78. Witch Hunt (9)
78. Witch Hunt (9)
'Was that magic?'
Kain glanced at the pillar that had narrowly missed him and wiped away his sweat with the back of his hand. He had held the position of Squad 3 Captain for about ten years and had his share of experience subduing criminals and rampaging students. But he had never seen this kind of magic.
That was only natural. With their complex formulas and computations, existing spells almost always required an incantation unless the caster was a once-in-a-decade genius.
"...Not magic, then. A Skill."
A Skill. That was more troublesome.
Skills were difficult to predict.
Still, he did not believe he would lose. He had almost never been defeated, aside from the monsters who had always stood above him. He adjusted his grip on his sword and glared ahead. No follow-up attack came.
Was it a technique that could not be fired repeatedly?
'My last resort... I'd hold off for now. First, I had to get out of here.'
He did not care about the collaborators already lying broken on the ground. Their relationship had been purely transactional. Kain was not warmhearted enough to protect people he would never see again once the job was over.
"Hey... you... thinking of ditching us?!"
"Don't get angry just because the world is harsh. Life is something everyone lives alone, isn't it? You have to look after yourself."
"Kain!"
Ignoring the voice behind him, Kain poured aura into his sword. His opponent did not attack, whether because they were assessing the situation or trying to flee. Just as he began to find that strange, a voice reached his ears.
"Millia. Take Elisa and go on ahead."
"Got it! Hup..."
He heard footsteps. The passage was long and dark, making it hard to see, but Kain realized the target of the operation he had spent so long planning had vanished beyond the passage.
This was the worst.
He had lost his target and found himself facing an unknown enemy in a straight passage with nowhere to hide. Kain swallowed hard without realizing it.
'How had things become so tangled?'
He had planned the operation, built close cooperative ties with the gangs, and carried out the first operation without difficulty. So where had it all gone wrong?
'...This wasn't the time to think. First, I had to get out.'
Kain clenched his teeth and assessed his body.
'My body wasn't in bad shape. I had plenty of aura. But that bastard's ability... bothered me.'
A technique that could block his path in such a narrow passage. As a test, he grabbed the pillar beside him and crushed it. Its durability was low. Unlike alchemy, the material did not appear to have been altered. That meant his opponent's pillars were made of ordinary earth.
'It seemed I could neutralize them simply by coating myself in aura.'
He would close the distance and cut his opponent down in one stroke.
Kain lowered his stance and gathered power in his feet. Roughly thirty meters separated him from the enemy—a distance that could be called either long or short. He had to charge in one burst like a wolf pouncing on its prey.
"As expected of the Squad 3 leader, you're pretty good—"
Now!
Kain's body shot forward like a cannonball, closing the distance to the silhouette in an instant. His opponent did not flinch at the sudden approach. Was the speed too great for them even to react? A vicious smile spread across Kain's lips.
His arm drew back, and the sword in his hand scattered a grayish energy.
"Die!"
His sword cleaved through the human figure at a diagonal. A light impact traveled through his hand. It was strange.
Cutting human flesh and bone would not have felt this light. Belatedly realizing he had slashed a human-shaped figure made of earth, Kain clenched his teeth.
"You insolent brat..."
"You're the insolent one. Old fart."
Craft—
Before he could even consider the meaning of that faint voice, Kain felt a sudden sense of weightlessness.
He was falling. Downward.
As befitted a knight of some skill, Kain immediately drove his sword into the wall. His plummeting body came to an abrupt halt, and there he hung, suspended in the middle of the pit, looking up.
"So you didn't become Squad 3 leader for nothing."
"You bastard... you're the one from back then...!"
A man of massive build. A face covered in scars. A man holding a lamp in one hand and looking down at him as if mocking him. With his shovel resting diagonally across his shoulder, Yohan sneered down at Kain, who was barely clinging to the pit wall.
'This was no fun.'
It was fortunate that his opponent had not figured out his abilities. Yohan had hastily created several branching tunnels with Craft in case he needed to harass Kain, but a little bluffing had already driven the man into a dead end and made those preparations unnecessary.
If he used his Skill now, he could take the Squad 3 leader's life.
But killing him would complicate matters. Yohan prepared to use his Skill to subdue the Squad 3 Captain instead.
"Cr—"
Yohan twisted his body on pure instinct. A gray sword-energy slashed through the space where he had just been. A split second later and his upper and lower body would have parted ways forever. Yohan's gaze returned to Kain.
"Pathetic. It's already over. Why not stop resisting and quietly surrender?"
The slightly awkward pronunciation grated on Kain's nerves. To think he had been beaten by a bastard like this. His pride stung.
"...Ha! Don't be absurd!"
Kain kicked off the wall and launched himself up out of the tunnel. At his agile, catlike movement, Yohan clicked his tongue and adjusted his grip on his shovel. With the small pit formed in the straight tunnel between them, the two men glared at each other.
"To think you'd prepare a surprise like this. For a young pup, you're not half bad."
"Hey, old fart. That thing between your legs. Looks like you won't be needing it anymore."
"What?"
"Craft."
Kain's instincts screamed a frantic warning. Kain immediately kicked off the ground and retreated. Only after landing again did Kain grasp the meaning of Yohan's words.
"You crazy bastard."
"It's not as though you'll ever use them anyway."
