Thud. Thud.
Snoc’s footsteps were heavy and
contained
no energy. His whole body dro
o
ped down as if
a heavy burden was pushing him down.
‘Ah, I forgot my tools.’
Since he ran out without thinking, he had no time to pack his pickaxe or other equipment. While holding his head with both hands, Snoc sat on the ground.
‘I don’t think I will lose my tools, but...’
Sam had been next to him. They grew up like siblings, so Sam would probably take care of his tools for him. However, it was uncomfortable to meet Sam right after
their argument
.
‘It’s going to be hard to talk to him for a while.’
But Snoc had no choice. He could not continue
his life as a miner
without his tools. Moreover, Sam would probably nag at him a few times, but he would not
hurl
any serious insults at him. Sam only nagged him because
he
cared about
Snoc’s
well-being
, and S
noc also knew that Sam’s words were more realistic and reasonable than his dream.
But...
‘But I still want to be an adventurer.’
Snoc could
n’
t let go of his dream. As if to revitalize hi
mself
, Snoc got up with
a lot of
energy. He put strength in his legs and began walking with great force. He straightened his
hunched
shoulders and erased all
sadness
from his spirits by singing
,
“An ancient being filled with
wrath
comes down upon us like a tidal wave
.
I
t's a disaster that has never been seen before.”
As he sang, Snoc began to feel strange. The lyrics seemed to make him
more sentimental
rather than comfort his heart, but he ignored this feeling and continued
to sing
. This was his favorite song.
“People shiver in fear at his presence. His name is synonymous with fear.”
Bam!
Snoc saw stars in front of him. He hit the ground and hurt his butt. While rubbing his sore bottom, Snoc looked up at the man who bumped into him.
He saw a man standing in the darkness. For a moment, Snoc was filled with admiration at the man’s appearance. The man looked exactly like the adventurers Snoc had imagined: he wore thick leather armor and carried a
longsword
.
“You are Snoc, right?”
“Yes?”
Snoc had never seen
the
man before and was shocked that the man knew his name. But the man smiled as if he didn’t care about what Snoc was thinking.
There was something
chilling about the man’s smile.
“I heard you want to be an adventurer.”
* * *
Like many days before, Hans and Zich went out to fight monsters. To be more specific, Hans was the only one working hard to
fight
monsters. It seemed as if Sam and Paul Chenu were right about
the increasing number of monsters
because they
began to meet
monsters
more
frequen
tly
. Even though this was good for Hans’ training, this was not good news for Suol and all
of its inhabitants
.
“Haaaaap!”
Hans
roared
and swung his sword. His sword, which carried a lot of his strength, brushed the troll’s neck.
Burrrst!
Blood burst out of
the troll’s neck
and spilled over its throat; the troll could
n’
t even scream properly. However, trolls had amazing regenerative power, and their injuries quickly healed.
“Hap!”
Hans made another shout. His sword
flew across
the air. He evaded the troll’s arms and moved towards the troll’s neck again.
Cut!
Hans cut off the troll’s neck along with
the hand that was keeping the neck attached
. No matter how great a troll’s regenerative ability was, they could not survive with a sliced neck.
Thud!
The troll fell to the floor. Hans h
uffed
and wiped the sweat on his forehead.
“I can capture smaller trolls with ease now.”
Zich
had been quietly watching Hans
while walking
towards him. Zich was honestly surprised. When they were at Steelwall, Hans had never wielded a sword and spent all his time
doing
household chores. At the beginning of their journey, Hans was out of breath after beating one goblin.
But now, Hans had evolved into defeating a troll
(
even if it was not fully developed yet). Even Hans could not believe that he had bec
o
me strong enough to beat a troll. As if he was checking his strength, he
clenched
his fists.
Flutter!
The bush shook. Hans quickly moved back and held up his sword. He stood in a ready position, but Zich raised his hand to stop him.
“Lower your sword. It’s not a monster.”
Zich knew who the figures were. Hans lowered his sword.
Two people came out of the bush. It was strange to see such
different
people together.
“Hey, aren’t you Snoc?”
Zich called out to the person he was more familiar with. As if he was surprised to be called by his name, Snoc jumped and stared at Zich. He looked like a child caught red-handed by an adult.
“What are you doing? Why aren’t you
moving quickly
?”
A low voice urged Snoc from the back. The man’s tone sounded as if he was looking down on Snoc.
Snoc flinched and Zich stared at the man behind him.
‘Was he the adventurer called Drew?’
He was one of the adventurers hired by the city to curb the number of monsters before the next large-scale monster
sweep
.
‘
It
looks like he has a nasty temperament, which is fitting for an adventurer.’
I
t was surprising to see them together
since t
here were no similarities between a miner and an adventurer. Drew
pressed
Snoc to
go forward
, but he paused when he saw Zich and Hans. Drew’s eyes frantically moved around to gauge the situation, but when he saw Hans soaked in sweat and a
small
troll next to him, Drew let out a smile.
“There’s a weak ass here who struggles to put down a barely developed troll.”
Hans was taken aback
from being
insulted out of the blue. Snoc was also surprised. It was only Zich whose facial expression did not change.
