Chapter 1431. Continental War (11) [Illustration]

If up until now it had been a 12-and-under action adventure, then I'd say the genre was now an 18-plus gore fest. No, in fact, even saying that the genre had changed was misleading. This was neither a light novel nor a comic. It wasn't a game as well.

It was unmistakably reality. I had no idea whether some kind of filter had truly been stripped away from him, but the idiot had finally realized that this place was real.

His reaction couldn't just be caused by merely seeing blood clots or disgusting things.

After seeing Charlie’s corpse, the idiot recalled those he had killed until now. He couldn’t stop vomiting, and even after emptying everything inside him, he continued to retch dryly.

For the moment, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking—no, I had no idea if he could still think.

It would be more accurate to judge that his body had reacted before his mind.

“

Bleeeech

.”

‘What the hell do we do with this guy?’

“

Ah... ugh...

”

He looked like he was about to completely break. Sure, I had seen plenty of people fall apart for one reason or another, but I had never seen anyone enter a state as dangerous as this one.

On top of that, he wet himself. Of course, he was in no condition to even realize it. Sweat was pouring down his entire body, and his arms and legs were constantly shaking. He stayed bent over in a posture that was neither bent not straight. He vomited without pause as tears and snot streamed down his face.

Naturally, he couldn’t breathe properly, and whether hyperventilation had set in or not, he was gasping for air while instinctively staggering backward, but unfortunately, his body didn’t seem to be on his side.

Losing his balance, he staggered and fell next to another corpse beside Charlie. His arm naturally touched the dried-up blood and the skin of the corpse that had long since gone cold.

“

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

”

‘It turned into a real mess.’

“

AAAAAAAAAAH AHHHH!

”

He began screaming at the top of his lungs. The sight of him scrambling backward was pitiful. It looked like he wanted to run away, but his body refused to cooperate with him, leaving him crawling in place.

“

AAAAAAAAAAAAH!

”

‘Whether it was by chance or not, he’s realizing it...’

The reaction he showed was so intense that I felt like the timing could have been better. As if he were having a seizure, the people around him stared blankly at him.

It was such an unfamiliar sight that they couldn’t even register the need to help.

Of course, these people had seen many others suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, but it was certain that even the onlookers had never seen anything like this.

He clutched his head and slammed it into the ground like a madman. It felt as though I was watching a human being fall apart in real time.

Realizing that the situation had become serious, Oksana hurriedly pushed herself up.

‘Damn it, I can’t lose.’

Naturally, I couldn’t afford to be pushed aside by Oksana. I was already prepared to run, ready to spring out at any moment, so I rushed toward the Holy Sword Hero in a fluster.

In my experience, the one to comfort him first here would secure the advantageous position. It was not a perfect example, but it was similar to how a creature that had just hatched from an egg would take the first thing it saw as its parent.

For now, the first priority was to grab this idiot’s hand.

“Mr. Ji-Hoon! Mr. Ji-Hoon!” I shouted.

“

AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

”

“Mr. Ji-Hoon! Get a hold of yourself! Mr. Ji-Hoon!” I continued.

“

AAAAAAAAAAAAH!

”

‘This idiot has completely lost it.’

His eyes weren’t even looking at me. He was screaming while staring into empty space as if he were blind, and I felt like I ought to be grateful that he didn’t shake my hand off.

To be precise, it was more accurate to say that he didn’t have the strength to shake it off. He was flailing around in his own way, but it looked like the struggling of a newborn.

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

“Mr. Ji-Hoon!” I called out.

“Hey! Snap out of it! Hey!”

Oksana suddenly slapped him across the face, but as expected, it had no effect.

“I said snap out of it!” she repeated.

“Mr. Ji-Hoon, Mr. Ji-Hoon! Can you see me? Please look at me!” I shouted.

“

Uwaaaaaaaaaah!

”

'Damn, if this idiot completely loses his mind here, are we supposed to shove Rafael in as a replacement or what?'

Ji-Hye noona and Lonovera weren't here, so there was no way we could enter his mind, and unlike Kim Hyun-Sung, this wasn’t a case of voluntarily hiding away.

I felt worried his soul could actually leave his body, so I opened a potion bottle and poured it into his mouth, but there was no noticeable improvement.

‘Ah, damn it, this idiot is really a pain.’

In the end, I chose to use holy power.

Of course, I didn’t pull out wings or put on any kind of attention-grabbing display, but a fairly dense holy power erupted from me and converged on him.

I was confident that it would help him get a grip on himself. It would let him feel something warm and comforting, after all. Of course, I had to embrace him tightly as well.

“Mr. Ji-Hoon!” I shouted.

“

AAAAAAAH!!!

”

‘Damn, I need to raise the output a little more.’

It seemed a bit insufficient, so I increased the intensity slightly.

His trembling finally began to subside.

“It’s okay, Mr. Ji-Hoon. It’s okay now,” I reassured him.

I had no idea what was actually okay, but saying "it’s okay" was the unspoken rule here.

In truth, nothing was okay.

“It’s okay. Everything is okay,” I repeated.

Not a single thing was okay...

“Everything will be okay. So calm down. It’s okay, Mr. Ji-Hoon,” I said.

“...”

