Chapter 53
Chapter 53
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Clash with the Assassin
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The distance between the assassin and Rachel narrowed.
The assassin inwardly looked down on Rachel.
The man he had been most wary of had fled with the child, and now some girl wielding a dagger was blocking his path.
The girl's short golden hair fluttered in the breeze. Seeing the rare, vibrant golden locks, the assassin recalled her identity.
She was the target he had to kidnap after completing this commission.
The item retriever had already slipped away first, so the kidnapping duty fell to him now that he had spotted her.
“This is getting troublesome.”
Originally, he could have simply killed the child and left Shios territory. But now that he had seen Rachel, he needed to capture her alive before escaping.
With holy knights liable to swarm at any moment, the assassin grew urgent.
Believing he could subdue a mere girl in one blow, he swung his right arm.
However, Rachel did not collapse under the attack.
Clang!
Instead, she blocked it.
Before the assassin's strike could land, Rachel closely observed the enemy's body.
‘All living beings in this world are imbued with mana.’
Though humans could no longer wield mana, everything in this world was infused with it.
Thus, if one could read mana, they could anticipate the movements of any living creature.
‘I can roughly see where he’ll move.’
If nothing else, she trusted her dynamic vision.
Spotting the red glow on the assassin’s right arm, Rachel lifted her left hand gripping the swordbreaker.
The sheathed dagger clanged against the swordbreaker.
“Coincidence?”
The assassin muttered under his breath.
‘No way. Besides, the sheath was too thick to catch in the groove.’
A swordbreaker was a tool designed to snap swords, as its name implied.
It resembled a dagger overall, but instead of a blade, it featured a groove where an enemy’s sword could catch, allowing it to be broken with applied force.
However, since the assassin had swung it sheathed, she failed to snap the dagger and merely knocked off the sheath.
‘Gotta be more careful next time.’
Her focus sharpened. Blocking mattered more than attacking right now.
The red glow on the assassin’s left arm intensified.
Rachel positioned her right-hand dagger forward, crossing her left-hand swordbreaker behind it to support, blocking the second strike.
“Not a coincidence, then.”
Only then did the assassin realize Rachel was reading his attacks and countering them.
At the same time, Rachel realized the enemy had no intent to kill her.
‘He aimed for the pommel.’
He meant to subdue her, but not slay her.
‘Maybe I can get more aggressive?’
Rachel’s gaze turned fierce.
For an instant, the assassin shivered. Denying that a child could intimidate him, he attempted a side kick.
But that was the assassin’s mistake.
Unlike Rachel, who was accustomed to clashing with larger foes, the assassin was unused to battling smaller opponents.
Seeing the red energy activate on the assassin’s left leg, Rachel swiftly dropped into a low stance.
His leg whistled past overhead. In sync with the air-slicing whoosh, she slashed his ankle with her dagger.
“Urk!”
Blood sprayed.
Staying low without rising, Rachel shot her leg out from her seated position, tripping the assassin’s right leg.
The man, balanced on one foot, staggered before toppling over and rolling across the ground.
Rachel sprang up at once and bolted in the direction Abyss had fled.
“I won’t let you escape…!”
The assassin rose from the dirt, fueled by grim resolve.
Pushing past his ankle wound to pursue Rachel, Abyss’s voice rang out from afar—he who had fled first.
“Holy knights! Holy knights are coming!”
At that, the assassin wheeled around and fled.
Rachel glanced back mid-stride to check on the assassin, sighing in relief at his retreating figure.
“Phew.”
She closed the gap to Abyss and broke into laughter.
“Haha.”
It had been a bluff. No holy knights had arrived yet.
“You okay? Hurt anywhere?”
“Nope. Dropped my monocle running, though. Hope I can find it.”
Abyss approached Rachel, keeping Agno behind him.
For someone who had dumped the fight on her and run, his concern drew a dry chuckle from Rachel.
“If you were that worried, why not step up yourself?”
“Can’t do that. Heads don’t lead from the front.”
“So I’m the limbs?”
“More or less.”
“You’re seriously infuriating.”
He fretted over her, yet his snide tone never changed.
With tension ebbing, Rachel’s strength drained away. She sank onto the grass.
“Thought I was done for.”
“Didn’t look scared to me.”
“As if. I mustered every scrap of courage I had just to hold my own.”
Agno, moved by Rachel’s words, clenched a fist and murmured.
“Courage…”
“Thanks to your wits, I survived.”
“From a distance, you seemed to have the edge.”
“Not really. Orders must’ve been not to kill me—he never drew a bladed weapon. Plus, he dropped his guard seeing me. If he’d gone for the kill from the start, I’d be dead for sure.”
