The More the Healer Gets Hit the Stronger He Become

49 – If You Can’t Beat Anyone…?

How long had it been since Kang Woo habitually confirmed the sounds of Jang Tae Han, Lee Jae Jun, and Choi Tae Hyun, who were still unconscious on the floor?

Having regained his composure amidst the confusion, Kang Woo asked Park Sung Cheol, who was the first to regain consciousness.

“What’s the situation right now?”

Kang Woo’s gaze was fixed straight ahead.

And then.

Kraaah!

Krrr!

There, gathered in a circle, were orcs conversing among themselves.

Kraaah!

Though the content of their conversation was unknown, the atmosphere was extremely tense.

“Surely they’re not fighting to the death, right…?”

Boom!

Kraaash!

In the tension so thick it was terrifying to think about, one orc, amidst the heated atmosphere, swung a fist at another orc engaged in a skirmish.

Kwoong!

The orc, taken by surprise, weakly slumped from the sudden attack.

But falling like this would never do, not for a berserker reputed to be crazed with bloodlust.

Krrr!

It didn’t take long for the enraged orc to regain his composure and charge, raising a war cry.

Boom!

Kwaaang!

Thunk!

“….”

Trees collapsed, and the ground shattered under the orc’s determination.

Watching the two orcs engage in a macho showdown, exchanging blows, Kangwoo, who had been absentmindedly observing, turned his gaze towards a thunderous roar.

Kroooooooooo!

Not far away, other orcs, ecstatic from the sight of blood splattering in their fierce battle, were visible.

“… What’s really going on here?”

Where am I, and who am I?

His mind was in disarray.

At that moment, Park Sungcheol, who had now become enlightened, smiled with a transformed look in his eyes and gently placed his hand on Kang Woo’s shoulder.

“….”

“….”

Even though no words were exchanged, their inner thoughts were clearly communicated.

Surprised, aren’t you? I felt the same way too.

Kang Woo’s complex emotions were calmed by Park Sungcheol’s reassuring nod.

As Kang Woo gradually regained his composure, Park Sungcheol cautiously broke the silence.

“You’re wondering what’s going on, right?”

“….”

“I don’t know exactly either. Although I was the first among us to wake up, when I did, the situation wasn’t much different from now….”

Ah, those monsters were still babbling nonsense back then too.

As Kang Woo deeply realized and accepted the situation, Park Sungcheol continued speaking.

“But if I were to tell you some things that I noticed being awake before anyone else….”

Park Sungcheol’s gaze turned towards the back. Kang Woo, who had been tilting his head, was startled as he followed the direction of Park Sungcheol’s fingertips.

“That?!”

“Yes, it certainly seems so….”

“A portal-!!”

“That’s right. That’s what I think too.”

Kang Woo’s eyes widened as he quickly stood up from his seat.

Along the path pointed by Park Sungcheol’s fingertips, at the end of a small mountain trail, a black portal vividly revealed itself.

“The end of the mountain path seemed imminent…!”

Could there be a portal so close by!

“No, perhaps those orcs have brought us closer to the portal!”

Kwaaah!

Kangwoo, who was still busy fighting the orc warriors, looked down below the mountain.

Then, not far away, he saw the small mountain path they had been following.

“If we go through the mountain path….”

Kangwoo, who shifted his gaze along the path that could be seen at a glance, licked his lips.

“It will take at least another 20 minutes.”

Descending through the mountain path was inefficient due to its winding nature.

This time, Kangwoo measured the distance from here to the portal in a straight line and raised the corners of his mouth.

“If we run in a straight line, it’ll take a minimum of 10 minutes.”

A very positive result.

Even though those two eyes over there were glaring…

“…? It really seems like the eyes are glaring.”

Confirming the orc with green skin, especially around the eyes, Kangwoo quietly turned his gaze.

“I didn’t see it. I didn’t see it. I didn’t see it.”

Why members of the same race were fighting so intensely, Kangwoo neither wanted to know nor understand anymore.

