Chapter 82
I moved with Sharon.
Far off in the distance, the orcs' encampment came into view.
“If we follow the expected route, we’ll run into an enemy patrol within thirty minutes.”
Sharon whispered from within the bushes.
Her voice was calm.
Five years had made her even more seasoned.
Her profile looked dependable.
We moved without a sound.
Before long, the voices of orcs could be heard from afar.
I reflexively prepared to fire sand bullets.
But Sharon lightly held my arm and shook her head.
“It’s fine. It’s the sound carried on the wind. They’re still far away.”
Sharon strained her ears, focusing on the orcs’ conversation.
After a moment, a faint smile touched her lips.
“We’re lucky. They’re talking about the shaman ritual.”
An unusual ability I had already confirmed on the 33rd floor.
For some reason, Sharon could speak Orcish.
It had also proved useful during the last prisoner rescue operation.
“Our original plan was to raid the shamans’ scattered barracks one by one, but… there’s no need for that anymore.”
Sharon unfolded the map and pointed to one spot.
An old altar at the very edge of the encampment.
“All the shamans are gathering there and preparing a large-scale ritual.”
Thanks to that, our mission had become much simpler.
Instead of hunting down and assassinating dozens of scattered shamans, we could just attack the altar where they were all gathered.
“Good. No need to waste time.”
We headed straight for the altar.
Following Sharon’s guidance, we moved while cleverly avoiding the enemy’s watch network.
How long had we been walking?
At last, the altar, suffused with an ominous aura, came into view.
A bone altar. More than a dozen orc shamans were busily moving about.
Orc shamans drawing bizarre patterns in blood and muttering incomprehensible incantations as they prepared the ritual.
“Should I shoot?”
“Yes.”
I no longer felt any need to wait.
I snapped my fingers.
Dozens of silver bullets materialized in midair.
Bang! Bang-bang! Bang-bang-bang-bang!
The altar was filled with the sound of bursting watermelons.
The shamans who had been focused on the ritual.
And even the soldiers guarding the shamans.
All of them collapsed without even letting out a scream.
It happened in an instant.
In less than ten seconds, only corpses were sprawled across the altar.
I nodded in satisfaction.
“Well then, shall we head back?”
It was just as I was about to turn around.
“Krr… woo….”
With a sound like coughing up blood, one of the fallen shamans staggered to his feet.
I was sure I had pierced straight through his head.
I looked at him with a puzzled expression.
“Huh? How are you still alive?”
Looking more closely, black, murky smoke was rising from around his heart.
It looked as though that smoke were forcibly sealing the hole in his pierced head.
Apparently he was surviving through some kind of black magic.
“Krr….”
He glared at us with eyes full of hatred.
The incomprehensible words spilling from his mouth.
As he stretched out a hand, black smoke gathered in his grasp.
Anyone could tell it was a curse spell.
The direction of that curse was clearly toward Sharon.
‘I guess I can block it well enough….’
But at that very moment, the shaman’s gaze shifted to me standing beside Sharon.
His eyes bulged in shock, and he let out a curse-laced shout.
“Sand…!”
At the same time, his curse changed direction.
The target was not Sharon, but me.
“What?”
I was dumbfounded.
Why was he suddenly reacting like that just because he saw me?
But I remained calm.
After all, I had an automatic barrier.
And even if that somehow broke through, I had the pendant around my neck.
The World Tree’s luminous leaf.
A unique-grade pendant that nullified curse effects.
There was no chance I’d be hurt.
I folded my arms and watched the incoming curse indifferently.
But then, something unexpected happened.
“No!”
Sharon screamed and threw herself in front of me.
With both arms spread wide, as if she meant to shield me with her own body.
I screamed in shock.
“Are you crazy? Why are you taking the hit?!”
At that moment, all stray thoughts vanished from my head.
I went all out on defense.
It might have been the first time in my life.
“Move!”
With a shout, I grabbed Sharon roughly by the nape of the neck.
I hurled her to the side.
The difference in our builds was huge, but my overwhelming strength stat made it possible.
I didn’t even have time to check on Sharon as she rolled across the ground.
Kugugugugugugu—!
The earth beneath my feet shifted.
A giant wall of sand burst up from the ground.
Kwaaaaaang—!
The pitch-black curse slammed into the sand wall and shattered to pieces.
Black energy scattered in all directions.
I didn’t stop there.
“Die.”
The massive sand barrier I had raised came crashing down in front of me.
It crushed the last surviving shaman beneath it.
There was a crunch, the sound of bones breaking.
“Haa….”
I let out a sigh.
Sharon was lying on the ground, staring blankly up at me.
For a moment, anger flared up in me, but when I saw Sharon’s face, I didn’t even have the energy to shout.
“Why did you do that? Are you out of your mind and trying to die?”
“…I couldn’t lose you, Sage.”
“What?”
