Damned System

Chapter 43. Traces (3)

HIDDEN MISSION

「New World」

Rescue the allied forces. (0/?)

「Rewards」

Rewards increase based on the number of people rescued.

• Attribute mana 50 (+?)

• Random Box (×1) (+?)

Fizz, fizz.

There was something like interference waves, or maybe there was a problem with the graphics card.

The mission window trembled and shattered this way and that.

I stared intently at the word written there.

「Rescue.」

Now that it was a known fact that the system was watching me, there was only one person around me who needed rescuing.

“Allied forces?”

Should I follow this decision and message, which was no different from a one-sided notification, or not?

“…….”

Before the agony, I removed any emotions.

This was purely a matter to be decided on profit and loss, and therefore, the agony wasn’t long.

The capitalistic trait was proof that the system was giving me special treatment.

‘The word ‘support’ makes it clear.’

At least for the player “I”, it meant that the system had abandoned the stance of a bystander, observer, and neutral party.

If I set aside the resentment I had, following the system’s intention was more beneficial.

In fact, every time a hidden mission appeared, I received different benefits from normal players.

The little monsters provided enough mana to skip the level 1 mission, and the random box even gave me skills hard to obtain in the current section.

The bounty missions were quite stressful but brought considerable gains.

My experiences so far were clear in telling me,

“I’ve never suffered a loss from a hidden mission.”

Of course, I would have to go through some trouble.

But because of this, I couldn’t give up the benefits I’ve enjoyed so far.

“If I’m deemed worthless, they might latch onto another player.”

The question mark trait wasn’t unique to me.

To continue receiving system support, I had to prove that I was better than the other players.

For now, it seemed to accommodate my demands but, that was probably because I was achieving more results than other players.

There’s no guarantee that the system would continue offering special benefits to me once a replacement appears.

“For those who can turn the forest upside down like that, I’m not thinking of charging in.”

As long as I could tend to the injured while they were fighting each other.

“I’ll do it.”

Considering everything, weighing my cards, I concluded I could do at least that much.

I hurriedly ran towards the man.

“The number of people to rescue is a question mark.”

The more people I saved, the greater the benefits returned to me.

Fortunately, there wasn’t any approaching mana in the surroundings.

Thanks to this, I could calmly examine the man with orange hair.

Even though he lost consciousness, he didn’t react when I sat down beside him.

I first tried to check what was embedded in his body.

I hesitated upon discovering what was shackling the man’s wrists and neck.

‘Shackles……?’

It wasn’t a misunderstanding. The man indeed had shackles on his neck, wrists, and ankles.

Seeing that scene instinctively raised my vigilance towards the man.

Simultaneously, I felt puzzled.

There weren’t chains attached, but he wouldn’t carry such metal around just as decoration.

These were typically items used on criminals, weren’t they?

“Allied forces…….”

I glanced down at the man with a peculiar look for a moment.

“The urgent wound first.”

I carefully touched the black rod stuck in the man’s lower back.

“It’s not a spear…….”

It seemed like a metal pipe or a thorn.

In any case, to treat it, I had to pull it out.

After purchasing an additional potion from the store, I grasped the unidentified rod.

‘As quickly as possible.’

As I pulled out the rod, the man’s body shook as if in a seizure.

I pressed him down with my knee, applying my full weight.

Then I poured the potion onto the wound without delay.

“Damn…….”

However, for some reason, the bleeding wouldn’t stop easily.

“Is it because it’s a penetrating wound? Is the wound too large?”

No, it wasn’t. Considering the size of the wound or the severity of the bleeding, it was worse when I was attacked by the crocodile.

I treated the wound when a quarter of my skin peeled off with this potion.

It wasn’t just because it was a penetrating wound.

Glancing at the black rod on the dirt floor, I continued pouring the potion.

It took no less than two bottles to stop the bleeding.

Without healing the wound, just stopping the blood flow required two bottles.

There were two more rods embedded in the man’s body.

As a result, I used a total of six potion bottles just to stop the bleeding from the wound area.

It felt like I was pouring water into a bottomless pot.

“Damn.”

I wasn’t sure how many more I had to rescue.

Due to reputation, the discount rate was now only two percent.

If I had to keep purchasing potions at this pace, saving just ten people could cost more than a thousand mana.

Instead of constantly using potions, I took out an emergency rescue kit given by Jonghun.

Rip, tear.

Undressing the man, I conducted first aid with modern medicine.

This managed to extinguish the urgent fire, so to speak.

“Whew.”

Even in a situation where the mountain was utterly devastated, the sky remained serene.

However, I knew this wasn’t peace. The banging sounds continued.

“How long will this fight go on?”

It was merely out of the range of mana detection, not over.

“Let’s move the spot.”

Since I couldn’t leave the unconscious man behind, I had to find a safe location first.

I lifted the man and moved away from the site.

***

After being separated from his comrades, Raul encountered one enemy.

Ordinarily, he wouldn’t have fallen so easily, but today, even defending himself was difficult.

The injury he received during the ambush was too severe.

The blood that gushed out spilled down his leg, soaking the ground.

“Argh!”

Despite this, Raul stubbornly lifted his arm.

The axe he had wielded for years felt especially heavy today.

But he couldn’t just give up.

Thanks to his desperate struggles instead of resigning to death, Raul’s axe embedded itself into the monster’s neck.

