Chapter 107…
I raised my left arm toward the sky.
The custom artifact reacted immediately.
The small, cube-shaped metal object that Julie Pearson had given me began to transform in an instant.
‘What a strange feeling…’
Clack—clack—clack—
The sound of mechanical gears interlocking echoed repeatedly.
With metallic clicks, the cube disassembled and crawled up my left arm like a living creature.
The cold metal wrapped around my skin, spreading from my wrist to my shoulder.
‘So this is my personal artifact…?’
The moment the armor fully covered my left arm,
A beautifully curved longbow appeared in my left hand.
At the same time, a heavy weight tugged at my waist.
A mechanical quiver filled with dozens of arrows had attached itself there.
‘Sorry, senior, that my first fight with this isn’t against the cultists.
But don’t worry—I’ll still keep “that promise.”’
In that moment, the memory of Julie Pearson surfaced.
In my mind, she had been practically giddy as she explained how the artifact was meant to be used.
— I named them simply: the Judgment Bow and the Fury Quiver.
— My wish is that you use your anger as arrows to judge the Church of Defiance.
Yes. I had promised her that I would bring judgment upon the cult.
But standing before me now weren’t cultists.
They were the scum of the Raider Guild Alliance.
‘Senior, I’m sure you’ll understand. These bastards are trash all the same…’
Tok—
An arrow popped out of the Fury Quiver automatically.
I grabbed it lightly and placed it on the bowstring.
Craaack—
A red aura gathered at the arrowhead.
Wrath.
The anger long dormant within me seeped into the arrow.
‘If they’re attacking right now… that means they did the same thing in the previous timeline too.’
Anger toward human pests.
Toward vermin who helped accelerate Earth’s collapse.
All of those emotions condensed into the arrowhead.
I fired the first shot.
Fweeeeee—!!
“……!!”
“Aaaargh!”
The arrow tore through the air and erased the shoulder of a raider near the hostages.
Like he’d been hit by an anti-materiel sniper rifle.
Second shot, third shot, fourth shot.
I fired endlessly like a machine.
The sequence—arrow supplied automatically, grab, nock, aim, release—felt as natural as breathing.
Ding! Ding!
[Warrior Liu Yang (Lv.56) has been killed.]
[Wizard Sun Lei (Lv.48) has been killed.]
[Monk Song Tao (Lv.71) has been killed.]
[Warrior Ma Xiao (Lv.69) has been killed.]
[Thief Tan Ping (Lv.63) has been—]
Before even a hundred raiders could get close to me, they were cold corpses.
The system notifications rang out—gratifying and annoying all at once.
Ding! Ding!
[Skill “Talent Devour” consumes a talent. (111/500)]
[Skill “Talent Devour” consumes a talent. (112/500)]
[Skill “Talent Devour” consumes a talent. (113/500)]
[Skill “Talent Devour” consumes a talent. (114/500)]
[Skill “Talent Devour” is—]
“W-What is that guy?!”
“Where did he come from?!”
“An archer! Take cover!”
The raiders screamed in panic.
But it was too late.
I was already moving to the next phase.
“Guys.”
At my call, three lights burst open in the air.
Gary, Freki, and Seongsik.
“Woof! Woof!”
“Awooooo!!”
“Master angry? Me angry too!”
But even they weren’t enough.
There were simply too many enemies.
To shatter their morale, I needed to crush them outright—with overwhelming force.
“So they never dare come back.”
“Roar of the Crimson Spear.”
I summoned the last beast I had tamed recently—
The one I had summoned earlier at the training grounds.
Krrrrrrrm—
The earth trembled as a massive fissure tore open.
From within it rose a giant centaur, the size of a small house.
A towering half-man, half-horse with a telephone-pole-sized crimson spear in one hand, and a crimson mane whipping behind him.
“A battlefield! Master, is today the day I can finally kill them all?!”
“Yes.”
“Hahaha! Delightful!”
His roar shook the battlefield.
Without hesitation, I climbed onto his back.
His powerful back muscles held me easily.
“Let’s go.”
Hiiiiiiing—!
At a single word, the Crimson Spear raised his front legs high—
And slammed them into the ground.
“It feels good to run like this again!”
