was reflected in the eyes of the wolf who was dying at my feet, breathing its last.

My face was covered with a thick liquid that I didn’t know whose blood it was, dripping slowly drop by drop from my bangs.

A warrior who faced death.

I am neither beautiful nor just nor indomitable.

It seems to be strong.

But it was just a struggle to survive, and it was not something to be praised by anyone.

I gripped the sword backwards, opened my other hand, and raised it high, covering the hilt with my palm.

Fear in the eyes of Caulcasus.

Kwajik.

Kwajik.

Kwajik.

Four times.

Five times.

The wolf’s neck rattles as if it will be ripped off by a series of stabs.

I raised my sword again.

Someone.

He wrapped his arms around my waist.

***

“Stop it, Ellen.”

I see a woman’s hand hugging my jacket.

Because he hugged me from behind, I couldn’t see his face.

A small hand was resting on the boat, which was dirty with monster blood.

“You’re already dead, you don’t need to stab more….”

Her voice trembled.

The phrase of the apostate on the floor disappears as if it never shined.

It was just a puddle full of blood.

I feel a sharp pain in my shoulder.

Fatigue sets in.

The blood leaking out of the claw marks of the wolves all over the body is bitter.

“Ha ha.”

It was only then that I was able to let go of the breath I had been holding back.

At the same time, I felt a wet damp feeling on my back.

The back was stained with a liquid like clear water, not the sticky monster’s blood.

“Ellen, are you okay? Are you okay?”

EL trembled at her fingertips even as she asked about her elongation.

The bloody warrior’s sword touches the pasture floor.

“… I’m fine.”

“You’re not hurt, are you?”

I can still hear the crying voice behind me.

When I turned my head and body at an angle to look behind me, I saw EL, who was clinging to my body, only showing the top of my head, and Elish, who was breathing heavily in the distance.

“I’m fine.”

I let out another long sigh.

“Wait a minute, wait a moment, I will let you rest….”

From the palm of Elish, who was stumbling on the floor with a messed up face, a cubic curtain that could barely cover the three of us spreads out.

I started to feel warmth on my back as well.

The divine power slowly flows into my body.

He slowly restores his tattered body.

I wished I could rest like this, but my body and mind wished for it.

A warrior is a being who must advance even if he doesn’t want to.

At least, now that even the third piece of the last moon is getting darker.

Not fake, even going as far as dealing with the real Moonlight Caucasus.

Because it was given to me.

“Away.”

“But, Ellen….”

“Get off, it’s dangerous.”

I loosened EL’s hand, twisted my body, and stepped forward again.

Still, I was able to catch my breath a little.

All I wanted from the expedition was that much help.

Short intervals to catch your breath.

My eyes keep closing.

Shaking his head from side to side, he stopped with a bloody sword.

At the end of the forest, a larger wolf form began crawling out of the darkness.

Shaking hands.

One eye half-closed.

Amid the pounding head and the cracking metal.

I laughed.