Chapter 43: The Duel 4
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 43: The Duel 4
Loki didn't so much as flinch as he watched Rophri charge toward him, eyes burning with murderous intent.
Once he confirmed the fog had completely veiled them from the outside world, Loki lunged forward. He moved with a speed that far eclipsed his opponent’s.
"Huh?"
Rophri, who had been charging with his gaze locked solely on his target, suddenly found his vision plunged into darkness by Loki’s palm.
Since when—?!
Before Rophri’s brain could even process the gap in distance, Loki seized him by the face and slammed him into the dirt.
"Aaaagh!! I'll kill you!! I'll kill you!!"
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Loki grabbed the screaming noble by the hair and hammered his head into the ground several more times.
"Fuck, this piece of shit has been running his mouth about killing me for a while now. It’s starting to get on my nerves. Especially since you don't even have the balls to do it."
Rophri froze, momentarily stunned by the chilling shift in Loki’s voice and manner of speech. But soon, a twisted laugh bubbled up from his throat.
"Ahahaha! So you were acting this whole time? This is your true self, isn't it?!"
"So what if it is?"
Loki pulled a dagger from his Pocket Dimension and drove it into the laughing man’s thigh.
Actually, "hammered" was a far more fitting description than "stabbed."
"Aaaaaagh!!!"
Rophri’s laughter died instantly, replaced by a blood-curdling shriek as the blade sank deep into his flesh.
"Hey, don't you have any other screams in you? That one's getting repetitive."
Loki wrenched the dagger out and hammered it back into the same thigh.
"Gaaaaaaagh!!!!!!"
"Hmm? I asked if you had any other screams. When someone asks you a question, you should answer instead of just howling."
Loki tilted his head, his expression cold. "It makes things rather awkward for the person asking, don't you think?"
He repeated the motion—pulling the blade out, driving it back in.
Squelch.
Every time the steel was ripped free, blood geysered from Rophri’s thigh like a macabre fountain.
"P-please... stop..."
Rophri pleaded in a pathetic, groveling whimper.
The anger and murderous intent had long since evaporated. After the relentless, systematic agony, the only thing left in his mind was the primal, desperate instinct to survive.
"Hmm, what should I do?"
Loki twirled the blood-slicked dagger, feigning deep contemplation.
Unaware that Loki was merely playing with his food, Rophri waited with bated breath, hanging on the madman's every word.
"Ah! I have a great idea."
Loki pulled ten more daggers from his Pocket Dimension.
Rophri flinched, his entire body convulsing with tremors at the sight of the shimmering blades.
"Hey, I’m going to stab you ten times with these. If you can manage not to scream even once, I'll stop. Got it?"
"W-what kind of madness..."
Ignoring the terror-stricken gaze fixed upon him, Loki continued.
"I'll even count for you. First—one!"
Stab!
"Ggggh...!"
Rophri gritted his teeth, his face contorting as he endured the strike.
"Oh? You're holding out better than I thought. Then two, three, and four."
This time, Loki drove three daggers into Rophri’s thigh simultaneously.
"Gggghhhhh!!!!"
.
.
.
.
"Nine."
"Gggghhh..."
Loki looked down at Rophri. The man was a wreck, barely suppressing his screams as he clung to the pathetic hope that he might actually be allowed to live.
[There was no one there. So, you don't have to go there.]
Johanna died because of that one goddamn lie.
If this bastard hadn't opened his mouth to deceive her, Johanna wouldn't have died.
At the time, the player character hadn't been at the Academy, so there was nothing that could have been done to change the outcome.
Loki had played Croaka for ten years, exhausting every possible variable to save Johanna, but he had never succeeded. Not once.
"Only one left."
Clinging to the hope of survival, Rophri tensed his thigh muscles with everything he had left.
Loki, who had seen through the man's desperation long ago, drove the final dagger into Rophri’s stomach instead of his leg.
"AAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!"
The sudden, agonizing intrusion into his abdomen was too much. Rophri’s resolve shattered, and a raw scream tore from his throat.
"What a shame. You failed at the very last hurdle."
"You son of a bitch!! I'll kill you!!! I'll use every ounce of the Kingdom's power to make sure you die in agony!!"
"Ugh, stop screeching. Shut the hell up."
Loki brought his boot down hard on Rophri’s face.
Crack!
"Aaaaagh!!!"
He didn't stop. He stomped again.
Crack!
"Aaaaagh!!!"
"What? You'll use the Kingdom's power to kill me?"
Crack!
"Aaaaagh!!!"
"Go ahead and try. I'm actually pretty confident, you know? Taking on an entire kingdom."
Crack!
Stomping on a person's body was one thing, but crushing their face was entirely different.
Most people could bring themselves to trample a torso, but they hesitated when it came to the head. The tactile sensation felt through the sole of the foot was different; the face felt far more "human."
But Loki didn't hesitate for a single second.
He crushed Rophri’s face mercilessly, as if he were treading on a piece of filth in the gutter.
