Chapter 245 Kill and Take -12
Chapter 245 Kill and Take -12
Jiha charged from the front, and Quority rose from behind at the same time.
Caught between them, Barjet—whom Heinrich held with both hands—was nothing but a hindrance.
Heinrich made a belated decision and shoved Barjet toward Jiha.
He figured Jiha would tend to Barjet, giving him a chance to deal with Quority at his back.
"Ah..."
Suddenly free and stumbling forward, Barjet reflexively looked at Jiha.
She was about to fall, so she meant to grab onto him, but...
"Don't get in the way."
Jiha lightly pressed down on Barjet's shoulder and leaped low.
The woman could wait. His priority was taking the enemy's head.
He ignored the sound of Barjet collapsing behind him and drew his sword.
Heinrich, who had been about to cut Quority down, scowled as he saw Jiha flying toward him.
"Hello, idiots."
Sneering, Jiha brought his sword down toward Heinrich's head.
Normally, one would avoid a leaping attack since it restricts movement in the air, but he had his wings, and Quority wasn't standing still either.
Whoosh!
Perhaps driven mad by his slashed neck, Quority charged blindly at Heinrich.
If he dealt with Jiha, Quority would kill him regardless. Heinrich quickly unleashed his Mana, a golden aura coiling around his body.
His form shimmered like a ghost, and Jiha's sword sliced through empty air.
He had clearly channeled his Mana and struck true, but the blade phased through as if cutting a specter.
Meanwhile, the charging Quority saw Jiha, and his eyes flew wide open.
"Urgh..."
At this rate, he would collide with Jiha. As Quority tried desperately to halt his charge, Jiha simply lashed out with a front kick.
Quority, already slowing down on his own, took the kick and scrambled backward.
Quority was still terrified of Jiha. Jiha intended to keep Quority alive until he dealt with Heinrich.
The moment Jiha withdrew his foot, Heinrich's shimmering body solidified and he swung his sword.
"So you're a ghost."
Heinrich's Special Ability was Intangibility—he could phase right through enemy attacks.
But judging by his stiff expression, it wasn't an ability he could use recklessly.
Just in case, Jiha deliberately pulled his body back wide to dodge the sword strike.
Sure enough, the blade Heinrich was swinging shimmered for an instant before returning to its solid form.
'Can't block that.'
He phases through physical attacks, and when he attacks, he ignores physical defense and cuts directly into flesh.
Jiha would need a Special Ability that could affect a ghost-like state, but nothing immediately came to mind among the abilities he possessed.
'Still, he's not invincible.'
At first glance, it seemed like a perfect offense and defense, but that couldn't be true. If it were, Heinrich would be top-tier even in Ouroboros.
Heinrich was just a field agent tasked with capturing Barjet, a Unique—a disposable pawn.
There had to be a weakness somewhere.
Heinrich pulled his sword back and reset his stance, grinding his teeth.
"You're a tougher bastard than I thought."
"Hey, Quority. You attack first."
"..."
That ability couldn't freely switch between offense and defense.
He wouldn't be able to attack while evading. Quority flinched at Jiha's command but didn't move quickly.
Even under Jiha's glare, he just gauged the situation.
Quority wasn't Jiha's subordinate; he was only suppressed because he was scared.
Now that Heinrich had been holding back and hiding such an unusual Special Ability, why would he volunteer to be a meat shield?
"Ah, fine. You and I are going to have a chat after this is over."
Of course, Jiha hadn't expected much from Quority. He was just warning him not to get in the way.
Jiha suddenly thrust his sword, but Heinrich ignored it and adjusted his grip.
It was a leisurely motion meant to phase through the strike aimed at his torso and then counterattack, but...
Even as his sword phased through, Jiha ignored it and swung his left fist at the space where Heinrich's head was.
Startled, Heinrich focused his Mana again.
If he canceled his intangibility, Jiha's fist would take his head off.
As Heinrich maintained his intangibility, Jiha poured a barrage of sword strikes and blows over him.
All of them missed thanks to the intangibility, but he didn't stop.
The threat was clear: the moment you drop your intangibility, you die.
"...Ugh."
