The Soldier Shouted Save

Chapter 6

I stared blankly.

I stared at the place that had once been a village.

The village was no longer there.

But it didn’t mean I had burned it down to ashes.

There was simply nothing left.

Except for that thing.

—”Grrrrrrrrrrrah!!”

The chilling sound coming from the village sent a shiver through my skin.

The village where I was born and had lived.

I had set it on fire with my own hands.

Yet, that creature was still alive.

Had I been wrong?

It seemed as if it feared fire.

I was certain of that.

But a disturbing thought crossed my mind.

The creature had only been afraid.

If this monster was something created by black-robed sorcerers, then it was no different than a newborn baby.

A simple truth.

It was afraid of the bright, burning fire, something completely opposite to its own body.

But what if the creature had learned that fire posed no threat, that it was nothing to be feared…?

‘…Not yet.’

My heart hadn’t stopped beating yet.

My struggle wasn’t over.

“Hyah!”

I shook off the negative thoughts.

I whipped the horse, urging it to pick up the pace.

—Clop, clop, clop.

I glanced behind me.

A monstrous figure came into view.

It no longer resembled the wolf-like beast that had walked on all fours.

It was now a giant overlooking the village.

The massive figure was absorbing the darkness, as if it no longer had any use for the village.

‘Faster.’

My destination was Goblin Mountain, the opposite direction of Tallin Village.

If I couldn’t stop this thing, I had to at least prevent it from reaching Tallin Village.

Of course, I would be grateful if it simply stayed put and didn’t follow me, but luck had never been on my side.

—”Grrrraaaa!”

The chilling sound made me look back.

Three red eyes were staring at me.

‘Why does it have three eyes?’

It was then that I realized something was wrong with its body.

The creature’s form wasn’t entirely made of darkness.

There was light coming from inside it.

—”Grrraaaa!!”

It sounded like a pained cry.

I instinctively knew that this sound came from agony.

The creature had consumed all the flames in the village.

But there was one flame it couldn’t extinguish.

A flame rooted in the earth.

The one flame it couldn’t snuff out was the eternal fire left behind by the goddess.

‘Fire…’

Could the reason it was absorbing the darkness be to suppress the flame still burning inside it?

—Ssss.

The creature stretched out its giant foot.

Its long stride closed the distance between us in an instant, even though I was on horseback.

‘This… this won’t do.’

I turned my head to check the distance between us again.

Ten seconds.

In less than ten seconds, it would overtake me.

But that was enough time for me to escape.

Because bait was walking right toward me on its own.

“Giiieeek!!”

A familiar sight.

Spiked clubs, green skin, and even a helmet-wearing one.

There were too many of them to count at a glance.

But I knew their exact numbers.

“Twenty-two.”

They were goblins.

“Kerk! Kerk!”

They were probably heading toward the village, but they were way off target.

Before they could arrive, the bandits had attacked, and the monster had engulfed the village.

“Hyah!”

I pulled the reins and charged toward one of the goblins.

The helmeted one.

I ignored it.

The one I was targeting was…

“Kieek, kieeek!”

The one holding a torch.

Without slowing down, I reached out from horseback.

—Whoosh!

I snatched the goblin’s torch with my hand.

The torches the goblins used were special.

Whatever oil they used, it allowed the flames to stay intact even while riding on a galloping horse.

“Kieeek!! Kie, kieeek!!”

The helmeted goblin pointed at me, shouting.

The goblins prepared to attack.

But I didn’t need to worry.

‘It’ didn’t make a sound when it moved.

Even though it was made of smoke, and its massive steps should have caused a noise, it was eerily silent.

—Grrrrrrrrr!!

But when that bone-chilling sound echoed all around, the goblins faced ‘it’.

“Kieek, kieeek?”

I could picture the confused expression on the helmet goblin’s face.

Of course, it had to be confused.

The goblins were coming from the opposite direction.

They had walked right into the giant, monstrous figure.

But they probably hadn’t realized it.

Even after seeing its form, they might have thought it was just shadows cast by the trees or the bushes.

After all, a five-meter-tall monster made entirely of black darkness wasn’t something even a monster would encounter in its lifetime.

“Kieek, kieeekeee!!”

The goblins were being swallowed by the darkness, and they likely didn’t even know what was happening to them.

The twenty-two goblins that had fought me for tens of minutes with their rusty swords disappeared in an instant.

In just a moment.

But for me, that brief moment was enough.

I had arrived at the place where I could make my final stand.

That creature wasn’t an ordinary monster.

I had thought fire was its weakness and set the village ablaze, but it had devoured the flames.

The flame left behind by the goddess.

Even that flame, which had struggled to light up the creature’s body, was now shrouded in darkness.

It was truly a terrifying foe.

But setting the village on fire hadn’t been in vain.

—”Grrrrraaaah!”

Its agonized cry was proof of that.

Even though it seemed like it was in unbearable pain, the creature didn’t give up chasing me, its prey.

What could a mere soldier like me be to it?

It could have stayed still and extinguished the flame burning inside it, but instead, it chose to obsessively pursue me.

And for that, I was grateful.

It had to chase me.

If it hadn’t, I would have felt wronged.

I had reached the uphill road.

“Hyah!”

I struck the horse on its hindquarters, sending it off.

Now, with my scarred feet instead of hooves, I sprinted along the mountain path.

