One Plus One
Twins.
That word stirred something in my memory.
In my past life, a brother and sister I had clashed with once.
I scrolled through the challenge quest list looking for them. If I was going to fight them again anyway, I might as well go for the coins. They weren't Death God Cult executive-level, but they were named enemies at least. So their names ought to be somewhere on the list.
Defeat the Death God Cult Twin Siblings
Reward: 2,000 Coins
"Figures."
That was all the information the challenge quest displayed. No names, no location, no skills. Nothing.
Even so, I knew most of the Death God Cult's heavy hitters, so even written simply as "twins" rather than by real names, their faces sprang straight to mind. The Stage 1 perk I'd obtained before seemed useful well beyond just unlocking the challenge shop.
The higher the combat power—in other words, the higher the clear difficulty—the more coins a challenge paid out. I'd realized that earlier when I sorted the list by coin amount. Being able to view Death God Cult members by reward order on the challenge list...
"Could I... use this as a combat power gauge?"
It was basically a bestiary, wasn't it? Not only did it tell me how many coins I could earn—I could carefully compare enemy strength as well.
"...Not that they gave me this ability for that."
Anyway. The reward was two thousand coins. Seeing it written as twins, they clearly weren't counting one thousand each. Two thousand for both together. A reward you could only claim by taking them down at the same time.
Well, whatever. I'd fought them two-on-one in my past life too.
Even without information on the challenge list, I had my past-life memories. I had firsthand experience fighting them.
Each twin possessed opposing abilities. The older one, the brother, had a body immune to magic. The younger, the sister, was immune to physical attacks. That was why they were treated as named enemies despite lacking overwhelming combat power. Enemies tagged with the keyword immunity were a pain in any game, weren't they?
Laward could be raised through swordsman, mage, and various other routes, but outside the magic swordsman path, dealing with the twins would always feel awkward. So winning a two-on-two fight alongside a heroine was probably one of the game's events.
In my past life I'd fought both of them alone—but if a woman was present, it became two-on-two. The world is unfair...
And right now I wasn't just dealing with unfairness. I was at a disadvantage. Back when I'd faced them in my past life, I'd already obtained both spirits. If magic didn't work, I used the Iron Spirit; if physical attacks didn't work, I used Light. With the Iron Spirit still with Father, facing the magic-immune older brother wouldn't be easy. And taking a companion along to handle him wasn't practical—I had no idea when the fight would even happen. They didn't issue challenges. They just ambushed from behind and went for the throat, if anything.
"Maybe I should have learned a little swordsmanship after all."
Someone had even offered to teach me. Not just anyone—the Sword Saint himself...
Well, even thinking about it now, I didn't have a brilliant plan. They were troublesome, sure, but honestly I didn't think I'd lose. Near the apocalypse, I'd been fighting not thousand-coin trash but executives. Ten-thousand-coin types. My condition wasn't at that level anymore, but whatever—I'd just fight them.
Come on, then. Come on.
I left the Academy and returned to the lodging I'd used before. A lot of people sent letters to this address, so when I didn't have Houndry business I mostly stayed here. Lately Lucia had been covering for me well enough, too.
"Welcome back, Lord Daywin."
The manager bowed his head.
"Shall I send dinner up to your room?"
"Yeah, do that."
"We've prepared beef and fish dishes for this evening. Which would you prefer?"
"Beef, then."
"Yes, understood."
The manager bowed once more.
"Please enjoy a comfortable evening."
It was expensive, but they took care of everything—definitely convenient. I'd been living in a bare room while leaving a place like this unused. What a luxury.
"Hmm."
After a leisurely bath in the tub, I came out to find a delicious-looking meal already on the table—I had no idea when they'd brought it. Home, bath, meal. Feeling satisfied with the perfect trifecta, I picked up my knife—
BOOM!
A spear crashed through the window and slammed into me.
"Tch. Still alive after that?"
As my senses returned, I heard an unfamiliar voice. Not completely unfamiliar, really. I'd heard it sometime years ago.
Two silhouettes came through the shattered window. Even though this was the third floor. They'd leapt straight in.
Two silhouettes. A large man and a small woman. The big one was the older brother; the small one, the younger sister. A man with a solemn look, and a woman who gave off a delinquent vibe. Especially the woman—with her pink hair, I recognized her at a glance.
Looking at the sister, her name finally came back to me. Lucy. The older brother's name, on the other hand, didn't ring a single bell. Guy names were a waste of long-term memory slots.
Name aside, the older brother was huge—well over two meters, if I had to guess. Of the two twins, the one I wanted to meet was the physical-immune one, the younger sister—but of course they'd come as a pair.
You actually show up when I say come on? ...I hadn't meant "walk right in this instant."
"Can't be helped. Holy Knights are tough, right?"
"Hmm."
"They all learn a little healing magic so they can heal themselves mid-fight. Isn't that funny? Fighting while desperately recovering. So dumb, so dumb! That's why Holy Knights are..."
"Cockroaches."
The big one muttered in a low voice. Ah, right. They had that nickname too.
"But that life force isn't the problem."
The big one dropped to one knee and looked straight at me. At me, holding the spear that had just flown in with one hand, pressed against my side.
"You defended in that brief instant?"
More precisely, he was staring at the pure white armor I was wearing.
Whoosh—!
The older brother raised his hand, and the spear I'd caught flew back to him. It stuck to his palm like it had a magnet on it.
Then—
Slash!
My room's window frame shattered again. Or rather, it was sliced cleanly down the middle, vertical. What?
"Huh?"
The twin sister also whipped her head around, then walked toward the window.
"What's wrong?"
"Just now something... I'll go check real quick!"
Whoosh. The sister suddenly jumped out the window.
