The New Gate

Book 7: Chapter 2 (1)

Shin, muttered something under his breath, while confirming that someone was approaching Palmirack using the map function.

It was clear the individual, most likely the messenger, was airborne, based on the angle and the speed at which they were approaching. Either they were riding a monster that could fly, or they had the ability to fly on their own.

Shin hid himself on the roof of Palmirack, keeping his line of sight pointed in the direction the messenger was coming from.

Eventually, Shin could make out a dark shadow. Luckily, there were no clouds that night, and the moon and stars kept the area visible.

The shadow which was a speck gradually grew larger, and within a few minutes became clearly distinguishable.

“(I can see a shadow of a person, I think it’s the messenger. They’ve come solo on a bug-type monster. Since the messenger is wearing a mantle with a hood, I can’t confirm their appearance.)”

Shin shared this information with Schnee and Shibaid through Mind Chat. This was passed onto Wilhelm and Tiera as well.

However, a few minutes later.

Something unexpected was displayed on Shin’s map.

“It’s possible to claim that these are related…”

Over 100 red markers were approaching from the rear of the messenger’s marker. You could say that it is impossible to conclude that this had nothing to do with the current situation.

Shin relayed this information to Shibaid. He responded with “I shall intercept them.”

Truth be told they could intercept them with a wide-range magical attack, however, that would surely cause tremendous amount of noise and vibrations to occur. Considering how late in the night it was, this would potentially cause citizens in Palmirack to panic.

Shibaid could probably handle the monsters, by drawing them in the same way Shin once did at Balmel.

It could get out of hand, thus, it had been decided that Wilhelm would accompany him.

Just in case, Lilishila’s aids would also act as backup.

“This isn’t an average messenger” Shin mumbled this when he saw the figures become clearer as they approached.

After some preparations for battle were made, the messenger landed on the roof of Palmirack.

“Welcome. We were expecting you.”

Due to an disguise technique, Shin altered his voice, and spoke to the messenger. Both his voice and appearance are identical to Bulk’s. When seen by another person, they should not see anything but Bulk.

The messenger seems to have been fooled and thought Bulk had come to greet them. She flipped her hood off and revealed her face.

“Greetings, I seem to have troubled you. They are the sacrifices?”

A blonde-haired woman replied in a somewhat unnatural voice while straddling the bug-type monster, “Megrade”. A bug-type monster with 6 thin wings and a body similar to a centipede. It’s level on average is 700.

No one would object calling her a “Beauty”, she is a woman who posses such an appearance. However, her expression was blank. It was as if she was looking at Schnee and Tiera, but at the same time not at all.

“We are ready for you. Please come in.”

“It’s not necessary. We’re moving immediately.”

“At least have a drink.”

“No. Hurry up.”

She didn’t show any behavioural thoughts, the woman urged instead. She didn’t seem to want to waste her time at all.

Shin signaled to Schnee and Tiera to head towards the woman. Schnee was approaching slowly with Tiera.

Appearing to be manipulated, they were walking at a slow pace, they were good at acting.

However, when the distance between the woman and Schnee’s group was less than 20 mels, the silence was suddenly broken.

“!!”

Words could not express the shrieking of the Megrade, who jerked its neck like a snake. On Shin’s map, the marker showing the Megrade turned red representing a foe.

The Megrade stopped shrieking, and without any hesitation, turned towards the direction of Tiera and ejected a purple liquid out of its mouth.

“It’s time to take action!”

“Roger!”

The moment the Megrade had turned towards Tiera, Schnee understood it’s intentions and immediately picked her up and moved from their current location.

Within seconds, the location that the two had been was covered in the purple liquid, and this initiated Palmirack’s defense mechanism.

“I don’t know how we were exposed, however, it looks like we have no choice but to fight. Hey, you over there!! Either surrender quietly or fight, make a decision now”

“Did Bulk fall. How pitiful. You guys will be sacrificed by yours truly!!”

While the woman shouted that, she gestured at the excited Megrade. In that moment, it was hard to believe that the Megrade had become docile given it previous actions.

