NOVEL NEXT chapter 42
42 – 1. Academy (42)
#42
[The summoner’s job level has increased.]
[The level of the skill [Riding] Increases.]
[The skill level has increased by 1.]
[The level of Has risen.]
[The level of Has risen.]
[The level of the skill [Group Leadership] Of Has increased.]
[The skill level has increased by 1.]
[The level of the skill [Dragon Magic] Of Has risen.]
[Intelligence has increased by 1.]
I was trampled at once, but probably because there were a lot of them, in addition to my level, Hive and Kalion’s levels also went up.
In the case of Hive, it is actually only doing support work, but it must be that difficult to collect magic stones from the dead bodies of enemies that are falling in real time.
I tried to commit it once, but from now on, I think I need to lure it to the place where the floating stone is, or move it in the direction of dropping the corpse in the direction of the floating stone after catching it with Kalion’s [Force] Magic.
It was a normal growth without anything to look at. With the points obtained from leveling up, Hive invested his skills, and Karion and I invested his intelligence.
It may not be the formula I thought, so I checked the [Summoning Book] And fortunately the number of possible summons increased from 3 to 4.
In addition to that, [Lizard] – Like [Sub-Ryong], It was confirmed that the [Bird] Option increased next to [Crow].
I put it behind me to find out more. It’s better to be safe because monsters may flock to it because of the commotion.
Above all, when you summon your familiar, the headwind will make your body sag like a rag for a while, so you could fall off after doing something wrong.
I ordered Carlion to turn and move towards the nearest land.
“Go down first.”
“Ah, did you level up with that one?”
“Yes”
As soon as I arrived on the ground, I got off from Kalion with Lee Serin hanging from my neck as if it were natural.
Moreover, when we ordered Carrion to pull the floating stones around us with [Force] Magic, we were able to create a simple but not bad base camp.
I opened the [Summoning Book] Again and immediately checked the summonable list.
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[1. Crow] – [Bird]
[2. Squirrel]
[3. Fox]
[4. Bat]
[5. A wolf]
[6. Rabbit]
[7. Spider]
[8. Sogwi]
[9. Bone disease]
[10. Lizard] – [Sub-dragon]
[11. Mole]
[12. Micro-spirit]
[13. Devil]
* Currently, the number of summons that can be registered is [4].
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First of all, [Birds].
If you only look at the emotional part, it was a little different from [A-Ryong].
In the case of [Dryong], If you felt that it was a similar but different, more fantasy-like evolved species, in the case of this [Bird], You could go beyond the existing crow and select objects that exist in the category of ‘Bird’. I had a strong feeling that I was there.
Let’s see how far it can go. Starting with birds of prey like eagles and hawks, it was possible to even monsters that seemed to be a mixture of half humans and half birds. The race was [Join].
The first thing that came to my mind was [Harpy].
However, [Harpies] Are clearly ‘human species’ classified as beneficial tribes, not joins, and [Dragonutes] And [Half-elves] Seen before are sub-humans, but dragons and fairies. It belongs to a separate category of ‘Humanity’.
In either case, demi-humans, who are classified as a tribe, have a strong feeling that the human side is a little bit mixed with the others.
On the other hand, this was just a horse, but it looked more like a chimera that mixed something in the form of a human with an algae base.
Let’s check the encyclopedia just in case. It was as I expected. The joins were divided into sub-humans, similar to goblins and orcs.
In other words, it belongs to a monster.
I don’t know how the evolution will go, but it didn’t seem very necessary because I was just a low-level hive right now.
The ones that caught my attention were, of course, the [Spirits] And [Demons].
The practicality and merits of spirits were previously known through [Salamander] In Kalion’s evolution tree. The only thing I’m curious about is the devil, but in fact, it’s completely unknown how this will appear.
I honestly had no idea what a demon was because the way I got it was by catching pitch-black creatures born from a strange tree.
“What are you worried about?”
“Ah”
Come to think of it, there was a living history book next to me. I thought about it a little bit, but I think it would be better to ask for opinions on the things I have to worry about on my own and make my own decisions.
You know a little bit about spirits, so let’s ask the devil first. I immediately asked him to remove the horns as well. All the back and forth rhetoric and what the hell is the devil?
