打扑克的男女

ED: Ren

Rasgrid spread a map on an empty table that was next to the altar. Black Fortress occupied a big part of the map, as if the map wasn’t that big.

“We are currently here. Originally, our objective should only have been taking back the fortress, but the situation has changed.”

Rasgrid moved her fingers that were over Black Fortress to her left.

“There’s an enemy army coming from the west. Due to their speed, we will engage in a battle in a few days.”

“Are we going to scout?”

Rasgrid shook her head as one of the warriors asked. “No, our Valkyries will be in charge of that. Reginleif has just departed.”

It seemed as if they had recently received the information that an enemy army was approaching. As he turned his head towards the gates, he could see Reginleif leaving the fortress.

“What I want to entrust you with is the dwarves’ mine.”

Rasgrid’s finger moved again. The mine was at the right of Black Fortress – so to say, at the east.

“After the gnolls took over the fortress, they sealed the mine of the dwarves and besieged it. We could contact them until yesterday, but we haven’t been able to do so since this morning. We are certain that something happened.”

Perhaps it might have already been occupied by the gnolls.

But even if they assumed that was the case, they had to check it themselves. If it had really become occupied by the gnolls, they couldn’t leave them be.

Rasgrid raised her head and let out a long sigh and then turned to look at the warriors.

“We can’t split the forces that much when the enemy army is approaching. Because of that, I decided to only take the elites to check the situation. Siri!”

At her call, Siri approached Rasgrid. Rasgrid placed her hands on Siri’s shoulders and said, “Inferior ranked warrior Siri will be in charge of you.”

“Take good care of me.”

As she spoke with the same expression as when she stood on the battlefield, the warriors smirked and shrugged their shoulders.

“It’s good for me if I’m with Captain Siri.”

“I will also get some merits this time.”

“For Asgard and the nine planets!”

“So you really are going with us! The warrior met by a Valkyrie!!”

While everyone was saying something, a warrior Tae Ho had seen for the first time pretended to know him. Tae Ho would be the most famous warrior in the entire army. Because of that, Tae Ho just smiled awkwardly instead of replying.

‘A saga may really appear like this...wait, it may be better than what I thought?’

If he made it well, wouldn’t he be able to make a saga that summoned Valkyries?

‘Should I ask Heda to come meet me everyday?’

For it to become a saga, it needed enough achievement and recognition.

It was when Tae Ho was thinking seriously about the ‘The Warrior Met By a Valkyrie’, that Rasgrid approached him.

“Warrior ‘The Warrior Met By a Valkyrie’.. I heard that your injuries were severe,” Rasgrid looked at the warrior met by a Valkyrie and said.

He had thought this when he first saw her, but she was still very pretty and had a really cold face.

When Tae Ho got a hold of himself, he wondered about what to answer, because he couldn’t say that he had healed completely after eating a piece of a golden apple.

But fortunately, Rasgrid was the one that acted first.

“Eat this medicine. You will feel fresh tomorrow morning.”

The thing Rasgrid took out from at her waist was a small glass bottle that had a red liquid inside.

“Ohh.”

Whilst the surrounding warriors were admiring it, Tae Ho received the bottle.

“Thank you.”

‘I will just say that I drank it and keep it for myself.’

It didn’t have an immediate effect like the piece of golden apple, but looking at the reactions of the warriors and Rasgrid’s words, it seemed like it was of quite a high quality.

‘She still has the a few morals. She doesn’t order injured people as she pleases.’

But of course, just letting him rest was the best. Tae Ho took the medicinal bottle carefully. And then Rasgrid said again, “I still have something I need to give you; and it seems like I won’t have to be troubled, because you are all gathered here.”

Rasgrid gave Tae Ho some of the pockets that were already on the table.

“You have also raised great achievements today. So I will be giving you three pockets of gold and two of runes. In addition, I will give your legion 30 points.”

It seemed as if she was planning to go with the merits awards informally. Rasgrid started with Tae Ho, and after handing everyone their rewards, she said, “You will depart tomorrow morning. The transportation means will be the Black Flash”

“Ohh!”

“Black Flash!”

The warriors started to cheer with bright expressions. However, Tae Ho put on a confused face and started to look at the others.

They were reacting the same way as when they heard of the Rain of Steel.

‘It shouldn’t be.’

While Tae Ho was the only one doubting, Rasgrid put on a very faint smile and looked at them.

“I thank you for your hard work again. For Asgard and the nine planets! Let Odin’s blessings accompany you.”

“For Asgard and the nine planets!”

As the warriors yelled with a loud voice, Rasgrid nodded slightly and then left.

Then Tae Ho asked the warrior that was next to him, “What is the Black Flash?”

“The Black Flash is the Black Flash!” The warriors smiled brightly and said, and Tae Ho sighed once more when he realized that this place was Valhalla.

Rolph, who was looking at them, said, “Tae Ho, are you curious about what the Black Flash is?”

“I don’t know it well, but it’s a killer, right?”

At Tae Ho’s question, Rolph shook his head and laughed.

“No, not even I know about the Black Flash. But it’s from Valhalla, so wouldn’t it be amazing?”

He just about forgot it but Rolph was also a warrior from Valhalla. Because of that, Tae Ho just gave up and decided to experience it firsthand.

And it was then.

“The Black Flash...is really a killer,” Siri said in a low voice. She spoke towards the sky with a hard and tired expression.

“For real.”

Just what was it, that none other than Siri was acting like that?

Tae Ho gulped dry saliva and steeled himself.

&

The Black Flash. That really was a black flash, just like the unknown warrior had said.

