“Heh heh heh! Too bad, but you’ll have to die here!”
“Good grief… You poor bastard.”
I sighed as I looked at Raph.
Though he probably had not intended it, what he had done was an enormous contribution. If he had not bared his fangs here, I had planned to spare him just this once.
SHING―
The shortsword at my waist slid free, giving off a cold gleam. Its point turned toward Raph.
“Blame your own stupidity for choosing the wrong side.”
“…What did you say?”
At the sight of my calm demeanor, as though I had expected this, Raph’s gaze wavered slightly.
He must have sensed that something was wrong.
“Grr… Stop bluffing, you illegitimate little bastard!”
However, Raph forced himself to ignore that ominous feeling and charged at me.
Whatever his character, he was skilled enough to serve as a company commander.
SWOOOSH―
His sword came flying toward me, glowing red and laden with murderous intent.
The realm of Sword Aura Manifestation.
In Arvania, those who reached this level were called ‘Aura Users,’ while the stage itself was known as ‘Expert.’
In Murim, it was equivalent to a Peak Master.
Even so, he was not much of a threat. He was only slightly stronger than someone who had just entered the Expert rank.
“If I thought I would lose, do you think I would have followed you so obediently?”
TZZZZZT―
I circulated the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, and the Heavenly Demon Qi in my Dantian surged throughout my entire body in an instant.
As the energy seeped into the shortsword aimed at Raph, transparent, colorless Aura shimmered above the blade like a heat haze.
‘Ah… so this is what it means for my attribute to be concealed.’
It was fascinating.
Ordinarily, pitch-black Aura should have risen from the blade.
“A-Aura?!”
Raph, on the other hand, went pale at the sight.
Hehehe. That’s right.
You never expected this, did you?
His agitation made even the tip of his sword tremble.
CLANG―!
The sharp sound of colliding metal rang out.
My shortsword lightly deflected Raph’s incoming blade. Since he had not prepared a follow-up move, his sword lost its path and no longer knew where to go.
My blade, however, followed the path I had already drawn and flowed forward like smooth running water.
“W-What?! What is this movement…?!”
It seemed to be moving slowly, yet the shortsword suddenly slipped in close in the blink of an eye, bewildering Raph once again.
He had fought in countless battles and duels during the five years since he had been knighted, but he had never witnessed movement like this before.
“Grr… Damn it!”
FWOOSH―
Though he had been caught off guard, a knight was still a knight.
In an instant, he reinforced his body with Aura and leapt away with all his strength, narrowly avoiding the slash.
However, the boy’s sword remained relentless even after missing its target.
“Oh, you dodged that?”
GLIDE―
“Gasp?!”
My figure closed in on Raph without a sound, as silently as a shadow lengthening beneath the sunset, yet at a terrifying speed.
Traceless Shadow Step.
It was a common footwork technique of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult that allowed the user to glide like a shadow without leaving even the slightest trace.
GRIN.
“Let us start with one arm.”
“E-Eek?!”
I leaned in close to his face and sneered coldly. Raph’s face turned deathly pale, as though he had seen a ghost.
SLASH―
His right arm was already gone.
The cross-section of his shoulder was so cleanly severed that it seemed almost unreal.
“…Huh?”
Raph felt as though he were dreaming.
The arm that had separated from his shoulder fell slowly, as though sinking through water.
THUD.
But the instant it struck the ground―
SPURT―
“AAAAARGH!”
A fountain of blood erupted from the stump, while the pain and terror of dismemberment tore wildly through his mind.
“My arm! My arm…?!”
Yet the young boy who had inflicted that agony did not so much as blink.
If anything, I looked bored.
“Seriously… It is only one arm so far. Stop making such a fuss.”
TAP! TAP! TAP!
I casually jabbed several acupoints around the wound and sealed them.
I could not have him dying from blood loss before I had even interrogated him.
It probably eased his pain a little as well.
“…What? The feeling is suddenly…?”
