Upper endoscopy
Querentel looked into the bastard’s black eyes and laughed. It was funny how he glared at him without knowing what the future would hold for him.
‘An ignorant and uncivilized man who doesn’t even know the subject.’
Querentel clicked his tongue and lightly shook his hand.
The fool seemed to believe in his large size and the lump of iron attached to his body. It was a truly foolish belief. True strength does not come from iron or flesh.
“A dog that sticks around.”
Querentel hummed softly and shook his right hand. The black energy that had been gathered in his right hand was scattered to the ground.
After a while, the black mass inflated in size. Then it gurgled and eventually took the shape of a dog about twice the size of a man.
The dog’s mouth dripped shadows instead of saliva, and instead of breathing, it exhaled cold air. Its claws made of darkness dug into the ground like mane.
“Ask.”
The dog lunged forward. Before the man could take two steps, the dog opened its muzzle wide at him.
Soon, the guy disappeared between the dog’s snouts. Looking at him, Querentel felt regretful. He had given the guy too easy a death.
At that moment, the dog suddenly swelled up. Querentel narrowed his eyes at that. The dog, which had swelled up like a balloon, split in half and popped out.
‘Yeah, if it’s easy, it’s not fun.’
Querentel was rather pleased. If he had been killed by a mere dog, it would have been meaningless. Such an easy death would not forgive the bastard’s rudeness.
Looking into the black eyes that were still staring at him without wavering, Querentel raised the corners of his mouth.
“A biting snake, a clinging dog.”
This time, he shook both hands at the same time. Two black lumps fell down, each transforming into a snake and a dog.
The snake crawled on the ground, and the dog dripped shadow-like saliva. Querentel was not satisfied with that, and recited a spell.
“Your sloth will eat you up, and you will become weak.”
It was a basic curse, but it was highly effective, so it was a curse favored by Querentel. When you were subjected to this curse, your muscles would become heavy, making it difficult to move, and if you tried to force yourself to move, terrible pain would follow.
An invisible energy swept over him, and the one who struck him flinched for a moment. The sword reaching out towards the snake was noticeably slow.
Querentel chuckled at the sight of the scar next to the bastard’s eyebrow crinkling.
Just before the snake bit him, his sword tore the snake apart. However, the snake was just an illusion.
The dog, which had come right up to me, opened its snout wide. It was so close that I couldn’t avoid it, so I stretched out my arm toward the snout.
Crackle – Sparks flew from the iron strap around the bastard’s arm, and he drove the sword he was holding in his hand into the dog’s head, then pulled it down.
Along that line, shadows were scattered like explosions. Even at that moment, the black eyes were staring at Querentel.
‘···cheeky.’
At that moment, Querentel trembled slightly and was furious at the fact. How dare he be a big guy who wasn’t even a knight.
Querentel hit his palms together so hard that they made a “clap!” sound. Then, rubbing his palms together, he drew out the life force he had accumulated.
Soon, black sap began to drip from between his palms, wetting the ground. Querentel spread his hands left and right, stretching out the black sap, and the black sap sprinkled on the ground like rain.
“Get up.”
As I twisted my hand, the black sap sprinkled on the ground began to bubble and take on various shapes.
Snakes and dogs, orcs and humans, bugs and birds. They come in many forms.
Querentel clenched his fist and raised it. At that gesture, the shadows simultaneously raised their heads and stared at him.
It was the long-term and specialized legion that brought Querentel to this position.
Although his mana and vitality were rapidly depleted, Querentel smiled and stared at the bastard.
I looked forward to seeing what kind of desperate expression he would make in front of the legion, and what kind of flavor his frustration would exude.
But contrary to expectations, the guy still had a blank expression. He just stared at Querentel and ran.
An orc shadow blocked his path. He swung his sword, but it was blocked by the orc shadow’s forearm. Without a moment’s hesitation, the orc dropped his sword and struck the shadow’s temple with both fists.
Boom! The shadows blurred with a cheerful sound effect, and the guy snatched the falling sword and took another step forward.
‘Okay, let’s see how far we can go.’
Querentel nodded as he watched the one running without hesitation through the shadow army.
“The magnitude of sin is so heavy that it will be crushed and oppressed.”
He twisted his right hand, and added a curse. An oppression, a curse that weighed on the soul, not the body.
The bastard stopped for a moment, and the wolf took advantage of the gap to bite the bastard’s shoulder. Crunch – Sparks flew from the bastard’s green shoulder armor, and red blood splattered between them.
He spun his sword around and drove it into the wolf’s head. The wolves scattered, but the snake bit the man’s ankle in the gap.
