hotmtlnovel Chapter 112
Chapter 112
The border area where the lands where humans can live meet those where they cannot.
Amidst the chaos caused by the howls of the monstrosities and the thunderous explosions of magic unleashed to stop them, a small thud echoed.
It was the sound of a headless monstrosity’s body collapsing onto the ground.
The rhythmic sound that echoed every time the boy’s sword swung amidst the horde of monstrosities finally ceased only after there was not a single creature left with something hanging from its neck.
“Wow, you’ve got some ghostly skills there! Well done, rookie!”
“This is embarrassing. It feels like the rookie has captured twice as many as me!”
“Ha ha ha, true that! If we want the rookie to treat us like seniors, we’d better step up our game.”
The boy blushed shyly at the praise from his teammates. Though the team erupted in laughter at his innocent demeanor despite his incredible skills, Martina, the captain of Squad 4, couldn’t laugh so easily while watching from atop the barricade.
“Captain, doesn’t it feel like the frequency of the monstrosities attacking has increased lately?”
Just like Kanna, the vice-captain standing next to her, she too had sensed it.
Martina carefully counted the number of monstrosities they had just taken down.
Around 200 to 300.
Not an insignificant number, but under normal circumstances, one would think this was just a group of monstrosities that happened to charge in from the area.
However, in recent times, events of this scale had occurred easily over ten times from what she had personally witnessed.
The reason for this occurrence was simple.
Martina turned her gaze beyond the barricade, toward the distant north, and muttered.
“Those raging monstrosities, I can’t figure out why they’re acting up so much lately...”
The northern forest, once known as the Forest of Eternity, was the ancient territory of elves.
But now, that place, filled only with charred and blackened trees, also served as a home for the furious monstrosities made entirely of flames.
For a long time, the raging monstrosities were evaluated as relatively docile compared to others of their kind, a paradox considering their name.
They rarely revealed themselves outside the forest or engaged in territorial disputes with other monstrosities, but recently, smoke had been frequently spotted rising from various parts of the forest, indicating their rampages.
As a result, lower-tier monstrosities that used to inhabit the northern forest had been pushed all the way to where the city was, leading to situations like this occurring frequently.
However, nobody could fathom why the raging monstrosities suddenly exhibited such bizarre behavior.
Even after sifting through the duty logs maintained by the heroes who had guarded the north for so long, there was no precedent for such an event.
“Damn, I can’t even go check what’s happening myself...”
As Martina muttered out of frustration, Yoon Si-woo, who had just climbed up to the barricade, spoke.
“If you’re curious, should I go take a look and see what’s going on? I doubt I’d get contaminated by the miasma even if I explored deep into the forest.”
She knew it as well.
That he possessed a sword with special abilities that made him almost immune to miasma.@@@@
“Though it might not be very detailed... if you check the logs in the archive, there might be some records left.”
“Really? Thank you for letting me know.”
“There’s no need to thank me. You were called in because we requested support, right? You’ve worked hard, so go rest. Tomorrow, we’re supposed to head out together for your day off.”
As she mentioned, tomorrow was the day he would accompany her while she served as a special instructor at the academy.
Yoon Si-woo slowly smiled and nodded.
—
The sound of pages turning reverberated in the archive.
The pages that were being flipped paused at a certain section.
The record from June 23rd, fifteen years ago.
An outline of the operation was written down, and below that, it stated it had failed. At the bottom of the document were the names of the members who had died during that operation.
Among them were two names he missed dearly.
Gazing at that page, Yoon Si-woo murmured softly.
“...So that’s how you left, now I understand.”
June 23rd was the anniversary of his parents’ death.
Until now, he had only known that they perished in battle against the beasts.
He hadn’t known where or against which monstrosities they had met their end.
But now he knows.
Yoon Si-woo looked out the window, towards the north.
Somewhere out there, was the beast that killed his parents.
As that thought crossed his mind, a two-syllable word naturally came to him.
Along with that, the faces of his parents came to mind, and Yoon Si-woo murmured with a bitter smile.
“...If you were alive, you’d probably tell me not to even think about it.”
But now that he knows, it’s inevitable that at least a small thought about it arises.
Of course, he didn’t intend to dwell on it too much.
Neither would his parents want that, and he himself had far too many burdens to bear.
“...Don’t worry. I won’t act recklessly.”
Whispering softly, he gently brushed over his parents’ names with his fingers before closing the record book.
Beyond the window, he could see smoke rising from the distant forest.
Without realizing it, he clenched his fist and murmured lowly.
“...Still, if the opportunity arises, I will definitely.”