Chapter 95
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: Friends Aren't Eternal. (7)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
'If she catches me, I'm dead.'
But in his current state, with his physical abilities so diminished, he wouldn't be able to escape as far as he wanted.
That was why he desperately concealed his presence.
It had been ages since he'd consciously hidden himself like this.
He couldn't even remember how long.
Ever since gaining even greater power, he'd never even thought to rely on stealth skills to hide.
That was how dangerous she was.
"Hmm."
Before he knew it, the woman with sky-blue straight hair had approached the building where Ser was hiding.
"It was definitely here..."
She slowly scanned her surroundings.
'Please just keep going...'
Ser just hoped the woman would assume he'd already fled and head somewhere else.
But.
"You're still around here somewhere."
And as if she'd realized he was hiding right there, she continued scrutinizing the area.
'N-no way... My presence was completely erased...'
Ser couldn't believe it.
Not only had she detected his Absolute Stealth, but...
Even the faintest lingering sense of existence that might have remained—he'd erased that too—yet she'd sensed it?
"The sin of daring to put Sir Kane in danger... I'll make sure you pay for it."
What the hell had she done?
Were her eyes equipped with some special detection device or something?
He could see her eyes gleaming with madness.
"Ah."
And moments later.
Her gaze locked precisely onto the materials where Ser was hiding.
'No no no no no.'
Ser felt his heart pounding like mad.
To the point where he worried she might hear it.
But right then.
Ser's heart plummeted and momentarily stopped.
"...Huh? You're not running? Or... do you think you won't be found if you just hide?"
'She noticed. She noticed. I'm busted. I'm dead. Dead. Dead...'
His body trembled uncontrollably.
Tears streamed down his face without him realizing.
How long had it been since he'd trembled in fear like this?
No, had he ever?
This wasn't just simple fear.
"Heheheh. You won't die easy. I absolutely won't let you. I'll make you regret being alive. You'll beg me to kill you. Kuhuhuhuhu."
'Eek... Scary scary scary...'
It went beyond the terror of death—her madness itself terrified him to his core.
It would be better if an elite assassin warned him and killed him before he could even feel death coming.
Then he'd only have to fear death itself.
But the moment that woman caught him, something horrific would happen—bad enough that he'd wish for death.
He could easily imagine it.
It wasn't just empty words; he could feel it in her madness-filled eyes and aura.
Still, he couldn't run.
Moving now would definitely give him away.
But staying put would just mean getting caught eventually anyway.
Run.
Run.
Even if his physical abilities were weakened.
Take a chance on even the slightest possibility.
That's what he thought in his head.
But...
'I can't move...'
Terror had frozen his body; he couldn't budge.
He wanted to flee.
But he couldn't even run.
Just as despair set in.
"Found you."
"Ah..."
He locked eyes with her brown pupils, gleaming madly in a face too beautiful for it.
"U, uwaaaah..."
Ser forced his frozen body to move and swung the bow in his hand.
With his current physical state, he couldn't even draw the tough bowstring properly, and at this close range, shooting an arrow would be awkward anyway.
In a way, it was the optimal choice.
Except...
Kwaak!
"What's this? This sluggish attack?"
With physical abilities fallen to just a bit stronger than a normal person's, there was no way it could touch Rin, who had a hero's physique.
And the worst part was.
"Ahaha, you've weakened, haven't you? You."
That she'd noticed it.
"A, ahh..."
As the terrified Ser tried to crawl away backward.
"What a pain."
Sruk!
Suddenly, sharply honed ice blades formed and severed both her arms.
"Kuh, kuaaaagh!"
From Ser's mouth, which had only let out weak noises until now.
A scream piercing enough to hurt the ears finally erupted.
The gruesome pain of having his arms severed.
Plus a chilling agony that felt like his blood and nerves were freezing solid.
It hurt enough to make him want to vomit just from that.
But.
"Here, let me freeze the wounds. Can't have you bleeding out and dying on me."
The problem was that this wasn't the end.
"Let's hear it, shall we? Who you are. Why you're after me. And... what the hell that power was."
She intended to torture him.
Until she extracted every bit of information she wanted.
"W-wait... I'll t-talk... I'll talk, so please..."