According to Shin’s analysis, the woman’s name was Amre Zig. She was a level 181 tamer. However, there was also information listed that would normally not be associated with a human’s status.

“Do it!!”

The Megrade moved based on Amre’s command.

The monster raised half of its 7 mels body, perpendicular to the ground. By doing so it can determine its prey.

The Megrade that Amre rode was twice as small as the one Shin was used to. It was also a lower level than the full-grown monster, at only 504.

Even then, the giant fangs attached to its head and its legs, which has a blade-like tip, holds enough power to tear through a person.

Even a seasoned warrior’s body would be paralyzed, faced with this poison- spitting beast.

However, that didn’t apply to Shin’s party.

“Oraa!!” *battle cry*

The Megrade intends to trample on anything that approaches it from the front, and Shin chose to attack the Megrade head-on.

He held the materialized『Kakura』 in both hands, and by swinging the sword towards the heavens, it skims the surface of the earth.

Shin was going to be swallowed whole. But, along with the sound of carapace bursting open, the Megrade’s head was sent flying into the sky after one blow from『Kakura』.

Half of the Megrade’s face had blown off, but bug-type monsters tend to have very good regenerating skills. It didn’t die immediately.

While it made an intermittent odd cry, it tried to stab Shin with the remaining fangs.

“As one would expect, its tenacious.”

Shin swung 『Kakura』 as he dodged the monster’s fangs.

『Kakura』 was clad in the skill 【Dust Bomb】, a combat skill from the hammer arts system. When it made contact with the torso that was on the ground, a 1 mel wide explosion occurred, centered around it.

The Megrade was split in half, and it still wouldn’t die, shriveling with a yelp.

“Tch*smacks lips*, Megrade, do what you’re told!!”

The Megrade had taken on a considerable amount of damage. It did not accept Amre’s orders and with half of its body, it swayed back and forth. The half with the face turned towards Tiera.

It stopped only for a moment, before the monster shook off Amre and headed straight towards Tiera.

“Grrrrrrrrraaaaaarrrwww!!!”

Schnee and Tiera raised their weapons in preparation, but someone else had reacted quicker. It was Kagerou, jumping out of Tiera’s shadow, in his true form, giving the Megrade a one-sided beating.

Kagerou’s ruthlessness was laid bare for everyone to see. He thrusted the claws on his right foreleg into the remaining portion of the Megrade’s head.

The claws only penetrated through the shell, and because of this the Megrade was writhing in pain. Kagerou then poured an electrical attack through the monster’s wounds, burning it from the inside.

Sparks were almost leaking out of the monster, and you could see the Megrade’s HP going down.

The Megrade struggled, but unable to escape Kagerou’s other leg holding it down, the monster was pegged. Within a minute, the HP had gone down to 0 points.

“Is it over?”

As Kagerou took down the Megrade, Schnee had cut off its other half into pieces and submerged it in ice. Tiera used her arrows to take down the escaping Amre, following that Shin restrained her.

Amre herself did not have high combative capabilities, thus, she did not put up much of a resistance.

“Let me go!!”

“That is not up for discussion. Without fail, we will get you to confess information about the faction!”

An interrogation wasn’t necessary for Shin. However, the moment he tried to invoke a skill from the mind system, miasma began to pour out of Amre’s body.

“What!?”

“HAHAHAHAHAHA this way I too, will…”

Moving faster than Shin could purify, the miasma was able to draw itself closer to Megrade’s corpse.

With a blink of an eye, the miasma made contact with the corpse and permeated its interior. This brought about a transformation.

“Gruu!?”

Kagerou had sensed danger and jumped backwards. A few seconds after jumping backwards, the Megrade’s body, that should have been a corpse, started to move.

As the head was regenerating, it made a vicious beating sound, *thump* *thump*. At the same time the dismembered body starts to piece itself together. And the ice covering the surroundings gradually starts to develop cracks.

“!!”

A strange noise echoed throughout the surroundings.

