Resolution of Evan D. Sherden (2)

Four days passed since Evan and Serena’s engagement. Even in that period, Serena clung closely to Evan and wouldn’t let him go.

“Just a little more. I’ve warded off many other women from you and endured for so long; I have the right to be rewarded by Oppa.”

It was one morning that Serena uttered those words as she hugged Evan, who woke up and tried to return back to his duty from behind. Evan trembled as he felt the tender body on his back. It was immensely pleasurable, but it was time he got used to it.

“Ray, you…this is…ahem.”

As he turned back to look at Serena, Evan cleared his throat in an attempt to get himself together since he was lost in her dreamy image shining so bright with the sunlight gleaming from her naked body. Was this how the goddess of beauty would look? No, perhaps even the goddess fell behind Serena.

“I’m sorry about that, but I have to get to work.”

“No way.”

This was a mere reaction from engagement, so Evan started to worry to the extent which things would go if they were married. Indeed, it was true that Evan made her disappointed, and she endured it all for a long time, so her actions were understandable…

‘It can’t be helped then.’

Evan hugged Serena softly, who didn’t give him the chance to change his clothes, and asked.

“Okay, all right. Until when shall we do this?”

“…”

Serena closed her eyes and hugged him, feeling every inch before she spoke with a settled voice.

“I’ll take you for myself only until this afternoon.”

“Would that suffice?”

“Yes. Besides, others won’t wait and might barge in at any time.”

Her true intentions were revealed with the last statement. Evan smiled a bit and kissed her.

“All right, then in the meantime, let’s enjoy this mood.”

“Oppa…I like you.”

“I know.”

Since a few years ago, she had been straightforward with her feelings, so there’s no way he wouldn’t notice. He tickled Serena’s lips as she giggled because of his words, then he threw her onto the bed. As soon as noon passed by, Belois and Arisha barged in, so he thought once more that a woman’s sense shouldn’t be ignored.

“Master, a message from Mr. Bernard. He said that the seeker is now finally completed.”

Serena barely allowed him to go. After washing himself clean and having lunch, he was in the middle of doing his duty at the office when Shine came over to relay a message.

“He said he reinforced it to perfection with the ingredients you brought…”

“Uhmm…your timing is just remarkable. All right. If that’s the case, I have to see it myself. Let’s go.”

It referred to the ‘seeking device for rift monsters,’ which Bernard used Dragon’s Blood as an ingredient to make. The trial product had already come out before, but with its bad accuracy, Evan felt the need for another whenever he moved when the seeker reacted for the last few months.

‘Lucky that a few of them were jackpots.’

There was the Goblin with a tremendously giant horn and a harpy that could cover an entire village with just one wing. Anyways, the monsters of the new generation were just unmanageable. And thanks to them, the chefs who had to cook the monster meat experienced hell. Well, it seemed like the person concerned was rather enjoying it.

“So, you’re here?”

“Grandpa.”

Bernard greeted Evan with a quizzical expression as he entered the pharmacy. Surprisingly, Evan had a hunch on what he was trying to say just by looking at his face.

“Well, it seems like you should have a child soon.”

“I haven’t gotten married yet. And I’m using the contraceptives well, too.”

“Birth control only succeeds when both sides agree.”

“Stop it, Grandpa. Not that horrifyingly vivid story…!”

Bernard laughed as Evan covered his ears and screamed. On one side, he was feeling melancholic thinking about when the childish Evan grew up.

“Take good care of all of them. They have been looking after you all this time.”

“…Well, since it was coming from you, Grandpa, it’s quite ponderous.”

“You brat.”

Bernard, who quarreled with Evan for quite some time, noticed Shine’s stare, who was standing behind them, so he cleared his throat before he talked about the main subject.

“Evan, what do you think about the causal relationship?”

“Why are you talking about philosophy all of a sudden?”

“No, it just came to my mind that my approaches so far could have been wrong. If this rift appeared because of you, wouldn’t it be normal for some kind of reaction to happen to you as well at that moment? So, I investigated more.”

As Evan was listening and was thinking on action and counteraction, Bernard presented him with a crystal the size of an infant’s fist. Within it floated several crystals of various sizes, and its form was very mysterious.

