Baisha's Scheme (3)
“Just give me a little more time.”
A man pressed himself flat against the floor as he spoke.
“What, the time I’ve already given you isn’t enough?”
“That’s not what I—”
Thud.
The bald man drove his boot into the face of the man lying on the ground.
“Hey, Jerry. I’m no charity worker.”
“I know that. I’m not saying I won’t pay, Baisha. You know as well as I do that I’ve been paying my debt back on time every single month.”
Jerry clutched his swelling face but still stayed on his knees before Baisha.
“So you paid it off, then?”
“If you count just the principal, I’ve already—”
“You little shit!”
Crack.
Baisha didn’t even wait for Jerry to finish. He slammed his foot into the man’s chest.
“Guhh!”
Jerry rolled across the floor, wheezing and choking as if he couldn’t draw a proper breath.
“How much you’ve paid doesn’t matter.”
Baisha dragged a chair over and sat down right in front of Jerry.
Press.
Seated, he planted his foot on Jerry’s head and pushed it into the floorboards.
“What matters is whether you’ve paid the whole damn thing off or not.”
Baisha grabbed a fistful of Jerry’s hair and yanked his head up.
The man’s face was already a ruin—clumps of dried blood stuck all over the swollen, battered flesh.
“You’ll pay it back no matter what it takes. You understand me?”
Jerry didn’t even have the strength left to answer. All he could manage was a weak nod.
“But here’s the thing. No matter how hard you work yourself to the bone, I don’t think you’re ever going to be able to pay it back.”
A sly, ugly smile spread across Baisha’s face.
“You had a wife and a daughter, didn’t you?”
“Urgh!”
Understanding exactly what Baisha meant, Jerry’s whole body tensed. Veins stood out on his neck as he glared up at the loan shark.
“Settle down. Wait—did this bastard just glare at me?”
Thud.
Baisha rose from the chair and kicked Jerry again.
“You glare at me.”
Thud.
“What are you gonna do about it?”
Thud.
“What the hell are you gonna do?”
Baisha began stomping Jerry’s body at random, mercilessly.
“Ugh… ahh…”
Jerry clutched at Baisha’s pant leg.
Most of his teeth were gone; he could barely form words.
“Hoo.”
Baisha rolled his sleeves back down and caught his breath.
“Either you get sold off as a mercenary, or that daughter of yours gets sold as a slave. Pick one.”
Tears welled in Jerry’s eyes.
“You gonna answer anytime soon?”
Crash!
Just as Baisha lifted his foot again, the door suddenly exploded inward.
“What the hell?”
Startled, Baisha looked toward the shattered doorway.
A boy wearing a mask stood there.
The thugs who should have been guarding the door were sprawled across the floor around him.
This one’s dangerous.
The thought hit Baisha hard—he could die in a single blow from that kid.
“Take that bastard out.”
Shiiing.
The man who never left Baisha’s side drew his sword.
After the attack earlier that day, Ellen had returned home, then come back that same evening to Baisha’s business for revenge.
He had dealt with the doormen blocking his path and stepped inside, only to find some swordsman drawing steel on him.
Ellen immediately sensed that the aura rolling off the man with the drawn sword was no joke.
He’s pretty skilled.
Whoosh.
Two Magic Missiles streaked toward the swordsman.
He casually slipped past the high-speed projectiles and charged straight at Ellen.
Whoosh.
Ellen barely twisted aside as the blade whistled past his neck. The swordsman’s assault never let up.
As the continuous attacks forced Ellen’s weight onto his back foot, the swordsman seized the opening and closed the distance into Ellen’s guard.
Rumble.
He vanished?
To the swordsman’s eyes, Ellen simply disappeared. In reality, Ellen had used Dig magic to drop the ground out from under him, slipping the attack.
He’s clever, but his skill isn’t that impressive.
The swordsman had plenty of experience fighting Magic Assistants. He knew their spells—and their weaknesses—inside and out.
If I just drag this out, the kid will run dry on mana and collapse on his own. But…
The speed at which that boy cast was absurd.
Every Magic Assistant the swordsman had ever faced muttered long, rambling incantations before they could cast. This boy triggered spells with nothing more than a gesture.
Doesn’t matter. As long as I stay wary of that, I’m fine.
The swordsman adjusted his grip on the sword.
He’s stronger than I thought.
Ellen had been dodging so far by relying on the hand-to-hand techniques he’d picked up in scraps of free time during his mercenary days, plus the instincts forged in life-or-death battles. But his current body simply couldn’t keep up with the movements his mind demanded.
If he hadn’t used Dig on pure reflex just now, the swordsman’s blade would have caught him for sure.
In that case, I’ll take this seriously. Stone Edge.
Stone pillars erupted from the ground beneath the swordsman’s feet.
He slipped past the spears of rock bursting up all around him with almost casual ease.
Magic Missile.
The instant the swordsman dodged the last pillar, Ellen fired Magic Missiles at high speed.
Thud.
His stance slightly off-balance, the swordsman spotted the missiles coming and launched himself straight at Ellen instead of dodging.
Got him! Lightning.
Crackle-zap!
Ellen hurled a bolt of lightning at the swordsman.
Lightning-type magic might lag behind fire in pure killing power, but nothing in any school of magic matched its speed.
The swordsman twisted his body as hard as he could, yet he couldn’t avoid it completely.
Sizzle!
The stench of burning flesh rose from his left shoulder. Sparks still jumped and crackled across the wound.
Damn it—he dodged even that?
Ellen was now forced to fight while conserving every scrap of mana.
The opponent’s skill had exceeded his expectations, so he had thrown out a finishing move rather than drag things out. It hadn’t worked.
The swordsman noticed Ellen was starting to tire.
If he just kept pressing a little longer, the boy would burn through the last of his mana and collapse into complete exhaustion.
Ellen stopped attacking first. From here on, even the mana for a single Magic Missile had to be hoarded.
That guy definitely noticed.
Just as Ellen had accumulated experience fighting swordsmen, this swordsman had accumulated just as much experience fighting Magic Assistants.
If this keeps up, I lose.
Then a strategy flashed through Ellen’s mind.
This is it.
Ellen immediately summoned three Magic Missiles and sent them flying at the swordsman.
Boom! Boom!
Just as expected, the swordsman dodged them with ease—and charged straight at Ellen.
Grease.
The swordsman’s body lurched for a moment. He recovered his balance almost at once and thrust his sword forward.
Clang!
A stone pillar shot up between the blade and Ellen.
Steel met stone.
“Hah… hah!”
Having poured out so much mana at once, Ellen felt the first symptoms of mana exhaustion hit him hard.
It’s over.
Reading Ellen’s condition, the swordsman flashed to his side and drove the sword toward his ribs.
A Magic Assistant in full mana exhaustion couldn’t move. That was a given.
Just before the blade touched Ellen’s side, light flared from the bracelet on his left arm.
A Fireball bloomed into existence right in front of the swordsman’s face.
Whoosh!
There was no way to dodge a spell that formed inches from your eyes. The swordsman had walked straight into the inferno of his own free will. His body went up in flames.
His mana should have been completely gone…
That was his final thought.