Choi Hyun-seok looked up at the sky, his eyes weary.
He squinted at the sunlight filtering through the leaves.
‘Ah… I really feel like I’m going to die.’
It wasn’t an exaggeration; he truly felt like he was dying.
The effect of Flomot’s power had worn off, and the horns on his head had disappeared.
Choi Hyun-seok couldn’t even twitch a finger, overwhelmed by a sense of powerlessness.
Rachel approached and placed her hand on Choi Hyun-seok’s forehead.
“Hero, are you okay?”
“No…”
“Just wait a moment! I’ll heal you!”
Rachel wasn’t joking around as she usually did.
She knew Choi Hyun-seok’s condition was serious and immediately began to heal him.
Wooong…
Bright light emanated from her hand.
Choi Hyun-seok’s wounds began to seal and heal automatically.
However, the wounds quickly reopened, and blood spurted out again.
“I don’t have enough magic power…”
Rachel and Choi Hyun-seok shared magic power.
That meant that if Choi Hyun-seok’s magic power ran out, Rachel wouldn’t be able to do anything either.
Choi Hyun-seok’s magic power was almost completely depleted due to the continuous battles.
Naturally, there was a severe lack of magic power to heal him.
Rachel looked at Choi Hyun-seok with an anxious expression.
“Hero, what should I do…?”
“It’s okay. It would have been difficult to heal me even if I had magic power.”
Choi Hyun-seok shook his head with difficulty.
He knew his condition best.
‘It’s beyond the point of being healed.’
All the organs in his body were ruptured.
Even if Rachel healed him, it would only be a temporary fix.
To heal such severe injuries, Abelson would have to be here.
‘But the gate is broken. There’s no way Abelson will come here, so I’m doomed to die…’
Choi Hyun-seok stared at the sky with empty eyes.
‘I don’t want to go like this…’
His consciousness gradually faded.
The focus in his eyes blurred.
Just before his mind went blank.
“Hero! Wake up!”
Thwack!
Rachel smacked Choi Hyun-seok on the bridge of his nose.
“What the hell are you doing!?”
“Never mind that. Drink this!”
Rachel held out something like a glass bottle.
Choi Hyun-seok had no choice but to swallow the liquid that was being forced into his mouth.
‘Ugh, this tastes awful.’
It tasted like the strawberry-flavored cough syrup he used to take as a child.
Choi Hyun-seok reluctantly emptied the bottle and wiped his mouth.
“Ugh…! What is this disgusting stuff?”
“Potion!”
“Potion? That healing potion from the game?”
“Yes! There’s one more here, so drink this too.”
Rachel handed him another bottle.
Choi Hyun-seok, caught off guard, checked the detailed information.
□ Superior Healing Potion
Description: A potion rumored to revive even the dead with just one bottle. It doesn’t actually revive the dead, but it has quite excellent effects.
Effect: Heals wounds and restores a small amount of magic power.
Required Hero Points: 500
Choi Hyun-seok’s eyes widened at the item’s price.
“F-Five hundred points!? Was the one I just drank this too?”
“Yes. There were only two. Hurry up and drink it.”
“How could you use something so expensive…”
“Are you going to die now, or is that hero point more important!?”
“Ah, right.”
Choi Hyun-seok gulped down the potion.
Since it was 500 points, it somehow felt more luxurious.
The strawberry-flavored cough syrup had turned into strawberry-flavored premium ice cream.
Indeed, everything depends on how you think about it.
“Ugh…! As expected, what’s good for the body tastes good too!”
Perhaps it was because he drank two bottles worth 500 points each.
He could already feel the effects.
Choi Hyun-seok put down the empty bottle, breathing a little easier.
“Rachel, where did you get this?”
“I found it on the dead heroes.”
“Dead heroes?”
“Yes. It seems some of them had inventories.”
Inventory.
It was an ability that Park Hyun-ah had recommended buying from the Hero Shop.
