## Chapter 113 – Soul Ascension Battle
“KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!”
I screamed like a pterodactyl from too much stress. The roar continued for a while, finally ending when my vocal cords reached their limit.
As I inhaled and tried to calm down, everyone stared at me with shocked expressions. I rolled my eyes at them and said,
“Yeah. I’m following you no matter what, you morons. Either do the quest with me, or give up on the quest with me. Pick one, pick one.”
Since these bitches hate me so much, I’m going to chase them to the ends of the earth.
How dare they insult me? Now there are only two endings. Either we all ditch the quest together, or we all proceed with the quest feeling like shit.
Honestly, I can’t stand the thought of me dropping out and these three succeeding and getting paid. If I can’t do it, neither can you. That’s common sense and justice.
If others are trolls,
Then I’ll become a troll too.
“Hey, damn it, Custo. Let’s go already. We have a quest to do, right?”
Screaming out everything inside me relieved a lot of stress.
— Whoosh!
I drew my sword and swung it powerfully in the air, calling for Custo. At the same time, I showed off my skills by performing the stances of the swordsmanship I was practicing.
It was just swordsmanship displayed for the purpose of intimidation.
“Cr, crazy… Custo, did you hear that? What kind of quest are we going on with this lunatic! Let’s go back right now! This is why you shouldn’t associate with barbarians! Am I right!”
The mage, terrified by the bizarre sight, screamed.
“Calm down, Roel. We can’t give up on the quest here.”
“Then what are we supposed to do? Just take him with us?”
“No, we don’t have to. We can just crush that swordsman and leave on our own. That’s all we need to do.”
Serka, with a grim expression, glared at me. She was exuding blatant hostility, as if she was planning to beat me up right here. She started rotating her shoulders and loosening her wrists, preparing for battle. What a ridiculous bitch. I couldn’t help but scoff.
Alright. I’ll give her credit for not being scared by my sword. I don’t know if she’s fearless or just reckless, but I’ll give her credit anyway.
But I clearly gave her a chance.
She will unfortunately pass away at a young age. For someone weaker than me to mess with me means only one thing: death. There is no result other than death.
Should I run away to another town with Cloudi? It would be fun to wander around with her.
“Okay, so you’re saying we shouldn’t do the quest? Come at me. I don’t go easy on women. Kim Khatt, the kind-hearted chef and human butcher, also handles tender female meat.”
“Ha! So you’re looking down on me because I’m a woman? This is why swordsmen are—!”
Serka started striding towards me, as if she was really going to attack.
— Step, step!
Step, step? No. The consistent stride suggests she’s learned some footwork. Then I can’t take her lightly. I’ll stab her in the face in one go.
Let’s see if she can still call swordsmen trash with a sword in her mouth, you little shit. I’ve been itching to kill some martial artists, so this is actually a good thing.
Just as she got halfway to me,
— Smack!
“Oh, my god!”
At the sudden sound, I exclaimed and released my battle stance.
“Ah…”
Custo had slapped Serka across the cheek.
Serka, her cheek reddened, stared blankly at Custo’s face as if she couldn’t believe it. Her dazed face seemed to be asking, ‘Why?’
“N, now, that’s e, enough… D, don’t fi, fight… Even if I te, tell you no, not… to…”
Custo opened his mouth with great difficulty. I don’t know if it’s really that hard, but judging by his tone, it seemed harder than climbing Mount Everest. As if uttering his last words, he continued,
“Le, let’s go back… The quest is o, over here… And you, you… too, we’re pa, parting forever… Le, let’s never se, see each other… again…”
That was the final blow.
Serka stared at Custo’s face like a heartbroken person.
Unfortunately, Custo cut her off in one go and turned to the mage, driving the wedge in even further.
“Ro, Roel… Yo, you too… are the sa, same…”
“Wh, what? Wh, why me!”
“I don’t kn, know, are you re, really asking…? No, now…? Now… you, you’re… done too…”
“What the hell is wrong with you right now!”
Custo shook his head. It was a natural reaction for a normal, sane person. I started to feel some kind of liking for him. Now he turned to me and apologized politely.
“K, Khatt-nim… I’m, I’m sorry… Bu, but no, now, there’s no, no way… I ca, can… Le, let’s go back…”
But I can’t do that.
Damn it, I really want to get promoted, no matter what.
“…Custo!”
Just as I was about to say something, Serka interrupted.
“I, I’m sorry! It was my fault. I, I’ll stop, so please don’t say we’re parting…!”
Serka said to Custo, on the verge of tears. I couldn’t understand. What kind of relationship do these people have? I couldn’t figure it out, but judging from the way things were going, I thought I had a chance.
Hmm, good. Very smooth.
The two women continued to wail for a while. It seemed that there was some kind of strange bond between these people that transcended my understanding.
After a long cry, she and Custo came to an agreement. They said they would do the quest without picking a fight with me. There was a friendly conversation about how Serka would carry Roel on her back even if she passed out.
That seemed to settle the situation. Roel and Serka still didn’t like me, but they just glared at me without saying anything, mindful of Custo.
“Th, then… We’ll sta, start… now…”
Anyway, the party seemed to have returned to normal after the master’s fiery slap. We started off again. I felt like I had just wasted a lot of time. After that, everything went smoothly.
But.
Why am I so annoyed?
Seeing them getting their act together and trying to do the quest made my guts twist. I couldn’t resist the urge and said,
“Ah, damn it. I’m tired. Hey, let’s take a break.”
