How to Survive as a Genius Spy in the Game Chapter 239 - Head Hunting (4)

The first to move was Carlyn. Straightforward, head-on. For him, the relative underdog, it was the best option. In response, darkness rose up from the front.

The situation itself was familiar. He had experienced it while fighting Terka or the devil’s avatar.

However, the level was different. The speed at which the darkness was generated and the sharpness with which it extended were incomparable.

The difference now was that Carlyn had become a Sword Master. His thoughts accelerated.

Advancing, he twisted his body to catch gaps between the darkness, and when blocked, he broke through with Sword Energy. Unlike before, the moonlight Sword Energy could easily cut through the darkness.

The problem was that even so, not everything was resolved. Black magic is just a speck of the devil’s power.

The devil stood straight in place. Breaking through with the acceleration of winds, Carlyn swung Moonlight with all his might.

As his winds wrapped around Moonlight, even the sound of air being cut was minimal. However, the devil blocked that attack all too easily.

“…!”

Carlyn gritted his teeth and applied force, but the Sword Energy couldn’t cut through the arm covered in condensed darkness.

Of course, not all parts of the devil’s body are this hard.

It’s just difficult to cut through when it’s consciously gathered darkness to block like this. This was also why three Sword Masters were needed.

The devil, face to face with Carlyn, pulled its lips to the sides. The smile that raised the corners of its mouth to below its ears was grotesque, as if its mouth was torn.

Seeing the densely packed, sharp teeth numbering over dozens, Carlyn gritted his teeth.

‘Oh no.’

In that moment, he pushed back the devil with all his might and kicked off the air to retreat. Darkness rippled all around.

Bead-like bullets, stems, and even hand-like things.

The silver moon cut down the things coming at him from all directions. But that wasn’t the end.

Breaking through the curtain of oncoming darkness, the devil rushed straight in. The moment Carlyn’s feet touched the ground, he twisted his waist forcefully and extended Moonlight.

Clang-! Despite the moonlight Sword Energy, it was a heavy attack. Darkness writhed behind the devil’s back.

At sunset. Under the increasingly reddening sunlight, moonlight was holding back the darkness that was crashing in like waves.

“You taste of sweet and thick regret.”

As it spoke, the opposite hand swooped in. Carlyn blocked it by twisting his wrist while pushing back the sword. It was a close call, but the impact was immediate.

Carlyn’s body flew through the air as if hit by something heavy. It would have been harder if he hadn’t blocked it.

Flying about 8m, Carlyn regained his balance in mid-air and twisted his body to land. Despite extending Moonlight without delay, his forearm stung.

The devil’s fingertip had slightly cut his flesh. Memories of the past flashed through his mind.

The faces of people who had died by his hand since coming to this world. It wasn’t a small number. Carlyn gritted his teeth.

The reason names are attached to devils is because they can utilize that power. The devil of domination dominates, this one regret.

The aftermath of that power varies depending on a person’s mental strength and life experiences. It was thanks to this that Carlyn wasn’t affected by the devil of domination.

After all, his top priority of survival was incompatible with the devil.

But the emotion of regret is different. Carlyn had changed as a person since coming to this world.

He had lived thinking it was okay, believing it was the influence of possession, but his intelligence from when he was on Earth made him think a lot.

‘Damn. It’s a bit stronger than I thought.’

Carlyn gritted his teeth and drove out his emotions. It was unnecessary. Especially in a situation like this.

He had always thought that regret and reflection were things you could only do if you survived. That’s why he had endured.

Carlyn faced the situation. The need for three Sword Masters was no exaggeration. He knew it, but it was even stronger than that.

He wanted to cross swords with it face to face, but it seemed dangerous. There wouldn’t be many chances.

From the start, he didn’t intend to risk his life to test it. He was prepared to use either the bomb or the amulet immediately.

A slight greed had created this clash just now. But Carlyn judged that this was as far as he should go.

‘Let’s go.’

Carlyn gritted his teeth and rushed in. He needed to decisively annihilate it before getting hurt any more.