Yohan, who had kindly attempted a peanut harvest, clicked his tongue and used his Skill to fill in the pit. It had already served its purpose, and leaving it there would only create the embarrassing possibility of someone falling in later.
Gauging the distance between himself and Kain, Yohan checked the condition of the tunnel. Since he had made it himself, checking its durability was not difficult.
'If I used techniques recklessly, the tunnel would collapse.'
Even with all his experience, Yohan had no idea whether he could survive being buried in a collapsed tunnel.
"How about giving yourself up quietly?"
"Ha, do you think I'd get caught by a greenhorn like you?"
He was an elite to the bone. His pride would never allow him to surrender quietly. Kain turned his head slightly to look behind him.
If he ran fast, he could escape.
But Kain could not bring himself to move. Yohan's words stopped him just as he was about to flee.
"Demon Summoning, huh. You were plotting something pretty big."
"...How do you know—"
"That's what happens when you leak intel everywhere."
Yohan deliberately laughed aloud, an unpleasant sound. Kain's thoughts immediately took a dark turn.
How did he know?
An operation years in the making?
'The only ones who knew the plan were the gang and me—'
Yohan approached the confused Kain at a leisurely pace. A relaxed gait, as if he were out for a stroll. Kain's nerves went on high alert as he adjusted his stance.
'If I couldn't kill that bastard, I was finished anyway.'
He would finish it in one stroke. The middle-aged swordsman recalled his family's secret technique. He had not mastered it completely, but it would be enough to crack the skull of a punk who swaggered around relying on a single Skill.
If he killed that bastard, he could probably talk his way out of it somehow. If not, he could at least flee. If even that failed, he would simply use his last resort.
He struggled to calm his heart, which was trying to buck like a wild horse.
Fight calmly. Move fiercely.
It was the first phrase first-years in the Knight Department learned. Kain recalled that phrase anew and smiled a twisted smile.
He would finish this quickly and escape the academy.
"Hey. Greenhorn."
"Hm?"
"Consider it an honor."
His lower body traced a curve according to a set footwork. At the same time, his upper body drew a flowing arc and conjured a grayish mist. The secret technique of House Leibniz. The Mist Sword revealed its presence in the dark tunnel.
'I never thought I'd end up using it on a bastard like this.'
The second son of a renowned swordsmanship family—no, now the shabby-looking Squad 3 leader—put strength into his toes and launched his body forward. An even faster approach than before. What made him more troublesome was the aura enveloping his body, which blurred his form.
'He had all kinds of tricks.'
"Craft."
He raised a pillar between himself and Kain. But Kain was not a fool who would fall for an attack he had already dodged twice. With a movement bordering on acrobatics, Kain evaded the pillar and closed in on Yohan in an instant.
"I told you not to use big techniques in a place like this."
...Craft.
Craft. Craft. Craft. Craft.
Pillars suddenly erupted from the side of the wall and lunged at Kain. One, two, three, four. A total of four pillars restricted his movement. In a space with little room to maneuver, pillars blocking his path were a headache.
"Do you think this crap will work?!"
Trusting in the aura wrapped around his body, Kain rammed into the pillars. Unable to withstand the body of a seasoned swordsman, the earthen pillars snapped like straw.
'Just as I expected.'
Confirming once again that earthen pillars were useless against anyone above a certain level left a bitter taste in Yohan’s mouth.
Kain was now right in front of him.
Without even looking in Kain's direction, Yohan pressed his fingers to his forehead and muttered an irritated complaint to himself.
"This fucking trash game."
"What?"
"I said say goodbye to your dick."
Before he could even comprehend the meaning of those words, merciless agony engulfed Kain. As he lowered his gaze at the unfamiliar, horrific pain, he saw an earthen pillar standing there, small enough to be easily overlooked. And he saw the flat object that had smashed his groin.
Merged with the earthen pillar.
'A shovel...?'
Kain's gaze traveled upward again. Yohan's hands were empty.
"When... did you..."
"You should have listened when people talked. I told you five times."
'How could you even see what was... right in front of you...?'
"I'm... utterly... dumbfounded..."
'To think I never even got to use my last resort.'
His body staggered, unable to withstand the pain.
Seeing this, Yohan used his Skill one last time.
"Dismantle."
Yohan picked up the shovel from the ground. Grimacing, he wiped the liquid from the edge of its blade with dirt. Kain could only stare blankly at him.
"Sleep tight."
Yohan raised the dirt-covered shovel. Kain stared vacantly up at the shovel. A dim shape rushing at him through the darkness.
He was going to die.
But... he couldn't move his legs...
"That's one problem solved, I guess."
Yohan looked down at the Squad 3 leader, who had collapsed with his eyes rolled back. He nudged him with his foot a few times, but there was no reaction. He had apparently lost consciousness completely.
He took a rope from his pocket and bound the Squad 3 leader tightly.
"...Oh, those guys were here too."
The criminals had been caught in the fight and knocked unconscious because Kain had rampaged without the slightest concern for his collaborators.
After tying up the kidnappers with his spare rope, Yohan dragged the criminals—strung together like dried fish—to the wall and placed a hand against it.
"Craft."
Light streamed in. Shielding his eyes from the light coming through the easily made exit, Yohan glanced back at the criminals.
'How ridiculous. Those who came to hunt a witch ended up hunted themselves.'
"...Time to head out, I guess."