“…?”
“Hey, can’t you hear me? Hey, damn it! I’m tired! Let’s take a break!”
When I grimaced and shouted fiercely, the party’s atmosphere instantly flew to the depths of hell. Serka, her face red, shouted at me.
“Th, that bastard…!”
“What? That bastard! Did that fucking bitch just call me a bastard?! Hey, Custo!”
I shouted Custo’s name as if I was going to break the earth. This was not being a jerk. It was proper public morality and etiquette that I learned from my parents.
My father was a very loud man. He was a true man who never tolerated bullshit. To be honest, it was really embarrassing when he caused a scene at a barbecue restaurant, but now his confidence was becoming my virtue.
“Custo!!! Is it okay for this bastard to talk to me like that? Mages can rest, but I can’t?? Why! Why are you doing this to me!! Whyyyyyyyy!!!”
“Ca, calm do, down…! Kh, Khatt-nim…!”
Custo stopped Serka, who was about to rush at me. She became a gentle lamb again, clenching her teeth and turning away.
Strangely enough, I started to feel very good.
That’s right.
Good triumphs over evil. It is right for those who commit sins to suffer.
Seeing the wicked suffer made satisfaction bloom within me. I was watching them carefully, and it seemed that they had already decided to succeed in the quest. So that means I can do whatever I want.
“Let’s rest! Rest! I’m so tired!”
“I, I understand… We, we’ll re, rest… We, we’ll take a br, break…”
In the end, I was given another break because of my stubbornness. Again, I sat down a little away from the group. The two women glared at me, but didn’t say anything in particular.
“…”
I picked up a small pebble that was rolling around.
And I threw it.
— Thwack!
“Agh!”
“Nice.”
The pebble hit Serka squarely on the back of the head.
She looked at me with a distorted expression.
“What are you doing!”
“Hey, I’m bored, sing a song.”
“Wh, what? Th, that swordsman!”
She tried to get up, but looked at Custo’s face. He looked at Serka’s face for a moment, then looked at my face with a not-so-good expression.
“Kh, Khatt…nim? Wh, what, what are you… doing…?”
“Huh? No. We’re going to be doing a quest together today anyway, so I was just trying to get to know you a little better. Was the joke a little too much? I’m sorry. Hey! Serka! I’m sorry! Did it hurt a lot?!”
“Th, th, th… that… that bastard…!”
What a rage-control-disordered bitch.
Anyway, I made her get up because she had rested enough.
“Hey! Everyone’s rested! Let’s go!”
It was quite enjoyable to see Serka’s face turn red. She couldn’t bring herself to rush at me. She must have been thoroughly trained by Custo. We moved towards our destination again. The atmosphere of the party was a complete disaster.
“Roelroelroelroelroel, Roeeeeeeeeel!!!”
I called out to the mage as I walked. At first, she tried not to react at all, but she couldn’t stand it and screamed.
“Shut up! Shut up!”
“Shut up! Shut up!”
“Don’t copy me!”
“Don’t copy me!”
When I exaggerated and mimicked her words, she went completely crazy and started clutching the back of her head. I haven’t had anything good happen to me lately, but seeing her like that made me feel insanely happy.
“Hic… hic… Why, why am I in this mess…”
In the end, Roel couldn’t stand it and burst into tears.
I thought I was being too harsh, so I decided to comfort her.
“Why are you crying all of a sudden, old lady? It hurts my heart.”
“Waaaaaaaaah!!!”
“Don’t cry.”
Don’t cry, Tonez.
“Hey, hey. Damn it. Stop whining and let’s go, now.”
Still, we had to get going, so I stopped comforting her and made a constructive suggestion. Looking at Serka, she was puffed up as if she was about to explode with anger, and Custo, seeing the situation he had barely managed to fix flowing out into the universe, was completely out of his mind and groaning.
This is it.
This is the atmosphere I wanted.
“Hey, Serka. Let’s go quickly. We’re going to do the quest, right? Calm this bitch down. She’s not even a kid and she keeps crying, seriously.”
“Yo…! Yo…!”
“What’s with that look? Hey, Custo. Can I fight this bitch? No, she’s being a real bitch, damn it! One of us is going to die, you see? Hey! Answer me! Answer me! Why are you ignoring me when I’m talking!!!”
— Sreung!
I drew my sword again.
At the violent action, Custo widened his eyes and gave me a pleading look. In many ways, normal people were suffering. No, in the first place, it was abnormal to be with these kinds of people. I don’t know for sure, but he must be crazy too.
“Pl, please st, stop… Pl, please… We were wr, wrong…”
“Hmm, is that so? So you guys were wrong, right?”
He bowed his head and started apologizing to me. Perhaps it was shocking to see their man bowing his head, the martial artist and the mage were horrified and started clinging to him.
What the hell is going on?
I couldn’t understand at all.
The sight was so strange that I had the ominous feeling that this place was separated from the world.
In that atmosphere, the party started off towards its destination again.
The two women’s hearts were already submerged in a sticky darkness. To light the fuse, I decided to flirt with Serka.
“You pathetic bitch. Serka! Where are you going! Come here! Walk next to me!”
“I, I can’t take it anymore! I’m going to kill you!”
And as soon as we started moving again, this is what happened.
Haa.
There’s really nothing but shitty things in the world.
— Keeeeeek!!
This time, it wasn’t Custo who stopped our fight, but a monster.
From over there, monsters were running towards us.
