Chapter 62 · BMMAW

Chapter 62

Dorothy’s Neck Started Stinging

Arrows continued flying.

Normal arrows mixed together with flaming arrows.

The startled horses stomped their feet and neighed loudly.

Several horses panicked and moved, causing some of the merchant company wagons to shake and shift slightly.

A few servants clung to the wagons and tried to calm the horses.

To them, the wagons seemed more precious than human lives.

Maybe even more important than their own lives.

The servants of the merchant company looked so desperate that Juhwan could not help thinking that way.

Juhwan also quickly calmed the horse tied to his wagon and pulled the wagon forward.

The bandits’ target was the goods inside the merchant company wagons.

At least they would not shoot flaming arrows directly at them.

And indeed, every flaming arrow landed on the ground some distance away from the wagons.

Their purpose was simply to light up the surroundings so the bandits could shoot arrows more easily.

Juhwan guided the horse in the opposite direction from where the arrows were coming from, then lined it up beside a merchant wagon.

That way, even if arrows flew toward his wagon, they would strike the merchant company’s wagon instead.

When one horse panicked and moved, the nearby horses were affected too.

The servants had no choice but to calm even Juhwan’s horses as they hurried between the wagons.

Perhaps the movement of the wagon had frightened them.

Lizzy was peeking outside through the gap between the driver’s seat and the wagon, pressing herself tightly against it.

Dorothy was held tightly in her arms.

Lizzy’s face looked unusually pale.

Juhwan smiled when he saw them.

> “I’ll stay here the whole time, so it’s okay. You don’t need to be afraid.”

Oz was on Dorothy’s head as always.

Juhwan pulled an arrow from his quiver and looked into Oz’s eyes.

> “Oz, protect Lizzy and Dorothy. Never leave their side.”

“Pii.”

Oz made a sharp sound as if he understood.

Juhwan stepped onto the driver’s seat and climbed onto the wagon roof.

After the previous attacks, part of the roof had been left empty.

It was only a narrow space barely wide enough to stand with both feet apart.

Juhwan stood there and aimed his bow into the dark space ahead.

The sky was still dark, but he could see things moving within the darkness.

Probably because dawn was close.

If he were still used to Earth’s brightly lit nights, it would have been impossible.

But now his eyes were accustomed to the nights of this world.

Even in deep darkness, he could vaguely make out the shapes of people and horses moving.

He did not need to hit them precisely.

Just close enough.

If he could make them hesitate, slow down even slightly, or force them toward other merchant companies instead—

that was enough.

> “Sorry, but surviving comes first.”

Juhwan pulled the bow strongly.

He held his breath.

After aiming the tightly drawn bow toward the enemies in the darkness, he quietly released the string.

The arrow sliced through the air with a sharp sound.

One arrow.

Then another.

Screams rose from the darkness.

There were more screams than the number of arrows Juhwan had fired.

When Juhwan glanced around with only his eyes, he saw Leonard, the owner of Miller Company, already shooting arrows into the darkness.

Gordon stood nearby.

That man was shooting arrows too.

Were merchant companies in this world actually businesses run by mercenaries instead of merchants?

The two men seemed better at archery than Juhwan.

Every time their thick arrows flew out, bandits screamed in the darkness.

Several guards from Miller Company were struck by arrows.

This place alone was not under attack.

The nearby merchant companies were in similar situations.

> “They were hiding their numbers until now.”

Previously, every attack involved fewer than thirty bandits.

It usually seemed like around twenty men.

But suddenly, the number of enemies had greatly increased.

At the very least, there were more than fifty.

A hundred?

Maybe even more.

Perhaps Leonard was right.

The bandits might have been attacking and looting the merchant companies that separated from the convoy.

One group attacked the convoy.

Another robbed the wagons that left.

Maybe they had divided the work like that.

The bandits who had only been firing arrows while riding around now seemed ready to attack directly.

Shouts echoed from every direction together with the sound of galloping hooves.

The sun had not risen yet.

But the pitch-black sky had already become dimly bright.

The enemies’ faces could not be seen.

Only their dark silhouettes approached with the faint brightness behind them.

It looked like a scene from a movie.

