Chapter 25

Chapter 25

As Dojae and his group headed toward the building.

“Squeak!”

The Red Oak Priest sat inside a hut woven from wood and grass.

He was crafting something—attaching a pure white skull to the end of a long wooden pole.

The skull, likely from a monster other than an orc, was smooth and cleanly stripped of flesh, featuring two sharply protruding horns.

“Squeak!”

He hung cloth around the horns as decoration, then let out a satisfied snort.

This would be its new staff for future rituals.

Thump-thump-.

With the staff complete, the creature headed toward the wall.

Hanging on the wall was the old staff it had used until now.

He planned to break the now-unnecessary old staff.

It wasn’t a keepsake, and to other orcs besides the priest, it was nothing more than a club used a few times before being discarded.

“Thud.”

He carefully laid the new staff beside him and picked up the old one.

And just as he was about to break it!

“Whoosh!”

He suddenly threw himself back, tilting his head toward the ceiling.

Even if he was a priest specialized in magic, an orc was still an orc.

It was an instinctive reaction to sensing danger.

Pssshh-.

Unfortunately, the Red Oak Priest’s reaction was far too slow compared to his opponent’s.

“Gulp… gulp.”

The creature with its throat pierced twitched.

He managed to make a snorting sound, but it was a meaningless action.

Swish-.

A blue-hued blade sliced down from the throat.

It sliced through the priest’s body as smoothly as tearing through soft dough.

“We’ve killed the priest. Let’s begin.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Boom-!

At Dojae’s command, Song Ji-yoon, who had been quietly waiting on the roof, fired a signal flare into the sky.

Upon seeing this signal, Kang Eun-taek would charge from the left, and Kim Jun-seo from the right.

And at the center of it all, Do-jae and Song Ji-yoon would hunt down the panicking Red Oaks!

“Captain, let’s go!”

Amidst this perilous situation, Song Ji-yoon grinned and said.

***

Several days passed.

Deep within Region 7 stood a Red Oak priest.

His name was Kui-ga.

Compared to other Red Oaks, Kui possessed an exceptionally high level of intelligence.

Perhaps because of that.

A strange language kept echoing in Kui’s mind.

[War….]

[Kill….]

[Humans….]

A special language inaudible to other orcs.

It was a change brought about by crossing over to another world.

Kuiga believed this was the language of the gods.

The words of a god seeking to accomplish something through him.

Kuiga immediately went to see the chieftain.

– Chwip-chwip, the gods desire war!

– Chwiik, what nonsense is that?

– Chwewchwew, We must expand the village and kill humans!

– Chuiik, how? The village is already large enough!

The chieftain was a brute with no brains.

He failed to understand Kui-ga’s will.

Blinded by the divine word, Kui-ga wielded power far beyond his usual strength and killed the chieftain.

Having killed the chief, it was only natural that Kui-ga would become the next chief.

Thus, proclaiming himself the messenger of the gods, Kui-ga established a theocratic society where he served as both chieftain and priest.

– Chug-chug, bring me the other tribes!

Kui-ga waged war against the surrounding tribes, conquering them one by one.

After subjugating four of the thirteen tribes in the region by force, the remaining nine tribes bowed their heads and submitted to Kui-ga.

Resistance was futile against the vastly expanded Kuyaga tribe. Moreover, it offered a convenient justification that spared the lives of their people and acknowledged the inevitable presence of a divine messenger, sparing their pride.

Kuiaga divided power among the four chieftains, uniting them into a single tribe.

Thus, the great tribe of hundreds of Red Oaks was born.

But today.

News came that three tribes had vanished.

“Chu-chik! The Kaika, Kruk, and Kowak tribes have vanished!”

“What? Kaika, Krku, and Kowak?”

The Kaika, Krku, and Kowak tribes are small tribes located on the outer edges of the Great Tribe.

Therefore, they are tribes that frequently engage in combat with other races, yet suddenly, word came that they had vanished.

“Chu-chuu! Who is it! Who killed them!”

“Chu-chik! Humans!”

Until now, they had left the humans alone while rallying other Red Oak tribes.

But now, foolishly, those humans have dared to touch his tribe.

Kuiaga, who had just appeared in this land and united all the tribes, sensed the time had come.

“Chuuk! Chuuk! Kill the humans! Prepare for war!”

***

At that moment, wails echoed through the Seventh Battalion, Third Company barracks.

“Aaah. Tie me up gently, please.”

Squeeze-!

Dojae tightly secured the bandage to keep it firmly in place.

“All tied up.”

“Ugh! Why doesn’t our unit have a healer?”

Kim Jun-seo put his clothes on over the bandages wrapped from his shoulder to his back.

The wound wasn’t very deep, so it would heal cleanly in a few days, leaving no scar.

Thud.

“Would a healer be crazy enough to come here?”

“Ow! What the…!”

Song Ji-yoon smacked Kim Jun-seo’s back.

Judging by the grotesque contortion of Kim Jun-seo’s face, it must have hurt quite a bit.

“Right, healers wouldn’t go out of their way to suffer like this.”

Park Jin-ho tossed his torn clothes into the laundry basket as he spoke.

As he said, the expeditionary force was overwhelmingly short on healers compared to the guild.

No healer would willingly move around remote areas for little to no pay.

Therefore, the expeditionary forces usually healed themselves unless the wounds were severe.

