Chapter 78 – Despair
The sound of running horses’ hooves echoes through the sheer valley.
Christine, the rotunda in ‘Dancing with the Wolves’, seems to have noticed her owner’s desperation, and she runs through the rough ground at the fastest speed she can.
Pebbles and sand crunch under her hooves, and dust rolls around.
However, even their furious sprint was quieter than the nervous inner thoughts of ‘Dances with Wolves’.
“Wait, stop! Didn’t you hear me?!
If you go over that hill, there are wild beasts…!
Master, don’t stand still, please stop that woman!”
Kang Ji-ah and Shin Eun-seo follow them.
However, the burden of Myka is hanging from their horse, and they are not riding a horse that they have been together for a long time like ‘Dances with Wolves’.
Their words cannot keep up with Christine and gradually lag behind.
Despite Kang Ji-ah’s cry, Gongju-in doesn’t do anything special.
While holding onto the waist of ‘Dancing with the Wolves’ tightly, he carefully examines his surroundings and is vigilant.
“It will be fine.
I’m sure you’ll be fine.
Knife! Valheim! Jihye Seo! Dunhem! Darrow!
Anyone can answer me!”
‘Dancing with wolves’ shouts in a desperate voice.
The voice that gives strength to the stomach and exhales becomes a loud voice and makes an echo in the valley.
But no answer comes back.
She gnaws her teeth with all her might.
Christine, who has quickly covered the valley road, arrives at an empty lot cleverly hidden between cliffs and hills.
Caves and tents to block the rain and wind came into view, and the firewood piled up for a bonfire was also the same.
Hope slightly returns to the eyes of ‘Dancing with Wolves’.
Kirik!
The very next moment, her expression contorts into terrifying despair.
From inside caves, on top of cliffs, under tents, in piles of firewood, and under piles of sand, creatures that make bizarre noises crawl out.
It is a spider that appears to be about 0.5m in size.
It must have been a beast.
100…200… A huge number.
“Beasts bred with wild spiders.
It is a species that hunts prey on the ground without spinning webs.
Although small in size, they are agile and have excellent leaping power.
Seeing so many…”
It must have hunted a lot of prey just a while ago.
The princess swallows the last words.
Even if you don’t have to say that, there’s no way you don’t know that fact if you’re ‘dancing with wolves’ here.
Gunshots rang out.
The moment the spiders jumped up after them, the pistol drawn by ‘Dancing with the Wolves’ burst into flames.
It was a beastly quick move, but nothing compared to the speed with which she drew her gun.
Starting with the one who jumped up first, the bodies of the spiders burst out.
Aim, shoot, reload.
The process is so fast that dozens of spiders die in an instant.
Whenever the spiders’ bodies explode, an unpleasant purple bodily fluid is scattered in all directions.
After killing about seventy spiders, ‘Dancing with the Wolves’ stopped attacking.
Spiders don’t come running anymore.
They hiss for a while and want to exchange opinions, but soon they scatter in all directions.
They made a judgment that they were not prey to hunt.
The theory that beasts possess basic intelligence has long been proven true.
Otherwise the war between man and beast would have ended much sooner.
Even though they won brilliantly, the expression on their faces in ‘Dances with Wolves’ is cold.
There is no sense of accomplishment or exhilaration to be found.
She jumps out of her saddle and runs towards her cave.
With gut-boiling anxiety and a glimmer of hope.
Finally she arrives at the entrance of her cave and peers into her dark interior.
Dump.
‘Dances with wolves’ lands on her knees on the sandy ground.
“Master! The gunfire… You have defeated the beasts!
They’re running away.”
“Because my brother is an expert in hunting beasts.
I wasn’t even worried
Huh? What’s the matter? Ah…”
Gongju-in gestures to Ji-ah Kang and Eun-seo Shin to be quiet.
Looking at the back of ‘Dances with Wolves’, who had fallen on their knees in vain, they seemed to have a rough idea of what had happened.
With the princess’s quiet gait, she approaches the cave and peers inside her.
“Tsk tsk…”
It’s miserable.
There were six people in the cave.
Judging by their outfits, they are non-combatants of the Deadman gang.
It appears to be two males and four females.
It was difficult to discern in detail, as the flesh shriveled up like a mummy.
They had already become prey to the spiders and sucked up all their bodily fluids.
Even in modern times, large and small disasters caused by beasts do not cease.
Casualties due to wild beast disasters often occur, especially in rural areas where security is not properly secured.
Needless to say, it is even more lawless in the south of Daejeon.
Having worked as a wandering beast hunter for years, Gongju-in is used to this kind of work.
I have experienced countless scenes where a widow who lost her husband to a wild beast, or an old man who lost a child wept profusely, promising to give all his possessions to them if they would avenge their enemies.
But, he thought, scenes like this always made him uncomfortable, regardless of how he got used to it.
‘Dances with wolves’ staring at the corpses of comrades as if their souls had escaped.
She muttered blankly.
“Even those left as sentries should all be eight…
Where did you two go?”
“There you can see the purple bloodstains that must have appeared a few days ago.
Judging by the traces of the fire, it seems to be on guard over there, but judging by the footprints that hurriedly ran to the other side, it must have killed several spiders and got scared.”
The princess looked around and pointed to the bloodstains she found.
His reasoning was credible.
He would have made the same judgment in ‘Dancing with the Wolves’.
“I see… Abandon your comrades and run away.
Whoops… That’s right.”
‘Dances with Wolves’ laughs hollowly.
After hanging her head and giggling for a moment, she gets up from her seat and approaches the corpses of her comrades.
Their corpses were severely damaged and looked similar on the outside, but in ‘Dancing with Wolves’, their identities were confirmed by their accessories, costumes, and hair.
“This is the necklace Carl wore.
