Overpowered Reincarnation Perks! - Chapter 21.3

“The commander sure has it good, hoarding all the women and alcohol for himself.”

“Maybe I should raid a castle and become a commander too? Hahaha!”

Leaving behind the sound of boisterous laughter, Senes left the lounge. Hunters are originally wanderers. It seems they’re all getting restless, unable to bear staying in one place.

‘According to plan, I should have left long ago.’

Of all times, I got tied down and couldn’t go anywhere. Senes sighed heavily and looked out the corridor window.

He could see the high tower of the inner castle built with white bricks. The main palace should be between the high tower and the annex. They said he brought a woman there and set up a bridal chamber.

‘There’s only one reason for the commander to bring a woman at this time.’

The monster luring operation failed. It wouldn’t be strange if orders came to dismiss the outsider monster hunters, but the fact that they’re not saying anything means that hunters are the only way to prepare for monster attacks.

The hunters themselves are not interested in the internal affairs of the castle and are just wasting food and alcohol here, but Senes could tell.

That the commander had brought a new lord to replace the dead one.

‘An ordinary castle resident can’t take the place of the lord. Then there’s only one person I can think of.’

He was held back because of that one person.

Senes sighed deeply and ruffled his hair.

“Ju-in.”

The low voice flowing over his lips was full of complex emotions.

“The culprit who killed the lord hasn’t even been caught. What were you thinking, crawling into a place like this where you might be targeted?”

He knew well that Ju-in was careless and impulsive, but really, how could a person not change at all?

It was then that Senes, leaning his arms on the windowsill with a tired face and closed eyes, heard the sound of bells.

Dong dong dong dong.

A signal announcing a monster attack.

Dong dong. Dong dong dong.

Peeeeee.

The clamorous drum sounds and horn blasts followed. It was a signal for civilian evacuation and the assembly of central palace soldiers.

“…Really, nothing goes right when I’m involved with you.”

Tossing out words to no one in particular, Senes ran towards the exit.

***

Crash!

As the monster’s swinging fist collapsed buildings and crumbled stone bridges, Callion, going against the direction of evacuating people, jumped onto the clock tower to survey the scene.

The number of monsters was fourteen. Compared to when the village at the foot of the mountain was attacked, it wasn’t a large number. Callion could easily deal with this many monsters alone.

The problem was that, unlike the villagers who knew how to face monsters and evacuate, the castle residents were completely unprepared for this sudden disaster.

Callion had told Ju-in that he would protect the people inside the castle. Protecting people from getting involved wasn’t something he could do alone.

[Of all times for an attack when neither Arvan nor Durak is here, this is troublesome.]

“Lord Welga. Please block the passage to the south and guide the refugees to the north.”

[The South has a high population density after all. Got it.]

The grayish-white gem on Callion’s necklace glowed, and his companion’s voice was heard. The communication mana stone that could not only exchange signals but also transmit voices was Arvan’s work.

It was illegal for castle residents to process mana stones arbitrarily, so it couldn’t be put on the market, but Callion thought this item was quite useful.

[I, I’ll help evacuate the residents too! Should I go north?]

“Lord Hoson, please continue scouting from the hilltop. You need to inform me of the position of the monster closest to the residential area.”

[Eeeek!]

“I’ll deal with what’s in front of me first and then move. Please tell me the location.”

A monster with a large green eye running vertically across its face approached the clock tower, stomping on the street trees with a thud. He had chosen a conspicuous place well to draw the monsters’ attention away from the evacuating people.

When the monster came within range, Callion kicked off the railing, jumped down, and cut off the monster’s head. After landing on the ground, he immediately cut its ankles, causing the monster to fall. Thud. The monster fell with a heavy sound.

Callion jumped onto the back of the writhing monster and split its body. With a crunching sound of minerals being ground, the monster went limp.

After destroying the core stone, Callion asked for Hoson’s location.

“Lord Hoson. Please tell me the next location to move to.”

[Waaah! I’m scared!]

“I see two red monsters moving towards the carriage station in the northeast. Should I cut those down first?”

[No, there’s a pale thing crawling up this hill! Can’t you save me first?]

“Shoot the monster’s legs and run towards the castle walls. The other monsters are heading towards the city center, so the outskirts near the castle walls are actually safer.”

Neatly ignoring Hoson’s pleas, Callion ran towards the carriage station. Through the communication stone, he could hear Hoson firing magic bullets in panic.

Despite being such a coward, Hoson was surprisingly excellent at survival. The sound of the monster howling and tumbling down, followed by Hoson’s exaggerated cries as he ran away, could be heard in succession. Relieved, Callion rushed forward without delay and diagonally cut down the red monster in front of him.

He accurately split the core stone of one, but only the shoulder flew off the other.

‘My sense has dulled.’

Callion had always focused solely on hunting the monsters right in front of him. It was indescribably annoying to have to assess the surrounding situation and calculate to avoid damage to the vicinity.

‘But I must do it.’

Not a single casualty. That was his promise with Ju-in. Callion vertically sliced the monster rushing at him while swinging its one arm, then ran towards the eastern hill.

***

“Arvan, let’s go!”

As soon as he heard the evacuation signal from the castle, Arvan dashed out like an arrow. Durak followed in a posture that was hard to tell if he was running or rolling, but it was difficult to keep up with Arvan’s speed.

Suddenly, Arvan changed direction in front of the castle wall.

“Arvan, that’s the east side!”

“Mr. Valt, who was supposed to open the south gate, must have evacuated. It’s faster to enter through the breached east gate!”

“But there are monsters in the east!”

Even for monster hunters, facing monsters without preparation was suicidal. However, the longer it took to enter the castle, the more damage the monsters would cause. Durak made a tearful face.

‘My knees are shaking, isn’t Arvan scared? Is he still unaware because of his lack of experience?’

The east gate was open. More precisely, there was a hole big enough for monsters to pass through. Seeing holes here and there in the castle walls, it seemed that a few had climbed over the walls.

Passing through the gate, a horrifically damaged street scene came into view. The city had much denser buildings than the village at the foot of the mountain. Durak was flustered as he couldn’t enter the central area due to the debris blocking the roads.

He was even more bewildered to see Arvan casually stepping on and jumping over the debris.

“Arvan! Together…!”

“Waaah, Durak!”

“Hoson?”

Hoson, covered in snot from whatever he had been doing, clung to Durak. Durak pushed away the uncomfortably clinging Hoson with one hand and asked urgently.

“How many have come in? How’s the damage?”

“Fo-fourteen! No, thirteen! Or twelve?”

Not knowing how many Callion had taken down, Hoson tried to count with trembling fingers. Durak threw the bag he was carrying on his shoulder to Hoson and snatched the gun from him.