‘Hmmm, it’s true that Hans is a weak ass.’
Zich did
n’
t
refute
Drew’s statement
and
agreed with
him instead
. But he was not going to let Drew’s insult slide.
‘Even though it’s true that he is a weak ass, as his master, I’m the only one who can call him that.’
“There’s a person with shit for brains here that calls a beginner who just star
ted training
a weak ass.”
Drew’s up-turned lips immediately went down. He turned his head, and his sharp eyes glared at Zich.
“…What did you say to me?”
“Do you not only have problems with your brain but also with your ear? You
can’t
even judge
a person
properly, so your eyes are also shit. Oops, I didn’t realize you were a sick person and insulted you unfairly. I sincerely apologize.”
Zich lowered his head. It was to ask for forgiveness, but nobody thought it was sincere.
“This bastard is
asking for death
!”
Drew took out a giant sword from his back.
“Hey, don’t be like that. I want to live a kind life. I don’t want to fight a pitiful bastard who has problems with his ears, eyes, and brain.”
Contrary to his words, Zich also took out his swords with swift movements. An explosive murderous atmosphere and tension began to fill the space around them.
“W-wait a moment!”
Snoc intervened between them.
“P-Please calm down for a bit!”
“Move it!”
Drew glared at Snoc with
sharp eyes
. Snoc’s back became immediately soaked with sweat, but he endured Drew’s glare.
“Won’t you look over his behavior for m-me? This person is an acquaintance of my friend.”
Then Snoc turned back and looked at Zich.
“You are Mr. Zich, right? Won’t you also calm down? This person is my teacher!”
“Teacher?”
Zich stared at Drew.
‘He is going to make that bastard his teacher? Th
is
punk’s skill seems so-so, and his personality
sucks ass
.’
The only things
one
could probably learn from him were provoking fights and making dirty expressions. Then another sound interrupted them.
Shake!
The bush shook roughly once more. Hans and Snoc jumped in surprise.
Compared
to them, Zich and Drew merely turned their
heads
.
Thud!
A dirty green
foot
popped out. Soon, a ginormous body with a hideous face appeared in clear view
; it was a troll
.
The troll was carrying a rudimentary wooden bludgeon, and it looked around
its surroundings
. Then it
let out
a big laugh. The troll seemed happy to see many available
prey
.
‘It’s a big one.’
This troll finished growling; the monster was too much for the current Hans to handle. Zich was about to kill the troll when Drew
stepped forward
.
Grunt!
Drew walked towards the troll with a sword in his hand. A sharp glint shone on his
weapon
.
Oohwaaaaa!
The troll made a loud sound and went straight towards Drew. The troll looked ferocious as it moved its enormous muscles. And Zich put back his sword.
Then, h
e folded his arms and watched Drew fight.
Crack!
The troll’s bludgeon came down and hit the ground. Dirt and grass flew everywhere, and a giant hol
e
was left on the ground. But Drew had long moved his body to the side.
“Hap!”
Drew swung his sword. The silver sword shone sharply in the sunlight.
Pierce!
A deep cut appeared on the troll’s shoulder.
Kuaaaaak!
The troll let out an angry yell from the pain. It began to move its bludgeon even harder.
Swoosh!
Moreover, the troll’s injuries began to heal at a fast rate.
But
Drew stayed calm and continued to wield his sword. When one cut was healed, he made two cuts; when two cuts were healed, he made three cuts. The troll’s movements became more and more limited from Drew’s constant attacks.
“Hup!”
Drew evaded the troll’s attack again and cut through the troll’s arm as if he was dropping down an ax.
Crash!
“
Ahhhhhhhh!
”
The sword pierced halfway into the troll’s arm. It was the deepest cut that Drew had made so far. While the troll was shaking, Drew pushed the sword in further.
“Haaap!”
Then Drew made a loud shout and moved towards the troll’s neck.
Slice!
The giant sword pierced through the troll’s neck. His swing was wide, and he was almost able to
completely slice off
the troll’s neck
.
Cough!
The troll let out its tongue and began coughing, but Drew only put more strength into his sword.
Swoosh!
A roughly beaten head of a troll floated into the air and plopped to the ground.
Swish!
As if to show off, Drew put his giant sword on his back with a loud swing. He looked somewhat cool as he posed in front of a blood-soaked troll.
Both H
an
s and
Snoc, who called himself Drew’s disciple,
l
ooked at Drew with admiration in their eyes.
‘Man, he’s showing off so much for a troll.’
Obviously, Zich was unimpressed. Drew worked so hard to kill just one troll and was now pretending to be cool. If Zich took as long as Drew in beating one troll, he would have died from embarrassment.
Swoosh!
The troll’s corpse disappeared into Drew’s magic box. Then Drew put the box back into his pocket. He looked between Hans and the
small
troll
and
his gaze
finally landed
on Zich.
“Hmph!”
Drew turned around as if Zich wa
sn’
t even worth his
time
.
“Let’s go.”
Drew fixed the position of his sword and began walking, and Snoc followed closely from behind. Snoc made an apologetic expression towards Zich, and after bowing his head once, he
disappeared into
the forest.