Chapter 61
Leon Wolf was a man who had spent his entire life fighting against the apocalypse, the Narrator, and the Third Parties.
He had sacrificed his own son to the apocalypse, watched his wife be devoured, her “story” consumed by a Third Party, and beyond that, witnessed his family, friends, teacher, and vassals all vanish meaninglessly into destruction.
So he feared death.
More precisely, he feared his story, the “Broken Oath” he had created, the noble will of memory, being reduced to mere entertainment for them. He despised that possibility to an insane degree.
‘That’s why he’s looking for a successor.’
At first glance, it might seem simple: why not just pass it down to Johanna, his blood relative?
But Johanna was a general fighting on the front lines.
To Leon, that was actually a disadvantage. She could die at any moment. And if death could come so easily, then what he left behind could be lost just as easily.
So what Leon sought was:
‘Someone who would not waver.’
Someone who would not stand at the front lines where death was constant, yet would not die easily either. Someone upright in character, who would not misuse the Broken Oath.
Ironically, these conditions themselves became the reason Leon could not die.
Because in this apocalypse, most people who met those conditions were already dead.
And within Hermadion, he couldn’t find such a person.
This world was already dead. Its people were as good as dead, too. At this point, Leon had already declared a death sentence upon Hermadion.
Therefore:
‘Someone from the outside, who doesn’t stand on the front lines, yet doesn’t die easily, and is kind… soft-hearted.’
Fulfilling such conditions was difficult. Especially meeting Leon’s standards, his battle-hardened sense of judgment was nearly impossible.
To Leon, everyone failed to qualify.
So for Shin Yerim, the shocking part wasn’t that Leon had declared he would kill someone, it was that Leon Wolf himself had chosen her.
She hurriedly ran ahead of Leon’s stiff, rigid back.
Her body was barely half his size.
Thin, small, with long, unkempt hair flying wildly as she ran.
“U-uh, oint–hah–oint…”
“…Please, take your time.”
At my words, Shin Yerim avoided my gaze and struggled to catch her breath.
After a while, she managed to speak.
“O-ointment… I f-found it.”
She handed me a small ointment and a few potion bottles.
“Y-you said… you’d st-stand guard…”
I waited until she finished speaking, despite her stuttering.
She seemed slightly surprised that I simply waited.
Anyone could guess the question on her face:
‘Why isn’t he leaving?’
At this point, most people would have gotten irritated and left. But I didn’t.
She slowly opened her mouth again, trying to finish her sentence.
“I-it’s, um… g-good for… ab-normal conditions… I m-made it…”
“Ah, this potion? May I ask what effect it has?”
“Ah–! I-it’s n-not… weird…!”
Flustered, she waved her hands quickly.
Then she explained:
“It… helps… remove abnormal conditions faster… n-no side effects…”
Despite her broken speech, I simply nodded.
“Thank you.”
At that, Shin Yerim looked like she might faint.
As if she couldn’t understand why I was thanking her.
Like a demon hearing scripture, her face turned pale.
I gave a small bow.
Leon Wolf, Shin Yerim, and Johanna Wolf.
I rolled my eyes slightly.
‘Shin Yerim…’
Contrary to Leon’s expectations, she should never inherit the Broken Oath.
The moment she received it, she collapsed.
In the end, the only one who ever used that skill, at least once… was Johanna.
‘It’s too wasteful for her to end like that.’
Her talent was too valuable.
She specialized in consumable crafting. Even in the best conditions, crafting types struggled to survive, and consumables even more so.
Especially in a world like ours, without structured systems.
‘Social anxiety disorder, avoidant personality disorder, depression, stuttering disorder.’
From her behavior alone, avoidant personality disorder and stuttering were almost certain.
If only I had a skill that could read minds and emotions…
‘…Well, I haven’t even met all the main characters yet.’
Without knowing her past, I couldn’t judge her present.
What triggered what outcome… I couldn’t know.
Approaching her carelessly would be dangerous.
“Thank you for your concern.”
Since entering this place, my already weakened mental strength has been steadily declining.
Stamina, at least, can be restored.
Mental strength couldn’t.
I even tried treating myself as a client.
All I got was mockery.
Meaning, I couldn’t use my ability on myself.
So I asked, just in case:
“Do you happen to have anything that helps with mental strength?”
At that, Shin Yerim’s face suddenly turned serious.
Her previously anxious, wavering expression snapped into focus.
“M-mental strength… r-related items…”
Her hesitation already gave me the answer.
I nodded.
“I see.”
I showed no disappointment, just acknowledgment.
She visibly relaxed.
“Th-then… I’ll g-go…”
I gave a small nod.
Lee Hoin scratched the back of his head and stepped aside for her.
“Let’s go. Take one of these.”
I handed him a potion.
We needed to train before dawn.
And we needed sleep.
We always had things to do at dawn.
“Let’s go to sleep.”
As for Shin Yerim, I decided to think about her more.
We still had 25 days left.
***
[Time Remaining: 23 Days]
“Mothefu-, these damn monkey bastards! Where the hell do they keep spawning from? No matter how many we kill, they just keep coming!”
Someone next to me shouted.
Honestly, I wanted to shout too.
If I could.
Right now, three of us were holding a massive spear, barely managing to stab the eye of a climbing monkey.
This was just a temporary measure.
A desperate attempt to stop the insanely fast creatures from charging up.
“Did these bastards lay eggs somewhere? They crawl like cockroaches, fu-.”
The man beside me gritted his teeth and thrust the spear again.
He wasn’t wrong.
These one-eyed monkeys, Ainauk, weren’t just fast.
The real problem was how well they climbed walls.
The walls were dozens of meters high.
They scaled them instantly.
And once they reached the top, they swung their massive arms wildly.
Each Ainauk was about 6 meters long.
Imagine the size of those hands.
They could sweep humans off the wall like dust.
That was the problem.
We couldn’t let them get over the wall.
So all we could do was stab their eyes with spears and force them back until magic support arrived.
Fortunately, they weren’t very intelligent.
If we held the spear at the right spot, they couldn’t control their speed and would impale their own eyes.
“Skreeeech!”
Sounds simple, right?
Yeah… if it were just one or two.
But these things were basically cockroaches.
Knock one down, three more climb up.
Knock three down, six more…
“When’s backup coming?!”
Fire was being used nearby, but that created another problem.
Once they caught fire, we had to kill them faster.
Otherwise, they turned into burning monkeys and climbed even faster.
Why was their fur so flammable?
—
[Well, perhaps their fur secretes oil for waterproofing?]
[In a land where snow constantly falls, poorly water-resistant fur would be a death sentence!]
—
Thanks for the logical explanation.
“Burning one climbing left!”
My lips were soaked from shouting nonstop.
I tore off my damp mask.
The cold bit into my face like it would rip it off.
Still better than wearing a wet mask.
Below, thick smoke rose, and countless soldiers clung to the Ainauk.
Without the fire, we wouldn’t even know how many there were.
Why?
Because…
It was night.
No.
It was dawn.
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