## Chapter 114 – Soul Ascension Battle
ㅡThud, thud, thud, thud!
The monsters that came running were a pack of lower-tier creatures called Desert Runners, reptiles that scurried around in a chaotic manner.
They looked like dinosaurs, but considering they had feathers and beaks, you could call them birds. However, they felt completely different from similar monsters like cockatrices. I figured that was the difference between birds and reptiles.
ㅡScreeeeeech!!
Anyway, these ostrich-like bastards that popped out of this nightmare were running like hell towards us. Their speed looked as fast as that of a short-distance runner. I guess that’s why they were called ‘Runners.’
The number of them visible through the dust clouds was about fifteen.
Each individual was about 100-140cm tall, smaller than me, so I didn’t care. I’d caught them a few times, and I remembered that their meat was tasty. They weren’t difficult for someone with a sword to handle.
“Hey, Serka. Monsters showed up. Stop messing around and deal with those bastards.”
“…”
Still, everyone seemed to have some sense, and as soon as the monster horde appeared, they prepared for battle. Serka adopted a martial arts stance, and Roel also pointed her staff. Custo, with his mace, also took a battle stance.
“Pre, prepare, prepare…”
“…Annoying. I should just burn them all.”
I thought about just smacking the kids in the back of the head and provoking them since we were screwed anyway, but I decided against it because it was a bit much to fight over a dozen monsters alone.
“Boom chicky, boom chicky, boom chicky, boom chicky. Moon Do! Seol Woon-do! I am Kim Goddo!”
ㅡWhack!
“What the!”
That was a lie, actually.
“Oh, you blocked it?”
I subtly pretended to step back while kicking Serka. Surprised, she panicked and blocked my attack. Still, she seemed to have some reaction speed as a martial artist.
“Then block this too!”
“St, stop! There are monsters…!”
ㅡWhoosh!
“That, that crazy bastard!”
“Custo-nim…! Custo-nim…! Pl, please stop, please…!”
ㅡChop!
I cut off Roel and Custo’s pleas with a shout and unleashed my deadly Taekwondo footwork. Monsters were running at my back, and Kim Goddo was unleashing a barrage of attacks in front. Serka was completely trapped in a dilemma, not knowing what to do.
“Stop! Stop! Stop it!”
She blocked my kicks with a pale face and shouted.
Did she think I wouldn’t mess with her just because monsters appeared?
Did she think I wouldn’t do this just because monsters appeared?
She underestimated me.
She underestimated the world.
She underestimated me too much.
I am Kim Goddo, the one who strikes (at the opportune moment).
“Eek!”
Serka, who had been blocking my kicks, stepped back, adjusted her stance, and charged at me with a roar. Her fists were clenched, and her eyes seemed to glow with the madness of losing her reason from the previous exchange.
“Idiot, watch your back.”
ㅡScreeeeeech!!
But the Desert Runners weren’t playing around.
“Cough!”
While we were filming a useless farce, they had been running towards us more diligently than anyone else. Finally, a Desert Runner ran up and slammed into Serka’s back. She bounced off and crashed to the ground.
“Serka! Th, this crazy! Are you out of your mind!”
Roel, expressing her bewilderment, quickly began chanting a spell.
ㅡWhoosh!
A small flame blazed at the head of her staff.
Was it a Fire Bolt? But compared to Winia’s, her casting speed was terrible. She should have prepared and launched it earlier, but she missed the timing while watching my and Serka’s impromptu sparring match.
“Eek!”
And a magician who misses the timing gets exposed to attacks. Colliding with a Desert Runner, she screamed like a burst balloon and rolled on the ground, just like Serka.
“Se, Serka… Ro, Roel…”
Custo’s face was also pale.
He swung his mace with difficulty. But the attack was not fierce at all. As weak as his gentle impression, the feeble attack failed to subdue the monster. ㅡThwack! The Desert Eagle, hit by the mace, became even angrier and beat Custo. He also fell backward.
“Ugh, aaaaaagh!!”
