Chapter 8

Chapter 08: The Ego Sword Picked Me Up (8)

Hell

At my suggestion, Flambeju was horrified.

―You lunatic! You are not seriously thinking of handing me over to that bastard, are you?

A sacred object was something bound only to its master. It could not be used blindly just because it was handed to someone else. However, I wondered if a dead spirit belonging to the master might be able to use a sacred object.

I handed it over as a test, and Baluka accepted Flambeju. At the same time, Flambeju’s form changed.

From a long sword, he turned into a short dagger. The blade curved smoothly, and the overall color grew dark and gloomy. On the back of the blade were reverse-facing serrations, and if one were stabbed by that sword, it felt as if even their entrails would be dragged out.

‘So this is Baluka’s Flambeju…….’

Flambeju was a sword with no fixed form. His appearance changed depending on the master, and in Baluka’s hand, he had taken a form befitting the Massacre of 10,000 Innocent Commoners.

However, Baluka’s gaze as he looked at me was far from ordinary.

―Stop! You damned bastard! Even after being thrown into Hell, you still have not fixed that habit of yours?!

The blond young man grabbed Baluka. No, he clung to him like a cicada, grabbed his hair, and shook him. But Flambeju’s spirit could not exert any influence on the dead spirit. Baluka also seemed unaware that Flambeju’s spirit was clinging to him.

―Master, this lunatic is trying to kill you! You stupid master bastard, trust someone worth trusting! What do you expect from a massacrer who killed 10,000 innocent citizens? Send this bastard back right now!

According to what was written in the Necronomicon, sending him back was simple.

However, I left Baluka as he was.

The Necronomicon mentioned not only how to summon or return dead spirits, but also how to handle them.

Just as Flambeju said, Baluka tried to approach me while glaring with wide, bloodshot eyes.

However, after only a few steps, he twisted his body as if in agony. Foam flowed from his mouth, and he grabbed his own throat as if he could not breathe.

This, too, was exactly as recorded in the Necronomicon.

⟨A dead spirit cannot harm the summoner. A dead spirit’s rage toward the summoner returns wholly to the dead spirit and becomes pain.⟩

It was practically an iron rule to begin by stepping on a new recruit who did not know hierarchy.

I let Baluka suffer. Then the ashen dead spirit flickered faintly.

Snap!

When I snapped my fingers, Baluka vanished cleanly.

He had returned to where he originally belonged.

“If he’s a massacrer, he must be in Hell around now, right?”

―Of course! If a bastard like that does not go to Hell, who would?

“Is Hell under Yog-Sothoth’s jurisdiction?”

―T-T-That is not something I know! Do not ask me the secrets of the created world! And do not try to know them either!

Flambeju avoided my gaze. He seemed to be pretending not to know despite knowing.

Flambeju had brought me from another world, and the Necronomicon had been involved in that process. I had also encountered Yog-Sothoth while crossing dimensions.

The Necronomicon had grown thinner than before. Necromantic secret arts were extraordinary arts, but just like when obtaining information from the Akashic Records, “blood” had to be offered as a sacrifice.

A short while later, I performed spirit invocation again.

“……Necromantic secret art, Spirit Invocation!”

―Thank you for calling me again, Master.

Baluka’s voice trembled faintly.

“Did you go to Hell?”

―Yes, Master.

Baluka’s attitude had become far more docile.

“I hear one day here is like a thousand years in Hell?”

It was something recorded in the Necronomicon. I had wondered whether that would also apply to the afterlife of this world, but judging from Baluka’s reaction, both worlds seemed to share a similar afterlife.

―It is roughly similar.

The time I had sent Baluka back for was around 30 minutes at most.

But the perceived time in Hell seemed far longer than that.

‘The dimension of the world I lived in and this world might be managed together. And the one managing that place would be Yog-Sothoth.’

―Please give me your orders, Master.

Baluka’s eyes shone. Far from targeting me as before, his face showed that he was trying his utmost to look good to me. He seemed desperate to avoid returning to Hell.

“I hear you’ve killed a fair number of people?”

―It was my only pleasure in life.

It was an immediate answer.

Because a dead spirit could not lie to its summoner.

“Do you regret it?”

―I have never thought about it.

“If you want to stay by my side, think deeply about it. I don’t want to keep a murderer who kills people without much thought beside me. Soon, you’ll need to clearly explain why you must remain by my side.”

―Yes, Master.

I had generally been in the position of receiving orders. However, sometimes, I had also directly handled people. No, because I had been handled by others my whole life, I could handle others all the more harshly.

No matter how good an order was, unexpected results could arise depending on the one interpreting it. Even I had lightly ignored the net of the law in order to resolve orders from above.

“Can you hunt too?”

―As much as Master wills.

“Go, then. I’m hungry.”

―Yes, Master.

Baluka ran into the forest with a faint smile. He was gripping Flambeju.

―Let go! Let go! You bastard…… Are you smiling? Do not smile while stabbing! Stop giggling! It is unpleasant, bastard!

***

Baluka caught around 20 horned rabbits by himself.

The reason I could not tell the exact number was that he had chopped up the rabbits. I tried counting the horns, but while there were 17 horns, there were 21 heads.

