Ambush
Ambush
If there was one thing that had changed quite a bit with the arrival of spring.
For starters, the weather had become incredibly warm.
No, it was honestly hot beyond just warm. As time went on, summer was slowly creeping in.
Just thinking about summer made me furrow my brow for a moment.
Maybe because winter was short, summer here was extremely long.
Thankfully, it was cooler than the murderous heat of Earth caused by global warming, but sadly my cave didn't have anything like an air conditioner.
You could probably tell how big of a deal that was just from that.
So usually during summer, I'd be in the cave shirtless or just hanging out in my underwear.
I mean, when you're at home, you wear comfortable clothes, right? The cave was my home, so that was all there was to it.
But this time, that seemed a bit difficult. Because I never knew when uninvited guests might show up at my home.
Of course, I'd done some camouflaging of the cave last time, but if someone looked closely enough, they'd be able to tell the difference.
I couldn't help but worry a little already.
'Well, I'll think about that when the time comes.'
Right now, I had things to do, so I decided to put that worry on hold for now.
One of the downsides that came with spring was that it wasn't just the plants that got invigorated.
Prey started to grow bit by bit, and the weather was good for activity, so monsters also started running rampant.
There were even occasional cases where guys living in the Deep Layer expanded their range of activity and came down into the Middle Layer. Truly occasional, to the point you'd count them on a yearly basis, though.
Still, it was worth being on guard for once in a while.
If you were really unlucky, something like a Mountain Lord could come down. Well, none of them would be as dangerous as that, but there was no reason to run into them and make things a hassle.
Therefore, my task for today was investigation.
Roaming the forest and looking for any signs that something had changed. If nothing had changed, great; if something had, I'd at least check whether it was dangerous or not.
So I wandered around near the forest for a while. Since the forest was so vast, I only covered the area I mainly operated in within the Middle Layer.
After roaming for a bit, I finally discovered a trace of a person.
Footprints, and a monster corpse that looked like it had been cut by something sharp.
In other words, traces of a person.
*
Shhhck!
"Krrrrik!"
Following the trajectory of the sword, a bright red line was drawn across the goblin's body. The frail goblin's flesh couldn't withstand the intruder's sword even once.
Regardless, the intruder's face was still furrowed.
Thud!
Watching the goblin collapse to the ground, the intruder spat out a curse.
"Damn, how the hell are there so many monsters with no end in sight..."
Was this forest really that different?
As if proving it was unmanaged land, every direction was packed with enemies.
Yet pulling back to the Surface Layer might mean the pursuers were searching there.
"Huu..."
It was a tough situation in many ways. She was a bit hungry, her body was tired. She wanted to eat something, but distinguishing what was edible wasn't easy either.
And... maybe because she was under so much stress, her libido was flaring up a bit too.
"Dammit..."
Still, she pushed through the fatigue and trudged forward. She needed somewhere to hide. She had to have a base to hold out for long.
She was planning to live there for the time being and try to contact the Cult.
It was while she was heading forward like that.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, a man entered her vision. The intruder couldn't help but be startled for a moment.
'Wow...'
Because the man's appearance was extremely outstanding.
Finely sculpted features, a solid build visible even through his clothes, and good proportions on top of that. His aura was a little sharp, but that actually added to his character.
A man you'd be lucky to spot even wandering the busiest streets had popped up out of nowhere in the forest.
Questions surfaced in the intruder's mind.
What? Why was someone here?
Could he be living here? Looking at his attire, he didn't seem like someone from the city, at least.
After asking those questions for a moment, she soon thought,
'Whatever the case, this is a good opportunity.'
If she played her cards right, she could ambush him and get food. And if he really did live here, she could steal his base and use it.
So she hid her presence and prepared to ambush him.
She wasn't letting her guard down. The fact that he was here in the first place must mean he had some skill of his own. She'd wait as long as she could with patience, then launch a surprise attack when the opportunity came.
But the situation she'd been hoping for never materialized.
Because he noticed her before that.
"Do you really think you can hide yourself when you're reeking of blood like that?"
The man smiled leisurely and spoke, looking straight at her position.
She couldn't help but be startled.
'What?'