Raph’s eyes widened as he struggled to understand what had just happened to his body.
“The Marchioness sent you, didn’t she?”
FLINCH.
Even without speaking, Raph answered with his entire body.
I asked another question.
“What did that viperous bitch tell you? To quietly kill me in the forest and make it look as though monsters had done it?”
FLINCH…!
It seemed that I was correct again.
Tsk, tsk. Could they possibly be any more predictable?
“Grrrr… You bastard! F*** yooooou!”
RUSH―
While I was clicking my tongue inwardly, he suddenly lunged at me.
Now that he was certain to either die or be taken prisoner, he appeared determined to attempt a desperate, do-or-die tackle.
“Whoa, that startled me.”
GLIDE―
I used the Traceless Shadow Step once more.
My body slipped sideways, and his all-or-nothing tackle came to nothing.
This time, I severed his remaining left arm.
“AAAAARGH!”
CRASH―!
With both arms gone, Raph fell and writhed across the ground like an insect.
Fresh blood had already splattered across the surroundings―
“Hey.”
I crouched down beside him.
The blade of my shortsword rested against his right knee.
“Now tell me who else was involved.”
Every time he refused to answer, I intended to carve off another piece of him.
Was that too cruel?
From the moment this bastard used a killing move against me, such concern had become nothing more than naïve sympathy.
Perhaps he had finally realized that there was no hope left for him.
“Grrr… B-Battalion Commander… Walter…….”
“Who else?”
“I-I don’t know… Sob… I really don’t…….”
Drenched in blood and writhing on the ground, Raph sobbed and groaned in agony.
At that point, I believed he was telling the truth.
Although he was still breathing, his eyes had already gone dead.
“All right. Goodbye.”
SLASH.
“Kh… ur……gh.”
Once I no longer had any use for him, I sent him on his way without hesitation.
It was an act far too ruthless for a child who was only ten years old.
* * *
SHUDDER….
‘Good heavens. This is far beyond anything I imagined!’
Watching from a short distance away with his presence carefully suppressed, Pervan felt goosebumps rise across his entire body.
He had expected Evan’s combat abilities to be extraordinary, but this was far beyond anything he had imagined.
‘Raph clearly possessed slightly more mana than Evan.’
In other words, the difference between their ability to control Aura had been overwhelmingly vast.
‘To think… I knew that he had reached the level of an Aura User by secretly training every night, but I never imagined he would be this proficient.’
And it was not merely his Aura.
Since Evan had learned magic simply by reading books, Pervan could not even begin to estimate the true extent of his intelligence.
If he was already like this less than a year after awakening, what kind of terrifying monster would he become once he was fully grown?
‘H-Hehehe… Bwahahahaha!’
Overcome with electrifying exhilaration and catharsis, Pervan burst into maniacal laughter inwardly.
However, the present situation was somewhat awkward.
The unusual movements Evan had just displayed were astonishing enough, but the ability Pervan had originally intended to confirm was something else.
‘Should I lure another powerful monster here?’
That was when it happened.
THOOM….
THOOM….
THOOM….
Something powerful was approaching from beyond the blue flower field, which possessed a dreamlike beauty that seemed not to belong to this world.
‘W-What is that now?’
It possessed an enormous mana reaction, powerful enough to make even Pervan feel slightly tense.
He concealed his presence even more thoroughly and watched what would happen next.
* * *
“Huh? What is that now?”
I had finished arranging Raph’s corpse to make it look as though monsters had killed him and was about to return to where the 9th Battalion was waiting.
Then a bizarre monster suddenly emerged from the Mana Herb field.
“Squeak?”
It was unmistakably a rabbit.
Like the other monsters inhabiting the Behamag Mountains, its fur was a glossy black, and its eyes shone a vivid yellow.
Its most obvious peculiarity was that it was about as large as an adult man.
Moreover, its size was not the only strange thing about it.
It walked on two legs, and its entire body bulged with cannonball-like muscles that seemed ready to burst.
