“You have to protect Sam from afar. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing.”
“Yes, sir!”
Compliments were one of the best ways to motivate a person. Hans cast away all his worries and fears and poured all his passion into protecting Sam. The two moved to a safe distance, but because Sam was worried about Snoc, they couldn’t completely escape the battle area.
Zich didn’t chase them farther away. Zich could easily protect both Hans and Sam while fighting with Snoc; moreover, even if some of Snoc’s attacks passed him, Hans could handle them. But most of all, Sam might be necessary to return Snoc back to normal.
‘Well, you never know. A family member’s voice could touch his heart or something like that.’
In the worst-case scenario, Zich would have to kill Snoc, and a family member could be with Snoc in his final moments.
“Kuuaaah!” Snoc cried, and his bloodlust spread out.
“Yeah. For someone who’s lost his mind, you stayed quiet for a while.”
Although he was wary of Zich like a cautious animal, Snoc couldn’t stand it any longer. Zich raised his sword as Snoc ran towards him.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t know how I can restore you back to normal. I’m not sure if this will work. So—”
Punch!
As he stepped on the rushing ground beneath him, Zich slammed his index finger on Snoc’s cheeks and said, “So let me beat you up until you are almost dead!”
* * *
When Snoc fought with Zich and the robed man in a three-way battle, they had fought on similar levels. However, the situation was completely different now. On second thought, Zich thought it was absurd to even say that it had been a three-way battle; the robed man had strictly guarded against Zich and taken Snoc’s side. Without the man, Snoc struggled to even keep his head up in a one-on-one battle with Zich.
Pop!
Stalagmites shot up from below, and huge boulders fell from above. Zich snorted at the tricky attacks that came below and above him simultaneously.
“I’m getting sick of this pattern.”
Tong!
By just accelerating a bit, Zich evaded the attack and struck a punch on Snoc’s face.
Punch!
“Kuugh!”
Snoc’s face twisted irregularly. Even though rocks had wrapped over his skin like armor, Snoc wavered from the impact.
Punch! Punch!
With Zich’s punches, the pieces of rocks on Snoc’s body fell. If Zich had used his sword instead of his fists, the fight would have been finished a long time ago. Snoc widened their distance as if he was running away. As he moved away, stone pieces popped out from the ground and attached themselves to his feet.
“He wants to maintain his armor?”
Snoc’s body changed like a bulky golem. Except for his face, his whole body was surrounded by stones.
“Kuaaaah!”
Crash!
The stone armor was so heavy, Snoc crushed the ground wherever he walked.
Thump! Thump!
Two pairs of feet made dents on the ground. Just the sound of their movements was enough to make listeners pale in fair. However, Zich was calm.
“Amazing! Right now, you look like a dirt doll that children play with.”
Of course, even if Zich had a kid in the future, he would never gift them a doll like that.
Thump!
Snoc approached Zich until they were a foot apart from each other.
“Krugh!”
Snoc let out an odd shriek and swung a fist that was the size of a man.
Swish!
Before Snoc’s fist hit him, the wind warned Zich of what was coming. Zich backed off exactly three steps.
Craaash!
Snoc’s fist hit the barren ground, and Snoc desperately searched for Zich.
Thump! Thump!
He moved his feet and twisted his body. Considering his rock-hard armor, one would expect him to be stiff, but unexpectedly, Snoc’s movements were smooth.
“Kuuuh! Kuuuh!”
Snoc continued to throw attacks at Zich; he punched, kicked, or tried to grab onto him, but Zich evaded all of his attacks by a hair’s breadth. Zich moved like a mosquito—flying near him and moving just out of his reach—and this infuriated Snoc. If he could just catch Zich, Snoc felt that he could one-sidedly beat up Zich, but Zich seemed to escape his grasp by a hair’s breadth every single time.
“Kuuuuuah!”
Crash!
Snoc locked his fingers together and struck the ground. However, his movements had only increased in power and were clumsier than before, so none of them landed on Zich. Snoc continued to hit the ground with his fist again, but Zich used that chance to close the distance between him and Snoc.
As if he was glad to see that Zich was now closer, Snoc immediately responded. Trusting his rock-hard armor, Snoc didn’t get into a defensive position. Instead, he moved his arms around Zich as if he was trying to hug and entrap Zich. His plan was to break Zich in his embrace.
“If you only rely on the hardness of your armor, you are going to see some blood.”
Swish!
Zich swung his sword. Usually, his sword movements were smooth enough to slice the air, but he changed his sword style. He extended his senses to the ends of the sword and changed the shape of the mana he poured in. The ends and sides of the sword let out rough mana projections out into the surrounding air. Strings of air whirled around his sword as if they were clinging like a hem of thread; and each of the strings were sharpened with mana.
Dozens of piercing winds flew towards Snoc.
Whoosh!
A small wisp of wind stroked his cheeks. However, that was only the beginning of Zich’s violent assault.
Slice! Slice! Slice! Slice!
The thin strings of wind struck against Snoc’s rock armor. Surprisingly, the hard armor split and cracked at each of the wind’s strikes.
Thump! Thump!