Of course, Ser had no intention of enduring that much pain for the coalition council.
He'd joined them in the first place because he hated pain or dying.
What was the point if he had to suffer here?
Better to just spill everything cleanly and beg for his life, he thought.
"We are th..."
Just as he started to speak.
—Zzt—
{Hey, you gonna spill that easily? That's a problem for me.}
{Not yet. So die.}
"Uh..."
Pasasak—
In an instant, his body turned pitch black.
Then it crumbled to dust like ashes and scattered away, vanishing completely.
"...W-what."
Rin, who had witnessed it right before her eyes, couldn't help but be flustered.
It happened so suddenly, before she could even react or do anything.
In the end, she gained zero information.
However, there was one thing.
She could be certain of.
'That was definitely... the power of a demon.'
At first, she'd thought the demon power was only in the arrow, and that the archer before her was merely influenced by a demon.
But what just happened was unmistakably.
Demonic energy originating from inside the archer woman's body.
It had incinerated her body at tremendous speed.
'Did that woman have demon power too?'
Whether she'd sold her soul to a demon for power.
Or her soul was bound by a demon's curse.
Or both.
The archer woman herself harbored demonic power.
'Then did she make those arrows? Her ability?'
No, the power contained in them was far too sinister and evil for that.
It wasn't something a human lightly touched by demonic power could achieve.
'...Something ominous is targeting me... us.'
And that something was undoubtedly.
A demon itself.
Or whatever served a demon.
"Something like that happened last night..."
The next day, Rin agonized over whether to tell Kane, but in the end.
She told him everything.
There was no solid proof they were targeting only her.
More importantly, it would make it easier to act in case of emergency if he knew.
And telling Kane gave her this strange expectation that he'd somehow uncover their identities and resolve it.
So she relied on him.
"An arrow, huh. And that arrow's gone now?"
"Yes. I came back last night and searched, but there wasn't a trace."
These were words from Rin, whose senses could pierce even Ser's Absolute Stealth.
No one else would find any traces either.
Hearing that, Kane fell deep into thought.
'They tried to kill Rin? No, if so, why go through the hassle of making the arrow disappear? To avoid tracking?'
But if a demon was behind it... why use such a convoluted method?
According to Rin, that archer had looked like a hero too.
If they could grant hero-level power and incinerate her the moment she tried to speak, it had to be at least an upper demon.
Yet an upper demon going out of its way to assassinate one hero?
Even meticulously planning to evade tracking?
It was absurd.
An upper demon was an existence that even five or six heroes might struggle against.
So why not just come and kill her directly?
There was no reason to bother with such a hassle targeting just Rin alone.
'Something... something we don't know is happening.'
He couldn't figure it out.
Who was behind this, or what they wanted.
Kane couldn't even guess.
"...Got it for now. Just to be safe, let's stay vigilant around us."
In the end, that was the only vague plan they could come up with.
Honestly, he wanted to head back to Hasler and devise countermeasures.
But right now, rather than taking the two-week detour, it seemed better to go straight to Shassen where the request came from and link up with the Mera Coalition people.
That was only 3 or 4 days away at most.
'This is bad. I still need to look for that 'Red Lowrin' person too.'
The one who'd hypothesized the hero's short life as 'curse-related'.
She was definitely in the Mera Coalition.
He'd planned to ask the coalition reps during the request briefing and make time to meet her.
But with this unknown threat, it might be tricky now.
"Sigh... What the hell is going on all of a sudden."
Soma let out a deep sigh, equally baffled.
"Demons and whatnot... I thought I'd never have anything to do with them in my lifetime."
Though he was strong, that was only as an 'adventurer'.
He wasn't the level to fight demons head-on.
Of course, with hero-grade combat power, he'd be useful, but.
Honestly, adventurers and demons had little connection.
Dealing with demons was mostly the heroes' job.
"You'll still be a big help."
Soma grinned confidently and raised his fist.
It was quite reliable.
Of course,
"Don't worry, Sir Kane. No matter what, I'll protect you. Even if it costs my life..."
"...Y-your life is precious. You need to cherish it, Rin."
The A-rank hero's vow, tinged with madness.
It carried a resolve that made Soma's reliability seem pathetic by comparison.