Chapter 82 – Level Up
It was a long trip.
The princess and the party finally reached their destination.
To a place called the Land of the Dead.
“…”
The scenery there seemed fine for its grandiose nickname, the land of the dead.
It’s a dry, grassless plain, so it’s dreary, but it’s not the same as the land of death.
However, the ominous signs are more than enough.
Kang Ji-ah, her eyes flinch as if she were quite displeased, and the horses shaking their manes as if they were anxious.
Horses do not try to advance beyond a certain distance no matter how much the reins are struck.
“You can’t go any further than this.
It is invisible to the naked eye, but it is a land full of venom.
Unless you’re a beast, you can’t die in my name if you step in.
A disaster that has plagued this land for hundreds of years…
There’s nothing human can do about it.”
‘Dancing with wolves’ says the princess.
“It’s where you’ve been wanting to come.
Come on, do what you want to do.
Whatever it is, it won’t work.”
“I have work to do before that.
Master, that woman finally came after me.
I can hear the horses’ hooves… Forty-three.”
Kang Ji-ah, who pricked up her ears, interrupted.
I had just passed through rough and bumpy hill roads and canyons, so the visibility behind my back was not far.
No pursuers were seen.
However, if Ji-Ah Kang exists, then she definitely exists.
There was no one among them who could doubt her senses.
“We mobilized the bullies of Noel Company and even the villagers from the mining town.
Being a princess If you let me, I will fight back.”
“Did I tell you last time? No.
In the first place, I’m not going to fight now.
Of course, it’s an opponent you’ll have to fight anyway, but wait a moment.”
“Okay. I’ll do that.”
‘Dances with Wolves’ and Princess In shares her opinion.
Shin Eun-seo, who has been listening carefully to their conversation, says a word.
“‘Dances with Wolves’? Something has changed.
I thought you’d be a bit more squeamish…”
“…I don’t know what you’re talking about.
As a captured body, I have always paid homage to him, the victor of the duel.”
Is it? Shin Eun-seo sends an innocent look.
She doesn’t yet know that a princess can control people’s minds.
To be precise, even if you hear such a topic, it is hung with suggestions so that you do not think deeply.
‘Dancing with Wolves’ avoids her gaze.
I hated to admit her frankly.
I feel like I fell for the trick of the princess.
She was sincere when she said that she wanted to fight the pursuer on behalf of the princess, no matter what she was thinking.
It is not only because he is her opponent who came to kill her in the first place.
She regained her will to live with the help of her princess, but did not regain direction in her life.
Her gang has completely collapsed and what she can do alone is so limited.
The miasma that has permeated the ground is still contaminating the surroundings, and the interference of Noel’s office will gradually get worse.
What on earth should I do to liberate the south of Daejeon?
Wouldn’t that be an honorable end if I ran out of strength fighting against the servants of the nobility?
Of course, she had no intention of dying on purpose, but at least she was prepared to lay down her life for others.
If only the princess would allow it.
“I finally met you!”
That was the moment.
Rudy, who came over the hill on a plank, shouts at them.
Following her appearance, dozens of men on horseback surround the princess and her party.
They use the land of death as a wall and chase the princess and her party as if they were hunting wild animals.
“I mean, I was scolded by my father because of you.
You will have to pay the price with your life.
I’m going to kill you from now on. Is there anything you want to leave behind?”
Rudy says confidently.
Jiah Kang then gets off her horse and strikes her back.
“You’re killing us?
You hit me last time
Did you put some strength on her shoulders for bringing this ragtag girl?”
“Mr. Lee, obviously at the time.
Now I feel good
I don’t think I’ll ever lose to anyone.
I’ll deal with all three of you, no all four of you at once.”
“I’m feeling good?
Your complexion is not as good as the last time I saw you.
It looks like it’s about to collapse.”
“Shut up! Shut up!
What do you know!”
A booming sound.
Shouts Rudy with her enraged face.
It is such a sharp reaction that even Kang Jia, who threw her provocation, stings.
Didn’t you just smile and chat?
Do you have emotional instability?
