Horn and Roman
Kwaaang!
I pulled out the nail embedded in my forearm while watching the blue flames bursting out with a loud noise. There was already a large scar where the tiny nail had been, so it wasn’t noticeable.
‘Horn.’
He muttered the name of a child written crookedly in one corner of a house that was particularly small in the village, and scraped his fingernails on the ground.
My head was filled with her and the child’s voices. I felt dizzy. My heart kept sinking as if a heavy weight was being lifted. I wanted to just collapse and cry.
This weakness was useless.
‘···devil.’
I forcibly changed the direction in which my consciousness flowed.
He poured out his anger like fuel on the emotions that were pent up and couldn’t be expressed, and then roughly beat him up. He scraped away the memories that had become crusty and poured out the emotions that had burst out, making the heat even bigger.
Somehow I managed to get this tired body moving.
“Ugh···.”
I turned my head at the sound of gasping for breath, and saw the mercenary, more than half-eaten, looking up at the sky. The mercenary was torn to pieces here and there, showing his bones, and there were human bite marks there.
It was a miracle that he was alive, but now even that seemed to be running out.
It seemed to be an expensive armor, and the leather armor was nicely oily. But it must have looked delicious to the zombies, because it was all eaten up.
The man flinched every time a falling raindrop touched the bone on his prominent neck.
Even just breathing was a miracle, but the man’s eyes were filled with a longing for life.
Even in such terrible pain, the man wanted to live.
“What’s your name?”
“Kreuk··· Roho··· Man···.”
“Yeah, Roman.”
Blood bubbled up from the man’s nape bone, then burst out and flowed out.
He nodded slightly and took hold of the sword in the man’s hand. The man seemed to be from a wealthy family or was talented, as the sword seemed quite useful.
The man looked up at me with frightened eyes, then relaxed. His eyes, once filled with desire, were filled with regret.
Whether it was a legendary sword or an expensive treasure, the man no longer needed it. He couldn’t take it with him.
“Please, let there be nothing behind.”
I hope I won’t be dragged into this hell again… I swallowed my words.
Without avoiding the man’s eyes, which were filled with despair, longing, and regret, he looked straight into them and cut off his head. The man’s head rolled away, mixing with the zombies.
Then it was difficult to distinguish between zombies and men.
Because they all had a resentful look on their faces, whether they were zombies or men.
In the end, they were both the same, since they were both lifeless.
Kwaaaaang!!
The blue flames burst again.
[The secret to achieving a thousand victories as a gladiator?]
[Simple. Angry.]
[Be angry. Anger will whip your body until the moment your breath stops.]
‘···Horn and Roman.’
He muttered repeatedly and readjusted his grip on the sword.
The anger was so heated that the lukewarm rainwater felt cold.
***
‘I didn’t know it would penetrate this deeply.’
Knight Ben frowned as he pulled the dagger from his left shoulder.
‘If they knew about this, they’d be so happy they’d kill themselves.’
He liked women so much that he ended up getting stabbed by a woman, and he would laugh and tease her about it. He wouldn’t be able to show his face in the castle for a while.
‘That’s not the problem, though.’
Ben took the potion out of his pocket and sprinkled it on the wound. He felt a terrible sting and frowned.
It was a high-level potion that was supposed to reattach a severed arm if you sprayed it on it, but it was currently ineffective.
Instead, black smoke rose and a putrid smell appeared. The area around the wound was rotting away.
‘Is it a curse?’
Well prepared, Ben muttered, throwing away the potion bottle. There was no way a mere handmaiden could have a cursed dagger. This was clearly a thoroughly planned affair.
I was so careful, but I wondered where the information had leaked out. I even thought that maybe there was a spy in the Fener family.
“You said you were a noble knight, but I really like your appearance.”
The guy in front was muttering while pulling up his black hood.
The guy’s face was melted in places as if he had some kind of contagious disease, and the pus was oozing out, making it unpleasant to just look at. And how pitiful he was, his eyes were sunken in so that you could see the shape of their sockets, and his cheeks were so thin that you could see his teeth.
Ben focused on the guy’s left arm. There was something horribly large and out of place on the skinny guy, hanging where his left arm should be.
At first glance, it looked like the arm of an incredibly large monster, but instead of hair, it was covered in countless yellow eyes.
‘Erosion is a demon that only has one arm left…’
Ben had dealt with demons before, so he knew what level of demons he could handle.
I could deal with a demon with both arms eroded, but anything beyond that was dangerous.
And the opponent’s left arm was eroded. I could have easily fought him. However, my current physical condition was not very good.