That was all. Even with its neck more than halfway severed, it did not die.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the kind of creature that could be killed with just this much.

Raul quickly bent backward, knowing this.

The monster’s claws, seemingly 10 cm long, narrowly grazed Raul’s chest.

He urgently moved his foot to regain his balance that was tipping to one side.

The claws of the pursuing monster dug into his left shoulder and more blood hit the ground.

Albeit briefly, his vision flickered and he heard a buzzing sound.

He managed to endure, but his consciousness fluttered, cutting off, then reconnecting repeatedly.

It was natural considering the severe blood loss.

“No!”

However, accepting it as natural didn’t stop him from resenting it.

Even the slightest carelessness could see his head fly off, and his heart pierced.

Raul, sensing his impending death, screamed in rage.

Yet his body was too weak to vent his frustrations.

Despite not wanting to die, what awaited him was a miserable death.

“Kiieeek!”

Even though he was certain of this, why didn’t he feel the pain of his heart being pierced or the sharpness of flesh tearing at his nape?

Why was it that the sounds reverberating in his ears belonged not to him but the screeching monster?

Raul had no chance to think or move knowingly.

He squeezed out the remaining mana and infused it into his axe.

When the blue mana wrapped around the axe blade, Raul was already twisting his waist, raising the axe.

“Huaaaah!”

It sent a shiver down his spine. He was sure he had cut the neck. He felt the sensation of slicing the monster’s hide.

He barely escaped the brink of death!

Even amid the shivering moment, Raul didn’t let his guard down.

“I have to split it to the head!”

Otherwise, these creatures could move their bodies through mana.

Raul focused strength into his heavy eyes.

Was it due to his relentless longing or desperate wish?

His vision returned briefly. He could find the monster’s head wandering through the air.

“Uh…?”

Even though he found what he wanted, a dumbfounded sound escaped Raul’s lips.

Normally, the eyes of the monster would be rolling around, each moving in different directions.

Among the four eyes that should’ve existed, only two were intact.

The other two had daggers stuck in them. Who on earth?

“Reinforcements have arrived…”

Before Raul could even voice his question, he hurled his axe.

His axe soon caught up with its target.

“It’s over.”

As relief washed over him, his legs gave out.

Even trying to forcibly exert strength, his limbs wouldn’t move.

The vision he barely regained was once again blurring, and his consciousness descended into a distant haziness.

“Sug yeo!”

Just then, red mana gathered over Raul’s head.

But with a thud, the heavy sound resonated, shattering it into pieces.

“Keheok!”

Blood spewed out from nowhere, the axe split the monster’s head, embedding itself into the tree.

That was the last sight Raul witnessed before losing consciousness.

As his consciousness began to subside, the sensations he had enjoyed throughout his life drifted away.

Everything sounded muffled as if submerged in water. His body felt only cold as if trapped in ice.

Even though he didn’t want to fall any further, he kept falling.

Despite struggling against the distant feeling of falling, there was no escaping it.

There was no way out of the cold, deep place.

It was just like that day.

The walls collapsing helplessly.

The monsters rushing beyond it.

Family and neighbors being devoured alive.

Arrows and magic raining down like rain.

The monster dead with its belly split open.

The child who crawled inside to survive.

It was a sensation that recalled the day he stood at the threshold of death.

‘I’m going to die.’

It wasn’t that Raul had never faced danger after becoming a knight.

But he couldn’t remember clearly confronting death as he did today.

Raul was aware that he was dying.

Everything that had testified to his existence was becoming unnecessary.

His consciousness began to disintegrate, and his sense of presence faded away.

But just before Raul reached death, someone or something grabbed him by the collar.

Then it recklessly pulled him from the cold, deep place.

“Keheok!”

With a hot hack, the severed sensations he had earlier came rushing in.

His abdomen felt like it was burning, his shoulder torn apart.

“Heuk, heuk!”

Desperately swallowing dry breaths, the heat in his abdomen and shoulder very slightly subsided.

“A-o, I sae kki do po syeon chyeo bal la ya gess ne.”

Once more, then again.

The heat and pain continued to fade.

Raul forced his heavy eyelids open. It seemed as though a mist covered everything around him.

In the obscured space, a dark shadow moved.

“Jeong sin I deub ni kka? Na bo I nya go yo.”

Raul’s purple eyes followed the rustling presence.

“…… Han byeong de kka?”

The searing pain that seemed to melt had vanished, leaving only a throbbing ache.

“Hm…….”

Soon, someone supported his neck.

Cold liquid trickled in through his dry mouth.

Raul gulped it down eagerly like a newborn.

His consciousness sharpened further, and his vision cleared a bit more.

Raul’s breathing calmed, and the memories just before he collapsed surfaced.

Then a shadow hung over his head.

Raul met the gaze of a man looking down at him.

In the unfamiliar dark brown pupils, he thought he saw a blue glow flicker and vanish.

“Oh, jin jja il eo nass ne.”

The man muttered something unintelligible.

Still disoriented, Raul glanced around.

The comrades, scattered by the explosion, now lay neatly beside him.

Seeing that, tears welled up and dropped down.

Looking to the side, Raul saw a man standing against the red sunset.

“Oh…….”

It was dazzling. Raising his hand to block it was futile.

New elements and characters:
1. Raul – 라울 (he): A knight faced with his imminent death in battle.