“Umm, is it the devil?”
“Yes, it doesn’t matter if it’s from a subjective point of view.”
What I need right now is information about demons. Anything, no matter how trivial, will surely help.
“The general view of demons is that they are emotional beings, but… The answer the Doctor wants isn’t that one-dimensional, is it?”
I didn’t answer that question. It wasn’t a question she was expecting an answer from me either, so she didn’t care. That is her habit. Because she has spent so much time alone, she inadvertently throws up questions as if she is talking to someone even when she asks herself back.
It’s a self-talk that a fit old man would say, but considering his actual age, it’s not strange. It’s just such a habit that even people who don’t know about her can pass it off as a little 4-dimensional person.
“The devil…The devil…”
Understanding my intentions, she began to ponder for a while as she tapped between her chin and lips with her index finger. Perhaps the thought was over immediately. However, she must be finding the right words for that.
“Ah!”
After finishing organizing her thoughts, Se-Rin smiled and opened her mouth.
“The devil can be seen as a fool who is faithful to his desires.”
“A fool who is faithful to his desires?”
“Yes, I think he is so faithful that he is blind to the point of looking like an idiot.”
Faithful but foolish. It is so faithful that it is blind to the point of looking like an idiot. It sounds like an enigma, but if you know that the root of evil comes from emotions, it is a problem that can be inferred to some extent.
In other words, the race of demons will do anything to make their desires come true.
The metaphor of ‘stupid’ must have been added to jump in regardless of the front and back, regardless of fire or water. If you think about it carefully, that tree also sucked up the magical power and vitality of the students without mercy.
In the end, I couldn’t figure out what the exact purpose was, but it was obvious that they were harassing the people around them for appropriate reasons, such as destroying the academy or taking revenge.
“Did you take note?”
“Uh”
Thanks to her, she decided what to choose.
I think the most important thing as a creature is the desire to accomplish something. Motivation, hope, and tenacity to make it come true.
Humanity prospered because everyone grew up eating emotions born from some kind of desire, competed fiercely, and repeatedly evolved to struggle.
As a philosopher from the past life said, the human race without desire will surely perish, so there is no need to talk about the importance of desire.
In that sense, the current me must have definitely been broken.
I am longing for rest for a subject that has no desire or will to speak of.
The moment I died in my previous life. Now that everything that built the nation and human beings has been burned, what is left is nothing more than a charred dreg.
It simply cannot die, so it is no different than a corpse that walks as the senses of its previous life lead. Even the way I thought was focused on tranquility and rest, probably because the feedback from my previous life was so intense that it was an ambiguous emotion that could not even be called desire.
I really want to rest. There must be some people who want to say that the best wish is to rest comfortably. But to me right now, there is nothing as earnest and desperate as that.
It is not an exaggeration to say that it is maintaining the warmth of the remaining ash powder for that purpose in the first place.
It’s such a simple and self-centered way of thinking that it’s rude to compare it to others, but what is that? Whatever. Humans are inherently selfish creatures.
I also recognize that I am broken, but how will others react when they see me? I don’t want to see such troublesome things, so I desperately hide them and act calm.
Ironically, this world is going crazy, so I can endure it even though I’m annoyed this much.
I wonder if he would have become a real madman who kills everyone, regardless of gender and age, in what appears to be a futile resentment. In fact, the vocation presented at the beginning was also biased towards that side.
I don’t know now if it’s because I was influenced by ‘me’ in my previous life, or if it’s the latent power of ‘my’ body in this world. Because I’ve already chosen a summoner.
At first, I was fed up with just playing around with God’s will, so I changed to Summoner, which was the most non-mainstream among the selected jobs, but now I’m thinking about how good it was.
In the first place, the current situation itself, in which a bastard called God is openly interfering with what was my only purpose, is the problem. I know that, but would you want to do as the bastard named God told you to do?
I just want to rest, but is that so dissatisfying?
No matter how much air is blown into the corpse, the heart that has stopped beating long ago does not beat.
The problem is that even in a state where the heart has stopped, the still-living monster gently shows a string of hope and induces it to move forcibly.
I didn’t come back to life by my own will, so I can’t take it even if I want to like it.
