Hector Ludwig was an unfortunate old man who was a respected high priest of the Church of Reatlas, but was kidnapped by the dragon slayer in his later years and forced to become a subordinate of an evil god.
«May the blessing of the twilight star be with you...».
He paused as he crossed himself as usual, due to the voice of the evil god echoing in his head. «Hypocrite, do you still harbor vain hopes?».
It didn't have to be said for him to know that it was a vain hope and nothing more than hypocrisy. No matter the excuse, this was all the result of his choices.
Yes that day...
If he had not succumbed to evil; If, like the great men of folk tales, he had not renounced his beliefs and carried all the sacrifices, man would never have reached this place. He wouldn't have had to disappear and vanish, and the explorers he encountered today would have finished their exploration and returned to the city without problems.
Squeeze.
Ludwig clenched his fist with his wrinkled hand. It was a meaningless assumption and lament. Even if I went back to that day, I would surely make the same decision.
Wooooom!
As if to prove it, he stood in front of the glowing portal to follow an order given by the dragon slayer. To be precise, to protect his precious grandson, he was guarding this place in case those people fled.
I prayed they wouldn't come here.
It was the only hope he had left. «Simple» would not be enough to describe this hope of crumbs.
However, the evil god was not satisfied with even this. «Mature».
Through the long desperation, his aspirations were shattered and he had now lost even the will to solve the problem. Just as a slave rejoiced that he was only hit once that day, he resigned himself to miserable reality, ensuring that it was the lesser evil and the best he could do, even ignoring the fact that he had the means to end it all.
As if this was still not enough, the evil god spoke. «Hypocrite, look. This despair and pain are born from you». The voice resonated as if it were recorded in the brain.
Soon, a scene appeared over his tightly closed eyelids. A barbarian and his allies fought against a great evil, in a situation with no apparent possibility of victory, unlike him, who was content with destiny.
«Behell-ahhhhh!»
***
«So you won't run away». Vagos looked at me and laughed slyly.
I forcibly lifted the corners of my mouth, as I had no intention of being pushed back in a war of nerves.
Anyway, it's not like you're going to let us escape.
The current situation was extremely simple. In a friendly match, a message like [Use the mage to survive until the soul exhaustion state ends] would have appeared. Soul exhaustion lasted about 20 minutes. I had to endure it until then.
Furthermore, fleeing was impossible. There was no greater prey than the one that showed its back.
«Protect Dwalkie!» I screamed with all my might.
Dash!
Vagos took off from the ground as if he weren't going to give us time. His body accelerated in an instant. In his hand he had the fang of the poisonous snake that he took from Missha. Dang, how could I take it off? I erased the bitter feelings and focused on the guy's movements until the end.
Clang!
As I blocked the sword with the mace, my foot slid back. This meant that I had been pushed back on what I was most confident in, strength.
Whip!
The sword turned again in a gentle curve. I hurried back, but it wasn't enough to follow his movements. This also meant that he had an advantage in agility.
Cut.
Acid blood splattered my open skin. The iron skin didn't work either. He expected otherwise, as he seemed unable to use the bow sword. It was a skill whose effectiveness increased as physical endurance increased.
Voom!
I erased my complaints and took up the mace.
Slice.
I couldn't even touch the guy. Instead, my injuries increased. However, I brandished the mace again. Making time for my teammates to take hits and more hits was my role. «Dwalkie, how long until the spell?»
«Is ready. But you two are too close...»
«Just shoot it!»
Finally, the long-awaited Ice Spear shot out. As expected, Vagos backed away quickly. He probably judged it a loss to be hit next to me, fortunately.
Dash.
I also backed away and left the radius of the Ice Spear. Without a moment to catch my breath, I quickly reached back and pulled a shield out of my backpack. I couldn't use gigantization anyway, so I considered that having the shield would be much more useful in battle if it weren't for the bow sword. I also wanted to wear the breastplate if I could.
I wouldn't have time for that.
I erased the lingering regret for something I couldn't have. This was not resignation, but focusing more on what was urgent. Throw away what is not needed and take only what should be taken. In that sense, I needed to check one thing now. «What happened to Missha?»
