Chapter 176: A Lioness Faithful to Instinct (3)

“It’s an honor to meet you again, beautiful Shaolin.”

Her face took on an expression of shock at my greeting.

“Really? Well… this is my first time meeting you, so how do you know my name?”

“Of course, it is because your beautiful figure never left my mind. I kept looking for you.”

“Liar.”

“I’m not lying, Miss Shaolin.”

“Ha…”

“Aren’t you coming out because you’re thinking of helping?”

“I’m not in a good mood because I’ve gotten dumped… To be precise, I came out to witness a death.”

‘This bitch!’

I had expected her to act like this. However…

‘She will definitely help.’

If she didn’t want to, there was no reason for her to show up. She was playing hard to get because she wanted to get something out of this. After all, the fact that she, a member of the Republic, responded to my call and appeared within the Holy Empire’s borders was already a penalty in itself.

Of course, the ones who had seen her were me, Kim Hyunsung, and Cha Hee-ra, who was still on a rampage. However, her greed was still apparent, considering her reaction during our encounter at the underground auction house. However, there was a possibility that she had gone out to land herself a negotiation with me.

‘I’m not sure what negotiation is, but…’

What surprised me was Kim Hyunsung’s reaction. The man looked angry as he gazed at the woman adorned in Chinese garbs. He then stared at me, not with hostility, although he appeared to be asking for an explanation.

“We met at a masquerade ball.”

“Ah… I see.”

“This is the person who once I met with Hyejin while the party members were out hunting.”

I knew Cho Hyejin would make the alibi with me.

“With Hyejin?”

“Yes. Previously, I received a slightly awkward proposal… I remembered refusing, though. Do you have any idea who it is?”

“No… I don’t know.”

While I tried to convince Hyunsung of my innocence, a voice rang above us.

“Will you ignore me like this after calling me? Perhaps it would be better for me to go.”

“O-Of course! It’s been a long time since we met. How can you talk like that, Shaolin-nim? I’m really sorry about last time. At that time, my partner next to me was a little sensitive for my safety…”

I felt sorry for putting Hyejin on the spot like that, but I had to appeal to Shaolin first. Even as I spoke, Cha Hee-ra continued to follow Hyunsung and me.

“In my memory, the one who looked uncomfortable was you, am I right?”

“Hahahaha. Why would I reject such a beautiful woman? I knew you would be beautiful, but you exceeded my expectations. Staring into your eyes will surely drown me.”

“Huh. What a smooth talker.”

“Why would I be lying?”

“Easy. It’s because you’re in a desperate situation right now.”

“In the first place, a desperate situation is the best background to feel good about each other. Usually, all the main characters in movies act like this. Why don’t you stop looking around and help me out? My situation isn’t so good…”

“It’s not a problem for me to help, but it’s a bit of an expensive order to stop the Mercenary Queen from the Holy Empire. I’m not sure if I can stop her or not, and there must be something I can get in return.”

“I am not asking you to do your best to fight. I would be really grateful if you could help us against her for about 30 minutes… If there is anything you want, we will do as much as possible to grant it. Of course, this includes safely exiting Castle Rock.”

“Hmm… 30 minutes is by no means easy.”

“How about gold coins?”

“Well…”

“If you want material things…”

“I’m not a person who lacks money…”

“I’ll officially serve you a meal. Not only that, but we will be able to give you anything we can give.”

“Hmm…”

“Please help us, oh, beautiful Shaolin-nim.”

“First of all, since it looks urgent, should the contract be concluded with this?”

“You just need to hold off against her without actually killing her.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. She won’t die even if I wanted to kill her anyway. That crazy gorilla… Ah, well, it won’t be bad to have you lot feel indebted to me.”

I didn’t know how, but she seemed to be acquainted with Cha Hee-ra. If Shaolin really held a seat of power, then it was possible that she would’ve met Cha Hee-ra at least once.

‘Does this make things better?’

It didn’t matter. The only thing that did was that she had decided to help us, though it didn’t seem like they were very close.

‘Not bad.’

As Shaolin quietly reached out, a man appeared from behind her and handed her an armament from within the box he was holding. Shaolin accepted the weapon quietly.

‘A whip?’

It really didn’t feel like she cared much about Cha Hee-ra.

A second later, enormous magical power flew towards Cha Hee-ra, who was still charging towards us. An explosion resounded, and Cha Hee-ra was struck to the side.

Baaaaang!

I found myself staring, mouth agape.

‘Was she really that strong?’

Previously, I had not been able to check her stats properly.

[Checking the status window and the talent levels of the player Shaolin.]

