37 – 8 – Overflow – 4

“Engraved… on my soul…”

Gi-jun reached his destination when the target was in the middle of chanting a suspicious spell.

For now, he slammed his shield hard onto the target’s back to stop them from speaking.

“Sign… *cough*!”

Struck by the shield mid-chant, the enemy gasped for breath.

As he pinned them down to prevent any movement and checked, the laser shot by concentrating Ur’s power into a single point had pierced through where the enemy’s left eye used to be, leaving a pitch-black hole.

Since it had penetrated the area where the eye used to be, a part of the brain must have been burned.

Seeing that they were still alive with only dark blood gushing out despite it being a wound that should have caused instant death—there was a high possibility that although they looked human, they were no longer a pure human.

“…post… me…”

“This won’t do.”

They had probably come to attack after finding out through some means that their subordinates had been defeated.

But what was the reaction after the attack failed?

Even with a wound that had brought them to the brink of death, rather than burning with a desire for revenge against Gi-jun, they were only chanting the spell with all their might.

What could he even ask an enemy with such mental strength and persistence?

Even if any information were to be obtained, he would not be able to trust it, so it was better to cleanly kill them before they did anything suspicious.

“Hup!”

“…lead…!”

Without hesitation, Gi-jun slammed down the blood-stained fang.

Of the human woman who was so young and beautiful with impressive straight black hair that it was hard to believe she was the leader leading the group…

Her lower back was cleanly severed with a *crunch!*, and her lower body fell away.

—You have obtained 13,255 points.

—Updating civilization information.

—You have obtained 13,255 points.

—Updating civilization information.

Although he could not obtain experience points against a fellow summoner, points—and a surprisingly large amount of points at that—certainly came in, and above all, the moment he believed he had finished the enemy upon seeing the clear evidence.

“…please.”

“Huh?”

A certain magic was activated by the words that flowed from the corpse’s mouth.

Gi-jun realized that fact a little late.

Only after seeing the woman’s upper body, which was completely severed from her lower body, disappear from the spot while wrapped in a dreary light.

“No, what on earth…”

Gi-jun was frozen in place for a moment, having received too great a shock from such an absurd incident.

She spoke even after being killed by being cut in half? She disappeared because magic was activated?

“She escaped, right?”

—Yes. …It seems she was already gradually turning into an undead ever since she was hit by Ur’s attack.

Lucy, who, as a Spirit of Light, was sensitive to things like darkness and death that were opposite to her, narrowed her eyes and whispered.

—Didn’t they say earlier that the developer of the magic bomb converted to a black magician or something? I smell something similar from the woman who fled. She devoted herself to darkness. Perhaps it might be a bigger deal than we think.

“…I’m on my second day in Leta, right?”

On the first day, he met a new contracted spirit, and on the second day, he got entangled with a black magician.

As Gi-jun sighed, he saw something rolling out from the belt of the lower body left behind.

It was that damn magic bomb!

“What the…!”

—Calm down, Contractor! It’s in an inactive state!

“What a massive windfall…!”

Gi-jun, who quickly shifted his stance, picked it up with swift hand movements.

Its shape was close to a perfect sphere, and it was a bit surprising that no other device was installed except for a safety pin that could be easily pulled out by pressing hard once and releasing it.

It meant that one could easily handle this bomb even without any knowledge, or even if they could not manipulate mana.

Considering how Earthlings were treated as incompetent simply because they lacked mana when they first entered the tutorial, one could realize once again how great and dangerous this ‘strong weapon that anyone can handle’ was.

—Hmm—it seems they only designed the detonator and the explosion magic to minimize the unit cost. Since there is no means to detonate it remotely, we could just use it ourselves, right?

Gi-jun, relieved by Lucy’s always reliable report, put it into his inventory and unbuckled the woman’s belt to search it.

Naturally, nothing to prove the target’s identity came out this time either, but instead, there was a pouch similar to the one obtained earlier.

