Wandering Mercenary in an Open World

Zigor frowned at the incomprehensible word that annoyed him.

“Experience points?”

Ruon didn’t answer. He just stomped on the ground as he had always done. He ran with a faint afterimage behind him and swung his sword at the enemy’s head, as if asking if he could reattach it after cutting it off.

Zigor didn’t dodge. He had already gripped the handle of his axe with both hands and swung it with the full force of his waist rotation.

The blood-stained blade and the icy edge of the axe clashed, shaking the surrounding space.

Right after, the space in front of the axe’s trajectory began to freeze over. It was no ordinary weapon that could dominate a certain area, but neither was Ruon’s.

Crash-!

The red shield that Ego Sword created on its own effectively blocked the cold blade. The shattered ice fragments sparkled like thousands of precious metals.

Ruon didn’t just stare at it blankly. He thrust his fist through the flying shards and hit Zigor’s face. A creepy sound of bones breaking pierced his ears.

But Zigor quickly snapped his head back and rammed his forehead into Ruon’s chest. Ruon shrugged off the dull impact as if he had been hit by a hammer and used that force to spin his body and kick his back leg.

The clean roundhouse kick hit the chieftain’s face, which was already covered in blood. Zigor flew like he had been hit by a dump truck at full speed and only stopped after smashing a huge statue with his back. He spat out a mouthful of blood and muttered.

“What… are you…?”

Then Zigor touched his distorted face. The accumulated shock was so severe that his face recovered very slowly. It was amazing that he could heal himself even after being so damaged.

“I absorbed the souls of thirty chieftains into my body. It’s a thousand years of history. I can’t be pushed back so easily. How… how can this happen?”

Ruon snorted like a person who heard a ridiculous remark and retorted.

“I’m probably stronger than the sum of those thirty.”

Sparks flew in Zigor’s eyes. He raised his voice and roared with a vein on his neck.

“Nonsense! It’s impossible for a pure human body to do that! It’s a matter of level-”

His voice, which was getting hotter, suddenly stopped. The atmosphere cooled down as if cold water had been poured on it. Zigor whispered in a trembling voice.

“…You. Could it be that you’re a levelled being?”

Ruon didn’t say anything. He didn’t affirm it, but he didn’t deny it either. The chieftain’s shoulders began to twitch as he realized something.

“Hahaha! What a lucky break!”

In his loud laughter, there was a fierce swirl of unrefined emotions such as greed, anger, jealousy, and joy. Soon, he said.

“I don’t have to go the hard way anymore! A levelled warrior has appeared before me.”

At that moment. Ruon didn’t rush in to finish him off. It was because a storm of powerful force that was incomparable to before pushed his body away.

Oh-oh-oh

Oh─oh─oh

Ruon saw it.

The scene of dozens of phantoms overlapping with Zigor’s body. The cluster of souls that tangled together like a whirlpool melted into his muscles, bones, and blood, and engraved his essence.

Soon, his body swelled up like a balloon, and frost formed on his skin. A thunderous sound echoed from the chieftain’s mouth.

“The winner takes everything from the loser. This is the logic of the north! I’ll kill you here and take the golden tower you’ve built.”

***

In a world where everything was bleached white, Kyle raised his voice.

“Is anyone there!”

But his voice scattered like fog. It wasn’t a metaphor, but the space literally swallowed up every syllable of his voice.

“…This is crazy.”

Kyle turned his head and looked at the corpse of the horse on the ground. The creature had lost its composure and ran wild as soon as it entered the unknown space, and died without giving him a chance to help.

“I’m not walking in place.”

Kyle looked at the horse, which had shrunk noticeably, and estimated the distance he had walked. Then he wondered. Whether to keep moving or stay put.

Reason told him that staying put was safer.

In this space that gave him primal fear, if he lost sight of the horse’s corpse, which was still a landmark, he would be in the same situation as swimming in the vast sea.

Suddenly, Kyle thought of Ruon’s face.

Would he have sought stability and stayed put in this situation? Goodness. He might as well believe that the devil prays.

Kyle muttered to himself and started walking. Of course, he didn’t just walk with determination. He pulled up the divine power that flowed under his skin as much as possible. He didn’t know if it would work, but it would be better than not trying anything.

As he walked and walked for a long time, Kyle was able to sense a very faint sign of life. It was a result that was possible because he instinctively spread his divine power wide.

He quickly turned and ran, and a blue hemispherical shield came into his sight. And the magician who was sweating inside.

“Amela!”

As he approached, the surface of the blue shield shook dangerously and began to melt away from the center. Kyle, who realized too late that the spellbreaker had done something he didn’t want, was startled and tried to throw his shield, but Amela shouted.

“No!”

When Kyle stopped, Amela wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and said.

“I took care of it myself. It would have been hard to maintain anyway because of your shield.”

She took a small breath and shook Colin’s shoulder, who had collapsed next to her.

“Wake up. Colin.”

“Ugh. Shit. My head.”

Colin, who looked like he was suffering from a hangover, pressed his temples and got up. He widened his eyes at the sight before him.

“What the hell is this?”

That’s when Amela grabbed Kyle’s wrist and said.

“Come closer.”

“···Isn’t this too much for a romantic situation? There’s a limit to how much you can set a young man’s heart on fire.”

Amela frowned slightly at Colin, who gave her a sour look.