I have never fought a demon in such an extreme state.
‘Is this why beauty is poison?’
I smiled bitterly as I recalled what my father always said as a habit. What I thought was nagging from my father was always right, and it was always much later that I realized it.
For a moment, his mind drifted away and his body staggered. Ben glanced behind him to see Young-ae sleeping oblivious to the world. She looked perfectly fine, to the point of being annoying.
“Well, I think the outside is pretty much cleaned up. Now, let’s have a taste of the noble knight meat.”
The creature stretched out its left arm. The hideous thing expanded in size, then opened up and smashed through the wall.
The crumbs that fell from there tapped Ben’s face.
“If possible, ask for it to be less cooked. That way it’ll be easier to cut.”
Ben threw down the gauntlet and readied his sword. If I had known I would be dealing with such a big guy, I should have brought a shield… With belated regret, Ben raised his aura.
The curse affected the auras as well, and the speed and amount were poor.
But even this is where it is. It was a world where most people were reduced to mere food before the devil, without even such an aura.
As always, Ben didn’t complain.
I just did my best with what was given.
Ben opened his eyes wide and focused on the other man’s arm. Hundreds, thousands of yellow eyes stared at him without blinking.
“Um, sorry. I’m going to crush it and eat it as a pie. Knight Pie. How is that? Isn’t that a nice pronunciation?”
The man smirked and raised one corner of his mouth.
Ben’s mouth twitched as he watched the scene. The situation was not good, but his personality made it impossible for him to just listen.
“···But you really are ugly. Were you always ugly? Or did you become like that after being possessed by a demon? Well, how can a person originally look like that? I offer my condolences.”
“You arrogant bastard who doesn’t understand this topic!!”
The reaction was immediate. The guy’s already hideous face was now completely crumpled and looked like the devil’s testicles.
Ben held his breath and focused on the guy’s left arm. The hideous muscles in his left arm bulged and moved at the same time.
The guy’s left arm came crashing down on everything around him. Ben instead stepped forward and focused on the pillars positioned in the middle of the house.
Finally, when I got close enough to smell the awful smell coming from the guy’s left arm, the guy’s left arm hit a pillar and stopped for a moment.
‘It’s an opportunity.’
Letting out the breath he had been holding, he jumped in one go. As the aura he had forcibly pulled up added strength to his feet, the surroundings suddenly loosened. Ben was able to reach the guy in just one step.
The boy’s astonished face came into view. Pus burst out from under his wide-open eyes. Ben was sure that if the devil had balls, they would look like this.
Ben had a gut feeling that he would win. At the crossroads, one small mistake could mean the difference between winning and losing.
He stabbed the sword while waving his hand. It was a movement that was repeated thousands, tens of thousands… no, countless times.
The movements continued naturally, as if breathing. The aura that had been raised exploded, and cool blue flames shot out from the sword.
However, my physical condition was more serious than expected.
Just before I could stab the opponent’s shocked face, the auror that I had forcibly pulled up shook as if complaining, and for a moment, I lost my mind. It was clearly a small mistake, and now I was on the line of fire.
phut!
The tip of the sword shook. It struck the left side of the opponent’s face, but it wasn’t enough to kill the demon. It should have struck the center exactly…
bang!
With a terrible impact, Ben’s body was thrown back at high speed and hit the wall. Boom! The wall cracked like a spider web and crumbled into pieces.
Ben, rolling on the ground, spat out a handful of dark red blood from his mouth. The chest area of his armor was so badly crumpled that it was difficult to breathe.
“Crazy! I was shocked! I almost fell over! You noble knight! Whee···!”
The guy swept my chest area with his right arm in an exaggerated manner. Half of his face was blown away, but he was fine.
My whole body screamed. I was able to protect my right arm with my aura for a moment, so it didn’t break, but the aftereffects of the impact made my arm tremble.
Again the guy’s left arm twitched. Yellow eyes stared at Ben, and a terrible muscle bulged.
‘···I should have listened to my father who told me to just farm.’
The image of my father, a tenant farmer who had even tried to stop Ben by slapping him with a handcuff, came to mind. I smiled bitterly as I recalled that my parents’ words were not wrong, and that it was already too late when they realized it. Even if it was late, it was very late.
Ben sighed, the hostility thick enough to touch his skin, and forced his aching body to sit up.
The problem was the books I read as a child.
A book filled with beautiful colors that were completely different from the actual article. That changed Ben’s life.
