To a wild horse, the flaming skull was an unstoppable threat.
Therefore, it called for help.
That was now, and to add, the flaming skull was out of luck.
Whoosh!
A flaming spear, followed by a line of skeletal dogs and soldiers.
There were thirteen in total.
Twelve if you didn’t count the flaming skull.
“How twisted and wrong.”
One of the reasons for their bad luck.
There was a religious soldier who had seizures at the sight of undead.Whoosh!
The flaming spear descended. Audin pushed it aside with his palm.
In an instant, flames clung to his hand. Audin swung his arm through the air.
Whoosh!
A sound of air bursting as he swung his arm. The fire on his hand extinguished and vanished into the air.
It wasn’t magic. It was a feat accomplished through physical strength and speed.
Audin, having deflected the flaming spear, began smashing the skeletons that rushed at him from behind.
With a single punch, a skull shattered into bone fragments.
The skull broke into roughly sixteen pieces and scattered.
“…That brute.”
Even Rem was impressed by the fire-extinguishing feat.
Audin continued to smash every skeleton in sight, breaking heads and shattering ribs. He grabbed the spines of skeletal soldiers and ripped them out, using the vertebrae as bludgeons to smash the heads of skeletal dogs. ȓἁNоВÈṩ
The flaming skull raised its spear high, seemingly aiming for Audin’s back.
Ragna, who had been watching, suddenly stepped forward.
He took a step forward, drew his sword, and swung it with a twist of his waist.
A Middle Sword Technique slash.
Ragna’s blade sliced cleanly through the skeleton’s neck bone.
The severed head fell to the ground. As it fell, the flames attached to it vanished.
Thus, only the charred, black skull remained, rolling among the vines and short grass.
The head stopped as it bumped against a protruding rock.
Despite being headless, the flaming skull still flailed its hands and feet.
“Ugh, damn it.”
Rem then stepped in and hacked the remaining parts of the flaming creature with an axe. He chopped and kicked, breaking it apart.
Even then, the flaming skull resisted, swinging its spear left and right.
Despite being just bones, it was strong.
Rem easily ducked to avoid it and swung his axe upward from below.
The axe blade, now a flash of light, sliced through the skeleton’s elbow bone, and the spear flew through the air.
It spun and scattered sparks around.
Encrid shielded his eyes from the flying sparks with his hand and instinctively reached out.
The spear was falling right in front of him.
He had two choices: dodge or catch it.
The spear seemed to fly with some sort of will.
Encrid relied purely on his intuition and caught it instead of dodging.
If it got too hot, he could just drop and throw it away.
He was confident he could do all of that in an instant.
Seeing that the flames on the spear didn’t spread around, he calculated that it wasn’t a type of fire that would spread.
Of course, all these calculations were part of his intuition.
Encrid, trusting his gut, caught the flaming spear.
Whoosh!
Thump!
It wasn’t as hot as he expected. It wasn’t so hot that he had to drop it immediately.
Instead of heat, he heard a voice.
-Burn!
-Burn to ashes!
-Turn to cinders!
-Die in the flames!
In an instant, the life of a man tied to a cruciform stake and burnt alive flashed through his mind.
A man had been burned to death. Executed by fire for using magic. There was betrayal by ignorant villagers and a lord who orchestrated it all.
Was it some kind of curse? No, it was a bit different.
‘It’s similar to the sword Pel has.’
It was a grudge. A grudge imbued into the weapon. A deathly grudge transformed into human willpower.
It seemed similar to the ‘Will’.
Encrid reflected on the life of the man and accepted his will.
He refused.
He rejected being burned alive.
The grudge in the enchanted spear dissipated and vanished.
It was purified by a stronger will.
The flames on the spear extinguished with a sudden burst.
It was as if it had been dipped in cold water.
Though there wasn’t even steam, the fire just suddenly went out.
What on earth was happening?
Audin was the only one who understood the situation.
He had known from the start that the weapon was created based on a deep grudge and resentment.
He also realized that the flames originated from the weapon, making the skeletons appear to burn.
He intended to purify it, enduring the pain required to emit divine energy.
Despite the extreme pain that would come from using Divine Power due to his restriction, he couldn’t just leave such a dangerous object alone.
‘I might faint.’
Purifying such a grudge might cause that.
Enduring the pain wasn’t something he could control at will.
In fact, those who had imposed the restriction on Audin intended to prevent him from using Divine Power at all, but he ignored it and used it anyway.
He was prepared to risk fainting and was deliberately dealing with other vile things first.
Then Encrid grabbed the spear, and the flames just went out.
All the skeletons had already been dealt with.
