24 Hearts

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Chapter 3-1. ‘Black Tree’ Tribe

He had killed two mercenaries who threatened him for the first time he stepped into this world.

To gain experience, he killed the black wolves of the realm.

He killed the Flying Fighter to fight for his life.

He killed the ghosts who had died once, killing them twice.

He killed Count Jinmu, who was overtaken by the ghosts.

He killed the orcs who took the lives of many living beings.

‘So I can take your life too.’

The reason why he kept touching Altemia a while ago was because of hesitation. Even if he was determined within his heart, it was not easy to act on it. He hesitated and threw a dagger but moved, thinking that he threw it with both hesitation and regret.

The dagger, slicing through the air, accurately cut the orc through its neck and turned to Kain, who was trying to put it down on the ground. Kain felt that the dagger, blocking it using the orc he was holding as a shield.

The fragment’s rage swallowed up Kain, so it should be considered irrational, but it was not right to see him as a normal berserk. It was the black fragment that he had. The power of Pernen that it contained! Even without reason, it moved to find the best method and efficiency in combat. However, the efficiency also depended on how good the user’s intuitive sense was.

The orc wriggling at his neck held by Kain, struggled harder as Altemia on his back sucked his blood. Whether it was bothersome or it bothered him to hold it, Kain threw the orc and ran toward Judah. In the vicinity, orcs, who had lost their temper, rushed into the craziness as Kain approached in front.

Judah prepared to meet Kain by evading attacks and counterattacking while checking the information sent into his head through his B-rank agility, Spreading Shadows, and Magic. In no time, he struck Altemia into the bodies of the orcs surrounding them and summoned another fifth Altemia.

Whooong!

He bowed his head to avoid the great sword that swung at him with the sound of laughter following it. The great sword, swayed with force, passed overhead with incredulous force and speed, and his hair was shaken wildly by the wind pressure. Judah, evading Kain’s attack, drew his spear diagonally from his left hand. Black magic covered the sharp blade, and -Shadow Swordsmanship Form 2-Magic- was activated. His blade dug into the thick armor that Kain was wearing.

The plate armor of the Temple Knights, the armor made by refining the mineral with divine power, was much harder to penetrate than expected. The code was given, and its matching spear received a bonus in attack power due to the skill embedded in it. It didn’t feel like Judah had cut through his flesh, more like he grazed Kain’s fingertips. That’s why Kain took on the assault and swung his great sword. Just before the great sword fell over his head, he stepped back.

Kwaaang!

A loud burst shook the earth, hollowing the ground as stones and grass flew into the air. Judah frowned, bounced away with his spear, and had to turn his body to throw a dagger immediately. His blade hit an approaching orc’s forehead, sending it to the ground. The orcs continued to rush at them.

Kain and Judah didn’t set a target. They just need a place to release their anger. Kain must have seen enough people dying and had no fear, clenching his fists and swinging his sword like a blunt. However, Judah couldn’t find a chance to evade him anymore by pushing his body away from the chain attacks. Kain’s skills were mainly against one person, not range skills.

Countless times Judah freed Altemia’s power from his left hand. Red energy exploded around the blade, and when it touched the bodies of nearby orcs, a solid line was formed, and blood was cut from their bodies as their life forces were sucked away.

In a blink, the orcs shriveled into a slimmer figure. Even the orcs, unaware of fear, grew aware of the unrealistic phenomena sweeping through their clan and fell far from Judah.

Thud!

Even as the red line sucked their life forces out and knocked them down, they continued to reach for Judah. Surprised, Judah hurriedly pushed Altemia out. The red line emanating from Altemia’s blade collided with their weapons and blocked it, and slowly they were pushed away.

With confused faces, the orcs in the river looked at Judah while they flew into the air and fell on the ground, without grasping the situation. When he pushed his hand holding the dagger with a little more strength, their swords crumbled into pieces like broken glass and melted like snow into the air.

The blood emanating from their lower body made them lose their sense of direction and then staggered, being sucked into the red line that Altemia released. Judah glanced at Kain’s figure beyond it. His body was filled with blood from all the orcs he had killed with the great sword.

Tuk!

The tip of Kain’s great sword fell to the ground. Kain approached Judah, stepping on the orc corpses, as he breathed out and charged. Like Judah’s Altemia, Kain’s fragment, the Yakal, had its power freed.

Like electrons revolving around an atom, Kain crushed the red line emanating from Altemia without affecting Judah at all, and Judah avoided it with agile movements as Kain crushed it with a great sword.

It was admirable to see him attacking restlessly with a great sword that seemed to reach over his own height, but it worked only for orcs, unable to hit Judah with a single attack.