To protect the woman known as the Flower of the East, he faced the devil with a skewer. In some ways, it was a situation that resembled a knight’s romance, but the result was clearly not good for the child.
The guy’s face swelled, and something ugly filled the hole. Erosion was taking place. It felt like I had done good things for the devil, and my appetite was bad.
If only my physical condition had been a little better, if my aura had been a little more pure, if only I had held the plow instead of the sword…
All the thoughts crossed Ben’s mind, but he didn’t complain.
As always, I just do my best with what I’m given.
“You’re handsome. You’re ugly, but you’re definitely better than before.”
Ben swallowed the blood flowing back and smiled.
“···That bug-like thing still has a living beak.”
Anyway, with the pretty lady behind her, it was clear what knight Ben had to do.
Ben readjusted his grip on his sword as he tried to remember what the ending of the book he had read as a child had been like.
‘···Was it a beautiful color?’
His arms shook, but Ben’s sword did not waver.
***
‘Damn. What a piece of crap article.’
Kutan squinted his eyes and swung his left arm. No, he asked to be swung. A soft laugh rang in his head, and his arm shot out.
The knight’s armor was broken and mangled here and there, and his legs were shaking and he looked like he would fall at any moment, but he didn’t fall easily. He staggered and somehow managed to evade.
Clearly, he had been cursed, and blood was flowing from his shoulder, soaking his front, but he did not fall. The floor was soaked with the flowing black fluid and his blood.
A sharp pain was felt in my left arm. The blood I had drunk was almost gone. I didn’t know the fight would last this long. Even if I was a knight, I was still human.
‘I caught that guy last time without doing anything like this.’
Kutan was a meticulous person who checked every ingredient when eating food.
That’s why I prepared thoroughly this time too. However, my big mistake was not knowing that there are ranks in articles.
‘That’s why I didn’t want to deal with knights in small towns.’
Kutan shook his head. He was at his limit, but compared to the knight, he was still in good shape.
He didn’t fall, but now that was his limit, and all he could do was lean on his sword and stare. He didn’t like that unlucky table.
‘How dare you call me ugly.’
Kutan clenched his teeth. The guy poked Kutan where it hurt the most.
Did Kutan want to make a contract with the devil and become so hideous since he was young? No, there was no way such a person could exist in the first place.
All children dream of being heroes, but not everyone can be a hero. Some people have to play the villain. And that is usually forced on those at the bottom of life, in the gutter.
When he first went to the gathering of demons, Kutan had to hold back tears as he listened to the stories of others. They were all people who had been pushed to the edge and had no choice but to promise eternal soul-torment.
Just to survive.
To be treated like a human being.
I just chose to become a monster.
Ironically, the more hideous his appearance became, the more cautious those who treated him became, and the closer he became to the devil, the more he was treated like a human being.
‘You dare call me ugly?’
When he was young, Kutan was known to be manly, if not handsome, and to be good at farming.
But because of the sin of making an excessive contract, his once strong body became as thin as a piece of wood, and pus dripped from his face.
But how dare a snobby knight, born a nobleman and clearly living a smooth and wealthy life, say something like that! Crunch. My teeth ground.
I asked my left arm. Please, crush that unlucky guy. Crush him so that he won’t be able to tell if it’s the noble meat of a knight or the meat of a pig that grew up eating shit.
‘And I’m going to make a pie with it and eat it.’
It had been a long time. It was time for me to have an appetite. My mouth was watering. I wondered if I could tell the difference between a knight’s pie and a pork pie.
Tingling.
For a moment, I felt dizzy.
It was a sign that all the blood he had consumed had been used up.
Now the demon began to suck Kutan’s blood.
‘It’s over in one go.’
Kutan gritted his teeth and held on.
As the veins in his right hand began to fade, his left arm swelled. Boom! The arm that had risen through the roof slammed down at high speed. There was a sound of the expanded air bursting, and a black shadow appeared over the knight.
I’ll make him a pie later and whisper to him.
Your meat tastes worse than pigs fed shit.
Just before his left arm crushed the arrogant knight.
Suddenly my left arm changed direction.
“What are you doing! I want a pie right now… Aaaah! What the heck!!”
He screamed, thinking that the devil was playing a trick on him to suck more of his blood. Then, he felt a cold chill on his right side.
Something unidentifiable and huge was rushing towards him. When I looked closely, I saw that it was a large man. My eyes met with the man’s body painted in black and red.
A burning hatred. An enmity of unknown depth. Kutan was horrified by the emotions that were clearly conveyed just by looking into each other’s eyes.
