Chapter 111: Erin Danua (1)
BuP– Slam!EYnZn
6qZdK1a“Uhk…!”uWN4bL9
AoSMy body rolled across the dirty ground. I immediately stood back up, but the silver spear still ended up barely grazing past my neck.5fc
EqmWyetHer sense of distance was as beautiful as a piece of art but there was still a complaint I had to raise.7fn
ujHOW“You said you were going to show me spearmanship; why are you suddenly starting off with a kick?”WPM
z2wI couldn’t believe that her thin legs pushed me back by at least 3 meters, but while paying little regard to my complaint, Erin replied with a smile.xeTwvG
sDPc1wq“A fight is about using everything in your arsenal. Why did you assume I wasn’t going to use my legs?”kFzmr
iJLDDI“You said spearmanship though…”w9tdUg8
qA99H“An excuse like that is not going to work in a real battle. Spears, swords, fists, legs… You must make use of everything that you can.”ppMGn1
chBShe walked up and reached her arm out, suggesting that she would help me back up. After pretending to accept her help, I quickly threw a punch.m4A3fQ
Jqd47Y“Fu…”0gQHX
CLFTAs if that looked like the retaliation of an adorable little child, Erin received the attack with her palm, and I was the one who actually ended up being pushed back.JKi
UKZ2wfk“Uaht?!”xgDOQAG
48JSxMy body was rammed back into the ground with my back first. It wasn’t that painful physically, but the mental pain and embarrassment that came with a failed surprise attack were a lot harder to bear.D2ZkTIL
GzDKdId“Uhh…”ZlI
yoNQ9Ln“Student Korin. Your Eight Trigram needs to be supported by footwork and an active body. If you want to use that with your dantian not even fully planted into the ground, you are better off not using it.”tAN
Vkb3BsIt was my complete defeat. Raising both of my hands into the air, I showed my unwillingness to continue and obediently stood back up.sqfT77g
qZE“I lost.”r6UPrH7
5RvYSe“Huhu. But I can tell that you have been going through a lot of practice, and you have a fabulous foundation. It seems that you have based your learning on the Eight Trigram, but is there a reason for that?”U89
vBU“Umm… I was looking for books related to martial arts in the library and that was the first one I found.”kjDL
FLdk“Oh? And why did you choose the spear?”74qpaLi
bbMQ“…I heard it was easier to use than a sword.”PBSRbm9
HP26GsErin returned a warm smile, while saying that was a rather simple reason.s7s17S
zMl0z1“Eight Trigrams is not bad. It has been there for a long time, and has gone through plenty of modifications. However…”HDm
Ghh1She raised her spear and postured herself. Her stance looked similar to one of the ones showcased in the spearmanship of Eight Trigrams, but the resulting attack was completely different.iJQgst
Io5iN2“Aht.”pOr
S6BOc4zPabak! The sharp tip of the spear quickly grazed past both sides of my head, which I only managed to realize due to the following gush of wind. I couldn’t even sense the attack let alone react to it.xFc
J6QCvT“Looks like the one you learned was for normal civilians.”sP6sS
92u9x“Umm… That just then…”agZ
fYH“It is the Double-Headed Snake of Eight Trigrams. That wasn’t included in the book, was it?”N39
P3v81z“I was learning that for over a year though…”uiuBl
qZu1Ao“But in turn you have gained a great foundation, so it won’t be hard to learn them. I will now teach you all the secret moves of the Eight Trigrams spearmanship.”Y8ZI
LF3ZTq“…”587oo
wKdZz7wSecret moves of the Eight Trigrams… Although learning those would be great, there was something else I was after.NfCIG
FjDwlF“Teacher. Instead of Eight Trigrams, can I learn your…”lrhgrJU
GsgINmU“We can’t do that. Because that… will surely swallow you up from the inside out.”L2P
mxaXgIt had already been 1 month since I got introduced to the named NPC of this world, Erin Danua, thanks to Sihu’s help, but I couldn’t even learn her unique spearmanship.Dk8
giUhSix Ways of the Spear.WnA2toy
pbkThose were the super killer moves that were in the possession of one of the strongest named characters of ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱, Erin Danua. One of the super techniques that you could gain in the game when going down the spearman route was this ‘Six Ways of the Spear’.GuCU
HX2n0iOI was hoping I could learn the spearmanship of the final boss, Tates Valtazar, from his master Erin Danua but…IkHqIJj
mG5rBV“Well. I guess it can’t be helped then.”Gn5ZK0