No matter what, he picked up on her from this distance?
She was skilled, but she was particularly confident in assassination and disguise.
In the first place, she was the one who had slit the throat of the knight standing watch the day they ambushed the carriage.
She was that confident in concealing her presence, yet he'd already noticed her.
'Dammit.'
Swoosh!
She bit down on her lip and charged at him.
She had no intention of backing down just because she'd been caught. If a surprise attack didn't work, she could just overwhelm him with skill.
Soon, her sword rushed toward the man, Yor.
Unfortunately, that strike was blocked by the dagger Yor brought out.
Clang!
Sparks flew as the intruder's sword was deflected high into the air.
She was shocked and analyzed her opponent.
'He's quite skilled.'
The sword she was currently wielding was a cheap iron blade she'd stolen from a nearby smithy. But even taking that into account, it was still steel—how could he block it so easily?
She made a snap judgment.
He wasn't someone she could handle right now. Especially not while her stamina was low.
But she still had no intention of backing down.
She might not look it, but she was a veteran who had faced countless powerful foes.
She'd met more than her fair share of strong opponents who outclassed her.
And even after meeting them, she had always been the victor.
'I'll wait for an opening.'
She just needed a single chance to land one proper blow.
After that, her opponent wouldn't be able to move easily either, missing some part of his body.
Clang! Claaang!
For a moment, sword clashed against sword. Sharp ringing echoed through the silent forest.
She was the one being pushed back for the most part. Despite it being just a dagger, it felt like the crushing pressure of facing a greatsword.
Even when she tried to exploit a gap and thrust, he blocked every single one she threw at him.
He was definitely a powerful foe. He was only half-serious about it, anyway.
On the other hand, she was also deliberately giving ground.
Furrowing her brow more exaggeratedly than usual, pretending to struggle—that way she could draw out his complacency. Her main trade was assassination, so frankly, she was a bit weak in direct confrontations like this. What she was confident in was creating variables and surprise attacks.
In the midst of that fight, an opportunity came to her.
Yor put in a stronger push, forcing her body back by a wide margin.
"Ngh...!"
As she grimaced, inwardly she cheered.
That created one opening.
She immediately pulled her sword back and readied a thrusting stance.
Even if she thrust the sword, the distance was far too short to reach her opponent.
But she wasn't worried. Just as she'd shown when she stole the warden's keys, she had the ability to stretch her arm.
Shhrak!
Soon, the intruder's sword rushed toward Yor.
At first, Yor didn't react much. Because literally, the distance wasn't there.
But there was something the intruder overlooked.
Before being simply a skilled fighter, Yor was a survivor who had lived through this place. Just as she had, Yor had also met countless powerful foes and survived.
If he was already aware of it, he could react to it well enough.
Then, an anomaly began to occur in the intruder's body. The sword's trajectory, which had seemed to be at its end, accelerated once more.
Yor's eyes widened slightly for a moment. He immediately reacted, raising his dagger into a defensive stance. The intruder's sword arrived soon after.
Claaang!
Sparks flew as a brief struggle of strength ensued.
As expected of a prepared strike, the intruder's blow was so heavy it couldn't be compared to her previous attacks, and even Yor's dagger was pushed back for an instant.
But that was all. If her desperate move had landed as intended, that would be one thing.
Now that it had already been blocked, she couldn't break through her opponent.
Slice.
Yor's arm was slightly cut as her sword was knocked away.
The sword flew high and lodged itself deep into the ground.
"Wow, that last one was good. Most guys would've fallen for that."
The intruder was dumbfounded. That was an attack she'd poured every last drop of her remaining mana into.
Even though she still couldn't create a Sword Aura, she could still generate power close to one.
And he just blocked it so casually. She couldn't help but be baffled.
She was staring at her opponent with a stunned expression for a moment.
The scratch on Yor's arm caught her eye as it regenerated rapidly. An almost abnormal rate of regeneration.
And there was a faintly detectable murky energy coming from it.
The moment she saw that, she couldn't help but be shocked.
Then, she murmured to herself without realizing it.
"...Manifestor?"
"Huh?"
At that word, Yor's gaze turned toward her.