Choi Hyun-seok didn’t have one yet, but it seemed there was someone among the enemies who had an inventory [a personal storage space accessible through the system].
“Ah, come to think of it, things occasionally fell out when they died.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It seems the system was set up to spit out all the items in the inventory when they die.”
He thought something occasionally fell during the battle, but he didn’t know it was an inventory.
Choi Hyun-seok slowly looked around.
He could see quite a few items piled up near the corpses of some heroes.
“The hero system is very cruel.”
“Why?”
“Isn’t it? Even if you kill the same hero, your level goes up, and you even get items like this. It feels like it’s encouraging us to kill each other.”
“Hmm, now that you mention it, it does seem that way…”
Rachel stroked her chin as if she was thinking about something.
At that moment, Choi Hyun-seok trembled and stood up.
“Hoo, I feel a bit better, so I should move.”
Choi Hyun-seok walked towards the corpses.
Rachel watched him with a worried face.
‘Hero, could it be that you’re suffering from the guilt of killing…?’
Choi Hyun-seok had killed countless people this time.
He had killed monsters and demons before, but this was practically the first time he had directly killed people.
‘Maybe he’s trying to make graves for them.’
He’s not even in good condition, yet he’s trying to make graves.
Rachel felt a pang in her heart and wiped her eyes.
“Hero, stop it. They’re villains anyway.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“You don’t have to try so hard.”
Choi Hyun-seok frowned at Rachel’s words.
“Hey, even if they’re villains, I have to take their items.”
“Yes?”
“We have to take all those precious things!”
“…”
“Let’s take off their armor and take all their weapons. Their equipment was no joke!”
Rachel had a dumbfounded expression.
“Hero, weren’t you just saying with a serious face that the system was cruel or something?”
“That’s that, and this is this.”
“…”
She was ashamed that she had worried about the devil disguised as a hero even for a moment.
Even while dying, he’s thinking about taking equipment and items.
The truly cruel thing might not be the system but the hero himself.
Seeing Rachel standing still, Choi Hyun-seok urged her.
“Rachel, what are you standing there blankly for? Aren’t you going to take the equipment?”
Rachel jumped up.
“Of course, I am! Let’s scrape everything off without leaving a single ring!”
“Good. Let’s take it all!”
In fact, Rachel didn’t care from the beginning.
Whether other heroes die or not!
As long as Choi Hyun-seok is alive, that’s all that matters.
She was just worried for a moment that Choi Hyun-seok might be feeling psychological pain.
“Oh, Hero! Look at this! This ring looks really good!?”
Rachel smiled brightly as she took the ring from the corpse.
***
It took longer than expected to collect the items.
After stripping all the heroes’ equipment and scraping together the items that fell from their inventories, a small hill was formed.
“Whew~ We’ve collected a lot.”
“I know. Toilet or whatever his name was, he was the best.”
“That’s right. That guy was a complete treasure trove.”
Taylor Andrew, as the strongest hero, had a lot of items.
Nearly half of all the items came from his inventory.
“Well, it seems like most of it is junk, but… it’s better than nothing.”
Choi Hyun-seok said, rummaging through the items.
“That’s right! But Hero.”
“Why?”
“How are you going to move this? You don’t have an inventory.”
Choi Hyun-seok doesn’t have an inventory.
In other words, there is no way to move all these things.
Rachel’s question continued.
“Why don’t you buy one now! Doesn’t the Hero Shop sell inventories?”
“I looked, but I couldn’t find it. It seems like I need to upgrade one more time [level up his hero status to unlock the inventory purchase].”
“Hmm, then what should we do?”
“It’s okay. Because I have this.”
Choi Hyun-seok held out a dark backpack.
“This is…?”
“I thought it would be necessary, so I kept it separately.”
□ Excellent Magic Backpack
Description: A magic backpack that increases the volume inside the bag by 100 times and reduces the weight of the contents to 1/10.