‘Black Flash my ass! It’s more like a flying coffin!’

No, wasn’t this closer to the Rain of Steel?

Tae Ho lay down on the black metal coffin. Speaking precisely, there was only space for one person to get in, and the long and pointy started to fly at an amazing speed.

The amazing sound of air ripping was heard, along with the cries of the warriors. In addition, the flight time wasn’t as short as the Rain of Steel. He felt as if he had already been flying for more than 10 minutes.

That was the difference between the Rain of Steel and the Black Flash.The Rain of Steel was a device meant to deploy a large number of warriors into the battlefield and the Black Flash was meant as a means of transportation to send a minority to a long distance urgently.

“Uwaaaa! Habansini...Gibuni Lisaunhe!”

Despairing words were heard from a warrior when the coffin started to fly in the sky. Tae Ho also felt weird. It felt as if it was starting to descend.

“Prepare! For! The! Shock!”

Siri’s voice, that seemed like she spat it with all her strength, was also heard. And after a minute, the promised shock came.

“Kuhok!”

“Kuk!”

The shock was bigger than when riding the Rain of Steel. Tae Ho groaned while gritting his teeth and tried to start breathing through his nose. The tip of the coffin seemed to have dug into the ground, so that he was in a slight lying posture.

After he took a few breaths, the lid opened up automatically. Fresh air and the groans of the warriors were heard.

“Blergh!”

“This is....Valhalla?”

Most of the warriors spat nonsense. There were even some that started to throw up.

“It really kills you,” Rolph said as if he was almost dying. Siri didn’t say anything but he could see her pale face.

‘Damn Valhalla. They love firing weapons too much.

Just whose fetish was this? Odin’s? Thor’s?

‘But it’s really fast.’

Looking at its effectiveness, it was really useful.. Although he didn’t know what kind of magic it had, they said that he would be able to return to the firing point if he got back on.

‘I’m glad I invested all of those runes.’

After he got on the ground and took a few breaths, his condition had recovered completely. Although he had invested in all of his five stats equally, because of all of the rewards he had received, the number of runes in his health point wasn’t low. In addition, Tae Ho how had on the golden apple necklace. It was obvious that he would recover quickly.

While the other warriors were still in pain, only Tae Ho looked into the distance with a clear expression. Then Siri, who was looking in the same direction, said, “That place that you are looking at is the dwarves’ mine.”

It looked more like a fortress, rather than a mine.. It was a big and strong building that looked like an inverse lid, but there wasn’t a single window.

Rolph, who had recovered a bit, stood next to Tae Ho and said, “The dwarves are weak in sunlight. There’s a saying that they will turn to stone if they face the dawn head on. That’s why there are no windows at all. They even work underground a lot.”

“And they don’t suck on blood?”

“I have never heard of that.”

Well, at that point they would be vampires and not dwarves.

“If you’ve gotten a hold of yourselves, line up with your weapons. We will approach the fortress.”

As Siri ordered them in a low voice, Tae Ho and the 12 warriors followed behind her. This time, the hunters like Siri and Rolph were also holding shields. Siri closed the distance to the fortress carefully. But there was no reaction at all from the fortress. She hesitated a bit and then reached within bow range..

In the end, Siri arrived in front of the gates. They couldn’t even feel the presence of the dwarves in the small buildings next to it.

Siri looked at the side buildings and then yelled in a loud voice, “Dwarves! We are the warriors of Valhalla! Valkyrie Rasgrid sent us!”

There was a reaction this time. But it wasn’t an answer. The gates opened up with a loud sound.

“Are they telling us to get in?”

“They may not be able to get out because the sun is still up!”

The warriors mumbled in a low voice. But Siri opened her eyes sharply instead of ordering them to get in and glared at the inside of the gate.

Tae Ho also did the same. However, there was a decisive difference between them.

“Siri! Your right!”

Tae Ho didn’t have the ability to look through the darkness. But he knew that there were red letters filling the insides. In addition, there weren’t only letters on the inside.

The moment Tae Ho yelled, Siri looked to her right, and shouted, “Shield Wall!”

At Siri’s yell, the warriors reacted simultaneously. They raised their shields and formed the Shield Wall..

Pababababbak!

Rains of arrows started to pour over the shields. The strength behind them wasn’t normal, so the arrows that flew in a straight line pierced the shield directly.

[Fallen]

[Dwarf zombie]

[Poisonous]

[Dwarf ghoul]

He could see red letters from between the shields. The problem was that they weren’t only at the side buildings but also in front of them.

“Diagonally! We are retreating slowly!” Siri yelled and then arrows started to pour down again from the front gate. Some shields started to break. There were even some groaning warriors that had gotten hit in their thighs and shoulders.

They would die like this, whilst becoming porcupines.. They needed to do something.

“Close your eyes!” Someone yelled from behind them. One part of the warriors did that, and the others didn’t. Tae Ho unconsciously closed his eyes. It was a judgment made by the dragon knight Kalsted, instead of the pro gamer Lee Tae Ho.

At that moment, a light shone. The thing that had exploded in front of the warriors and the gate was a flashbang.

“Come over here!”

The voice was heard again. Siri put back her shield and said, “Move!”

The warriors that had closed their eyes lead the ones that hadn’t. Tae Ho grabbed Rolph’s arms and then ran towards the place the voice was heard.

Another rain of arrows started to pour down from behind. And at the same time, he saw the one that had yelled. It had come from one of the buildings that were at the left of the fortress. It was a small man that was wearing a bandana and black goggles.

[The hurried]

[Dwarf Isaac]

Green words.

He was an ally.

< Episode 5 – Night banquet (3) > End