The monster molted out of its shell, as a larger, stronger looking shell emerged.

“Could that be the skill ‘Invade’?”

The monster’s fate had been altered by the miasma.

Shin had known that the skill had a similar effect on golem-type monsters such as gargoyles. However, it seems to affect even the corpses in this world.

It is a phenomenon not seen in the game era. Normally monsters’ corpses transform into drop items.

After molting, the figure of the Megrade had become somewhat ferocious. From Shin’s memory, the Megrade in front of him was still smaller than a matured one. However, looking at it gave one the impression of a rather intimidating monster.

“So this one’s a mummy. You know, I doubted it when I glanced over the status. Alas…”

Shin sighs after observing the pinned down Amre, who was a mere shadow of her former self.

Amre’s status. Her name, her level, and her occupation were listed. It didn’t look too different from ordinary humans. But the name field was slightly different.

According to 【Analyze】, the name listed was “Ghoul Invade”. With that appended to the name column, it was definite proof of a monster afflicted with miasma.

“So in this world, even people turn into monsters, huh?”

Undead monsters, such as ghouls, aren’t rare in THE NEW GATE.

There are a few strong undead monsters, but often times even newbies can take said monster down.

Apparently, according to the game’s explanatory text, the undead were originally human bodies buried after being killed by monsters. They were exposed to miasma, and started to move on their own.

Shin couldn’t grasp how Amre had ended up that way, nor how she had retained her own will after her death.

One thing was for sure. If Amre was an abomination caused by man, that meant that the Summit Faction was seriously out of line.

“Shin! How the hell is it stronger! What is that!!”

“It’s the miasma! Kagerou! Make sure Tiera stays away from it!”

At the same time Tiera shouted, the revived Megrade began to move. It was still split in two, but the half with the head, like last time, was focused in the direction of Tiera.

Following Shin’s orders Kagerou wedged himself between Tiera and the Megrade.

Being obstructed twice, the Megrade loathed Kagerou. It howled, and in response to this Kagerou growled with no intentions of backing down. Kagerou’s horn lit up as power starts to accumulate inside. Shin understood his intentions.

“I entrust Tiera to you!”

Shin didn’t feel like waiting for the opponent to make its move.

Using his movement skill 【Ground Shrink】, he headed straight towards the Megrade who was facing Kagerou and Tiera.

There’s no need to go easy on a monster afflicted with miasma.

Like an afterimage, Shin arrived at the Megrade and didn’t even give it time to ‘defend,’ as he drew『Kakura』.

He unleashed his combat composite skill, 【Shining Roar】, a combination of hammer arts and light magic.

『Kakura』 absorbed all of the light, and grew to twice its thickness.

With one stroke against the Megrade, the light surrounding 『Kakura』 invaded the Megrade’s body. A second later, 『Kakura』 itself crushed the shell.

The Megrade’s shell started to form cracks, with ripples originating from where the blade made contact. Within a minute, the whole body was soaked in light inside and out.

“!!!”

The light from the combination skill was a high-level purification light for cleansing demons.

Ordinary monsters aren’t affected and it is useless in personal battles, but they were up against a transformed monster that had afflicted with miasma. This was a fatal attack.

There is also additional damage due to using 『Kakura』. And no matter how much a monster is strengthened by miasma, it wouldn’t be able to withstand 『Kakura』’s blow.

The Megrade’s body quivered as if it was paralyzed. Any immobile giant monster is a sight to behold.

Shin lowered 『Kakura』 one last time at the Megrade’s head, and because of the purifying light, the body turned to ashes and dust.

“Is Schnee the only one left…yep, she’s finished too”

The other half of the body trapped in ice was going rampant.

That alone should have been intimidating, but Schnee was simply following Shin’s lead- keeping the monster immobile before giving it its final blow.

A lower half of the body noodling about was nothing for Schnee. Shin didn’t need to help at all.

“Is it over?”

“Yeah. We got nothing out of it though”

Shin had remembered how Amre was before the skirmish. She didn’t act like the party had gained any new information.

