Chapter 207: Ill-Fated Relationship (13)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 207: Ill-Fated Relationship (13)
Gis ran a finger over the cut on his cheek.
Seeing the blood that came away on his fingertip, he let out a hollow laugh.
“You’re going to gouge out my eyes?”
“That’s right.”
Neria leaped forward with explosive force. The ground cracked beneath her, and as stone dust flew into the air, her form vanished.
When she reappeared, her gauntlet was locked against Gis’s dagger.
“I’ll tear off not just your eyes, but your arms and legs too,” Neria said, glaring at Gis.
The vitality surging through her body from unleashing the Lion King’s armor was more than enough to bolster her confidence.
Neria twisted her wrist, pushing the dagger aside, and thrust her pointed gauntlet forward.
Gis tilted his head to the side, dodging with minimal movement. He tried to counter immediately but was forced to back away from Neria’s follow-up attack.
She wasn't about to let him get away.
Neria stuck to him relentlessly, continuing her assault. The claws of her gauntlets, glowing with white mana, rushed toward Gis, tearing through the air with a menacing sound.
It was a barbaric style of attack, forgoing sword and shield, but with her reason eroded by the unleashed armor, she didn't care.
In fact, that was precisely why it was so effective.
The raw, bestial movements, so unlike conventional swordsmanship, were difficult even for Gis to predict. All he could do was dodge.
'I'll drive him to the wall.'
Though her reason was eroded, she hadn't lost it completely. With the sliver of rationality she had left, Neria devised a way to land a decisive blow.
The plan was to corner Gis, and in the brief opening created when his back hit the wall, she would punch a hole through his fucking body.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
To make her plan a success, her sharp claws sliced through the empty air.
“Kuh?!”
Backpedaling to avoid the attacks, Gis’s head hit the wall behind him.
'Now!'
Neria focused a significant portion of the armor's power into her right arm and extended her claws. Her target was his heart. Gouging out eyes, tearing off arms—in the end, killing him was the best option.
Shunk.
Her claws tore through flesh.
Neria was certain of her victory, and just as the corners of her mouth began to rise—
BOOM!!
A powerful repulsive force sent her body flying back.
To keep from being thrown too far, she dug her claws into the floor.
KRRRRK!
Only after carving ten straight lines about five meters long into the floor was Neria able to regain her balance. As she tried to get up, she winced at the aching pain that wracked her entire body.
Still, she endured the pain and raised her head.
“You damn bitch… you really forced me to use this?”
Gis, speaking with irritation, looked different than before. The whites of his eyes were stained red, and veins and sinews bulged grotesquely all over his body.
Neria narrowed her eyes at the bizarre sight.
“Hurry up and come at me. I'm going to kill you.”
Gis beckoned with his fingers, but Neria only studied his form, not moving. She judged that it would be foolish to act rashly.
“Not coming? You little shit, you're scared.”
Gis chuckled, then his expression suddenly hardened as he kicked off the ground. BOOM! The sound was even louder than when Neria had leaped.
Startled by Gis’s sudden burst of speed, Neria snapped her head to the side.
Scrape.
The tip of his dagger grazed her helmet.
No, it sliced through it.
The blood-red dagger tore through the Lion King's helmet with shocking ease.
While Neria was stunned by the new gash in her helmet, Gis's other hand moved. A dagger swept up from below, slicing through her breastplate and helmet at the same time.
Neria's eyes widened.
'He can cut through this helmet so easily?!'
Whether it made sense or not was irrelevant; if she didn't do something right now, she would die. Neria didn't ignore the alarm bells her instincts were screaming. She swung the claws of both hands at once to drive Gis back.
In response, rather than retreating, Gis dropped the dagger and shoved her with the palm of his right hand.
Neria was sent flying, crashing through a building. She slammed into a table inside, twitched, and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
A clear handprint was imprinted on her breastplate.
“What kind of monstrous strength…”
Did the impact damage my internal organs?
Every time she tried to move, she was wracked with the pain of her organs twisting.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to force herself up, but Gis appeared, striding through the dust from the collapsed wall.
He asked with a sneer, “You didn't actually think you could win, did you?”
Was he genuinely curious, or just mocking her?
Either way, it felt awful.
Gritting her teeth, Neria ignored the searing pain in her gut and charged at Gis.
“Oh? So you were serious?”
Gis smirked at the murderous intent in Neria's charge. The moment he saw her suddenly plant her foot on the ground, he kicked her leg out from under her.
He wasn't one to fall for the same trick twice.
As Neria lost her balance and fell, he kicked her in the head with the top of his foot.
CRUNCH.
With the sound of crumpling metal, the sharply angled helmet was knocked off.
“Wake up. You think you can beat me just because you're wearing some fancy armor? Don't make me laugh. Maybe if you were that bastard Cloud or that Lorian kid.”