Nevertheless, I am also a human being, so if you continue to show a string of hope, I instinctively follow it. It is like a moth that follows the light and throws itself into the flames. Because this is an unavoidable instinct.
You say you don’t believe it, but in a corner, you start to expect it. Then, on their own, they feel disappointed and betrayed again just because they fall short of the standard.
From the moment you have the mindset of “Just in case”, Ironically, you end up harboring hope and despair at the same time.
It’s tiring just by doing that.
But I can’t throw it away. I cling to it even though I know there’s no chance of that happening. Even though I hope that the embers that are left with nothing but ashes will be extinguished as soon as possible, in a corner of my heart, I have a contradictory feeling that I do not want it to go out.
It’s broken. It’s broken and creaks, but it’s still working. Even if I laughed at him for being cunning, I had no words to return. Because that’s who I am.
In that respect, the existence of the devil felt very attractive.
According to Se-Rin Lee, isn’t it an existence that can take the place of my desires that won’t be strange even if they disappear at any time?
It’s like a navigation device that guides you to the shortest distance to your destination even if you don’t move yourself. I plan to use this guy as my guide and test site at the same time.
Even if I hesitate or collapse from exhaustion along the way, this guy who inherited my will will do something for me. With such vague expectations, I chose the devil.
My purpose is only one.
I’m exhausted and suffer from chronic fatigue, and the reason why I’m leading a drowsy body and trembling with this sh*t even though I don’t want to do anything.
I want to spend even a little more peaceful days in this f*cking world where it’s so f*cking annoying and there’s not a single day without noise.
It is like a dream that I longed for until the last moment in my previous life.
I don’t remember why I wanted such a dream because it’s been so long, but if I wanted it that intensely, I can know that it’s very precious and important to me, even if I don’t have to know the reason.
Thus, for me, this life is just an extension of my previous life.
If you achieve an unfulfilled dream, what is at the end? If I achieve the dream I wanted to achieve while going through such high school, what will happen next?
I wanted to see it with my own eyes.
That’s why I wanted to grab the kid by the collar who was trying to disturb the peace, ask why he did that, and give a big blow to whatever answer came out.
“Select”
The window that floated in the air went out and the [Summoning Book] Began to respond.
Originally, it is normal for the form to protrude like a hologram here, but perhaps because of the characteristics of the race, the status window came to mind first, and I began to be given options.
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[Name : -] [Type: Devil] [Lv : 1]
[Abilities]
[Muscle: 0] [Skill: 0] [Intellect: 0] [Luck: 0]
[Attribute: – ]
[Possessed Skills]
[Little Devil Lv 1] [Sin Lv 1] [ Lv 1]
Points available: 25
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“Oh?”
Originally, the abilities that would have been randomly assigned according to the individual were paid in a variable state so that I could take pictures in the direction I wanted.
Moreover, in addition to the existing [Little Devil] And [Sin] Skills, I was able to add another skill I wanted. Of course, that is limited to skills that the [Demon] Race can learn, but it is possible to seek various growth just by increasing the degree of freedom.
Looking at the composition of the party right now, the scout is Hive, the main tanker and sub-dealer are Growl, and this time, Kalion evolved into a dragon, occupying a position on the completely empty ranged dealer side.
What is left naturally becomes the middle and rear.
If you think about balance, it’s better to be a healer or a buffer, but you can’t throw away a turn to make the battle line stronger. The more complete the party, the more comfortable I feel.
After thinking for a while, I came to the conclusion that the fuse tree isn’t bad either.
To be precise, my goal is to become a combat fuse capable of tanking and healing at the same time. So, if you normally concentrate on recovering and buffing from behind, and the enemy rushes forcibly to deal with the annoying priest first, rather open the way and surround it in front and back and press down thoroughly.
I thought I would be able to see something quite interesting if I imagined being beaten in a place where I thought I had won.
In addition, being a priest who serves a god despite being a devil seems to have gone beyond imagination. It’s the same as expressing my current situation the best, so the concept is solid.
I checked to see if any of the skills that could be put in the blanks for the last skill were recovery, buff, or something similar.
At first, most of them were weapons skills, but the lower you go, the more various skills such as [Barrier], [Magic], And [Cooking] Appeared. And I was able to discover one of the skills in between.
