Chapter 113: Guild War — Glory (2)
Chapter 113: Guild War — Glory (2)
“…Ha.”
Kairas, who had become a one-armed ninja in an instant, turned his head toward me.
His complicated gaze swept over the impressive uniform I was wearing.
“So that’s the reason.”
《Masterpiece — Ashen Wolf Guild Uniform》
《Made from material sturdier than ordinary clothing. Once, no matter where the wearer is, the guild master can be summoned.》
Clothing imbued with a one-time effect that summoned the guild master by opening a temporary dimensional gate.
I had waited until the Schemer used a large and flashy mystery like [Ninjutsu: Moving Great Tree Roots], then quickly called Targon here.
Because he had consumed [Lumerlan’s Sigh], which erased one’s presence completely, even Kairas—despite being a ninja—failed to detect Targon’s presence at all.
“Spy. From now on, your opponent is me.”
Targon lightly stomped his foot.
Boom!
The stone floor dug in like soil as the massive orc closed the distance to the Schemer in a single bound.
“…Go!”
The gigantic roots that had been pressuring me surged toward Targon.
Our guild master did not evade them and instead swung his arm forward heavily.
Crunch!
The root struck by the enormous fist shattered.
Not just the part that was hit—the shock spread through the entire root and destroyed it all at once.
“…Insane!”
After widening his eyes briefly, Kairas sent the shuriken floating through the cavern toward Targon.
It was like a rain of countless weapons.
“Quite fierce.”
Targon evaluated calmly while grinning, spreading his shoulders wide before clapping his hands.
Boom, boom, BOOM!
Though he had only struck his palms together, a thunderous sound erupted and vibrations spread outward.
The incoming shuriken instantly lost their force and fell to the ground.
It was a Health Clap formed from the combination of four different mysteries.
“Is that your limit?”
“….”
Kairas silently looked around at the scattered shuriken before suddenly moving at a speed difficult to follow with the eyes.
“Come at me!”
The massive gray orc happily slammed both hands onto the ground.
The earth shook, forcing the agile Kairas to roll across the floor.
“You’re certainly extremely fast.”
“…You’re a truly ridiculous monster.”
Kairas stood up again, grinding his teeth, and turned around.
— Bark!
At that moment, the large ninja dog golem the Schemer had summoned earlier leapt toward Targon.
Its charging time had finished, and it was finally joining the battle.
“Those movements are unusual.”
Targon continued evaluating even in the middle of combat.
It certainly possessed both speed and impact.
It was physical power made possible by conserving strength until now.
Crunch!
It bit down hard on Targon’s wrist.
“But the attack power is lacking.”
No.
If I had been the one bitten, my arm would have become infinite dog chew thanks to endless regeneration.
“Go away.”
Targon flicked the ninja dog golem on the head.
The golem’s body—made of material harder than steel—shattered completely.
At that same moment.
Kairas, who had already closed the distance to Targon, swung his dagger toward the orc’s thick neck.
A desperate strike enhanced with [Ninjutsu: Azure Flame Blade].
Stab!
The dagger pierced Targon’s neck and blue flames erupted.
Crack!
At the same time, Kairas was struck by a heavy backhand and sent flying backward, crashing into the wall.
Sliding down the wall, the ninja staggered as he forced himself back up.
“…That was fairly sharp.”
Targon casually brushed the flames burning on his neck with his hand.
If an ordinary explorer tried that, their hand would have burned off.
“Outside the labyrinth, that would be around level 8. At that level, you might actually defeat me. Come again!”
“….”
Glaring at the absurdly sturdy orc, Kairas pulled out a healing tool and stopped the bleeding from his shoulder.
He looked extremely frustrated.
“That arrogance of relaxing before your enemy. I’ll make you regret it.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Kairas suddenly multiplied into three.
[Ninjutsu: Soul Clone].
Each clone possessed about thirty percent of the original body’s physical abilities, and even partially copied the performance of equipment such as [Companion of the Lord].