“Eeeeeek!!”
“Th, this bastard! This bastard!”
Then, a scene of utter carnage unfolded.
The screams of the screwed-up trio poured out. Serka couldn’t find the timing to get up and was groaning in pain as she got hit in the side, and Roel, who had dropped her staff, was being ganged up on like a dog biting a nobleman’s child on Dog Days.
“Cough!”
Custo, on the other hand, seemed to have become a human tumbleweed, rolling around according to the kicks of the Runners.
“Eeeeeeeeeek!!!”
That’s right.
Unlike me, who had avoided the Desert Runners with experience honed in real combat, the three were literally rolling on the ground, getting kicked by the monsters like crazy.
“Heh, hahahahahahaha!!!”
In the middle of that hell, I burst out laughing.
“Shall we go to Jongno! Shall we go to Myeongdong!”
Now, the ascension battle and everything else didn’t matter anymore.
I laughed. I laughed and laughed, sang songs, and dodged the Desert Runners as if dancing. They were just low-level monsters anyway. They didn’t have the attack power to penetrate my armor, and they would become fresh processed food with a single slash of my sword.
This situation, surrounded by opponents weaker than me, was not scary at all.
“Crazy bastard! Stop it and fight these monsters! Eeeeeek!”
“Cu… Custo-nim…! Pl, please help… me…”
“Co, cough! I, I have to get up…!”
I just sneered at them as they begged.
“Why is the attitude of the person asking for help like that!”
ㅡTss!
“ㅡI won’t forgive you!”
Serka, who was at least somewhat competent, got up while rolling on the ground. She immediately punched the Desert Runner that was beating her. The powerful blow combined with her knuckle struck the long neck.
ㅡThwack!
The punch didn’t end there. Three consecutive strikes followed in a very precise and swift motion. The Desert Eagle, which had been punched in the neck three times in an instant, collapsed as if its neck bones were dislocated.
“You, at least!”
Serka, who had finished off one, tried to rush at me.
ㅡThud, thud, thud!
“Ugh!”
But the arena had already become the territory of the Desert Runners.
The ones who saw their comrade die were enraged and rushed at Serka. She changed her trajectory and fought back, throwing punches and kicks, but there was a physical limit to fighting multiple monsters with just her knuckles.
Okay. Should I start now?
ㅡShing. I finally drew my sword and straightened my posture.
Let’s stop playing around and kill the monsters.
It would be troublesome if they got hit wrong and died.
“ㅡKKKKKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEKK!!!!!!!!!!!!”
I took a breath and unleashed a battle cry towards the Desert Runners.
ㅡScreech?!
Then they were startled and looked at me. There was a moment of ‘What the hell is that bastard?’ before their gazes soon turned to anger. Three of them, who were wandering around, rushed at me.
“Come on, you bitches.”
ㅡScreeeeeech!
One of them, with its mouth wide open, rushed at me first. I took a side step to easily avoid the body slam and slashed my sword sideways, cutting off its neck.
ㅡShwuk.
The clean cut severed the neck bone and dropped the head.
Next, I advanced two steps and slashed the sword diagonally. Having a long neck was truly a sad thing. The range exposed to attacks was too large. Another head fell with the second slash, and immediately lowering my posture, I gained momentum and thrust like a cannonball.
ㅡThwack!
ㅡQue, quegek…!
The third Desert Runner, whose chest was pierced, also collapsed in vain.
These pathetic bastards. You can’t beat me even if you die and come back to life.
“These pathetic monsters are just gnats to swordsman Kim Goddo.”
I looked around the arena. Roel, who was lying down and getting beaten like a dog, stared at me with wide eyes, and Serka also stared at me in surprise, holding the neck of a Runner.
I had slaughtered three of them in an instant.
Those younglings could never dream of such skill.
“Want me to save you?”
I said to them.
“…Y, yes! Quickly!”
Roel, throwing away her pride or whatever, shouted for me to save her. Shrugging my shoulders, I called Serka. There was a complicated administrative procedure to go through before saving someone.