[Name: Shaolin]

[Title: Sadist]

[Age: 22]

[Disposition: Curious Seeker]

[Unique Characteristic: Strangler Romanticist]

[Class: Whip Engineer (Heroic)]

[Class Effect: Acquisition of Basic Swordsmanship Knowledge]

[Class Effect: Acquisition of Intermediate Whipping Knowledge]

[Class Effect: Acquisition of Advanced Fighting Knowledge]

[Class Effect: Acquisition of Advanced Whipping Knowledge]

[Class effect: Acquisition of Advanced Magic Power Management Knowledge]

[Stats]

[Strength: 87/Growth potential: Heroic or higher]

[Agility: 89/Growth potential: Legendary or higher]

[Stamina: 71/Growth potential: Rare or higher]

[Intelligence: 81/Growth potential: Heroic or higher]

[Endurance: 64/Growth potential: Rare or higher]

[Luck: 81/Growth potential: Heroic or lower]

[Magic Power: 89/Growth potential: Heroic or higher]

[Attribute: Vibrant Lash (Heroic)]

[Restores stamina in proportion to the damage done with the whip.]

[General Review: I feel sorry for the low stamina and endurance stats, but she has overall stats that are faithful to the basics. She has a good disposition, but her characteristic is not very good. It would be right to say that she is a player who possesses dangerous curiosity. One thing I’m sure of is that she is not a good person to get close to.]

Certainly, she was a kind of human that could be classified as a strong man, but she was nothing compared to Cha Hee-ra. The difference in stats was still evident.

However, it was the whip she was holding that bothered me.

[Equipment: Whip Woold That Punished a Goddess (Legendary)]

[This is a weapon found in an ancient shrine. We don’t know how and who used it, but rumor has it that it was made to punish the goddess. Although buried for a long time, it retains most of its power. Ten points permanently reduce the owner of the item at random. As a result, the magical power of the whip increases.]

‘As expected.’

Though most of its functions still appeared to be locked, it was entirely different from my Juliana, who still had not awakened yet. However, if one had a legendary item, it would make sense to try and stop Cha Hee-ra with it alone.

‘At the cost of 10 stat points…’

Shaolin seemed confident with her ability, as the subordinates she had brought along stood still, not helping. If something dangerous happened, they would probably move, but as of the moment, she could still deal with Cha Hee-ra as she was still a considerable distance away.

Meanwhile, her whip continued to create sharp, piercing sounds that seemed to cut through the air.

“Grrrrr!”

Cha Hee-ra no longer focused on me, as she had sensed an imminent threat. She changed direction right away and rushed towards Shaolin. Because of this, Kim Hyunsung must’ve thought that he didn’t need to carry me anymore, seeing as he had started running towards the wall.

However, I had no intention of going with him.

“I think you can head to the wall first. I need to stop by somewhere first…”

“What?”

“I have some insurance in mind. Ah! Rather, just in case, I would like you to send the Red Mercenary members here. So far, it looks like it’s going to be fine, but if things continue like this, we’ll have to stop one of them.”

“Yes. I see what you mean. I’ll head to the wall now, then.”

“Yes, Hyunsung-ssi.”

“And…”

“Yes?”

“I would like you to explain in detail about today.”

“Of course.”

Once more, Kim Hyunsung’s expression did not look good.

‘He must be suspicious.’

It was understandable. He obviously hadn’t expected me to know someone from the Republic, much less ask them for help. Of course, I didn’t know where Shaolin lived or what she did, exactly, but I had still called out her name, and she still responded to me.

To be honest, I had completely forgotten about meeting her back at the auction house.

Anyway, I was in no panic about the monster wave. Currently, anyway. Since the Giants Guild Master was in command, the Western region forces may have been reinforced. I didn’t know what would happen, but it at least eased my worries for the time being.

“Gwuuuuhhhh…”

Of course, if the crying, crazy monster outside went on a rampage, it would be a whole different story.

“Then, I’ll see you in a little bit.”

“Yes, Hyunsung-ssi.”

Kim Hyunsung looked worried, even as he flew off. Meanwhile, I still had one more place I needed to stop by at.

‘Of course, it’s a little scary to go outside…’

In case Shaolin did something to Cha Hee-ra, I would have to hide here and watch her until the Red Mercenary members arrive, anyway.

It’s hard to imagine Cha Heera being killed or injured, as Shaolin had said, but…

‘Anything can happen.’

Therefore, I owed it to Cha Hee-ra to watch over her for now.

“Mad bitch!!”

“Grrrrrr!!!!”

A chaotic fight had broken out both outside and within the walls.

Thinking about the pre-war defense, where all I had to do was command safely from the rear, I realized things had just gotten a lot harder for me.

This did nothing but make me feel sad.