Uncontrollable in her anger, she jumps off the plank and stamps her feet on the ground.
“Aaaaa!
It’s annoying!”
Every time that happens, the sound of a beautiful tree falling down echoes around.
The horses carrying the villagers are frightened by the sound so bloody that they whine and run amok.
Compared to when she faced Jia Kang, her physical abilities seemed to have improved incomparably.
The princess, who has been watching her slowly, opens her mouth.
“Rudy. Is it possible to hide her wings and her tail?
You’ve grown a lot.”
As he speaks, Rudy’s random movements stop.
She turns her head and looks at her princess.
“…What? How do you know that?
Come to think of it, you pretended to know me last time too.
Who are you?”
“He’s the one who saved you and burned the slave papers…
I was wearing a mask back then. Remember me, Rudy?”
“Uh…”
Rudy tilts her head for a long time, then opens her eyes wide as if she remembered something about her.
“No way. Could it be that then?!”
“Yeah…You remembered.
Then I’ll tell you that I remember, but those bandages of yours.”
The princess points her finger at the nape of her bandaged neck, and she recoils.
“What? Why bandages?”
“…Everybody knows if I cover her neck like that.
It’s covering the imprint of a slave.”
“…”
Rudy shuts her mouth.
Her skin pale with anger.
She starts to tremble all over her body.
“When I saw your face being eaten as a servant of a nobleman, I felt pity for a moment.
Actually, that wasn’t all.
So I really want to tell you this.”
“You all… Shut up…
Shut up.”
“I saved you from slavery, but all you do is become a servant who handles the dirty work of nobles?
Are you scolded by your father?
I know exactly what your job is like from the way you speak.
Please live with what you think.
Don’t live by listening to what others say.
Leah didn’t die for a guy like you.
She died to save people, not slaves.”
“Shut up!!”
A shriek reverberates from within her black hood as Rudy shouts furiously, her veins jutting out from her reddened neck.
Chew!
With the sound of her fabric tearing, a pair of wings rise from her back.
Huge wings covered with white scales, like those of white sand, look like dragon wings.
It was the same with the tail sticking out of the pants.
She exudes her immense magical power and life.
It is more powerful than when we met before.
It has more than enough magic attribute for 100 ordinary people.
Except for the princess, the faces of everyone present turn blue.
“Yo, it’s a dragon…”
Even from the strongmen of the mining town, who are supposed to be her allies, she hears fearful words.
Rudy’s ferocious mana is uneasy about living with her.
She wants to run away right away, but seems to be unable to do so because she is afraid.
Even in this commotion, the princess is not agitated.
He muttered to Rudy with his pitiful eyes.
“You see how the Emperor treats his men.
It’s been a long time since the uncontrollable miasma turned into a deadly tumor that adhered to her body.
You’re going to die soon, Rudy.”
“Shut up, shut up! Dad said it was okay!
What are you talking about?!”
Rudy attacks the princess as soon as she finishes talking.
She takes a deep breath and a shiver of cold air pours out of her mouth.
The energy, cold like liquid nitrogen, pours out in a straight line and hits the princess, then disappears without a trace the next moment.
“?!”
It was a lethal blow with enough magical power to serve ten people.
However, the princess raised one hand and parried the attack as if it were nothing!
Right before the magic hit, his hand seemed to be stained black. Could that have something to do with it?
Returning her sneer at her instinctive vigilance, the princess raises one hand to the sky.
“I’m not fighting with you yet. I’ll call you funny friends, so let’s play with them.”
The moment he groaned.
Only two of those present noticed the phenomenon.
It was Kang Ji-ah and Rudy.
As the miasma gathered in the princess’s hands escapes from his control and begins to spread explosively, Kang Ji-ah stands up and stiffens her body.
Rudy didn’t know why either, but she instinctively felt it.
A deadly and dangerous energy, but a familiar energy is shaking.
So terrible things have happened, so why don’t others know about it?
It was the moment she gritted her teeth.
Aye ah…
“What, what? Didn’t you hear the bugs just now?”
