The Porter of the Hero's Party Should Be Beaten Up, Right? (3)
A sharp thwack rang out as something sprayed crimson blood and flew past my eyes. It was Angela’s severed left hand. She realized it a beat too late.
“Huh?”
The vivid pain finally hit her. In the thick fog of confusion caused by the sudden reversal, Angela understood that something had gone horribly wrong. Reflexively, she raised her remaining arm to counterattack.
But—
“Guhhhk…!”
Another fountain of blood erupted from her throat. Her breath cut off instantly, and all strength drained from her body. Her vision blurred and warped. At the end of it stood the person who had just pulled a blood-dripping sword free… Rosette.
Her gaze was ice-cold, completely different from moments before. She pointed the tip of her blade at Angela’s severed wrist and spoke in a voice utterly devoid of emotion.
“!!”
Just as she said, Angela’s wrist was slowly but surely regenerating. There was only one thing this super-regenerative ability—something no ordinary human could possess—could mean.
“Half-Vampire. That’s what you really are, isn’t it, Angela?”
“Kuh… heh… heh…”
Angela tried to answer Rosette’s words, but only more blood gushed from her slashed throat instead of speech.
Half-Vampire. A hybrid of human and vampire. While their overall abilities were inferior to pure vampires, they had one clear advantage: under the sun—the vampires’ greatest weakness—they only grew weaker instead of burning to ash. Thanks to that, they could easily hide among human society. But now that her identity was exposed, those same racial traits became more of a liability than an asset.
A wound that would be fatal to a human could be healed instantly by a full-blooded vampire. For a half-breed like her, however, recovery would take time.
Rosette slowly reached out toward Angela, who was clutching her throat and collapsing to her knees, and gently stroked her hair.
The touch was almost affectionate, like a master petting a dog. In her fading consciousness, that warmth felt like a whisper tugging at her heart… like a sweet temptation telling her it was okay to stay like this.
But—
“Khup!”
“!”
Her throat had recovered just enough. With a single gulp of oxygen, Angela summoned every ounce of strength she had left and swung the hand that had been clutching her neck.
“Tch.”
Blood sprayed out like a blade, and a writhing shadow squirmed within it. Rosette clicked her tongue at the best surprise attack Angela could manage right now and leaped back to create distance.
Using that fleeting gap, Angela hurled herself off the terrace.
“Guh… haaahk…”
Blood still poured from her throat. Yet as she sprinted through the bushes, a thread of relief began to bloom in her heart.
At that very moment, the sun had set.
The short opening I’d left allowed Angela to slip right past me and escape. I watched her vanish beyond the bushes and let out a small sigh.
“I expected as much… but she really wasn’t going to make this easy, huh.”
For a brief second, Angela had looked shaken by my offer. It must have been tempting enough for her. If she’d had just a little more resolve, she probably would have taken my hand. But she didn’t.
Whether it was loyalty to her master, fear of future retaliation, or simply because she still couldn’t fully trust me, I didn’t know. In the end, she rejected my sincere proposal.
And if that was how things were going to be, there was only one thing left for me to do.
—Whoosh!
Without hesitation, I leaped from the terrace and landed lightly on the ground. It was roughly a ten-meter drop. In my previous life, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of it, but the current me was on an entirely different level in pure combat ability.
The person who had just fled from me—Angela—was, despite being nothing more than a porter, actually the second-strongest fighter in the hero’s party. In the original story, she held the position of a mid-boss. Even if her combat power was still a bit lacking compared to that time, she was still a being no ordinary human could possibly face.
Especially now that the sun had just set.
Yet the me who stood here—Rosette—didn’t entertain the slightest thought of defeat.
—Fwoooosh.
I began channeling mana into both legs. The sensation was so familiar it was almost second nature. My leg muscles contracted to an extreme degree while being reinforced at the same time. Compressing power that no normal human could produce into a single point, my gaze locked onto the ‘prey’ staggering away in the distance.
And then—
—BOOM!!
With an explosive sound, my body shot forward like a bullet. The distance closed in an instant. Angela glanced back with a face twisted in shock. My sword, wrapped in aura, streaked toward her slender legs. It carried enough force to slice them clean off.
At that moment—
—Clang!
“Hm?”
Something blocked my blade. I naturally frowned. A being that had suddenly sprung out and stopped my aura-coated sword with its claws. I recognized it immediately.
A Shadow Demon. A familiar that lived inside a vampire’s shadow. It could only move after sunset, but among the familiars considered half-powered, it possessed considerable strength. Strong enough to block my aura-covered sword without difficulty.
—Clang!
With a sharp ring, the shadow demon retreated. Right after, Angela—whose wounds had nearly finished healing—began radiating dark crimson mana across her entire body. She thrust her hand into the shadow that had formed in midair and pulled out a jet-black dagger that looked like a slice of the night sky itself.