“I researched the reaction of your genes with the genes of beings from the rifts which you’ve defeated so far. And based on the reactions of that experiment, I’ve applied your blood with the dragon’s and came up with this. I did go through troubles trying to separate the gene structure so that the dragon’s blood won’t react to yours.”

“So, the meaning behind the increased concentration is, you came up with several conditions that react to the rift, right? Then all I need to do is to accept the data and go find its intersections.”

“That’s it. And through that, I was able to find the exact locations of the rift. Well, I haven’t experimented on it yet, so I’m uncertain.”

There was no need for further explanation. Evan learned and trained with alchemy from Bernard. He took the seeker from Bernard, and there was a faint vibration as the seeker resonated with him.

“Indeed, it’s integrating with me in real-time. Wait, so this means I am the only one who can use it.”

“I’m not sure if it can track monsters without you…It can’t catch the timing when the rift appears. So just keep it with you always.”

“All right…hmm?”

As Evan was putting the seeker into his pocket, he felt it vibrate once more. Thinking just in case, he took it out just to see the jewel-like particles that were floating in the crystal intensely vibrating, and they ended up pointing in a specific direction.

“Wow.”

Bernard smiled with satisfaction as he spoke.

“Well, well, its functionality seems great.”

“What nice timing! Grandpa, I’ll be back soon!”

“Sure.”

“Shine, gather everyone who can go on an expedition!”

“Understood!”

The senior group was the fastest in gathering as they were always prepared for a situation like this. Well, as the scenario took firmer shape, the entire knights had to look lazy, so the only actual mission was to deal with the rift…!

“What about Arisha?”

“She’s busy with the spin-off scenario.”

“I told her there was no need, though.”

But it would be nice to have at least one Vice-Commander around just as an emergency. Evan headed straight for the city with seven people except for Arisha.

“Guess he’s going out again. Is it a picnic?”

“Who knows. Whenever he gathers the knights like this, it means there’s something ugly to be dealt with. It’s probably a battle.”

“What in the world is happening…?”

A strategy to frequently leave the city to make the villains careless and make the public sentiment fall into chaos! Then, preventing the innocent civilians from doubting Evan was important. As it had been a year since his inauguration as the Knight-Commander of Astray, Evan was more reliable than any other if he was in the city. He was trying to create an impression of a protagonist standing on an edge since he had so many things to take care of!

“Is this seeker newly made?”

“Grandpa said it’s going to be accurate this time…I see it!”

The seeker vibrated violently and pointed in a particular direction. Surprisingly, the party came across the ‘rift’ that had appeared in that area. A giant pitch-black hole appeared in the empty air. The sharp traces were stretched outward as if they were torn apart by a knife from the center, which made it clear that it definitely wasn’t created naturally…

“I guess it is accurate.”

Belois was moved by admiration as she checked out the seeker that Evan held in his hands. Several times now, she had encountered the monsters that sprung out from such a rift. For a while, she tried to research methods to predict or fix the rift with her witch powers, but she was nowhere near a solution. At best, she created a magic spell that detected strong monsters, just like the trial product previously produced from the dragon’s blood. Although it was said to have few trials and errors, such a product that actually could detect the creation of a rift was invented!

“It’s my first time actually to see it in its form.”

“Honestly, it’s been a while for me to see it too.…it wasn’t just because of the curse from commander Bidan. The seal couldn’t have been completed, and it will be broken one day.”

“Then why of all people am I involved with it? That’s the question here.”

“…”

As Mirole was talking while looking at the rift, she blankly stared at Evan and his complaints. For some reason, Evan felt that she was giggling.

“Huh, why?”

“Nothing, I just wondered if you enjoyed your night.”

“Pfft.”

“They’re coming!”

“Why of all timing does it have to be now?!”

The rift expanded massively, and a giant hand came out from within with grey skin covered in a rocky texture. Evan sensed it coming beforehand.

“It’s a demonic monster. Probably an ancient gargoyle.”

“Why does it have skin when it’s a gargoyle?”

“It’s harder than rock, so be alert.”