The ground was rough.

Sharp branches grazed my cheeks.

It was pitch dark, making it nearly impossible to see ahead.

I relied solely on the torch in my hand to guide me along the mountain path.

—”Grrrrrraaa!”

How could I kill that thing?

It had swallowed the biggest flame I could produce from the village.

Then, I just needed to create an even bigger flame.

The creature was now right behind me.

Without hesitation, I threw the torch from my hand.

The spinning torch soared through the air and landed in a part of Goblin Mountain.

It ignited the dry branches, spread across the grass, and climbed up the trees, quickly engulfing the area.

The flame that started from the torch began to consume Goblin Mountain.

—”Grrr… grrrrr….”

The world turned red.

The creature, seemingly startled, stopped in its tracks.

The darkness that had cloaked its body was beginning to fade under the bright light from the fire.

It worked.

No matter how much it had devoured the village flames, it wouldn’t be able to swallow up a wildfire.

With its long legs, it could have descended the mountain in an instant, but whether it lacked intelligence or was simply stunned, it stood there, motionless.

Its actions no longer mattered to me.

The important thing was that I couldn’t afford to stop either.

The creature wasn’t the only one that found fire threatening.

I needed to escape the burning mountain as quickly as possible.

‘This way?’

Smoke blurred my vision, making it hard to see ahead.

But I still remembered the direction I needed to go.

I covered my nose and mouth with my left sleeve.

Just as I prepared to push forward with determined steps, something grabbed my ankle.

—”…What… are… you?”

‘…Did it talk?’

Whether it did or didn’t didn’t matter.

The problem was that its black hand had wrapped around my ankle.

‘Damn it!’

I tumbled to the ground.

Sitting on the dirt, I grabbed my leg, trying to pull it free from the creature’s grip.

But it wouldn’t budge.

“You damn bastard! Let go!!!”

Shouting wasn’t the best idea in this situation.

The hot smoke seared my throat as it filled my lungs.

—”…Hero…?”

I was furious.

I had come this far, barely surviving, burning the village I had lived in, just to make it here.

And now…

“You want me to die? If anyone’s going to die, it should be you, you filthy bastard…!”

I couldn’t finish my sentence.

The creature was swallowing me, starting from my leg.

I couldn’t breathe.

I had already been swallowed up to my mouth.

Being inside its body felt like being submerged in water.

But it was so cold, it left me feeling unbearably lonely.

My body grew numb, and my consciousness began to fade.

I was completely consumed by the creature, from the top of my head to my toes.

—”Grrrrrrr!”

The creature’s body began to glow.

But it wasn’t the creature that was glowing.

It was my chest.

The darkness that had swallowed me was now retreating from me.

I was free.

Dazed, I looked down at the glowing object on my chest.

It was something I had been carrying.

A dagger.

The decorative, practically useless dagger that my sister had given me.

That dagger was now emitting a radiant light so bright it hurt my eyes.

—”…Why…?”

The creature’s body started to disintegrate.

It lost its form and scattered into the wind.

I didn’t know if it was because of the dagger or the fire, but the creature was vanishing.

I moved my legs.

It felt strange.

Smoke covered the mountain, and the searing heat burned my skin, yet I felt at peace.

But only for a moment.

The dagger’s glow began to fade.

And with it, the suffocating sensation returned, and I once again felt the searing pain of my burning skin.

‘No… this can’t be happening…’

My consciousness began to slip away.

Dagger, monster, mountain, flames.

I wasn’t thinking about any of them.

I focused.

I focused solely on one thing.

My right foot stepped forward, and then my left foot.

I clung to the last threads of my fading consciousness, focusing on each step so that I wouldn’t stop moving.

But countless doubts gnawed at my concentration.

Had I already failed?

Could I really make it out alive?

And even if I survived, would I still be considered alive?

The scariest question of all was the last one.

Even if I somehow made it back alive, I wouldn’t be able to survive.

My skin was already burned, dying as it blistered from the heat.

Not just my skin—my insides, where the hot smoke had reached, were also dying.

It wasn’t as though there was no way to heal it.

I thought of the “Priests” from the royal palace.

Those who performed holy magic by borrowing the goddess’s power.

With their healing magic, wounds like mine could likely be healed.

If the wildfire was large enough, they might even send a search party from Tallin Village’s Lord’s Castle, with a priest among them.

As long as a priest was there, I wouldn’t have to worry about any lingering aftereffects.

As these thoughts passed through my mind, my body began to feel lighter.

Was it because my worries had eased?

I felt weak and drowsy, my eyes growing heavy.

My body wavered.

—Sway.

The ground seemed to rise up to meet me.

I tumbled to the ground.

And then, something appeared before my eyes.

—Your level has increased.

My vision sharpened.

The pain disappeared.

…Level.

What did that even mean, and why did it feel like a saintess had appeared before me, healing my wounds?

—You have achieved a great feat. (Achievement points +1,500)

—You have completed the challenge, ‘Defeat the Incarnation of the Demon with a Level Below 5.’ (Achievement points +12,000)

—You have acquired the achievement, Incarnation of Grimgal.

—The Achievement Shop has been unlocked.

—You are now eligible for your first class advancement.

.

.

—You will now be transported to the Hall of Fate.

I couldn’t make sense of any of it.