Chapter 3: The Prisoner (2)

A heavy and cool sensation.

I already knew this feeling.

Although the specific type might be different, it was a sensation I had felt countless times during my military service.

“…….”

A gun.

A weapon that fires a projectile using gunpowder, used for various purposes such as war and hunting since its invention.

As such, the influence of the gun on human history is truly enormous.

But…….

Colt garrison B-09.

A single revolver that should never exist in the world of World of Justice was in my hand.

‘This is impossible…….’

It goes without saying, but no matter how much of a fantasy it was, the time period of World of Justice was close to the Middle Ages.

The kind of world that most commonly comes to mind when we think of fantasy.

A gun in a world like that?

No matter that the World of Justice was a world of swords and magic, this was absurd.

But unfortunately, there was no more time to think about it.

Because the Demon head hound that had reached me was charging with a ferocity as if it would tear my throat out at any moment.

[Kyaooo!]

[Ka-aak!]

Damn it…….

After that, I moved almost instinctively.

Click-

I aimed the muzzle and pulled the trigger.

Bang!──

An action as simple as that.

But the effect was certain.

Thump!

As soon as the flame erupted from the muzzle of the Colt garrison, the Demon head hound that seemed ready to rip my throat out was knocked down all too easily.

[Kieek…… ke-ek.]

The Demon head hound, thrown into the wagon, convulsed with blood flowing from between its eyes before finally going limp.

For anyone who knew what demonic beasts were and how tenacious and persistent the Demon head hound was, it was an unbelievable sight even if they saw it with their own eyes.

“……Magic? You, you are a mage!”

Whether it was because the unique roar and flame of the gun couldn't be hidden even in the urgent situation, the scarred man shouted.

“How can you use magic of that level while bound by a Magic Sealing Stone ……. I thought you were a worm, but you weren’t an ordinary mage.”

The white-haired man also added a word.

They were obviously mistaken, but I felt no need to correct their misunderstanding.

Because sometimes, certain misunderstandings could be quite helpful in living in this harsh world.

Clutching the Colt garrison, I looked around to calmly assess the situation.

“Hey! Mage! How about helping us out over here? You son of a b*tch! Where do you think you’re going!”

[Grrrr!]

Even excluding the Demon head hound I had just shot dead, there were still three Demon head hounds inside the wagon, brawling with each of the prisoners.

As the situation was urgent, helping them wouldn't be a bad choice, but the problem was that my own situation wasn't very favorable either.

‘Three Demon head hounds left in the wagon. Five bullets remaining.’

A gun is a gun, indeed; the Colt garrison B-09 silenced even the Demon head hound, renowned for its tenacious life force, in a single shot, but in a situation where Demon head hounds were also swarming outside the wagon, I couldn't rashly shoot all the ones inside.

Just five shots.

I had to survive this damn situation with a revolver that had only five shots left.

‘Even with a gun, I can't survive an attack from a pack of Demon head hounds on my own.’

I didn't know how many soldiers were in the transport convoy, but considering that not a single soldier had shown up even though a good amount of time had passed since the Demon head hounds stormed the prisoner wagon, the situation didn't look good.

It meant I couldn't just hope for outside help.

In addition to that, judging from the roars coming from outside, the Demon head hound pack that attacked the prisoner convoy numbered at least twenty or more.

No matter how much of a marksman I was, it was an overwhelming number that I couldn't handle with the bullets I had now, and what's more, I wasn't even such a marksman.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that silencing Demon head hound with a single shot just now was almost a coincidence.

Although I did receive a few reward vacations for being a perfect shooter during my military service, shooting with calm aim and shooting in a real battle couldn't possibly be the same.

‘On top of that, I’m tied up.’

In a way, this could be seen as the most important point.

‘First, I have to do something about these shackles.’

The white-haired man called these chains Magic Sealing Stone.

If this was really the Magic Sealing Stone I knew, then depending on its grade and purity, it couldn't be destroyed by any ordinary means.

Even with a gun.

‘The part to aim for is the connection point with the chain.’

No matter how sturdy the prisoner transport wagon was, the entire wagon couldn't be made of Magic Sealing Stone.

Because no matter how low its grade or purity, the price and value of Magic Sealing Stone were not ordinary.

Therefore, I aimed at the hinge connecting the Magic Sealing Stone chain and the wall of the transport wagon.

‘Please…….’

With a desperate wish in my heart, I pulled the trigger.

Bang!───

My ears went deaf with a deafening report, as if thunder had struck.

In the worst-case scenario, the bullet could have hit the chain, ricocheted, and hit me, but fortunately, that didn't happen.

“Ugh…….”

Barely recovering my senses, which had gone numb from the gunshot, I looked ahead and saw the shattered hinge destroyed by the shot.

Jingle…….

With that, the chain lost its place and fell limply.

It was a success so easy that it made my previous worries seem foolish.

As I, finally a free man, glanced around, the scarred man who had barely subdued a Demon head hound saw me and shouted.

“Oh, ooh! As expected of Mr. Mage. Good. Then untie mine now too!”

“Foolish.”

“What?”

The one who cut in then was none other than the white-haired man.