That was the real thing in a long time. Even during Yo-Ma Great War Zero, it was an outrageous monster that overwhelmed the Demon King without a sweat in terms of just combat ability, so it only appeared in the final stage of the scenario! Shine concentrated mana into his dual-wielding daggers while complaining that his abilities couldn’t be used to their maximum capabilities against large monsters.

“I’ll strike first.”

“Looking forward to it.”

Mirole made the first strike. After materializing her unique weaponry, she stacked the Wind Arrow several times, which then looked like a ballista instead of an arrow, and shot it; it destroyed the giant’s arm without leaving a trace!

“…Isn’t it over now?”

“No.”

Well, it would have been if that gargoyle were made from stones. Its main features contained the regenerative ability that gave Trolls a run for their money! To support that statement, two giant arms appeared right after, and they ruthlessly tore the rift apart!

―Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

“…What kind of a gargoyle looks like that? It’s a demon.”

“The ancient monsters from the demon realm look alike as they rank up.”

‘Should I take that as all sources become united in one form? No, that probably results from struggles the monster designers who were pressed for time made to lessen the workload as the release date of the game approached.’

Mirole fired off consecutive shots with her arrows, which made holes in the monster’s body, while Anastasia and Belois commenced their attacks wholeheartedly.

“Oh Nature, bring wrath upon those who disgrace you!”

“Violet crystal.”

An archer stood on the apex and a sorceress trying to enter that zone; furthermore, the harmony of the only druid that could commune with Mother Nature was simply perfect. Countless plants and trees arose to bind the gargoyle, and the Wind Arrows punctured huge holes into its body along with the purple energy spheres. But its regeneration ability was more horrifying. Right after the wounds were afflicted, new flesh and skin filled up those spots, which felt like a videotape being rewound.

“What a relief that it can’t move while regenerating. Raihan Hyeong, are you ready?”

“Always.”

It was Raihan and Shine’s collaborative work to eradicate all enemies while the magician team made a diversion. The Senior group aimed for ‘Better to finish the task before Evan makes a move’ and refined its teamwork. Evan couldn’t interfere due to the blended teamwork and was holding a battle bead for emergencies while smacking his lips.

“Here I go then!”

Shine kicked off the ground, vanishing, then reappearing near the gargoyle’s head only to cut through its neck. The aura of the dual-wielded daggers extended to several meters long and flawlessly defeated the gargoyle as it was regenerating the damage dealt by Anastasia and Belois. No, Evan thought it was over, but it wasn’t.

“Hyeong!?”

“I’m all right!”

The very moment that the huge head flung into the air, a new gargoyle head regenerated, and it tried to bite Shine. But as if it weren’t able to ignore Raihan’s blessings, it evaded Shine in the end and shot off beams to where Raihan was while stumbling. Both eyes, no, rather from four eyes, including the eyes of the head that sprung into the air, shot out beams!

“What on the earth is that!?”

“I’m glad that we knew about that now. Even the severed part of the body attacks, so try to get rid of it without a trace.”

Evan spoke apathetically and activated Heaven’s Press to grind the gargoyle’s severed head into a pulp. It would’ve been better to be able to use Heaven’s Press onto the body of the gargoyle. Still, annoyingly it had an ability that activated every certain percentage to bounce off attacks towards its main body. Raihan could block Mirole’s or Belois’s attacks without sweat when they bounced off, but it was no joke if Evan’s Heaven’s Press bounced off and went directly to Raihan.

‘Surely, a monster should have a trick up its sleeve.’

But looking at the fact that Mirole’s and Belois’s consecutive attacks get bounced off, it seemed that there was a level limitation in it. Then, maybe it meant that the members had become more robust than any other ancient wizards in the game…

‘No, that must not be it. Ancient gargoyle has always been the monster from the final stage, and it didn’t appear until the last dungeon…’

And as Evan prepared to damage it, at that moment, he saw something bizarre. It was the severed head of the gargoyle which he crushed into a pulp. The thing that was considered alive and didn’t disappear.

[Kyuuuuuu, Kyuuuuuu!]

Baby Dragon, who came along with the party in Serena’s arms, was eating it delightfully.