Juhwan continued firing arrows, then suddenly jumped down from the wagon.

The enemies were close enough now that swords would be faster than arrows.

He leaped toward a bandit approaching the merchant wagons.

At some point, an axe had appeared in his hand.

Humans were different from goblins.

They were smarter and used weapons.

This situation would be harder than fighting goblins in the mountains.

Juhwan’s mouth tightened.

With his eyes, he searched for the mage.

The mages, who should have been the most active right now, were nowhere to be seen.

> “Those bastards.”

The mages were standing in relatively safe positions.

Using several guards as shields, they stayed behind them.

The wind mage truly seemed to control wind.

Incoming arrows curved strangely in the air and flew away from around them.

Apparently, that was how mages normally fought.

The other guards did not seem to criticize them for it.

The most noticeable one was the fire mage.

He was using a long flaming whip.

Every time the whip cracked through the air, fire stretched out from its tip.

And each time, snakes made of fire struck people.

> “So that’s how it’s used.”

It seemed fire magic was not normally used by directly igniting a person’s body like Juhwan did.

But in Juhwan’s case, if he used a whip normally, it would probably turn to ash instantly.

His power was simply too strong.

Though honestly, the others were probably not that different.

Maybe the whip had some special mechanism.

> “Ah!”

Suddenly, Juhwan remembered what happened when leaving the goblin village.

Back then, he had poured mana into the flames surrounding the village and extinguished them.

Fire could not continue burning within ash.

Juhwan had used that idea to strengthen the flames even more, turning all the flammable material surrounding the village into ash.

Mana-covered fire flowed along flammable substances.

Maybe the fire mage coated the whip with oil or resin and used that property.

If so—

there were objects here coated with flammable material too.

> “Good.”

Juhwan grabbed a torch stuck beside the wagon.

He ignited it with fire.

The torch was coated in resin.

If fire magic could be used through a whip, then surely it could be used through a torch as well.

Juhwan swung the torch toward the approaching bandits while mixing fire mana into it.

Just as he expected.

The mana flowing through the torch created massive flames in the air.

And the amount of mana used was incomparably smaller than before.

Several bandits approaching the wagon were swallowed by fire.

> “Now I understand.”

> “I finally understand how to use this power.”

Juhwan swung the torch toward the bandits again.

The flames grew even larger.

The blazing fire crossing through the air looked like a giant demon’s club.

The dancing flames were as enormous as Gulliver in the land of tiny people.

Juhwan’s flames instantly swallowed horses and men.

The bandits’ horses screamed.

Bandits wrapped in flames flailed their arms and fell to the ground.

The smell of burning fur and burning flesh spread everywhere.

The sight of burning horses and humans looked like a painting of hell itself.

But it did not end there.

Every time Juhwan swung his arm through the air, more bandits were engulfed in flames.

> “An advanced mage! The enemy has an advanced fire mage!”

One of the bandits shouted.

Immediately, arrows focused on Juhwan.

Juhwan amplified his mana through the torch and swung it around himself.

The giant flaming club turned the incoming arrows into ash.

Then—

one especially fast and powerful arrow flew toward him.

It almost looked alive.

Normal arrows did not fly in perfectly straight lines.

They naturally curved slightly.

But this arrow flew directly toward Juhwan like a guided missile.

A wind magic arrow.

Before his mind reacted, his body moved first.

Juhwan twisted his body and avoided the arrow aimed at his head.

For a moment, he felt wind brushing against his skin.

Maybe the arrow was simply so fast that it created wind.

But no—

that was not it.

Though faint, it felt as if wind had risen directly on the surface of his skin.

The arrow’s direction changed slightly.

It grazed his forehead and passed by.

Another arrow immediately flew toward him.

This time, the wind on his skin was clearer.

The arrow targeted the space between his eyes but barely missed and brushed past his ear.

It seemed he could use wind magic now too.

Though for now, it was only a very faint breeze.

The one using wind magic to attack him was probably the bandit leader.

Because he used a bow, he remained farther away than the others.

Juhwan gathered mana into his hand.

If that man used wind to fire arrows—

then Juhwan had fire.

> “Maybe I even have wind now too.”

An eye for an eye.

