Ep.1 - Escape (2)
Ep.1 - Escape (2)
"Everyone stop! J-just stop for now!"
The thoroughly flustered Neva hurriedly pulled her soldiers' crossbows back.
There stood the man, face flushed red and coughing, and Philmark, slowly walking out with an arm wrapped around his neck!
"All you little shitheads back off too! Or else... you know what happens, right?"
"Kehuk, keuhup... keok..."
Philmark glared daggers at the knights with eyes full of venom. The sight was so saturated with killing intent that even the battle-hardened knights flinched.
'(J-just bear with it a little longer... okay? I'm sorry for hurting you... it pains me too, but there's no other way if we're going to escape together...!)'
"Ahgeuk... eok..."
She whispered the words secretly into my ear.
But fuck...!
What the hell is a sorry supposed to do when you're strangling me with a forearm like a block of concrete...!
"You utterly depraved bastard...! Laying your hands on an innocent citizen! Are you even human after pulling this shit!?"
Neva poured out all the fury that had boiled up inside her, threatening Philmark without reservation.
"Get that hand off him right now! You cowardly thief bastard, I swear I'll kill you and personally send you to hell...!"
But Philmark and her bandits paid no mind to Neva's rage, pressing their daggers against me and threatening the knights.
"I said get back! Go ahead and kill him if you want! Fine, let's start by stabbing this thigh first!"
A single dagger rose high above my head!
"Ah, no! Stop!"
"Chief...!"
"Damn it... everyone fall back. Quickly!"
Only then did Neva order her subordinates to withdraw.
The subordinates ground their teeth, glaring murderously at the bandits, but they followed Knight Commander Neva's words and slowly backed away.
And with each step the knights retreated, the bandit troop crept forward.
"You there! Move aside! If you don't get out of the way right now, I'll put a nice scar on this bastard's face!"
"B-back... fall back! Everyone back!"
The bandit bitches, barely escaping capture, were using cowardly tricks to carve out an escape route...
The knights fell back, glaring at the bandits with fierce expressions as if they intended to kill...!
"Hyueok... forget it all... just let me... wash up with some water please..."
Completely separate from my maddening pain, the taut standoff continued all the way to the stream,
"Run!"
And right there, just as they had planned, the bandits split into groups, scattering in six directions and bolting in an instant.
"Don't lose them! Chase them to the end!"
The knights, too, clung desperately to the chase, gripping their swords tight, single-mindedly determined never to let them go,
And not to be outdone, the bandits also ran like mad to shake off the knights.
"You, you're too fast! Crazy!"
With the other Bandit Women nowhere in sight, I was being dragged along, slung over the shoulder of the bandit chief Philmark.
I was absolutely certain that even a Ferrari with the pedal floored couldn't match this kind of speed!
"Uwaaaaahhk!"
She was dashing forward, boasting a terrifying speed that had long since surpassed human limits!
A tremendous wind scraped at my body, and the constantly shifting scenery induced motion sickness.
"Uweop... weop..."
Thanks to the sharp wind, I was finally freed from the torment of the Hwamacho, but now nausea from motion sickness surged up to torment me.
"Philmark-ahhh!"
Even worse, the knight commander's terrifying face was getting closer and closer as she chased from behind...!
"Hneuuuuuuup!"
Her sword began to glow blue.
Tadat-
Noticing that light, Philmark immediately kicked off the ground and soared into the air.
'What the hell is this...! What is this...!'
My head spun at the sensation of hanging onto the side of a jet plane with no seatbelt.
Having been launched up above the enormous trees that looked a hundred years old,
For a truly fleeting moment, I felt what it was like to fly through the sky.
Those bastards like Superman or Batman in the movies must have something wrong with their brains that stops them from feeling speed or height properly.
They're sick. I'm sure of it.
They were all mentally ill bastards.
Swoooooosh-
Past my spinning head, Neva's Sword Aura whizzed by, barely missing.
"Sh, shiiit..."
The fact that she could shoot Sword Aura was absurd enough,
But the most absurd thing of all was that I was caught up in this insane fight.
And on top of that, they were flying through the air, brawling like mad. You'd have to be insane to do that.
Thud-
Back on the ground.
Without even a moment's pause, Philmark ran, kicking fiercely off the earth with her sturdy legs.
And of course, the knight commander also chased after her desperately.
"S-sorry! It wasn't aimed at you!"
Seeing her apologizing to me even in the middle of all this, she didn't seem like a bad person,
But the nausea was welling up...
"Uweok... uweek..."
"J-just a moment!"
At last, stomach acid rose up and spilled out.
