Hermit Wizard
Chapter 20

Silver Forest under the Purple Sky (1)

“Khaaaaa!”

[Back!]

Parvache pulled his head out of the backpack with a sharp grunt. At the same time, I felt a considerable force pound on my back. I quickly kicked off the ground and soared upward. The dry wind hit my face without any mercy.

“Khaaaaaaaaa!”

[Oh, it’s noisy. Do it quietly!]

I could feel the air around me vibrate. If it had not been for the 7th defense magic – activated before the battle, my internal organs would have been obliterated by this sound wave, and I would have died immediately. As soon as I fell to the ground, I rolled my feet back and flew in the opposite direction of the Ashpim Giant. While floating in the air, I turned around and faced the one who attacked me. It realized that sonic attacks don’t work, so it started running towards me with its fists wide open.

The purple moonlight reminded me of the butcher’s light because it was so bright and clear. Under the strange color, its yellow eyes flashed so ugly that it was hard to describe. It seemed like it was trying to kill an immoral man that had an affair with his wife. At first, I thought it would do something like catches me alive, but now it was furious and trying to tear my body up.

“What did I do wrong? You, big head! I was just trying to talk!”

The moment I shouted with a voice full of irritation, my leap lost power as the spell’s effect ended. As the Mana that had floated in the air was taken away by gravity, I started to fall back to the ground. If I fell like this, it was sure that I would stop breathing.

“The Hammer of Thermios! The Thorn of Quecardios!”

I reached for it and shot two spells in a row. Simultaneously, a murky haze lingered around the giant’s ankles and then quickly united and struck the giant’s lower body. With a single scream, its large body that was over 10 meters in height leaned forward. Since its head was large and elongated, its body slowly fell forward. The giant tried to hit the ground with its arms before he completely fell, but the second spell I spat was activated.

“!!!”

In the direction of its collapse, the ground suddenly shook like it was melting, and sharp metal thorns emerged from the ground!

“Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Sharp metal spears were lodged in the arms and lower body of the fallen Ashpim Giant. It must be excruciating. It fell to the floor in a posture as if it was doing push-ups, its posture barely preventing them from piercing its face and upper body. However, it seemed to have gone crazy. Its body was engulfed in pain due to the numerous thorns piercing and tearing through its flesh.

“Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

For reference, those thorns weren’t just cylindrical pointed thorns, but their tips were shaped like a harpoon. Desperately, it pulled its arms out of the thorns and tried to raise its body, but as it pulled them out, its flesh tore and burst. It was a sight of unbearable pain. It struggled and eventually lost its strength and fell on the thorns.

-Fububuk!

The thorns were stuck in its face and upper body. The thorns weren’t long enough to penetrate its body, but it wouldn’t be easy to survive a collapse like that. The body of the giant, lying on the thorny field, fluttered and convulsed intermittently. Now, we were done with the last.

“Oh, it’s miserable. Why are those rotten beings giving me that shit?”

I spat on the ground and complained. There were two more corpses of Ashpim Giants scattered around the last giant I fought. One was burnt black, little more than ash, and the other had its body cleanly separated at the midsection. I just asked where the Enchanted Tree grows, they couldn’t understand me, and they ran madly at me. It hadn’t been a few hours since I arrived here, which was my third time visiting this dimension.

‘Crazy bastards.’

Even if I was used to combating, I had only fought through avatars. It was unpleasant and scary for me to engage in this life-threatening fight with my actual body. Even if my opponents were weak like the Ashpim Giants, it was dangerous to be struck by a blind knife. If I hadn’t experienced it through the Avatar and hadn’t used magic to control my biological response, I could have died from fear.

“Parvache.”

[Huh.]

“What are those bastards talking about again?”

After coming to this side, the interpretation magic was completely sealed. It would just waste my Mana for nothing. Parvache interpreted all the words of the Ashpim Giants from within my backpack.

[Everything it spits out during the battle is a curse, so I don’t think there is a need to interpret everything…the words it spoke when it found us from far away were the same as those who came before.]

“It’s a human! What a windfall!”

[Exactly.]

“Those crazy guys.”

I shook my head because I couldn’t understand. According to Parvache’s knowledge, the original Ashpim Giants didn’t like to eat humans, so why did those who live in this dimension go crazy when they saw me? Moreover, I had never encountered a wizard among them. I couldn’t use interpretation magic, whether it was listening or speaking in this dimension. I could understand what they say because I have Parvache. Still, they couldn’t understand my words because they lacked the ability to use magic, so they just rushed and attacked me.

I looked up for a moment with irritation. The night sky here was neither black nor deep indigo but a rather bright purple. A huge, frivolous purple moon colored the whole sky and dry earth with its own shadow.

“I don’t like it.”

