The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 25

Miniature forest keepers born from the fruit scattered everywhere.

They may be called ‘mini’, but their actual size is a head taller than the average adult man.

Forest Keeper, Phase 2.

This is the resurrection pattern of the forest keeper.

If you fail to defeat all the forest keepers born from the fruit within the given time, the forest keeper returns to Phase 1.

This is practically considered a failed strategy against the forest keeper.

The party that already exhausted their energy during Phase 1 wouldn’t be able to defeat the forest keeper again.

Therefore, the Phase 2 resurrection pattern must be stopped.

“Listen up, everyone.”

I pointed at each fallen fruit.

“The more forest keepers we defeat, the stronger the remaining ones become. So, we’ll prioritize taking out the ones on the outskirts first, and then together we’ll hit the one in the center at the end.”

Given the urgency of the situation, I kept the explanation short and to the point.

Everyone nodded, understanding clearly.

“Poara, focus on healing for now. There will be a moment when we’ll need to fire again. The Saint, too.”

“Yes!”

“Understood.”

The rest of the forest keepers would have to be dealt with by me, Seron, and Aisha.

“Sweet Potato, how do you know so much about fighting an apostle you’ve never seen before?”

Seron gripped her axe and asked me.

Is she really curious about that now?

“I studied.”

It’s best to be shameless in moments like this.

“…I went to the academy too and studied, but I have no idea about this.”

“Then, you probably studied less.”

Before Seron could get annoyed, I charged ahead.

The battle had already been going on long enough for a lot of gray zones to appear.

Stepping on them would cause massive health loss, so I had to run carefully.

The reason I told them to clear the outskirts first was because of these gray zones.

If we started from the inside and the forest keeper fled inward, it would be a huge headache.

Fortunately, everyone understood this without needing further explanation.

In the distance, Aisha and Seron began to ambush the forest keeper.

Aisha was obviously skilled, and though Seron grumbled, her abilities were top-notch as well.

Seeing the two of them face off with the forest keeper, I looked up.

I saw the forest keeper, swaying the vines extending from its body.

It had four sturdy legs and two arms, with vines wrapped around its entire body.

The vines were poisonous, and if touched, they would melt the skin.

Whoosh!

Slash!

But for me, with my steel skin, that wasn’t an issue.

I cut through the flying vines with the edge of my hand and grabbed my shield.

Boom!

At that moment, a rock projectile fired from the vines slammed against my shield.

This was the basic pattern of the forest keeper: attack with poisonous vines, followed by rock projectiles.

The forest keeper was moving exactly as I remembered.

So, we just needed to proceed with the strategy as planned.

I took a deep breath.

I moved my body to ensure no mistakes came from stiff muscles.

This was my first real battle.

I would face countless apostles to prevent a bad ending.

This fight was the first step in my many battles with them.

‘To be honest.’

I’m scared too.

I’m charging straight toward a monster a head taller than me.

This pressure is nothing like the mock battles.

During the mock battles, professors and assistants who could save my life were everywhere.

But now, this is real combat.

There’s no one here to save me.

You have to protect your own life.

This is the Demonic Palace.

That’s why, more than ever, I can’t afford to be afraid.

Fear shrinks your muscles, narrows your vision, and throws your mind into panic.

Be bolder.

Be more precise.

Think of every strategy that can take down the apostle and win.

I sliced through another flying vine with the edge of my hand.

My shield blocked the rock projectiles.

Now, the forest keeper and I were just two meters apart.

The forest keeper, realizing the shrinking distance between us, stopped swinging its vines.

Instead, it swung its muscular arms, reminiscent of a gorilla.

Attached to its arms were huge axe-like blades.

Even I would take a fatal blow if those connected.

As I was charging forward, I suddenly dropped low.

All those endless training sessions with Aisha weren’t for nothing.

With my legs extended skillfully, the forest keeper’s arm barely grazed the top of my lowered head.

I had dodged the first close-range attack.

But I didn’t let my guard down there.

‘One more.’

Bang!

There was a bursting sound from the tip of the forest keeper’s arm.

It was the sound of an exploding thermal fruit attached to its arm.

As the thermal fruit exploded, the forest keeper’s arm came at me again, this time even more fiercely.

This was the double-hit pattern, where it strikes again even after the first attack is dodged.

Its massive arm, larger than my head, was coming straight at me.

I pushed off the ground with my already forward-moving stance.

Boom!

Since the forest keeper’s arm was targeting my lowered position, it swung low.

I dodged with a leap and stomped down on the forest keeper’s shoulder, which was right in front of me.

Then, I clenched my hand.

The forest keeper’s head stared at me stupidly.

It realized it had made a mistake, but it was too late.

Crack!

With all my strength, my hand pierced into the forest keeper’s head.

My hand broke through its thick outer skin and dug inside.

A nasty, unsettling sensation came from within.

Without hesitation, I twisted my hand, stirring the inside of the forest keeper’s head, then pulled my hand out.

My hand was drenched with purple blood and brain matter.

There was no time to be disgusted.

I kicked off the collapsing forest keeper and landed on the ground, avoiding the gray zones.

“Whew.”

I exhaled a short breath.

I was grateful for Vikarmern’s body.

If I hadn’t had this body, which was so agile, I wouldn’t have been able to pull off what I had in mind.

Of course, I had prepared a backup plan in case I made a mistake.

So that’s why I was able to move without fear.

Always be prepared for anything.

‘Now there’s only one left.’

But there are still plenty of forest keepers remaining.

There’s no time to stop.

Keep going.

* * *

Thanks to the efforts of Aisha, Seron, and me, the number of forest keepers born from the fruit was rapidly decreasing.