Left behind: the older brother and me. Just the two of us. An awkward atmosphere settled in.
"...My sister does as she pleases. It's hard."
Ahh. It would have been better for me if the younger sister had stayed. Of course my counter was this massive brick of a man standing there. What a pain.
"Something like that. You have a sibling?"
"Just two older brothers."
I looked up at that enormous frame and smirked.
"You should know that much, right?"
One of those two brothers was the one you tried to kill, wasn't it? When I asked as if I knew everything, he answered with indifference.
"Get up. You're not that badly hurt."
"Looking up at you is really getting on my nerves."
"Should've grown taller."
Just as he frowned like he found that unpleasant—
BOOM!
The Light Spirit I'd hidden behind his legs exploded. He was immune to magic, but I wasn't aiming at him anyway. Instead—I blew out the floor.
"Ghk!"
He plummeted to the floor below along with the shattered tiles. Looking ridiculous, sprawled on the floor, he stared up at me through the gaping hole. What else was I supposed to do? Smashing ceilings and punching through floors was my specialty.
"Much better view now."
"You cheap trick..."
But this was a guy who'd leapt up to a third-floor room in one go. Falling to a second-floor room? One sergeant jump and he'd be back up.
Woooong—
So I poured five spirits down into the second floor.
Boom! Boom-boom!
He crossed both arms in an X and blocked the spirits exploding in his face. Even if magic didn't damage him, he couldn't just ignore spirits that detonated with heat and flash. In that opening, I moved to the window the same way the younger sister had gone first.
"Kh... Don't you run!"
The older brother shouted from the second floor, but I ignored him and raised my hand.
A short while later.
"What are you doing here?"
Between the second and third floors. A pink head poked through the gaping hole.
"Tch, Lucy... so it was you. You see that bastard? Looked like he went the way you did."
"Hmm, didn't see him. So what are you doing here?"
"I let my guard down. Damn it, did I lose him..."
The older brother rested his spear on his shoulder and sighed.
"He can't have gone far. We'll have to search again."
"He ran off that fast? I thought a Holy Knight would take a head-on fight."
"I thought so too. But blocking that ambush, and everything else—he's no ordinary guy. No wonder he was a candidate for the Five Lanterns. Lucy, don't let your guard down."
"I'm not. I'm not. Who's the one who lost him from letting their guard down?"
"...We'll have to look together, whether we like it or not."
"Would've been nice to settle it the moment we found him. What a pain..."
"That's because you suddenly left."
"Ha, my fault? Who was the one going on about matchups and asking me to leave it to them?"
"I never said that."
"Oh, didn't you? Here."
She stretched an arm through the empty hole.
"Grab on. How long are you gonna stay like that?"
"Right."
The older brother made a small sound and leapt up, catching her arm. As she pulled him up—
"Lucy?"
The older brother tilted his head.
"Your face looks a little differen—"
Thuck—
The moment he noticed, a short knife sank into the nape of his neck. A steak knife. The blunt blade punched deep through the older brother's throat.
"You—what is this..."
"Blood really does tell. The second you got close, you saw right through it."
Shhhh—
Lucy's form scattered like mist. And the "Lucy" holding the older brother's arm—was me. I raised my left hand, deliberately showing the ring.
The Ring of Disguise.
"I think it's a little late, though."
Slash—!
I swung the knife pulled from his neck and severed his wrist too.
Thud!
The older brother's massive body crashed back down onto the second floor. Ugh. His huge hand was still gripping my wrist—disgusting. I pried it off quick.
"You... son of a bitch...!"
He thrashed, clamping his one remaining hand over the blood jetting from his neck.
"Of all times to show up during dinner."
Clatter—
I tossed the bloodied knife aside carelessly.
"Thanks for the weapon, but look at this."
I pointed at the white bathrobe under my armor.
"That... ring..."
Meanwhile, he narrowed his eyes and glared at the Ring of Disguise.
"Even with a magic tool... how did you copy my sister from just one look..."
"It wasn't just once."
I cut him off and dropped down to the second floor.
"What...?"
"Get up. You're not the type to die from this, are you?"
When I echoed the line he'd used earlier, he twitched his legs as if he'd been waiting for it. But it wasn't the movement from when he'd boldly leapt up a three-story building. Wobbling, he rose with one hand clamped on his neck.
At the same time, I buffed my spirits. The same buffs on all four. Accuracy. Movement speed. After boosting their stats, I attached one to each piece of my armor. One on each arm, one on each leg.
"Never thought I'd fight a one-armed guy two times in a row."
Then I took a fighting stance.
"Though at least you've still got one arm."
At the taunt, he clenched his teeth and charged with heavy steps.
"You cowardly bastard... and you call yourself a Holy Knight..."
"I'm so sick of hearing that."
Woooong—
The spirits on my armor glowed, ready to launch.
BOOM!
The left arm armor piece shot out with tremendous explosive force. My fist extended with it, of its own accord. Faster than anything I could swing myself.
Crunch!
The fist that shot out in an instant landed clean on the big guy's jaw. I thought it'd knock him out easily, but even with his jaw dislocated he tried to grab me with one arm.
That moment—
BOOM!
This time the right leg. The greave dyed in spirit color shot out like a bullet and drove a knee into his solar plexus.
"Gahk...!"
I closed the distance with short steps as he stumbled back, coughing blood.
Woooong—
Every spirit attached to an armor piece glowed and gathered power.
Thud! Crunch! Thwack!
I let the spirits propelling the armor carry my body and unleashed a barrage. Since my body was forced to follow wherever the armor moved, every punch and kick sent pain through my whole frame.
It'd be so convenient if I could just detonate spirits from a distance and be done—but this was an opponent only physical attacks worked on.
I had no choice but to beat him to death.