qqN“Don’t feel down. It should still take at least half a year to learn all the secret arts that are in Eight Trigrams.”d8L1
vNPIn this world which had now turned into the real world, it was impossible to learn skills just by allocating skill points.Uyy
sVga6v8It was times like this when I felt jealous of Sihu. After all, all he needed to do was open his skills window and allocate points to use incredible and magical spells.urdG
tw9I………n6xp2C5
jJxSE……6zxM
ulXpa1Q…RYz
v9wcjIM“Tai Chi Eight Formation, True Tai Chi, La Zha Formation, Advancing Snake, Double-headed Snake—. That’s all for the eight secret formations including Zha, Lan, Na.”60x
4vL2KC“Hmm…”oHnajLh
dCkN7KEErin deeply stared at me after I was done with the spearmanship demonstration. She stayed like that for a while before suddenly walking up to me and grabbing onto my wrist.sWFOi
viqT6“T, teacher?”BRj
6UJvShe then started fidgeting around with my palms. There were so many calluses on my palms that they looked horrendously uneven, but what left her mouth wasn’t a negative remark.68V6G
2l3iMy“You worked hard.”m4s7
suwBH“Umm… Well, of course.”YndZvS9
r8sI“Although the secret moves of the Eight Trigrams spearmanship are not hard… they require tons of endless training to master them. When I said half a year… that was already a very ambitious estimate.”E8o6y
gk5tIt took me 2 months.IKMRtiw
MqRZ1Reducing my sleep time, and turning Sihu down even when he told me to take a rest, I continued swinging my spear.2d0M
9jY6eQgEven on the bed, I ran simulations of the spear until I fell asleep, because that was the only way that a mere side character like Korin Lork could ever survive.Kw0Ica
qYBUZa“Let’s take today off.”XuUoh
ggVmoAs if she could see through all that, Erin proposed that we take the day off.fThOWS
2TIk9o0“I’m fine. I can recover my stamina with the potion, and a little bit of gel will get rid of all the blisters so… Uaht!”3Vwpfs
OoGShe forcefully pulled me by the arm.gyt
gqU“Now! Sleep here,” she said while tapping on the bed.R0MFj
QAgUnEh“I have something to do with Sihu in a bit. I don’t have the time to train today if we don’t right now…”wFddr
Ve3mC“You need to listen to your teacher! Now, shall I sing you a lullaby?”an5XQn0
YDn3k“How old do you think I am?”HWwQIo
1EH1“Aren’t you still a baby?”lopwY
Rmi“Well… I guess I am when you are the one I’m being compared to.”jx4
74Vd3“Zero out of one hundred. Aren’t you going to the royal court very soon? You better learn some etiquette on how to treat a lady.”DMxYJ
yEnA9d“Actually, Sihu said he’ll go there alone and told me to stay out of it.”ZqPku
EiOBCOXThat bastard was literally trying to hog everything! I wanted to have a look at the princesses of the game in real life, and one of the things on my bucket list was to kiss a real princess on the back of their hand but…JmJFCPK
CPfLJp6“You should take a rest for today. You need one.”KsBF5Ga
aOxmWA“…”Q549
WOz5d“Now. Feel free to put your head on my lap.”zSO4GYo
b25oWUs“Like, isn’t that a bit…”iDWVzD
nXlWithout caring a single bit about my objection, Erin continued tapping her lap while tempting me with a coy voice. There wasn’t anyone nearby anyway, so… I went and laid my head on her thigh.D17B
mPbxShe was the living proof of history who had been alive for a thousand years, and yet her thighs behind my head were still very soft and comfortable to rest on.yh43
LvvErin calmly gazed down at me as I rested my head on her thighs.sMdsRbl
cbD“Do you wish to be stronger?” she asked.aiIrc
vWj6Y“Well… yeah.”gKviZ
Q65Tik“Why?”tzAnM
c84“What do you mean why…?”fY07S
27Fi9There was no reason for wanting to be stronger. The only reason there was, was that we needed a great amount of force and power to clear the scenario.ztRw8a
mjGA“If it is simply about needing power… Isn’t it sufficient enough already with that child called Sihu?”XUaUmy
uHJi“…Actually, not really.”bAY8
uF477oIt had been roughly 2 years since we entered this game, and Sihu was already even stronger than Erin Danua, one of the strongest powerhouses of the entire world. He was so strong that he could even hunt alone the King’s Subjects, even though they were supposed to be defeated in a raid with the aid of other party members.zpEWxB
9zqEQThis world was one with the player at the center and a side character like me might be unnecessary but…uk610