As the guy lifted his foot and trampled the snake, a human-shaped shadow strangled the guy.
But the merciless black eyes were still directed at Querentel.
“Energy is a fixed type, so exhaustion.”
Querentel cursed as if he was having a fit, and bit his lips tightly in a deep sense of exhaustion. He shook his head slightly, and checked on the guy while keeping his dizzy mind in check.
‘The curse has been added three times. At this level, even if the opponent is a knight, he won’t be able to move···.’
He grabbed the head of the shadow that was strangling my neck with his slow hand and burst it. Crunch. There was an ominous sound and the shadow scattered.
However, in the meantime, other shadows latched on, biting the guy’s ankles, forearms, nape, and thighs.
The guy’s entire body was covered in shadows, but his eyes, visible through the shadows, were still focused on Querentel.
The bastard moved his hands very slowly, bursting the shadows attached to his body one by one.
The hand was slow, but steady, and also unstoppable.
‘What is this···.’
Querentel opened his mouth wide at the sight he had never seen before. Only then did he notice that his hands were shaking.
‘Dare.’
Querentel regarded him with anger, not fear. There was no way a warlock like him would be afraid of a mere guard.
Crunch. Once again, a shadow burst, and at the same time as the red blood, the shadow was scattered.
‘It’s a shame to write it here, though.’
Querentel forced the corners of his lips upwards, reached in, and took out a transparent bottle. Inside the bottle was a wrinkled finger.
It was something I had worked hard to obtain, and I was so sad that I almost cried tears of blood, but I felt that if I didn’t kill that guy now, I would continue to see those black eyes.
Phajijik – The transparent bottle was consumed by black flames. Soon, a huge and deep lump formed in Querentel’s hand, incomparable to before.
‘You tough guy. That’s it.’
Querentel spread his hands, enjoying the overflowing power and fullness.
***
‘It’s not Animal Farm, it’s all over the place.’
My body felt heavy. I had lost a lot of blood, so I started to lose my mind, but then I came back to the pain I felt in my shoulder.
I grabbed the head of the ambiguous dog or wolf that was biting my shoulder and blew it up. Even though I removed all the strange things attached to its body, its body was still heavy.
‘Is it a curse?’
It was unspeakably bad, but bearable. And my body was still moving.
The moment he took a step towards him, his brother threw something much larger than before onto the ground.
‘Fucking slime play.’
Now, I click my tongue as I recall the toys I had as a baby that are faintly in my memory.
The black mass grew exponentially in size. It was almost as big as a house, so big that it hurt to look up at it.
Eventually it took shape.
A rough shell, a long neck, short forelegs that don’t match its size, and modest wings on its back.
‘A dragon? No, is it a Drake?’
My brother seemed to have been very imaginative, as if he had been used to a lot of evil spirits.
To avoid being defeated by the monster Drake, he took a deep breath and inflated his body.
The demon Drake gaped open his mouth. Inside was an endless darkness that seemed to be the end of everything.
‘There is no younger brother like an older brother.’
He muttered words of encouragement, readjusted his grip on his sword, and took a step forward.
The goblin Drake thrust his snout in. It was so big that it felt as if the world was being swallowed by darkness.
‘I never thought I’d have an endoscopy.’
He muttered a joke and jumped towards the gaping maw. He laughed bitterly at the details that were implemented down to his Adam’s apple, and was consumed by the pitch-black darkness.
Soon, the surroundings were filled with darkness, and it felt like the world was ending.
‘Hey, tenant.’
He adjusted his grip on the sword and muttered to himself.
– Did you know?
I knew the guy had come to his senses. But he was still quiet, so I pretended not to notice.
‘Give me that.’
– ···How arrogant. Also rude, ignorant, and stupid.
The surroundings changed. The darkness rippled and turned into countless thorns, aimed at me.
The fur of the goblin Drake is sharp. He muttered, tapping his fingers on the handle of his sword.
‘If you’re a tenant, you have to pay rent.’
I grumbled to myself and urged him on.
– That’s interesting. Okay, I’ll lend you my strength. Just promise me one thing.
I wondered what the guy would ask for.
Should I ask for my soul? Should I ask for a lot of blood if I survive? It didn’t matter. After making a promise, I just went out and wiped my mouth clean. Since the opponent was a devil, it was a good deed even if I cheated. And good deeds were my specialty.
‘I’ll listen to anything.’
– Don’t call me a jerk. I don’t know what it means, but it makes me feel bad.
‘Okay.’
He laughed softly, as if coughing, and held his sword firmly.
