Arena Chapter 44:
Chapter 44 Escape (Part 2)
It’s a tight schedule .
I lead my teammates in as fast a pace as possible .
‘We have no time . ’
If I were the lycanthrope leader, I would extinguish the village rebellion as fast as possible . There is no need to give the villagers ample time to prepare for the fight .
What I can be sure of is that they will not attack the village hastily .
They will know that we are with the villagers .
Fearing the power of the rifle we have, they won’t attack rashly and will behave carefully .
The longer the fight, the better .
The longer it gets, the more time we will have to escape .
‘About now, will the village people will have realized we ran away?’
The chief, who is accustomed to petty tricks, will have probably have caught on by now .
But it’s no use .
The dice has already been rolled, and even without us, they have no choice but to fight . If they were to surrender now, there is no guarantee that the lycanthropes would forgive them .
You get older, and you get eaten .
How can you live under that kind of fate? I have no confidence that I could live such a pitiful life without a future .
That’s probably how they villagers feel now .
What they needed was something to explode that pent-up powder keg . Its exploded now, and they’ll fight with reckless abandon .
The fact that hundreds will die due to me weighs heavily on my heart .
‘My eyes were indeed not wrong . Didn’t I say so? Examinee Kim Hyun-ho is a person plenty capable . ’
The baby angel’s words cross my mind .
‘Every moment, your decisions and action were bold and cold . What average person could do as examinee Kim Hyun-ho did? Now do you realize that you are not an average person, but a very special human?’
“That damned…”
I carelessly spit out profanities .
“What is it?”
Asked a surprised Joon-ho . Hye-su and Kang Chun-seong are looking at me too .
“Do all of you think what I did was wrong?”
I ask .
“Was there another option besides sacrificing the villagers?”
The atmosphere becomes solemn .
“You were right . ”
The one who said that was Kang Chun-seong .
“The people in that village are not simply weak and kind . If you had not caught on to the chief’s plans, it is clear what fate we would have suffered . ”
“…”
“Those people tried to kill us so that they could live . As a human, instead of upholding morals, they prioritized their own survival, and we are merely making the same decision . If they had approached us with goodwill, we would not have made this decision . ”
“…You think so?”
“I do, so do not think anything of it . ”
Joon-ho and Hye-su both say a word .
“I think you were right too, hyung . ”
“I didn’t think you were wrong either, oppa . It’s just… I just found this situation where we had to make such a decision to be harsh . ”
“I understand . I didn’t make that decision because I liked it . Okay, let’s go . ”
I continued moving . My teammates followed .
Kang Chun-seong that said if they have approached us with goodwill, we would not have been able to make this decision .
… Would I really?
Had they been kind people, would I have been unable to use them?
I cannot be sure .
What kind of person I am, how these exams are changing me as a person, I cannot be sure .
More time will pass, more exams experienced, and in time it may come that I do not suffer this anguish . Emotion may erode down and I may thirst for it .
After becoming a person like that, will I still be able to laugh with my family?
‘I don’t know . ’
Let’s stop thinking thoughts like this .
First, I have to survive .
We walked absent-mindedly . We don’t say a word to each other, and just walk .
Finally, an exhausted Hye-su speaks .
“Let’s rest and continue . ”
“Oh, sorry . Now that I think of it, we didn’t rest once . Are your feet okay?”
“Not much of a problem but the blisters have popped and it’s a little uncomfortable . I’ll treat it for a bit . ”
“Okay . ”
We rest for a short while .
Hye-su tooks off her shoes and socks . Her tiny foot has exploded blisters and is a mess .
Thankfully, we have a really good healing potion . 19th turn Yoo Ji-soo’s team gifted us the healing potion .
Hye-su opens the healing potions stopper and pours a very small amount onto her foot and spreads it like an ointment . Then, surprisingly, the injury from the broken blister quickly closes .
Joon-ho and I look at it with wide open eyes .
“Wow, that result is really immediate . ”
“Seriously . ”
At that rate, I think even a large injury will get healed right away .
After treating all her wounds, Hye-su puts her socks and shoes back on .
I summon Sylph .
“Sylph, scout for us please . ”
-Meow .
Sylph quickly disappears somewhere .
But she returns much faster than usual and lets out a sharp cry .
-Meow!
We are surprised and stand up right away .
“Is it an enemy?”
Sylph nods her head and moves quickly and draws a number with her body .
The number is ‘1 . ’
“One enemy?”
-Meow .
Sylph nods her head .
“Is it a lycanthrope?”
I think maybe not so I ask, and this time too, Sylph nods her head .
Only one lycanthrope has followed us . What is it thinking? Has it forgotten that the number of lycanthropes that have died because of us is 13?
“And the distance?”
Sylph draws a number 272 .
‘Okay . One shot with the gun . ’
“Weapon . ”
The Mosin-Nagant appears in my right hand . I take out the bullets I had stored in my pocket and load, and hand it to Sylph .
“Let’s finish this now . ”
-Meow .
Sylph nods her head and quickly gets into shooting position and then pulls the trigger .
Tang-
The shot rings long .
“Did you get it?”
Sylph shakes her head .
I’m suspicious .
Sylph shot the gun and didn’t get it in one shot? Sylph would not have made a mistake .
“Shoot until you get it . ”
-Meow .
Then, Sylph shoots 4 consecutive shots .
As she is done with the loaded 5 bullets, with an awkward expression on her face, she looks at me .
I give her another clip with 5 bullets .
