Chapter 124

124th Episode

Omen

124 – Omen #1

Kiaaaaaak!

A bird with steel wings spread wide let out a roar. The terrible screech sounded like metal being scratched and torn apart.

We covered our ears and frowned at the sound.

Soon, the mechanical bird spread its wings wide and, with its two legs, waddled towards me, flailing its wings.

Hoooooong.

Its sharp feathers seemed to be targeting my jar.

With the attitude of a guardian of the lake, it appeared intent on not letting me leave with the black spring water.

Hooong, hoooooong.

The creature continued attacking me with its two wings, fanning them like a fan.

The large and heavy jar on my back made it quite problematic to avoid its attacks.

Thus, instead of dodging, I decided to pull out a club from my waist and use all my strength to knock its wings away.

Kang!

Following a deafening metallic clang, the bird-monster wobbled and took shaky steps back.

“Hotshan, I’ll help!”

Taking this opening, Luna also pulled something out of her bosom and hurled it at the bird. However, even though its body was covered entirely in steel, its reaction seemed not unlike a wild beast’s.

Pirrrrrrk!

The beast sliced the object aimed at it neatly in half with its sharp steel feathers.

Swish, shoaaak.

Nonetheless, the contents within spilled over onto its steel body because of inertia.

“It worked!”

Luna cried out cheerfully.

“Because it was doused with grease, its movements will be hampered by the slipperiness!”

“What, grease?”

Though I don’t know what grease is, it was clear that the machine-bird’s body was covered by something slippery and glossy. Every time it moved, the metallic friction sound had noticeably diminished.

Kiaaaaaaaaak!

The beast let out a high-pitched scream, seemingly angry that a strange liquid had been sprayed onto its body. Then, it leapt forward and slashed in Luna’s direction with its wing like a blade.

The steel-feathered wing came down like a blade towards Luna’s head.

Sssweeeeek – crunch!

“Ghhheeeek!”

Together with the sound of a skull breaking, Luna let out a terrible scream as she slowly collapsed to the floor.

Thud.

The mechanical bird’s attack was so precise and swift that Luna didn’t have enough time to dodge.

“Luuna! Are you alright?!”

“Ugh… gh…”

Though a loud impact sound had occurred, since Luna was still groaning, it seemed she wasn’t dead.

Anyway, thinking about how Luna had been hurt made my vision flash red with anger, and I couldn’t control it any longer. My grip on the club tightened.

“You d*mn bird!”

I propelled myself forward with my back leg and charged at the creature. The heavy jar on my back made running quite difficult, but I didn’t have time to worry about such things.

I swung the club I had raised with all my might directly at the creature.

Kang!

At that moment, the distinctive metallic hitting sound echoed, and the vibration of the impact spread numbly through my hands.

Fortunately, the strong power of my bat had some effect, since the robot’s body, standing on two legs, was also greatly shaken.

The creature wiggled around, as if it were about to lose its balance and fall any second.

Gggggggegggg.

Clang, clack.

It seems that in this world, most things are resolved by swinging a bat or a fist!

Suuuuuueeek!

The creature seemingly irritated, launched a counterattack at me with its fore-claws and beak. The sharp steel claw left a terrible scratch mark on the breastplate covering my chest.

“I, you son of a– How much are you worth?!”

I continued swinging the club at the creature despite everything. A loud noise similar to smashing scrap metal reverberated through the surroundings.

Sssweeek, sssweeeek!

The steel body of the creature started to gradually crumple, and the shiny feathers began to break off and roll around on the ground.

Kiaaaaaaaaak!

Yet another shriek rent the sky. When I looked up, several more bird-like monsters similar to the one I had been beating earlier were fluttering towards us.

sh*t, one was already difficult enough to handle.

Adding four more makes it even worse. A balance patch, really?

“We’re screwed.”

Involuntarily, words of despair escaped from my mouth. Is this really how it ends? I’ve barely had a chance to use my newly acquired gold coins before dying.

It was during this very moment of slight unease that…

“…Doo-doo-doling brook-. Little stream water-.”

From somewhere, a small voice, filled with fear, began emitting strange words.

“Brook, brook, little brook water, by the pond. Rabbit, dear, fox, Sparrow, little Nymphs, friends… .”

Swish! This was somewhat like a nursery rhyme and had an innocence to it. The orange-haired Nymph Paranoi, who had been lying sprawled on the ground trembling, began singing.

Swooooss.

As if responding to that song, the bird that had been under me lost its strength. Its form became as still and powerless as if the machine’s power had been drained.

Moreover, it seemed the other birds flying in the sky also lost their strength. Slowly, they ceased flapping their wings and crashed noisily to the ground around us.

Bang, Kwa-kwa-kwa, bang.

“Hyeeek!”

The Paranoi yelped in fright at the mechanical bird that had fallen close to herself.