Soon, the thrill of being struck by lightning spread throughout my entire body. As if what I had shown you last time was a joke, an incomparably large amount of energy gathered in my hand, and my hands and arms trembled.
Blue flames shot out from the sword, pushing away the darkness that had filled the surroundings. The countless thorns that had been approaching me stopped. No, they were pushed away by the blue light.
A blue sun rose in the darkness.
Knowing the duration, I slashed my sword vertically straight ahead without hesitation.
The vertical slash that had been practiced tens of thousands of times drew a blue line without an inch of error, and a distinct, huge, and vast blue light split the world filled with darkness.
And just like last time, the blue light disappeared in an instant.
‘···Instead of calling me a jerk, call me a quick-witted jerk.’
The pitch-black world split in half from above, and I saw my brother with a terrified face through it.
“Wha… That’s ridiculous! What kind of fraud are you! A guy like you can use my… magic….”
The guy was talking nonsense and waving his hands left and right. A black lump fell to the ground, but it was smaller than before.
I approached the guy, popping off the things that were clinging to me one by one.
The guy kept waving his hands, making a ‘uh-uh-uh’ sound, and then fell backwards. Nothing came out of his hands anymore.
I crouched down in front of him and looked at him. His fleshy eyes fluttered and rolled around.
“What… what! What on earth are you?! Clearly, the curse… the cardinal’s finger… is that someone sent by the imperial family?! How did they know about this plan… Clearly, there was no contact at all….”
The frightened guy stuttered and trailed off. He looked really ugly and unsightly.
Who wouldn’t do that when faced with death?
“Who is that? The security chief.”
In order not to reveal his shocked state, he forced a smile and slowly lifted the heavy sword.
“What a ridiculous joke! Do you think the Shadow Legion’s Quarentel will be treated like this!”
The guy who had been yelling suddenly shut his mouth. Then he puffed out his cheeks, as if he was being cute, and it made me feel sick.
“···I’m going to draw Guda’s Guredel!!”
As if trying to be cute, the guy clicked his tongue. At that moment, a pink lump of flesh fell out of his mouth.
‘I bit my tongue.’
I paused for a moment at the antics of the guy biting his tongue to make a tongue-licking sound.
At that moment, the guy spat out the blood that was filling his mouth. Red blood sprayed out of him, but the blood stopped in midair as if it was blocked by a transparent wall.
I felt an indescribable chill and ominousness in that sight, and I swung my sword without hesitation.
The guy’s head flew off in an instant, and his face rose into the air. Even so, the blood that filled the air slowly took shape.
‘···I didn’t know there would be 3 phases.’
As I was laughing in vain at the extreme difficulty, a giant sword blocked my path.
Bang!! An explosion occurred, and I was blown backwards by the recoil. Next to me, Yeong-ae, who had lost consciousness, was flying alongside me.
He reached out and grabbed Young-ae, holding her in his arms, as if she would hit her head somewhere if he left her alone.
After flying for a while, I finally stopped after destroying about three walls. The intense pain in my back caught my blurring mind.
When I looked up, I saw two people fighting something red through the hole.
One was the knight Adela, the other was the inquisitor Joanna. Both swung their glowing swords at something red.
Adela’s sword emitted a dark blue light, Joanna’s greatsword shed white light, and a red color with an indescribable ominousness confronted them.
‘A knight and an inquisitor, we’ll win, right?’
The presence that my opponents gave off was extraordinary, but they were still knights and heretic inquisitors. I had no doubts about my victory.
At that moment, Young-ae, who was in my arms, moved slightly. Only then did I remember Young-ae, and when I checked her condition, I saw a lump of white flesh.
What is this? I looked at it for a moment, then realized that it was a lump of flesh.
‘···It’s milk.’
That’s also very beautiful.
“Miss Vivian! Where are you!! I’m here!!”
At that moment, a desperate woman’s voice was heard from nearby. At the same time, Yeong-ae’s eyes fluttered open. It seemed as if she was about to come to her senses at any moment.
A young woman with her breasts peeled and a fierce man holding her in his arms. It was obvious how this scene would look.
As always, my worries were short-lived. I quickly hit Young-ae on the head.
Bam! With a loud noise, Youngae moaned softly and tilted her head back.
I put my hand under Youngae’s nose to check if she was breathing, then gently placed it next to her.
He took a handkerchief out of his pocket, covered Young-ae’s exposed chest, and got up from his seat.
Kwaaaaang! Kwaaaaang!
After watching the fight unfold for a while, I quickly left the place when I heard footsteps nearby.
***
“Squad leader, why are you so late? The captain stopped by earlier and asked for you. He said he went to take a dump, but…”
Berman asked, looking around with a very tense face. Next to him, Kel, Brick, and Pool stood guard with very tense faces.
