The distance to the base camp was about half a day on foot, but it was less than a few hours on horseback.
"Heya! Heya!"
Zayar's horse did not lose its way even though he was running in the dark and on an uneven mountain path.
Whether understanding the owner's wishes or not, he guided the boy wielding a sword and the timid swindler to the base camp with his best efforts.
"What's that over there?"
And finally they arrived at the bottom of the hill close to the base camp.
The sight of that place, reflected under the moonlight, was shrouded in dense fog, making it impossible to see even a step ahead.
"I told you! It was exactly like this that day!"
"······."
Vlad dismounted from the horse and looked down at the foggy area.
The fog was so thick that only vague outlines could be seen, and it was impossible to discern what was happening inside.
"Let's run away now! You surely don't intend to go in there, right?"
"Quiet."
Vlad raised his finger to stop Gott and listened carefully.
Vlad's keen hearing to perceive his surroundings had already been acknowledged by Jorge.
'Screams.'
Vlad heard the screams of mercenaries amidst the chaotic sounds of weapons and meaningless shouts.
The fog was so thick that one couldn't see an inch ahead, but Vlad was able to understand the situation through sound.
"You have to confirm where you are standing right now before rashly moving."
The knight resembling blue moonlight said so.
[Don't panic. Before moving, decide which direction to go in.]
The voice inside his head said the same thing.
Vlad quietly took a deep breath and pondered.
Where he currently was, what he could do, and what he needed to do next.
"Gott, you go."
"Huh?"
Everything in life is a matter of direction.
Only those who know the right direction can achieve their goals.
"Captain? You want to go down?"
"······."
And Vlad found his purpose.
There was someone singing softly somewhere in the fog. It didn't seem to stop, but it was so fragile that it sounded like it might collapse at any time.
"It may not mean much, but anyway, I feel sorry for this incident."
"······Huh?"
Vlad made a promise.
I have a job to do, so I will offer my faith instead of loyalty.
The boy walked into the fog that could not even be illuminated by moonlight.
The boy may not have known it, but the step he took that night was the most brilliant step he had ever taken in his life.
Keep the contract and be faithful.
Because it was an act of pursuing something honorable.
The contract made with Josef that night remained as a shining star in Vlad's heart.
"I'm going."
[Go.]
Vlad walked towards the flickering star with his blue eyes shining.
※※※※
"It seems that barely managing the mercenaries has become meaningless."
Josef was able to understand the situation perfectly despite Andrea's difficult explanation.
"In the end, there's no way to deal with it unless it's Sir Zayar."
Behind Andrea, who was kneeling and praying, the young deacon was shedding tears and singing.
It was a hymn.
Although the voice was stained with fear, the brilliant melody calling to God mixed with Andrea's holy power and was pushing away the thick fog.
-My child! My child!
A woman extending her pitch-black hand towards him was also there.
Josef lowered his head, looking down at his knights foaming at the mouth.
'There seems to be no way.'
The best option would have been to run away, but the damn fog didn't let go of them.
No matter where they went, the fog forced them towards the woman.
Therefore, the knights had no choice but to shield Josef until Priest Andrea found a solution.
They fought with the outstanding blessings of Priest Andrea, but they were not qualified.
Not qualified to bring down the curse onto their own world.
The result was this.
The mercenaries engulfed in fear had been disbanded, and the knights guarding him were now lying there, foaming at the mouth.
They would die soon.
And he didn't know if he would meet the same fate.
'Is this the end?'
No matter how shrewd Josef was, creating something out of nothing was beyond his capabilities.
He couldn't see any way to overcome this situation.
"Hold on, Lord Josef. The sun of tomorrow will surely rise."
"······Even though it seems too far away right now."
The woman couldn't approach due to Andrea's holy power, but she continued to glare persistently at Josef.
Josef could understand.
If he were to confront the emptiness and darkness within that woman, he might end up like the knights rolling on the ground.
No, it might be even worse.
'She's targeting me after all.'
The woman, shedding black tears, was holding a wooden comb in her hand.
She held the comb as if it were extremely precious, and it was the same one Josef had used before.
'Who are you?'
This was a curse.
A relentless curse aimed at him.
However, there was no one here to answer Josef's question.
Now, there were no knights to protect Josef, and the pitiful voice of the young deacon was gradually fading away.
