Chapter 52
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Everyone Has Their Flaws #1
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Crunch crunch-.
A massive serpent chewed through rocks and stones.
"Could that be Sabrannik?"
No matter how bizarre this world was, snakes that ate rocks couldn't be that common.
That thing was definitely Sabrannik.
At my question, the snake gaped its huge maw wide.
【Ra’k sh-i, ek, man-du-?】
What the hell was it saying?
That's when Deborah started frothing at the mouth like she was having a fit.
"No! I prepared the stones! I chanted the unsealing spell! La-Ba-Shi-!"
【Kaaaa-k-!】
The enormous python roared with its mouth stretched wide.
Its scales shivered with a long, rattling hiss.
"The sacrifice is that man!"
Whoosh-!
The snake lunged at me.
"Get off me, you bastard!"
I spat a curse and whipped my body to the left.
I barely avoided being eaten alive.
"Dol-Ro-bi-!"
Deborah shouted something else.
Ssshh-.
The giant snake pulled off an impossibly fluid U-turn and came at me again.
I had no choice but to roll out of the way with all my strength.
"Ugh!"
"Kyahahahaha! Dance! Keep dancing!"
Deborah mocked me from atop the high altar.
I wasn't an idiot.
I'd figured out ages ago that Deborah was controlling this snake with her weird chants.
A thief who read a ton of books and studied hard, manipulating snakes with stuff like "ancient spells."
She might've stolen Hermit's paper, *Idol Research Report*, for exactly that reason.
Whatever the case, what I needed to do in this situation was clear.
Take out Deborah.
"《Shadow Companion》!"
While my real body lured the snake, my shadow would go for Deborah—.
That's what I was thinking when I heard Deborah grinding her teeth.
"No way... Did you read *Path of Shadows*?"
Path of Shadows? What was that?
No time to answer while dodging the snake.
"That fox Germain! How could she give the world's last copy to a nobody like you!"
Deborah seemed seriously pissed at my shadow.
'Perfect.'
'She's excited, so her judgment's clouded.'
'If there's an opening, now!'
Swish-.
My shadow drew its dagger and charged at Deborah.
Whoosh, whoosh-.
Deborah barely dodged the shadow's attacks.
"Not bad! But controlling your shadow on top of your real body being in danger isn't easy, is it?"
Damn it.
She was right.
"How long can your skill last? Five minutes? Ten?"
About five minutes.
In that time, the odds of this snake eating me were way higher.
'No choice now.'
'I'm on the verge of dying, so I can't hold back anymore.'
I pulled another Black Satchel from the one at my waist.
Deborah panicked when she saw it.
"No way—!?"
Smart girl.
She knew right away it was dangerous.
"Bullshit! Bluff all you want! There's no way a punk like you has a devil's pouch!"
"Heh heh! We'll see if it's real or fake once I open it!"
Srrk-.
I undid the satchel's knot with a srrk-.
Pitch-black darkness poured out from inside.
Ssss-!
It clung stickily to my arm too.
'This... this is the Night beyond the Great Wall!'
I flinched at the 'Night' swarming like bugs and dropped the satchel.
At the same instant, something hideous thrust an arm out from inside.
【Grrrrowl....】
A pillar-thick arm.
It burned so hot, like it was on fire, spiking the surrounding temperature in seconds.
"You idiot! What the hell have you done! What have you done!"
Deborah screeched.
I used the opening to flee the snake.
Then I leaped toward Deborah and hurled a throwing knife.
"Thunderbolt Throwing Knife!"
Boom-!
The blade shot like a beam of light with a thunderclap.
It pierced Deborah's thigh.
"Gaaah!"
Yes!
Her mobility should be shot now!
I charged straight at her and slammed my hand chop into her neck with all my might.
"...Urgh... You... fucking... dog..."
Thud-.
Deborah collapsed.
I used the rope I'd brought and bound her tight, then stuffed her into the Black Satchel.
"Nice! Success!"
Rustle-.
That's when an ominous chill crawled up my neck.
I turned to see something's upper body emerging from the satchel.
【Grrowl....】
A monster wreathed in heat haze.
Its face was gaunt like a skull.
A pair of horns sprouted from its head, bat-like wings from its back.
Its hooves were like a cow's.
The whole thing screamed burning demon!
「Demon General – Balduruk」
「Lv.??」
The name that floated up in my 'Black Eye.'
Chills ran down my spine from every angle.
'I saw that guy in the game!'
'What the fuck, you crazy Ether bastards!'
'You tried to unleash something like that on the military HQ?'
【Ka-ak-!】
The giant python lunged at the demon.
Boom-!
Just the clash shook the mine like an earthquake.
Rumble-.
The mine was actually collapsing.
Chunks of rock rained from the ceiling, and the footing felt insanely unstable.
Buried alive.
If I stayed, I'd be crushed to death.
Without looking back, I bolted for the exit.
"Get buried alive, you freaks!"
【《Mana Barrier》.】
That's when Demon General Balduruk chanted a spell.
The passage I was heading for sealed shut like a transparent wall had appeared.
"A monster using magic...? You coward!"
Demon General Balduruk glared at me with blazing eyes.
As it reached out, fireballs ignited in its palm.
【《Hellfire Arrow—】
【Kaa-k-!】
The giant snake lunged at the demon again.
It wrapped around it tight—talk about lucky timing.
If those fireballs had come at me, I'd be toast for sure.
'Monster showdown!'
'Escape while they're fighting!'
The problem was this transparent wall.
"Break! Break already!"
I stabbed at the mana barrier with my dagger.
But it was too tough—even my dagger couldn't pierce it.
The bigger problem—
Crack-.