And so, under the reddening sunlight as it darkened, moonlight advanced towards the darkness.

Carlyn gathered all his strength. Mana flowed fiercely through the circuits in his body.

It was the process of executing, without the slightest error, the technique that had elevated Carlyn to Sword Master.

And in front of the darkness crashing down like waves, a full moon bloomed.

“Kuk…!”

However, just because it’s the technique that elevated him to Sword Master doesn’t mean it always succeeds.

The full moon bloomed in front of the darkness, but Moonlight ultimately stopped in front of the devil’s solar plexus.

It penetrated about 4cm, but the thick skin and condensed darkness received the sword tip.

Unlike that, the devil’s right hand had accurately pierced Carlyn’s left shoulder.

Regret, shame, lamentation. All sorts of emotions mixed in Carlyn’s mind. The intensity was different from before.

Nevertheless, Carlyn gritted his teeth and smiled wryly as he held up the glowstone.

The reason he had taken this deep stab when he could have avoided it was because of the glowstone. He had already infused it with mana.

Just before it burst, it would explode with just a slight movement of mana from Carlyn. The devil had noticed this too and couldn’t move further.

“Hehe, shall we die together?”

Can you laugh knowing you’re going to die? Carlyn sneered inwardly.

“You deluded and pitiful miscreants cannot see fate. The darkest pitch black will soon cover the world.”

Carlyn chuckled.

“Maybe. No, maybe it would have.”

That fate, if it were in the game, who knows. No matter what choice he made, he couldn’t have gained the upper hand.

But not now.

“It won’t happen because I’m here.”

“Well. You’ll die with me though.”

Carlyn smiled looking at it. Pulling the corners of his mouth as much as possible, just like it had done earlier.

“But I’m sorry to say, I have no intention of dying with you. Ah, actually, I’m not sorry at all.”

As doubt settled in the devil’s pupils, Carlyn detonated the glowstone. And he infused mana into the amulet. It was the Amulet of the Season That Doesn’t Exist, which he had taken from the royal armory.

His vision flipped.

***

The basis of my confidence that made all this planning possible was thanks to the Amulet of the Season That Doesn’t Exist.

I had used it briefly. And I could understand why the 3rd prince had gone even more mad.

It felt like exchanging my mental strength and sanctuary in equivalent exchange. Being unfamiliar, I couldn’t stay in that world for long.

So when I said I would move alone, I judged it to be dangerous.

After the thought of all of us moving together came up, I hoped to face the devil thanks to this amulet.

No matter what happened, I could hold out until Erendil and the Sword Masters returned when I lured it.

‘It was a dilemma.’

The reason I didn’t mention the amulet on the spot was because I hadn’t decided to use it then.

Using the amulet to blow up one devil was the right answer. If I had said it with my own mouth, it would have been decided right away.

But what if they had another stronghold? And what if things went better than expected?

Such possibilities had occurred to me.

It was also because the three devils appeared at an unexpected moment. Even while thinking calmly, worries increased.

‘Of course, I had no intention of leaving room for worse cases out of worry for future risks.’

So the probability of using it was over 90% even in my eyes. I actually used the glowstone too.

Of course, I could have still spoken up despite that. I could have said the situation looked strange or the conditions weren’t right to use it.

That’s right. It’s an excuse. To be honest, I just didn’t want to talk about it.

Because I thought Erendil would worry again and ask if it was really okay.

No matter how much I said that my mind might get a little weird but it’s not a problem, there would have been a lot of talk.

In an urgent situation, we had to depart first, and anyway, I thought I could tell them after the glowstone exploded since we’d be leaving right away.

‘I think it’s about time to get out.’

It’s a grayish-white world where everything ripples, like the blade of Ghost Blade without substance. There seem to be shapes, but they ripple like fog.

Even so, while what’s visible on the surface doesn’t seem to be a problem, I can feel my mental strength being shaved away.

Should I call it an instinctive horror? It was a place where all the unpleasantness in the world could be felt in real-time, and I myself became unpleasant.

And time flows slightly differently between this place and the outside world. My mind itself feels dull too.