Carl is one-legged, but he’s always friendly, and he’s got along well with the combatants…
These are the jeans Seo Ji-hye liked to wear.
She was an outsider from quite a distance, but she was friendly and never said anything bad.
This is the seed bag Valheim used to carry.
Originally, the plants here had very strong vitality, so they said that they sprouted in one minute as long as they had enough nutrients.
Valheim said it was his lifelong dream to make this place green again.
There was only one Darrow with hair as red as a carrot.
Darrow…”
It wasn’t something I was asking anyone to listen to.
‘Dancing with the wolves’ muttered to and fro among the corpses.
The wrinkled skin is cold and hard.
The saying that the skin and bone were in contact would be a word used in this case.
I get goosebumps from the feeling of touching the skeleton.
‘Dances with wolves’ gasps.
“Take the rest with me.”
At that time, the princess who left her side for a while returns and lifts up four of her corpses.
Bring me out?
Who?
The princess holds a thick shovel in her hand.
I think I went back to get that thing out of the tent.
When she can’t come to her senses, her Kang Ji-ah, who is next to her, sighs and steps forward to her, holding the rest of her body in her hands.
‘Dancing with wolves’ asks in a hollow voice.
“…What are you doing?”
“Aren’t you going to bury it? It’s not like you’re talking about it, so let’s bury it after cremating it.”
“What are you thinking? What’s your ulterior motive?”
“Your intention?”
The princess smiles.
There are things she has done to her, so from her point of view, who is trembling with her anxiety, such words can come out.
But I swear, this was not the princess’ intention, nor was there any particular ulterior motive.
No matter what the Deadman gang is, they have nothing to do with the princess.
I would be lying if I said that their deaths were sad.
But when you see people in trouble or in accidents, what reason is there to help them where possible?
A princess is also a human being.
I have no intention or intention to explain it in detail.
The princess silently lights a fire and lays her corpses on it.
She also doesn’t forget to spread her spacing so the bones don’t mix.
In order to burn away flesh and muscle without a trace, firepower much stronger than that of a campfire is required.
The princess solved the problem by using her magic to increase the temperature of the fire.
It was similar to lighting a cigarette by snapping her fingers.
It took a long time to burn the body.
It was all the more so because she was six corpses.
After collecting and burying all the burnt bones, the sun was setting.
Traveling at night was too dangerous, so we had to prepare to camp.
But I can’t sleep in this place.
It wasn’t a safe place because you never know when the spiders might return, and mentally I couldn’t seem to get any rest.
After moving a good distance from their hiding place, they set up their tent.
After the make-up, ‘Dances with Wolves’ keeps her mouth shut and doesn’t say anything.
The same is true while eating dinner and staying vigil.
I’m just passing the time with my eyes looking somewhere far away.
When I spoke to her, she answered briefly, but it was still a soulless voice.
It is literally out of my mind.
How many hours have passed
Kang Ji-ah and Shin Eun-seo come out of the tent for shift.
Now it was their turn to rest.
‘Dancing with the Wolf’ with the princess lying on the bed after a simple wash.
She was all dressed up even after washing her body.
Are you that crazy?
In the silence that continued, the princess was about to say something, but the moment she didn’t say anything, she opened her mouth.
“Sorry.”
“What?”
“I mean, I asked what you meant.
It was a rude question.
Thanks for cremating and burying her co-workers.
If you hadn’t moved, I might have been sitting in front of him all this time.”
“It was something anyone could do.”
The princess answers without thinking.
It was natural.
‘Dancing with the wolves,’ she says, making eye contact with him.
“They were the ones who believed in my oath and followed me.
Those guys are as good as dead because of my complacency.
Seeing what happened to those guys with my own eyes, it must have been more shocking than I thought.
I can feel it now
Those who betrayed me and scattered… They must all be dead.”
“Yeah. They’re all dead.”
“The ones who betrayed me and the ones who didn’t have all died.
Now there is only one Mika left.”
“Well, that’s right.”
“Occasionally infiltrating a mining town.
You know what you hear the most about our gang?
They say that the Noel Company has become more vicious thanks to our rampage.
Who asked to be saved, those bullies who give us the most trouble, something like this.”
“I guess so. That’s how people are.
I can’t even curse because it’s so bad.”
The princess affirms.
‘Dancing with Wolves’ continues.
“Last time you were like that.
If we have any sins, it’s that we didn’t accomplish anything because we were weak.
I think you’re right.
No, actually, I knew it before.
The Dead Man Gang is over.
There is no one waiting for me, no one I need to protect.”
The voice of ‘Dancing with Wolves’ is refreshing as if there are no remaining regrets.
Her tone was refreshing enough to be out of context, which made me feel even more uneasy.
She lets out a long sigh.
She then stands up and unbuckles the leather belt around her waist.
With a clatter, she lowers her belt with her pistol and frees herself from the things she was wearing.
His prized cowboy hat, thick leather coat, layered linen shirt and jeans.
Finally, even the underwear that covered precious places.
Together with the pieces of fabric, she throws away all the invisible things that supported her life.
In the dim light of her, the naked woman looks down at the princess with her red eyes.
“Your suggestion still hasn’t gone away.”
“I don’t know what allusion you are talking about, but of course it is.
It will never disappear until I release it at will.”
“Yes… Only you can.”
‘Dancing with the wolves,’ he muttered softly with downcast eyes.
Her head bowed as she knelt on her bed in her naked body.
This is the attitude that Ji-Ah Kang once gave me.
Her silver hair, in a doggeja, flowed upside down on the bed.
The curves of her bare back, waist, and buttocks glow like moonlight in the dark.
She said politely.
“Please cancel the suggestion that prohibits attacks.
I want to die now.
I will beg you.”