Johanna died because of a vermin like you.
Johanna, who risked her life to protect people, died because of a single, pathetic lie you told.
Eventually, Rophri lost even the strength to scream.
"Finally, some peace and quiet."
Loki stopped his assault and looked down at the unconscious noble.
Rophri was a total ruin.
He had already been in bad shape from the traps before the fog rolled in, but back then, his face had been relatively intact. Now, several of his teeth were gone, his nose was a shattered mess, and his features were unrecognizable under a mask of gore.
It would certainly be a hassle if he were seen leaving the arena in this state.
Of course, since the last thing the audience saw was the "Vermin" charging at him, it wouldn't be a catastrophic problem, but there would definitely be those who would try to use this brutality against him.
"Hey, wake up."
Loki nudged Rophri with his toe.
Rophri remained limp, showing no reaction.
"You're not dead yet. Get up."
Loki pulled a water-spouting frog from his Pocket Dimension. The creature spat a high-pressure jet of water directly onto Rophri’s mangled face.
"Pffft! Cough, cough!"
Rophri sputtered back to consciousness, gasping as the water drenched him.
"Hey, open your mouth."
Loki produced a bottle filled with a viscous black liquid.
Sensing something ominous, Rophri tried to clamp his jaw shut.
"You're not going to open it?"
When Loki pulled out a fresh dagger, Rophri began to tremble violently and forced his mouth open.
Loki poured the black liquid down the man's throat.
The concoction was a potion Loki had brewed himself. It accelerated healing far beyond the capabilities of ordinary tonics, but it came with one catastrophic drawback.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!"
The recovery process forced the body to experience pain several times more intense than the original injury.
"Hey, you're being too loud. Shut the hell up."
"Aaaaagh!!"
When Rophri continued to wail, Loki lost his patience and stabbed him again with a dagger.
"Ah, my mistake. Hey, sorry, but you'll have to take one more."
"Uuughhh..."
Loki pulled out another vial of the black potion. Rophri thrashed his head from side to side, resisting with every fiber of his being.
Slap!
Loki seized Rophri’s head to hold it still and delivered a sharp, stinging backhand across his bloody face.
"Don't be picky with your medicine, you brat. Just swallow it."
Loki forced the second dose down Rophri’s throat.
"AAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!"
"Shit, I really don't have much time left."
By now, the people outside would be getting desperate to force their way in.
"I'll do just one last thing."
This was one of the techniques Duke Adelian had explicitly warned him never to use. He had said it could turn the target into a vegetable.
But Loki didn't give a damn whether this bastard spent the rest of his life as a vegetable or not.
"Hey, look closely and feel this. And don't you ever show your face in front of me again."
Joden or the Emperor would probably handle the cleanup anyway.
.
.
.
.
While Loki was having a "pleasant" time with Rophri inside the fog...
Those outside were struggling to breach the perimeter.
Professor Gedra tried to slash through the mist, but the fog simply knitted itself back together instantly, defying physical interference.
Joden sat in the spectator stands, watching the swirling gray mass with a grim expression.
Is he really planning to use 'that'?
Joden looked at the fastest member of the Student Council standing nearby.
"Go and bring the highest-ranking priest currently at the Academy. Right now."
"Yes, sir."
The student didn't stop to question the urgency in the President's voice and bolted immediately.
"I'll give you all a piece of advice," Joden said, his voice low as he addressed the remaining Student Council members. "Never become Loki's enemy. As long as you don't do anything stupid to provoke him, you'll be fine."
It was a sincere, chilling warning.
"Um, President... do you know what's happening inside?" one of the students asked, unable to contain their curiosity.
"I've never experienced it myself, but I have seen it. What kind of emotion do you think I felt when I saw it?"
The students couldn't imagine what could possibly shake the always-composed Joden. They waited, breathless, for him to continue.
"Fear. At that moment, I felt pure, unadulterated terror."
Joden recalled the memory.
Anyone who saw it would feel the same. Whether they were far stronger or weaker than Loki, it wouldn't matter. The man was simply... different.
"Oh? The fog is lifting."
Just as the student pointed out, the mist was beginning to dissipate.
Everyone stared intently at the arena as the air cleared.
As the fog vanished, they saw Rophri collapsed on the ground, his entire body trembling violently. Loki, meanwhile, stood over him, looking perfectly fine—not a hair out of place.
"What on earth happened?"
"How should I know?"
Loki approached the shivering, broken man.
"Oh dear, it seems you've fallen. Here, let me help you up."
"Eek! D-don't come near me! P-please, spare me! Spare me!"
As Loki reached out, Rophri began to crawl away in the opposite direction, scrambling like a terrified animal. His face was a pathetic mask of tears, snot, and sheer horror.
The crowd was left speechless by the shocking sight.
Rophri, who had been desperately trying to escape Loki’s shadow, suddenly suffered a violent, full-body tremor and fainted dead away.