Teresa stepped on a fallen skull, crushing it with a crunch.
In the silence, only the sound of bones breaking echoed.
The wild horse watched in silence as well.
Rem’s voice broke the silence.
“…Did your hand get all sweaty?”
Did he put out the fire with sweat? That made no sense.
“Sometimes, your head is really admirable.”
Jaxon remarked. Given his profession, he knew a lot about such things.
‘Is it normal for that flame to go out?’
It didn’t seem that way.
“What are you saying, crazy wildcat?”
Rem said, looking at Encrid.
It was a look demanding an explanation of what had happened.
“He said he’d burn me, so I said no.”
Damn, is that an explanation? Seriously?
Rem, flabbergasted, looked around for agreement.
Ragna seemed uninterested, and Audin, understanding the gist, was merely impressed.
‘How long has it been since he grasped ‘Will’, and he’s already handling it so skillfully?’
It was astonishing.
“Well, that’s good.”
Jaxon brushed it off lightly. After all, there was nothing normal about what Encrid did.
He considered himself the only normal one here.
“Damn.”
Rem said, “Let me see that”, and snatched the spear.
The remaining grudge attacked Rem. Without showing him the past, it merely commanded him to burn to death.
Of course, it was just a residue, a feeble resistance.
The flames seemed to flicker at Rem’s touch, then went out.
“Hmm?”
Audin was surprised again. What was this now? It wasn’t suppressed by will.
“Someone tampered with this. Can I use this?”
Rem muttered to himself, seemingly knowing something. Encrid didn’t bother to ask, what good would it do to know?
“Yeah.”
He had no interest in the weapon. Rem examined the spear closely and then cut the shaft in the middle with his axe.
With a snap, the handle of the enchanted weapon was halved, now the size of a hand axe. Aside from the pointed end, suitable for thrusting, it looked like it could be used as a hand axe.
Of course, the balance was all wrong.
“You could attach a weight to the end of the handle.”
Encrid suggested, and Rem nodded.
He seemed quite pleased.
“Feels like a windfall.”
Rem expressed, and Encrid nodded.
Once again, it was clear that these skeletons were unlucky.
Who were the people gathered here?
The Mad Company.
A group of brute warriors who change the course of battles.
Encrid sheathed his drawn sword with a smooth motion and spoke to the horse.
“Is that all?”
The horse hesitated. What were these humans? The skeletons had been a big threat!
Upon reflection, this human had once embedded a sword in the head of that dangerous centaur.
The horse acknowledged it.
Neigh.
It cried out, converting its joy into a sound.
“Alright.”
Encrid spoke and moved forward.
Whose grave was this? It certainly wasn’t a poor man’s. So, what else could there be besides the damned flaming spear and skeletons?
There were no signs of grave robbers, likely due to the wild horse herd and skeletons.
“Shall we dig a bit?”
Specifically, around the structure that looked like a wall?
When Encrid spoke, Jaxon responded.
“There are a few chests inside.”
Apparently, Jaxon had already scouted the inside while avoiding the fight.
“That sneaky cat, always quick with his hands.”
Rem praised. Jaxon ignored him as usual, and the group moved inside.
The ground had been eroded by rain, covered in snow that melted, dried, and hardened under the sun, making the terrain rough.
The ground was uneven, and the sharp rocks sticking up were like natural traps.
Of course, it was no problem for them.
“Alright, let me show you something interesting.”
Rem stopped walking and swung his axe in the air.
Whoosh.
From top to bottom, and then from bottom to top.
The second swing was different from the first.
Whoosh!
On the second swing, flames erupted along the axe blade.
“How about ‘Fire Axe Rem’ for my nickname?”
He seemed to have figured out how to use it after fiddling with it a bit.
“Sure.”
Encrid nodded calmly.
If he fought with that, he might go from being the Mad Axeman to the Mad Fire Axeman.
He didn’t say this out loud, everyone needs a bit of encouragement now and then.
“Hehe, nice. I like it.”
As long as he was satisfied.
They all ignored it and moved to the deepest part of the basin.
The ground became easier to walk on, leading to a stable plain.
It was quite deep inside.
Wondering where the warm breeze was coming from, they saw a chest half-open.
A gentle warmth emanated from it.
“A heating stone? Blessing of the Sun God? Lord.”
Audin muttered.
Encrid realized that whoever built this tomb had gold coins to spare.
“Pack it all up.”
Encrid ordered.
Inside the chest, there were no silver coins. It was all gold coins and some items that could be considered relics.
Starting with the heating stone, said to be blessed by the Sun God, there was also a bandage that had a metallic feel to it.
