Main Character Hides His Strength

n adequate recovery with enough rest and recuperation despite his advanced age.

“T-that person… what happened to him?’

Clarise spoke shakily while gripping the axe tightly.

“He fled with critical injuries.”

“He’s not dead?”

Sungchul did not affirm nor deny her question.
Clarise looked at him to ask another question but gave up in the end.
She had not seen Fal Garaz with her own eyes, but she had caught on that Sungchul was the problematic man in the rumors.
Not only was such a powerful individual rare, but the book flying next to him served as the final proof she needed.
However, the two adamantly ignored this fact.
All the damage had been done, and they didn’t want to ruffle any more feathers.

‘Smart girl.’

Sungchul decided to compensate the two of them.
He made a hand gesture toward the pair to lead them into the ruins.
It had become completely destroyed by Sajators, but there were some remnants of the picturesque ruins still remaining.

Kruut’s jaws dropped as he caught sight of the wonder he had been chasing his whole life.

“I was right! Clarise! They all called me crazy and pointed fingers at me, but in the end, I was right! There was a kingdom of humans in the jungle!”

He forgot the pain in his arm as he hopped about roaring in delight, he was so happy he didn’t care who had guided him, even if that person were to be the Enemy of the World.
But as he overexerted himself, he fell over backwards while holding his arm.

“Ugh!”

Tears were streaming down his eyes.
They were complicated tears filled with joy and pain, but he was still joyful.
He had managed to accomplish his life’s goal.

Sungchul had come across a few of such people, but he had seen many more that had failed.
And even though each person had their own circumstances, Sungchul better preferred to witness the joys of people who found success than the resignation and despair of those wallowing in failure.

When some time had passed and the old man’s celebration died down, Sungchul spoke to Kruut and his granddaughter.

“Please return ahead of me.”

Sponsored Content

“What? By ourselves?”

Clarise asked in surprise.
Kruut didn’t say much, but his eyes revealed a similar sentiment.

“I still have business to take care of here.
I apologize, but the two of you will have to return.”

“How should we return?”

“It’s a difficult task to find something in the jungle, but leaving isn’t a difficult task in itself.”

“But, leaving by ourselves…”

Seeing Clarise’s hesitation, Sungchul held out an Alchemic Bomb (Dark) and various other alchemic items from his Soul Storage.
They were various items that could be used in all situations from combat to recovery.

“These will help.
Use them in case of emergencies.
If you insist on waiting by the riverside, I won’t stop you.
I wouldn’t recommend it though.”

Sungchul was still waiting for Sajators.
From the moment he was stabbed by Oom Bruuk, Sajators was destined to appear before Sungchul due to the sound of the bell.
If not, the sound of the bell ringing from the abyss will eventually destroy his mind and the limbs of the Ancient God will drag him away into the abyss itself.
But there was no guarantee that Sajators will arrive alone.
He could come alone, but as far as Sungchul could guess, Sajators was more likely to bring reinforcements.

Everything was as Sungchul wanted.
Sungchul wanted to take care of the Seven Heroes as quickly as possible even if it meant that the clothes he treasured so much would turn to rags.
Kruut and others were hindrances in that regard as it was not a matter of when, but if Sajators did show up, an inevitable battle would take place.
Kruut and his granddaughter would only get caught up in the fight and end up dead, or in the worst case scenario, be used as fodder by the enemies of Sungchul.
It was Sungchul’s intention to avoid unnecessary sacrifice.

“As long as you follow the river, the Lizardmen will not ambush you.”

Kruut fidgeted with the brace holding his arm and opened his mouth to whisper to Clarise.

“That man… he’s probably that man.”

Clarise’s eyes turned wide.
She had finally internalized that a dangerous existence that the likes of the Lizardmen couldn’t compare to was standing beside her*.
They both bowed their heads and showed their respect before hopping onto their boat.

“Hey, wait a minute!”

Bertelgia stopped them, leaving Kruut and his granddaughter utterly shocked.
There was a large statue occupying the space behind Bertelgia.
It was a golem.
One of its arms had been blown off and the stone and metal surrounding the core had been destroyed by the hands of Sungchul, but there was enough of its functions remaining that Bertelgia was able to modify it.

“This guy will protect you, singing older sis.”

The golem made a strange oong sound as though replying to her words before its eyes lit up.
Clarise held a strange smile before giving a reluctant nod.

“O-ok…”

Kruut and his granddaughter got on the boat and headed back toward Panchuria.
The golem walked on the floor of the riverbed and followed behind them.

“You’ve finally managed to earn your keep after so long.”

Sponsored Content

Sungchul gave a rare compliment to Bertelgia.
It bothered him that he was sending them away so suddenly, but Bertelgia acted tactfully.

“I told you I don’t cost anything!”

Sungchul surveyed the area around the ruins.
There was no trace of Multicasting that he had sought out for so long.
He looked at the destroyed golems and the corpses of Carbuncles lying around them.

There was a single Carbuncle with white fur and a blue gemstone lying dead among the rest.
It was the corpse of the King Carbuncle indicated within the ruins.
The key to resolving the secret of Multicasting had disappeared.
Even if he had an empty Soul Stone in hand, it was meaningless without the Spirit Technique to extract the soul.
The Carbuncle must have died quite a while ago as it had already begun to rot.
There was a mass of flies flying busily about it.

“That bastard.
He did this so that he wouldn’t have to give up the secret to Multicasting! That’s really an evil man.
I don’t think there was such a bad person in the past as far as I remember…”

“…”

The experience of having something he had worked so hard for to turn to dust was not something he experienced for the first time.
Sungchul found solace by the fact that he had managed to meet Sajators and seriously wound him before he took his eyes off of the Carbuncle corpses.

The sound of a golem could be heard from not so far off.
It was the small golem that had been cleaning the vicinity of the ruins that he had seen not so long ago.

“Poor thing.
There’s so much to clean…”

Bertelgia clicked her tongue with pity as she spoke.
There was trash everywhere.
Even the wreckage from the fallen ruins itself would take several hundreds of years to clean up.

The small golem was heading directly over to them.
Did he have something to say? As they watched him, the golem was dumbly looking at the corpses of the Carbuncles.

Sungchul silently observed the golem’s actions.

‘Is he perceiving them as trash?’

Suddenly, something amazing occurred.
The small golem dug the ground and carefully placed the dead Carbuncles with its two hands and began to make graves for them.
It didn’t speak, but the golem’s actions clearly spoke of care and formality that could be observed in humans.

“Huh? That golem.”

Bertelgia said as she suddenly flew towards it.
She used the corner of her book to point out a hidden compartment concealed by stones located somewhere on the back of the golem.

“Look here.”

“Is something there?”

Sungchul let out a sigh and looked over to where she was pointing.
Curiosity rose in his eyes.
The reason was that embedded in the hidden location on the back of the golem was a soul gem emitting a milky light just like the ones Sajators carried around.

‘Could this be…?’

It was at this moment that the trail of crumbs leading to Multicasting that was believed to be lost was found again in an unsuspecting place.