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Alpha watched the fleeing Magic Swordswoman Guard and understood immediately: every single one of them was after the one billion zeni.
She’d noticed them earlier, but hadn’t thought much of it.
She’d assumed they were just passing through.
“Let’s go.
After them.”
Alpha gave the order and took off.
Beta and Delta followed.
Gamma stayed behind with the carriage.
One billion zeni was a lot of weight.
They’d need the cart in the end.
Outside the city, Shino wasn’t pushing his pace.
He kept just enough distance from the pursuing Magic Swordswoman Guard to make them think they could catch her, if they tried just a little harder.
If Shino wanted to, these people couldn’t even touch the hem of his clothes.
The chase led them into a dense forest.
Shino stopped.
He dropped the one billion zeni and tossed it aside.
“Kid, you can run pretty fast, huh.
Guess that one billion’s weighing you down!”
“Surrender now, or we’ll tear you apart!”
The Magic Swordsmen surrounded her.
Shino was about to move when he spotted Alpha and the others catching up.
“Kill them all.
No survivors,” Shino said.
“Still trying to bluff?
We’re the Royal Knight Order, the best of the best among Magic Swordsmen!
No one’s saving you!”
The moment the words left his mouth, a hand punched straight through his chest.
Delta.
Only Delta killed this messily.
She was used to hiding her presence when she hunted.
When she struck by surprise, her aura vanished completely.
The Royal Knight Order’s Captain died on the spot, ambushed by Delta.
“Captain!”
“Everyone, stay calm!
They’re outnumbered!
Reinforcements are on the way!”
The Vice-Captain bellowed.
Beta and Alpha joined the attack.
Shino held back.
The Royal Knight Order was a solid opponent for Alpha and the others.
He’d use them as a whetstone for the three girls.
Fifty men strong, every one of them capable.
Except for the ones who died at the start, the rest were on guard now.
They weren’t easy pickings.
Delta went berserk on whoever was closest.
Her savagery shook more than a few of the Royal Knight Order’s men.
A handful of cowards decided they’d had enough.
“I joined the Royal Knight Order for an easy life, not to die.
The Captain’s dead.
Why the hell should I stay?”
One of them muttered to himself as he ran.
Then he slammed into an invisible wall.
“What the—”
He sensed killing intent.
He tried to turn, but before he could move, he saw the scene behind him.
Then his vision spun.
The last thing he saw was his own headless body.
“Such a fast sword…”
The others who ran met the same fate.
Not one escaped.
The battle dragged on.
It grew more and more deadlocked.
Beta was the first to take a hit.
Shino kept his eyes on her the whole time.
If she couldn’t hold, he’d step in.
The Royal Knight Order was no pushover.
“Brothers!
If we don’t kill them and get that billion back, we’re screwed!
Work together!
There’s only three of them!
Focus the white-haired elf, she’s flagging!”
The Vice-Captain had spotted Beta’s weakening state.
Only ten had been on Beta before.
Now more piled on.
Beta blocked and retreated, but numbers overwhelmed her.
A multi-person siege was brutal.
For someone her age to hold out this long was already impressive.
Shino saw she was done.
He appeared beside her, swung his sword once, and all fourteen surrounding Beta fell in a flash of steel.
“Phantom-sama!”
Beta knew Shino was strong.
She hadn’t known he was this strong.
These were Royal Knight Order members.
He’d killed over a dozen in an instant.
“Beta, fall back.
Leave it to Alpha and Delta.”
Blue-purple mana glowed in Shino’s hand.
Beta’s wounds closed.
Her mana refilled to full.
Alpha had nearly twenty people on her.
But even surrounded, her stance was solid.
She didn’t look like she was struggling at all.
Occasionally, she’d even kill one in a counterattack.
Delta’s side was a completely different picture.
She darted around like a cheetah, launching sudden strikes at random moments.
The Royal Knight Order members could barely defend.
They were always on the back foot.
Delta had an innate battle instinct, like she had eyes in the back of her head.
She dodged every attack from behind.
“Is the white-haired elf dead yet?
Finish her and come help us!” the Vice-Captain shouted.
He was facing Alpha.
He didn’t dare look away.
He kept his eyes locked on her as he yelled.
Alpha always had the most people on her.
She also had the most kills.
Seven or eight corpses lay near her.
The Vice-Captain bore the brunt of her attacks while the others supported from the sides.
That barely kept her from killing anyone.
For now.
The Vice-Captain knew: if no one interfered, everyone surrounding the golden-haired elf would die.
She showed no fatigue.
Her mana reserves were absurd.
She even looked relaxed.
Alpha didn’t worry about Beta.
She knew Shino was there.
Beta would be fine.
She fought steadily, methodically.
She didn’t want Shino to see her get hurt.
So she played it safe.
If she pushed harder, the Vice-Captain would die in an instant.
But she might take damage too.
Alpha’s attacks grew sharper.
The Vice-Captain’s wounds multiplied.
Anyone who let their guard down around him got killed by Alpha in a flash.
The other Knight Order members were running low on mana.
More and more fell.
“Everyone, don’t panic!
She’s the only real threat!
She’s almost spent too!
Just a little more—”
He split his focus to speak.
That was his mistake.
Alpha seized the opening.
One strike.
The Vice-Captain was dead.
Seeing him fall, everyone else lost their will to fight.
They turned and ran.
“The Vice-Captain is dead!”
Someone shouted it.
Delta’s side started panicking too.
Once panic set in, they ran.
Then most of them were fleeing.
“Hey!
You’re Royal Knight Order members!
How can you run!
Stop!
We can still fight!”
A few stubborn ones held their ground.
But they were stubborn in spirit, not in strength.
In a single breath, Alpha and Delta cut them down.
With most of them running, the battle became a slaughter.
Beta recovered and joined the hunt, chasing down the fleeing Magic Swordsmen.
Delta went wild on the runners.
That was when Gamma caught up with the carriage.
“That woman’s with them!
Grab her, use her as leverage!”
The last five survivors spotted Gamma and shouted.
Gamma saw them.
She slipped into her Slime Battle Suit, manifested a Slime Sword, and charged.
Seeing her come at them head-on, the five panicked.
“Is she as strong as them too?!”
But there was no retreat now.
They had to push through.
Gamma charged too fast and lost her balance.
Just as she was about to fall, a mana-hand caught her.
The five saw their chance.
They rushed Gamma without hesitation.
BANG!
All five slammed into an invisible barrier.
The barrier Shino had set to trap them wouldn’t let them touch Gamma.
Gamma straightened up and looked at the five stuck against the wall.
Lambs to the slaughter.
With the mana-hand steadying her, she found her balance.
One swing.
The five fell to her mana-condensed strike.
Shino’s barrier only blocked others.
It couldn’t stop anyone with Slime Mana.
So Gamma could cut down the ones inside.
➤ Next: Seizing — Clash