He charged at the raiders with impossible speed for his massive size.
With Gary, Freki, and Seongsik leading the tip, our formation formed a perfect spearhead as we stormed the enemy ranks.
Ding!
[“Crimson Spear” activates skill: “Berserk Breakthrough Lv.1 (S).”]
[Berserk Breakthrough]
— Rank: S
— Level: 1
— Info: The Crimson Spear unleashes madness and charges in a straight line.
Inflicts bleeding and AoE damage along the line, and grants damage and movement-speed buffs to allied rider and mount.
Thundududududududu—!
We thundered across the plains.
The raider army rushed forward to block us, but—
“Aaargh!”
“Guhhh—!”
“Please! Spare me!”
They were shredded like paper beneath our charge.
We split through their ranks and penetrated deep inside.
I didn’t look back.
Because directly ahead, on the straight line of our charge, stood their leader—Jin Guk-sal.
“H-Hey! Move! Block them, you idiots!”
Jin Guk-sal shrieked at his subordinates.
“Fire that! Hurry, fire that! NOW!!”
The moment he said that, I understood.
They were the preparations meant for Joo Gun-ryul.
So I kicked the Crimson Spear in the abdomen.
“Head there. Right now.”
“Aha! Going straight for the leader? Leave it to me!”
BOOOOM—!
He launched into the air in an arc, leaping over hundreds of soldiers.
The moment he landed, he swung his enormous spear vertically.
“Guhk—!”
Jin Guk-sal tried to block with his axe, but it was useless.
Both he and his axe were split cleanly in half.
He died without ever using the trump card he’d prepared.
Or maybe it wasn’t him who prepared it… but someone else entirely.
Ding! Ding!
[Warrior Jin Guk-sal (Lv.106) has been killed.]
[Skills “Talent Devour” and “Talent Theft” activate.]
[Conditions met — You have acquired one C-rank talent.]
The Crimson Spear did not stop.
THUD—!
He stomped on three raiders guarding Jin Guk-sal, crushing them instantly.
“Aaaargh!!”
“T-The leader!!”
“R-Run! RUN!!”
The raiders’ morale collapsed instantly.
But this was only the beginning.
Gary and Freki began the slaughter.
Like expert hunters, they reaped lives with terrifying speed.
“Kuwaaaah!!”
“Ghk—”
“G-ggrrrk…”
Frost and flame.
The battlefield itself changed under their presence.
“ME BREAK THEM!”
And Seongsik…
He was simply a disaster given form.
For the raiders, he was a medieval foot soldier trying to fight a modern tank.
“Hahahaha! The smell of blood and metal! Now this is war!”
“Keep it down and fight properly.”
“Haha! Master, you have no romance!”
Fweee— fweeee—!
Meanwhile, I kept firing arrows relentlessly.
My targets were the command-class players.
I sniped them one by one—
Especially the Wizards providing firepower, and the Clerics providing healing.
“Stop him!”
“Kill the archer first!”
The raiders swarmed me—
But the Crimson Spear blocked them.
“Is this a duel?! I accept!”
He swung his spear horizontally.
The rotating blade carved a massive arc, slicing the raiders approaching us cleanly in half.
Blood and organs burst in every direction.
“Th-This is impossible…”
“M-Monsters! They’re all monsters!”
“T-This is hell… We need to run!!”
The raider guild army completely fell apart.
Scattered. Broken. Destroyed.
The Raider Guild Alliance was annihilated.
WAAAAAAAH—!!
The Chunsun Guild members watching from the fortress wall erupted into cheers.
A scene that would be disturbing if this were Korea—
But here, where strength is law, survival meant celebration.
‘I guess they’re celebrating because their chances of survival just skyrocketed.’
I petted each of my beasts one by one and sent them back to their nest.
A sudden, massive battle—
But we overcame it safely.
Of course, Gary, Freki, and Seongsik helped tremendously.
But the biggest contribution came from this guy—
“You. Keep your mouth shut in front of people.”
“Ahaha! Yes, Master.”
The Crimson Spear was a beast whose true strength only shined in battlefields—
A creature built for war, not skirmishes.
His potential and his skills showed that clearly.
“Woojin, let’s go.”