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[Name: Self Faith] [Lv: 1]
[Category: Skill]
[Description: The most basic type of faith that has existed since the beginning of time. It is given to those who pioneer and advance their own faith, not someone else’s. If the faith you hold is worthy, you will gain strength accordingly.]
[Doctrine: None]
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“Something like this”
I was dumbfounded when I first saw the name of the skill, but after reading the description, I was even more dumbfounded.
Intuitively, this is a skill that pseudo-religious people would be happy to have.
Prove your own faith and turn it into a religion. If the doctrine is reasonable, it is possible to obtain divine power, which means that if you are lucky, you can create a religious force comparable to Gwangilgyo.
‘It’s a bit scary’
Despite having such a skill, Gwangilgyo is firmly established in this world as if it were the only one. It is not that there are no other religions, but they are not as powerful as Gwangilgyo.
In other words, halfway things cannot cross the wall of Gwangilgyo, and even if you are lucky enough to be recognized as a religious order, there will be checks, not checks.
Because there is nothing as difficult to touch and closed as a firm religion.
In that sense, this was the first skill that was openly full of rebellion against God. Well, that’s why it’s not a skill that demons can acquire. There will be no other skill that suits the devil as well as this one.
That’s why I liked it more.
Now that the direction has been decided, the next step is the ability.
The ‘sacred power’ of priests and priests and the ‘Aura’ used by swordsmen are, after all, a kind of ‘energy’. If you go backward along the wave, there is always magic power at the end.
Magic power is truly ‘magic’-like power that can do anything if it can be handled well. It’s not wrong to say that it actually consumes mana to build magic.
That’s why the guys at the laboratory that had been conducting the biological experiments on Lili were so obsessed with making the Archmage.
Because I firmly believed that if I could handle magical power more ‘perfectly’, it would not be a dream to truly reach the position of a god. He thought that the means for that would be to become a great mage.
First of all, 14 of the 25 basic abilities are invested in strength and skills. This makes them 7 each, leaving 11 stats.
The best thing to do is to put all of these on intelligence, which contributes to the total amount of mana, but I dared to invest 1 in luck.
There are good things about that, but I felt like I would become an unhappy guy if I didn’t have any luck. The abnormality caused by the lack of ability was fully understood by Kalion.
[Do you want to summon Demon Lv 1, entity name ?]
As before, when I confirmed the summoning without deciding on a name, the system gave me an appropriate name without showing any form.
Echidna.
It appears as a monster in Greek mythology and is often used as the name of a devil in creative novels or games, so as soon as I saw it, I was convinced.
The tone isn’t bad, and it’s a direct quote from the name from mythology, so it’s fine if you take it as meaning to become that strong. Like most monsters in mythology, it doesn’t have a very good ending.
“Summon.”
Pounding
At the same time as the decision was made, a loud beating heart rang out. The sounds around me faded away, and in an instant, I was enveloped in the feeling that I was the only one left around.
At the same time, the gentle pain began to rise. In an instant, I felt a cold chill. Wouldn’t it be understandable if I said that the blood in my whole body felt like it was rushing out? Contrary to the coldness felt regardless of the temperature, the inside was hot as if it would boil at any moment.
At that time, I felt something being ripped off, and at the same time, my body strength was released. Before I could even think of holding out, I could see my vision of the ground rapidly getting closer.
Puck!
Compared to the dull sound, I felt no pain. No, maybe you can feel it. I guess it’s just that I can’t feel it because my senses have been dulled beyond that.
“Cool…”
Regardless of my will, blood flowed up my throat regurgitating. It was black, dead blood. The body is slowly dying. The reason is the absence of a soul.
The reason why the time feels longer than before is probably because there is less information about demons. Perhaps it is because of the lack of a solid image.
As soon as I recognized that, my gaze naturally turned to the side. The blonde-haired woman with golden pupils was looking at me with a hardened expression. It was like a carefully crafted doll.
It is a body that has changed to reflect only my taste. Even if you don’t want to have a crush, your body is made to direct your gaze.
It feels like the subtle sense of estrangement I’ve felt so far has completely disappeared, perhaps because the slightly playful look has disappeared from the lively alluring smile.
