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Season 1 Side Story Chapter 6. A Strange Rescue (3)

“Is there anything to drink... Please...”

His voice had waned and sounded desperate.

Although Almond had never heard the voice of someone dying from hunger before, he thought Ran would die if left in this state.

— What on earth is this?

— Why are you starving him!?

— Do you want some almonds?

— Oh my, what happened?

— This is ridiculous... How can they starve them like this and lock them up in this dark place?

— Is this punishment because he met a girl? Is this world created by Jung Gi-Chan (ForeverAlone’s real name)?

Almond thought he had to save Ran first and looked around for any water.

‘Was there any water?’

Soon, he realized that was a foolish thought. They couldn't even see properly in front of them. Where would they suddenly find water? Plus, they didn't know when another strange entity would ambush them.

"Ran, can't you light a fire?"

"Fire...? What is... Ah, you're not a guard."

It seemed the guards here didn't need fire.

"I was asked by Lorang to come here."

"Lorang... asked you to rescue me?"

"No, Lorang didn't know you were in this condition. He thought you were just being punished. Just..."

Almond couldn't bring himself to say that Lorang sent him to ask if Ran really fooled around with a girl.

"He's curious about your condition. And why you're being punished like this."

"Seri..."

"Seri?"

That was the name of the girl in the doodles, the one that Ran had been seeing.

"I gave my heart to Seri..."

"Your heart? You're being punished like this for that?"

— Wow, that's too much.

— They weren't even dating and he's being punished for giving his heart away?

— How are they raising this child?

— If touching hands makes you have 3 grandkids, I would just be punished and die here.

"I made a vow to the goddess to remain pure. More than that, Seri is the one I should never give my heart to... Huh? Behind!"

Screech—

Almond swiftly drew the sword at his waist and swung it behind.

Clang—

A tingling sensation ran through his arm. Then, the metal turned red-hot and sparks flew...

‘Who is this guy?’

Surprisingly, the opponent wasn’t human, at least from the brief glimpse they got.

"Intruder!" the enemy shouted and swung its sword again.

Almond quickly retreated and avoided the sword strike.

Whoosh!

He barely dodged the enemy's sword as they swiftly clashed around.

Swoosh.

Now, it was Almond's turn. He readied an arrow and pulled the bowstring taut.

Boom!

The wind split and the arrow embedded itself into the opponent.

Thud...!

"...Gurk!"

The enemy fell with a thud.

Just in case, Almond struck the ground with the earlier sword to create a spark.

With the metal spark...

'He's dead.'

At that moment, they saw an arrow pierced through the enemy's head.

'But the face looks human.'

Upon closer inspection, the face was human. However, he couldn't call it human for a reason.

Clang.

Almond made another spark and looked at the lower body.

'Only the upper body remains.'

A black smoke shrouded the lower body, which made it seem like a floating ghost.

"What is this?"

"These are the ghost guards around the abyssal prison," Ran explained from behind.

“Ghost guards...?”

“I only learned about them after entering this place. They took prisoners on death row, cut their bodies in half, and turned one half into ghost guards. Most ghost guards only follow simple commands... but the elite ghost guards can think like humans.”

That meant they were half ghosts.

“They can only function fully in the absence of light.”

“So, they can see in the dark?”

“No. Their upper body is still human, so it seems they don't have any special vision in the dark. They just memorized the paths. Hence, they become useless if they leave certain areas.”

It sounded like a territorial ghost concept. Ultimately, they had to stay nearby.

“I’m hesitant to tell you this as a follower of the goddess... but...”

“?”

“If you don't destroy their vital point in one go, they'll get back up. You need to double-check if they’re dead.”

Following his advice, Almond checked again with his blade.

“... He's definitely dead.”

“You're lucky, but what about the ones who come next?”

“Next?”

“There are at least twenty ghost guards. They can't follow you into the light. You should escape quickly.”

Twenty? Almond spoke after a quick calculation, “That’s not a lot. Why should I run?”

— Kya

— Ran’s gonna fall in love

— Not a big deal for Almond.

— Is there a kissing scene here?!

Ran was surprised and asked, “Sorry...?”

“Can you sense where these ghost soldiers are?”

“You should escape—”

“Just answer the question. We don't know when they'll come.”

“'I can feel them, but will words be enough?”

“Just tell me if something is approaching.”

“...”

Ran warned after a moment of concentration, “... They're coming. From the front. Two of them, and they seem less intelligent.”

“What are their weapons?”

“I can't sense that well...”

“Do they use bows?”

“They don’t. As I said, their intelligence is...”

“Got it.”

Almond placed the bow on his back and gripped his sword while thinking, '... I can feel it when wielding a weapon.'

He realized their weapons were limited to close combat and knew how to clear the threats. He closed his eyes and heightened his senses to the max.

Swoosh...

The sounds grew clearer.

‘Here.’

Almond positioned his sword strategically in anticipation of the enemies.

Kaaang...!

As metal clashed, sparks flew, revealing the ghost guard’s grotesque face.

Almond kicked upward.

Thud!

The ghost guard flew back.

Almond took a step back using the recoil.

Slam!

At that spot, another ghost guard swung its flail.

‘Over there.’

Thanks to the sparks, it became easier for Almond to aim.

Paang!

An arrow quickly flew out.

The arrow perfectly pierced the first guard’s head who swung the mace.

Thwack!

It was a bullseye.

‘Next.’

Almond still had to take care of the guard with the flail, but his vision became obstructed again. His only choice was to clash blades and use the sparks to find its location.

‘These guys don’t even shout?’

The first guard he met had talked, but these ghost guards made no noise. Were they hiding themselves on purpose?