Strange noises are heard from all directions, and those whom Rudi has brought tremble in fear and shout.
It was the cry of insects that one must hear every day in the mines.
“Bug?”
“Eh, check the magic tools! Bugs are coming, hurry up!”
Everyone becomes contemplative and activates the magic tool attached to the saddle.
Only Rudy, who has never met a bug, tilts his head.
“Master, did you do it?”
“Yes. It’s a technique that spreads miasma in a special form and completely blinds beasts around 100km away.
It’s all about calling, and I can’t control it according to my will, so there’s not much practicality to it.”
“Boo, you’re calling…?!”
It was the same with the princesses and the party that became contemplative.
While they activated the magic tools and mounted the horse, something they were concerned about happened.
Slither…
The numerous insects living in the land of the dead begin to gather in an instant like beggars invited to a dinner party.
Piles of sand protruding from here and there whirl around them.
It’s like a group of sharks looking for prey.
Terrified horses gather in one place and face each other.
In the meantime, Kang Ji-ah felt something out of place.
If you do this, the residents of the mining town who were just dragged out by Rudy will be slaughtered in droves.
Was the princess mistaken when she thought she wouldn’t like the way she sacrificed an innocent victim who had nothing to do with her?
“Master, get on the horse quickly!”
“Yes, Brother! What are you doing?!”
“No need to be too surprised.
They’re not going to attack us anyway.”
“Yes?”
“They came after the poison.
I won’t even look at anything else.
Normally they would target me, but here’s another prey that doesn’t know how to hide its miasma.”
The princess quietly points to Rudy.
At that moment, with the sound of her push breaking through her sand, her giant worm springs up and attacks her.
“[Soar]!”
Perhaps sensing her vibrations with her sensitive tail, Rudy deflects the attack brilliantly.
It was a spectacle to see the huge body of the insect being dragged up into the sky and thrown far away.
But that’s not the end.
Like a swarm of carp rising to the surface after feeding on her food, endlessly rising bugs attack Rudy.
“[Soar]… [Soar]!
Profit…! [Soar], [Soar]!”
Rudy is preoccupied with frenziedly flinging her body, avoiding the attacks of the insects and tossing the massive body away.
It was as the princess said.
Numerous bugs don’t even care about others and only attack Rudy.
Her elders, huddled a short distance from her, do not toss her words to heed her vibrations.
For what?
If Rudy listened to them and flew into the sky, the insects might change targets.
Glancing at her figure, the princess moves her steps.
It was towards the land of the dead.
Then, a startled ‘dance with wolves’ stops him.
“What are you doing? Are you crazy?”
“I’m not crazy, so get out of the way. That’s why I came all the way here.”
“If you do, you will die!
Don’t be crazy, explain what you just said.
You burned that woman’s slave documents?”
“Yes, it was.”
No matter how much ‘Dances with Wolves’ blocks it, the princess’s steps do not stop.
She exclaims as if she is dumbfounded.
“Don’t be ridiculous! The slave documents are protected under the strictest security in Rome.
Unless you’ve been to the deepest part of it… Never…”
The movement of ‘Dancing with Wolves’, which had been blocking the princess’s path while driving her horse, stopped.
She remembered the bravado of her princess, which she had told her the night before.
Having come up with a certain hypothesis, she speaks in a trembling voice.
“Wait a minute… No way, no?
That’s a lie, right?”
‘Dancing with wolves’ chases after the princess and asks.
Of course, the princess does not stop her steps.
Now he could step on the ground of death with just one step.
‘Dancing with the Wolves’ seizes the hem of his clothes and prevents him from entering.
“You never give the same explanation twice.”
“What… No!”
The princess pushes ‘Dances with Wolves’ with one hand and moves his steps.
It was a tremendous force.
With only a slight push from him, she flew several meters and collapsed into a ball.
Taking her fall and rolling on the sandy floor, when she woke up, everything was already over.
I saw the princess standing on her feet on the land of the dead.
I was exposed to deadly miasma.
He will die soon.
She screamed in agony.
“No!”