“You’re the kingdom’s last hope, someone a soldier like me can’t possibly compare to. If anything happened to you….”
“Haa, as if anything could happen….”
I could no longer listen to her.
I pressed my throbbing temples.
“Listen carefully. The safest place in this world is right behind my back.”
I tapped my chest twice with my fist.
“I will never get hurt or die. So never do something this stupid again. Your job isn’t to protect me, but to hide quietly behind me and survive. Understood?”
At my firm words, Sharon couldn’t say anything.
She only nodded, tears welling in her eyes.
“That’s enough. Let’s go back.”
My heart was pounding like mad.
No matter that she was an NPC.
The fact that someone had been willing to sacrifice her life for me still felt unreal.
***
We walked silently toward the plain where the main force was.
Seymour’s army was fighting desperately.
“It doesn’t look like they’re winning.”
The orcs were few in number, but each one of them was strong.
Especially troublesome were the ones among them who were going berserk.
Orc berserkers wreathed from head to toe in a dark red aura.
As if they couldn’t feel pain, they swung their swords madly even after taking fatal wounds.
Even three or four ordinary soldiers charging them looked barely enough to stop them.
“So that’s the power of ritual magic….”
“It looks like it’s about to fade. Let’s wait and see.”
No sooner had my words ended than a change swept across the battlefield.
The dark red aura surrounding the orc berserkers began to dissipate like smoke.
“Krr… kwooo…?”
The berserkers looked down at their own bodies in confusion.
The power they had forcibly roused drained away, and the pain they had been suppressing came flooding in all at once.
The berserker orcs screamed and collapsed.
The flow of the battlefield changed in an instant.
Seymour, who had been barely holding the front line, wasn’t about to miss this chance.
His thunderous voice rang out across the battlefield.
“All-out attack! The enemy’s ritual has been broken! Victory is within reach!”
“Waaaaaah!”
The soldiers shouted and charged toward the orcs.
The tide of battle had been perfectly reversed.
The orcs, flustered, began to scatter in all directions.
It was the moment when victory became all but certain.
I watched the scene with satisfaction.
“That should be enough to give them back some pride, right?”
I decided to drive the final nail in.
This much interference should be fine.
If anything, it would make their victory even more dramatic.
I planted the Flag of the Ruler, which I had been carrying on my shoulder, into the ground.
“Mirage.”
An illusion of the flag rose up.
I made it bigger, and bigger still.
Just like I had done on the 33rd floor.
A giant white flag emblazoned with a golden hourglass symbol suddenly appeared over the plain.
The first ones to spot it were the fleeing orcs.
Pure terror filled their eyes.
“Hourglass…!”
The orcs threw down their weapons and began scattering while screaming.
The horrific massacre in the canyon came to mind.
The legendary tale spread by the sole survivor.
That legend was now becoming reality right before their eyes.
The orc army completely collapsed.
They were no longer an army.
Just a bunch of terrified rabble.
“It’s working even better than I expected.”
I smiled in satisfaction.
The kingdom soldiers also saw the giant flag and cheered with awe in their eyes.
“Waaaaaah!”
“The Sage is with us!”
To them, the flag was a symbol of victory and salvation.
There was no way morale could drop.
The one-sided slaughter continued.
***
A little later, the battle ended in an overwhelming victory for the kingdom army.
Seymour and Sharon handed the cleanup over to their aides and came toward me.
Seymour bowed deeply before me, not even bothering to wipe the blood from his armor.
“Sage… I don’t know how I can ever repay this kindness.”
His voice was filled with gratitude and reverence.
“You saved our kingdom again this time. If you hadn’t dealt with the shamans, we would all have died here.”
I shrugged.
“Haven’t you won this victory with your own blood? I just gave you a little help.”
At my words, Seymour could only stare at me with an emotional expression.
Then Sharon carefully opened her mouth.
“Sage, about earlier… I’m truly sorry. I was foolish.”
She couldn’t meet my eyes and lowered her head.
“I won’t do anything that puts the Sage in danger again. And… I’ll value myself too. I’ll make sure to survive behind the Sage.”
I gave her shoulder a light pat.
I had to stand on tiptoe to reach, but still.
“That’s more like it.”
At that moment, a familiar system message window appeared before my eyes.
[Quest ‘Crisis of the Kingdom’ completed.]
[Because NPC ‘Sharon’ survived, a hidden story has been unlocked.]
[The relationship with NPC ‘Sharon’ has changed to [Fate Community].]
‘So this is the unlocking of a hidden story….’
So my decision to save her was right after all?
I was lost in thought for only a moment.
Soon, a familiar sensation enveloped my entire body.
The sensation of being expelled from the tower.
I closed my eyes.
***
[Daejeon Tower. Jeong Manho clears the 34th floor. Breakneck speed…]
The next morning.
The news was filled with reports about the climb to Daejeon Tower’s 34th floor.
“Huh?”