“Great. I’m done for.”
Mitchell made a face as though he had just chewed shit as he watched the swords slide free with a chilling metallic hiss.
Anyone could tell they had no intention of leaving a witness alive.
And that meant…….
‘They’re not good people.’
There was no need to think twice about it. They were clearly trying to kill Mitchell right now.
Fortunately, judging by their expressions, they did not seem particularly wary of him.
Nor did they appear especially skilled.
The problem was that Mitchell had no souls he could use immediately.
‘I can fix that by absorbing one.’
To do that, he had to kill at least one of them, so Mitchell kept both hands raised and trembled as though terrified.
“Please spare me! I really only came because I heard noise nearby! This sword is only for self-defense!”
“I know. If you belonged to a martial clan, you would not move like such a fool.”
A fool……? That’s a little insulting.
But he could not let that show.
Keeping his expression under control, Mitchell slowly backed away until his back rested against a tree.
Then he hunched himself up as though frightened and brought his hands together near his chest.
It was a position that would allow him to draw the dagger hidden inside his clothes at any moment, but to his enemies, he looked exactly like a man terrified of death.
One of them slowly approached Mitchell.
“Blame your bad luck.”
“P-Please…….”
The instant the man standing right in front of him raised his sword—
‘Now!’
Mitchell, who had been watching from the corner of his eye while hunched over, circulated the energy from his Aura Hole throughout his body.
His senses sharpened, and strength flooded his entire body.
Mitchell swiftly drew the dagger hidden inside his clothes and thrust it at the man.
SQUELCH—!
The dagger sank so deeply into his heart that only the handle remained visible.
The man’s eyes widened in disbelief.
SPURRRRT-
When Mitchell pulled the dagger free, blood sprayed out and the man died.
But Mitchell had no time to relax.
There were three enemies behind him.
He still had energy left in his Aura Hole, but if he wanted a continuous supply, he absolutely needed a soul.
Mitchell extended his left palm and placed it against the falling man’s chest.
RATTLE-
A black opening formed over the man’s chest, and ominous chains burst from within.
The chains wrapped around the man’s body.
They appeared to bind him tightly, but they were not restraining his flesh.
As though to demonstrate that fact, the man’s body soon collapsed to the ground, leaving only his soul bound in the chains.
WOOOOOOO—!
The soul howled as it struggled not to be dragged away.
Yet the remaining enemies behind Mitchell did not seem able to see it.
“W-What?! You bastard, you deceived us!”
“It’s your fault for falling for it. More importantly, can’t you see this?”
Although black magic had established itself openly within the empire, ordinary people still tended to fear or reject it.
That made this an important question for Mitchell, since he needed to know whether he would have to be careful whenever he absorbed souls in the future.
Yet even when Mitchell pointed toward the place where the soul was bound and asked them, the enemies merely frowned.
Their gazes remained fixed on Mitchell.
“Guess you can’t see it.”
“Enough nonsense. Die!”
The enemies charged all at once.
Mitchell threw himself backward to absorb the soul, and after evading their swords for a moment, he finally felt it enter his body.
SKREEEEEE—!
A ghostly scream rang out as he tore the soul to pieces.
At the same time, his Aura Hole began filling with energy.
‘There!’
He had trained diligently, but it had only been two months since he first picked up a sword and began swinging it.
Mitchell knew better than anyone that he was still lacking in skill.
So he circulated energy throughout his entire body.
‘I need to get over there somehow.’
The only path to survival was over there, where the others had been driven against the cliff.
***
Grant, the Young Family Head of the Runei Family, bit down hard on his lip.
There was a cliff behind him, while the bastards from the Rapel Family surrounded him from the front.
‘I can’t believe I failed to see through a trap like this.’
He berated himself as the metallic taste of blood spread through his mouth.
They had come after hearing that a horde of Magic Beasts had appeared outside the city, yet there was not a single Magic Beast to be found no matter how hard they looked.
That alone proved the entire report had been a lie.
It was a scheme devised by the bastards of the Rapel Family, who were constantly looking for an opportunity to strike at his family.
What mattered was how Grant had come to lead the family’s martial artists here in the first place.
