Not All Heroes From Earth Are Bad [EN]: Chapter 39

Oseld Geffen.

Born in a rural territory, he showed a talent for swordsmanship from a young age.

His family was extremely poor, ordinary in every way, and couldn’t afford to teach him how to use a sword.

Nevertheless, by the time he turned 15, no one in the territory could match him with a sword, not even the lord’s knight.

The rumors about Oseld Geffen spread quickly. A commoner with nothing had defeated the lord’s knight, which was quite a story.

Before long, a distinguished knight came to find Oseld.

“Will you be my squire?”
“Are you strong, mister?”
“Want to spar?”

“Yes.”

The knight was truly strong—so strong that Oseld couldn’t even touch a hair on his head, no matter how hard he tried.

Oseld decided to become his squire.

And as time passed, in the year he turned 20, Oseld killed the knight he served.

Standing before the dead knight’s body, he said, “Are you weaker than me now?”

Naturally, Oseld was arrested and charged as a criminal. The punishment was death.

One day, while waiting for his execution in the underground prison, salvation came unexpectedly.

“Do you believe in God?”

An old man wearing a splendid crown came and suddenly asked if he believed in God.

“If I believe, will you save me?”
“Hahaha. Salvation is open to everyone.”

From then on, Oseld became the hidden dog of the Holy Empire of Gatrein [a derogatory term implying he was a secret enforcer or assassin]. He only moved according to the Pope’s orders and took on all sorts of dirty work.

But Oseld was satisfied because he could fight a lot with strong people and kill a lot of weak people. That was enough.

In the meantime, his talent, which seemed like a gift from the devil, continued to develop. He defeated famous strongmen in each region one after another. Finally, he succeeded in defeating a knight who was called a hero in another country.

A new mission was recently assigned to Oseld.

“Rescue the next Saintess?”
“Yes. It wouldn’t be good if the fact that the next Saintess was kidnapped became widely known. I hope Sir Oseld will secretly rescue her.”

His first thought was that it sounded boring—just rescuing the kidnapped next Saintess. However, his mind changed when he heard that the place where she was imprisoned was the Black Star [likely a demonic stronghold or prison]. The blood started to circulate in his body.

“Sir Oseld, keep in mind: never fight Gluttony [one of the major demons].”

“Don’t worry.”

Oseld confidently set out on his way. Over the past 10 years, he had continued to develop through missions. He had long been proficient in all sorts of tricks, including not only swordsmanship but also stealth and infiltration.

Hiding in the Black Star was not that difficult. Squeak! The insignificant demons died without even sensing his presence. He broke through to his destination like a hot knife through butter.

“Who are you?”

Finally arriving at the place where the next Saintess was, he was greeted by two muscular demons with cow’s heads. Unlike the idiots who had died so far, he could feel a fairly strong presence from them.

Normally, he would have enjoyed the fight with his blood boiling, but unfortunately, today’s purpose was not to fight. Squeak! There was no commotion because their heads fell to the floor before they could do anything.

“Whew…”

The target, the next Saintess, Abelson Marriott, was in front of him. Oseld swept his hair back, exhaling the breath he had been holding back.

“Lady Abelson Marriott, I’ve come to save you.”
“Did the Pope send you?”

“Of course.”

Oseld smirked. However, his face hardened at Abelson’s next words.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t go. Please go back.”

Abelson said without even twitching an eyebrow, always expressionless, like an emotionless doll.

Oseld felt something unbearable boiling inside.

“Hey, bitch.”

Rough words flowed naturally from his mouth.

“Believe it or not, I’m the one who came a long way to save you. Don’t you think that nasty attitude is a problem?”
“I am sincerely sorry for you, but, apart from that, I really don’t want to go back.”
“I don’t care what you think. I received a mission, and I have to complete it.”

Oseld reached out his arm. Abelson roughly shook it off.

“Do you want to try something?” Oseld said in a growling voice.

Abelson continued in a calm voice, “You know it too. Gluttony is somewhere here. If you try to take me away by force, I will emit divine power and make her come.”

Abelson is the next Saintess. If she puts her mind to it, she can emit such powerful divine power that it can be felt anywhere in the Black Star. Then Hemis, the owner of this Black Star—Gluttony—will come.

“Are you threatening me now?”
“Yes, that’s right. So… Cough!”

In an instant, Oseld, who moved like lightning, grabbed Abelson by the collar.

“You insolent girl. If you weren’t the next Saintess, I would have cut your body in half.”