«It appears his bones were broken and his intestines were punctured in the process. They gave him a potion so he'll be fine soon».
Okay, until then we had to fight one against four. This was cold, but I was glad it wasn't Dwalkie who was missing. If it had been, we wouldn't even have a chance.
«Be careful!»
Vagos ran towards me again. Of course I wouldn't wait patiently. For now it was a positive factor.
Yes, you are in a hurry too.
I expected it, but seeing it gave me security. This guy did not suffer from a short-term state abnormality, as could be deduced from how he charged as if not a single second could be wasted.
Clang!
Before the soul exhaustion ended, he was pushing himself to see the end of the fight. Simply put, it meant we would get a chance if we lasted 20 minutes.
Resist for 20 minutes? That's crazy.
Time was not on our side. He didn't know it, but now we only had four potions left: two advanced, one intermediate, and one high-ranking. With this composition, they would definitely sell out in a few minutes.
«Behell-ahhhhh!»
I let out a scream with all my might and pushed my shield away. Then I quickly lunged forward and brandished my mace. I judged that with a lying tactic I wouldn't win even twenty minutes. He seemed pleased with my reckless change of attitude. Of course, that pleasure only lasted the first few minutes.
Dash.
If I opened his distance, I would quickly catch up and focus more on attack than defense, whether Rotmiller's arrow props flew in or not, whether Dwalkie cast a spell or not.
«...Do you plan to die together?» vagos asked.
Like a person pretending to die fighting, I followed him closely and brandished my mace. Barbarian Persistent Mode: Ironically, this tactic actually reduced my injuries, and made me not even dare to approach Dwalkie. That showed that the best defense was attack.
«Tsk.» The man stopped stabbing his sword and turned his body to avoid an Ice Spear. Unfortunately, he turned towards the point where the crossbow was pointing.
Stabbed!
It was a monumental first blow. He didn't dig deep due to his physical stamina, but since it hit his thigh, it would cause some restrictions on his mobility. Maybe he started to realize something too.
Enough of the easy game.
From that point, the momentum in his eyes changed. After that, I backed away quickly. A person who had learned to give up to win something was dangerous in any field.
«Persistent idiots...!» I sensed a strong murderous energy coming from the sword he brandished, as if the shackles had been released. His sword, which limited the attack trajectory to defend itself, traced a free trajectory with a single purpose. However, the biggest change was another.
Whip!
Although the arrow grazed his shoulder, he did not move and pushed me. As a result, after several back and forth blows, his sword penetrated deep into my abdomen.
A stab!
The wound would have been fatal if it had not been treated thanks to the loss of my natural regeneration.
[Your body is regenerating due to the Recovery effect (medium)].
One more bottle of potion was used under Rotmiller's judgment. Now only one high-ranking and two advanced remained. But as if adding insult to injury, I failed to stop him.
Dash.
As if performing some kind of stunt, he stepped on the swinging mace and jumped on me.
Damn.
I turned around quickly and stretched out my hand, but it was too late. The guy got up from the ground once more and quickly closed the distance with his rear.
«Back!» Hikurod stood in front of Dwalkie, but it didn't help much. How was he going to stop that monster head-on if he didn't have the key Balanced Weight ability?
Bang!
The dwarf flew like a soccer ball with one kick while holding his shield. Rotmiller threw his crossbow and brandished a sword. Of course, there was no way that would work.
Stab!
Vagos cut Rotmiller's sword too easily, stabbing him in the stomach with a green blade. But the moment he tried to take out the sword, Rotmiller grabbed his hand and stopped him. «This is our object».
Soooooot!
Fortunately, the Ice Spear fired in time. Vagos dropped his sword and backed away.
He collapsed.
Soon, Rotmiller, losing support, collapsed to the ground without strength. However, the sword that had been stuck in his abdomen had disappeared. He had put it in the Mime Treasure Vault that did not consume soul power so that Vagos could not use it, to be of help to the team, even if just a little.
I can save him if I give him the potion in time.
Despite my comrade's injury, I remained calm. However, not everyone could.