‘Could Chief Steward Hail really have……?’
He had insisted that Grant himself, as the Young Family Head, absolutely needed to participate in the subjugation force and raise his reputation.
His argument had been that, as the next Family Head, Grant needed to build his reputation so he could earn people’s recognition and solidify his influence later.
Chief Steward Hail’s reasoning had not been wrong, so Grant had accepted his proposal.
And now they had ended up like this.
‘Maybe not. Nothing’s certain yet.’
But…… he absolutely had to inform the family that there was a traitor among them.
Grant surveyed the encirclement.
For now, their best option was to force the enemy formation apart and turn the battle into a chaotic melee.
“Sir Loren, please handle the enemy mages.”
“Understood. There are three of them, but I will do what I can.”
Loren, a mage serving as a guest retainer of the family, came from the Red Tower, which was renowned for offensive fire magic.
In a situation like this, there was no one Grant would trust more to watch his back.
Grant immediately turned his gaze forward after hearing Loren’s answer.
Then he extended his drawn sword.
“Attack!”
At his command, the family’s martial artists charged.
They wrapped their entire bodies in Aura, surged forward, and swung their swords.
CLANG! CLANG-CLANG!
With dozens of people fighting at once, sharp metallic noises rang out from every direction.
Yet the chaotic melee Grant had hoped for never occurred.
The enemy deployed a cooperative formation he had never seen before and blocked their attacks.
“Break through! We have to break through somehow!”
He shouted the words, but despair was gradually creeping into his heart.
Most of the enemies were 2nd- or 3rd-rank Aura Users.
Grant had seen a chance because so many of them were relatively weak, yet their cooperative formation simply would not break.
‘They had a formation like this…….’
Grant knocked aside an incoming sword and looked upward.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
All manner of spells were clashing overhead.
A fireball flew through the air only to be blocked, while a bolt of lightning was diverted through a pillar of water.
The mages were engaged in a fierce battle using all kinds of magic, but the enemy had three mages.
No matter how capable Loren was as a mage from the Red Tower, it did not seem possible for him to reverse the situation.
Even if Grant used the family’s secret technique, there was no way to turn this battle around unless a miracle occurred.
Then—
‘Who is that?’
Someone was approaching from behind the enemy.
Grant could see everything clearly because his position was slightly higher.
It was a man who looked about the same age as him.
Martial artists from the Rapel Family wearing black head coverings were chasing after him.
Judging by the murderous way they pursued the man, he clearly was not on their side.
The man’s frowning eyes suddenly met Grant’s.
His gaze seemed to be trying to tell him something.
The way he swung his sword while running made it seem as though he intended to help, but…….
‘All I need is a moment of confusion.’
The problem was whether Grant could trust him, but there was no other option in the current situation.
He could only hope that man was a miracle from God.
‘One chance…… I’ll only get one.’
Grant poured Aura into his sword.
As a 5th-rank Aura User, blue Sword Energy gradually became visible around his blade, its color steadily deepening.
It was not Sword Force, but it held enough power to shatter ordinary Sword Energy.
It was the only secret art that remained in his declining family.
But because it was incomplete, the secret art placed a tremendous burden on his body.
The enemies sucked in startled breaths when they saw Grant’s sword and felt the energy radiating from it.
“Careful! It’s the Heaven-Breaking Sword!”
The Rapel Family’s martial artists tensed and used their defensive formation to tightly intertwine their Aura as they waited for Grant’s sword.
Then Grant’s sword rose high.
GULP-
Just as they involuntarily swallowed beneath the crushing pressure, they sensed a similar energy from behind them.
“W-What the……?”
A chill ran down the spines of the Rapel Family’s martial artists, and they instinctively turned around.
Their eyes widened.
A writhing black monster was charging straight toward them.
***
TAP-TAP-TAP!
Three enemies were chasing Mitchell.
Mitchell ignored all three and ran straight toward the cliff.
He had judged that freeing the people trapped there and turning the battle into a chaotic melee would be far better than fighting all three pursuers at once.
But the closer he got, the more he began to wonder whether he had made the right choice.
‘Judging by their Aura, those people look stronger, but they still can’t break through.’