Waiting for tomorrow's sun felt too burdensome on this night.
Josef, guessing the coming outcome, closed his eyes.
The moment the hymn of the young deacon ended, death would rush in.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find a way to break through, so Josef bit his lip.
"······."
Josef opened his eyes with a sad expression, strengthening his heart to face whatever awaits ahead of him.
"Hmm?"
In that moment, he saw a glimmer of light.
-Kyaaaah!
The light originated from behind the woman, who was shedding black tears.
"You are..."
A ray of sword, splitting the woman's body in half, approached him.
At the end of that sword path, there was a blonde boy shining even without moonlight.
It was Vlad, with his right eye closed.
[Hyaaaah!]
A white lightning, starting from the tip of the unadorned sword, cleaved through the fog, illuminating the night sky.
※※※※
[That thing is moving by a curse. You can't cut it with an ordinary sword.]
"Then what should I do?"
[Can you use aura right now?]
"Are you kidding me?"
The voice guessed the identity of the woman glaring at Josef through the fog.
[Only a magician who defies the rules of the world, an exorcist who wields the will of God, or a knight with its own world can break what was created by the curse.]
"What about Priest Andrea?"
[He is faithful but not an exorcist. An ordinary Heretic Inquisitor would be more helpful in the current situation.]
"Shit."
Vlad, who was watching for an opportunity behind the tent out of sight of the woman, became a little angry when the voice said that there was no way.
"So, what now?"
He came here with determined resolve, to save Josef, but now he couldn't even swing his sword.
He didn't come all this way for this.
[....Well, it's not like there's no solution at all.]
"What is it?"
In response to Vlad's question, the voice answered with an uncertain tone.
[I'll borrow your body for a moment.]
"Will that work?"
The voice occasionally borrowed Vlad's body as part of training.
However, borrowing the body for a moment to convey sensations and using the body to swing a sword containing aura were entirely different matters.
"Borrow my body to use aura? Even if it succeeds, I might not be able to move for a while."
[It's your body, so you decide. Honestly, I don't recommend it.]
The voice was aware that it was a being that could use aura, but whether it could be embodied in Vlad's body was another matter.
It only stated that if there was a way, this was the only one.
"If you can't kill it, then I die."
[That's also the path of the sword.]
Vlad began to ponder for a moment.
There was only one chance.
If he failed, everything would be over.
Was there a reason to be prepared for that?
"Let's do it."
[Are you sure about this?]
Vlad firmly fastened the straps of his leather armor.
"The opportunity that Josef gives me may be a once in a lifetime opportunity. And."
Vlad was determined.
No more stepping back.
"If I run away from here, I might become the back alley Vlad again."
[...]
Vlad feared something more than the mysterious woman in front of him and fear of possible death in case of failure.
"I'm most afraid of being nothing."
What was he born for, and for what purpose would he live?
The boy did not have the qualifications to answer any of those questions.
He did not want to face the end of his life as someone who was nothing.
"Let's go."
[I respect your choice.]
Gritting his teeth, Vlad raised his head one last time and looked at the sky.
It was obscured by fog, but there should have been the moon.
The blue moon that he must shatter someday.
[Right in front.]
"Got it."
Vlad raised the sword he had bought with the girl's tears and took a deep breath.
The key to a one-hit kill is its unexpectedness.
Unexpectedness comes from movements that go beyond prediction and shatter expectations.
'She didn't see me.'
The woman with black tears didn't notice Vlad.
'Heup!'
Even if she had noticed, she would have anticipated the strike he was about to deliver.
Vlad cut through the fog and dashed out.
Vlad's movements, breaking through without the slightest hesitation, were like arrows fired from a bow.
-My baby?
At that moment, the woman's neck strangely bent when she heard the sound of Vlad's footsteps.
It was an angle that a living being could not make.
[Now!]
"Argh!"
The woman's eyes, momentarily meeting Vlad's, were so deep and dark that he couldn't breathe, as if he was submerged in water.
However,
"Argh!"
In order to fulfill the contract he made with the one he entrusted with his faith, the boy did his best to close his right eye.
[Ugh!]
And from now on, it was the world of an unknown person.
His world was filled with storms, lightning, and a tempest so immense that it seemed capable of swallowing the entire world.