Perhaps that is her nature. They are so impatient that they can’t keep up their acting, or they are immersed in something. If you look at the figure holding the end of the hem strongly without even knowing it, it probably corresponds to the former.
Perhaps he is thinking about someone else’s image when he sees me dying.
When I saw that, I felt very happy for some reason. I’m not sure why either. Even though his heart was slowly stopping, a fishy smile appeared on his lips.
Maybe it’s because she seems to have taken off the mask of the guy who was hiding her true nature. The pleasure she gets from revealing what is hidden behind a veil. I carefully guessed that it might be something like that.
Ah, it must be that I am broken. Because I liked seeing someone so painful and desperate rather than happy.
[Would you like to make a sacrifice to the skill [Book of Summoning]?]
At that time, a voice announced the end of this time. I wanted to feel it for a little longer, but I felt like it wouldn’t work if the time went on like this.
“…Ba, chin…Da.”
The voice that came out was so weak that I couldn’t believe it was my own. I wondered if it was properly pronounced because of the faint breathing sound. However, the system firmly accepted my will.
Suddenly, something bubbled up from my shadow. They were magic stones and by-products that had been collected and neglected until now. Among them was a large amount of the scales of Kalion from his sub-dragon days.
Perhaps it jumped right out of the shadow where I was sitting, and maybe thanks to the black blood I shed, it became like a real sacrifice.
In addition to that, the manastone collected by the shadow crows of the hive was crumbled into light powder and floated around me, to be exact, around the [Summoning Book] That was in my hand.
The moment they were completely absorbed into the [Book of Summoning], The old pages began to change into new ones, and the cover of the book, which was somewhat plain, now has a beautiful appearance that can be thought of as a piece of art.
It has become something that is not too flashy and has just the right understated beauty.
At that point, my dull bodily sensations returned to some extent and I was able to properly apply my strength. I immediately snapped my fingers while strengthening my body with magic power.
Perfect!
“Echidna”
With a clear ringing sound, I called the name of the guy who would become my new strength.
Kulleong, Gulleong
At the same time as the signal, the shadow under my feet swayed and expanded its range. The moment it expanded to exactly the size of a person, it suddenly fell away as if it were independent from me.
Puquaak!
And from there a girl appeared as if she had jumped out of the water.
She was a beautiful-looking girl. His physical age seemed young enough to be around 7 years old now. The hair that grew up to her back was an exquisite mixture of platinum and black, as if black ink had been dropped on white drawing paper.
No, that’s not what’s important.
If I hadn’t felt the passageway connected to me, I was so similar to her that I would have thought that that woman was doing her strange tricks again.
Forgot
Inside the softly opened eyes, instead of shining golden pupils, there were light pink pupils. The girl who met my eyes smiled at me with a genuinely happy expression without any pretense.
The color was different, but the mystery that seemed to be sucked in just by looking at it did not change.
“…!!”
I opened my mouth and tried to say something, but no words came out. However, the emotions felt from the connected passages were diverse. Joy, wonder, excitement, happiness. I felt various emotions, but they all ended in affection.
In the end, she received the girl who couldn’t stand the feeling and jumped at me, but her weakened body couldn’t stand it. She fell back as if to fall, but I guess I didn’t notice, and I was rubbing her head against my stomach.
Not only did they look similar, but they also behaved similarly. Just because the content was different, the feeling came quite differently. It may be that I feel that way more because the feelings of pure joy are directly transmitted rather than calculated acting.
“Echidna?”
“…!”
I was convinced by the look of the girl nodding her head in response to my call. That this girl is the familiar I summoned. Realizing that fact, my hand naturally moved toward the head of the girl clinging to her stomach like a sucker shark.
Stop
Then it stopped. I moved her hand to stroke her as a habit, but I wondered if it would be good to treat the animal type and the human type the same.
“…?”
I opened my bright eyes wide, expressing my doubts at the appearance of my hand, which stopped awkwardly in the air as I approached, probably not understanding my complicated feelings. Then he started pushing her head into her hands rather away from himself.
Looking at her happy face, I realized that my worries just now were useless, and I brushed my hair properly. Then I hit it and something caught on my head. At first, I thought I was wearing jewelry, but when I touched it closely, I saw something that looked like a hard bump.
