CH 27

Chapter 27. Gaslighting (1)

Translator: Aura

Thousand-Faced Monster. This boss had a peculiar curse, which was easy to explain.

You will lose your face if the monster touches you.

Despite how simple it may sound, the effects of the curse were terrible.

The reason is that once the nose and mouth disappear, the individual can no longer breathe.

“Mmph, mmmph.”

Just then, a knight who was in an initial period of probation was struck by a hand from the ‘Thousand-Faced Monster’ and his face disappeared.

He was unable to speak because he had no mouth, so only guttural sounds came out. He then ran his hands over his empty face and fell dead.

Unless a disenchanter was here, there was no way to survive.

“Charge!”

But unlike the rookie knight, Velokin and the other knights were confident of victory.

While the ‘Thousand-Faced Monster’ was strong compared to a normal three-star boss, it should be no match for Velokin and the intermediate level knights.

“Grawrrr!”

An entire arm of the ‘Thousand-Faced Monster’ was burned by Velokin’s ‘Ignition’.

Covered in flames that seemed inextinguishable, the monster raged and waved its arms wildly.

The strength of its arms was such that it could crush a person’s body.

Even intermediate level expert knights couldn’t stop its attack directly, so they rushed to slip backwards through the swamp to avoid it.

Thump!

However, Velokin couldn’t be compared to them.

He not only blocked a hand from the monster head on, but also hurt it.

Velokin’s sword pierced the staggering monster’s hand and it burst into flames once more.

Sizzly!

“Don’t back down! I’ll break through!”

The knights’ morale rose once more at such impressive bravery.

And in their hearts, their veneration for the Valheim Family went up another notch.

The idea that even the erosion of the world, the greatest danger to mankind, could be prevented with Valheim’s help flooded their minds.

“Follow Velokin!”

The knights raised their voices and charged at the monster.

As soon as Velokin saw this, his self-esteem shot up.

‘This is how it must be. I’m Velokin Valheim!’

The moment a proud smile appeared on his face, Krasue suddenly came to Velokin’s mind.

He didn’t see him anywhere among the knights.

‘Did the monster kill him?’

If so, for him the mission had been a greater success than expected.

However, he soon clicked his tongue as he spotted Krasue in the distance.

Still, as long as Krasue felt the difference in power between him and them, as long as he trembled in fear at the erosion of the world, for him it would be a success.

But Velokin did not see that Krasue was trembling with fear.

He was just staring somewhere. And not precisely to him.

‘What is it? What the hell is he staring at?’

These questions briefly passed through Velokin’s mind.

Drip!

Velokin quickly turned his head at the sound. In that instant, what was reflected in his eyes caused his body to stiffen.

Black blood shot out of all the orifices on the monster’s faces at the same time.

Velokin immediately realized that something was wrong, so he nimbly dodged the drops of blood.

Crackle!

When he wanted to distance himself, black sparks ran all over the monster’s body.

Velokin was shocked at such an anomaly that he had never seen before.

He felt that he couldn’t let the monster live any longer, so he immediately raised his sword.

“Kill the ‘Thousand-Faced Monster’ right now!”

Once Velokin ordered the knights, he quickly charged at the monster with his sword.

‘Damn it!’

However, his sword was unable to pierce the monster’s body, which had turned pitch black.

He was sure that he had infused his aura into his sword, but he couldn’t cut it.

Velokin was taken aback as he watched the creature’s body slowly expand. A moment later, he realized that the knights that were supposed to follow him had not attacked.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

When he turned his head back to ask the knights if they were afraid, he saw them all there with empty faces.

“What?!”

Suddenly, he discovered that he had lost vision in one eye. He quickly fumbled for his eye, but only touched skin where it should be.

The moment he came to the conclusion that he had been cursed at some point, a pitch-black shadow loomed over Velokin’s head.

With his single eye, he looked up. There was the monster, which was incomparably bigger than before. It was staring at Velokin with its arms slightly outstretched.

CRACK!

Thunder sounded.

Then the most prominent face of the monster was split in two.

Right there appeared a much larger face, with pure white teeth and a long, snake-like tongue.

“Grrraaaaawwwrrrrrr!”

The swamp shook violently at the explosive roar.

The roar was followed by a downpour.

Velokin fell into despair. He did not see it possible to deal with this boss of the erosion of the world.

“Oh, my!”

Velokin stomped on the ground and broke into a run.

The torrential rain caused the level of the swamp to rise and was soon up to his knees, but now was no time to worry about that.

‘I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!’

These kinds of thoughts flooded his mind.

Perhaps because of the lack of vision in one eye, Velokin’s sense of balance had been affected. He was staggering as he ran.

Certainly when he entered the path to the boss seemed short, but now he couldn’t see the end of this swamp no matter how far he advanced.

The incessant rain frequently clouded his vision.

The muddy swamp slowed his steps.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Meanwhile, the monster was chasing him. He felt an increasing tightness in his chest at the sound of its footsteps behind him.

Amid the erosion of the world, Velokin felt infinitely small. Several thoughts went through his mind.

‘I’m Velokin, born in Valheim, the most powerful family in the Staron Kingdom. But what the hell does that matter now?’

All the knights that came with him lost in an instant, and now he was running away like crazy, scared by the boss of the erosion of the world.

Neither more nor less than a Valheim.

‘I’ve no doubt, I’ve no doubt that we are the most powerful. So I, as a member of Valheim, should be among the strongest. This shouldn’t, shouldn’t have happened.’

Just then, Charlotte appeared vividly in his mind.

His half-sister. The Star of Staron with unmatched talent.

‘What would she have done in this situation? Would she have run away like me? Would she have single-handedly faced that monster and defeated it?’

He was afraid. If he came back like this, he didn’t know what kind of reprimand he would receive from his family.

Besides, he knew that the distance between him and Charlotte, whom he couldn’t reach no matter how hard he tried, would widen even further.

He was afraid that his position in the Valheim Family would soon disappear and that he would be remembered as a dunce who could never surpass his half-sister, whom he was three years older than.

He was afraid that he would not be able to keep the promise he had made to his late mother as a child: I’ll become a great man.

At that moment, a shadow loomed over his head again.

Velokin’s steps had slowed even more since the swamp was now up to his waist. As a result, the monster soon caught up with him.

When he finally noticed, he hurriedly raised his sword.

The monster’s arms, much larger than his body, reached up into the sky.

“Ah.”

The instant a slight surprise left Velokin’s mouth, the monster’s arms descended on him, crushing the swamp.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The swamp water rose into the sky. The swamp churned violently with waves for a while.

However, there was no trace of Velokin on the site.

There was only stillness, as the torrential rain filled the spaces where someone passed.