As he was thinking that...

Charr...!

He could hear the flail being dragged on the ground. As a result, Almond drew his bow.

‘Around here.’

He adjusted his aim, using the earlier guard’s height as reference, and released an arrow toward the head. The tightly drawn bowstring let loose as the arrow flew out...

Thwack!

It landed perfectly on the guard’s head.

Kwang!

He could hear the guard falling along with the flail.

“More are coming! Three of them.”

“Where are they approximately at?”

“F-From the front!”

Almond decisively threw his sword.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

The loud noise of the flying blade, followed by a clash, revealed the silhouettes of three enemies.

Kaang!

‘It worked in one try.’

Feeling lucky, Almond thought he had an opportunity.

He released three arrows in quick succession.

Pang! Pang! Pang!

— ???

— This is possible?

— Damn...

— Wow

Kwadangtang...!

The ghostly guards fell in succession. Even as they fell, they didn’t scream. They were stubborn creatures.

"Two are coming from the right! Probably at two o'clock from your position!"

Ran's senses became increasingly more accurate.

Almond had streamlined his own movements too. He quickly picked up and threw an enemy mace in the direction that Ran mentioned.

Swoosh!

Sparks flew as it collided with the enemy's weapon.

Twang...!

Almond pinpointed their location. With a mechanical sound, he swiftly drew two arrows at once.

Swoosh!

Two arrows flew side by side.

Thud!

The enemy loudly fell, and the sound of something being pierced could be heard.

Another set of loud noises rang out.

Kwagwang...!

"Ten o'clock!"

"Twelve o'clock!"

"Three o'clock!"

Afterward, Ran continually informed Almond of their rough positions. Almond repeatedly threw the fallen weapons to confirm the exact location and shot his arrows.

His precision and speed were indistinguishable from a machine.

The abyssal prison grew noisy for a while with a series of loud thuds and crashes. The situation would have turned out the same if someone made a machine to kill these ghostly guards.

Slam...!

Kwagwang!!

Crash!

After another enemy fell, Almond reached for his quiver and awkwardly grasped at thin air.

‘The arrows...’

He only had one arrow remaining. If more guards came, he would have to fight them using a sword.

“... Are there any more?”

Ran swallowed hard.

"Who... who are you?"

"Seems like there are none left."

Almond seemed to understand Ran's words of admiration and approached the fallen guards to search their pockets. Apparently, he wasn't very impressed by his own actions.

— Wow, he’s insane

— D-Damn. He kills them just like this?!

— It’s not supposed to play out this way...

As Almond searched the bodies, the viewers busily admired his skills of continuously piercing the unseen enemies' heads.

‘It's hard to search them without seeing anything.’

The weight of the bodies made them difficult to search. Moreover, Almond simply had to feel around. Some of the tactile sensations also felt unpleasant, but...

“!”

He felt a small metal object.

‘It's a key.’

He found a key. Naturally, these guards oversaw this prison.

"I found the key."

— Congrats

— Kya~

— Almond wants compliments?

— Didn’t you say you weren’t looking at the chat? You’re giving us a minute-by-minute update.

Now that he had the key, he could immediately help Ran escape. Almond promptly ran to the prison bars and started feeling around.

Clink. Clink.

Finding where to insert the key wasn't difficult. By touch alone, he found the hefty locking mechanism right in the center of the bars.

Thud... Click...

However, the key wouldn't fit no matter how much he tried.

"What... What's this?"

"Why... are you doing that?"

"The key won't go in."

"... It seems to be the wrong key."

Another key? The guards who were guarding Ran had this key. What could this possibly mean if this wasn't the key for Ran's cell?

'Are there more?'

He had to search the guards' clothes again. Looking around, only pitch-black darkness surrounded him. Remembering where each guard was seemed impossible.

"Ran. Is there no way to light a fire?"

"The... the guards... hate fire so... such a method is... Cough! Cough!"

Ran dryly coughed and his voice became even more hoarse.

'Did I make him talk too much?'

It seemed asking for information made him talk too much.

'What to do?'

Even if Almond found a key, he couldn't see the keyhole. Regardless, he needed fire. Was there a way to light a fire here?

'Should I go up and come back down?'

Would he have to go up and bring a torch? No way.

Without Ran, dealing with the guards wasn't easy. Knowing their location in advance made his reaction time almost twice as fast. Since Ran warned him in advance, he could perfectly deflect or mislead the guards with the slight sound of wind. It was hard to guarantee that he wouldn’t be ambushed.

'Let's try this at least.'

Almond scratched the floor with his sword, creating sparks to briefly check the corpses.

'Ah!'

Thump.

He slapped his own head in frustration.

“This was the fire!”

The fire he had been wanting was right here. He cut off a piece of his robe and used the sword as flint to ignite it.

Spark!

The flames leaped and instantly caught on it. He thought he'd have to do it ten times, but it ignited easily. Clearly, the cloth was made for this.

Almond proudly looked at the chat window.

??— Wow, he finally does it.

— Sigh, he's just realizing this now? Lol.

— He's crazy. Lol.

— What's with these mixed nuts? Almonds are sweet, but walnuts are too bitter.

The reactions were strange.

Why was he only lighting a fire now? Was he that late? He realized it after only one attempt with the key.

Almond thought he'd be praised for his intelligence, so he became a bit sullen.

"Did I take too long to light a fire?"

— Lol, he defeated all the guards without doing that.

— Idiot, you were supposed to defeat the guards with that.

— Originally, you defeat the guards with fire.

— Just shining the fire is a one-shot.

— He defeated them all by hand. Lol.

So that was how it was supposed to go.

"Ah... Was I supposed to kill them with this?"