«What did you do... to Rotmiller...!» Missha, who was leaning against the wall and recovering, brandished a sword at Vagos with a body she couldn't even move, knowing it wouldn't reach her. It had a single purpose. «You won't touch Dwalkie-Argh!»
Missha's body hit the wall again at his kick. The bastard did not head straight towards Dwalkie, but towards Missha, who had fainted. It was obvious what he was going to do. He must have intended to deliver the final blow and steal the only sword he had left, that damn bastard thief.
«We told you. This is ours». I waved the mace as if to scare away flies and Vagos turned away from Missha without hesitation.
He laughed. «Barbarian, are you still thinking about trying?».
What was this asshole talking about? Wasn't it obvious? Instead of responding, I ran towards him.
Voom!
He backed away easily and dodged it. «Do you really believe in that garbage? Someone who is just Ice Launcher and Cold Eruption minus a few curses?».
Of course. What was wrong with low-level attack spells? If they hit the head they could still kill. Even a stroke of luck was good, so Dwalkie only needed to hit him once. Until then, it would buy time somehow.
«Dwalkie!» I screamed as loud as I could that it was time for the magic to fly away. But what was this?
Damn.
The magic didn't fly.
***
It was no coincidence that the royal family's certified magician, Riol Warb Dwalkie, dared to apply to join a team with two fighters. He wanted to look like a special person, so he chose the team that seemed easiest. He thought that having two warriors would make the mage seem more valuable. However, it didn't take long for him to reveal his essence.
«My name is Riol Warb Dwalkie. I am a rank 8 magician and public service worker under Rafdonian-» royalty
«Aha, so you're trash».
Garbage, someone who is not treated like a magician by his fellow magicians.
«Hahaha! So we're all a team of jerks? It's better this way. This way we no longer have to discourage each other».
Still, these people agreed. They said they were in the same situation and they understood it. He felt like he was saved. He even thought that perhaps his 25 years of life had served to get to know them.
«Do you really believe in that garbage? Someone who is just Ice Spear and Cold Eruption minus a few curses?».
After all, the essence had not changed. Although the time to act had come for the first time, he did nothing correctly. No matter how strong his mana became, he was a half-dumb wizard who couldn't even live up to the expectations of his precious colleagues. But even so, he was protected by his friend.
«Come back! This is our object».
He couldn't save his smiling colleague, who had a sword stuck in his body.
«You won't touch Dwalkie-Argh!»
He couldn't protect the woman he loved. His head turned white at that fact. It was difficult for him to breathe due to the feeling of helplessness. If I could, I would want to flee from this cruel reality right now.
«Unfortunately, it seems like he's already given up».
However, you should not give up. Maybe he was alone, but his precious companion was still fighting to protect everyone on his own.
«Barbarian, you should know it's all over.»
Despite the ridicule, Bjorn silently brandished his mace, spitting blood from his mouth onto his face. Until the end of the extremes, he was giving his all to defend himself.
«Hey, your face lit up. Do you like your colleagues that much?»
As he began to sing, Dwalkie remembered a conversation from the past. It was with the instructor at the magic tower training center, right after the troll war.
«That? Do you want me to teach you magic to catch trolls? Mm, well... it's not impossible».
That day, Dwalkie paid the master a large sum of money to learn a spell. To be precise, he learned the magic combination. The teacher agreed to teach him, but urged him to never use it.
Thought Acceleration dramatically improved cognitive ability and made time pass more slowly. Mana amplification stimulated the mana inherent in the heart to temporarily increase its production. Cardiac Stimulation forcibly raised the heart rate and spread mana throughout the body, and also overlapped with psycho-sensory magic, which was famous for having serious side effects.
Thump-thump-thump!
Dwalkie's heart was pounding as if it could explode, spreading mana throughout his body. On the other hand, his mind was clearer than ever and his eyes were sharp. I felt like I could do anything.
«What is the name? There is no exact name. It's a combination that everyone knows. However, if I had to give it a name... Hmm, well. Sacrifice is the wrong tone».
Dwalkie reached out. That was all he did.
«Yes, Awakening would be appropriate».
Dozens of arrows of light shot out.