Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Intrusion, Clash, Shock
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Chapter 22
8
Intrusion, collision, and naturally following that is shock.
The heavy impact that vibrated the air caused the dust piled up in every corner of the warehouse to stir.
Dust rose up everywhere in an instant, filling the entire field of vision.
“Ugh….”
Reflexively, I raised my arm to cover my nose and mouth.
Even squinting my eyes, I couldn’t see anything through the dust.
That damn Luena—did she never properly maintain this warehouse? The dust is way too thick.
Did I get her?
Suppressing the urge to blurt that out, I stepped forward into the dust to check for myself.
“Don’t come any closer…!”
At that moment, Leon shouted.
Driven by instinctive unease, I drew Deathwise.
It’s still bright outside.
Deathwise’s surface remained pitch black.
Even so, I couldn’t suppress the anxiety without gripping the hilt.
The dust gradually cleared.
The scene beyond it easily betrayed my expectations.
Leon was floating in the air.
His face twisted in agony, dangling limply with his throat gripped by Luena.
Ethan was pinned beneath Luena’s foot.
“Aiming for the moment I transform? Isn’t that cowardly? I’d have been in big trouble if I’d let my guard down.”
“…Isn’t it proper manners to just take it quietly if you attack during a transformation?”
“If we’re splitting hairs, it’s manners to wait during a transformation. Well, still, that was pretty sharp.”
Blood dripped from Luena’s smiling lips.
She wasn’t completely unscathed, but it was a total failure.
Even targeting the transformation gap for a surprise attack, she handled it effortlessly.
“It’s my first time getting attacked mid-transformation. Maybe I should prepare more solid countermeasures next time?”
“Before talking about next time, why don’t you let go of him first?”
“This?”
Luena shook the hand gripping Leon’s throat.
Seeing that, I closed the distance to Luena while holding my breath.
I had no certainty I could do it.
The thought that I had to was enough.
My exceptional physical body moved even more smoothly than I’d imagined.
Fatigue had built up, and the wound on my side hadn’t healed yet, but still, I swung the sword as if controlling a game character, just as I intended.
As if waiting for me, Luena thrust out her empty hand.
A straight punch—if it hit, my bones would shatter easily.
But the motion to throw the punch was already clear in my eyes.
If I saw it, I could dodge somehow.
Tilting my body to the side, I barely evaded Luena’s fist.
Passing by, I lightly slashed her side.
“To think you’d dodge head-on! This is fun!”
Thud. Luena released Leon’s throat.
The now-freed fist targeted me again.
Dodging by a paper-thin margin once more, I barely slashed Luena’s thigh.
Her leg weakened slightly, causing Luena to step back.
“Urk…….”
With that, I’d rescued Ethan too.
The breath I’d held rushed out at once.
My heart pounded wildly, and the racing blood heated me up.
My side wound burned.
Was the bleeding worse because of the blood surging?
Either way, I knew adrenaline was surging madly from the sudden excitement and tension.
“You two okay?”
“Just a bit stinging, otherwise fine.”
“No problem.”
Ethan and Leon shook off the dirt and stood.
Only then did some of the tension ease.
“Charging in to save your friends? Pretty romantic.”
I ignored Luena’s words.
Now that things had come to this, there was only one thing to do.
“Let’s go with the sub-plan.”
“Phew, got it!”
The sub-plan we’d prepared for a time like this.
To execute it, Ethan sheathed his sword and gripped the kite shield with both hands.
9
Clang, claaang, clang.
Sounds like hammering metal flat echoed through the warehouse.
Ethan Mertezacker gripped the shield even tighter with both hands before the noise even reached him.
Any lapse in concentration, and he’d lose his grip on it.
His hands had been numb for a while now.
It was a miracle he was still holding the shield at all.
Luena, in her demonic form, didn’t stop her attacks.
Even with Ethan tanking and Leon occasionally striking, she wasn’t pushed back at all.
Of course not—they’d ambushed during her transformation and still hadn’t landed a proper scratch.
An opponent deflecting swords with bare skin, without any armor, was no longer human.
Well, people didn’t grow horns from their heads or wings from their backs, so it was a stretch to call her human from the start.
‘Still, she’s too much…!’
Defense was all he could manage.
Attacking was pointless.
Honestly, they had no momentum for victory.
Fleeing right now might be the more realistic choice.
Ethan consciously crushed the faint urge to peek back.
‘Back then, I thought it was impossible too.’
A recent memory surfaced.
Deep in the slums, the altar hidden behind the cocktail bar.
When he witnessed the skeleton emerging amid sinister magic, Ethan had thought:
‘Ah, no way. I can’t beat this.’
Win or lose aside, there was nothing he could do.
He wanted to turn and run right then, but held back because a child was right in front of him.
Of course, he knew best that throwing himself in wouldn’t solve anything.
Still, fleeing there was something he couldn’t forgive himself for.
That’s why Ethan had yelled at Theo to take the kids and run.
As if denying that, Theo casually dispatched the black mage Anirzer.
Ethan remembered that moment vividly.