“Shut up!”
“You're the one who should shut up.”
Gis grabbed Neria by the scruff of her neck.
Neria didn't see it coming at all, and the price was brutal.
SLAM!
Neria's head was smashed into the ground. The violent impact rattled her skull. Gis didn't stop there; he began punching the fallen Neria in the face.
A dull thud echoed each time his fist met her face, but fortunately, her face wasn't crushed, nor did she lose consciousness.
This was because Gis was holding back. The Blood Magic he used put a heavy strain on his body. Thanks to that, he would no longer be able to fight Cloud at his full strength, which annoyed him greatly.
For that reason, he didn't want to kill Neria so easily.
He grabbed Neria's hair and lifted her head.
“You know, you're not bad-looking.”
The problem is you're rotten on the inside.
Gis chuckled and casually asked Neria, “Hey, you wanna live?”
“...”
“Are you deaf or something…”
Gis punched Neria in the stomach. The armor dented, stabbing into her abdomen. Only after the broken shards of armor had shredded her stomach did Gis ask again.
“Do you want to live?”
“...”
This time, he plunged his dagger into her thigh. He twisted it, and the sound of tearing flesh was accompanied by the crunch of bone.
“Kghh…”
Neria let out a pained groan, cold sweat pouring down her face.
“Do you want to live?”
“...”
Neria focused on her breathing, not answering.
Gis dragged the dagger still embedded in her thigh straight down.
A deep gash opened in her thigh, and Neria's groans intensified.
Gis's sadistic torture continued for a long time.
He would have stopped if Neria had begged for her life, but she didn't. Before long, she was a complete wreck.
Her muscles were torn to shreds and her bones were shattered. Her skin, covered in blood, only added to her already pitiful appearance, making her look even more wretched.
When Neria still refused to break even in that state, Gis grew a little impatient.
His plan was to see her groveling for her pathetic life and use that to provoke Cloud, but it wasn't working out.
Of course, he could just kill her and lie to provoke him, but that didn't suit Gis's taste.
'Such pointless stubbornness…'
It'll only prolong her pain.
Just as Gis, his irritation reaching its peak, was thinking of just killing her and being done with it…
Neria grabbed his wrist.
“…op.”
She said it in a mumble. Her voice was so quiet he could barely hear it, but Gis was sure. She had finally broken.
“What was that? I can't hear you.”
“Stop…”
Was it because of the torture? Neria's voice was completely drained of strength.
Gis grinned.
“Stop what? This? Or this?”
He asked, poking her thigh with the tip of his dagger. Neria replied, her voice still weak.
“Spare me…”
Hearing the words he wanted, Gis couldn't help but burst out laughing. After a long laugh, he grabbed her hair and forced her bowed head up.
“You want to live? Fine, I'll let you live if you want. But if I'm going to spare a bitch who tried to kill me, I should get something in return, right? A little show of good faith, you could say.”
“...”
“What's this? Hey? Ignoring me?”
Gis tapped Neria's cheek with his hand. Neria pushed his hand away and asked.
“…What do you want.”
“What else would I want from you? Suck it, you fucking bitch.”
“...”
Understanding his meaning, Neria slowly lowered her head. Seeing her dazed eyes and pale blue lips, Gis clicked his tongue.
'Did I torture her too much?'
She seemed out of her mind, probably from all the blood she'd lost. There was no fun in toying with her in this dazed state.
Just as Gis felt a hand stroking his thigh and was about to sigh…
Sting—
A sharp sensation, like being pricked by a needle, shot through him.
Gis frowned and looked down to see a dagger sticking into his thigh.
Though "sticking" was an overstatement; it had barely pierced his hard muscle.
Neria was twisting the dagger back and forth, trying desperately to break through his tough muscle.
'I thought she was finally listening, but she was planning this shit?'
Such an obvious and useless stunt?
Gis was so dumbfounded he was at a loss for words. So he just backhanded her. Neria went flying, skipping across the floor like a stone on water. His mood soured, Gis decided to kill her. He was just about to get up to finish the job.
“Ugh?!”
A wave of dizziness washed over him, and his body staggered. He tried to regain his balance immediately, but even that was difficult.
Meanwhile, blood started trickling from his nose.
“What the?”
Gis was wiping away the incessant nosebleed, bewildered.
“..Haha!”
A laugh rang out.
Gis turned his head toward the sound.
“Hahahah..! Ahahahahahah—!!!!”
Seeing his confusion, Neria was clutching her stomach, roaring with laughter.
Her eyes met Gis's. She stopped laughing and her eyes crinkled into a wide, mocking grin.
“You dumb~fuck.”
The smile she wore, covered in blood and wounds, was beyond strange—it was grotesque.