Ninjutsu really was the most broken system after magic.
Originally it could summon five clones, but because he had only one arm and could not form the necessary hand seals, the effect had been halved.
“Oh, an interesting mystery.”
“…You won’t find this interesting!”
All three Kairas simultaneously ignited dragon-shaped blue flames around their bodies.
[Ninjutsu: Blue Flame Dragon].
Fwoooosh!
Flame dragons surged violently and wrapped around Targon’s body, beginning to roast him.
Heat on an entirely different level from [Death · Flame · Flower].
Firepower that turned people into fuel.
“…Indeed, this is extremely hot!”
While Targon admired the heat, the three Kairas split apart and rushed from different directions simultaneously.
Blue flames gathered dangerously around their bodies.
[Ninjutsu: Azure Flame Slash].
The strongest ninjutsu the Schemer could use.
Shhhh!
The moment three blue slashes cut through the air and struck Targon simultaneously—
Slice!
A gigantic halberd split the waists of all three Kairas at once.
Two of the clones were cut in half and disappeared.
“…Ugh.”
The real Kairas twisted his body just in time to avoid being split in two, but his right leg was severed as he rolled across the floor.
“An excellent attack.”
Targon nodded slightly while resting the massive halberd on his shoulder.
Despite the enormous size of the weapon, the motion of swinging it had been nearly invisible.
Remembering that even now he was far stronger than when I first encountered him before reaching level five made my head and chest burn with excitement.
“Spy. You are a formidable opponent. But starting with one arm missing made a huge difference. Otherwise this would have been much harder.”
That was why I had desperately summoned Targon secretly.
If luck turned bad, the Schemer occasionally won when the two fought.
“But in the end, I won.”
Targon slowly approached the Schemer.
“….”
Kairas glanced briefly toward me.
“…Targon is only using you as a ‘variable,’ not as a companion, to win the guild war. Are you truly willing to grant such a man the glory of victory?”
There was a pleading look in his eyes.
It seemed he wanted me to help him out of half-elf solidarity.
“Golden Crow, shouldn’t half-elves help each other survive?”
If he had served a different evil god, I might have tried persuading him instead.
If I could recruit him as a companion, he would be an extremely capable expedition member.
However.
I shook my head.
“If you gain control of District Three, many people will suffer. Especially the Harmony believers who interfere with you—they will mostly die.”
“…A future where everyone is happy is an illusion. For the sake of ideals, someone must always be sacrificed. That is the law of the world!”
“A world where the many are happy through the sacrifice of a few. I don’t think that’s bad. But you believe in a doctrine where everyone inevitably becomes miserable.”
Followers of Ernysiv could never be persuaded.
The Cult of Equal Balance spread its faith only among those who had completely despaired at the absurd world and could never return to peaceful lives.
From the start, we could never cooperate.
At least not until one side abandoned their beliefs entirely.
“Do your best.”
“How cold…”
As Kairas muttered something under his breath, he was suddenly dragged backward.
A thick rope had wrapped around his ankle.
“I said your opponent is me.”
Holding the rope with both hands, Targon grinned viciously.
Drag… drag…
Kairas was slowly pulled toward the gray orc.
He tried to cut the rope with his dagger, but it was useless.
The rope was created through the berserker-class mystery [Vital Armament], just like Targon’s halberd. It would not break under ordinary impact.
“Please struggle desperately.”
As Targon flexed his arm, the bound Schemer flew through the air and slammed into the wall.
Then he crashed to the floor and was flung back into the wall again.
Fwoosh!
Even while doing that, he formed hand seals and launched [Ninjutsu: Blue Flame].
It achieved little.
“Hmm.”
Targon casually brushed off the blue flames.
Even though fire was a vampire’s weakness, the flames scattered uselessly.
“You’ll need hotter flames.”
“…You monster.”
Kairas was thrown again.
Boom, boom, boom!
After crashing against walls and ground several times, the Schemer’s body was struck by Targon’s heavy fist.