I didn't know how he had subdued the Demon head hound with that frail body, but right now, a Demon head hound was pinned under the white-haired man's foot.

It meant he had the skill to match his arrogant attitude.

“Powerful magic comes with an equally powerful price. Even if you can't see it, he must have already paid a huge price for that much. Do you think he would use such magic for the likes of you?”

“Damn it, then what do we do!”

The white-haired man lightly ignored the scarred man's words and shifted his gaze to me.

“Hey, mage. No matter how powerful your magic is, you wouldn't be thinking of using that much magic for that moron. The price would be enormous.”

The white-haired man seemed to know quite a lot about magic.

On top of that, although what I was using wasn't magic, he had seen through the essence that its use was limited.

After all, I only had four bullets left.

“What are you trying to say?”

“Let's do this. Go outside the wagon now and get the key to the Magic Sealing Stone that a soldier has. Then you free us, and we all escape this place together. How about it? It’s not a bad proposal.”

At a glance, it's a reasonable proposal.

If you exclude one trap.

“What do I have to trust you with?”

This was the middle of a prisoner transport convoy.

Moreover, a convoy is being dragged to Winter Castle Kreutz, a border area with the Demon's Realm.

In other words, being tied up here meant that I was a criminal who had committed a serious crime.

No matter how urgent the situation, trusting such a felon was not an easy thing to do in many ways.

“Trust……. that is also an important issue. But you should know that now is not the time to be concerned with such things, right?”

The white-haired man smiled wryly.

In his demeanor, which even had a strange sense of composure, was a conviction that I would not refuse his proposal.

It seemed he was gravely mistaken about something.

“I refuse.”

I have no intention of trusting a criminal.

Especially not in a hellish situation like this.

“……What? Wait!”

I left his shout behind me and stepped out of the wagon.

The reason I refused the white-haired man's escape proposal was simple.

On the road to Winter Castle Kreutz.

I didn't know exactly where on that road this was, but the fact that a pack of Demon head hounds had appeared was strong evidence that we were quite close to the Demon's Realm.

It meant that if I carelessly strayed from the path, I could be attacked by a pack of demonic beasts.

If anything, encountering a pack of Demon head hounds, mostly composed of level 1 individuals, was on the lucky side.

That's not all.

Even if I were lucky enough to get out of this area and arrive at one of the several cities on the way to Winter Castle Kreutz, I was a criminal in the first place.

Not only would I be unable to enter a city without a clear identity, but I could also be killed if my identity was revealed.

Considering the various circumstances, the probability of me surviving after breaking away from this prisoner transport convoy was almost zero.

‘Above all, going to Winter Castle Kreutz isn't necessarily a bad thing.’

Winter Castle Kreutz.

The Winter Castle, famous and infamous as the shield that protects the Empire from the Demon's Realm, is an extremely dangerous place, but at the same time, it is a place where countless opportunities lie in wait.

For me now, a level 1 weakling, taking refuge there was the best choice for immediate survival.

“……F*cking hell.”

As soon as I stepped out of the wagon after making that big decision, the first thing that greeted me was all sorts of shouts and screams.

[Grrrrrr!]

[Kyaoooooo─!]

The situation outside the prisoner transport wagon was not much different from what I had expected.

No, to be honest, it was much more serious than I had expected.

Cloying blood and a terrible smell hung in the air.

Some soldiers had left this world without ever opening their eyes again, while others breathed their last pained breath with a scream.

Fear, pain, or anger remained on their faces like waves.

From now on, I had to survive in this hellish place that had turned dark red, mixed with damp earth.

“They are forming an encirclement! Form a defensive line and respond calmly!”

“There are too many of them!”

“They’re just Demon head hounds! We just need to respond calmly!”

In the midst of it all, fewer than ten remaining soldiers, wounded, were surrounded by the pack of Demon head hounds.

A quick glance showed the number of surrounding Demon head hounds was over thirty.

It might have seemed manageable at first glance, but seeing that the number of fallen soldiers on the ground was similar to the number of Demon head hounds, it was clear that the exchange rate between soldiers and Demon head hounds in the battle so far had not been good.

‘Even if they are Demon head hounds, a force of this size shouldn't be defeated so easily…….’

Common sense would dictate that the level of soldiers escorting prisoners to the Winter Castle, adjacent to the Demon's Realm, couldn't be low.

No matter how persistent and tricky the Demon head hound was as an opponent, they normally shouldn't be pushed back by a pack of Demon head hounds of that size.

So what did it mean that they were being pushed into a corner despite that?

‘Don’t tell me…….’

A rather unpleasant possibility comes to mind.

And.

[Woooooooooooo……!]

As if it had been waiting, an ominous cry came from somewhere.

“Damn…… it’s here.”

“Fck, fck…….”

With that, the faces of the soldiers confronting the Demon head hounds turned pale.

Thud─

Thud!

It definitely shouldn't be, but it felt as if the ground was shaking with every step it took.

No, it wasn't just a feeling.

[Grrrrrr…….]

Soon, from among the Demon head hounds, an individual with a significantly larger build than the others began to reveal itself.

【Lv.2】

【Biting Harakka】

A named entity.

The leader of the Demon head hounds had appeared.