Theo Agrit stepping forward when everyone wanted to retreat, unleashing brilliant light.
That’s why he didn’t back down now.
Even if his arms wouldn’t move, he forced his will to burn and endured.
“Grk…!”
But the limits of mental fortitude were clear.
From a powerful blow, Ethan was finally pushed back.
Dragging his heels, his knees buckled as he was forced backward.
Punching his cramping thigh from fatigue, Ethan stood again.
Watching him charge once more, Luena clicked her tongue.
“Weakling, but you’ve got grit?”
“That’s why I have to show some grit!”
He’d never been strong, not once.
He’d always been weak.
But since there was a way to fight even as a weakling, Ethan blocked Luena’s path.
Another impact struck the shield.
Ethan barely held.
No matter how many times his knees buckled or the sensation left his arms, he never retreated.
Like hammering and flattening metal, time dragged on.
Just as Ethan’s body, reaching its limit as a living being, began to falter.
Clang!
For some reason, the fist slamming the shield felt lighter than before.
Bewildered by the inexplicable sensation, Ethan blanked out for a moment.
His limbs felt like they’d snap any second.
Yet, with a strange sense of dissonance, they moved properly.
‘Like something possessed me….’
A sensation he’d never felt before.
A soft yet warm energy, like spring sunlight, spread through his body.
Raising the shield higher, Ethan swung it wide the moment he was attacked.
Caught off-guard by the counter, Luena staggered back a step.
Leon didn’t miss the opening and swung his sword.
Sword and shield complementing each other’s weaknesses, Luena could only retreat step by step.
“Raaagh!!”
Roaring, Ethan squeezed out his last strength and swung the shield wide.
Luena was fully pushed back.
Ethan tried to create distance immediately, but this time his knees gave out.
“Ah, ugh….”
That last strike had burned everything; the possessed power was gone.
Overwhelming fatigue blurred his vision.
As Ethan struggled to hold on, Theo gently patted his shoulder.
“Good work.”
Theo stepped forward, sword in hand.
His back, so much smaller than Ethan’s own, now felt enormous.
Toward that back, Ethan spat out his words.
“The plan… worked… so, the rest… is yours…….”
His fading consciousness cut off.
Ethan collapsed in a heap.
But a faint smile lingered on his lips.
10
Before facing Luena, we’d planned two strategies.
One was to ambush during her transformation and win quickly.
The other was, if the ambush failed, to buy time until I stepped in.
The first plan failed.
Ethan had somehow executed the unavoidable second plan.
And the result was now.
The sky visible through the broken window was dark.
In response, red patterns emerged on the demon sword’s surface.
With the demon sword’s specs, dealing with Luena would be easy.
No need to get excited.
Just… my mood was pretty foul.
Why?
Thinking calmly, the answer came easily.
In short, I was pissed.
Ever since charging at Luena and getting riled up, irritation had built up and finally ignited.
A plan failing wasn’t reason to get mad.
We’d anticipated failure and prepared the sub-plan.
The sub-plan even succeeded perfectly—where’s the reason to be angry?
Just… looking at Ethan collapsed behind me made my irritation boil over.
Even Leon, still standing, wasn’t in great shape.
No visible wounds, but both looked ready to drop from exhaustion and tension.
Of course, Leon and Ethan—and everyone I’d met in this world—were different from the NPCs I’d watched through a monitor.
I’d understood that intellectually, but now it hit home vividly.
So I knew variables like this incident were unavoidable.
Most wouldn’t involve me, and whether variable or not, I’d have to intervene if needed anyway.
But seeing the two who’d spent the most time with me in this state wasn’t pleasant.
No matter how I dressed it up as unavoidable, my mood stayed rotten.
Moreover, they’d pushed their bodies this hard because I’d asked them to.
Thinking they’d have gotten involved and ended up the same even without my request… that’s just optimistic evasion of responsibility.
Fundamentally, I was the one who dragged them into this incident.
Thus, I was pretty damn mad at myself.
“…No. The bad one isn’t me—it’s that bastard.”
It all boils down to Luena and Jeyest not committing their evils.
Sharpening my glare at her while clearly delineating blame, Luena smirked.
“Scary face. Stepping up when your friends are in crisis is your shtick?”
“You guys talk way too much.”
No intention of conversing.
I leveled Deathwise sideways.
Thanks to the buff, one step forward dove me into Luena’s guard.
Shing….
Deathwise sang.
At the same time, a deep gash appeared on Luena’s upper body.
Uncomprehending, she spat blood and slumped down.
A half-demon’s regeneration was top-notch; this wouldn’t kill her.
In half a day, even that wound would heal without a trace.
Conversely, anything less wouldn’t subdue her.
The handfeel transmitted through the sword felt unpleasant, but suppressing it, I picked up the relic that had fallen beside Luena.
To think all this happened over a mere dagger like this.
Feeling complicated… I turned and supported Ethan.
“Let’s head back.”
Ethan said nothing.
Instead, with his trembling hand, he firmly raised a thumbs-up.