—was that the demon had grabbed the snake's jaws and ripped them apart with brute force.
Upper and lower jaws shredded.
【...S-ss....】
The giant snake slumped to the floor.
Even a snake that could swallow an elephant whole couldn't stand against the nightmare of Fairy City, the demon general.
【Grrowl....】
Thud, thump-.
Now the demon advanced on me.
Each step felt like it shaved ten years off my life.
"Sabrannik!"
I yelled at the top of my lungs.
"Help me!"
You said you'd help in a crisis!
This was definitely a crisis!
Then a voice reached my ears.
【—That giant snake—】
【—is my flaw—】
【—My old shed skin—】
Shed skin?
That snake was Sabrannik's shed skin?
Shed skin was like a snake's old clothes, right?
And it was alive and moving? Wild.
But that wasn't important right now!
"Save me!"
【—Draw near my shed skin—】
【—And offer Ether—】
Go through that demon to the snake corpse?
But there were no other options.
Crack, craaack-.
Overhead, a massive ceiling boulder groaned ominously.
'That's it!'
Boom-.
I hurled my Thunderbolt Throwing Knife, wrapped in lightning, at the ceiling with all my strength.
Crack-.
The boulder plummeted in an instant.
Rumble-.
The rock pile buried the demon!
Crash-.
The demon general vanished under it in seconds.
'Yes!'
'But too early to relax!'
Demon General Balduruk was a high-level monster even in the game.
No way it'd die from something like that.
So I sprinted to the snake's corpse.
All the running had my breath burning in my throat.
"So how much do I need to offer?"
I had about 2 million Ether in my Black Satchel.
Did I have to give it all up?
'Damn, what a waste!'
'I worked my ass off for this!'
My hard-earned cash.
My blood-sweat Ether!
I'd rather offer real blood.
But—
Thud, craaack-.
The demon was breaking free from the rocks.
'If I die, what's Ether good for!'
'Save my neck first!'
I squeezed my eyes shut.
Then shoved the bundle of 2 million Ether into the snake corpse's mouth.
Ssss-.
The Ether vanished.
At the same time, the snake corpse rose.
【—Good—】
【—Connected now—】
【—One corner of the ominous triad—】
【—Behold the power of the death-eating dragon—】
"Oooh! Sabrannik!"
Reliable!
The dead snake sprang into motion and charged the demon general.
【—Die, base creature—】
【Grrowl...!】
Crunch-!
It coiled around the demon general's body—
The demon faltered, seemingly panicked.
"Oooh! We're winning! Kicking its ass!"
As far as I knew, beating 'Demon General – Balduruk' had a low chance of dropping a high-level weapon.
Maybe it'd drop that—.
I was getting hopeful when Sabrannik shouted.
【—This body. Won't. Last long—】
【—Hurry. And flee—】
Huh—?
Couldn't kill it?
"Aw, come on!"
I bolted for the tunnel exit with everything I had.
But the mana barrier blocked me again.
"How the hell do I break this thing!"
"《Mystic Arrow》!"
Swoosh-.
Something grazed my face.
In the distance, I spotted Hermit holding a torch.
"Newbie! Move! I'll rip the barrier with half mana!"
"Hermit! You really came back to save me!"
A I could never feel from thief crew buddies!
Wall party was the best!
"《Mystic Arrow》!"
Hermit chanted again.
Swoosh-.
The incoming arrow cracked the barrier.
Shatter-!
Finally, a hole big enough for me to crawl through opened.
I squeezed my body through fast.
【Graaaaaah—!!!】
A scorching roar hit my back.
Hermit asked with her face flushed beet red.
"That thing a demon? A real demon from the books!"
"I don't know!"
Hermit and I bolted without looking back.
Thud, thump-.
Heavy footsteps chased us relentlessly.
"Hermit! Can't you do something with your magic!?"
"《Telekinetic Shockwave》!"
Hermit chanted on a mine pillar.
Crack-.
The pillar shattered in a transparent wave.
Rumble-.
Boom-!
We escaped the collapsing abandoned mine just like that.
A second later, and we'd have been buried alive.
"Wooo! We lived!"
"Halt!"
Sring-!
Flash-!
The moment we burst out of the mine entrance, a silver spear tip pressed right against my neck.
Soldiers in silver armor everywhere.
"Intruders who entered the territory without permission! Resist, and we'll subdue you by force!"
This was insane!
"You let the real trespassing thieves go but hassle easy marks like us!?"
My hand went to the throwing knife at my waist.
With mage Hermit here, escape odds were fifty-fifty?
From the soldiers' midst, a woman in a long cloak yelled at the knights.
"Sir Enut, they're the benefactors who saved me and the hostages! I'd appreciate if you didn't rough them up!"
That woman!
Lady Cheperi, was it?
Lady Cheperi shoved aside spears and swords, yelling fiercely.
"Is this how you treat the heroes who saved my life? What are you doing! Lower your weapons!"
Lady Cheperi carried herself with such dignity, it was hard to believe she'd been abused by those thieves.
'Well, gold doesn't lose value from a bit of mud.'
'That's just innate.'
A true iron lady.
She probably would've escaped somehow even without us.
Lady Cheperi approached us gracefully and apologized softly.
"I have no way to atone for this rudeness. Our family has a treasured heirloom passed down.... If you wish, even that..."
—A noble family's heirloom?
Just imagining it made my head spin!
It might cover the 2 million Ether I'd tossed into Sabrannik's mouth and then some!
Lady Cheperi added.
"Then, won't you come to our estate? It would be the greatest honor to host the daughter of the esteemed Pilgrim House."
Lady Cheperi, who seemed like she'd bow to no one.
She knelt lightly before Hermit.