What is it?
It’s not that hard, but when I touched it, it didn’t seem like it would break easily. I could feel the warmth subtly, perhaps because it was hidden between the thick hair.
Sug
As I was stroking my hair intensively to find out what it was, a thin black tail entangled in my hand, as if I really liked it. Wait, tail?
“What is this”
The end of the typical devil’s tail, with the end in the shape of a spade, was connected to the underside of the robe worn by Echidna. Because it was a flat robe, most of the body was covered, so I couldn’t see the inside properly, but I could feel it even if I didn’t like it.
Unlike her childlike appearance, she has a body that doesn’t look like a child at all. Above all, she was not wearing anything underneath. That feeling was passed on to me unfiltered.
I felt an eerie chill at that fact. I immediately used the shadows to create clothes on the inside of the robe. Then, she dropped Echidna and turned her eyes toward the culprit of the chill.
“…What are you doing?”
“That’s what I want to ask. Can you release this quickly?”
She has a refreshing smile, but her eyes are still not smiling. Seline is holding the translucent membrane as if she wants to break it at any moment. I think it’s probably a barrier. It must be the same principle that Kang So-seon was pushed out before.
The question is whether it makes sense to hold that thing with your hand. The sight of the barrier screaming in her grasp in real time made her feel pity.
If it were her, she would be able to tear it off easily, but she was deliberately waiting because she was afraid that it would become a burden to me.
I want to be proud as it is, but remembering that her patience isn’t that great, I picked up the [Summoning Book] And put it in the air.
Then the barrier disappeared along with the book. Perhaps recognizing this, she strode toward Se-Rin and hugged me tightly, just like Echidna.
“Let go”
“I don’t like it.”
“Let go. You have blood on your clothes.”
“…It doesn’t matter.”
My words tightened the body even more. I felt the soft flesh of a mature woman completely different from the girl’s body, but I didn’t have time to feel it.
I wasn’t kidding, I felt like my back was about to break because of the pressure that was holding me down.
Echidna flinched and distanced herself with a completely stunned expression, probably because she was afraid of the existence of Lee Se-rin as well as my expression was not that good.
I glanced at Echidna with an eerie expression that didn’t show any of her previous emotions, and then she completely buried her face in my arms as if she didn’t want to show that expression to me.
“Please pet me too.”
“I hate it. And away Because I feel like dying now.”
“… Tsk, you’re determined to this point. Really”
I felt like I hadn’t heard the sound of clicking my tongue in a long time. She inhaled and exhaled her breath once, and then lifted her face up into a well-done smile. The level of perfection was still high. Thanks to the subtle sense of deja vu that I felt, I felt a strong sense of rejection.
“Then let’s do this.”
She changed her posture and got up from her seat, as Serene stood on her floor, and put my head on her knees on top of her.
I could feel her sweet tangerine scent lightly, and at the same time, the back of her head gave me a soft yet bouncy texture that couldn’t be reproduced with a pillow.
The so-called knee pillow.
I wanted to resist, but my body didn’t have any strength. When she told Echidna that she was okay, who watched the two of us from a distance, tears began to form in her eyes.
It seems sad that her place of self has been taken away. As if to replace me, Odo also ran to Carlion’s side and watched her sobbing as if clinging, but her chin was forcibly bent and turned upward.
This Serene’s face filled her field of vision. Her platinum feet came down like curtains on her, creating a space just for me and her.
“Since it’s a date right now, please focus only on me and not on other girls. Got it?”
“That’s my pet…”
“Yes?”
“…”
I didn’t have the confidence to look at her smile as she proudly put pressure on her smile, so I just closed my eyes with a sigh.
It’s a big deal, really. I’m just tired of playing this typical jealousy.
It hasn’t even been an hour since we’ve been together, but it feels like a day has already passed. As soon as the body recovers, let’s level Echidna. I had to go around and increase the progress of the dungeon, and there was still a lot to do.
‘I want to rest quickly…’
For some reason, the more I hoped for peace, the more I hated the life that was getting farther and farther away from my ideal. This is all because of God.
A bastard. f*ck. f*ckin’ baby.
Today, I blew another swear word at the god who made me practice 3 swear words a day.
I’ll get hit by a blind arrow and die.