Chapter 2 Epilogue

The old man burst into screams of "Ijirok" before drinking the last bit of ale that I had bought.

"Old man, may I ask who is this Ijirok guy?" Friedrich said as he was very curious about the barbarian.

"Ijirok is no mere mortal boy! It's the beast of winter, a shape-shifting monster," the old man says with a grim expression before turning into a smile and hinting to Friedrich to get more ale.

"Drunkard," Friedrich mutters while he orders more ale. The old man's expression changes, turning dark as he remembers what happened next.

Friedrich returns to bring more ale and meat, having a wry smile as he has spent quite a sum to fuel this old drunkard's story, but he quite likes it whether it is true or not.

---------Back to the Flashback----------

My men draw their weapons, brandishing them. In front of the chosen barbarian, they are sure that the person they're facing is the incarnation of the ijirok; they've heard stories about the ijirok when they were young—a foul creature with no definite appearance that likes to play with its victims and possess any people it sees fit to toy with.

We group together, forming a tight formation, preparing for whatever will happen next.

As the ijirok drew closer and closer, my men were filled with fear. Men who were once feared by our enemies and allies have now become the prey.

One of my men runs up to the ijirok to attack it, as he is scared to even think what will happen to him.

When the ijirok draws a weapon from his scabbard, out comes a massive two-handed war cleaver with runes etched in its blade.

As swiftly as the Ijirok drew his sword, it also swiftly sliced the head of our battle brother like butter meeting a knife.

Were filled with rage and fear; some lost their reason to fight like being deviated by fear.

I ordered my men to attack using the polearms and spear we've brought to gain a reach advantage over its two-handed war cleaver.

It proved useless, as the Ijirok attacked so quickly that we hadn't even prepared to defend.

What happened next was a slaughter. The cleaver met the shield of our brother, slicing it clean with a single cut. As it kept attacking our frontline, our spearmen got the time to thrust their spears and polearms into the ijirok's armor. It caused little to no denting, but it did anger the Ijerok.

I headed to the front to help my men attack the ijirok, and with the distraction of my brothers, I got a clean thrash on the ijirok's armor as slashing couldn't penetrate the armor. The ijirok got even angrier, but some part of me noticed that its movements were like a cat playing with its prey; I quickly dimissed that idea and focused on the thurst of my spear on its less armored body.

We lost more of our brothers lives in keeping the ijirok in front, and the morale of my men is quickly diminishing by the minute. The fight lasted for half an hour as we swarmed the Ijorok, but it caused me the lives of my men who joined to enter the inner part of the icy cave.

as I killed the ijirok. His chest armor crack and fly off of his body, but some bizarre blue tendrils hold the pieces of plate together as they spin and warble upward.

Finally, your warriors scale the freezing cavern's entrance and down the decline.

"We should left the corpse alone, captain." One of my men next to me said,

I hunch down next to the body. Half of the flesh is twisted into black nubs by the action of the ice, and what isn't frozen is flaked by an oddly dazzling rime. The Ijirok died grinning crazily despite his gruesome condition. I recognize a faceless silhouette of myself in their intensely blue eyes.

The hue then gradually fades away. Not like I've ever seen it before, but rather like someone were slowly sucking all the color right into the sockets by drawing a curtain through a window. I don't think that's what I witnessed, despite the corpse grinning at me.

"What do you think this is, exactly?" One of my men ask about the armor.

The insides of the metal slats are coated in boiling, whirling blues as if it were the work of some celestial blacksmith, and the plates are suspended from one another by some bizarre blue gelatin. It feels cold to the touch and yields to a light finger push. I haven't experienced anything like it, Nevertheless, the armor itself is currently not useable.

I have the armor and goo in my inventory; look around the cave for other items, which are not there. You take one last look at the corpse before leaving the cave. I believe i saw it move once more, but the frigid north's chill is undoubtedly deceiving me.

We attempted to finish the contract as we left the cave following the blizzard, but due to our decreasing numbers, we were unable to. As we marched back to the duchy's capital, we wondered if we had actually encountered the ijirok, but the fact that we had fewer soldiers to support us proved otherwise.

--------Back at the Tavern--------

"that's one strange imagination you got there old man," Friedrich jokingly remarked, as he thought about what had happened and believed some portions of the account.

"to see it is to believe it young lad, I'd never returned to the north after that experience." The elderly man responded with a hint of sadness and regret,

"So old man, what happened to you mercenary group," Friedrich asked inquisitively, hoping to learn what had become of his troops following their meeting with the insane barbarian they had deemed Ijirok.

"Well, we returned to the capital of the duchy without finishing the contract, we got sum scrutiny from other mercenary company because of the termination of the contract." "As for the the men, we've been separated for over 20 years now, some continued being a sellsword while the rest retired with the money we've earned" the old man said as he missed his battle brothers.

"life of a sellsword is short and perilous yet its the fastest way to make money in this cruel world of ours." The old man replied, sounding as though he regretted becoming a sellsword,

"Well, enough about me. How about you share your story?" The old man remarked, as he sipped ale and eat the meat I had earlier brought him.