Chapter 247
Damian was just walking along. He couldn’t think of anything in his behavior that would’ve caused wariness. So why were these people blocking the road? The attitude of the farmers didn’t make sense.
Damian thought about it before making a reasonable guess.
‘They don’t like me because I’m an otaku.’
Damian’s equipment were engraved with all types of phrases. The phrases written in gold looked very nice, because they had a sense of harmony with the white color of the gear. However, this changed after seeing the contents of the phrases.
I love you Rin-chan, beautiful Isabel-chan, cute Luna-chan, Rebecca’s Daughters forever, and so on.
The contents of the phrases were things that invited disdain. Some people were so disgusted that they caused a fight because they didn’t want to see it. In reality and in games, an otaku was a target of hatred and derision.
But Damian didn’t give in. He wanted to freely express his love for Rebecca’s Daughters. He couldn’t understand why he should be criticized for the act of loving someone so purely and enthusiastically.
“I’m a paladin of the Rebecca Church. Why are you asking me who I am?”
Damian’s attitude was cold.
One of the farmers smiled. “You don’t seem to be an ordinary paladin.”
Damian exclaimed. “Yes! I am not an ordinary paladin, I’m an otaku paladin! So what? Do you want to beat me up?”
“Otaku? What is that? Anyway, won’t you fight me? The divine power that I can feel around you is very interesting compared to all the paladins and priests I’ve met so far.”
“This…”
Damian finally figured out the situation. These farmers weren’t mad at him for being an otaku. They were just crazy. A farmer who detected his powerful divine power and wanted to challenge him? It was safe to say that he had crossed a line.
‘He’s crazy.’
Damian felt compassion for the farmer. Then he sincerely prayed.
“Goddess of light, please bless these poor people…”
After a moment. Damian finished praying and said goodbye to the farmers.
“I hope that you will restore your spirit under Goddess Rebecca’s divine favor. Then I’m going now.”
Damian didn’t look back. He didn’t want to encounter these crazy farmers for long, so he hurried towards the gate.
‘I need to meet Grid as soon as possible.’
He needed to ask Grid to seal Lifael’s Spear. He just wondered if the greedy Grid would do it.
‘I will save Isabel-chan, even if I have to give him all my possessions.’
He would devote his soul for her. It was when he was making a pledge again.
Peeng!
There was a loud sound. Damian turned his head to see a hoe flying towards him.
“Heok?”
There was clearly killing intent. An overwhelming qi. It would cause great damage if he didn’t block it. Damian instinctively sensed and hurriedly raised his shield.
Chaaeng!
A strong shockwave occurred as a result of the hoe and white shield colliding. The whole wheat field shook. Damian was appalled.
‘Strong!’
It was incredible attack power. It was enough to make his spine chill, the first paladin of the Rebecca Church. As he was feeling confused, the farmer pulled back his hoe and threw off his straw hat.
An NPC called Piaro. He looked amused as he held a hoe in one hand and a hand plow in the other.
“Good defense. I’ll have to use Supreme Swordsmanship.”
Piaro was excited. First there was Duke Grid, the Overgeared members, Kraugel, and now Damian. He was excited by the fact that he met powerful people who couldn’t be overpowered with the Imperial Swordsmanship.
‘I have to deal with him seriously, like when I am fighting Kraugel.’
When he competed with Duke Grid at Loran Falls. At that time, Piaro hadn’t been in the proper mental state. He wasn’t able to demonstrate his skills properly. But after being with Duke Grid for the past few months, Piaro had become emotionally stable. Now he could exert his full skills.
“Then let’s start.”
“I don’t want to!”
Damian quickly rejected. There was no reason to fight. But Piaro was stubborn.
“You must take me down in order to enter Reidan.”
“What’s this?”
Damian thought it was ridiculous. It was a city where a farmer was the gatekeeper. The other farmer standing silently suddenly whispered to Piaro.
“Please do it moderately. I also want to fight with him.”
He was Kraugel. He had been working in the fields and training with Piaro for a fortnight. Thanks to Piaro, he had certainly become stronger than before. Now he only lost half his health when confronting Piaro. Even that monster was looking forward to a fight with Damian.
An exceptional person who rose to become the number two paladin, despite being a paladin of the Rebeccan Church. But one day, he suddenly disappeared from the rankings list, so there were rumors that he obtained a hidden class.
