ALL NOVEL Chapter 242
Chapter 242: Copycat
“We will protect the Yogo Guild.”
Originally, the members of Team 2 from Kabuum stayed in Leron to escort Alo and the Yogo Guild.
Thanks to this, Yoo Ji-han’s party and Watanabe’s party could head to Kabuum with peace of mind.
“How long will it take to get to Maz?”
“At least a day.”
“That’s slow.”
Riding in a cart pulled by four horses, Watanabe clicked his tongue as he heard the expected arrival time.
No matter how much they stayed in the outskirts of Leron, crossing over to another force would naturally take a long time.
From the urgency in Park Jae-kyung’s call, it was highly likely that by the time they arrived in Maz, everything would be over.
“I’ll speed it up!”
“Ihiihiiing—!”
Min Yu-ri shook the reins, and the cart started moving faster.
And when they completely exited Leron and arrived at the barren wasteland—
—Vrooom!
Fwoooosh!
The magic of the Sylph completely enveloped the large cart, causing it to shine brightly.
A refreshing yet rough wind brushed against the skin of Yoo Ji-han and Min Yu-ri, who were sitting on the driver’s seat.
Yoo Ji-han observed the accelerated hoofbeats of the horses and said, “Sylph! Increase the speed.”
—”Really? It’ll be dangerous if we go faster!”
The speed increased dramatically as if switching from a compact car to a sports car.
They could increase the speed even further if they wished, but the Sylph expressed concern at Yoo Ji-han’s command.
Increasing the speed further could put stress on the cart and the horses.
“These horses ate Kabuum’s special herbs beforehand, so they’ll be fine.”
“Leave the cart to me!”
Strong horses that had consumed Kabuum’s special herbs.
With Kim Si-hu’s declaration that he would somehow prevent the cart’s damage with magic.
The Sylph, rolling around on the cart’s roof, then declared:
—”Here we go, here we go! Boost on!”
The Sylph climbed atop the four horses pulling the cart.
Paaaaah!!
The Sylph’s magic exploded like a bomb.
The incredible power that seemed hard to believe came from such a small body directly transferred to the horses.
Their deep brown coats began to radiate a vibrant green from the influence of the magic.
“Ihiihiiing?!”
“Ihiihiiing!”
Thanks to various buff spells like [Haste] and [Blessing of the World Tree], the horses felt lighter.
Min Yu-ri squinted her eyes against the wind blowing from the front and shook the reins once more.
Bwaaaam!
The sound of hoofbeats became a terrifying crescendo, overlapping in volume.
Yoo Ji-han felt his skin being pushed back by the rushing wind.
“Isn’t this a bit too fast?!”
“Squeak! Squeak! This feels weird!”
The party members, Chilla and Watanabe, were a bit frightened by the unfamiliar speed.
However, the cart continued to surge forward without concern for their wellbeing.
*
Amazingly, Yoo Ji-han and his party reached near Maz incredibly fast.
By the time night fell, they had become the fastest beings to cross from Leron to Maz in the history of the kingdom of Kallem.
“Good work.”
“Prrrrr….”
“Ssh, ssh….”
The horses, which had safely carried them all the way, emitted white steam from their bodies.
Even though they had come to a complete stop, their hearts beat loudly enough to echo around them.
They could have refused to run due to exhaustion, but they pushed beyond their limits for the sake of their riders.
Yoo Ji-han, trembling as he stood, provided water to the panting horses.
“We’ll have to walk from here.”
“So what will happen to these horses…?”
“We’ll let them go since they’ve worked hard.”
Yoo Ji-han untied the reins from the horses.
He wanted to give them the chance to return to nature and be free, having dedicated over two years to the guild since the Yogo Guild had first acquired them.
“Squeak! Goodbye!”
“Prrrrr!”
The horses seemed to understand and gradually moved away from the cart.
Yoo Ji-han looked towards Maz, which was in the opposite direction from where they departed.
‘Perhaps a civil war has already broken out.’
Maz was in danger of civil war due to the rulers’ disputes.
Team 2, including Park Jae-kyung, could have been caught up in that civil war.
But why did he attack the heroes?
It was certain he recognized Park Jae-kyung from being in the same party as him.
“Um?”
Just then, Yoo Ji-han tilted his head at a sound coming from afar.
Did the others hear it too? They perked their ears up.
“Squeak! Captain!”
Chilla called out to Yoo Ji-han.
“I hear screams! Squeak!”
“In which direction?”
“That way!”
Tatadadad!
With a shield on his back, Chilla took the lead on all fours.
Yoo Ji-han and the others followed closely behind him.
The more they ran, the clearer the screams that Chilla mentioned became.
“Kuuuuh…!”
Soon they arrived near the city of Kabuum, the source of the screams.
Yoo Ji-han spotted corpses lying on the ground.
Pishh!
As soon as Min Yu-ri arrived at the scene, she shot an arrow at a man covered in blood.
And as the arrow drew closer, she attempted to change its form into rope to bind her target.
Bang!
Before the arrow could even reach him, the man exploded it.
A skill powerful enough to detonate magic formed into a single entity from a distance.
Everyone’s eyebrows twitched at the unbelievable scene.
“……?!”
“Um?”
“What is that?”
Yoo Ji-han, Watanabe, and Kim Si-hu halted at a safe distance from the man.
Only after the distance was slightly narrowed could they tell.
“Yoon Do-ha? Is it really Yoon Do-ha?”
The man, drenched in blood, had a magic signature strikingly similar to Yoon Do-ha.