If anything, the Megrade should offer some hints and clues.

Recalling the memory of when Schnee and Tiera had approached the Megrade, the Megrade had acted terrified.

Perhaps just as Kagerou used to be skeptical of Shin and Schnee, the Megrade must have sensed the imminent power of Schnee.

Then, why did it go after Tiera?

(Is there a something we are not aware of?)

There are certain occupations that are more susceptible to attacks from monsters afflicted by miasma. Tiera had once admitted how she was hiding something from us. Maybe it’s relevant.

Shin didn’t want to force it out of her. Eventually, Tiera would tell them. There was no need to get her to talk.

Even if it was a naive thing to do.

“…How’s Shibaid doing”

Shin decided to check on him via Mind Chat.

◆◆◆◆

“We should start our battle soon”

Shibaid having been informed by Shin of the approaching enemy presences, Wilhelm and himself started to mobilize. In his hand, you could see his weapon 『Placid Moon』 glisten from the moonlight.

Shibaid also had a map of his own, sparkling red with enemy markers. There must have been at least 200 foes.

Shibaid decided to analyze the monsters in his periphery.

The majority of the monsters were undead, such as Ghouls or Rupt Raptors.

The monsters’ levels ranged, from high level monsters at around 500 to some as low as 50.

About 40 monsters were above level 400. There were other monsters in the 300s range. Many of the monsters were under level 100.

“First, let’s have the monster’s focus their attention on me.”

At less than 300 mels between Shibaid and the monsters, Shibaid activated 【Shura’s Madness】an aggro skill. (T/N: Aggro Skill, it is to lure monster by getting them to focus on user using the skill.)

An invisible wave overwhelmed the monsters, as their cloudy eyes were all forced to land on Shibaid and the monsters faced his direction.

“arsa…sk!! -daggd!?”

The monsters were being taken over, as they twisted and turned, grunting and groaning, all together a surge of rumbling noises rushed towards Shibaid.

Even in the gaming world, few heroes can stand in front of a group of monsters, much less in front of a hoard with several over level 100. The survival instincts in people are triggered, when they are in front of a large number of physically larger beings, all making noise so loud that you want to cover your ears.

Even in the gaming world, it’s easy to be scared. So in this world, where this was a reality, your fear should be just as real.

Even a Chosen One would stand down.

However, the one confronting these enemies is a subordinate of the Dark Blacksmith, Shibaid Etraku.

Unless they were up against this number, their auras were very oppressive. On top of that, as if responding to the challenge, Shibaid’s aura was intensifying.

“? ? ?”

At that moment, the intensifying aura heavily affected the monsters’ momentum.

The front row of Rupt Raptors and Ace Jackals, the faster monsters, all went limp, taking down other monsters behind them.

The larger monsters with the charging abilities were not able to avoid the medium sized monsters in their way. They were also trampling over the smaller monsters.

Many monsters were trying to run away, frightened of the effects and overwhelmed by Shibaid’s aura. The lower-level monsters were heavily affected, while the higher level monsters were all agitated.

“That should have thinned the crowd out”

After confirming that 30 of the low-level monsters had disappeared, Shibaid took off in a sprint.

He’s much slower than Schnee or Girard, but that was a matter of battle style. Shibaid did not have to rely on speed.

“Haaaaa….”

He breathed out, charging at the array of monsters, waving『Placid Moon』fiercely. The tip of the spear was channeling a white flame, which blew out 5 mels wide.

A combat composite skill 【White Haze】, the mixture of flame magic and spear arts.

The fire encased the axe portion of the halberd, the blade width easily exceeded 30 cemels.

Shibaid dodged all long-distance attacks against him, and encroached closer and closer to the monsters.

“Ngrrr!”

With all the momentum put into one step, the ground starts to fissure. At around the same time he let out a battle cry, the holy halberd’s blade encased in flame drew an arc in the air.

The flame’s heat and cleansing powers compounded its damaging effects, turning all of the monsters within its reach into ash.

For undead monsters, flame attacks are one of their weaknesses, with holy and light being the most effective.

