Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 211

211

Ron woke up to a scream mixed with a loud crash.

“W-What’s going on?!” his wife asked, startled.

Ron shook his head. “I don’t know either.”

But it was clear something was happening in the village.

‘Could it be bandits?’ he wondered. But how could they navigate the darkness for a raid?

‘No time to worry about that now.’

Ron grabbed the logging axe from the wall and slung his hunting bow and quiver over his shoulder.

“W-Where are you going?!”

“I have to help! It might be a bandit raid.”

“B-But… it’s dangerous!”

“If we don’t do anything, we’ll all be in danger. Don’t worry. I used to be a Nord warrior. Bandits are nothing…!”

Besides, many Nord residents lived in this village. They must have heard the commotion too.

Ron grabbed a lantern and headed outside. He saw faint lights down the road and moved toward them.

“Hey! What’s going on?!”

“The sound came from Old Man Lang’s house!”

“Is it bandits?! Grab your weapons!”

The villagers armed themselves, identifying each other by voice as they emerged into the street. Each held a lantern in their left hand and a weapon in their right.

“Bandits dare to invade Asgard’s territory?!”

“I’ll cut off their heads and hang them at the village entrance!”

Ron and the villagers headed toward the screams, holding up their lanterns, which illuminated only about three feet ahead. Everyone held their breath, listening intently.

Since they couldn’t see, they had to rely on sound to determine the direction and situation.

“Kkeueuk! You damn… monster!”

「Krrr!」

The voice of Old Man Lang, the owner of the attacked hut, was heard. Ron was relieved. The villager was alive.

‘Old Man Lang was a strong warrior in his day. He wouldn’t be defeated so easily…!’

But judging from the sounds, Old Man Lang was on the ground, pinned by something that didn’t sound human.

Ron nocked an arrow and shot in the direction of the sound.

Thwack-!

The arrow found its mark!

Ron’s relief was short-lived.

「How dare you-!」

A distorted voice echoed, and he felt something take flight, but only for a moment before a staggering sound followed. Ron felt a chill down his spine.

「How dare you lowly humans attack me-?! If only my wings were intact, you would be…!」

Wings? What was it talking about?

The voice came from the air, but not from high above. It was falling rapidly with a flapping sound.

He spoke, but the sound of wings? What?! It’s not a beast?

The thing flying wasn’t human either. Then what on earth was attacking the village?

As these questions raced through his mind, a commotion erupted throughout the village.

“What?! What is this monster…?!”

“Human? Or… a monster?!”

The villagers seemed to be fighting unknown beings.

「I can’t back down like this!」

The being flew quickly from the sky. Ron, sensing its presence, raised his axe, but a huge hand shattered it.

Ron raised his lantern.

Right in front of him, he saw a grotesquely distorted face and a huge, muscular, two-meter-tall figure. The right arm was thick and muscular, but the left hand was thin with fingernails as sharp as blades. Black and white wings fluttered behind its back, twisted as if damaged.

‘An angel?!’

But angels were supposed to be beautiful. This looked like it had been experimented on, its appearance truly bizarre.

He wondered how it could fly with such a misshapen body and unleash such a powerful blow.

「If those monster bastards hadn’t used me as a test subject!」

“……!?”

What was it talking about?!

「Then I will devour their descendants!」

The angel opened its mouth, tearing it wide to the ears.

「Become my nourishment!」

Just as the angel’s mouth was about to devour Ron, a hand reached out and blocked it, piercing through the darkness.

Ron looked to the side, surprised, lantern in hand. A man with black and white hair emerged from the darkness.

“Y-You, Traveler?!”

The angel stared at the man with shaking eyes.

「S-Star Constellation!」

What?

Ron looked at the angel, puzzled. The angel’s eyes trembled with fear as it tried to fly away with its damaged wings.

The larger angel struggled to escape the traveler’s grasp, but to no avail. The man twisted his grip and pulled him in.

“Hey, are you really an angel? Your appearance is… not good.”

「…P-Please have mercy! I-I haven’t done anything yet!」

The angel begged.

The man, Loki, tilted his head slightly.

“Nonsense. You have defiled my territory.”

Loki grabbed the angel’s body with his other hand, twisted, and tore off its head. The head came off easily.

Ron watched the scene from less than a meter away.

He knew very well that only a few beings in Asgard could hunt angels so easily: the strongest warrior, Kudan, the priestess, Kankun, or… a being above them.

The angel had said, ‘S-Star Constellation!?’

“T-The Constellation of the End,” Ron murmured.

Loki raised his index finger and pretended to cover his mouth.

Ron, understanding, shut his mouth.

“…Clean it all up.”

At Loki’s command, Helga, Ssalut, and Karen emerged from the darkness and moved.

“Make sure no one dies.”

They ran into the darkness, toward those who attacked the village.

“Clean it up neatly.”

***

The sun began to rise, driving away the darkness and illuminating the surroundings.

The village was devastated. The burning house yard was full of corpses, all of grotesque or hideous-looking angels.