If the trapped group failed to break the encirclement, Mitchell would merely be walking straight into his own grave.
He bit his lip.
‘Should I turn around and fight now?’
He was not confident he could win.
There were three enemies around the level of 3rd-rank Aura Users, while Mitchell was ultimately only a 2nd-rank Aura User.
Moreover, he had already gotten far too close to the enemy’s main force.
He was riding on the back of a Magic Beast now.
In the end, Mitchell decided to follow his original plan.
He met the man’s gaze and wildly swung his sword.
‘Do something! Anything!’
At this rate, I’m going to die!
Fortunately, the man seemed to understand what Mitchell meant and raised his sword as though preparing to do something.
TAP-TAP-TAP!
The enemies’ backs drew closer and closer.
And the instant the man raised his sword, Mitchell released energy from his entire body as well.
The enemies before him flinched for an instant.
Mitchell’s eyes rapidly swept over them.
At the very rear, he spotted a mage wearing a robe.
‘Mage first!’
The most important thing in an ambush was killing the mage.
Mitchell might have ruined Mana Circuits, but he was still a scion of the Kellion Family, renowned for black magic.
That much was common sense.
‘And he’s preparing a spell right now!’
Because the surrounded side had a powerful mage of its own, the enemy mages were completely focused on manifesting their spells.
As mages of the 4th rank or lower without particularly strong control over mana, canceling their spells now would cause their mana to backflow.
They had no choice but to trust their allied martial artists.
But those martial artists knew a powerful attack was coming from the front, so they hurriedly turned forward again and waited for the man’s sword.
They, too, had no choice but to trust the allies pursuing Mitchell from behind.
“No!”
A shout came from behind Mitchell.
His pursuers wildly swung swords that could not reach him, then even hurled them.
WHOOSH- WHOOSH-
The swords flew toward Mitchell and grazed past his body.
SLASH-
One of them cut him fairly deeply, sending a searing sting through his body.
But Mitchell had already reached the mages from behind.
SLASH, SLASH, SLASH-
Enduring the pain, Mitchell swung his sword rapidly and cut down the mages in an instant.
‘Not yet!’
Mitchell had no intention of stopping there.
The encirclement was still intact.
He did not know what the man inside was preparing to do, but the energy radiating from him was so intense that Mitchell’s entire body tingled.
It was obvious that the sword raised high above the man’s head would determine the outcome of this battle.
TAP-TAP!
With two powerful pushes off the ground, Mitchell shot forward and pierced one link in the encirclement.
The tip of his sword sank into an enemy’s back.
GURGLE-
Blood filled the man’s lungs, and he collapsed with a wet, phlegmy gurgle.
“Damn it!”
When the man beside him fell, the enemies who had been forcing themselves to stare forward cursed and swung at Mitchell.
Mitchell hurriedly rolled aside and avoided the attacks.
Then he spoke to the enemy trying to attack him again.
“Where are you looking? You should be looking over there!”
“……!”
Before the enemy could even turn around at Mitchell’s words—
RIIIP—!
His body was severed at the waist, and he collapsed.
Mitchell’s mouth fell open at the sight.
“Whoa.”
More than half of the enemies had been severed at the waist and brought down by a single swing of the man’s sword.
The man himself collapsed immediately afterward, apparently unable to withstand the strain of such tremendous power, but Mitchell was not worried.
The remaining enemies now had powerful magic with no opposing mages left to counter it, along with the martial artists who had been surrounded charging at them as though determined to repay the humiliation they had suffered.
‘I feel like I’m going to die…….’
Believing the battle would end quickly now, Mitchell flopped onto the ground.
In that short span of time, he had exhausted both his own reserves and the soul he had absorbed, leaving him completely drained.
His Aura Hole and Aura Roads were tingling painfully.
Mitchell desperately clung to his slowly fading consciousness.
If he passed out like this, he would not be able to absorb any souls.
That also meant he would have no way to recover from his depleted Aura Hole.
Mitchell quietly pressed his palm against the ground and used Soul Drain.
RATTLE-
Only after absorbing as many of the surrounding souls as he possibly could did he finally lose consciousness.