On top of that, Shibaid had used a skill comparable to that of Shin’s, which cleansed the undead.

The aggro skill lures the monsters, and as they draw near they are burned to ashes. The undead monsters didn’t stand a chance against Shibaid’s physical strength, combined with a superior weapon, and effective skill.

“Ha!!”

With one swing, two, then three.

Moonlight illuminates the black canvas of the night, while a white flame draws arcs.

The smaller and medium-sized monsters were reduced to ashes with a single blow, now only the larger monsters remain.

Even the larger monsters with higher endurance had just barely survived fatal blows, with their limbs burned off after one strike. Following that their head would fly off after the next strike.

Shibaid had smartened up, knowing that the larger bodies couldn’t stand the repeated attacks from underneath. The undead were being sliced into bits with a swing from Shibaid’s 『Placid Moon』.

However, he couldn’t keep assaulting the monsters on the ground, as there was a shadow that was floating in mid-air.

A rotting pumpkin, a Jumpkin, floated above.

“Yhallhooolll!”

The hole of the monster’s mouth released a soprano voice, giving us the impression of a young boy.

Listening to the pitch of the voice gave off an off putting feeling, and yet nothing seemed to be out of place. On top of that the Jumpkin looked like a Halloween pumpkin.

“Now its flying types, eh?”

Shibaid mumbled to himself, as several other flying monsters approaching from the rear of the Jumpkin.

There were undead monsters immune to physical combat, such as a Ghosts, spectre-type monsters.

These monsters often attack using black magic skills that give status abnormalities, and by default they are always flying. This made it difficult to land a hit on these monsters, and the players hated it.

About 30 monsters were afloat.

The issue wasn’t fending them off, but rather how they were going to take up more time in comparison to monsters bound to the earth.

“Ha!!”

Dodging the magic raining from above, Shibaid jumped up. Underneath, you could see the ground he leapt from was caved in. The magical attacks against him were wide range, but Shibaid was used to acting as the party’s shield. This was a piece of cake.

A blue wall of flame is spread out in front of him, despite this, Shibaid thrusts his flame encased weapon into the crowd of monsters.

There were no other monsters left in the sky, after the white flame engulfed the surrounding.

Shibaid made use of the force from swinging 『Placid Moon』 to adjust his position in mid-air. What awaited him below was claws and fangs on land, but what awaited them too was a halberd clad in flames.

The blade’s first round of attacks burned and split a giant-type undead cyclops. The heat caught up and burned what was left of the body.

The monsters didn’t seem to care that one of their kind was burning to the side. They came after Shibaid with murder in their eyes.

“Hm?”

As Shibaid prepared for combat in the air and on the ground, in the corner of his eyes, the ghosts in the sky were being pierced by a ray of light that looked like a spear.

Shibaid instantly knew that the ray of light was caused by a composite skill using spear arts and light magic, 【Shooting Star】.

It was a highly effective skill against the undead, and had two uses. It could be either thrown like a javelin or made to radiate the light to the surroundings for use in close combat.

At the end of Shibaid’s gaze, he caught a glimpse of Wilhelm holding his weapon 『Beinot』 proudly.

But Wilhelm also knew, that time was of the essence.

◆◆◆◆

“I suppose there’s no need to waste time”

While carefully surveying his surroundings, Wilhelm watched the monsters disappear as they are pierced using the skill from earlier.

There really wasn’t a reason for concern, but it would be catastrophic if these monsters were to breach Sigurd.

Not just that, but spending too much time here was not a good idea either. In reality it was more for the peace of mind.

Shibaid could take on the larger groups of monsters, while Wilhelm concentrates on surveying the surrounding area for any remaining enemy presences.

Sigurd was once an area plagued by war. Places like those, tend to be breeding grounds for the undead.

It’s entirely possible that more undead would rise, due to such large numbers of undead concentrated in one location.

In the time it took Wilhelm to get rid of one monster, Shibaid had already taken on more than 10 ghouls and skull faces.