Just before the man could thrust his sword, his left arm struck the man in the side. Boom! There was a loud noise and the opponent was thrown through the wall.
‘···What the heck. This is bullshit.’
Unlike the vicious aura that had made Kutan tremble, the man was knocked out with a single blow.
There wasn’t even a scratch on my left arm.
Kutan noticed that his opponent couldn’t use his aura. No matter how strong he was, without his aura, he was just a light tap to the demon. He found it funny that he had been so tense just now.
‘Damn it! I wasted precious blood for nothing.’
My left arm was demanding blood again. I was getting irritated. I had been so unwell lately that I would often stumble when I walked, but one strange thing had come along and wasted precious blood.
Take it. Make it into a pie quickly. The thousands of eyes on his left arm narrowed as if smiling. And at the same time, a dizziness worse than before struck Kutan.
This time I could barely stand.
If he sucked blood a few more times here, it would be dangerous for him too.
‘After I finish this and get over that bitch… I’ll have to contact the royal family.’
There was a slight error, but it was still within the range of what could be fixed. Now, after I crush that insolent knight, I’ll take a handful of it as pie ingredients…
At that moment, I felt the chill again.
‘crazy!’
The left arm that was trying to crush the article changed direction again.
“It’s Horn and Roman’s revenge!!”
A man, much redder than before, was swinging a sword.
The man’s armor was completely crumpled and his left arm was bent in a bad way. Nevertheless, the man swung a large sword with his one remaining right arm.
Kutan felt a chill down his spine at the indescribable emotion contained in those eyes glaring at him.
At that moment, the man collided with his left arm again.
Boom! With a loud noise, it flew backwards faster than it had come.
However, this time he stopped midway by sticking his sword into the ground.
Crunch! The ground split open.
Even as he vomited a handful of blood, the man still stared at her with deep eyes.
‘What the… what is that kid doing?’
My body trembled with fear that arose from my instincts. It was clear that he was a piece of shit that couldn’t even be used as an auror, but I was more afraid of him than a knight.
“Whew.”
The man spat red spit from his mouth and stood up slowly. There was not even the slightest hesitation.
“Okay… Wait a minute! Wait!”
Now, it was dangerous if the blood flowed more quickly. Kutan’s opponent was that arrogant knight, not that guy.
It was clear that the guy was in pain too.
Immediately, my left arm was out of alignment and my whole body was covered in blood.
There he was spitting out blood from his mouth too.
It was clear that the movement was forced.
It seemed like we could find a compromise.
Because all humans fear death.
“My goal is not you, but that woman and that arrogant guy to make pie ingredients. I’m not interested in you, so I won’t chase you even if you run away…”
Kutan couldn’t finish his speech.
Because the man ran again in the middle of the road.
“It’s Horn and Roman’s revenge!!!”
The man shouted loudly, spitting out blood from his mouth.
The voice was so loud that it made my bones tremble.
Tingling.
Ugh.
Once again, my left arm was sucking blood out of its own accord, and the dizziness was much worse than before, and it felt like I had been hit in the head with a hammer. My vision was now blurred. My legs were shaking and I felt like I would fall down at any moment, and cold sweat was running down my back.
‘Who the hell are Horn and Roman!!’
Kutan gritted his teeth and held on, shouting inwardly.
I swear I’ve never heard those names.
bang!!
This time, there was a louder sound than before. The man, with his body bent, bounced on the ground and flew for a long time. A deep red mark was left where the man had bounced.
‘Damn. I’m going to get beat up at this rate. What the heck is this all because of one crazy guy…’
Kutan hurriedly looked back at the knight, his eyes constantly unfocused, and the knight was still kneeling in the same spot, glaring at him. His eyes were fierce, but it was clear that he was unable to move.
When I reached my limit, my hot head cooled down.
‘···Yes, I can still recover. I was bitten by a mad dog, but I can recover. First, hand over the woman··· If I get a city in return, I can recover.’
Yeah, what good would it do to kill that knight? He wasn’t wrong. Even he himself found his appearance hideous.
First of all, my survival was important. Let’s just take care of the woman and leave. We can still sort things out…
“···Horn···and Roman···are revenge.”
At that moment, a low-pitched man’s voice rang out. Now, the man, completely red, stood up with a creaking sound.
Kutan shivered at the sight.
It was a shiver, closer to chills than fear.
‘So who are those Horn and Roman guys?!’
Kutan was a name I had never heard before, and I felt so resentful that I almost cried.
I wanted to ask if I had misjudged the person, but I felt really frustrated that I didn’t have the energy to do so.