The Necronomicon sucked up all the blood of the rabbits that had horns on their foreheads, and I took some of them and roasted them to eat.

‘They’re tough, and the gamey smell is strong too. It would be nice if I at least had salt.’

Hunger was the best seasoning. I did not like the taste, but I devoured the meat in the blink of an eye.

I took off the upper half of my hospital gown and used it as a substitute backpack. Inside it, I placed the Necronomicon and the 17 horns. The long horns, about 70 centimeters in length, were well balanced, making them perfect for use as hidden weapons.

“Find the nearest village. If you discover prey, catch it and bring it back. However, chopping it to pieces is not allowed.”

―Yes, Master.

I tried to find a village by following the waterway downstream, but that was not as simple as I had thought. Unlike relatively narrow Korea, the territory of the Rubalt Kingdom was as vast as the European continent.

Even going to the nearest village commonly required walking for a full day. Unless it was a village in a region bound under one lord’s territory, there were not even proper roads, making travel difficult without hiring mercenaries.

―It is a Vulf! That is not a mere horned rabbit! You lunatic, open your eyes properly and look at that thing! That is a monster!

When I looked where Baluka was rampaging, I saw a wolf.

No, that was no ordinary wolf.

―The Vulf is a wild beast that roams the northern cold and the southern wastelands, and is called the Vulf. Adults reach 2 meters in length and 1.5 meters in height, and are recorded to weigh around 300 kilograms. Their strength is comparable to 3 horses, and biologist Deville classified them as “medium D+ Grade monsters.”

The information provided by the Akashic Records was fairly systematic. That was thanks to the scholar who had organized monster information beforehand.

The Vulf was a monster that looked like a mixture of a pure-white wolf and a bear.

Red fur grew on its head like a pattern.

The Vulf charged at Baluka with a papapapak! as if using spatial-folding arts.

I picked up a horned rabbit’s horn. It was long like a narwhal’s horn and gently twisted in a spiral.

I had thrown it a few times as a test, and it flew quite far, unexpectedly well balanced.

WHOOOOOOSH!

Thanks to my maximized physical abilities, the horn I threw shot in a straight line like a harpoon. It lodged in the Vulf’s large body, and at the same time, Baluka rushed in and stabbed Flambeju into the Vulf’s belly.

SQUELCH! SQUELCH! SQUELCH-SQUELCH!

Baluka was a lunatic.

Even as the Vulf opened its mouth wide to bite his head, the smile did not disappear from the face of the bastard drenched in blood.

He laughed while tearing the Vulf’s body to pieces.

―Stop! Stooop! It is already dead!

I snapped my fingers.

Snap!

Before Baluka disappeared, he looked back at me in surprise. He looked disappointed, but he needed time to cool his head.

―You cruel master bastard! To hand me over to a murderer like that! What in the world are you thinking? Is a human life not endlessly short even for establishing Achievements together with me? Why do you humans live as if you will live forever?

“This is also for the sake of Achievements.”

―Sophistry! What does slaughter like this have to do with brilliant Achievements?

“The Achievements you’ve built until now were extremely individual. Training hard, repeating something over and over. The only one that stood out at all was something like Mercenary King.”

Flambeju merely hesitated and could not say anything. My words seemed to have struck his bones.

“I’m going to mobilize everything and run without rest.”

Those words were meant not for Flambeju, but for myself.

I chanted the incantation again and called Baluka.

Baluka did not dare even raise his head as he waited for my orders.

“If you go against my orders again, then you’ll have to stay stuck in Hell for a very long time.”

Baluka nodded weakly.

“Find the nearest village, Baluka. If there is prey, hunt it, but the corpse must remain as intact as possible.”

―Yes, Master.

It was after a little more than 3 hours had passed that Baluka discovered a village. He climbed atop a tall tree and spotted smoke rising from a village.

However, because the distance was so great, we only arrived at the village the following afternoon.

Baluka and I had tied together 4 Vulfs we had hunted with vines, and we had also gathered as many as 32 horned rabbit horns.

The place we arrived at was a village surrounded by walls 3 meters high. It was fairly large, with about 300 buildings, and 2 soldiers armed with spears stood at the entrance.

One of them pointed his spear at me and asked in a wary manner.

“……A mercenary?”

“Yes.”

“Your mercenary badge?”

“I lost it.”

“Affiliation?”

“I don’t have one yet.”

I had received hints from Baluka and Flambeju.

The people of this world had difficulty moving between regions. They needed permission from a lord, and they had to cross lands where monsters and bandits appeared.

Amid that, the only ones free to move were “mercenaries” and “wandering knights.”

Flambeju recommended I become a wandering knight, but I chose to be a mercenary. Compared to a wandering knight who traveled from region to region and dueled strong opponents, a mercenary who could respond to various situations seemed more suited to my circumstances and temperament.

“Name.”

“Rohan.”

I threw away the difficult name Im Seong-hun and chose the name “Rohan.”

It was a combination of “Ro,” meaning light in the ancient language, and “Han,” meaning sword and warrior.

The soldier glanced at the Vulf corpses I had dragged over and said,“You seem like a fairly skilled mercenary, so do not cause trouble and stay quietly before you leave. The ‘Veronica Mercenary Office’ is the building with the red roof. Welcome to the Barony of Azif.”