However, they were reviving themselves at an alarming rate, even for Wilhelm he had never experienced such a thing. On top of that the strength of the individual monsters were on a whole different level.

“This is out of the norm. The undead are rising too quickly”

At the corner of Wilhelm’s eyes, he saw the tempest like destruction that Shibaid created. As he witnessed this, he started to run.

Even for a land that was war torn for a long period of time, it was unusual for so many undead to be awakened.

By all accounts, and Wilhelm’s experience, something was very wrong. There were monsters that were tamed by riders, as well as monsters that were following suit.

Considering this kind of man power was at Bulk and company’s disposal, it was clear that the interior of Sigurd was stained with blood.

“What? What is that presence?”

Wilhelm could sense a little bit of a distance away, beyond 30 or so monsters in a cluster, something in the shrubs.

Something was lurking.

He felt it, and knew it.

He had to go there.

He couldn’t explain himself, but Wilhelm was encroaching closer and closer towards this presence within the forest, slaying one monster at a time that was in his way.

The forest was dim; there weren’t many places the moonlight could reach.

A silhouette in the shape of a man was being lit by the moonlight.

“You…”

“Long time no see. It’s been a few days right”

Wilhelm was on guard, as he saw Eline Sperizer’s face. He was supposed to be dead.

Eline smiled. There was no mistaking him.

It was the man that Wilhelm had once fought.

“What luck. Meeting again in a place like this”

“………”

He smiled, not even holding a weapon. It was as if he wasn’t even aware of the epic battle happening a few feet away from the shrubs and greenery.

It was odd, and anyone would vouch by that statement. Even now, Wilhelm could hear the echoes of battle.

“You’re awfully quiet. What is the matter?”

“Who are you?”

“Oh, have you forgotten me already? But of course, I’m――”

“No. You’re not Eline”

Wilhelm cut him off.

Even if they had only had one encounter, Wilhelm had fought with every strength of his body. A skilled warrior like Wilhelm would never forget or misinterpret a presence like that, one he had fought against for his own life.

“I’ll ask again. Who are you?”

He readjusted his weapon 『Beinot』 in his hand.

“Eline” silently looked at Wilhelm, before bursting out with laughter.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

His voice was eventually louder and louder, and within seconds he was showing signs of a maniac.

“I really shouldn’t attempt to do things I’m not used to. I was outwitted in seconds!”

“Yeah. Don’t even try”

“But honestly, I thought I did a decent job. Just to be clear though, tell me what I did wrong.”

The man that stood there was still a mystery, despite just being outed.

“He was rotten, but unlike you he could not use his body to emit miasma.”

“Ah, of course. I guess my precision was not accurate enough. I am not there yet for sure”

“………”

Wilhelm was silent in front of the laughing mad man.

This man was clearly delusional and abnormal, but Wilhelm couldn’t just let him go either. He was waiting for a chance to strike, but he couldn’t.

The miasma from this man was stinging Wilhelm’s skin.

He had a similar aura to the Skull Face Lord, which he had once seen.

“Don’t be so sullen. I came to see you specifically.”

“I have no idea who you are though.”

“That’s cold. Well, to be honest, I came to pick you up. It doesn’t matter how you feel about me.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Pick you up. It was the kind of wording you’d use to express camaraderie. Even then, Wilhelm hadn’t a clue.

The problem wasn’t even there – the problem was how there was no way that this kind of company could elicit welcome.

“We’re out of manpower. We need what we can use”

He grinned, and continued.

“You came to me because you felt like you were being called on, right?”

“………”

“Me too. I was the same, and I think you’re also considering listening to what I tell you to do, right?”

Wilhelm listened without saying anything. On any other occasion, he’d have a mouthful of words to throw back.

The man was right. Despite what his mind told him, his heart disagreed.

“Gr!!”

Wilhelm tried to fight his own will from within, when a pain surged through him.

It was painful from the hip down. It was exactly where Millie had struck him with the short sword.

“What…”

The pain was becoming worse. In proportion to the rising impulse boiling within his body, Wilhelm’s consciousness was fading.