“……”
However, Yoon Do-ha did not respond to Watanabe’s call.
Instead, he knelt down on one knee, pressing his hand into the ground.
[Sinkhole]
Crack!
A massive crack opened in the ground with a slight tremor.
Starting from Yoon Do-ha’s hand, the crack soon extended right to where Yoo Ji-han stood.
The party felt the danger and immediately threw themselves aside.
Kuuuuuuung!
Moments later, a huge hole appeared where Yoo Ji-han’s group had stood.
It had formed in an instant.
Kim Si-hu peeked into the hole and swallowed hard.
The bottom of the deep hole was lined with sharp thorns made of stone and sand.
“What’s going on?”
Watanabe was certain that the attacker was indeed the Yoon Do-ha he remembered.
Using the terrain to dig a trap for the enemy and strike them was a method favored by heroes proficient in earth magic.
Of course, it was uncommon to use such a crude scale right in front of someone like this.
“Hey, why are you attacking us?!”
“……”
No matter what was said, Yoon Do-ha did not respond.
His behavior was nothing like his usual cheerful personality.
Seeing Yoon Do-ha pull his hand from the ground, Yoo Ji-han drew his sword, Qudi.
—Is that really Yoon Do-ha?
“That magic is definitely Yoon Do-ha’s.”
—But where’s Mumu!
As the Sylph had said, Mumu was nowhere to be found.
Yet, the unique magic signature belonging to the hero Yoon Do-ha spread across the entire ground beneath them.
Watanabe, observing him with keen eyes, spoke.
“Beast, this will hurt a bit.”
In an instant, Watanabe vanished from everyone’s sight.
He soon reappeared right in front of Yoon Do-ha.
[Iaido]
With his hand placed on the hilt of his katana, Watanabe slid past Yoon Do-ha’s side.
His movements were as smooth as raindrops gliding across a windowpane.
The mound of dirt that had erupted from the ground tried to hit him, but…
Watanabe was already behind Yoon Do-ha.
Swish!
A long, horizontal cut was made across Yoon Do-ha’s wrists and ankles.
In the blink of an eye, Watanabe had severed all the tendons in his arms and legs with just four swift strikes of his sword.
Losing strength in his arms and legs and unable to maintain his balance, Yoon Do-ha collapsed to the ground.
Thud!
Watanabe sheathed his sword and looked down at Yoon Do-ha.
His expression was extremely displeased.
“Are you messing with me right now?”
“……”
“The Yoon Do-ha I remember… isn’t just this.”
Yoon Do-ha had allowed a lethal attack from a single clash.
If this had aimed for his neck or heart, he would have been a dead man.
“It’s been a while since I’ve felt this anger.”
That’s why Watanabe was furious.
The Yoon Do-ha from his memories in Japan and the one before his eyes were far too different.
“Who the hell are you?”
Yoon Do-ha, struggling on the ground with no ability to rise up.
He looked like a goldfish out of water, and Watanabe stared at him with suspicion.
Even if he couldn’t use his hands and feet, he should have had no issue using magic at his level…
Boom!
Approaching Yoo Ji-han dripped the tip of Qudi against Yoon Do-ha’s body.
The enchanted blade absorbed some blood, and it relayed Yoon Do-ha’s weakness to Yoo Ji-han.
“……?”
At that moment, Yoo Ji-han tilted his head.
通常、Qudiを使って人間の弱点を知ると、心臓か頭部という結果が出るものだが。
However, this time, the weakness was strangely on his sole.
“What is this?”
As he lifted the old shoes off of the fallen Yoon Do-ha, an emblem was revealed on his foot.
The first person to recognize what it was was Lee Mi-a.
“It’s the emblem of the Royal Family of Leron.”
“Royal Family?”
“I’ve seen it in the information guild.”
“But why is it here…?”
How could the emblem of the Royal Family of Leron be on Yoon Do-ha’s foot?
Kim Si-hu, intrigued by the strange magic emanating from the emblem, brought the tip of his staff closer to it.
“Oh?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Bro, this feels similar to the chaos we encountered in Kabuum.”
The emblem emitted a similar feeling to that of chaos.
Kim Si-hu then directed his staff towards the emblem and concentrated his magic on it.
Zzzztt!
As the emblem detached from the skin of Yoon Do-ha’s foot, the form of the being that looked like Yoon Do-ha began to change completely.
“Huh!”
“That’s not Yoon Do-ha?”
They were only able to notice it after the figure’s face had transformed entirely.
Astonishingly, the identity of the person was not Yoon Do-ha at all.
He was simply someone very similar in gender, height, and build to Yoon Do-ha.
The magic that had been emanating from him dissipated completely, revealing that he was far from the real Yoon Do-ha.
“You! Don’t just lie there, quickly reveal your identity…”
Watanabe’s party member pulled the arm of the unconscious man.
And as the ensuing phenomenon took place, Min Yu-ri immediately lunged forward.
The man’s arm had turned completely black.
“What, what’s going on?”
“Just a moment!”
Min Yu-ri grabbed the hand of the unconscious man.
The palm of the man, now touching hers, had turned black as if it had been burned.
In contrast, the part that had brushed against the clothing, which didn’t conduct magic, looked perfectly fine.
“It’s Magic Discoloration Syndrome.”
“Why does this man have that disease…?”
While the others debated with serious expressions.
Amidst them, Yoo Ji-han alone looked back toward Maz.
“Sylph.”
—”Yep! I’m watching.”
A faint thread of truth shimmered into view with his eyes.
Intertwined and illuminated, shining threads crisscrossed the sky above Maz.