“A precious item.”
Jaxon said, someone who rarely showed interest in anything that wasn’t a dagger crafted by an assassin who had staked their life on it.
So, it truly was a valuable item.
Encrid examined the thick, black bandage. It was as wide as his palm and there wasn’t much of it.
If you wrapped it up, it would be enough to cover a torso.
“It’s made by specially treating the hide of a soft beast into a form that wraps around the body. You can think of it as inner armor.”
Jaxon explained.
There were no other particularly special relics. There were some glowing stones, but since everyone had good night vision, they weren’t of much interest.
There were also some boots and gloves, but they were damaged, and a few jewels along with a journal.
The journal’s contents were nothing special.
It was full of unbelievable adventure tales, like riding a Pegasus.
The reason for settling in this land was simply because it was a friend’s hometown, according to the journal.
It ended with something like, “Here lies someone who wandered their whole life without a home, now resting here.”
Encrid felt that the person buried here, the one who wrote the journal, was expressing their satisfaction with their life and adventures by crossing out their name with charcoal.
The journal was filled with words expressing the writer’s dream of adventuring and discovering marvelous and mysterious things in every place.
Encrid saw a bit of himself in those words.
A person moving toward their dream.
However, this person had achieved his goal and was satisfied, which is why he found his friend’s hometown, and by erasing his name, he expressed his fulfillment and departure from this life.
‘Is it romantic, or just foolish?’
After all, romance and foolishness are often separated by a thin line.
There was even a swordsmanship teacher who used to say that.
Encrid was simply reflecting on himself.
It was, of course, a bold assumption. Not really important.
He took the journal.
For some reason, he liked it.
Meanwhile, Jaxon had examined the surrounding walls and mechanisms but found nothing hidden.
He had once been trapped in a similar situation and had acquired the sword he now held back then, but this place was open to the sky.
It was a peculiar terrain. It might have been designed to be open to the sky even before the ground had collapsed.
That’s probably why the chests and other items were so well preserved.
Neigh.
The horse approached. Encrid placed his hand on its forehead.
“Is it enough now?”
The sun was already setting. Thanks to the heating stone, it wasn’t particularly cold.
It wasn’t just the heating stone, considering the flaming skull, it seemed like this place was designed for travelers to rest.
Jaxon mentioned that he saw strange symbols on the walls.
‘He’s a weird guy.’
Encrid thought.
The journal also mentioned why the skeletons were created.
-There should be challenges in an adventure! I hope anyone who finds this place can overcome these. Then, take my legacy and use it well!
Having read the journal, Encrid found nothing extraordinary about the so-called legacy.
‘They are expensive and good items, though.’
According to the journal, weren’t there supposed to be legendary relics or sacred artifacts?
In any case, the rest of the adventurer’s belongings had been scattered across the continent, given away here and there.
Oh, and the journal mentioned that this wasn’t his only grave.
-If you’re a true explorer, find my other graves too.
Although the man was eccentric, Encrid’s heart raced at the thought of someone chasing their dreams.
It was fascinating.
“Let’s sleep here tonight and head back tomorrow.”
Encrid said.
The tomb served well as a resting place. The unseasonable warmth seemed to encourage rest.
He also wanted to give the horse some time to part from its herd.
“Let’s do that.”
Rem agreed, seemingly indifferent.
In his left hand was the fire axe, and in his right, the heating stone.
While the heating leather was also a valuable item, that stone could warm up an entire tent.
A high-ranking noble would pay a fortune for it.
Despite its value, no one here had a keen sense of money.
Encrid had given it to Rem since he was more sensitive to the cold.
Ragna remained uninterested, Audin began to pray, Jaxon sat with his eyes closed, and Teresa and Dunbachel were equally indifferent to wealth.
Neither of them cared about Krona. They were preoccupied with their changed lives and the future ahead.
Night fell, and without a campfire, they lay down and looked at the sky. The starlight poured into the tomb.
It was a fantastical night view, unlike anything Encrid had ever seen.
He lay under the blanket of starlight, feeling the gentle warmth enveloping him.
With his eyes closed, Encrid met the ferryman.
The ferryman, as always, mocked him with a mix of sneering.
“You always end up playing with someone like me.”
Encrid wondered if this was a compliment. The dream was short.
[T/L: Please support me AND read further chapters here: https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans.]
[T/L: Subscribe for a membership on my Buy Me a Coffee page and receive 15 extra chapters upon joining, along with daily updates of one chapter: buymeacoffee.com/revengerscans ]
[Additional Info: If anyone is facing the issue of payment on Ko-Fi, please contact me on [email protected]]
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter