I Became a Hero With a Lot of Experience

42 – 042: The Road to the North (5)

‘…What is that, over there.’

The sun, having descended to the ground itself, was incinerating the clustered ghouls, approaching me with a whirlwind of sacred power. As I gazed at the light infused with rotating sacred power, I reminisced about the past as if looking at a lantern.

Under the command of General Shabryra, a subordinate officer, Maji.

He was born from the gathering thoughts of humans, transformed into an undead, and under the guidance of the instincts of a demon, he covered the land with corpses, waging war under the command of Shabrilah.

His mission this time was simple.

Just as other commanders did, to bypass the front lines significantly, cross the front lines, and create an army of ghouls to attack the royal capital.

The goal was not to capture the royal capital but to prevent the main cause of the kingdom’s First Sword, who was the greatest threat, from returning to the royal capital by blocking the front lines.

At the moment, she and the leaders of the temple were barely holding the front lines.

If even one person were to desert here, the collapse of the front lines was as inevitable as fire.

Due to the absence of the First Sword of the Kingdom, the weakened front lines would be penetrated, and then they would return to the rear of the other front lines to launch a simultaneous attack.

Even if she hesitated and did not return to the royal capital out of concern, he planned to spread the hordes of ghouls throughout the entire kingdom.

In the kingdom, there were variables like the temple and the warriors, so sooner or later, the ghouls would be eradicated. However, the scars left by the ghouls would torment the kingdom for a long time.

To achieve this, he attacked dozens of villages, gathered the wildlife of the forest, and turned them into ghouls.

Avoiding the eyes of the temple and the kingdom’s army to gather such a horde of ghouls was no small feat.

No, it could be called a miracle rather than a feat.

Actually, he faced the danger of being exposed several times, but each time, he managed to cleverly escape from the crisis.

Now, all that remained was to attack the royal capital and, once the departure of the First Sword of the Kingdom was confirmed, smoothly hide their presence…

“Why is that thing coming here…?”

In the light rushing in a straight line at a speed like the wind, there was no sense of hesitation.

As if it was natural that whatever was in front of it would disappear when it moved forward, the figure advanced with a confident demeanor, making Ma Ji feel dumbfounded.

The undead body, which could not feel the warmth in the face of death, felt cold for the first time in its former life.

When the light that Ma Ji had been advancing, trampling the horde of undead he had gathered over the past few months, reached a place where it could be distinguished with the naked eye, Ma Ji finally realized what it was and began to tremble with the injustice rising in his chest.

A shabby horse without armor, and a rider atop it, holding an unusually thick spear forward, were running forward.

It was the first encounter, and it might be the last, but even in the front lines, Ma Ji recognized immediately that the aura was different from any sacred power he had ever seen.

A warrior.

For some reason, a warrior in the royal capital noticed Ma Ji’s march and came here.

How on earth did he notice?

Did the information leak?

Or were there survivors from the villages Ma Ji had swept through?

Rather than the sudden question that came to mind, the immediate problem took precedence.

“Ghouls, become a wall!!!”

To delay the warrior’s advance even a little, Ma Ji gave orders to the ghouls, and they began to throw themselves forward towards the front.

As the accumulated bodies of ghouls formed into one, creating a colossal mountain, the warrior approached the wall of ghouls.

It was a wall formed by hundreds of ghouls becoming one—a barrier even a seasoned warrior would find challenging to breach.

Although he considered turning away and preparing to flee, unfortunately, he did not yet know the true nature of the warrior.

“Light.”

With words that seemed to herald the creation of the world, the wall of ghouls began to crumble.

“Mom!!!”

As the intense roar brought down the wall of ghouls, the shock and dust it generated engulfed him. Desperately searching for an absent mother, the warrior fell forward.

In the haste of his escape, stumbling forward, the skeletal figure of the fallen warrior, armed only with bones, somehow managed to rise again.

However…

“Are you an officer?”

Standing before the repositioned warrior was the face of a knight, so imposing and colossal that it seemed oddly divine, perhaps due to the circumstances.

Just staring at it was enough to make Marji feel as if his nonexistent eyes would be consumed by a sacred force. He staggered backward, shouting.

“Ghoul! Ghoul! Ghoul!”

Responding to his call, ghouls surrounded the warrior from all sides, but the only thing increasing on the ground was the pile of ashes. No one dared to touch the warrior’s body.

Determined to survive at all costs, Marji ran without looking back.

“aaah!!!”

However, soon after a small bombardment of ash struck his knees, Marji could no longer escape and crumpled forward.

“Ghoul! Is there no one! I am Marji, a high-ranking officer of the Demon King’s army!”

All the ghouls in pursuit emerged to attack the warrior, but they only increased the pile of ash on the ground, with no meaningful impact.

“…You have my sympathy.”

“What?”

Since the undead cannot reproduce, they all have sympathy.

Marji, who couldn’t understand why this fact was mentioned, was momentarily perplexed, but soon, recalling that he was a virtuous warrior, he changed his expression.

“Yes, that’s right! I have maintained virtue until now!”

According to reports, virtuous warriors are considered quite tasty among humans.

Hearing that he intensely abhors non-virgins and prefers virgins, Marji thought that appealing to sympathy might save his life.

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“Oh, I will live my whole life with sympathy!! I will serve virgins for the rest of my life without doing anything foolish again!! So please, spare my life!!”

“…There are children in your ghoul army.”

“What?”

Even as the warrior advanced, trampling on ghouls, he did not overlook the virgins hidden behind the dirty light of gained experience.

“You only feigned sympathy because you were without genitals, not out of any genuine pity!! Furthermore, you defiled a virgin, a crime deserving of death!!”

“hehehe, hehehehe!”

Desperately attempting to escape, the trembling Maji flailed his arms, but the warrior’s hand firmly held onto Maji’s arms, rendering his efforts futile.

“Scream!!”

Even though there was no divine power in the hand that held Maji, a shock resembling a blaze surged through his arm upon contact.

The warrior, restraining Maji with both hands, opened his mouth wide.

From the widely opened mouth, a heat akin to the breath of a dragon emanated from the gathered divine power.

“Virgin Breath!!!”

The Breath of purity, guarding the virgin, incinerated Maji’s body, consuming even the soul that emerged from his flesh, leaving nothing but ashes.

The ceaseless flow of light continued, engulfing the field.

Golden flames danced in the wind alongside the ashes of the deceased, creating a spectacle that persisted for a while.

It was spring.

*****

Golden flames engulfed the field.

Closing my eyes, I envisioned the ashes swirling in the field, a sight both beautiful and somewhere terrifying.

Oh, souls of virgins who met tragic deaths among the non-virgins.

May you be born in a dreamlike world where purity can be preserved, not in this hellish world.

After mourning for them and opening my eyes again, new non-virgins were stepping onto the gray-toned field.

“It’s not madness; what the…!! (Experience Gain: 1)”

Frowning at the sight of non-virgins standing above non-virgins, I felt perplexed as the useless party members who had just arrived gawked at the gray-toned field.

“…What did you just spew out a moment ago? (Experience Gain: 17)”

“I don’t know.”

I was just so angry that I thought something might come out, and it actually did.

Is this the power that a warrior possesses to create miracles?

Looking to the priestess for an answer, she avoided eye contact as if indicating she didn’t know either.

“So, what do we do now? Should we head towards the breached front line?”

It’s doubtful whether the front line was breached in the first place.

The last one I defeated when subduing the ghouls was undoubtedly a high-ranking officer of the Demon Army.

Although he didn’t explicitly confirm it himself, judging by the way he commanded the ghouls, it seemed reasonable to assume so.

“Considering the high-ranking demon officers I’ve seen around here, including this guy, couldn’t we just find a route to bypass the front line?”

“That’s possible… However, judging from the large-scale movements we’ve observed, it’s clear that the hero wasn’t the target this time, unlike when they attempted assassination or manipulation. (Experience Points: 17)”

If the intention was to create chaos on the front line, there is still no change in the fact that somewhere along the front line is dangerous.

Our goal is to head north as soon as possible.

Apologies to the soldiers on the front line, but there’s no time to waste on unnecessary matters.

“Which way should we go?”

“It doesn’t matter which way. First… It’s better to proceed forward. Ahead of us is… (Experience Points: 17)”

“What’s ahead?”

“…The front line where your mentor is present. (Experience Points: 17)”