Yes, I was now crossing the Channel of Mapo Bridge and entering the dimension across it. It took great courage, and the process wasn’t easy. Most of all, I went outside the barrier, which I had never been out of for two years, and went to Mapo Bridge!

Furthermore, as the carnage grew across the world, through several international agencies and governments, the Korean government recognized that what appeared on the Mapo Bridge was an object called a Channel – a gate leading to another dimension. Realizing that monsters could come over at any time as long as the door was open, the government tightened the boundaries around the Channel. It wasn’t easy for me to get across such a strictly guarded perimeter.

“How many hours in the night?”

[16 hours.]

Fortunately, this dimension was a world listed in Akashic Records. From the moment Parvache crossed the Channel and grasped the identity of this dimension, he was able to access necessary information.

“Then, how many hours will it take to the morning?”

[If you look at the movement of the moon, about 2 hours?]

“I have to go into the forest over there. You said that the forest isn’t an area of ​​the Ashpim Giants?”

[Yes, that’s what the records say.]

According to Parvache, in this dimension, besides the Ashpim Giants, several intellectual races were mixed, living within their respective areas. Instead of having more conversations with the Ashpim Giants, who ran like crazy dogs whenever they saw me, I decided that it would be better to contact the other races and enter the strange forest facing the desert. I walked in the woods for a while, and I sensed someone approaching by about dawn.

‘Please, don’t be an Ashpim Giant.’

“Aren’t the footsteps too small? Maybe not those guys again?”

[But just in case, prepare a spell. Races other than the Ashpim Giant may have freaked out too.]

It certainly made sense. Looking forward, I was preparing a spell that quietly sprayed white gas, but when I finished the magic to the point where I could throw it right away, I sensed something and stopped.

“Huh?”

[They are all three wizards.]

All three approaching me possessed Mana. Maybe we could communicate. I hit the ball. Parvache interpreted what I wanted to say in a language that could be spoken by my pronunciation system among the languages ​​of this world, and I followed it.

“I have no intention of attacking. Please reveal yourself slowly. You don’t have to use speaking interpretation magic. I can understand what you say.”

I repeated it several times. Then, I felt a non-aggressive flow of Mana as if all three entities on the other side were using the listening interpretation magic. When the magic was completed, I repeated the same thing. And in response, the language of a different race came from beyond the bush. Parvache quickly translated it.

[‘You are a wizard, too. But why don’t you turn off the hideous magic you’ve been working on? I don’t know what you’re making, but it feels so bloody. It’s Mana is too violent.’ ]

[This is the language of the Dell Giant on this dimension. I think they’ll be fine.]

I listened to Parvache and extinguished the magic I was preparing for. Then, as if waiting, three giants appeared from the bush. Their height was about twice as high as mine. They were dressed in unknown animal skins, and their arms and legs were covered with dark brown fur. When the giants saw me, they jumped out of their places in surprise.

“…Ah, what’s wrong?”

I was overwhelmed by an ominous premonition, but instead of attacking me, the Dell Giants pointed at me and began to talk about themselves. According to Parvache’s interpretation…

“This, human? Ghur! Isn’t that a human?”

“Oh my God…look at that dwarf. There are thin limbs, ugly nostrils, extreme hair loss in the hands and arms…and the deformedly curved neck bones! Hickham, you’re right, that’s a human! My God, it’s been 60 years since I’ve seen humans!”

“Humans aren’t extinct yet?”

“I’ll brag about it in the village! Palo, you’re the witness! Ghur, you have to testify, too!”

“Hickham, if Ghur talks about it, all the Dells in town will believe it. He has a lot of knowledge and experience.”

“No, I’ll tell them the news even before he opens his mouth! Everyone’s going to blackout!”

“No, but why is the Channel open in his chest? Ghur, are humans a race that originally opened a Channel in their body?”

“No way. The Truth-Seeker in our world is a lazy bastard. He never goes far from the Silver Forest. Near that area is ​​the savage Ashpim’s territory, and there is no way a rare human can roam there…ah, is that so? Hey human! Are you not from this dimension? Are you interpreting my words now?”

The tallest and oldest-looking giant of the three, called Ghur, asked me. I told the truth without a hitch.

“Yes…I understand everything. By the way, from what you’re saying, human beings are very rare in this dimension?”

Ghur nodded and replied, “Right.”

“I heard it’s uncommon, but it’s not surprisingly small.”

According to the information provided by Parvache, at least tens of thousands of humans lived here.

“Maybe, in a very distant area, they may still be noticeable. But not around here. It was a race that wasn’t easy to see from the beginning, but until 100 years ago, some were living in a small village in this forest. But from some point, the number decreased rapidly and dried up 60 years ago.”

“Is there any reason?

Ghur laughed at my question and said.

“Because there are rumors that they are good for energy.”