Misunderstanding
Misunderstanding
Two steps.
If he had taken just two more steps, a hole would have been blown through his forehead before he could even react.
Ear Hunter, who had managed to quickly raise his sword and deflect the projectile, felt his mind snap to attention from the horrifying reality. Normally he would have welcomed the sharpening of his senses, but this time the blow was too devastating and left no room for such thoughts.
He hadn't wanted to admit it, but he had to. The bastard had tracked his rear, all six of the detached force were dead, and because of that only ten remained including himself. There might have been more dead somewhere out of sight from that projectile, but there was no way to know right now.
And he didn't have the luxury to find out.
"You crazy bastard!!"
Even as his eyes seemed to roll back with fury, he moved with maximum composure and swung his sword. The six blades that poured in from the front, as if proving their training and live combat experience, flew with no deviation whatsoever, aiming to disable Eldmia's limbs and inflict a wound just short of fatal on his abdomen.
It was a coordinated assault meticulously tailored for hunting elves. Not an attack a halfwit relying on a suddenly acquired axe could evade. At the sight of Eldmia just now beginning to adjust his grip on the axe, Ear Hunter glimpsed victory.
"Not bad."
Until the axe in Eldmia's hand was swung at an unbelievable speed.
The very slight misalignment that occurred as his men moved in sync with the bastard stepping back half a step. The slight differences in skill and reaction that were inevitable for any human being. Ear Hunter learned for the first time today that through such perfectly natural and ordinary gaps, the sheer unfairness of superior skill could worm its way in.
"Ghk?"
As the price for a slightly delayed reaction, his blade was deflected, and because of it one subordinate who inadvertently blocked his comrades' path spurted blood from his wrist and neck. The bastard's attack didn't end there and continued further, but fortunately the other men were just barely able to escape its path.
It would have been astonishing if he had simply dodged, but to counterattack, and with that massive axe swung at a speed so fast it was hard to follow with the eyes, cleaving through wrist and neck—Ear Hunter ground his teeth.
"What the fuck is this monster bastard?!"
Even now he sensed no aura. But those movements had far surpassed what could be achieved with muscle alone. The victory he had been certain of moments before vanished like a bubble, and the certainty that dragging this into a prolonged fight would see them picked off one by one took its place. Bracing himself, Ear Hunter dove into Eldmia's range.
"I'll hold him!"
Of course his life was precious. But ever since he had gained solid confidence in his skills, his means of earning money had become just as important.
And his subordinates were high-quality money-making assets not easily replaceable.
"Die, you bastard!!"
If he lost any more here, his business capital would disappear. As Ear Hunter dodged and blocked Eldmia's axe, the four surviving subordinates swung their swords in sync with his movements.
It was a truly clean, commendable coordinated assault. The only flaw was that the training to achieve that coordination involved hunting elves and turning them into slaves. But these men, who had engraved skill into their bodies and carried reliable equipment—the secrets to a long life as a warrior—had no shortcomings whatsoever.
And as if proving its perfection, wounds began to appear on Eldmia's body.
"You were too arrogant!"
He had clearly been watching his rear, so how the hell had he been tracked? Where did that insane physical strength, so at odds with the faint aura, come from? He was full of questions, but there was no way to resolve them now. Was this bastard also from that famous Dragon Blood Clan? The received intel didn't mention it, but this was enough to be suspicious.
"Gahk!"
He would have preferred it to be the enemy's scream, but despite five-on-one odds, it was Ear Hunter's side taking the fatal injuries. A constant barrage of unidentified projectiles kept them off balance, and not missing the moment their attention was disrupted, the axe swung and cleaved through a subordinate's shoulder joint, sending him down.
Even now, the fact that the axe's speed hadn't slowed was disgustingly formidable, but the movements were finally becoming familiar to his eyes.
'Simple.'
He was somehow holding on with brute force, but his attacks were simplistic. It was more like he was thoroughly masking a lack of technique with pure physical ability.
Still, the fact that they had to straddle the line between life and death and take losses was horrifying, but it was already water under the bridge. A bastard who would accept an offer to walk away and go their separate ways wouldn't have launched such an audacious ambush in the first place.
In the end, this would only end through killing. Reaching that conclusion in a short time, Ear Hunter dodged Eldmia's axe swung at his neck and slashed his sword toward the bastard's fingers.
Unless he let go of his weapon, several fingers would definitely be severed...
"What...?"