A black powerful fog was gaining control from the waist, spreading through the rest of the body slowly with pain and terror.

“Yes. Stay as you are and WHOA!”

As Wilhelm was ready to succumb, his weapon 『Beinot』 suddenly started to beam with light.

The spear that had been improved by a High Human was no joke. The fog was almost magnetically being repelled by the holy light of the divine spear.

“What! 『Beinot』 can do this!?”

Even divine weapons didn’t possess such special abilities.

At least, as far as his knowledge goes, only 『Beinot』can do such a thing. Even if they could mildly deter darkness, it just meant that the weapon was ‘fairly strong’. Not like this.

“Ugh! Man, nothing goes my way!”

The man had encountered a technical issue, and he had to also bear in mind the weapon in Wilhelm’s right hand.

Moments later, the same mist that had shrouded Wilhelm was sprouting out of Wilhelm’s hand; the hand that held 『Beinot』.

『Beinot』’s light defused at least half of that darkness. But it was not enough for the other half to cling tightly onto Wilhelm.

As the darkness did its job, the man reached into his pockets for a single item card. He threw it at Wilhelm, but more at his weapon.

“I can’t believe I’m using an item!”

The card was thrown with enough might, that while in the air the card materialized a long thin cloth. This cloth landed on 『Beinot』, wrapping around it, absorbing the weapon and covering it completely.

The man had thrown a ‘cloth of weapon binding’. This item weakened the effects of a weapon. It targeted all weapons unconditionally, even divine weapons.

If the owner of the weapon was aware, he or she could remove the cloth from the weapon. The situation was less than ideal as Wilhelm was unconscious. 『Beinot』 lost its glow with each wrap around it.

“Jeez, that was close…”

The man grew a little tired, taking 『Beinot』 away from a helpless Wilhelm. The man smiled at the lackluster and dull 『Beinot』, about 70% of it covered in cloth.

“Wow, I mean. Aside from how it looks this is barely a 『Beinot』. No wonder the light it produced was strange. Well this is a cool find.”

For the man’s safety, he had to expended a reasonable amount of miasma, his source of power, when dealing with 『Beinot』. And yet, knowing that, he still poured an equal amount of miasma into 『Beinot』.

The inscription on 『Beinot』’s surface melted and burned the man’s hands heavily. He seemed at lost at what to do, yet he continued pouring miasma.

The silver glow of the spear turned a vivid onyx. The inscription on the surface had also turned into a bloody crimson.

It was the hell spear 『Vakira』.

Even among the darkest weapons, this one was more powerful, and one of the few that were clad in miasma.

The man spun the spear in his hands once, and the cloth around it faded away before hitting the ground.

Wilhelm remained standing silently in the background, covered in dust and dirt.

“Well they should be done kidnapping the Holy Woman by now, right? So, I should head home… wow, I almost thought that that was the Dark Blacksmith. But, it seems the rumors differ reality.”

Based on the clothing and the armament, he was inferring that Shin was a High Human. He had also thought Shin was the Dark Blacksmith based on his features.

However, his behaviours at the time differed from what he heard from his comrades.

Accordingly, NPCs outside of players were treated as mere objects. That, and there was no hesitation killing people. The Blacksmith’s eyes were ice-cold. He also had murderous intentions with every action. None of this was like Shin today.

If Shin was the person the man heard about, no one would survive in Palmirack except the Rokuten and their subordinates.

“So are you the ‘Blue Trickster’ or the ‘Golden Merchant’? Well, I doubt that you’re always wearing that but…”

The names were derived from the colors that the Rokuten’s members were clad in, but that was not necessarily a rule of thumb.

Thus, the man made the second mistake of thinking Shin is Cain or any other member of Rokuten.

Either way, all evidence pointed to how at least one of the Rokuten members had come back. It made no difference who.

Just one of the Rokuten could decide the victor of a war.

After discerning the location of the Megrade, the man and Wilhelm vanished without a trace, unbeknownst to everyone.