“Hey, Serka.”
“…What is it?”
ㅡThwack!
She answered, kneeing the chest of the Desert Runner whose neck she was holding.
“If you want me to save Roel, repeat after me. [My mother, Serka’s mother, is a dirty whore who sells her body cheaply in the back alleys. She often has discount events, so she’s very popular. She even gives out stamps. I love such a mother so much.] Now, repeat it exactly, and I’ll save your friend.”
I taunted Serka with those blatant words. Shocked by the explicit language, she shouted.
“What nonsense are you talking about! My mother is not a prostitute!”
“Really? Then I guess I’ll just go over there and rest. Santa Claus doesn’t help heinous little shits who lie.”
If she can’t do it, there’s nothing I can do.
Without going through the procedure, I can’t do any official work.
ㅡQueeee…
The Desert Runners, seeing my might, had moved away from me. They acted as if they had decided to target only those other than me. Roel’s screams erupted again. The beaks of the Desert Runners stabbed into her forearms, which she had raised to guard.
“Eeeeeek! Se, Serka! Please!”
“Wa, wait, I’ll save you!”
“Cough… K, Katto…nim… Pl, please forgive… me…!”
Oh, Custo was there.
His white clerical robes were already covered in blood.
“Looks fucking painful.”
Turning around without hesitation, I immediately climbed onto a nearby rock and sat down.
Even though it looked like that, the number of Desert Runners had already dropped to less than ten. It would be a bit difficult, but Serka would somehow handle it. Of course, she would suffer great damage. Even if they managed to win somehow, they wouldn’t be in a normal state.
Then those completely tattered guys wouldn’t dare to mess with me anymore.
They could never beat me, who was full of energy, in their exhausted and injured state.
Then I could go on a pleasant konpeito gathering trip with the docile lambs. It would be useless to whine about going back. If I gave the completely exhausted Serka some fist education, wouldn’t everyone be scared and listen to me?
Of course, I would never touch Roel. Because she’s a magician. The same goes for Custo. Even though Cheondohoe or whatever is an unknown church, they wouldn’t just stand by if their young priest got beaten up.
So naturally, Serka would become my target.
Even I started to fear my meticulousness.
ㅡThwack!
Sitting on the rock, I quietly watched this tragic situation.
It was a simple battle that would have flowed smoothly if I hadn’t kicked Serka in the first place. Roel would shoot magic from afar, Serka would deal with the approaching enemies, and if Serka missed anything, Custo would hold them off for a moment, and then Roel would deal with them again.
It would have gone that way.
But look, haven’t the Desert Runners, who penetrated the formation that had already been ruined by my reverse trolling, been running wild?
After all, what ruins a team is not the strength of the enemy but the wickedness of the team members. If Serka and Roel hadn’t been assholes to me, the party wouldn’t have exploded like this. There needed to be a fitting retribution for their sins.
I would be a righteous circuit judge for today only.
“Cough!”
Serka was diligently throwing kicks and punches, but it was obvious that she was already exhausted. The power in her punches was clearly fading. She could no longer deal with multiple Desert Runners, and the Runners whose attacks missed beat Roel and Custo. Screams erupted.
Frustrated, I shouted.
“Hey, you idiot! Hit them harder! Do you think they’ll die with that?! Is that all you can do as a martial artist?! Your friends are getting their asses kicked!”
“Sh, shut up!”
“Eeeeeek!!! Quickly! Please save me quickly!”
“Wa… wait! Roel! I, I’ll definitely save you! Cough!”
“This is a complete hellscape.”
In the end, Roel started wailing and telling Serka to do as I asked.
It was the moment when their unknown friendship was destroyed. How pathetic. Who told them to duo the ascension battle with a friend in the first place? Doing the ascension battle with a friend in the first place is wrong. They’re just paying the price,
And that’s the result.
Friendship destroyed, and the game is over.
The screams of the suffering trio continued.