‘This… feels seriously ominous.’
WHOOOOOM―
Despite its cute face, the pressure radiating from those enormous muscles was anything but ordinary.
It seemed to survive by eating the Mana Herbs growing here.
As though to confirm my guess―
CRUNCH. CRUNCH.
The creature bent down, tore up a fistful of Mana Herbs growing at its feet, and violently devoured them raw.
As though there were any doubt that it was a rabbit….
Even while eating, it never took its eyes off me.
With a Mana Herb stem clamped between its teeth like a cigarette as it chewed, it was more than worthy of being called a ‘bun-geezer(bunny+geezer).’
‘Could I defeat it in a fight?’
…I did not know.
Honestly, I could not be certain this time.
For a long moment, the rabbit monster and I stared each other down, sizing one another up.
PTUI.
Without warning, it spat out the Mana Herb stem in its mouth.
It then kicked off the ground and hurled itself toward me.
BOOM―
“Whoa?! W-What kind of jumping power is that…?”
With a single leap, the rabbit monster appeared directly in front of my face.
“SQUEAK!”
FWOOOOSH―
It drove a fist forward with a cute cry that did not suit its enormous body.
Its massive fist became wrapped in a black haze.
Perhaps because it had lived on Mana Herbs, it was far stronger than I had expected.
“Urgh!”
GLIDE―
Fortunately, I activated the Traceless Shadow Step in time and escaped, but it was too soon to relax.
Its second strike was already flying toward me.
WHOOOM― BOOOOM!!!
“Urgh…!”
Every bone in my body felt as though it were about to crumble.
That was despite the fact that I had dispersed as much of the impact as possible with Heavenly Demon Qi at the instant I was struck.
Otherwise, both arms I had raised to block the attack would have been shattered.
“SQUEEEEEAK!”
SWOOOOSH―
The rabbit monster followed with a flying dropkick.
It was already too late to evade this attack as well.
However, I still had one useful card left to play.
“Reflect Shield!”
FLASH!
The instant I shouted the Activation Word, the bracelet around my wrist lit up.
The mana stored inside it was consumed, and the spell activated immediately.
It was a Fourth Circle spell that went beyond simple defense and reflected an impact equal to the force it received―
‘Tch. I won’t be able to use it again.’
Judging by the amount of mana remaining in the bracelet, that was clear.
BOOM―
“Squeak?!”
The rabbit monster appeared startled as the force of its own attack sent it flying backward.
“Now it is my turn!”
TZZZZZT―
The blade of my shortsword flashed.
Transparent, colorless Aura surged high above it, and I resolved to finish everything with this attack.
A single strike into which I would pour every last bit of Heavenly Demon Qi I possessed.
After taking one of its attacks directly, I understood.
This was not the time to weigh every consideration or worry about what came afterward.
“Here I goooo!”
I gripped the hilt tightly with both hands.
The blade was drawn far back behind my left shoulder.
From that stance, I kicked off the ground with all my strength―
FWOOSH!
My waist, which had been twisted to the left, snapped back toward the right.
A streak of lightning erupted from my left shoulder and carved diagonally downward.
“HAAAAAAP!”
FLASH.
Black Dragon Descends from Heaven.
It was the sure-kill form I had chosen to decide the battle.
Along the path of the blade, transparent, colorless Aura faintly formed the shape of a dragon.
KRAAAAAAASH―
Well… with my former Martial Prowess, an enormous black dragon would have descended from the heavens with enough ferocity to devour everything upon the ground.
For now, however, this was the best I could manage.
SLASH―
“SQUEAAAAAK!”
Fortunately, the attack landed cleanly.
The rabbit monster froze for an instant upon seeing the shape of the dragon, and the Aura I unleashed tore a massive, fatal wound across its bulging body.
‘‥It’s over!’
I was certain of it―
However, this extraordinary rabbit monster had no intention of going down without a fight.
STAB.
‘……What?’