The Land Of Death

Once you enter the Land of Death, never hesitate and head for your target. Otherwise, you may be swallowed by that darkness-like vastness.

—The legendary explorer, Aninga.

Although the sun could not be seen, over the course of about a day the members encountered small and large undead armies six times.

Each time, Rebound sometimes made mistakes and sometimes handled things smoothly, building up a kind of combat experience.

Their faces grew brighter, and they began to gain confidence in dealing with the undead.

But, on the contrary, as time passed, Lee Hyo-ju’s expression grew steadily harder.

While we kept a campfire going and each took short sleeps, I, who had only watched all day, volunteered for guard duty.

At the time when the others had all fallen asleep, I heard the sound of someone getting up.

“…Mr. Kim Han.”

“Why? Can’t you sleep?”

Lee Hyo-ju came over and sat beside me, the rough clatter unique to leather armor sounding as she moved.

Staring blankly at the dying campfire, she opened her mouth with difficulty, as if pulling out words she had kept buried in her heart.

“…Strategist, how about someone else taking the role instead of me?”

I already guessed why her expression had been stiff. None of her orders today had worked.

In fact, when the members were divided up and each assigned according to their abilities, they handled the enemies more easily.

“You want to give up the strategist role?”

“…Yes.”

“The reason is obvious even without hearing it.”

“…….”

Lee Hyo-ju said nothing. I said nothing else either.

Only the occasional sound of wind and the fire’s crackling ‘tak! tak!’ echoed through the camp.

“Have you read the novel called Romance of the Three Kingdoms?”

“Huh?”

“You know, the one where Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei wander all over the place for ages and eventually succeed in founding a nation.”

“Ah…. Pfft. Of course.”

As if it were a sudden and out-of-place question, Lee Hyo-ju let out a small laugh and nodded vigorously. She probably knew Romance of the Three Kingdoms better than I did.

“When you think of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there are a lot of famous figures. There are the three hardship brothers I mentioned earlier, Lü Bu, Cao Cao, and Zhuge Liang too.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know what kind of person Zhuge Liang was, since I never met him. It’s a story from long ago, and Chinese people exaggerate so much that you can’t exactly trust it. But among the books I once had to read for an assignment, there was one that took a rather critical approach to a man named Zhuge Liang.”

“Critically?”

“Yeah. I only remember it roughly, but the most striking part was that when Zhuge Liang was trying to make his entrance into the world, Liu Bei was his only option, though Na Gwan-jung’s novel probably doesn’t put it that way. Anyway, from Zhuge Liang’s perspective, when Liu Bei was the only choice, he supposedly prepared a show to raise his own value. There’s a book that said that was the famous three visits to the thatched cottage.”

Maybe because it was a field she herself was interested in? Her eyes glittered unusually brightly.

“What I’m trying to say is that even Zhuge Liang, so meticulous and strategic a figure, actually failed at schemes sometimes. Even in the book written by Na Gwan-jung, that total Liu Bei fanatic, there are several passages where Zhuge Liang fails. And that’s not all, right? Those real big shots—Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Sun Quan and the like—strut around showing off to their hearts’ content, and in the end some random guy swallows up the nation and becomes emperor.”

“…….”

Lee Hyo-ju seemed deep in thought and stayed silent. I went on speaking to her.

“Think about it. If you had to pick from among the powers the members have, what ability do you think strategists like Zhuge Liang, described as a once-in-a-millennium genius, or strategists comparable to him, would have wanted most?”

“……!”

“When I first told you to join me, I think I mentioned how your ability should be used, but it seems you forgot because your combat power surged so much. Even that dream you keep having. It should definitely appear there too—how Commander Lee Hyo-ju uses her ability.”

I don’t know about Lee Hyo-ju from her previous life, but the current Lee Hyo-ju’s temperament doesn’t suit a combat-oriented role. She still furrows her brow whenever she uses ‘Absorption.’

“Think it over carefully, and if you still can’t do it, tell me.”

“No. Haa…. I’m sorry.”

“All right, that’s enough. Go to sleep.”

After confirming that Lee Hyo-ju had gone to sleep, I grimaced so hard that the muscles in my whole face tightened.

If someone saw my face flickering in the campfire, wouldn’t they think I was a demon?

‘Damn it!’

Every time I mentioned Lee Hyo-ju and the ‘past,’ I couldn’t control the strange suffocation and irritation that welled up inside me.

The remaining time passed as I leaned into the darkness and slowly worked off my irritation, and thus the first day on the dark Land of Death came to an end.

Two days since entering the Land of Death.

In just one day, Lee Hyo-ju had changed completely. As if she had fully found her place, she was issuing perfectly tailored orders unlike yesterday.

Unexpectedly, however, the completely changed Lee Hyo-ju added trouble for me.

That was because messages like these often popped up right before battle.

In severe cases, it would appear more than twenty times. It was all because of the talent ‘Dawn,’ and because of my high luck.

Even with such an incredible talent, only the guy who was addicted to stimulants and died pointlessly in the Monster Belt comes suddenly to mind.

‘What was his name again? He was the kind of guy who tried to act as proper as possible….’

In any case, Lee Hyo-ju had clearly changed, and that change kept the members from feeling any discomfort even as they fought amid the Land of Death’s polluted divine power and uncomfortable conditions.

Everyone was astonished by Lee Hyo-ju’s completely changed appearance, and after three battles Proyi told her, “I acknowledge it.”

“Mr. Kim Han.”

While I had withdrawn some distance from the spirits in the rear, Lee Hyo-ju came up to me. In her hands were several old books.

“This time too?”

“Yes.”

There were four old books Lee Hyo-ju handed over. When I took them and activated the ‘Confirmation’ power, they changed in my eyes into books that gave off a mysterious light.

『Manual—Nitens Empire Basic Swordsmanship Manual』

『Manual—Leilong Archery Manual』

『Manual—Understanding Earth Magic』

『Manual—Horsemanship』

These are manuals so hard to obtain that even in the Battlefield of the Gods you can barely get one.

I can make them with skill book manufacturing, but I don’t have any such skills left now. Most of them have already risen to Ex rank. More importantly, the skills that remain aren’t suited for combat.

There are three major reasons why I set the Land of Death as my target in year five, when it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I had only just begun.

The first is experience.

Battles against bizarre undead that could not be encountered anywhere else would sharply raise Rebound’s combat experience.

The second is exactly this. It’s because of all kinds of manuals.

Sometimes, where a lich or death knight has turned to dust and vanished, old books are left behind, presumably ones they had possessed in life.

Not every undead has them. They’re often damaged during battle too, so the chance of obtaining one is very low.

Even so, the reason I can get them this often is that there are that many death knights and liches around. I’ve already dealt with roughly 200 even now.

Of course, death knights, who correspond to knights, or liches, who correspond to mages, do not always carry manuals.

For example, one inventory slot even contains a faded love letter (love letter).

A love letter is nothing. The most absurd thing I ever got in a previous life was a spring picture, a shunga equivalent to an adult magazine.

After putting the four manuals into my inventory, I asked Lee Hyo-ju,

‘How is it?’

“Huh?”

‘Strategist—can you manage it?’

“…Yes!”

Her eyes as she answered firmly looked a little like the gaze from her previous life. That cool, rational gaze.