“Kyle’s shield is breaking the spell that pervades this space, albeit insufficiently. If you’re curious, just take three steps back. You’ll end up like that in less than five minutes.”

She pointed with her index finger to the direction where two horses were lying with their eyes rolled back and foam on their mouths. Colin gasped when he realized that they were his and Amela’s horses.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I’m sorry.”

Then Kyle, who had put down the spellbreaker on the ground, asked.

“Amela, where the hell are we? I remember following Lune into the blizzard, but···”

He trailed off and Amela answered.

“I don’t know either. This barrier didn’t exist when I was here. It must have been installed relatively recently.”

She bit her lower lip and added.

“There’s a terrifying spell that scrambles your senses and ultimately annihilates you. This is not a spell that can be spread over such a vast area. If you do, your brain will melt in an instant.”

Colin swallowed his dry saliva and said.

“But it’s spread out.”

“Yeah. Maybe something beyond the norm has already awakened.”

Amela realized that this conversation was not helpful at all and changed the topic.

“Anyway, we can’t waste any more time. If we do, Aslan and the knights won’t be able to hold on. There’s a limit to mental strength too.”

She seemed to have made up her mind after some hesitation and placed her palm on the spellbreaker.

“Paradoxical shield···I’ll amplify this thing’s power as much as possible and shatter this space entirely.”

Kyle tilted his head and asked.

“Isn’t this thing bound to interfere with the spell? Is that possible?”

Amela smiled faintly at the obvious question and answered.

“What’s engraved on this shield is ‘a spell that blocks spells’. It sounds like a wordplay, but the essence of being a spell doesn’t change. If I can break and reestablish the law for a moment, it’s not impossible.”

Colin said impatiently at the incomprehensible words.

“I can’t understand anything you say, so just do it quickly!”

“I’m already doing it!”

Amela’s eyes, which had shouted loudly, were dyed with a clear blue color. At the same time, the same color of light burst out from the palm that was placed on the shield, turning the surroundings blue.

“Amela?”

Kyle called her name worriedly at the blood that was dripping from her eyes, nose, and even ears, but she clenched her teeth and poured more power.

Her head, which was analyzing the shield’s power at a speed that ordinary magicians couldn’t even imagine, spewed out a hazy smoke.

Soon, her lips, which were bleeding enough to burst, opened with difficulty and a short spell came out.

“A-cento!”

Then, the blue light that had covered the surroundings like fog was sucked into the spellbreaker. Immediately after, a dazzling pillar of light shot out from the surface of the bulky shield in a radial pattern, tearing apart the white space.

A fierce blizzard rushed in through the torn gap. At the same time, the white space collapsed like a sandcastle swept by a wave.

Kyle, who had turned his face away from the snowflakes hitting his face, lifted up Amela, who had fallen over. Meanwhile, Colin, who had picked up the shield that had fallen on the ground, looked around and said.

“Damn! Where did we come from?”

Then, a huge roar was heard.

Grrr-oo-oo-oo!

Colin, who had shrunk his neck like a rat, turned his body to the direction where the sound came from. Kyle was already running that way.

“Hurry up!”

As he ran through the blizzard that obstructed his sight, he heard a giant roar and a noise of something exploding.

Soon, he reached the source of the sound and saw a giant of ice that looked like an incarnation of coldness and Lune, who was swinging his fist at the giant’s fist.

Crash!

A huge noise and a shockwave spread out, and a white snowstorm soared up.

Colin, who had followed him, staggered from the shockwave, but barely kept his balance and said.

“What the hell is that?”

Then, the ice giant, whose body was covered with transparent crystals, lifted up an axe in his other hand.

Considering his massive size, the axe didn’t look cute at all, but the effect was beyond imagination.

The blizzard swept by the axe’s trail turned into sharp ice shards and slashed at Ruon like blades. The force in the fragments was so immense that holes started to form in the shield of the Ego Sword from the accumulated impact. But Ruon dodged or parried all the attacks with his amazing agility and advanced.

Soon, he reached the giant’s vicinity and swung his arm. The sword with tremendous power sliced the giant’s leg like a tofu, and the off-balanced creature crashed to the ground with a thud.

Grrr-oo-oo-oo!

As soon as it felt the warrior jumping over its body, the giant swung its rock-like fists wildly in instinctive fear.

Gwaaang-!

Ruon met the huge fist flying from the front with his shoulder with all his strength. As a result, Ruon was pushed back a step, and the giant’s fist shattered like a glass. Then, the other fist holding the axe came flying, but Ruon cut it off with the Ego Sword and spat on the ground as he walked towards the giant’s head.

“Winner takes loser’s…what?”

He said that and slammed his fist on the giant’s head that had given up resistance.

Once, twice, and three times. The ice crystals that densely covered the giant’s skin crumbled under the overwhelming force, and the dark flesh inside was briefly exposed.

Ruon quickly spun the sword handle and gripped it in reverse, then stabbed it into the gap.

Krrr-aa-aa-aa-ak!

The moment the blade pierced the soft flesh and tore it apart, the giant’s body began to be swept away by the wind from the edge.

Ruon dusted off his hands in front of the giant that had disappeared without a trace and turned his head to the gaze that was looking at him.

Kyle and Colin, who met his eyes, asked in unison as if they had rehearsed.

“What the hell was that?”

Ruon scratched the back of his head and shrugged his shoulders.

“The chieftain, I guess?”