Anyway.

“If I activate the explosion skill, maybe it will be 10 minutes…”

However, the problem is that this framework is based on data derived from each individual’s maximum speed.

If we take Choi Tae-hyun, who has the slowest pace, it would take at least 15 minutes to reach the portal.

‘Is there a way to extend the time…’

While Kang Woo was pondering, he heard Park Sung-chul’s voice, which he had momentarily forgotten about.

“This is still an uncertain hypothesis.”

‘Ah, he mentioned a few things.’

As Kang Woo turned his gaze, he saw Park Sung-chul with a mischievous smile.

“Would you like to hear it once?”

After the appearance of the gate in the peaceful Earth.

Many changes occurred in the world, and researchers studying phenomena such as the gate, awakened individuals, and towers that cannot be scientifically proven were also involved in these changes.

They conducted research on various phenomena, from the cause of the gate’s appearance to the basis on which awakened individuals manifest their unique abilities. This research also included the study of monsters that appear in the gate.

“This is a theory that has been consistently advocated by some researchers.”

With a cleared throat, Park Sung-chul emphasized that it was just a claim.

“To explain briefly…”

“…?”

“The theory suggests that the current state of Earth may have been intended by extraterrestrial forces.”

“!!”

Kang Woo’s body trembled involuntarily.

“…Unbelievable?”

He had come into the tower and encountered the existence of Asper’s Fist of Flame from the beginning, and now he was facing Milena, who came from a different dimension, “Asper,” through the VIP shop in the tower.

As someone who had actually encountered extraterrestrial forces, Kang Woo knew better than anyone else the considerable possibility of Park Sung Chul’s theory.

“Why do you make that claim?” Kang Woo asked, adjusting his posture.

“One of the grounds researchers put forth for such a claim is the nature of the monsters present in the gate. Despite being categorized into numerous types and ranks, these monsters consistently reveal hostility towards humans. Observing monsters that seem to have suppressed all emotions except for negative ones like anger and slaughter, researchers formulated a hypothesis.”

“…”

“Perhaps these monsters consistently exhibiting a propensity for slaughtering living beings might be due to the intervention of unknown extraterrestrial forces,” Park Sung Chul explained.

Listening to the lengthy explanation, Kang Woo furrowed his brow. Then, still gazing at the crazed orcs still in combat, he spoke.

“…Now, those orcs we encountered through the tower, not the gate. Are you suggesting that they haven’t been influenced by extraterrestrial forces, and therefore, these orcs might not be the bloodthirsty killers we’re familiar with?”

“Yes, you understand it correctly.”

“…It’s not an entirely absurd assumption.”

“Yes, without that, there’s no other way to explain the actions of orcs who haven’t immediately torn apart the humans right in front of them.”

“…”

Kang Woo fell into contemplation.

‘Maybe that’s the original nature of orcs…’

It was a very convincing argument. No, inwardly, he was already halfway in agreement.

However, this claim only helped rationalize the bizarre situation and didn’t provide any assistance in resolving the immediate life-and-death issue.

‘Well then, why did those orcs spare us?’

Kang Woo clenched his unyielding mind.

If he knew the reason for sparing them, he could negotiate or deal with them somehow. However, with their current communication breakdown and internal bickering, there seemed to be no way to improve the situation.

And so, while Kang Woo was lost in contemplation.

From behind, voices, as if just waking up from a deep sleep, murmured softly one by one.

“Younger sibling, do you understand what that sound is?”

“Uh… Aren’t orcs not bloodthirsty murderers, in fact?”

“…? The orcs coming out of the gate are all bloodthirsty murderers, aren’t they?”

“Huh? Uh… Well… aren’t they monsters in the tower, not from the gate?”

“?! Oh!! Right! I get it! There was such a difference!!”

“Ah… Well… right…?”