Sylph loads it quickly and begins to shoot again .
Tang, click, tang, click .
Sylph keeps shooting .
She’s shot this many times and she still hasn’t got it?
I think maybe, and ask .
“Is it holding something like a shield?”
Sylph nods her head .
‘I knew it . ’
Last time, one of them used its buddy’s corpse as a shield and ran off . It seems this one has heard of the incident and is using a similar approach .
“Everyone, get ready . Something isn’t right . ”
“Yes, hyung . ”
“Got it . ”
Joon-ho and Hye-su take out their respective weapons .
But then .
-Nyaaaaaah!
Sylphs lets out a stinging scream . It sounds like she is warning us . When we are surprised by her sound, something flies in like a flash .
Swish- Kwajik!
“Kuhuk!”
With a terrifying sound of impact are cries of the throes of death . It’s Joon-ho’s voice .
“Kyaaak! Joon-ho!”
Hye-su screams out loud .
What on earth has happened . I turn around behind me .
‘…?!’
I am so shocked I cannot say anything .
An arrow is pierced in Joon-ho’s chest . Very deeply into his heart .
Joon-ho’s eyes are in a wide eyed state, without a gaze, dead .
He is just there, dead .
When just a moment ago, he, Joon-ho, he was alive .
“Sylph! Get rid of all the arrows that come at us!”
-Meow!
Answers Sylph .
But it is a measure that is too late . Joon-ho is already dead .
‘It would have been good to know just a little sooner!’
I get angry at myself .
It is using a shield, and possesses intellect similar to a human’s . If that’s the case, I should have thought of it possibly using weapons .
I felt like blaming Sylph .
Why did she not alert us to this fact! Why did she only cry out an alarm and not block the arrow that flew in at Joon-ho!
It is the limits of a spirit who cannot talk and without a command, cannot do anything proactively .
Then, Joon-ho’s shield and spear disappear . The owner has died and his items too, have ceased to exist .
-Meow .
Sylph quietly alerts me .
Swish-
Another arrow that comes flying .
This time, Sylph uses her wind dagger and shatters the arrow .
Pajik!
The arrow is sliced into many pieces and scatter on the ground . It was an arrow aimed for me .
“So you are the spirit summoner . ”
From the front somewhere, a stately male voice can be heard .
It’s a lycanthrope .
The **** keeps talking .
“Ho, that item that the spirit is holding is that problematic weapon . ”
“…”
“A form with a long shape and a hole… so the iron gets shot from that hole? Then I just have to avoid to where that hole is pointing . ”
Its impressive observations and decision making .
“It appears you only have one of that weapon . But that makes this too easy?”
“…”
“Our silver clan too, but lycanthropes disregard humans too much . That’s why we don’t use very many man-made things . But if used well, the results are very good . Like right now . ”
This **** is remarkable .
I suspect it so I ask .
“Are you the lycanthropes’ leader?”
He answers .
“I am . ”
Of course!
How diligent…
A flexible mind that knows how to use human items .
This is the leader that introduced ‘ranching’ and grew the silver clan’s numbers by five times .
The conversation halts there .
The enemy is hiding somewhere and doesn’t say anything more, and we can do nothing but prepare for the next attack .
Swish-
Another arrow flies in . And Sylph uses her wind dagger to eliminate the arrow .
The actions and behavior of the silver clan’s leader who will not actively attack seems strange . As if time is on his side so he has no reason to hurry…
‘Wait, time?’
Time!
I now catch on to what the silver clan’s leader’s plan is .
The **** knows about the spirit summons . He knows very well that the time for keeping a spirit summoned is limited .
He is waiting for Sylph’s summon time to end!
“Sylph, where is he?”
Sylph points to her one o’clock with her front paw .
“Distance?”
This time, with her tail, she draws a number 16 in the ground .
16 meters .
It is a close distance .
Then attacking the **** right now and seeing to a victory is the best and wisest plan . As time gets dragged out, our team, with a limited spirit summons time, will be at the disadvantage .
But then, Sylph draws a number on the ground .
32 .
Then she erases the numbers and fixes another number .
59 .
I’m surprised and ask her .
“He’s backing away?”
-Meow!
Sylph nods her head .
I feel a chill creep over me . ;
The opponent has retreated far back enough so as to not be hit by the spirit’s attacks .
The opponent accurately knows that spirit summons is timed and that the farther away from the spirit, it’s power diminishes .
His plan is clear; that by sustaining a moderately far distance, he is planning on a dragged out battle .
If I try to save on the spirit summons time and send Sylph back, he might come closer again and shoot more arrows .
I have to frequently summon Sylph and save on the spirit summons time .
‘The opponent is too smart . ’
My heart is beating and thudding hard .
The fear creeps in .
With what and how will we fight a monster that is not only strong but also intelligent?
I cannot get a grasp of how to overcome this situation .
First, we have to move .
“Let’s go . We have to escape . ”
“The bastard?”
Asked Kang Chun-seong .
“He wants to slowly get into a long battle . As time goes on, we are at a disadvantage . There is no other option but to escape out of this forest . ”
“I understand . ”
“Oppa… what about Joon-ho…”
Asks Hye-su, close to tears…”
Seeing Joon-ho lying there dead with an arrow in his heart, I feel as if my heart is ripping . I feel like he may get up any second and call me ‘hyung . ’
“… let’s go . We have to go . ”
I take the lead and walk, and Hye-su follows, holding back tears .
Kang Chun-seong walks in the back and watching our rear .