“Keueugh…!”

Abelson struggled, but it was irresistible.

‘The divine power isn’t moving…’

For some reason, the vast divine power latent in her body was not moving at all.

“Take a nap. When you wake up, you’ll be in the capital.”

The moment Oseld spoke, the door burst open, and Choi Hyun-seok rushed in. “Abelson! Are you okay…?”

***

Oseld carefully examined Choi Hyun-seok, who had appeared.

‘He certainly seems to be human. What is this guy’s identity?’ He felt that he was a man with a strange aura.

‘Black hair. He must be a demon or a Hero.’ There are only two beings in the world with black hair: demons or Heroes.

Demons have a different appearance from humans at a glance, so the conclusion is that the man in front of him is a Hero.

‘I don’t know why, but I can feel demonic energy.’ But he could also feel demonic energy from the man in front of him. Although it was at a very weak level, demonic energy certainly existed inside the man.

‘He’s an interesting guy.’ It was when Oseld smirked that Choi Hyun-seok shouted, “Get your hands off her, you son of a bitch!”

The black-haired Hero, Choi Hyun-seok, began to run. Oseld quickly struck the Saintess on the nape of her neck to knock her out, then dodged.

‘His movements are better than I thought.’ He didn’t expect anything at all because he sensed insignificant magic power. Choi Hyun-seok’s movements far exceeded Oseld’s expectations. Of course, he had no idea that he would be defeated. No one would feel a sense of crisis just because an ant on the street moves faster than expected.

However, it was enough to arouse Oseld’s interest.

“I’ll have to take you with me too,” he decided.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Choi Hyun-seok swung his fist. It contained quite strong magic power.

Oseld could have avoided it, but he didn’t, fearing a commotion. He reached out his arm and blocked the fist.

Kwaak…! Choi Hyun-seok’s fist was crushed as if it were crumbling in Oseld’s grasp.

“Shh. You mustn’t cause a commotion.”

Choi Hyun-seok kicked low instead of answering. It was a completely unexpected attack method.

Jjeok! Oseld’s brow furrowed as he was hit by the low kick.

“Ha, these guys are really annoying in pairs.” He lightly threw a punch. Soon, the fist touched Choi Hyun-seok’s stomach.

“Keuheok!” Choi Hyun-seok vomited blood from his mouth and lost consciousness.

‘Hmm? Did he die?’ Was he so angry that he couldn’t control his strength for a moment?

Oseld put his hand on Choi Hyun-seok’s limp neck.

‘He’s still alive.’ Fortunately, he doesn’t seem to be dead. His pulse was beating.

‘Then shall we go complete the mission?’ The moment Oseld was about to carry the fainted Abelson and Choi Hyun-seok on his back, a terribly beautiful voice was heard: “What are you doing now?”

Oseld froze with his eyes wide open.

‘I didn’t feel any presence at all.’ He didn’t feel any presence until she came right behind him. Hiding his surprised heart, Oseld slowly turned around. What was revealed in front of his eyes was a woman with white skin and a curvy body. Instead of eyes, nose, and mouth, only red lips were filled on her face.

“Gluttony, Hemis.”

“Oh my, do you know me?”
“There’s no way I wouldn’t know the most famous demon in the continent after the Demon King.”

Hemis covered her mouth and laughed at Oseld’s words. Of course, her pretty hands couldn’t even cover half of her huge lips.

“Ohoho! I was so famous. But if possible, would you call me a gourmet instead of a glutton?”

Hemis laughed and joked. Oseld was still frozen. His head was spinning busily.

‘Can I win?’ The Pope told him to absolutely avoid fighting Gluttony. Oseld scoffed, but when he faced Gluttony directly, he realized why the Pope had repeatedly asked him to do so.

‘I can’t feel any demonic energy.’ Even though she was right in front of him, he couldn’t feel anything from Hemis. This was not a good sign. That meant that the gap between the two was so great.

‘But the fight isn’t all about the amount of magic power or demonic energy.’ Oseld was not always strong, so he won. He just became strong because he won. He had fought and won against stronger people than himself countless times.

Oseld gripped his sword tightly. With his heartbeat, blood rushed madly through his body.

‘How strong is she?’ More than 500 years have passed since the demons appeared on the continent. During that time, countless demons appeared and disappeared repeatedly. However, only two demons were exceptions: the Demon King and Hemis. They continued to hold their place like a huge mountain.