From Noble mtl dot com

Turning their heads at the familiar voices, Kang Woo and Park Sungcheol found Lee Jaejun, who was being thumped on the back by Jang Taehan and awkwardly smiling in shock.

“You’re awake!”

Sungcheol, reflecting on the well-being of his colleagues, took a step closer.

Kang Woo, following behind, checked on Choi Taehyun, who awkwardly rose to his feet, and sighed in relief.

‘Everyone really survived.’

Later, after the three who woke up late were informed by Park Sungcheol about the existence of a portal visible below the mountain and the use of potions to heal their wounds, they expressed their gratitude to him while repaying for the potions.

Kwaaah!!

The orcs, who had been fighting among themselves, suddenly formed ranks and turned to look in their direction.

***

Gulp.

The sound of someone swallowing echoed.

“What’s going to happen to us now…?”

“We’re not going to fight again, are we…? Surely, the reason for saving us wasn’t to toy with us by repeating battles until we’re fed up…?”

Choi Taehyun’s eerie remark stiffened everyone’s bodies.

“hahahaha! Little brother! There’s a mosquito here!!”

Splat!

“aaagh!”

With a light touch from Jang Taehan, Choi Taehyun’s body flew three meters away.

‘Unlucky to say something like that.’

But everyone here couldn’t just brush off such an unlucky remark as a mere joke, because it sounded quite convincing.

‘…Or is it?’

As Kang Woo nervously scanned ahead with trembling eyes.

Thunk.

The orc warrior standing at the center took a step forward.

‘That guy…!’

He was the orc who had emerged victorious in the ranks’ battle and had pounded Kang Woo’s shield bare-handed during combat—the chief orc among the orcs.

‘…He’s armed.’

The double-edged axe that had been thrown towards Choi Taehyun in the previous fight, unable to be used as a weapon due to the wind, was now firmly held in the chief orc’s right hand this time.

Even when bare-handed, he had been quite a challenge. But now, equipped with a weapon, the chief orc…

A shiver ran down the spine, cold sweat trickling down.

As the chief orc warrior pointed his right hand forward with a jerk.

Roar!

Thud, thud!

Two orcs, brimming with energy, leaped forward.

“… What’s going on?”

What kind of situation is this now?

Caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, everyone couldn’t hide their bewilderment. One of the two orcs that had emerged began to smear brown mud on its face.

“… What’s this, really?”

Soon, the orc whose face had become a mess with brown mud.

Roaaar!!

After roaring to capture everyone’s attention,

Roar! Roaaar! Roar! Roaaar!

Pointing with its finger, it began to repeat the gesture, alternately pointing at the Rainfall Party and then at itself.

“Am I human…?”

The interpretation by Choi Tae-hyun, who had approached unnoticed, echoed.

Roaaar!

The mud-covered orc, affirming that it was true, raised its weapon. In response, the orc that had come forward with the mud-covered one also raised its weapon.

Kwaaang!!

Thrown off by the preemptive strike of the mud-covered orc, they fell to the dirt floor.

“No… I get that they want to convey something, but to be this serious about it…?”

When everyone empathized with Lee Jae-joon’s muttered words.

The preceding performance seemed to satisfy the mud orc, who burst into a triumphant roar, counting each member of Kangwoo’s party with his fingers.

Kwaaah-!!

He pointed down the mountain.

“If even one person wins, they’ll let everyone go, right…?”

Winning against the orcs meant saving everyone. Not a bad deal.

“….”

Everyone present had already suffered a devastating defeat in the battle against the orcs, except for the loser.

“… What if no one wins…?”

In the silence, Lee Jaejoon asked with a trembling voice.

At that moment, an orc standing up from his seat approached the mud orc, swung his weapon, and knocked down the mud orc.

“….”

With a creepy smile, he raised his finger, pointing upwards.

Gulp.

All were captivated as they followed the orc warrior’s finger.

“No…!”

The ‘Giant Horned Bull,’ even feared by B-class tanks, was impaled on a tree branch with only its head remaining.