Judah’s spear and Altemia’s red line that he couldn’t prevent were sharpening Kain’s armor like a pencil. The blood-stained armor may have endured the Flying Fighter’s spear’s attack power, but it was helpless to Altemia.

But it wasn’t easy. Judah blinked in amazement as Kain attacked while ignoring his physical condition, and he had to stop attacking with Altemia. Kicking Kain’s body down with his feet, he felt that the pressure was too hard to bear with his one hand.

Kain stumbled and staggered a couple of steps backward and then swung his sword at Judah again. Then, in time, he threw his Altemia and wielded his spear from top to bottom.

His black magical power cut his armor, and without any defense left, the chains that protected Kain’s shoulders and arms as well. His muscles were cut off, and Judah felt the sensation of cutting through his bones. Judah’s heart drummed wildly.

Kain raised his hand as his legs tried to stand firmly on the ground. The muscles in his thighs swelled and prepared for the shock. Judah’s spear faced Kain’s attack on Altemia.

Kaaang!

“Hah!”

He felt Kain’s left arm shrivel. Judah felt like he wanted to step back. However, thanks to the effect of Yakal, even though his one arm was cut off, Kain did not shed a painful groan and only gave more strength to his right hand holding his great sword. One of Judah’s knees felt bent, unable to withstand the evasion he had to do from Kain’s previous attacks.

He remembered Yakal’s characteristics, which gave the user higher strength value as the battle continued. Judah, who took his sword, glanced down while gritting his teeth. He saw Kain’s left arm on the floor, which fell to the orc corpses, as his shoulder spurted out blood. As he watched the pool of blood, he pulled his spear in his right hand.

As his left arm had been cut off, Kain faced Judah eye to eye. It was an opportunity. And the moment he tried to stab him with his spear, Kaseun came to his mind, but without hesitation, he stabbed his spear.

Kaaang!

Although the armor had already suffered serious damage, it was not easy to penetrate with the spear. Knights didn’t wear expensive armor for nothing. Judah threw it away, summoning Altemia in his right hand and stabbing him again, judging that his spear would not be able to break through Kain’s armor.

Thud!

Unlike the spear, his dagger gently dug in. He didn’t stop with one dagger. He summoned a second and third one and stabbed him again.

Thud! Thud!

Kain shriveled and grunted, but he wasn’t dead. The power of the Yakal fragment seemed to be blocking Altemia from absorbing his life force. Judah felt sorry for Kaseun for what he was about to do, but as he tried to liberate the Altemias stuck on Kain’s body, he confirmed the movement of a third party over his Spreading Shadow.

‘Someone is approaching!’

The moment he was about to snap his gaze toward them, he heard an unfamiliar voice whispering into his ear before he could even see the other person.

“Let’s go. If we do anything more than this, you might really die.”

“?!”

And with a strong shock, Kain’s body bounced back. The power of the thirteenth fragment, Yakal, not only explosively amplified the user’s muscle power but could also give tremendous regeneration power like Altemia. He cut off his left arm at best, but it can grow back to a normal shape if he missed it. As soon as Judah stepped back, he triggered Altemia like a remote bomb, but when he landed on the ground and looked forward, thorns from Altemia were stabbing in the air.

“…”

They felt like a ghost. Kain and the stranger’s presence in his shadows disappeared like a lie, and Kain’s left arm that he cut off, was not gone before his very eyes. All that remained was a piece of the armor that Kain was wearing.

Who was it? The other person?

Judah gritted his teeth. He clearly felt it approaching. But he didn’t get a chance to see them nor respond.

‘Is it Quake?’

Quake, a Wielder of the Spirit Sword and the chief of the Red Bear tribe.

The owner of the thirteenth fragment Yakal. He could have attacked him? He was the only one who could take Kain and disappear in an instant. Of course, he may be a demon like Asmodeus, but the magical power he felt from him was clearly human.

‘Fuck it.’

There was no way Kain could have stolen the fragment from Quake, a Wielder of the Sword. He couldn’t have taken it. He won’t be able to do that, so he must have voluntarily given it over to Kain. When Judah picked up the spear he threw on the ground, an orc rolled down the hill. Jeanne called after him.

“Judah! Are you okay?!”

It seemed that the orcs that had climbed up the hill were dealt with by his party. Well, his battle with Kain was so instantaneous that it didn’t last long.

“Yes, I’m okay! How about you?”

“We’re fine. No injuries! We’ll be down soon, so please wait!”

At Jeanne’s words, Judah immediately cried out.

“No, I’ll go up, so wait there!”

He didn’t want to stay here anyway, with nothing to bring from the orc tribe but their bloody stench. Judah, who came back up the hill, confirmed that Arhil, Jeanne, and Arek were safe, and then they returned to the village. And when Arek told Isabel what had happened there, she invited Judah to her residence.