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EPISODE 115 – TWIST (2)
Great warrior Garammaru.
He was originally a powerful spirit warrior, but completely changed after accepting Overlord Belial’s power through Haraken.
He extinguished the spirits that were no different from his kin with his own hands, and accepted the ancient evil spirits, thus becoming a powerful being who knew many ancient secret arts.
‘He was quite unusual even in the game.’
It was the great warriors, and not the chieftains of each tribe, who led the barbarians in the destruction of the northern part of the Sälen Kingdom.
Therefore, they reigned as rulers of the north, and were not meant to be encountered in the early stages of the northern barbarian event.
Fighting them would only lead to death.
‘Because the level difference was so great.’
The playable characters’ levels were bound to be low since the northern barbarian event itself was an event that took place in the early stages of the game.
Though Cordelia had relatively enough time to level up then, she still had a low level because the time-skip – ‘A few months have passed since then,’ suddenly appeared in her route. On the other hand, Jude had begun his route right before the northern barbarian event started, so his level was obviously low too.
‘20-30 levels at most.’
And the levels of the warriors were around 65.
There was such a disparity that no one would think of trying it given the odds of winning.
One way or another, levels were like bullies in RPGs.
‘Level 65.’
The great warriors were confident of their own strength.
Haraken was also confident in them.
This was natural since they were stronger than Black Knight Billvine, the strongest mid-ranking demonic human in the Devil’s Eye.
‘Great Warrior Garammaru.’
In the game, he was someone to be avoided.
A man who was like a reaper of death when one faced him.
But now…
“Sorry, we’ve become too strong.”
Cordelia spoke as her canines glistened, and Jude spoke as he wrote down Cordelia’s words in a notebook.
“We’ve become too strong…memo.”
“What, why are you writing it down? What’s that? Eh?”
“This, this is just for blackmail- no, for negotiation later.”
“Blackmail?!”
Cordelia’s eyesight sharpened as she read the text on the cover of his notebook.
‘Cordelia’s collection of shameful lines.’
“Hey!”
“Ah! The flames are rising!”
As Jude quickly closed his notebook and shouted, Cordelia looked at the front while gritting her teeth. Just as Jude said, the great warrior Garammaru had flames rising from his body.
“You b*stard and b*tch!”
A huge flame rose from Garammaru’s whole body.
Having acquired the power of the ancient evil spirit, Flame Master Killoman, he was able to create a strong flame even in the wild lands where coldness dominated, and it was also possible for him to quickly turn the surrounding area into a land of scorching heat.
He then glared at Jude and Cordelia.
Once again, he tried to burn everything with the flames of hell.
“Uoooooh!”
He roared. And Cordelia chanted the spell.
And what happened afterwards…
“You b*stards!”
Splash!
A tremendous amount of water poured down just above Garammaru’s head.
But his flames were clearly the flames of hell.
Although the intensity weakened a little, the flames were not extinguished.
Garammaru shouted again.
“I’ll thoroughly-!”
Splash!
Once again.
Because Double Casting and Spell’s Echo were not mere decorations.
“Burn you-!”
Splash!
“I’ll make you-”
Splash!
<Waterfall> x4.
The flames died down, and Garammaru became like a rat that was wet with water. But he didn’t give up.
Because the evil spirit told him that the <Waterfall> spell was over.
So now was the time to start the flames again!
“Uooooh!”
The flames rose again. And Cordelia said.
“<Waterfall>.”
It was a spell that she chanted again.
Fsssssssh!
Water poured down from the air like a waterfall and extinguished the reignited flames of Garammaru again.
However, Garammaru never gave up.
“I’ll-!”
Splash!
“Never-”
Splash!
“Give up-”
Splash!
“Hey! You f*cking b*tch! Hey!”
Garammaru lost his temper and cursed, and Jude nodded his head as he said.
“T-that’s too much.”
He must have worked hard to gain that power.
He must have had a clever wife, cute children, and an old mother waiting for him at home.
Cordelia immediately protested at Jude’s stare.
“Hey, why is this too much? And wasn’t he a really evil b*stard? Didn’t he kill his entire family with his own hands?”
She also knew the background setting of the mid-boss to some extent.
It was as Cordelia had said.
After becoming an evil spirit warrior, he became an immoral person who destroyed his clan with his own hands.
“I’ll give you a beating!”
Garammaru angrily shouted and ran as the muddy water splashed around.
Even if he couldn’t use the flames, he had a strong body.
He was about 2 meters tall, had wide shoulders, and his forearms and upper arms were thicker than a woman’s waist.
He had enough power to kill the slender Cordelia in a single beating!
But Jude blocked her front.
After standing firmly in front of Cordelia, he received Garammaru’s charge from the front.
Boom!
Jude and Garammaru faced each other. Their hands confronted each other in a battle of strength.
“A weak b*stard with only a handsome face!”
Although he had recently grown fast, Jude was still in the mid-to-late 170s.
He was a head shorter than Garammaru, who was nearly 2 meters tall, so their difference in height was more than twice.
Added to that was their difference in muscle.
Just by looking at the thickness, the difference was already several times more, so it was normal for Jude to be crushed.
However.
“Sorry.”
Jude was not pushed back a bit.