As he kept up his intangibility with Mana, Heinrich's face slowly grew pained.
As Jiha predicted, maintaining the intangibility consumed a massive amount of Mana. Naturally, superior abilities had a higher Mana cost.
Didn't his own favored Wind Blade leave him drained of Mana after a single use in the early days?
But Jiha's Mana reserves had increased tenfold since then, built up through repeated direct Bloodsucking.
There was no way this pathetic bastard had a greater total Mana capacity than he did!
Certain of this, Jiha had forced Heinrich to keep his intangibility active.
Eventually, Heinrich released the intangibility, becoming solid and deflecting Jiha's fist with his arm.
"Done playing ghost?"
"Gahk!"
If he spent any more Mana, he'd have nothing left for close combat. Agitated, Heinrich had no choice but to engage directly.
"Good grief, how pathetic..."
Having neutralized the intangibility, Jiha casually began to dismantle the situation.
He'd already observed Heinrich's movements, swordsmanship, and footwork while he was fighting Quority.
Wielding overwhelming Mana, Jiha cornered Heinrich without much difficulty. Having exhausted his Mana on his intangibility, Heinrich was forced onto the defensive.
A direct clash consumes and chips away at Mana. Naturally, Heinrich focused on evasion.
What could be easier than cooking a foe whose options have dwindled?
"You only ever fought relying on your intangibility, didn't you? Probably killed or subdued most enemies instantly with it, right?"
"..."
It wasn't that Heinrich had no skill in close combat.
He knew how to fight well enough to subdue escort guards and drive off the thugs who harassed Barjet.
But when he used this secret intangibility, it was usually an instant kill. Opponents would flounder about, not understanding what was happening, and fall easily.
However, Jiha crushed him with sheer overwhelming Mana and power.
"Party tricks don't work on someone who's genuinely strong, you get that?"
Heinrich should have prepared for an opponent who could ignore his intangibility.
There were plenty of enemies who, like Jiha, could ignore his intangibility and keep up the pressure.
Heinrich knew this, which is why he'd planned to take Barjet's Mana and extend the duration of his intangibility.
If things had gone according to plan, Heinrich would have become unrecognizably strong.
But he met Jiha right before that, and now it was all over.
Jiha hooked Heinrich's leg as he tried to evade. The moment Heinrich's attention dropped to his lower body, Jiha's fist slammed into his face.
Craaack!
Naturally, Heinrich scraped together his depleted Mana to avoid a caved-in skull.
But his nose bridge collapsed, and white teeth flew out, clattering across the floor.
"Gurgh!"
As Heinrich coughed up blood, Jiha threw another punch without hesitation.
Heinrich reflexively crossed his arms in front of his face, which left his chest completely exposed.
"You've never been in a life-or-death crisis, have you?"
Cruunch!!
The satisfying sensation of bones breaking traveled up his fist.
His ribs shattered, Heinrich staggered and fell flat on his backside.
"Khoff... Huff..."
"Your lung's probably collapsed. Must be hard to breathe."
His once-handsome face was a wreck—nose broken, lips split, smeared with blood.
Heinrich looked up at Jiha, his expression one of utter disbelief at his own state.
"Spare..."
"Hup!"
Quority, who had been watching with bated breath, quickly soccer-kicked Heinrich's head.
Heinrich's neck twisted at an unnatural angle as he collapsed.
Quority hastily mounted him and began punching his head with frantic effort.
"Gyahahahaha! How does that taste, you bastard!"
"..."
Having jumped in only at the very end, he was certainly diligent about beating down Heinrich now.
The muscular, 190cm-tall brute was groveling and gauging Jiha's reaction with pathetic eyes.
Jiha offered a dry assessment.
"Pitiful. Just pitiful."
"Th-then..."
Quority dusted off his hands and forced a smile.
His goal was to survive this situation no matter what... but Jiha swung his sword without a moment's hesitation.
"You're just sad to look at, so do me a favor and die."
Shiiick.
Blood sprayed across the corridor wall as Quority's head was completely severed from his body.
Fountains of crimson blood gushed from the neck stump, dyeing the floor and walls of the corridor red.