When dealing with deranged lunatics, the most important thing to do was to make them feel the warmth of a human being. As expected, the Holy Sword Hero, Sung Ji-Hoon, clung to me as if he were holding onto a lifeline. It was like he

had

to embrace me to survive.

There were no more screams, no more vomiting, but soon, I heard him sobbing.

“

Heuk... uuuuugh... ugh...

”

“Yes, yes. It’s okay,” I said.

‘No, it is not okay. It’s not okay at all. You’re done for.’

“

Heuuuk... kgh... ugh...

”

“Yes. I’m right here.”

'Of course, me being here doesn’t really mean anything.'

“

Heuuuuuung... ugh... uwaaaaaaah...

”

'He's just wailing now.'

“Grandpa...

heuuk

... Grandpa...” he mumbled.

‘Your grandpa isn’t here.’

Normally, this would be the time to call for his mother, but since his parents were nowhere, he decided to call for his grandfather instead.

“I want to go home...

heuuk

... I want to go home...

kgggh

...”

“Yes, let’s go home, Mr. Ji-Hoon,” I said.

‘This idiot really looks pathetic.’

“

Heuuung... huaaauuung... heuuk... kgggh...

”

‘How am I supposed to use him?’

“Heuuk... heuuuuuk...”

A few minutes later...

“This is a safe place, Mr. Ji-Hoon. Rest a little. It will be good to rest,” I advised.

“

Heuuk... heuuuuuk...

”

It was getting awkward to just stay like this, so I thought it'd be better to put some distance between us. I gently tried to push him away, but like a baby koala, he had no intention of letting me go.

“Don’t go. Don’t go...

heuuk

...” he begged.

“Okay, I won't go anywhere,” I said.

Considering he was a minor, there was room for leniency, but even accounting for that, he looked far too broken. His breathing remained ragged, seemingly proving to me that he was being cornered mentally.

I had no idea whether he had fallen asleep or had fainted, but the fuse was already blown.

His body seemed to have decided to protect his mind, but even then, he gripped my sleeve tightly.

When I carefully straightened up, I saw the worried faces of the people nearby.

Oksana looked rather flustered as she stared at me.

Rather than being worried about the disgraceful display of the Holy Sword Hero...

“Y-you... What are you...” Oksana stuttered.

“Yes...?”

They all looked more curious about the holy power I had just released.

“...”

“What was that holy power... just now?” she asked.

“Holy power... What do you mean?” I asked.

“You mean you weren’t even aware of it? What on earth was that earlier—no, never mind. First, take care of Ji-Hoon. It looks like the shock hit him hard,” she suggested.

“What? What do you mean...” I asked.

“I’ll keep the people here from talking, but I don’t know how long that will last... no, I don’t even know if doing that means anything. There’s no way we can keep something like that hidden.

"Before long, the higher-ups will know everything... damn it... I don’t know. I really don’t know. For now, go back to the tent. Actually... I’ll take you,” she offered.

‘Did I release a little too much of my holy power? Wasn’t it on a normal level? It certainly wasn’t on the level of a saint or holy maiden.’

“Okay...”

Their faces were telling me something.

‘Did you all just meet your savior or something?’

Some of them looked like they wanted to drop to their knees right that instant.

Oksana lifted Sung Ji-Hoon in my place and carried him away, but the eyes of the ones who had just returned from battle didn’t change. The surroundings were strangely quiet, as if even the smallest whisper would be out of place.

It was like calming down a kid who had gone hysterical was some kind of great achievement.

I could somehow understand it. Sung Ji-Hoon wasn't the only one who was driven to the brink of madness. In a situation like this, people naturally want something to lean on. A comrade, a friend, family, superstition, conviction, and if not that, then religion.

Perhaps I simply filled that need for them.

I felt like I had become the person the exhausted and worn down wanted to cling to.

I took another step.

“A s-saint.”

Someone actually said that nonsense.

“A saint.”

‘For crying out loud. I need to get into the tent and check whether that idiot is actually stable.’

Even Oksana hadn’t seen this coming. She seemed to be urging me to hurry inside, but I couldn’t do it. All of a sudden, some guy who looked like a drug addict dropped to his knees with a

thud

.

He really was addicted to both potions and magic.

However, the lifeless eyes he once had were gone. He was staring at me like Song Soo-Kyung worshiping Kim Hyun-Sung.

‘Oh, come on. Just get lost.’

The man on the opposite side of the addict also collapsed to his knees with a

thud

.

‘Oh, come on! Seriously!’

“...”

“...”

‘Crowd psychology is insane.’

As if on cue, several more people dropped at once.

‘Ah!’

A crowd began to form, yet they didn’t block my path toward Sung Ji-Hoon and Oksana. Like the parting of the Red Sea, they opened a way and, with every step I took, they would go down on their knees as if riding a wave.

The entire unit suddenly joined this ridiculous frenzy, and I couldn't help but start thinking about bolting away. It wasn’t only the exhausted people here. There were also dozens of officers in charge of running the unit.

If this kind of frenzy were to break out, those bastards would definitely show up. I looked around, trying to spot Lee Chang-Ryeol and Alps, but even those guys were at the front, kneeling.

‘Damn it, I really need to grab the Holy Sword Hero and run. The higher-ups will swarm us anytime soon.’

Just as I was scowling at the thought, I was stupefied to find the commanders of the unit going down on their knees and looking up at me.