“But Sergeant, what the hell is that thing?”

Song Ji-yoon asked Do Jae, who had been sitting quietly.

“Huh?”

“I mean that thing, the stones covering your whole body. I thought you were some kind of stone golem!”

“More like a stone human than a stone golem.”

As Song Ji-yoon said this with exaggerated gestures, Kim Jun-seo went one step further and started dancing like a robot.

“Pfft. A stone human? A rock man?”

“Well, just look at the class president’s stone golem—it’s clunky and rough, but the class president isn’t like that, right? So, class president, what is it?”

“Ah, Golem Armor.”

Do-jae readily explained the skill’s name.

He had already shown the Golem Armor to the team members, and since it was a mainstay skill he’d keep using, there was no reason to hide it.

“Golem Armor? What’s that? Sounds kinda tacky.”

Song Ji-yoon shook her head.

Then she wore an expression as if pondering something.

“Yeah, the name does sound lame.”

“Hmm… I think it’s fine?”

“Me too. I think it’s just the right expression.”

“But wouldn’t it be weird to call him Lee Do-jae of the Golem Armor? Our captain is Kim Hwan-soo of the Chilgok Sword. That’s cool, right?”

While Song Ji-yoon pondered, the other members chimed in one by one.

Some liked it, some didn’t.

Then Dojae started to get confused too.

I thought it was just a simple skill name, but with the team members’ opinions divided, Dojae found himself pondering it more.

‘Is Golem Armor strange? I never imagined anyone would call out my skill…’

Just then, Song Ji-yoon, having finished her thoughts, said with a bright expression.

“How about ‘Rock Suit’?”

“Rocksuit? Not even Rockstar, what’s Rocksuit?”

“Yeah, it sounds like some bleach brand name. Heh heh.”

“Ugh. I put some thought into it. I don’t know either. It just reminded me of a metallic hero.”

“Oh! Now that you mention it, it is similar? Golem Hero Lee Do-jae!”

“Captain, you should get a nickname too. How about Golem Man!”

The excited members each chimed in with their own suggested nicknames.

The atmosphere showed no sign of ending.

Dojae quietly calmed the members down.

“Enough. Nicknames? Just call me Lee Dojae.”

Amidst all the laughter and chatter, someone opened the tent flap and entered.

It was a member handling administrative duties in the commander’s office.

“Third Squad Leader, the Captain is calling for you.”

***

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

Do-jae opened the door and stepped inside.

“Did you call?”

Kim Hwan-su, the commander of Chilgokdae, was polishing his sword.

“Have a seat for a moment.”

Dojae sat down on a chair at Kim Hwan-su’s words.

Then he began to observe Kim Hwan-su.

[Character Information]

Name: Kim Hwan-su (Alias: Chilgok Sword)

Classification: Human

Details: 40 years old, Male, 185cm, 88kg, Former Grade A Hunter, Commander of the Chilgok Unit, 3rd Extermination Corps.

State: Cautious / Meticulous / Focused

Kim Hwan-su slowly senses his sword.

His sword is a soft sword.

Flat and long, with excellent elasticity, it’s a serpentine blade whose path is unpredictable.

It seems to have no specific name, but he is said to treasure it greatly.

[Seven-Curve Sword]

The Seven-Curve Sword is not a skill, but a technique.

It earned its name because a straight sword is said to bend seven times.

According to Son Jeong-gyu, he’s only seen it bend all seven times once.

It was when he saved the former squad leader from a boss monster.

‘I wonder. What kind of devastating technique could come from that fragile sword?’

Watching the sword bend under Kim Hwan-soo’s touch, Dojae grew eager to witness the technique firsthand.

He’d seen many hunters fight with various weapons and magic, but this was his first time encountering someone wielding a flexible blade like that.

How would the sword bend?

How would the curved blade attack?

How fast would it be?

Could he truly block it?

He let his imagination run wild.

“What are you staring at?”

“Huh?”

Do-jae snapped back to reality at Kim Hwan-soo’s words.

He looked up to find Kim Hwan-soo staring straight at him.

He must have been staring blankly for too long.

“I hear you’ve wiped out three orc villages in just the last few days?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Good work.”

Kim Hwan-su sheathed his sword, rose from his seat, and approached Do-jae.

In his hand was a bottle of tonic.

“Drink this.”

“Thank you.”

“Sorry about the exam. I wanted to keep Chief Shim by my side.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“So you knew about it?”

“I heard it from Section Chief 2.”

“Huh, that guy’s not a complete dud after all. But about Class 2’s subjugation area…”

Kim Hwan-soo didn’t mention the exam any further.

Do Jae also didn’t want to nitpick; he figured it was water under the bridge anyway.

“I’d like to swap with your Class 3.”

“Yes, understood. But what’s the reason?”

Changing the extermination zone didn’t matter much.

As long as they could hunt the overflowing monsters, anywhere was fine.

He asked the reason purely out of idle curiosity.

“The area Class 2 is handling is currently our most crucial hunting route. Class 1 originally had that spot, but now Team Leader Kang has taken the kids and vacated it. But the state of Class 2’s kids is really…”

“Is that so? Understood. We’ll take over.”

“Alright, Lee Team Leader. Let’s work together well.”

“Yes. I’ll head out now.”

Do-jae rose from his seat.

Kim Hwan-soo smiled contentedly and waved at Dojae as he left the barracks.