The Shadow of the Holy Kingdom (6)
The moment Larilura spun around and raised her fist, the thugs realized their stalking had been exposed. They immediately dropped any pretense and started openly harassing her.
Clenching and unclenching her dainty little fist, Larilura shot back, “Of course I’m going to resist. What, you think I should smile sweetly while getting gang-raped in a dark alley like this?”
“If you’re gonna entertain guests, you’re holding that fist all wrong, sweetheart.”
“Kekeke! Trying to take on ten guys at once? You’re gonna be real busy with both your mouth and your hands!”
“Ugh…”
As the thugs spewed their filthy jokes, Larilura dropped her act for a second and dry-heaved.
—Zzt. The snake scales wrapped around my neck stood on end as pure killing intent leaked out. But the thugs didn’t notice a thing. They swaggered closer and reached out.
“C’mon, let’s have a little fun together. We’re actually pretty famous for being gentlemen—”
“Hard pass. I hate men with zero sense of humor.”
—Flash!
Larilura’s fist shot out like a beam of light and smashed straight into the man’s jaw.
“Ughk—!”
The guy with the pomaded hair rolled his eyes back and collapsed in a single hit. Of course he did. My junior’s punches are no joke even without mana. Larilura can pull off acrobatic movements that rival Olympic gymnasts without using any mana at all. On top of that, she has body reinforcement magic and the speed-boosting gem she got from the Ulster village. If I layered on my “extra buffs,” trash like these guys wouldn’t even be worth calling opponents.
“Kyahahaha! Look at that idiot! Trying to act cool and ends up like that!”
“Supposed to be Gold Class, right? Must pack quite a punch, huh? Huh?”
Even though their friend was down, the rest still hadn’t come to their senses. Only the one who looked the strongest noticed that the guy who’d been knocked out had his jawbone completely shattered. His face hardened.
Larilura shook out her gloved hand and clicked her tongue. “Leaving idiots who follow customers around like this? The bar’s security is absolute garbage.”
“People who show up for one night and never come back are a dime a dozen! We won’t hurt you too bad, so just behave yourself!”
One of the thugs shouted and charged in with a low stance like a wrestler. He actually had decent skill. He wouldn’t be able to handle real experts, but his level was comfortably within Bronze Class for adventurer work. In other words, he was about average for an adventurer.
—Clang!
Even so, he was still nothing more than a single punch to Larilura. A lightning-fast jab flew out and smashed the man’s jaw in the exact same motion as before. Another idiot who couldn’t read the room got knocked out cold. That seemed to be the set pattern.
The thugs’ faces went deathly pale as they finally understood her skill. Meanwhile, I was quietly impressed by Larilura’s movements.
‘I only taught her basic boxing three days ago.’
The reason I could use high-difficulty martial arts in real combat was largely thanks to the body control techniques I’d learned from her. The ability to manipulate one’s own body with extreme precision! The one who taught me, Larilura, was obviously a master of that art. I’d only given her a rough overview of bare-handed martial arts forms, yet with her reflexes and practiced motions alone, she was throwing punches like a pro boxer.
‘I guess that same dexterity applies to her marionette control too.’
It was like the saying from third-rate martial arts novels—all paths lead to the same peak. Still, she was definitely stronger when she used Ringling No. 4.
“Y-you bastards! Grab your weapons! That bitch is actually Gold Class!”
“Fuck! We just wanted a taste and now look at this shitshow!”
—Shing!
The thugs drew the swords from their waists. Their situational awareness was painfully slow. What could you really expect from a pack of lowlifes who roamed around in groups looking to rape women? Still, it was pathetic to watch.
“……I could’ve let it slide if you were just following someone, but now you’re pulling blades?”
Larilura’s eyes grew icy. It didn’t seem like simple anger or tension.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been this deep into the entertainment district, but Lucregens wasn’t this lawless before. I guess the Family powers have had a huge influence? Sexual predators are even pulling swords now.”
She deliberately changed her tone to sound different from usual, but the words she spat out carried a cold sincerity. This might not be the city she was born in, but it was still her hometown’s capital that she was returning to after a long time. If a city she knew well had turned into a gangster town where rapist thugs jumped out of alleys after just a year-long trip abroad, it was only natural she’d be furious.
“Heh, hehehe. I don’t know what backwater you crawled out of, but times change and so do people’s hearts.”