Effect: Volume increased by 100 times, weight reduced by 1/10.
Required Hero Points: 500
“Ah, if it’s a space expansion backpack, you can fit almost everything in it.”
Rachel immediately recognized the identity of the backpack.
There were a total of three magic backpacks received from the heroes(?).
With this much, you can carry almost everything.
“But, if you only have this bag, you don’t need an inventory, do you?”
“Yes?”
“If the bag is 500 points, the inventory will be much more expensive.”
“That’s right. Maybe it costs thousands of points?”
“Then why bother spending expensive points to buy it? You can just use the backpack.”
“No, no. The inventory is on a different level! The space is huge, you don’t feel the weight at all, and it even has a permanent storage function!”
Rachel enthusiastically explained the functions of the inventory.
“Besides, if you get this bag stolen, all your assets will be stolen. On the other hand, you can keep the inventory in your arms until the day you die.”
“Hmm, now that I hear it, that’s true.”
After listening to the explanation, it seemed that an inventory was necessary in many ways.
Come to think of it, it was natural that Park Hyun-ah, who had been a hero for a long time, recommended the inventory first.
“Phew, it’s over.”
“You worked hard.”
After a while.
Choi Hyun-seok and Rachel were able to divide all the items into three backpacks.
As soon as it seemed like the cleanup was over, Roiger, who had been waiting next to him, approached.
“Looks good.”
“Yes. I feel reassured! Haha.”
Choi Hyun-seok, who was happy to have a lot of items, smiled brightly.
“How’s your body?”
“These friends gave me a lot of expensive potions, so I think I can endure it.”
To be honest, he is still not in good condition.
He needs to be treated by Abelson when he returns to the Black Star.
While picking up the items, he felt fine because endorphins were rushing, but after the cleanup was over, he was overwhelmed by the pain of dying again.
‘I’ll be back to the Black Star soon, so it doesn’t matter.’
Choi Hyun-seok decided to endure it.
He will be able to receive treatment from Abelson soon.
“Anyway, thank you for waiting.”
“It’s nothing. I’m sorry I couldn’t help.”
Roiger was focused on recovering from the side effects of Flomot.
That’s why he couldn’t help Choi Hyun-seok clean up the items.
‘Even so, there’s no reason for him to feel sorry…’
Honestly, Choi Hyun-seok was grateful that Roiger didn’t claim ownership of these items.
In the first place, Roiger is a superior.
But he was a little embarrassed that he apologized first.
It’s a communication that is not at all like a demon king’s army.
Choi Hyun-seok, feeling strange, cleared his throat for no reason and changed the subject.
“Ahem, anyway, I think we can go back now.”
“Go back?”
“Shouldn’t we go to the Black Star?”
Choi Hyun-seok asked as if it was obvious.
“You can’t go back.”
“Yes?”
“The gate is broken.”
“Ah, then do we have to walk…?”
“The distance from here to the Black Star is over 500km [310 miles]. Even if you run all day, it will take three days.”
Choi Hyun-seok closed his mouth tightly.
He feels like he’s going to die just standing still, but he has to run over 500km?
Furthermore, there is no guarantee that a battle will not break out in the middle.
This just meant to die.
“Uh… Isn’t there any way?”
“No.”
Roiger said firmly.
“Then waiting for support from the Black Star here…”
“The enemy may be faster than the support coming from the Black Star.”
“Then what should we do?”
“You have to go to the Black Star. By running.”
Choi Hyun-seok’s pupils shook violently.
‘I thought I barely survived, but am I going to die like this?’
Absolutely impossible.
In his current condition, he will have a hard time even with 50km, let alone 500km.
At that moment, when Choi Hyun-seok was in despair.
A sandstorm began to rise in the distance.
Choi Hyun-seok and Roiger narrowed their eyes and looked at the sandstorm rising in the distance.
“Do you see that?”