zA2rSD“Even though he acts tough and strong all the time, he’s actually quite sloppy.”tMKAEH
gaHwI had seen how Sihu almost died while clearing the scenario multiple times. He also made mistakes quite often, such as allowing the opposing knight to approach him too easily.rf0543
wrMrThat was most certainly because we weren’t people that were supposed to be fighting.YDrk
AND5Even if we were to increase our stats and get better gear, we were normal civilians that used to live peacefully on Earth. It was inevitable for our mindsets to be different from our enemies, who had been living a life full of struggle.LM83t
Psz“That guy will become a hero that saves the world, but even a hero needs a sidekick. At least I should drive the carriage for him and stuff, right?”x9RCGM
fdAH“Looks like you cherish him quite a lot.”XUvyCQj
wUACp3She was right and obviously so, because Sihu was the only one here who had come from the same place as me. Plus, he was a newbie who didn’t even know the game called ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱, so it was obvious for me to help him.Upf
q7MRA“And besides…”WGFj3
YrkKkJ“Besides?”ZfZyzW
5opStJ“If I get stronger, there will be fewer people dying.”NVua9
WaIVoMarie Dunareff, Alicia Arden, Hua Ran… I was unable to save any of them.x2AfA
eRMiTpfThe people of this world were NPCs. They were characters in a game, but… even so, it was still painful for me to see them die.92Wy
2m42Dorron, Beazeker, and Kranel… although they were NPCs of a game, the connection and bond I had carved with them had become precious to me by the time I noticed it.Qjy
eH2YnIDSo… it would be very sad to see them die.xtGq3c
KCyyJX4Sihu told me I was way too emotionally invested in a game, but what can I do about it? I had already started to consider them precious.eV9KWov
ipuHFs4“It will be great if there are fewer people dying.”XvtRAp
62dNeRo“…You are a very kind-hearted boy.”OitCEKc
249WsyU“Pretty normal I would say.”dmu
2H08Mu“Very different from that boy called Sihu. If it’s you…”pcSXhyl
qst“Sorry? What was that?”IXFGVE
33K“Nothing.”yn5LA8H
1g4oNndAfter mumbling something, she began pinching my cheeks.J4Zx
fNO“Let me tell you an old and boring story to help you go to sleep.”bFb
WUBTwGErin started a story from a long time ago; from the time of gods.h4hnn
JyOZEcZThe time when everything was in harmony and peace.02ULQA
WjV“A long, long time ago, there used to be a race called Danaans.”cnNbdvS
jAOjqDQThey were the race of immortals, who used to look after the world after the Sky Titans who had pretty much gone extinct.1BF
sKrBTheir job was to make the world beautiful and harmonious.dKvHZFx
Rs9idLXAlthough they did not call themselves gods, they were powerful enough to be so. In peace, they decorated the paradise, Tír na nÓg, and did everything for the good of the world.0XxJ9Y
ALuGuDG“One day, a group came to the paradise of gods. They were a race called Goidels.”63T
PaB3UEverything was abundant in the paradise with nothing they were short of, so the Danaans gladly accepted them in. They taught them civilization and spread magic.CGM3nZy
rbcTh“We used to have a connection that was beneficial for both of us.”3DS
FtCBzAt a glance, it looked like the Goidels and the Danaans would live in harmony. However, I already knew about the history of this world; the background story of the game, ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱ as well as its tragic nature.5StC
yslC0PvThe Goidels gradually increased their numbers and started ruining the paradise. They cut down trees where the spirits and druids used to stay; in greed, they hunted the fruits of nature and even started killing each other.zqHuE
mh8ZC“It didn’t take long for their spearheads to start pointing at us.”XXKD7O
rmGrWhat happened next was quite straightforward.2g2u
RLrThe Danaans lost, and the Goidels took possession of these lands.geRyf1m
skXJlXBefore me was the last Danaan survivor carrying their legacy.2GB
k36epiNErin Danua.J3C
3yputCThe Queen of the Shadow Kingdom of the Paradise, asked me once again.HYf6T4t
Xu5q“Do you wish to be stronger?”TofSSY
yLe“…Yes.”GYfd7
skNjAI replied without any hesitation.S9uypNY
s6i4ezQ****SlCN
rnh“Hmm…”HecRL
clCkdatErin raised herself from the bed with a long stretch. It seemed that she had gotten so used to this city full of zombies and ghouls that she could nonchalantly fall into a deep sleep like that.pxbjiwc
zkg“Good morning.”Cx70CU
