Chapter 184: Dragon's Eye, Human Heart (48)
Chapter 184: Dragon's Eye, Human Heart (48)
Mitram’s words were cruelly clear.
“Soon, all sorts of emergency debt collections will come pouring into your sister’s merchant guild! Do you think the Percus territory will be safe? No, it won't. And not just that—the territories of your family and your closest friends will all be suffering as well!”
As she spoke, Mitram thudded her fist against her chest as if to vent her frustration. Unable to contain her rage, she kicked the Princess several more times.
The Princess only curled into a ball, coughing. With every word Mitram spoke, despair pooled deeper in her pale gray eyes.
“……And yet, you still intend to save her? I’ll give you one last chance. Close your eyes right now and turn back. If you do, I’ll act as if none of this ever happened.”
A few more tears rolled down from the corners of the Princess’s eyes.
It seemed even she thought the possibility of me saving her was slim.
Despite all her sacrifices, no one acknowledged her.
Even if I saved the Princess, it might already be too late. Judging by Mitram’s words, she had already made an irreversible choice.
I had suffered plenty at the Princess’s hands until now.
Hadn't every person I encountered expressed their hostility toward me?
That malice wasn't even directed solely at me. My precious people had almost been hurt and wounded, and to prevent that, I’d had to spill several more handfuls of blood.
Looking back, the only thing the Princess and I had exchanged was resentment.
A sigh escaped my lips involuntarily. The strength drained from my arm as I gripped the hilt of my sword.
The eyes of the female knight, who had been watching my every move intently, turned bleak. The Princess just wept, as if she had given up on even hoping.
“……I suppose so.”
It was a response of only a few words.
But Mitram beamed, looking as if she had been waiting for that single sentence.
With a sigh, I loosened my grip on the sword hilt. Then, I slowly began to raise both hands, as if signaling I had no intention of resisting.
The female knight, who had been barely holding her head up, let it drop.
The Princess let out a faint, ragged breath, and Mitram’s grotesque smile widened even further.
The woman spoke in a seductive tone.
“I knew you would understand. Now, enough of this……”
And in the next moment.
Thwack! One of Mitram’s arms was severed once again.
Mitram couldn't even react.
Her eyes blankly scanned her own shoulder.
A silver trajectory was passing through that very spot.
Blood sprayed out in a sudden gush.
The hand axe that had been embedded in the ground had returned, severing Mitram’s arm on its way back.
At that sudden strike, a fragmented question escaped through Mitram’s teeth.
“……Wh-what?”
I wasn't so naive as to miss that opening.
Snatching the hand axe, my body kicked off the ground and shot forward.
Not even a sonic boom could be heard. In the literal blink of an eye, my hand axe was descending upon Mitram.
It was a high-speed charge. Mitram still seemed unable to wrap her head around what was happening.
However, she was no easy opponent.
She immediately twisted her body, albeit forcefully. Her arm rotated at an angle impossible for human anatomy as she reached into her robes.
A drawn dagger clashed with my axe.
Boom! A shockwave erupted, kicking up dust in the vicinity. Mitram stumbled back, struggling to block the repeated strikes of my hand axe.
But the hand axe wasn't my only weapon.
The moment my remaining hand reached for my waist, another flash of light surged.
Mitram was already barely keeping up with me. It was impossible for her to handle another sword path while missing an arm.
Along with a spray of blood, Mitram’s other arm fell away.
Mitram had no choice but to throw herself back and roll across the ground.
Only then was some distance created between Mitram, the Princess, and the female knight.
One of Mitram’s arms began to bubble and seethe. Her recovery speed was terrifying.
In that hand, which was taking shape like a mass of bubbles, strings of mana were already held.
It meant I could no longer rely on the advantage of a surprise attack.
That was fine. My goal had been to separate Mitram from the Princess and the knight anyway.
I quietly hooked the hand axe back onto my belt.
Seeing this, Mitram shrieked in a desperate frenzy.
“Are you insane, Ian Percus?! You’d save that brat even after being treated like that?!”
At those words, I let out a hollow laugh, finding it absurd.
I would have saved her even if she wasn't the Princess, but Mitram was making a fundamental mistake.
“Just because I was treated poorly doesn't mean you aren't a piece of shit.”
The sights I had seen at the orphanage were still burned into my mind.
Thinking of the faces of those children inside the flesh seeds, screaming for someone to please kill them, still made my blood boil.
She was a human who showed not a shred of respect for life. She modified living beings into demonic beasts to use as bombs; even the abnormal recovery she was showing now was likely the result of such modifications.