Jiha quietly watched the gruesome spectacle before turning away.
He etched it into his mind: let his guard down, and he'd be the one ending up like that next.
"Ah, ah..."
Barjet, who had been watching dumbly from the floor, looked utterly terrified as Jiha approached.
Three men had fought, two were dead, and the one left standing didn't look kind at all.
Seeing her trembling eyes, Jiha smirked.
"What, you wish I were a nice guy? You want me to ask if you're hurt, gently check for injuries, and apologize for what happened earlier, right?"
"..."
Barjet found herself nodding without realizing it.
Who wouldn't want that?
Jiha asked her harshly.
"Should I?"
"..."
Barjet hesitated, then shook her head before she could stop herself.
Her woman's intuition told her this was a critical juncture.
Jiha nodded, somewhat satisfied.
Given the way she'd recklessly acted out of despair earlier, she might actually be fun to toy with.
"Good. Get up."
"...I c-can't get up."
Barjet truly shook her head, sweating profusely.
The gruesome spectacle had terrified her and sapped her strength, but the heat from the mandragora was also making it impossible for her body to function properly.
"Well, whatever."
Realizing she wasn't exaggerating, Jiha extended his hand.
Barjet hesitated before taking his blood-spattered hand.
He pulled her up by sheer strength, and as she stumbled, she unavoidably ended up in his arms.
This time, Jiha allowed it.
"Why have you been shoving your chest at me this whole time? I'm going to suck them anyway, so quit pestering me."
"C-can you please not say things like that? I-I'm really scared!"
Barjet protested involuntarily.
What had just happened before her eyes was terrifying, and the man holding her was terrifying, but the words came out reflexively.
"Who decided I'm all talk?"
Jiha's hand briefly traced the small of Barjet's back before firmly grabbing her ass.
"Hup..."
As the man's hand suddenly touched her, Barjet swallowed a tense gasp.
She looked up at the man casually groping her ass with an expression of disbelief.
"You've got a big ass too. You're really voluptuous."
"Wh-what do you think you're..."
A strange heat bloomed in her buttocks under Jiha's fondling.
Suppressing the ticklish sensation that made her want to squirm, Barjet protested desperately.
"Y-you promised you'd only touch my chest!"
"When did I?"
"...Huh?"
"You kept begging me to please suck your lewd tits, so I got tired of it and promised to suck them. I made no other promises."
Meaning, since he'd never agreed to keep his hands off the rest of her, he would do as he pleased.
Dumbfounded, Barjet raised her voice in sheer disbelief.
"It-It's just common sense not to touch anywhere else! How can you be so completely shameless!"
"It'd be more abnormal for a guy not to get turned on seeing a woman like you."
"..."
Barjet's face flushed bright red at Jiha's frank words.
She was so flabbergasted she didn't know what to do, and as Jiha's hand continued firmly kneading her ass, she pushed against his chest with her arms.
"A-anyway, stop it! I-I'll sue you!"
"Go ahead."
Jiha smiled with satisfaction.
Groping the voluptuous body hidden beneath the loose robe was pleasant, but what he liked even more was this back-and-forth.
He'd thought she was just a parrot, but she was a woman with some spirit, worth taming.
"I-I said stop..."
Barjet's face, which had been pushing against Jiha's chest, stiffened.
Jiha was smiling coldly.
The chilling smile instinctively frightened Barjet.
It was the smile of a hunter about to kill his prey—a look he wore when he meant to kill.
"I-It's not that I'm trying to break the promise..."
Barjet tried to explain, but Jiha wasn't listening.
He was looking over her shoulder, past her.
Heinrich, his face a mask of blood, had risen to his feet.
"Still not dead?"
As if showing off, Jiha smoothly ran his hand down from Barjet's waist to her ass as he held her.
Then, he grabbed her ass firmly.
"Ahng..."
His touch was unbelievably soft for such a rude man, and the sudden strong pressure at the end drew a seductive moan from Barjet, who had been desperately suppressing her heated body.
Holding the whimpering beauty, Jiha taunted Heinrich.
"I'll enjoy this woman."
He'd crushed him completely through force.
Now, he would crush him as a man and end this.