A bolt of lightning, escaping from his world, cut through the black tears flowing from the woman's eyes.
The white world cleaved through the black world.
※※※※ - Part 2
It was just a flash of light, but it illuminated everything in the world.
Josef truly thought so.
"Vlad!"
Amidst the raging lightning, he cut through the woman shedding tears.
"Gah!"
Vlad collapsed and rolled on the ground.
Although he had prepared for it, the pain that came was easily beyond Vlad's expectations.
"Gah... Gah..."
Vlad writhed in belated agony.
Vlad had to endure tremendous pain after using tha aura.
"Damn it!"
Josef noticed that Vlad was in no condition to move his body right now.
The recent flash was undoubtedly a trace of aura, and although he didn't know how Vlad did it, it was clear that he had paid a high price.
"Lord Josef!"
"Don't stop the hymn!"
-Baby, baby!
The cursed woman was split in half, but she did not stop.
She continued to crawl on the ground, with an empty gaze.
And the direction she was crawling and staring at was where Vlad was.
"Gah!"
"Close your eyes! Don't look at that woman!"
Josef took the risk and ran towards Vlad, who was groaning.
It was worth it.
The flash that Vlad had just shown was too precious to be abandoned now.
It was a brilliant possibility that couldn't be left to perish in the face of cold death.
"Grab me!"
He felt the chill coming from the woman right behind him, but Josef did not stop.
"Gah!"
"Damn it!"
Josef was unable to lift Vlad due to his weakened strength, but he had to somehow drag him to the range of the Holy power.
"Gah!"
For a moment, the woman's pitch-black hand grazed his ankle, but Josef did not let go of the hand that was holding Vlad despite the burning pain.
"Lord Josef!"
Vordan, who was stamping his feet when he saw Josef suddenly jump out, quickly grabbed them and pulled them inside.
"Gah! Damn it!"
"Cough, cough!"
The two young men, drenched in sweat, tumbled on the floor.
-Aaaaaah!
The woman, who had missed them, began to wail intensely, as if a mother losing a child.
-Where are you! Where are you!
Even though her body was split in half, being an undead seemed to make her reluctant to let go of her existence easily.
-My child, please, please, please.
Maybe there was a reason not to do that.
-It hurts. My child. Please find him. Please.
"Sniff. Huuuee."
Surprised by the sobbing sound next to him, Josef looked at Vlad rolling next to him.
Vlad was crying sadly while listening to the woman's voice.
He shed tears like a child of only six years old.
'Is he got affected!'
Josef was able to sense Vlad's condition due to his unusual behavior.
"Pre, priest."
"Vlad! Pull yourself together!"
Perhaps in a state of confusion, Vlad shook off Josef's support and approached Andrea with a trembling body.
Then, he knelt down in front of him with a shaky body.
"Bl, bless my sword. I need to release that woman from her misery."
"..... All right."
Priest Andrea also noticed Vlad's condition, but nodded and said that he would do so.
Although her complexion became paler, he agreed because the boy's eyes remained unwavering.
"Give me the sword."
Priest Andrea stopped praying and looked at Vlad's sword.
A plain sword.
He placed his hand on the blade of the sword.
"I have blessed your sword with my blessing."
"Thank you."
The blood of the faithful priest ran down the unadorned sword.
A silent night.
The hymn of the young deacon and the sorrowful cries of weeping women died down.
Only the laborious footsteps of the boy echoed in this place.
"I'm sorry."
-Please find······.
It was only for a moment during the rush, but Vlad looked into the woman's empty eyes.
There were terrible memories inside.
Women trapped in a dark prison.
The young and tender children were dying one by one.
And the mother of the last remaining child cried and shouted while holding onto the cold bars.
-My child, my child.
She watched her child slowly dying on the cold floor outside the bars.
"Haah······Huu······."
Vlad kneels before the weeping woman.
He raised his sword toward the mother searching for her child.
His body trembled in pain and his muscles were tangled, but he had to do it.
In this moment, he was the one who understood her suffering more than anyone else.
"May you rest in peace."
Swoosh-
The woman shed her last tears as she saw the sword approaching her.
-Where are you?
Vlad's sword pierced through the weeping woman's head.
Her flowing tears soaked the cold ground and made a puddle there.
The mother who couldn't find her child finally stopped, ending her search.