A tooth for a tooth.

Fire against wind.

Juhwan pulled the torch backward like preparing to throw a baseball, then swung it forward powerfully.

A gigantic burst of flame exploded from the torch.

Mana-filled fire flew through the air.

It felt exactly like watching a comic book.

The fire Juhwan launched immediately struck the enemy leader.

The man and horse burned together in one blazing mass.

> “Stop! Retreat! They have an advanced mage! Retreat! Retreat!”

One of the bandits shouted loudly.

But instead of fleeing immediately, the bandits suddenly began shooting arrows at their own fallen comrades.

After that, they turned their horses in perfect order and retreated.

In the dim light, Juhwan spotted several horses that seemed to belong to leaders.

They were extremely well-trained.

Even after seeing the fire, they did not panic much and obeyed their riders.

The muscles in their legs and bodies looked far better than any horses Juhwan had seen before.

The bandits disappeared into the distance in an instant.

> “They’re not ordinary bandits.”

Even the merchant convoy did not seem to have horses that good.

In a medieval world, horses were expensive.

Neither the goblin village nor the adventurer village had horses like those.

Maybe they were mercenaries.

But if that were true, they would not have shot their own allies.

> “This country is at war…”

Could they have been enemy soldiers disguised as bandits?

Either way, the crisis had passed.

Still, there might be stragglers remaining.

Juhwan stood there silently for a moment, watching where the bandits had disappeared.

Groans and screams echoed from every direction.

After confirming Lizzy and Dorothy were safe, Juhwan began healing the nearby injured people first.

> “Hurry.”

Earlier, he had only seen his family briefly from outside the wagon.

But now he wanted to finish quickly and return to hold them tightly.

He wanted them to feel safe from his warmth.

Juhwan’s hands moved faster as he poured healing mana into the wounded.

—

> “It’s dragon fire!”

Dorothy’s eyes widened as she watched the giant flames created by her father.

The huge fire bursting from the torch in his hand looked exactly like flames breathing from a dragon’s mouth.

“Amazing.”

The small torch became an enormous flame that burst everywhere.

It looked as if Daddy’s hand itself had turned into fire and was swallowing the sky.

“Mom! Daddy became a dragon! Amazing! Our daddy is amazing!”

All the bad people ran away.

Daddy defeated them all.

Dorothy looked up at Lizzy’s face.

> “Mom, Daddy is super strong! I told you. Our daddy is the strongest.”

But Lizzy still looked worried.

Holding Dorothy tightly, she quietly watched Juhwan through the gap near the driver’s seat.

Because the gap was small, Juhwan’s figure appeared and disappeared repeatedly.

After some time passed, Juhwan came closer and looked at Lizzy and Dorothy through the opening.

Even though all the bad people had fled, he still did not enter the wagon.

After asking if they were alright, Juhwan went somewhere else again.

He said he would return soon—

but once he disappeared, Dorothy suddenly felt anxious.

She could hear people moving around outside.

Everyone sounded busy.

Groans.

The crashing sounds of objects moving.

For some reason, sounds heard from inside the wagon felt even scarier.

Dorothy turned around and hugged Lizzy tightly.

It was not because Dorothy was scared.

She was hugging her because Mom might be scared.

> ‘Really, Oz.’

After saying that in her heart to Oz sitting on her head, Dorothy buried her face in Lizzy’s chest.

Lizzy seemed scared too.

She hugged Dorothy tightly.

It felt like they stayed like that for a long time.

Then suddenly—

a rattling sound came from outside the wagon door.

> ‘Did Daddy come back?’

That was her first thought.

But something felt strange.

Whenever Juhwan came near the wagon, he always called Lizzy’s name first.

He never tried opening the door silently like this.

Lizzy gently set Dorothy down and moved her behind her.

She grabbed the spear placed in the corner.

It was the sharpened bamboo spear they brought from the mountain house.

“Dorothy, from now on, scream as loudly as you can. Okay? So Daddy can hear—”

Lizzy spoke in a trembling voice while pointing the spear at the door.

Then suddenly—

she collapsed onto the floor.

“Huh? Mom!”

Dorothy jumped up in shock.

And suddenly—

her neck started stinging