Like discarded nutshell clumps on the floor, pieces of Snoc’s armor fell apart and dropped to the ground. Thanks to Zich’s precise control, the strings of wind didn’t hit any of Snoc’s vital areas; however, he showed no mercy to the rest of Snoc’s body.
Spurt!
Blood spurted out all over Snoc’s body.
“Kuuuuah!”
When his whole armor was ripped away from his body, Snoc collapsed to the ground. After the piercing winds passed him, he was only left with sharp wounds inscribed all over this body.
“Uh, that is, um….!”
Sam scuttled to his feet. Seeing Snoc’s pitiful state, Sam wanted to stop Zich, but he couldn’t since this was a battle that could determine Snoc’s life or death. Indifferent to Sam’s feelings, Zich approached Snoc.
Snoc’s wounds were deep. Crimson blood soaked into the ground and dyed the ground a new color. However, Snoc still hadn’t lost his ability to fight.
‘Even at this moment, he is healing himself.’
Light wounds disappeared, and deep wounds became lighter. In addition, the bloodlust that surrounded his body was still as sharp as ever.
‘Hm. If I beat him more than this, I think he might really die.”
Zich’s first plan of ‘giving him a bunch of wounds to make him weak and turn his mind back to normal’ failed. As if he was sticking a tree branch into a bug, Zich tried poking the ends of his sword into Snoc’s body. Because Snoc responded strongly, Zich was disappointed that Snoc didn’t become as weak as he wanted.
‘Okay then, I will try plan B.’
Although he made plan B, it wasn’t a method he really wanted to use, so Zich licked his lips. No matter how severe they were, physical wounds could be healed with high-quality potions or advanced priests.
‘But there is no potion in the world that can heal psychological wounds.’
Wiiing!
Zich’s sword rang out. When a sword was filled up with mana, it usually rang, but this time, there was something different about it. Snoc also seemed to have noticed the difference and stared at Zich.
‘Since it seems like he lost his senses after being psychologically attacked, I didn’t want it to come down to this but…’
But what else could Zich do when his first plan failed? Zich placed the ends of his sword into Snoc’s head.
“Please don’t become insane.”
Tang!
Zich pierced his sword into Snoc’s head. No, it was more accurate to say that he forced an image into Snoc’s mind. Snoc felt as if his mind was shattering into fragments, and then his head slumped down.
* * *
Snoc felt as if he was dreaming a long dream. His senses began to rise, and his head became clearer and clearer. In contrast, his body drooped like it was filled up with water, and fatigue seeped into different parts of his muscles.
“Ah!”
He felt like needles were piercing all over his body, and he let out a scream without meaning to. However, his scream was short; it wasn’t because he wasn’t in pain anymore. It was actually the opposite: he was in so much pain that it hurt to even scream.
Snoc blinked back the tears that welled up in his eyes and looked in front of him.
“It’s a success.”
He heard a very self-satisfied voice. He didn’t know who it was or where it came from, but the voice was filled with pride over their success.
‘I think I know this voice.’
He had heard the voice before, and Snoc stared at the area.
“…Mr. Zich?”
He saw a familiar face.
“How are you feeling?”
“What happened…?”
“Snoc!”
Somebody shouted his name. He knew that voice too. Sam looked half-relieved and half-mournful; he looked ridiculous as he ran towards Snoc. Hans ran closely behind him. Sam had come running as soon as he saw Snoc come back to his senses, but Zich blocked him from coming any closer with his arms.
“Sorry buddy, but wait a bit more. It’s not over yet.”
“It’s not over? What is not over?”
Snoc couldn’t understand the current situation; he didn’t know why he woke up inside a mountain in the middle of the night and why Zich, Sam, and Hans were surrounding him.
“Ok, Snoc. Let’s assess the situation first. You were kidnapped. Do you remember that?”
“Kidnapped?”
Snoc’s head ached. After he heard the word ‘kidnapped,’ little bits of memories began to come back to him. He began to remember about the black-robed man, the mine he was dragged into, and Nowem’s real identity.
Snoc began to fumble and squirm. He ripped apart his tattered clothes that had basically become rags and saw something embedded into his chest.
“It’s a sealing stone.”
Hans and Sam looked surprised, but Zich was not surprised.
‘Did that man fuse Nowem into Snoc’s body with the sealing stone?’
After seeing the sealing stone, many colorful expressions appeared and passed across Snoc’s face: surprise, rage, despair, sadness, and all kinds of emotions appeared. However, the last one remaining was spite.
Grab!
Snoc grabbed the sealing stone with his hands and put force in his fingers. It looked as if he was trying to take it out.
Kick!
Zich blocked Snoc’s arms with his feet.
“Wait. You probably can’t even take it out, but even if you can, you shouldn’t do that.”
“Then, how can I take this out?”
As if it was a dirty bug, Snoc shuddered in disgust.
“That thing screwed inside your chest fuses you with the beast of the earth. While ignoring both of your wills, it forces you to merge with the beast. I don’t know how to forcefully take it out, but if you make an official contract with the magical beast, it will automatically drop…”
“I refuse!” Snoc shouted. His rejection was firm and clear.