“People like you never change no matter how many eras pass. Are you all part of the Dark Society’s thugs? Which Family do you belong to?”
“Like we’d tell you! If you’re that curious, ask us in bed, you bitch!”
It wasn’t Larilura who was buckling under the pressure—it was them. The thugs charged with their swords drawn. At this point they were basically just gangsters. They’d tried to touch her first, got counterattacked, and now they were ready to kill. Larilura frowned and whispered through telepathy.
“Senior?”
“Leave it to me. I’ll do it just like we practiced.”
When I answered boldly, the tension melted from her shoulders as if it had never been there. After taking a short, deep breath, Larilura blocked the descending sword with her arm.
—Cracklecracklecrackle—!
—Kaang!
It didn’t sound at all like a sword clashing against a human arm. The thug who attacked first opened his mouth so wide it looked like it would tear, screaming in shock.
“Huk—?!”
A brilliant surge of mana erupted from both of Larilura’s arms! The man’s legs gave out at the sight of the glowing mass of mana. Then Larilura’s shining punch slammed into his solar plexus, and he flew away like a stone kicked by a boot.
The rest of the men who were about to follow up slammed on the brakes like squirrels whose balls had just been crushed.
“O-o-ora!!”
“You caught on quick.”
At Larilura’s cold sneer, the gangsters stumbled backward. Their spines had gone completely limp from fear.
“T-t-that guy! He’s using aura!! He’s a real fucking expert!!”
“Who was the idiot who said we’d just have fun with her until tomorrow?!”
“Gals! Where the hell is Gals?!”
—Tremble tremble tremble.
Larilura snorted at the pathetic display of crumbling morale. I chuckled inwardly too.
‘Idiots. Hooked so easily.’
Obviously, that wasn’t aura. If it had been a real aura-coated punch like the kind Enlir used, the thug who got hit wouldn’t have simply flown backward—his torso would have exploded. This was Beast Regression disguised with the Berkanan rune. Aura and Beast Regression looked completely different at a glance. Anyone could tell them apart by whether the mana was bursting outward or wrapping around the body. That was why I had learned the technique to alter the shape of mana through transformation magic. It didn’t actually increase cutting power or destructive force like real aura—it was purely cosmetic.
‘Besides, this is just the basics of transformation magic.’
You simply cover the target area with mana and operate the spell formula as if wearing a costume mask. The transformation then occurs. I found it difficult to go any further than that, but simply changing the shape of mana was easy. Compared to the Blood Demon Arts that required combining spell formulas, this was a piece of cake.
“Larilura. Don’t kill the brown-haired guy standing at the very back.”
“Yes! At this level, I could probably just subdue all of them, right?”
Even as she answered through telepathy, Larilura mercilessly rained spicy punches down on the thugs.
—Powpowpowpow!
“Ughk—!!”
“Gyaaooook—?!”
It was like releasing a lion in armor into a flock of sheep. Every time Larilura moved her hands, thugs with shattered jaws rolled across the ground. If not for the lack of spraying blood, it would have looked like a massacre.
‘Even if I coat someone else with mana, it only raises defense and doesn’t do much else.’
In the end, it was just a sloppy imitation of Bestowal. The actual effect was probably no better than wearing leather armor made of mana. Still, when combined with the giant leather armor I had modified with transformation magic to perfectly fit Larilura’s body and the Blood Demon Arts’ Adamantine Indestructibility that coated her body with mana, it became nearly impenetrable defense. Even I would struggle to deal damage with physical attacks if I stacked defenses to that degree.
I flicked my snake tongue in satisfaction.
‘Yeah, it has to be at least this good. I went through the trouble of turning into a snake for this, after all.’
I planned to keep providing auto-guard with Beast Regression like this. If a problem arose that Larilura’s punches couldn’t handle, I would step in and fight myself. To an outsider it might look like I was just lounging around, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I was staying close and guarding her so she wouldn’t get hurt. In our party, Larilura was one of the lowest in terms of defense. This level of insurance was absolutely necessary.
“Hup—!!”
With that, even the brown-haired man I had pointed out—the first one who had noticed Larilura’s true strength—was neatly subdued. He had been decently skilled, but after focusing too much on the aura, a high kick slammed into his temple and knocked him out cold.
“Haa! Moving my body really does feel refreshing!”
Larilura pulled her fist back and let out a breath.
“Though hitting people isn’t really my taste☆!”
She says that, but she was beating the shit out of them. I could only smile bitterly.