Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Itzriel (4)
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Itzriel was sent flying by the kick and crashed into the wall.
Boom!
“Argh! You damn bastard!”
He shoved aside the debris that had fallen on top of him and sprang to his feet.
His face was a bloody mess.
I grinned beneath my mask.
“Now you finally look the part.”
“What are you idiots doing? Grab that dog! Hang on to his pant legs if you have to—stop him! You useless fucks!”
Itzriel screamed like a madman at the soldiers entering the building.
The soldiers charged at me in obedience to his command.
The swords and spears they held weren’t threatening, but they were annoying and a hassle.
“Try catching me, then.”
So I decided to lead them on a game of tag.
My goal was to draw their attention anyway.
Boom!
As I ran, I smashed straight through any walls blocking my path.
A massive hole was left behind wherever I passed.
That would make it easy for them to follow.
I was tunneling through the camp like a mole.
The soldiers had to scramble desperately to block my path ahead of time.
But what then?
They acted as if surrounding me was the only way to catch me.
It seemed like simple thinking: stop my feet first since I was running away.
That was probably the only thing they could do right now.
It suited me just fine.
Amid it all, I spotted Itzriel quietly slipping away.
I could kill a guy like him with a single stroke if I wanted, but I dragged it out on purpose.
His presence was good bait to keep the soldiers gathered, and more than that, I had a personal grudge.
I couldn’t let him off easy.
I planned to make him feel exactly the emotions I’d felt back then.
I was more than willing to put up with the hassle for that.
It was then that red fireworks burst in the pitch-black night sky.
Pop!
The signal that Cracker had been rescued.
I turned my gaze from the staggering, fleeing Itzriel.
With Cracker and the Mountain Bandits saved, escaping the city took priority over him.
The game of tag was over.
Thud!
The moment I kicked off the ground, the surrounding soldiers flashed past like lightning, and I was instantly far away.
I raced toward my companions.
A fierce gust swirled in my wake like footprints.
The soldiers, suddenly deprived of their target, just stared blankly at each other.
Silence fell over the area, which had been noisier than a bustling market moments before.
* * *
Clop clop clop!
A three-horse carriage barreled through the sleeping city.
Even with the massive explosion at the Horned Deer Unit’s camp, the city remained quiet.
The carriage headed for the south gate.
Far ahead, a massive gate stood firmly shut.
“How are we getting through that?”
Cracker squinted and asked.
He sat on the carriage roof, watching the front.
The prepared carriage was cramped, so Irriel, Cracker, and Gakwen rode on top.
“Don’t worry about it.”
Irriel replied, eyes fixed ahead.
Cracker looked at her with anxious eyes.
With that commotion at the camp, security at the gate must have been tightened several times over.
There was no way this shabby carriage could charge straight through.
“Jenness will be here soon.”
Allen, driving from the coachman’s seat, turned his head toward the roof.
Cracker opened his mouth with a baffled expression.
“No matter how strong he is, there’s no way he can break through that...”
He knew Jenness was powerful, but how could he possibly breach that grand gate?
Just then, an unfamiliar voice rang out.
“Keep going straight.”
“Yes!”
Allen glanced sideways and answered crisply.
Cracker followed the voice and whipped his head around, his eyes widening in shock as if he couldn’t believe it.
Jenness was running alongside the carriage at full speed.
“What the—?”
A person matching the carriage’s pace while keeping a calm expression.
It felt like he was seeing things.
Jenness lightly leaped onto the carriage roof.
Cracker stared at him, mouth agape.
Jenness looked indifferently at Cracker’s dumbstruck face and spoke.
“Looks like your head got messed up in that prison.”
“I’m fine!”
Cracker protested with an indignant glare.
He’d taken a few hits to the head, but his brain was working normally.
“Your voice is as annoying as ever.”
Jenness ignored his retort and faced forward.
Cracker wanted to prove his soundness right then but couldn’t continue.
Ahead, in the darkness, guards lined the street, blocking the way.
The first two rows were all archers.
They had arrows nocked and were in full battle readiness.
They’d end up as pincushions without even putting up a fight.
“Halt!”
Someone who looked like the guard captain shouted.
But Allen didn’t slow down, whipping the horses onward.
“Ready to fire!”
At the guard captain’s command, the archers drew their bowstrings.
The distance closed rapidly.
“What’s the plan?”
Cracker looked at Jenness.
He was the only one to rely on in this situation.
“Wait.”
At Jenness’s words, Cracker bit his lower lip.
Anxiety burned through his gut.
If only there were something to block the arrows—anything—but there was nothing.
He was just a big, easy target perched on the roof.
“Fire!”
Fwhap!
The arrows left the archers’ hands and filled the sky at once.
The arrow storm, cloaked in black darkness, rained toward the carriage.
The carriage and arrows hurtled toward each other, closing the gap faster and faster.
“Sh-shit!”
Cracker gritted his teeth at the madly incoming arrows.
He curled up as much as possible, protecting his vitals.
Then a fierce gust arose.
It was wind blooming from Jenness’s fingertips.
As Jenness swept his hand horizontally, the wind exploded outward, swallowing the arrows.
Rustle rustle.
With a light gesture like swatting flies, the arrows lost their momentum and fell to the ground like wooden sticks.