‘Let’s get out.’

The moment I made up my mind, my vision flipped. My breathing cleared and light returned. The sky was at the tail end of sunset.

A huge crater was dug in the snow-covered plain. I was at its center.

In front of me, Teme’s Spear was stuck in the tattered chest of the devil. It didn’t look like it had been stuck in a corpse.

It seemed to mean that it had survived even after taking the explosion.

‘Crazy.’

While the devil was beyond imagination, to withstand this? On one hand, I was dumbfounded.

Well, maybe it used some kind of full-power barrier after seeing the previous case.

I thought I had used the glowstone quite well. If it’s this much for this one, even if I had used it on a Great Devil, the damage to our allies might have been greater.

Anyway, why is Teme’s Spear stuck there? They must have joined faster than expected.

I thought it would take some time to find the imperfect devil. And to catch it too.

Even Erendil wouldn’t have abandoned everything and come just because an explosion occurred.

‘With the spear here, nothing should have gone wrong, so did they catch it much faster than expected or did they not find it at all?’

Suddenly, the devil’s laughter bothered me. Why did it laugh even knowing it would die with me?

At that time, I simply thought it was because it believed they would win after we both died.

‘By the way, where is Erendil?’

The devil’s corpse and spear were right in front of me, but no one was visible. I was a bit surprised by the surrounding circumstances too. I quickly expanded winds.

And I felt people a bit far away. Four of them. They all seemed fine. Sensing the winds, one of them ran this way.

“Yo-Your Majesty! Schurtafen is here!”

As soon as those words were spoken, another person started running. Just by the hair I felt in the winds, I knew it was Erendil. And soon she came into view.

What’s this?

It was a sudden thought, but I understood the situation. If they had seen this scene when I wasn’t here, what would they have thought?

Erendil ran towards me at full speed. Over a distance of easily several hundred meters.

Her eyes were red, and perhaps because she had been searching through the dust after the explosion, there were tear tracks on her cheeks.

Erendil ran to me, nearly slipping several times. I didn’t know how to react.

Should I run to meet her or wait? Maybe because I had used the amulet, my thinking felt a bit stiff.

Erendil, who had run over, stopped right in front of me and caught her breath with wide, blank eyes.

Then she reached out and touched my cheek.

“……”

It was as if she was checking if I was real. Just as I was about to say something, Erendil suddenly pulled me into an embrace.

The blonde hair tickled my cheek. Hot breath touched my nape.

“Where! Where on earth were you! I’ve been searching for 30 minutes!”

Erendil pounded my back with his small fists. 30 minutes? I was considerably bewildered.

The time I had calculated wasn’t that.

Could it be that the time changes every time I enter? It wasn’t like that when I tested it a couple of times.

Or maybe the flow of time changes drastically depending on how long I stay.

“And why! Why! Are you always where something is exploding!”

Well, is that so? Come to think of it, I guess it was. I had blocked bombs aimed at Erendil twice.

This time was slightly different, but I didn’t argue.

Erendil kept hitting my back and then hugged me tightly. I stood like a statue, not knowing what to do.

The three Sword Masters in the distance didn’t approach. I wished they would come over.

“Your Majesty.”

When my voice was heard, Erendil’s body stiffened slightly. It felt like the whirlwind of emotions had subsided a bit.

It seemed Erendil didn’t know what to do now either.

“Your Majesty, I will explain everything.”

I gently grabbed Erendil’s shoulders with both arms and pushed her away slightly. There was a slight resistance.

Erendil’s blonde hair shone red in the sunset. Erendil slightly lowered her head as if she didn’t want to show her face, then opened her eyes wide.

“Th-This! Are you alright?”

She had seen the wound on my shoulder.

“It’s fine. It’s not a serious injury.”

Although I had been pierced by the hand, it wasn’t life-threatening. However, Erendil was even more shocked.

“It is not alright!”

Well, treatment is needed, but I couldn’t focus on that right now. Ah, how on earth should I explain this?

The amulet. I should have just talked about it.