Gi-jun paused as he opened and checked it.

First of all, it was surprising that the internal space of the pouch was much larger than it looked from the outside, and it was surprising that the space was divided as if it were an inventory, allowing items to be put in and taken out neatly.

And it was surprising that the inside was filled with hearts, which had probably been extracted from Orcs.

“…….”

—Contractor…

Gi-jun stared at it silently for a moment without making any reply.

It was a strange thing.

He had also collected a lot of Lesser Demon hearts in the ruins before, so why did his own heart feel like it was tightening for no reason upon seeing things that looked similar to them?

Although he could not understand it, unable to overcome the extremely unpleasant feeling, Gi-jun poured all the contents of the pouch over the woman’s remaining corpse and spoke.

“Ur.”

—Kieet!

The flames Ur summoned cleanly burned all of them to ashes.

Lucy stared at the flames and whispered blankly, as if muttering to herself.

—Contractor.

“Yeah.”

—I really love you.

“…Thank you for saying that, Lucy.”

Gi-jun, who calmly erased the traces of the woman’s evil deeds, found an unusual object remaining in that spot.

It was an earring engraved with a pattern of unique shamanic meaning, which the Orcs currently traveling with Gi-jun also wore on both ears.

It also looked as if it had fallen together when he searched the pouch just now.

“An enemy’s earring, huh.”

—An immense resentment and evil thought are harbored within it. Look at how it remained intact without even burning in the flames. Contractor, it’s better not to touch something like this.

“But what if my cute Lucy purifies it for me?”

—Leave it to me! Actually, I thought it would look good on you if you wore it, Contractor!

—Kiiii…

Ur cast a cold gaze of contempt at Lucy, who was easily swayed by Gi-jun’s sweet talk and was already emitting light toward the earring.

It seemed Ur did not remember acting all cute toward Gi-jun while drunk on spiritual power just a moment ago.

—Ugh, how humiliating.

After a few minutes passed like that, surprisingly, Lucy sent a surrender signal.

She failed to purify it even with her light, which had already regained Legendary-grade power? When Gi-jun was astonished, Lucy spoke in an excusatory tone.

—Perhaps they added black magic to an object with a history to grant it special power. Like adding one’s own power when dealing with the original owner of this earring, or making it easy to locate the earring’s owner… They are all spells specialized in revenge. The kind of magic that can only be bestowed when there is underlying resentment.

“…I see.”

—I purified all the evil energy, okay? I purified it, but those later-bestowed abilities still remain completely combined with the resentment. Touching it won’t cause any danger, but it’s better not to wear it. Don’t forget that a human’s deep grudge is contained here.

“I understand. …Let’s just keep it for now. For now.”

She was a woman who committed crimes against other Orcs simply because she had a grudge against a specific Orc.

Although Gi-jun had no reason to understand her heart, nor did he have the leisure to do so.

Even so, throwing it away just like that weighed on his mind.

Gi-jun, who stuffed it into his inventory, decided to forget about it for now, finished cleaning up the scene, and returned.

“Jun, to think you saved our lives once again without us even knowing!”

There, all the Orcs, including the one who had stood night watch—who was now bald—were awake and kneeling.

Representing them, Chaban-besh shouted in a booming voice.

“We have received a great favor! We will risk our Orc honor to pay back this debt!”

“We will pay it back!”

“No, don’t worry about it too much.”

“We can never do that!”

As for Gi-jun, who was receiving their bows, he felt a bit uncomfortable.

Because he had just discovered an item that was as good as evidence of a crime committed by an Orc from a similar culture to theirs.

Of course, it was no longer any of his business.

Was she not a woman who indiscriminately slaughtered other Orcs just because she had a grudge against a specific Orc?

Perhaps, looking at the root of that grudge, she herself might have been at fault for its creation.

Even if that Orc were truly bad, that fact did not have anything to do with these Orcs.

Since there was no way to know any more than this, he put it out of his mind.

That would be the wise thing to do.