Cracker peeked with just his eyes while huddled.
His barely closed mouth gaped open again.
If anyone was more shocked, it was the guards.
Their volley rendered useless in an instant, the carriage charged at them without slowing.
“D-dodge!”
The guards threw themselves left and right to avoid the onrushing carriage.
It shot past them like a bolt.
“Th-those crazy bastards.”
Those sprawled on the ground watched the carriage’s rear with baffled stares.
They had nowhere to run anyway.
The firmly shut gate loomed ahead.
Going there just led to a dead end.
At that speed, they’d smash into the gate and shatter.
No one could fathom what they were thinking.
Cracker, their ally, felt the same.
He had no idea what these guys were planning.
The gate loomed closer by the second, but the carriage showed no sign of stopping.
“Wh-what are you doing? Stop!”
Cracker yelled at Allen, who was driving.
Allen ignored him and kept the horses going.
He glanced at Irriel and Gakwen.
They just stared straight ahead, lips pressed tight.
‘...What? Is my head really messed up?’
With everyone else calm, he felt like the weird one for panicking.
Cracker turned to Jenness beside him.
He was the only one to trust... Huh?
Cracker tilted his head.
Jenness, who should have been right there, was gone.
Meanwhile, Jenness shot toward the gate faster than the carriage.
It was unbelievable human speed.
But the real astonishment came next.
Jenness extended his hand toward the gate.
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Blue qi swirled like a vortex around his outstretched palm.
The compression sent his clothes flapping wildly.
It felt as if the whole world was being sucked into his palm.
The spiraling, condensed inner force struck the wall.
Rumble!
A deafening roar that tore at the eardrums.
It was like a bolt of lightning had struck right beside them.
Those on the carriage instinctively covered their ears and squeezed their eyes shut.
“...”
When they opened their eyes moments later, they let out short gasps of disbelief.
Their pupils shook violently, as if they’d seen the impossible.
As the thick dust cleared, the view ahead was empty.
Where the gate should have been stretched an open plain.
Massive debris lay scattered far off, and fine particles swirled like sleet on the wind.
Clop clop clop!
The carriage passed straight through the gaping hole.
Jenness, who had been waiting, hopped back onto the carriage easily.
The guard captain stared blankly without pursuing, then snapped to and yelled urgently.
“Chase them!”
Meanwhile, Allen raced across the plain, letting out a joyful whoop.
“Woo-hoo~!”
Rescuing those captured at the Imperial Army camp without a scratch.
Even though he’d done it himself, his chest swelled with emotion.
“...Unbelievable.”
Cracker watched Jenness climb back onto the carriage and let his rigidly tense body go limp.
Just the other day, they’d been sharing drinks as comrades.
The man before him now didn’t even seem human.
Jenness ignored his gaze and extended a hand to Irriel.
“Bow.”
Irriel quickly handed over the bow and arrows.
Mounted guards pursued from behind.
Jenness nocked an arrow on the bouncing carriage roof.
Twang!
With a sound like bursting air, the arrow sliced through the darkness like a beam of light.
Despite the distance, the instant he released the string, a pursuing soldier flipped backward and fell from his horse.
‘...What the hell is this guy?’
Cracker doubted his own head again at the unbelievable prowess.
Now Jenness looked like a god of war.
“A d-dream?”
He slapped his thick palms against his cheeks, smack smack.
Irriel watched with kind eyes from beside him.
“Need help?”
Cracker flinched for a moment and shook his head.
The pain confirmed it wasn’t a dream.
Jenness leisurely fired arrow after arrow.
Soon, he stopped.
No one pursued anymore.
Having neatly wrapped things up, he handed the bow back to Irriel.
“Go on ahead.”
“Not together?”
“I have to finish up.”
As Irriel tilted her head, Jenness continued.
“I’m going to kill Itzriel.”
“Oh—.”
Jenness stepped off the moving carriage like a cloud.
Then he headed back to Cartusi.
He fired a signal flare into the sky, and a green streak shot straight up before bursting into flame.
The response came from the east gate.
Another green beam soared into the black sky.
He’d anticipated Itzriel fleeing and stationed Mountain Bandits at three gates, excluding the south.
The guy was probably on horseback by now.
To catch him, he had to run at full speed.
Jenness planted his feet.
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Boom!
His toes pushed off the ground, kicking up a dirt storm.
The earth erupted, propelling his form forward.
He vanished into the darkened plain like he’d been sucked away.
The wind he met split in a wedge, then rejoined behind him in a fierce swirl.
A trail of dust stretched like a line in his wake.
“...I’m not the crazy one here, right?”
Cracker asked Irriel, watching Jenness vanish in an instant.
Irriel nodded with a dazed look.
“...I wasn’t sure this plan would work, but it did.”
Jenness always turned the absurd into reality.
It happened in Midcray, in Chezen, and now here.
Irriel felt like she’d believe anything he said without question now.
She might end up like Allen, blindly devoted.
But she didn’t want that.
Maybe it was petty, but she thought someone needed to doubt him.
Running the merchant group had taught her clearly: distrust money and people to the end.
The greatest crises came from blind faith.
Whether she could pull that off, though, was another question.