But as we passed the halfway mark, the pace started slowing down.

As mentioned earlier, the resurrection pattern of the forest keeper means that the fewer forest keepers remain, the stronger they get.

So, as we reached the halfway point, it took longer and longer to deal with forest keepers that were now twice as strong as before.

Their attack patterns were becoming more varied.

The final forest keeper we face will use all of these patterns.

It was good to get a feel for them during the battle.

“Huff, hey, don’t you guys ever get tired!?”

Seron, who had just taken down a forest keeper with his explosive axe, yelled at Aisha and me.

If she still had the energy to shout, I wished she’d put a bit more effort in.

Aisha and I, unfazed, ran toward the next forest keeper.

“Compared to our daily endurance training…”

“This is easy.”

Aisha started, and I followed up.

I had gotten stronger thanks to the endless hellish training with Aisha.

And of course, Aisha, who designed the training regimen, was even more formidable.

“Hmm, maybe I should start calling you the Iron Hand and the Iron Greatsword.”

Sirmiel, watching us from a distance, smiled kindly.

At this rate, we might really end up with those nicknames.

“Hey, the roots are moving again!”

Right then, Poara pointed to the roots above, hidden by dark clouds.

Just as he said, the roots started moving again.

It was a sign that the resurrection phase was progressing.

‘This is tighter than I thought.’

Avoiding the gray zones while fighting the forest keepers was taking more time than I had expected.

Unlike in a game, this is reality.

Focusing on the ground while dealing with the forest keepers divided my attention too much, eating up a lot of time.

‘Maybe I should’ve saved some of Poara’s firepower.’

Instead of risking injuries in Phase 1, I had used the trump card, the Spirit Lord. But this resurrection phase was proving to be more of a headache than I anticipated.

“Seron, no time to rest! Get up and take down another one!”

“Ugh, I know!”

Despite groaning, Seron got up and ran toward another forest keeper.

“Hey.”

Meanwhile, Aisha had quietly approached.

“At this rate, we’ll be too late, won’t we?”

“…Yeah, if we’re not careful, we might not make it in time.”

Aisha nodded.

“The main reason we’re falling behind in taking down the apostle is because of the gray zones, right?”

She was right.

Defeating the forest keepers themselves wasn’t particularly difficult.

But avoiding the gray zones underfoot was taking too much time.

“Just once.”

Aisha tightly gripped her greatsword.

“I can make sure you don’t have to worry about the gray zones. What do you think? Can you handle it in that time?”

My eyes slowly opened.

I realized what Aisha was planning.

“Leave it to me.”

I immediately moved away from Aisha and ran towards Poara.

Meanwhile, Aisha crouched lower with her greatsword in hand.

At that moment, I grabbed Seron, who had just taken down a forest keeper.

“Hey, hey, what are you doing!?”

“Poara! Can you send a low-level wind spirit to me?”

“Y-Yes, I can do that much!”

Ignoring Seron’s question, I shouted to Poara.

He quickly summoned a low-level wind spirit and attached it to my back.

The small, butterfly-like spirit fluttered its wings.

I then tossed Seron between Poara and Sirmiel.

“Saint, there’s about to be a gale.”

I looked back at Aisha, who was now crouched low.

“Can you avoid getting caught in it?”

“Of course.”

Sirmiel prepared a protection blessing while praying.

During this time, Aisha started spinning in her crouched position.

Whirr, whirr, whirr—

Her spinning speed gradually increased to an unbelievable rate.

Soon, wind began to whip up around Aisha, pulling everything toward her.

Even the forest keepers were lifted into the air, getting sucked in by the fierce wind.

“Are… are we sure she’s human like us?”

Seron looked pale as he watched the forest keepers being tossed around by the wind Aisha had summoned all by herself, without any help from the Spirit Lord.

Aisha was clearly beyond human.

But that’s what made her so reliable in this moment.

Sirmiel’s protective blessing settled over us.

Thanks to that, we weren’t swept away by the wind.

“Poara, get ready!”

With the blessing in place, I began running toward Aisha.

It’s coming.

The wind is coming.

Just as the violent wind swirled around Aisha, she lifted her massive greatsword over her head.

And with a powerful downward strike—

Boom!

A storm crashed into the ground.

Crack-rumble-rumble-rumble!

In an instant, the storm lifted everything from the ground into the air.

The forest keepers, unable to react, got tangled with each other and were swept up by Aisha’s wind.

Seeing this, I raised my hand in a chopping motion and shouted to Poara.

“Launch me!”

With my command, Poara used the wind spirit to fling me into the air.

My body shot upward.

But simply rushing in like this would be no different than crashing in like a steel bullet.

Right now, at this moment—

I had to become the bomb that would blow away all the forest keepers.

So, I activated the secret technique I had kept hidden until now.

On my skin, the magical inscriptions engraved by magic began to glow all at once.

Magic Inscription

This is a technique I learned from Sharin.

Normally, magic inscriptions are engraved on tools, not human skin.

But what is my skin?

It’s tougher than most armor, made of steel.

So, I engraved the magic inscriptions directly onto my skin.

By hiding the markings with bandages, no one could tell I had these magic inscriptions until I unleashed them.

My body heated up, and flames began to ignite.

This was the ultimate move I had prepared for a day like today.

The magic inscription I used was for explosion magic—

And Sharin had personally helped me engrave it.

‘I’m a human bomb.’

As my body reached the clustered forest keepers, it was enveloped in blinding light.

The forest keepers’ last-minute struggles were meaningless.

‘Take this.’

BOOOOOOM!

It was the moment an unprecedented explosion shook the first floor of the Gray Forest.