It was the weapon Angela had used in the original story—the very one she’d driven into the protagonist’s skull to signal the start of her betrayal.
The moment she drew it, Angela spoke to me in a voice thick with clear hostility.
“…Ugh.”
Hearing that embarrassing nickname thrown out so casually put me in a strange mood, but Angela, unaware of my inner turmoil, continued with a cold smile.
She was right. Even though I had mastered basic mana manipulation and even awakened aura—the hallmark of a superior knight—I was still someone who would eventually join the hero’s party. In terms of pure combat power right now, I ranked among the top ten students at the Academy. Setting aside my trash personality and the notoriety that came with it, I was satisfied with that much. However, Angela, who was likely the strongest member of the current hero’s party, would not be easy to defeat at night through ordinary means.
Even so, at this moment—
“…Pardon?”
I wasn’t thinking about defeat at all.
Angela, who had been gloating, now looked slightly startled. I stared at her puzzled face, intensified the aura wrapped around my blade, and spoke.
“!...”
Angela stared at me with a blank expression for a moment. Then, shortly after—
“Ha… haha… ahahaha!”
A pure, almost innocent laugh spilled from her lips.
“Regrettably, I must decline.”
With those words, her blood-red eyes flashed. Angela and her familiar charged at me simultaneously.
Right after—
“…”
Angela suddenly vanished into the darkness. Instead, the shadow demon that had charged with her swung its claws at me. The only visible attack was that one.
But—
—Whoosh!
The ability to hide within shadows. Combined with the physical prowess of a half-vampire that surpassed humans. Using both, Angela closed the distance in an instant. The moment the shadow demon attacked from the front, she appeared behind me and swung her dagger.
However—
“Eh?”
Her dagger sliced through empty air. I had evaded both the frontal and rear attacks with perfect timing. Angela’s face was instantly seized by bewilderment at the unexpected turn. Into that opening, my strike drove home.
“Guhhhk!!!”
My kick slammed squarely into her abdomen, sending Angela tumbling across the ground. At the same time, the familiar instinctively returned to stand in front of her to protect its master.
“H-How…?”
Even through the pain, Angela’s face was filled with confusion. I answered her in a calm voice.
“B-But still… you don’t have eyes in the back of your head. How could you react to my attack so precisely…?”
“…”
Despite my words, Angela still wore an expression that said she couldn’t accept it. Even if she knew an ambush was coming, how could I possibly deal with coordinated attacks from front and back so accurately when my vision was partially blocked by darkness?
In truth, I had only told her about half the truth. Not only the frontal assault but the rear one as well had been completely visible to me. And not through mere prediction—through technique.
Right now, a thin hemispherical layer of mana was spread out in a roughly four-meter radius around my body. It was invisible to the naked eye and so faint that most people wouldn’t even sense it. Yet every single movement within that Mana Detection Field felt as clear to me as if it were touching my skin.
This method of mana manipulation wasn’t found in any textbook, nor was it known even to the Empire’s high-ranking knights who lived and breathed combat. I was already extremely proficient at handling mana. On top of that, I could easily come up with ways to use it that people of this world would never think of—based on the various ‘modern knowledge’ I possessed.
The main sources of that knowledge were, of course, games and manga.
The technique I was using right now was also based on knowledge I’d gained in my previous life. It was an application of a concept from a certain manga I had enjoyed but ultimately dropped because the author kept taking endless hiatuses. The idea was to spread your aura—no, your mana—in a wide circle around your body to maximize your perception of the surroundings.
I never imagined I’d be able to use a setting that only existed inside a manga in real combat… Anyway, for the first time, I felt genuine gratitude toward that Tomo guy whose constant breaks had made me curse him countless times.
While looking at Angela, whose stance had been thoroughly disrupted by our earlier exchange, I began concentrating the mana flowing through my body into specific muscles.
This was one of the techniques used by the protagonist of another manga I used to enjoy but never got to see the ending of. The one with the Indian currency on the cover. Mana-reinforced muscles contracted to an impossible degree, storing power like a steel spring.
The targets were both legs—just like before—and my right arm, which wasn’t holding the sword.
—Crack!
With a sensation like something exploding, my body shot forward in an instant. The strike I had practiced countless times since arriving in this world closed the distance between me and Angela in a single breath.
“!”
Following the first move earlier, my speed once again far exceeded her expectations. Angela’s face was once again seized by shock.
At that moment—
—Crack!!!
With a sickening crunch, the head of the shadow demon that had been blocking Angela’s front was brutally smashed apart. Shards flew and fragments scattered. The creature now looked like a statue that had been kicked by a steel hammer. Angela’s face filled with horror at the sight.
But it was still a little early for her to be surprised.
Because the next instant, my accelerated right fist was already right in front of her face.
“Ah?”
—Bam!