“I just came back from wiping my butt.”
Their eyes widened and their mouths dropped open at my answer. When I waved my hand, they stepped aside without asking any more questions, making room for me to pass.
Then I went to a corner and laid down. My whole body screamed, but I could bear it somehow.
I moved my trembling hands and took out the water bottle from my bosom. In an instant, my hand lost its strength and slipped, causing the water bottle to fall to the ground.
The liquor poured out of the water bottle with a gurgling sound, and the strong smell of grapes filled the air.
‘···This sucks.’
I just stared at him blankly, not having the strength to pick it up. The alcohol from the water bottle soaked my butt.
“Take this.”
At that moment, Berman held out his water bottle. I took it and put it to my lips. I don’t know what kind of liquor it was, but it had a strong fruity aroma and was very strong.
They surrounded me as I sat and sipped from my water bottle.
The guys didn’t ask me anything as I just sipped my water bottle.
After finishing my water bottle and putting it down, this time Kel held out his water bottle.
The liquor in Kel’s flask was unusually fragrant.
I drank like that until dawn.
***
“Oh, it was really hard. They were so annoying from above. How would we know about the Warlock? If that’s the case, they should have been checking things themselves…”
Kel grumbled and wiped his mouth with a flower-patterned handkerchief.
“Ahem···.”
Brick, with a somewhat smug expression, coughed and shrugged his shoulders. The red lip print on the guy’s neck was strangely jarring.
“Brick, I don’t like your expression. Loosen it.”
Berman glared at the brick and made a strange remark.
“Chief, when I went back, the red wine barrels were gone. After investigating, I found out that the guys from District 6 took them. Let’s gather them all up and educate them…”
The grass spoke to me while pressing the corner of its eye with its finger.
I looked at everyone for a moment, then gestured inside.
Hannah came to him with both hands full of beer mugs.
Kanna was just peeking her head out of the kitchen.
“You all worked hard. This is a service I give to thank you all for your hard work!”
Hannah smiled brightly and slammed her beer glass down. The table shook slightly and the ice-cold beer overflowed.
“Service? Are you interested in me···.”
Kel joked in a playful voice.
“Hey-. Kel is ugly. I like handsome guys.”
“···I’m ugly? Hannah! I didn’t see it that way, you have a bad eye! The representative handsome man of the Cassadic family, this Kel···.”
“Huh? Kel is the representative handsome man. This is the first time I’ve heard of it. The representative handsome man of the Cassadic Castle is, after all,···.”
Hannah glanced at me and stuck out her lips. Was she lacking in nutrients? I looked at Hannah’s trembling eyes and brought the beer glass to my lips.
The cold beer flowed down my esophagus, pushing the accumulated contents down.
“Anyway! Thank you all for your hard work!”
Hannah returned, shouting cheerfully.
“Wow… This is no joke. I didn’t know beer could taste this good.”
Kel exclaimed, and Brick imitated him in an exaggerated manner. Berman, who had been glaring at Brick, snickered. Poole spread his fingers to calculate how much this beer should cost.
I looked at him for a moment, then opened my mouth.
“For the quarter.”
The noise he had created disappeared, and a natural silence settled in.
“Well, isn’t it just sleeping well like you wished? Why did you mess with the devil and get stabbed… Tsk.”
“I will emulate the courage of the quarter who rushed at the devil!”
“He was a guy who couldn’t even count, so he rushed at the devil without any fear. How reckless. There was no need to risk his life for a mere 20 silver.”
Kel, Brick, and Poole spoke in turn.
“For our friend, the Quarter, who was braver than anyone else.”
Berman clinked his glass and hummed softly.
Everyone emptied their beer glasses in one go.
For a moment, my head felt dizzy from the dizzying cold.
I didn’t bother to tell the truth.
Thanks to this, Quarter’s sister received a large reward, and the outer guard awarded Quarter a medal for fighting the devil, and from now on, whenever they drink, they will toast to the brave Quarter’s name.
It was enough for me to know that Quarter had become corrupted by the black magician’s poison.
After a brief silence, everyday conversation resumed.
Kel tried to trick Berman into giving Rosa half price, and Berman yelled at him. Brick watched him and held back laughter.
“But, team leader, who’s coming to our group? I heard the other groups got a replacement.”
“Pul asked, putting down his beer mug.
“The captain said he would send me here.”
I answered, scratching the ball.
Just then, the door opened with a creaking sound.
Everyone was focused on him.
“Hyeooo …
A weasel with slightly more iron in its armor than before came running in, screaming.