That person was Damian. Damian was famous, so Kraugel was interested in news about him. But Damian himself was unaware that he was a celebrity. He was only interested in Rebecca’s Daughters.
Anyway, that celebrity was currently in a desperate crisis.
The continent’s strongest swordsman, Piaro.
The peak of two billion users, Kraugel.
He was destined to fight those two in turn.
***
The Ice Flower Guild was one of the axis of the seven guilds. They had 30 members. They were few in number, but all 30 members were elites in the top 100 of the magician rankings.
In particular, their guild master Bondre was an overwhelming talent. He was the first ranking magician and 11th on the unified rankings just a month ago. Thanks to the Overgeared members, his ranking was pushed to 17th. However, there was nobody who would disagree that he was strong.
Ah, there was Grid. In the National Competition, Grid had logged out Bondre in four seconds.
But that was then and this was now. After his disgrace in the National Competition, Bondre struggled to acquire more S-grade magic. He poured all his money, time, and effort into it. As a result, Bondre was now much more powerful than he was in the National Competition.
He had three S-grade magic spells. Nine months later, the Second National Competition would be held in France, his home country. At that place, he planned to thoroughly get revenge on Grid.
“I will log you out in three seconds.” But before that. “Today, I will shatter your estate.”
That damn Grid was the lord of Reidan. Bondre would make it a vacant lot. The development of the city that occurred in the last few months would be in vain! Cruelly! Perfectly!
“I will make you crumble! Kuhahahaha!”
“The disease has returned.”
The guild members talked among themselves as they watched their guild master having an outburst. Their guild master was often like this after being defeated by Grid in the National Competition. They missed his past appearance.
“Huh? What is that?”
There was a strange forest filled with thorny vines. This was currently the west of the Eternal Kingdom. The desert would soon appear in front of everyone. The Ice Flower Guild suddenly stopped marching.
It was because there were hundreds of people in the distance. They were blocking the forest’s narrow path.
“Don’t they seem like refugees?”
“Their timing is dirty.”
The guild was close to Reidan. However, the 900 refugees made their march slow down, so the Ice Flower Guild became irritated.
“Just kill them.”
Bondre witnessed it and spat out terrible words. The guild members winced and calmed Bondre down.
“Our infamy will shoot through the roof if we kill so many people. It will be impossible to play the game normally for a while.”
“Yes, Master. Please take it easy.”
“Shit! Shit! Shit! I want to smash Reidan right now!”
“Look! We can fly in the sky!”
Bondre was losing his mind because his enemy’s empty house was right in front of him. The guild members tried to calm him down. They could fly in the sky using magic.
“Let’s fly through the sky until we escape the forest. How about it? Okay?”
Bondre barely recovered control and nodded.
“Sigh… Okay. It’s unfortunate that mana will be consumed, but it’s still less than killing those people.”
Float.
The moment Bondre was using Fly along with his guild members. A hand sprang out from a thorny vine and grabbed a guild member.
“…Eh?”
The Ice Flower Guild couldn’t grasp the situation. They were stunned as they received a notification window.
[Your party member Ren has died.]
“What?”
“This is crazy!”
What was going on? Bondre aimed magic in the direction that the mysterious hand protruded from.
“This bastard!”
Kwajajajajak!
The ice bombs rapidly cooled the vines and destroyed them. Then Ren’s dead body came into view.
‘Where?’
They had to find the person who killed Ren. Bondre and the guild members searched the area, but they couldn’t find the enemy.
Puk!
“Kyak!”
[Your party member Silver has died.]
Bondre and the guild members paled. A companion standing near them had died and they still couldn’t detect the enemy. It was like there was a ghost.
‘Assassin.’
A strong assassin that the level 303 Bondre couldn’t detect, that was powerful enough to kill magicians whose levels were in the late 200s. Yes, like Faker.
‘Faker?’ A chill went down Bondre’s spine. ‘It can’t be.’
Was it really Faker? If so!
Bondre hurriedly exclaimed. “We shouldn’t be here! Get out of the forest now!”
An assassin was the counter of a magician. Magicians had low health, defense and agility, so they couldn’t afford to go against the swift assassins. It was worse in a dark place like this with many obstacles. They had to move to a wide area. The Ice Flower Guild made this judgment and instantly used Haste. It was to escape the forest after increasing their movement speed.
But the person in the darkness had no intention of letting them go. He threw daggers aimed at the magicians.