HBWnovel Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Chapter 18
It’s dark.
Seo Woojin blinked his eyes and looked around.
The blue sky he had just seen disappeared without a trace, and only an endlessly deep and dark abyss unfolded around him.
“Where is this...?”
Neither Irene, nor the soldiers, nor the Ice Bugs were in sight.
Not just their appearances, but even their presence couldn’t be felt.
“Could it be... I leveled up?”
The current scene was reminiscent of the first time he hunted Snow Wolf and leveled up.
But why? How?
Wasn’t he on the verge of death a moment ago?
He had even thought it would be better to die.
But suddenly, a level up?
He couldn’t fathom what had happened.
[You have leveled up.]
The words of level up floated in front of him.
“Status window.”
Seo Woojin instinctively called up his status window.
And he couldn’t help but be amazed.
“W-what level is it?”
——————==
■ Name: Seo Woojin
■ Job Aptitude: Demon King [Not Measurable]
■ Level: 5
■ Skills: Black Flame, ??? [Passive]
——————==
He had risen by an astonishing 3 levels.
All from a few slashes at the Ice Bugs.
It was an experience gained beyond comparison with Snow Wolf.
While Seo Woojin laughed wryly while looking at the status window, he soon discovered something else.
“...Black Flame?”
A newly acquired skill.
It seemed that you could acquire skills from level 5 onwards, and this seemed to be it.
“The question mark still can’t be confirmed.”
A skill he had possessed since the first summoning.
Other than the fact that it was a ‘passive’ skill, he knew nothing about it, so he had been curious...
“For now, let’s put this aside.”
Having realized early on that worrying about things without answers was futile, Seo Woojin checked the newly acquired skill.
[Black Flame]: Burns everything (proportional to mana).
“This is simple too.”
Just like the overly simple status window, the skill description was also brief, to the point of being almost empty.
“Is it because I’m always in such a cold place? I got a fire skill.”
Of course, it was far from ordinary fire, but fire was fire.
“I don’t know what it means to be proportional to mana.”
He didn’t even know if he had mana to begin with.
Nevertheless, just in case, Seo Woojin decided to use the skill once.
“Black Flame.”
As he uttered the skill name while extending his hand...
Whaaa-!
His hand was engulfed in black flames.
“Uh, whoa!”
Seo Woojin stepped back in surprise.
Wasn’t it mentioned in the skill description? Burns everything.
It was only natural to be surprised when what was stated was happening right in his hand.
But the black flames were not only not hot, but they were also warm, almost like the space of the abyss he was currently in.
Seo Woojin looked at his hand with a curious expression.
Come to think of it, the skill couldn’t harm the caster.
“It means it burns everything except me, right?”
But it was the handsome young man with silver hair who first caught his eye.
Simultaneously, Seo Woojin realized how he had leveled up.
‘This guy saved me.’
The person who bisected the Ice Bug with a single sword that was much larger than the one he was stabbing with his sword.
This time as well, he must have made such an attack at a dangerous moment.
Seo Woojin silently bowed towards Van Slain, who was staring at him without saying a word.
“...I’m sorry.”
There were many to receive apologies.
Dead soldiers.
Injured soldiers.
Their families and friends.
And Irene.
But Seo Woojin apologized to Van Slain first.
It was because his expression was filled with sorrow.
“Because of me.”
Too many people died.
People who didn’t need to die.
“...I’ll accept it.”
It was different from his usual confident voice.
An endlessly heavy and sad tone.
Van Slain, too, mourned the sacrifice of the soldiers.
Even so, he said nothing more to Seo Woojin.
“Are you okay?”
At that moment, Irene asked cautiously.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Perhaps, if it wasn’t for Irene, he would have failed the level up and died immediately.
Although he achieved the level up, it brought him no joy.
“...Fortunately, many of the injured were healed thanks to that light.”
Irene tried to alleviate Seo Woojin’s guilt.
Of course, it didn’t really help.
“How many warriors fell?”
Approximately 900 soldiers engaged in the battle against the Ice Bug’s attack.
All soldiers, excluding the wounded and those needed to care for them, participated in the subjugation.
And among them, those who fell...
“229 people.”
Breath caught in their throat.
Even if two had died because of him, he would have lived a lifetime of self-blame. But 229?
Strength drained from the legs, and the body wobbled. Irene held onto his arm, preventing him from falling, but he thought it might be better to lose consciousness and collapse.
“Most of them didn’t leave proper corpses. Still, we’re managing to recover the remains.”
Van Slain spoke with a slightly trembling voice. It was painful to hear, but it was information that couldn’t be avoided.
“I’ll help too.” Seo Woojin said.
“Please do so.”
Van Slain nodded slowly in response to the reluctantly uttered words.
The soldiers’ stinging gazes were felt.
Their eyes were filled with resentment, anger, and sadness.
Seo Woojin faced the soldiers’ remains without avoiding their gazes and began to collect the remains of the soldiers.
A sword was found in the corpse of a soldier whose body had been mangled to the point where no one could tell who it was.
A helmet was found on the body of a soldier who was missing from the waist down.
From the body of a soldier whose entire body exploded, just one tooth.
He carefully collected the remains of the 229 fallen warriors, each one with dedication.
Internally, he continuously apologized to them silently.
And he made a vow.
‘Never again, never again!’
He promised not to repeat such a thing. With a lifetime of remorse, he pledged to live to repay his debt.
He vowed not to run away and to fulfill their duties as well.
‘I’m sorry.’
That day.
Seo Woojin changed.