What was important now was, indeed, that.

“More importantly, unless you’re short on sleep, it would be better to hurry on our way again. The woman escaped as an undead. I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Undead?!”

Chaban-besh reacted violently.

“I thought it was strange since they used the magic bomb…! For those insect-like bastards to join hands with a black magician! We must report this fact to the guild immediately!”

“It indeed is a serious problem.”

“But to think you made even an undead that knows no death flee, Jun is indeed amazing!”

“Jun is a true warrior who controls the fire that expels darkness!”

The Orc warrior who had gone bald chimed in to support Chaban-besh’s words.

As he said that, perhaps remembering the crisis he had faced earlier, he rubbed his bald head and turned back to look at Gi-jun, grinning.

Gi-jun was moved.

Dasan Jeong Yak-yong, a Silhak scholar of the late Joseon Dynasty, was famous for not losing his positive mind despite suffering from hair loss, and in the *Yeoyudangjeonseo*, a collection of his writings compiled and published after his death, he wrote about hair loss, saying, ‘There is no trouble of washing and combing, and I also avoid the shame of white hair.’

Since that Orc was smiling so brightly, rejoicing that he had saved his life even though his hair was completely burned off, could he not be called a splendid youth who fully inherited the spirit of Master Jeong Yak-yong?

“Then let’s go! Let’s inform Turis of this fact so that everyone can prepare against the black magicians!”

“Let’s go!”

The Orcs hurried their march without showing any signs of sleepiness, even though they had been awakened in the middle of the night.

In fact, only Gi-jun, who usually kept a precise sleep schedule, was dying of fatigue, but no matter how accurate his body clock was, it did not mean he could not endure sleepiness to the point of just falling asleep at a time like this.

—Contractor, are you okay?

‘I’m fine. Actually, I think I’ll be fine as long as we can reach the city like this, finish the report, and go to sleep. But…’

But why was his heart so anxious like this?

And why did such anxiety always have to become a reality whenever it arose?

When the group crossed the plain at a speed close to a full sprint and reached the highway leading to the small town.

Suddenly—a vibration that violently shook both the earth and the sky at the same time struck them.

“Kugh?!”

The Orcs, who were running mindlessly without any thoughts, rolled on the ground as they were, and only Gi-jun and Chaban-besh managed to hold on without falling.

Chaban-besh’s pupils were trembling violently, as if an earthquake had occurred.

“Ma, ma…”

The Orc warrior, who respected the strong but did not act submissively, and who knew honor but had no mercy for enemies, spoke in a heavily trembling voice.

“It’s a mana earthquake…!”

“Yes, a mana earthquake.”

Since it was a term he had learned through Biche’s message just a while ago, Gi-jun also nodded calmly.

What did she say to do when a mana earthquake occurred?

What did she say would happen?

Right, he remembered.

“Overflow!”

Chaban-besh shouted once again.

“The overflow is coming. All the dungeons in the area will flood…!”

“The monsters inside will overflow? …All the dungeons?”

“Yes, even the Unique-grade dungeon that has been unconquered for three years.”

Chaban-besh spoke, trembling with deep fear.

“The massive energy accumulated in the dungeons is about to explode, right now!”

Could it perhaps be related to the woman who just escaped as an undead?

It was bound to be related.

Whether that woman had tried to conquer the dungeon, or had intended to make it overflow from the beginning.

It was certain that Gi-jun had triggered the event by killing her.

‘Biche said to find a place where I wouldn’t be surrounded immediately if a mana earthquake occurred.’

Gi-jun recalled the advice Biche had given and looked around.

Naturally, there was no way a place where they could take tactical actions existed in a situation where they had entered a wide-open highway.

To make matters worse, the presence of monsters was starting to be faintly felt from beyond.

The silhouettes barely visible at the edge of his vision… seemed to exceed hundreds of thousands.

—Contractor, run.

Lucy, who seemed to have the same thought as him, shouted in a shrill voice.

—Right now!