‘The Demon King rarely shows himself directly, but Gluttony is different.’ Unlike the Demon King, who has rarely appeared officially, Hemis has shown herself relatively often, although only once every few decades. She has appeared in human history not so rarely, but everything she did each time she appeared was unbelievable.

“They say that a giant mouth ate thousands of soldiers at once.”
“Even the famous heroes of the continent were just a meal in front of Gluttony…”

It’s been about a hundred years since she last appeared, so now they are all events that are passed down like legends, but it was definitely real history. The person in charge of the legend was in front of him now.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Hemis tilted her head 45 degrees.

Oseld, who woke up from his thoughts at that voice, smiled. “I was thinking about how strong I would become if I killed you.”

“Ohohohohohoho!” Hemis started laughing loudly. At the same time, the demonic energy she had been hiding spread in all directions.

Swaaaaaaa! Oseld was shocked.

‘She’s crazy. Is she even a living thing?’ She didn’t intentionally emit demonic energy. Even though she just naturally released what she had been holding back, the demonic energy was emitted to the point where the atmosphere vibrated.

‘I have to end it in one go.’ Hemis’s demonic energy far exceeded the expected range. There’s no answer to a head-on fight. Oseld was about to rush out first. However, Hemis was one step faster.

“That’s interesting. Then shall we see your skills?”

Chwararararak! Hemis’s lips tore vertically, and tentacles with small lips sprouted from within.

‘This monster…!’ Oseld tried to avoid it without panicking.

‘Keuek!?’ Oseld’s face contorted. His strength suddenly drained from his thigh. It was the area where he was hit by Choi Hyun-seok’s low kick.

‘Why…!?’ Oseld couldn’t understand. The gap between Choi Hyun-seok and himself was vast. He allowed the attack due to carelessness, but he thought he had perfectly blocked it by surrounding it with magic power in an instant. But at the most important moment, he was caught off guard.

‘Damn it!’ What Oseld missed was a fleeting moment that was less than a second. However, the price for that short time was too heavy.

Kwajik! The area below Oseld’s left elbow disappeared as neatly as if there had been nothing there from the beginning.

Chwaaaaa! Red blood splattered in all directions from the severed surface. Hemis laughed as she was soaked in the blood.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had human blood.”

Oseld gave up.

‘The mission is a failure.’ It’s questionable whether he can even save his own life, let alone escape with the Saintess. Oseld took out a scroll from his pocket and put it in his mouth. It was a scroll containing the highest level of divine magic prepared for the worst.

“Oh my? Are you trying to run away? Why don’t you make it a little more fun for me?”

Oseld tore the scroll instead of answering.

Hwaaaaaaa! Light so bright that he couldn’t open his eyes spread in all directions. A powerful light that burns demonic energy from the source. It was such intense divine power that even ordinary demons or monsters would melt just by touching it.

“I always feel dirty when I feel this energy…” Even when exposed to such light, Hemis only frowned for a moment.

“Oh my? He’s gone?”

Oseld had disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“Hmm~ He’s quite good at running away.”

It wasn’t a problem even if she missed Oseld. In the first place, she had let him go half intentionally. In the first place, if she really wanted to, she would have had the opportunity to kill Oseld several times.

“By the way… are these guys Raidrun’s subordinates?” Hemis looked at the cow heads, Raidrun’s subordinates, who had fallen to the floor.

“Raidrun will be sad.” The corpses and blood floated up and clumped together with a bizarre noise.

Kwaddeudeuk! Hemis smacked her lips and ate them all at once.

“Mmm! Delicious.” She smiled as if satisfied.

“Thanks to the excellent bait, such a pleasant thing happened. Ohoho!” The bait was referring to Abelson Marriott.

“From the beginning, a pretty good guy got caught.” The man who ran away just now was at least at the level of being called a hero among humans. He’s not someone you can see often.

“Who will come next?” The card called the next Saintess. It was a day when she was looking forward to what humans would bring to recapture this.

“And Choi Hyun-seok…” Hemis looked at Choi Hyun-seok.

“The meat you grilled was also delicious.”

It was a completely unexpected part that Choi Hyun-seok cooked, and the meat he grilled was also a taste that exceeded expectations.

“Please continue to do well in the future!” She said to the fainted Choi Hyun-seok and returned to her office. Even while returning, the smile never left her lips.

“I’m so happy these days that I feel like I’m going crazy. Ohohoho!” It was Hemis who was enjoying these happy days in many ways.