Lacking true sword talent, her insight was keen regardless. She had watched Evelyn and Enoch spar across countless loops.
“People over there!”
“They’re finally here.”
As the pair talked, white-armored knights on white steeds galloped from the grand temple’s direction.
“Rachel!”
Enoch led the charge, priests trailing the other knights.
Enoch spurred his mount hard, leaping off before it halted and landing before Rachel.
“Are you alright? Saw the signal flare.”
Abyss answered in place of Rachel, who rose with assistance.
“We just shook him. The assassin after the kid bolted into the woods.”
Only then did Enoch seem to notice Agno, turning his gaze to the boy. Agno shuddered under it.
“You two protected the child. My thanks.”
Before Enoch could reply, a voice called from elsewhere. A priest peered out from behind a freshly arrived knight.
“Clero Priest…”
Agno whispered the title.
“Agno, what happened? You vanished so suddenly—I was worried.”
Even aware the child had stirred trouble, Clero Priest soothed him gently.
As Clero dismounted, Agno rushed weeping into his arms.
“I’m sorry! I messed up!”
“We’ll hear details at the temple. Brother Enoch, your plans?”
Enoch glanced repeatedly between Rachel and the facing woods.
Soon, after scanning the knights he had brought—deeming them capable of capturing the intruder—he took position beside Rachel.
“I’ll make use of the Brazier of Purification.”
***
The Brazier of Purification was a grand relic in the temple: a massive brazier from which an eternal holy flame rose.
True to its name, it purged profane energies and amplified divine power—ideal for destroying cursed objects or demonic tokens.
Trailing Enoch down the temple corridor, Rachel questioned his explanation with puzzlement.
“Can’t you purify it with your own power, Enoch?”
Enoch’s divine power was formidable.
Purging impurities was within his solo capability, so she wondered why resort to a relic.
“Ordinary items, yes, but…”
“The Emporus crest’s an exception, huh?”
Abyss cut in on Enoch’s words.
Enoch shot him a displeased look before nodding to Rachel.
“My power fell short of destroying the crest.”
“No surprise there. It’s sustained a contract for near centuries. An object gorged on human lives carries heavy malice.”
Rachel rubbed her brow at news the crest resisted destruction despite discovery.
“So if the brazier fails to erase the lineage, we’re out of options?”
“Yes.”
Though no fault of his, Enoch bowed his head guiltily. Rachel patted his back.
“Why blame yourself, Enoch? I know you’re busting your ass for me. You even convinced the other priests to spare the lineage.”
“Rachel…”
“You’re always my rock, Enoch.”
His golden eyes welled up at her words. Amid their gleaming shine, Rachel fretted he moved to tears too readily.
“For now, best to stick with the original plan…”
Mid-sentence, an odd sensation gripped Rachel.
Not the artifact-induced nausea, but a premonition of impending trouble.
Her sudden halt stilled Enoch and Abyss too.
“Feeling off?”
“What’s up?”
Rachel scanned the corridor. Ahead, two priests shifted a large box—nothing overtly strange.
Catching her fix on them, Enoch murmured an explanation.
“We fetch suspicious finds for probing now and then. Like the Emporus crest.”
Rachel got it then.
True to its grand temple stature, it housed more high priests and relics than lesser parishes.
Hence, cursed goods beyond other districts’ means—or manpower—converged here for handling.
The pair ahead toted one such item.
‘Still feels off, though.’
Enoch’s words aside, unease lingered.
Fearing the oncoming priests might be Paris Emporus’s disguised lackeys, she hugged the wall, watching intently.
Yet they merely nodded greeting to Enoch, who returned it curtly.
‘Guess I’m on edge.’
They passed uneventfully—
“Eek!”
The cry came after they slipped behind the group.
The priests yelped in shock. A rocky crash followed, as if the box had tumbled.
“Danger!”
Enoch shielded Rachel before the shout fully landed.
Rachel whipped around at once.
Shards from some object hung frozen, crammed densely right behind her.
“That was close.”
Abyss prodded a mid-air fragment, muttering.
Shock numbed Rachel to her roiling gut.
The prior barrier’s remnant had triggered now. Absent it, shards would have riddled her body.
“You alright?”
“Sorry. My grip just gave out.”
The priests apologized. Disbelieving her safety despite seeing it, Rachel held her ire.
Enoch promptly unleashed divine power, purging the area. The barrier dissolved; shards clattered down.
“What was that?”
“No idea. Priestess Aris found it in Marquis Sepherd’s household and requested a look.”
At “Sepherd,” Rachel and Abyss traded glances.