...or so he thought.
Eldmia, as if he had anticipated that, unhesitatingly let go of the axe.
No, it was more accurate to say he threw it. The axe flew straight ahead and tore through another subordinate's breastplate, splitting his ribs. Ear Hunter, who had created the opening, clearly sensed something off, but his men thought differently. Unable to interfere with Eldmia due to the projectile disruption as he drew his sword while leaping back, the remaining three subordinates, thinking to exploit the gap created by the loss of his main weapon, dove in almost simultaneously.
And then Eldmia's sword shone.
"Simple bastards."
Ear Hunter had been able to step back purely on instinct. From his position just slightly behind, his field of vision caught the full swing of what seemed a somewhat long longsword.
Watching the horizontal slash, swung straight from left to right, cleave through swords, sever arms, and then finally cut through the torsos of his three subordinates, Ear Hunter had to seriously wonder if he was under illusion magic.
At the same time, he thought it was an utterly unfair accusation to be called simple bastards just for not predicting that.
"Boss fights usually have phases, you know."
After slicing three armored men clean in half, Eldmia reacted as if it were nothing and muttered something incomprehensible, then pulled something from his belt.
"That's..."
A blue liquid in a small glass vial. It couldn't be—he hoped it wasn't, but Eldmia downed it in one gulp without a moment's hesitation, then winced and stowed the vial away.
"First time trying it—not exactly a pleasant taste."
"...Potion."
"Correct."
Fuck, this is just too much.
What forced the words that had risen to his throat down was Eldmia's continuing attack. As soon as he assumed the upper stance, he closed the distance in one burst, gauged the interval precisely, and swung a horizontal slash aimed at his neck, unforgiving of the slightest lapse.
He wanted to scoff at how obvious an attack it was, but before the overwhelming difference in speed and strength, that attack felt no different from a foretold death.
"You bastard, the sword was your main weapon...!"
"What, you think an axe I just picked up is my main weapon? You pure dumbass."
It was a scathing rebuke, but he couldn't bring himself to argue. Because clearly underestimating the opponent had been his own mistake.
And the price was never light. In a flash, his ear was sliced off, and a moment's delay in reaction saw a chunk of his shoulder flesh cut away. A one-sided violence so absolute that he wondered if he had ever been toyed with like this in his entire life. Worse, all of the bastard's wounds had already healed, as if it really was that blue potion he knew of.
It was agonizingly unfair, but even that situation didn't last long. Because his swordsmanship was woefully inadequate to face Eldmia.
"If you're a hunter, you should've hunted like one, you fucking moron."
He wanted to tear that goddamn mouth apart, but what actually got torn apart were his own two arms and abdomen.
Even that alone would've put him out of commission for good, but Eldmia acted as if he had some kind of compulsion. Only after slashing both ankles of the stumbling Ear Hunter as he fell backward in one stroke did Eldmia approach, and the Ear Hunter felt utterly sick of him.
It was already over. So dumbfounded by the sudden conclusion that bordered on ludicrous, a hollow laugh escaped him.
"Fuck, it's so disgustingly clean it hurts less."
"Even for a scumbag like you, I'm not into inflicting pain and torment."
"Ha, should I be grateful? Seems like it's just a trick to extract information from me with death right in front of me."
A cliché ending if ever there was one. As he sneered and pondered how to leave a final 'fuck you' to Eldmia, a blade plunged into Ear Hunter's heart.
"What a load of shit. You're not worth that."
You piece of shit.
He wanted to at least shout that one line before dying, but Eldmia's sword was swiftly pulled out and then precisely slashed his vocal cords.
"Once I nearly got cursed by a demon bastard's final struggle. Just in case, go quietly on your way."
What a bastard. Even at the very end, he had to piss me off and leave me feeling cheated...
With that thought, Ear Hunter's breath ceased. Confirming his death, Eldmia walked past the corpses strewn everywhere toward the only one still breathing in the camp.
"S-s-spare me..."
"You? If I was going to kill you, I would've done it already. Don't worry. You'll survive and be able to return. Provided you answer my questions, that is."
Eldmia's lips curled into a smile as he looked at Ozweol, who hadn't dared to move from the spot where Ear Hunter had washed his face and was trembling like a leaf.
"Are you ready now to tell me who that noble bastard you serve is?"
Wearing a smile so ordinary it was hard to believe this was the man who had just butchered over ten aura users, Ozweol nodded vigorously.