The moment she stopped singing, the mechanical birds once again began making hostile sounds and creaking their bodies once again.

“Hey, hey, sing! Sing!”

I urged Paranoi on like a drunk boss at a drinking party. Her shoulders trembling, she frowned, appearing on the verge of tears.

“Th-the next verse? I-I can’t remember… My mother used to sing it to me when I was small…”

“Anything, try!”

“A-ah, I remember now! Precious little Nymph-. Beware the deer. Riding it will be disastrous. Poor little Nymph, beware the swan.”

It was such a comical and strange song.

“Co-cooom-thunder sound hide your head. Tiny little brook water, nymph of the stream-.”

Oddly, it seems singing had an effect. The birds stopped moving again and became stiff like cold statues.

“Hih, it’s over, you bastards! Revenge of Zaracorn!”

Taking the opportunity, I fiercely swung my club at the mechanical bird’s body lying on the ground.

Since smashing a stationary machine was not all that difficult, I was able to easily crush their bodies and dismantle their parts.

*

When we descended to the foothills of the Black Rock Mountain, the sun had already dyed the sky a warm orange.

Only after returning from the scorching volcano did we finally relax.

“Brothers, we should be safe now.”

Mechanical steamfalcons pursue people only within the territory of this rocky mountain range, they say.

“Ah, what a near-d*ath experience that was.”

“Ah, ah-. Is it okay if I don’t have to sing anymore now?”

Malco, who had regained consciousness, sang the song non-stop during the entire descent. Luckily, we were not attacked by additional birds.

“I have heard that cultists often appear near this rocky mountain area. We’re fortunate not to have encountered them.”

“Perhaps they are busy. Anyway, good thing we made it down safely. Sure was a steep mountain.”

After loading all the supplies onto the cart, just as the coachman was about to whip the horses, I asked the group out of cautiousness.

“Haven’t we left anything behind? Check if anyone is injured or hurting.”

“Ummm.”

In response, Luna slipped off her helmet and touched her forehead. When she lifted the fringe of her hair with her palm, indeed, a fairly large lump had risen there.

It was probably from being hit squarely on the head by the bird’s wings earlier.

“Swollen lump…”

Though it made a rather loud sound, as if her skull might have cracked, worryingly –

It turned out to be just a mild concussion and a contusion because she was wearing a sturdy bronze skull helmet.

What if she hadn’t been wearing the helmet? It’s not a situation I’d want to imagine. That’s why adventurers must carefully choose their armor.

Had it not been for the iron chest plate shielding my chest, the beak might have pierced my heart.

“I heard these birds made of Vulcan’s blessings should be tough to break, but I didn’t expect you to shatter them like that! Everything falls apart once it gets into your hands!”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Indeed, it is!”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Malco evaluated the battle we just had as if it were an incredible feat.

“Honestly, I’m not sure if people would believe this story even if it was crafted into a song. No need to exaggerate it anymore.”

Though I had not realized, it seems these mechanical birds had been quite sophisticated and sturdy to destroy.

Certainly, now as I think about it, they were pretty tough. The scrap iron parts were too heavy to bother carrying them.

I must have had twice the usual strength from being angry at the bird that hurt Luna. It’s said humans occasionally display strength beyond their normal limits in extreme situations.

For a moment, I felt as if I understood why famous adventurers like Hippolyte or Elpride jumped into dangerous situations.

While the brain typically limits physical power to avoid undue strain on the body,

It seems that people who constantly walk the line between life and d*ath gradually loosen this limit and relax the constraints.

That’s why high-ranked adventurers might possess unimaginable strength and skills beyond the reach of ordinary people, isn’t it?

Of course, this is just my own speculation, but it seemed to be a plausible explanation.

Or not.

Observing the sunset scenery in a state of fatigue while the carriage wheels were rolling for about a few hours,

A little ways off, smoke curling up from the sky became visible.

“Hey, Malco, isn’t that the Sodomora direction?”

“It looks like it, but there’s smoke coming out. Perhaps they’re having a festival roasting bird meat?”

With the mention of bird meat, images of juicy roasted meat, dripping with oil, surfaced in my mind.

The suffering my body went through in the steam room would surely be soothed like a downpour on parched sand with meat and booze.

“d*mn, it’s gonna be delicious. Lucky we’re hungry.”

“Bird meat…?”

Luna sniffed suspiciously.

“It doesn’t smell like bird meat. The smell of burning wood is strong… It doesn’t seem like they’re roasting meat!”

Luna’s judgment was spot on.

As we approached the city, we started spotting thick black smoke rising from every corner.

The city—

The city was burning, or perhaps it had already caught fire.

“What the, d*mn. What the hell’s going on?”

I grabbed a passing guard and asked. The guard under the helmet was sweating profusely and shook his head with a sigh.