The overly violent movements were more than my inner ear could handle, and this mess was the result.
Tik-
"Ah...!?"
Startled by my sudden vomiting, the knight commander hurriedly tried to swerve but missed her step and went tumbling head over heels,
And Philmark, not missing that split-second opening, sped up even more and widened the distance.
"Nice one, Delin!"
Shiiit...
What do you mean nice one...
————————————————————
"Hoo... we've bought some time at least. They'll probably keep following, but now that we've put this much distance between us, they won't find us easily. Let's rest here for a bit."
Finally released from Philmark's shoulder, I crumpled onto the ground, my trembling, shaky legs unable to support me.
It couldn't be helped after being exposed to that terrifying speed for so long. Truly.
"...Sorry about earlier. I had no choice."
Crazy...
While my brain was being jolted back and forth, Philmark held me tight and stroked my hair.
"Th-that's enough..."
"It's okay. I'll protect you. You don't need to be scared."
Protect me?
No, I'm sorry, but!
The scary part is you...!
Though I might have caught a bit of feelings,
There's no need to protect me to the end, so if you could just slowly let me go now...
"Just stay next to me. Don't worry about that crazy bitch. I'll win. Once I drop you off somewhere safe first..."
Her eyes sharpened again.
She was probably imagining a showdown with that knight in her head.
But more than that frightening glare, what felt even more terrifying was her talk of dropping me off somewhere safe.
Still, since we were outside for now...
"Save..."
[Save point set!]
"Huh? What did you say? Save?"
"Ah... no. Just..."
"...What. You don't mean you're unhappy with this, do you?"
"Huh?"
Her sharp gaze suddenly skewered me.
"I asked if you're unhappy with this."
Under that terrifying sense of pressure, I couldn't say a word and my entire body froze up,
But without seeming to properly notice my state, she grabbed my shoulders tight and pushed her face very close.
"Hey. Delin. You... do you hate me?"
"It's not that...! It's not that I hate you, it's just that all these circumstances are really confusing, so I can't help..."
"Hey."
She glared at me with her one remaining eye. I definitely had two eyes, and she only had one... so why was I the one losing this staring contest...?
"Hey."
"Yes...?"
"Yes, or no. Pick one."
"Ah..."
Fuck...
Asking is fine and all, but when you're fiddling with the dagger at your waist, how exactly am I supposed to say no...?
"W-well..."
"3"
"2"
"1"
"Yes... yes! It's good!"
This is bullshit.
I don't have the Dragon Balls to boldly say no in the face of such blatant threats...!
No, I have to survive first!
"Good. Of course you should think so. Mm... nevermind. No. First, let's shake off the pursuit, then I'll brand you with the slave mark. I can't leave this unsettled. Seeing you hesitate just now really doesn't inspire much trust."
Slave brand?
Huh?
"W-wait! What're you talking about? A slave brand!?"
"What do you mean, what am I talking about. No matter how nicely I treat you, you keep having other thoughts, so I've got no choice. Just think of it as taking out some insurance. And... I'm not planning to torment you with the slave brand, so don't worry. I'll only use it to, say, knock you out if you try to run away."
Fuck! What the hell is this!
"...You can't really cut off both your legs, can you. Right?"
Uh...
Uh...?
"Ah...??"
"Some of the other bandits, if they take a liking to someone, they just rip their limbs off. That way they can't run away and can't resist..."
The feeling sank in that I was truly, utterly fucked. No, absolute certainty.
I had thought she was a crazy bitch from the moment she kidnapped me, but this one crosses the line, solidly, a lunatic among lunatics, a top-grade psycho.
I wanted to believe I'd misheard, but seeing the way she swept her gaze over my arms and legs, it didn't look like a lie.
"Can't be helped. You know how I feel, right?"
"Fuck! Help me! She's a crazy bitch!"
I ran without looking back.
If I stayed by the side of a crazy bitch like that any longer, who knows what kind of gruesome treatment I might suffer next.
Even the time I was being gang-raped by the group might be considered preferable by comparison...
"Help me! Help me! Please, somebody help me!"
Back in the original world, stepping on asphalt barefoot hurt like hell, but now, with my feet being cut by sharp stones and rough grass, I couldn't even afford to pay attention to that kind of pain.
"Help me! K-knight! Knight! Knight Neva! This way! Help me! The bandit bastard is over h..."
However, we all already know.
For Philmark, who just moments ago was running faster than most cars,
Chasing down the footsteps of a single man would be...
"...I guess I'll have to cut off the legs. You betraying bastard. I'll leave the arms. So we can hug each other."