At their current level, Garammaru was still above them, but Jude and Cordelia were not ordinary playable characters.
They had stats from the titles they had accumulated so far.
They had all kinds of auxiliary magic on them.
They also had an overwhelming difference in items (overgeared).
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Jude’s strength was virtually a superpower.
“Euaaaaah!”
Garammaru tried to push and twist Jude’s arms, but he screamed as his own arms were the ones that got twisted instead.
Jude then pushed back Garammaru. After he shook off Garammaru, he turned to Cordelia.
‘You know, right?’
‘Yes.’
<Freeze>.
The blue light coming from Moonlight swallowed Garammaru who had fallen on the floor in one fell swoop.
Garammaru couldn’t resist the <Freezing> magic since he was soaked with water and they were in the cold wild lands.
Tsuk-tsuk-tsuukk-! Tsuk!
Garammaru became a frozen ice sculpture and Jude used the black dragon’s power to strike Garammaru on the chest as he yelled.
A white ring of light surrounded Jude and Cordelia when the ice shattered.
“Haa, defeating him was easier than I thought.”
“Because the place is cold, both water and ice magic are strengthened. Moonlight also got a serious power-up.”
If it weren’t for Moonlight having the Snow Queen incorporated into it and thus becoming stronger, it would not have been possible to defeat him that easily.
“Hehe, anyway, it’s awesome.”
She was naturally happy to easily defeat great warrior Garammaru since he was someone who couldn’t be defeated at the beginning of the northern barbarian event.
Jude lovingly looked at Cordelia and her flopping rabbit ears, and soon turned his gaze away.
‘Demonic magic circle.’
The two were standing at a huge altar located some distance from the dragon vein.
A large magic circle was engraved on the floor for a large-scale ritual and nine pillars inscribed with demonic characters were around the altar.
‘As I thought…is this it?’
Preparations for summoning the great demon Kriemler.
It was a simple and effective way to hold small rituals in various places to store power for a larger ritual.
“Doesn’t it look like the ritual here is already…over?”
Cordelia said as she looked at the altar.
The entire stone altar was stained with the blood of so many sacrificed offerings.
‘Did they even sacrifice the demon followers?’
Despite the existence of such an altar, there was no enemy around here except for Garammaru.
Given that there were few people in the village, it seemed that a large number of humans were sacrificed.
‘There’s too many.’
Too much blood had been offered.
It was naturally true that great demon Kriemler could not be easily summoned, but even if that was so, Jude felt that it was still too much.
‘Because this isn’t the only ritual.’
The rituals of the demon followers varied in form according to its purpose.
And the ritual that was now held here was just a preparation ritual for the bigger ritual that Jude knew well.
‘Too many.’
Jude thought so again.
Too much blood was offered for preparation.
What is this for?
Does summoning Kriemler require more offerings than I thought?
Or the preparation ritual was not conducted by all of the great warriors, but only a few including Garammaru, and the preparation rituals that had to be done in five places were only conducted in three places, so more blood had to be given.
‘That would make sense.’
But it was strange.
He still felt that something was out of place.
“Jude?”
At Cordelia’s call, Jude raised his head.
She was frowning as she stood in front of the altar.
He had admired Cordelia’s intuition several times since they started working together.
And such Cordelia’s intuition was telling them.
Something was different.
The altar in front of them was far different from what Jude and Cordelia thought.
And her intuition wasn’t wrong again.
Following Cordelia’s gaze, Jude’s eyes widened as he studied the magic circle that was engraved in the center of the altar.
‘Different.’
It was different from the one in the game.
It was not the original magic circle that was found in the ruins of the northern part of the Sälen Kingdom.
Jude rushed to the altar and began analyzing it.
The complex magic circle was disassembled on his head and arranged in a row.
He read the truth contained in the magic circle.
And at some point.
Jude understood.
The ritual conducted by Garammaru.
The reason they needed more blood.
And why all of this happened.
What drove Haraken to make a different choice from the game.
It was Jude himself.
What Jude himself had done so far led Haraken to make a different choice.
Red Gale did not die.
As a result, the Great Storm tribe survived.
Violent Avalanche, Gentle Snow Breeze, and Blue Whiskers did not become corrupted. The mid-ranking demonic humans who were dispatched to the east were annihilated, and the east was not divided.
Karaval was not obstructed.
As a result, an eastern force was formed.
What Jude himself and Cordelia had done so far.
And the positive changes that resulted from it.
Jude’s plans succeeded.
Haraken was driven into a corner.
Hence, Haraken made an extreme choice that he did not make in the original.
“Jude?”
Jude raised his head and stared at Cordelia.
And he thought.
If it really was what he analyzed.
If that was really what Haraken prepared for.
Where would he hold the big ritual?
Where would he summon ‘that’?
“Eastern forces.”
He unconsciously said.
There was only one thing he could think of.
And this time, Jude wasn’t wrong.
At the same time.
In the Snow Breeze Plain located farther south from where Jude and Cordelia were.
While the eastern forces were on the verge of clashing with the west, Haraken received late the news about the first explosion that Jude and Cordelia caused.
But he wasn’t much bothered.
Because his preparations were over.
“Get started.”
Haraken ordered, and his command spread throughout the western forces.
The battle began with the roar of Seven Horns who led the Angry Bull tribe.