The villagers looked surprised. They never knew their village was attacked by such monsters.

“What the hell are these guys? Monsters?”

“Judging by the wings… could they be the angels causing trouble on the continent these days?”

“…Oh my god, a dangerous creature that eats humans attacked our village?”

The villagers were shocked.

What surprised them most was…

“Who the hell killed these monsters?”

They had thought it was a bandit raid, but someone had helped them in the darkness. Arrows pierced through, magic flew, and something struck and burst these monsters before disappearing.

They never saw who hunted these monsters.

“By the way, what happened to Ron?”

“He must have been hurt. Did he say he was going home to get treatment?”

“…We’ll have to clean up ourselves. It will take a while to burn the bodies.”

The villagers cleaned up the bodies, piling up firewood and lighting a fire. The unidentified monsters that attacked the village began to burn.

“W-We greet the great Star Constellation!”

Ron returned to his hut. In the child’s room, he knelt before Loki and slammed his head on the floor.

Loki waved his hand. “Ah, there’s no need to be so formal. I’m just a traveler.”

“I-I hope I didn’t disturb your fun…!”

The Star Constellation was said to be missing. He had heard rumors of his reappearance in Kelpel, but many claimed to be Star Constellations. Even bandits or thieves falsely claimed the title, so he hadn’t believed the rumors.

But Ron had seen it: the sight of angels torn apart with bare hands. Only a Star Constellation with overwhelming power could do that.

“They looked like angels, but I’ve never seen that form before. Do you know anything about it?”

Ron stammered, flustered by Loki’s question.

“T-That, I don’t know anything about it. However, there is a rumor that monsters appear every night in the Ner region….”

Loki paused. “In the city center?”

“Yes, that’s… they say they are occasionally attacked by something unidentified…. Of course, it may just be a rumor.”

“Was Ner’s security bad?”

“No. Security is good. In fact, among those who were attacked, there were seriously injured people, but no deaths. The potions distributed by the Star Constellation are also powerful, so everyone can be revived as long as they don’t die instantly….”

Ron took a breath and continued. “Besides, Asgard has recently strengthened security due to the attacks on pedestrians. However, the city is so large that they are having difficulty searching for the attackers….”

Ron, who used to belong to the Asgard army, spoke from experience.

“The land is vast, and the surrounding area is full of forests. Also, there are dozens of large and small uninhabited islands near the Ner region, so there are many places for monsters to hide.”

“I see.”

Loki got up. “I’ll have to go to the Ner region.”

The angel Loki saw had a bizarre appearance, like it had been experimented on.

Loki thought of Pope Zeus.

Clinical trials. He heard it was being used on angels. Could the angels’ grotesque bodies be a side effect of those experiments?

“Use this to repair the village. And….”

Loki took out a leather pouch from his pocket and placed it on the nearby shelf. The pouch opened with a clanging sound, revealing gold coins.

Ron’s eyes widened. It was more gold than he could ever earn in his life.

“Thank you.”

“T-There’s too much.”

“Thanks to you, I had a pleasant rest. Use this money to take good care of the next travelers.”

Loki came out of the room. In the living room, the group was preparing for the trip.

“We’re going to the Ner region.”

It was on the way to Asgard anyway. It wouldn’t hurt to stop by and take care of the troublemakers.

***

“…Those monster bastards are hiding very well.”

A woman who was the princess of the Kron Empire and now a trainee of Asgard’s Einherjar [elite warriors]. Sharin Kron frowned and put her hands on her hips.

“It may be impossible to find them by tonight… I think I’ll have to look again tomorrow morning.”

“…Well, it’s night now. The lantern development needs to be completed quickly.”

Sharin sighed deeply at the words of the priest assigned as her partner.

“Egil, you should look too. The angels must have sought cooperation from human helpers. And there are only a few who can take them out: foreign delegations, nobles, or merchants.”

“…That’s just a suspicion. And your Kron Empire is better at exploration. What I mainly do is take care of treatment….”

“That’s why priests are… ha… pathetic.”

“…….”

Was it because of the hard training? The two had become quite close.

Sharin sighed and stopped, surprised, as she looked at the city center.

“Ah… I found them.”

“What? The angels…?”

It was a joke.

“Yes.”

He was surprised by Sharin’s words.

“What!? On the street in broad daylight…!?”

“There’s an angel-like person who saved me.”

“…What are you talking about?”

“Shut up and follow me.”

Sharin cursed at Egil’s words and moved quickly, skillfully avoiding the crowds.

Egil followed her, panting.

Sharin stood tall in front of a figure in the crowd and smiled brightly.

“It’s been a while.”

The man looked at her.

“Is it the first time since the last training? I wanted to talk about this and that at that time, but you suddenly disappeared, so I was a little disappointed.”

Sharin brushed her hair back and looked at the man.

“Star Constellation.”

Loki, who had entered the Ner region and was walking down the street, saw Sharin.

“Let’s talk.”