“Urgh….”
The slender half-elf instantly became a wreck.
His face was covered in blood and bruises.
His limbs twisted in unnatural directions.
His waist bent in a direction no upright intelligent being should bend.
But Targon’s revenge had only just begun.
“It’s still far from over.”
Targon took out a recovery potion and poured it into Kairas’s mouth.
With a vampire’s superior Vitality stat, even a small amount of potion restored his body quickly.
Crunch!
Kairas’s arm—just healed—bent in four places.
I hadn’t realized a human body could crumple like paper.
“…!”
Though trained as a ninja to endure pain and refusing to scream, the Schemer foamed at the mouth.
“…Heh.”
Targon’s shoulders trembled.
He looked extremely pleased.
Laughing repeatedly, he healed Kairas again with potions and began snapping his fingers one by one.
“…Ugh.”
This time even the ninja couldn’t suppress the groan.
— Caw…?
The Blind Crow sitting on my shoulder returned to its eye socket and displayed a message.
《I thought he was silent and serious, but he’s incredibly cruel!》
“Heh… hehehe….”
The dignified guild master of the Ashen Wolf Guild, which governed District Three, laughed sadistically while tormenting the ninja.
“Yeah. He is cruel.”
I brushed back my hair.
“That’s the guild master’s true personality.”
A preference for enjoying physical and psychological abuse.
More precisely, he had reached a point where ordinary stimulation no longer interested him, inevitably leading to twisted forms of excitement.
In simple terms, he was a terrifying psychopath.
However, the supreme warrior Targon only revealed this sadism when there was legal or justified cause.
“Whew.”
For a timid cultist like me, it was hard to keep watching.
Cough!
Kairas, already completely subdued and only twitching occasionally, coughed up a mouthful of blood.
“Hmm, it broke.”
“….”
Kairas looked at me again.
There was a hint of weakness in his gaze, but there was nothing I could do now.
“Kh… hehehe….”
With a broad smile across his face and trembling arms, Targon had entered a state where no words would stop him.
I understood well.
I often experienced similar things.
“…Not yet.”
Kairas slowly pulled a small object from his pocket.
A long flask.
Inside it, purple liquid writhed as if alive.
《???》
《It’s too complicated. Even I don’t know exactly what it is!》
Same here.
I knew every item used by the Six Apostles, yet I had no idea what that was.
‘Again.’
New content.
A situation different from the game.
“Guild Master.”
“What is it?”
“…Never mind.”
I almost warned him but stopped.
Who was I to advise caution here?
Soon the Schemer threw the flask and shattered it.
Purple gas slowly spread into the air and wrapped around Targon’s body.
“I thought it was a physical weakening potion. Apparently not.”
Even as the suspicious gas seeped into his body, Targon clicked his tongue in disappointment and lifted Kairas by the throat.
“What did you just do?”
“…Who knows?”
The moment the half-elf ninja smiled miserably—
RUMBLE!
The ground shook violently as if an earthquake had struck.
The epicenter was the eastern wall of the cavern.
Cracks spread from the center of the stone wall.
“…What is this?”
As Targon narrowed his eyes and looked around, another loud sound exploded.
CRASH!
The cavern wall collapsed entirely.
— KRAAAAAA!!
Beyond the shattered opening—
the Eclipse Wyvern spread its wings and roared fiercely.
“…It was a potion that summons the wyvern.”
Kairas muttered while still held in the massive hand.
“Thankfully it works even in that transformed state! Even you won’t be able to defeat such a powerful monster!”
“A trump card. Worth saving until the end.”
Unlike before, Targon now looked indifferent as he glanced at me.
“To be honest, even I can’t guarantee victory against that thing. Got any good ideas?”
“Of course.”
I raised three fingers.
Thinking of the broadcasting crystal sphere that would be outside the hole the wyvern had made.
“Exactly three minutes from now! Within that time, I’ll perform a trick and defeat a level-7 monster.”