“…Okay, hyung.”
I pulled the dazed Nam Woojin onto my back and headed toward the fortress.
The great gate stood wide open, welcoming us.
Clop—clop—clop—
Hoofbeats announcing victory.
Hearing the sound, several people ran out from inside the fortress.
The hostages whom Woojin and I had saved.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
“You saved us…”
“Teacher Kang, how could we ever repay you…”
Their eyes were filled with genuine gratitude.
I simply nodded.
I hadn’t saved them for thanks, but… it didn’t feel bad.
“I didn’t do it for praise. Hurry inside.”
Together, we entered through the gates.
Inside, both sides of the path were lined with Chunsun Guild members.
Clap, clap, clap, clap—!!
They applauded in unison.
The sound echoed like a wave.
The six guild members who had mocked me earlier and challenged me to duels—
Even they looked moved as they clapped for me.
And at the end of the line stood—
“……”
“……”
“……”
Joo Gun-ryul, his young daughter, and Vice-Guildmaster Jegal Sang.
The first to move was Joo Gun-ryul’s daughter, who sprinted on her tiny legs and hugged my leg tightly.
“Uncle, thank you!”
“Ahem… Yes. If anything happens, just ask this uncle, okay?”
“Yes!”
Her adorable smile made my lips curl upward without thinking.
Next, Jegal Sang approached me.
The man behind the Chunsun Guild’s hazing.
He bowed deeply.
“I sincerely apologize for my rudeness.”
“…Rudeness?”
Of course I knew what he meant, but I pretended not to.
It wasn’t the right place to bring it up.
But Jegal Sang seemed determined to get everything off his chest.
“All the… ‘events’ today were caused by my own unilateral actions. I will take full responsibility. Please forgive the guild members.”
“……”
I looked at Joo Gun-ryul, who gestured slightly as if telling me, Handle it as you wish.
‘Me? You want ME to settle this…?’
Normally, this would be settled by the guildmaster himself.
Even if Jegal Sang was the vice-guildmaster, admitting he used guild members for personal reasons was a big deal.
But Joo Gun-ryul was entrusting the aftermath to me.
‘So the two of them already talked it out.’
They had reached an agreement.
Joo Gun-ryul wanted to give me authority—
In front of all guild members.
‘Makes sense. It’ll make things smoother when we raid the Red Gate.’
In the Red Gate, I would inevitably become the central figure.
Unexpected Mage Tower ambushes…
Mage Tower traps…
Mage Tower disasters…
Basically, Mage Tower problems.
If guild members refused to listen to me, the Chunsun Guild would suffer the consequences.
Joo Gun-ryul wanted to prevent that.
Even at the cost of slightly damaging his own authority.
It was arrogant—yet benevolent.
‘He’s willing to let his authority take a hit to protect his guild.’
That alone proved his generosity.
And arrogant, because—
‘He’s confident this won’t hurt him at all…’
I glanced at Joo Gun-ryul, who was smiling kindly.
The confidence of a true leader—
That this small incident wouldn’t dent his leadership at all.
Arrogant, yet admirable.
‘Hmm… Now how should I resolve this?’
Since he trusted me with this, I needed to do it properly.
But simply forgiving Jegal Sang wouldn’t look good for me either.
I needed compensation.
And then the right idea came.
“I accept Vice-Guildmaster Jegal Sang’s sincere apology. After seeing those raiders earlier, I can understand your behavior to some extent.”
It was true.
China today was like Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
The government was a weak class president.
Regional guilds were the delinquents who actually ruled.
Under such circumstances, who could afford to be generous?
Jegal Sang seemed to understand what I meant, bowing again.
“Thank you for your forgiveness—”
“But!”
He raised his head, startled.
I smiled.
“I’d like to forgive you easily… but as the Monster Guildmaster, I have my pride.”
“Understandable.”
“So I’ll ask for one favor.”
“Items, relics, funds—say the word, and I’ll prepare anything.”
He practically offered his liver and gallbladder.
But I didn’t need those.
I could get them on my own eventually.
What I needed from him wasn’t material.
“Vice-Guildmaster… you’re quite the well-known shaman, aren’t you?”
“Eh? Oh… yes, I suppose you could say that—”