NQk6JI“Yes. Everything should be over today, yes?”vZghMDd
Kpfm“Yep. I worked on this side overnight.”jcs5iWZ
eiDN22WThe building we were in was filled with a bunch of runes, most of which were the same.cd9
V7Y『ᛊ』 — Sowilo.FS26tbw
9XrqSun.p065S
VyrQP1Runes of the Sun were filling the entire building. We were in a room with engravings of thousands of Suns.Cg53S9
7bH“With this, we are done with everything including the Eastern District.”dB8vd
mc0“That was quite fast.”qpzEV5
ZUVS“Thanks to all the runes you carved, Erin.”HIbtXpm
Zw6thKVOver the period of 300 years, Erin Danua had carved various rune letters across the City of Nazrea. Most of them were Sowilo and Kenaz, because those were the best runes when fighting against the undead.d02O8e
0ev5AThanks to that, the strategy to engrave runes all across Nazrea was finished a lot quicker than planned. In just 10 days, we were ready to use a massive grand spell despite not even being a mage ourselves.au9
6ZKVJ“Wasn’t expecting you to come up with an idea like this. You seem experienced as if you’ve done it already.”rIcnMgl
rUMV“I had this idea for a while, actually.”46Km
7RWYCIn fact, this was something we had used in the last iteration. After defeating the Divinity of the Sun, Eochaid Bres, we used the Sun we obtained to cleanse this city.oiu
BL1EnThe reason for that was obviously because we wanted to take treasures from the Grim Reaper.cU3C0
zTOZ“All that is left is the Central District.”XGE
m2hbGCm“Tonight is going to be the last night. Let’s carry out the ritual after getting Gerolge.”eia
M3HIWe had killed all the stage bosses already. Erin used to be doing it all by herself, so it wasn’t difficult now that I was with her on top of that.6jX
eYqBkr“Sure. Then during the day…”BZHzg7
iChCJtA“Erin. Erin Danua.”uLq
2cgStanding up, I walked towards her; to the clone of my Master… who I would only have business relations with after tonight.Icnw9
npoSSv“Hnn?”M7w
kqfmGdTShe took a small step back after seeing me approach her. However, she didn’t tell me to stop and instead, she simply tilted her head with doubt in her eyes.VnVFBU
LBJEUdi“Would you like to go on a date with me?”l89BH
R4MKCOm“Hnnn?”EjJZ
Y60LHer eyes turned into large, blinking circles.hrXCtbF
EhmOT4a****YKv
Hn81“Damn it. How did everything turn out like this? Just why? This isn’t right. How can my calculations be possibly wrong…BsY2
vfV“Huu. Huu… Weird. That was the best timing; a miracle, even. So how could this…1YLoU
ts5h“Strange. Who is it? Who interfered? Why has it come to this? How has it come to this?DhdyR
hV0M1“Witch. A witch. A witch. The witch.sUCn
Au7c“Witch! Witch! Witch!”QYKqa8D
KvUD1g2A Rune Mage with a silver spear and a black mage who brought a nightmare unto Nazrea.pvb8
q5wAfter a long fight lasting 300 years,iHR
QleuZSX“Everything is being repeateddd! You are the one who made that happennnnn…!”Vzb2a9
bmcYFDespite the tongue failing to enunciate words properly; and despite his vision turning blurry;ZS99L
IpaL4IxDespite being buried in a swelling chunk of flesh, the rationality of the black mage stayed clear as he continued staring in a certain direction.1hZYyG
OjHVFkm『ᛟ』 — Othala.nMBDQ5T
TkYThe letter looked way too utterly crooked for it to have been written by the only Rune Mage of this city, and instead, it looked like it was forced onto the wall by a thick and chubby flesh.8Pw
pUpSuch runes were all over the place… Right before the rationality of the great mage completely disintegrated to nothing, after thousands of enlightenments and hundreds of attempts, the black mage finally perceived all the letters that completed a sentence.GyMx
kgo『Connect to Prime』i7jY0R
b5B3tHis gaze turned towards the sky. The grand magic circle that should have been cast by himself contained a pollutant, the rune, 『n』.rni9L0w
YT5GXNThat was the proof of the fragmented paradise. He reached his fingers out at that first and primal language.vM27q4
6Bcbn“Huhi, huhihehehe… It will be different…! This time, it will be different…!”LVBXkt
H3KII13,209th enlightenment.aC3
q0n897 strokes.e6H5Hh8
dEsAfter a 300-year-long history of strife, things were about to hit a new turning point.Uy6Mgsa
What did you think of this chapter?
Report comment
Please select the reason for reporting this comment. False reports may result in account suspension.
0 Comments
There are no comments yet. Be the first!