“The cultists appeared! We captured their priests not long ago, didn’t we? The Knights of the Shrine and remnants of the cult clashed violently, creating chaos!”

Remainder cultists, Shrine Knights, transport to the prison city.

The familiar keywords immediately made me think of Pluto’s cultists, Schizo and Somnia. They were talking about transporting them to the huge prison city, weren’t they?

“So, what happened?”

The Para-noi beside me reacted strongly upon hearing this. Having been a cultist herself, she must be curious about what happened to her fellow members, right?

“How should we even say? Well, it’s the Shrine Knights after all. Naturally, they easily repelled them. We even found the stronghold where the remnants were hiding. A suppression force will soon be organized. Perhaps even today.”

While we were suffering in the hot volcano, Sodomora also endured its own trials, combating the fierce flames.

Anyway, this had nothing to do with us, so we simply moved towards the Venus Shrine to finish our assigned mission.

The Shrine of Venus in the central street, which we admired the previous day, looked the same with white birds flying around, flowers spread across the grounds, and an aura of peace.

Apparently, this place was untouched by the cultist attack and the battles that swept through the city.

Truly, this is a temple of love, isn’t it? Is love stronger than violence, perhaps?

“Wow, beautiful. There are so many roses.”

Luna, seemingly visiting the Venus Shrine for the first time, looked around with her mouth open wide.

The garden scene during this sunset must have moved the heart of the young girl Luna.

We entered the shrine carrying the water jug. However, the interior was eerily quiet unlike the last time we were here.

The only person guarding the shrine was the receptionist we had met before.

“The whole city is in chaos. The Holy Maiden is taking refuge elsewhere. Next time you come, you will receive proper thanks and compensation.”

Since she was a VIP, she must have taken refuge in a shelter like an air-raid bunker.

I wonder what kind of reward we will receive from this VIP. She’s an important person, so she will surely give us something amazing, right?

“Well then, let’s go grab some food!”

As always, we headed to the inn and enjoyed meat and alcohol to relax from the mission.

Even if the city burns from a cultist attack, the cheap inns in the slums are always filled with foolish faces, their cheeks flushed red from heavy drinking.

Of course, we were also among them.

“The request from the Holy Maiden, what kind of reward will we get in return? More gold coins, maybe, like the advance we received?”

Luna’s eyes sparkled as she thought about the upcoming reward. Despite having already consumed several drinks, there was no sign of her being drunk.

Malco, sitting beside her, was sipping on his drink.

“Brother, until just a few days ago, we used to sell Goblin teeth. But now, we’re looking quite decent, aren’t we? Let’s go back to the rock mountain again next time!”

“Pssh, you piece of trash, thanks to you fainting halfway, we almost died, you know. Without Para-noi, we’d all be goners by now.”

I recalled the dire moment from earlier. Thinking about it now, it was a situation that could make one faint.

Para-noi, who had contributed greatly to defeating the birds, was lying face down, knocked out after finishing a single beer. She must have been exhausted.

“Gold coins-. So many gold coins…”

Suddenly, a mention of gold coins slipped out from her half-opened mouth, making my heart skip a beat in panic.

I quickly checked around in case anyone had overheard, when Luna promptly pulled out an appropriately sized carrot from the food and stuck it into Para-noi’s mouth.

“Quiet down, Para-noi.”

It would not do to say something inappropriate in her sleep, like “ate the thief’s money.” That was quite a wise move.

“…”

While everyone sat silently for a brief moment,

Clump. Clump, clump, clang.

A group of soldiers in armor rushed into the inn. Malco, startled, shouted,

“I, this Malco doesn’t know anything!”

sh*t, Malco, what the hell are you saying all of a sudden. And why did soldiers come into the inn? Did they really find out about the stolen gold coins already?

The coins in my pocket started feeling heavy. However, the soldiers didn’t pay any attention to us. They just stuck something small like a scroll onto the inn’s pillars.

Then, a soldier in a yellow cloak loudly announced to the bewildered customers,

“I am Bayona, the Knight of the Count! All of those called shall now stand! First, young people over a certain age! All male individuals who can wield weapons, rise to your feet!”

At this proclamation, a drunkard among the revelers frowned deeply and asked,

“What has happened to disturb people who are resting?”

At this question, all eyes turned to the lips of the soldiers.

Swish.

In response, Knight Bayona drew a sword from the waist and forcefully stabbed it into a table, shouting,

“War! War! There is war!”

[Author’s Note]

Today is the day the novel is fully free for all to read! ㅠㅠㅠ… I never thought there would be such an event for me…!!!

To all the readers who have read until now…!!!

And to the new readers who have joined because of this event and all of you I will meet in the future, I am grateful and happy to meet you all…!!!

Please, let’s continue to see each other for a long time… daraaahh… Thank you…!!! ㅠㅠ!!

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