And such a person was trying to do something using the Princess’s eyes.
It was obvious that, at the very least, it wouldn't be anything beneficial to the world. My path hadn't been so easy that I’d fall for such cheap honeyed words.
To me, it was perfectly obvious, but Mitram’s expression grew even more hideous.
After grinding her teeth for a moment, she whispered lowly.
“……It seems a punishment is in order.”
“I just came from getting plenty of 'punishment' from your subordinates up there… so, now it’s your turn to take a beating.”
No more conversation was needed.
I kicked off the ground again, and as Mitram’s body spun, strings of mana rose up.
The deep blue threads writhed as if to lash out at me. Since it was a technique I’d never seen before, I hesitated for a moment.
In the end, there was only one answer.
I just had to create an opening somehow.
Immediately after making that judgment, my arm hurled the hand axe.
The momentum of the hand axe as it tore through the atmosphere was terrifying. Mitram leaned her body away to dodge it, but that wasn't the end.
The blade curved its trajectory once more, aiming to bury itself in her.
With an expression that looked like she was about to spit out a curse, Mitram arched her back. That forced movement weakened the power behind the strings of mana that were lunging at me.
That was the chance.
I severed the strings of mana with my sword as if clearing away vines.
Now, nothing stood between Mitram and me. However, as I closed in right in front of her, the woman’s arm bent at a bizarre angle.
A glinting blade caught my eye.
A poison needle.
There was one thing I’d realized after my fight with Senior Neris. It was a very practical lesson: you must avoid poison at all costs.
Especially when facing an opponent I was fighting with everything I had. The probability of misjudging the opponent's level was extremely low, and if they were actively using poison despite that, it had to be even more dangerous.
If it even grazes me, I’m fucked.
Having made that judgment, my knees immediately buckled. Sliding low, my sword sliced through Mitram’s thigh.
With her muscle fibers severed, the woman’s knee gave way.
As I slid across the grit, my face met Mitram’s. I let a slight smile play on my lips.
“……Hello.”
Immediately, with a sickening crunch, my fist slammed into the side of Mitram’s face.
Because the strike didn't come from a stable posture, it lacked a bit of power.
But it was enough to send the slender woman’s body sprawling.
I was about to pin her down when I saw the poison needle clutched in her twitching fingertips and changed my mind.
If it even grazed me by accident, it would be my loss.
I gripped the sword hilt I had momentarily let go of to throw the punch.
Then, I saw a pure white hand suddenly shoot toward me. I returned the gesture with my blade.
Blood sprayed, and a groan filled with frustration escaped Mitram’s lips.
“……Whew.”
It sounded less like she was in pain and more like she was annoyed that things weren't going her way.
It seemed Mitram couldn't feel pain. Or she was extremely dull to it.
Etching that information into my mind, I sprang up and grabbed the hand axe embedded in the ground.
At the same time, Mitram plunged both her legs into the earth and stood up without any rebound force.
Like water-soaked cotton swelling and straightening itself.
The woman smiled, her strings of mana trailing around her.
“It’s finally over.”
The moment I heard those words, my eyes instinctively scanned the surroundings.
There were many fallen knights nearby. But that was all; the only other bothersome thing was that the strings of mana were strangely spread out toward me.
Was it a bluff? That naive thought occurred to me first.
But as I looked at Mitram, I had to correct my thinking.
Following the woman’s ecstatic gaze, and following the strings of mana that served as the fuse, I saw a man’s body.
It was bulging and swelling unevenly.
And its location was right next to me.
“Oh, shit……”
Before I could even finish the curse, the world inverted into pure white.
A flash dyed my vision.
Subsequently, my hearing was cut off, and even my sense of touch became vague. My body, already burdened with accumulated injuries, screamed that it had reached its limit.
Even so, I tried to push myself up.
If not for the poison needles that suddenly pierced through both my shoulders with a thud, I would have stood up.
Mitram laughed. As if she was finally certain of her victory.
I couldn't afford to lose, so I barely managed to lift my head and smiled back at her.
I thought to myself.
Crazy bitch, of course you had one last trick up your sleeve.
My eyes flickered toward my potion pouch. The half-empty pouch told the story of how powerful the medicinal effects already circulating in my body were.
And yet, I felt like I was going to die. Twice from explosions, once in the arm—the wounds were too deep.
And in that state, I had allowed another critical hit.
My consciousness grew hazy of its own accord. Amidst that blurred mind, my memories were briefly submerged in a pure white wave.
Yes, this dream.
It is a dream that will never be forgotten.
The world shifted.