Stay Outside for a Moment
Stay Outside for a Moment
Shock rippled outward.
"!"
The orange-haired woman's eyes flew wide open.
She probably never imagined her comrade would drop dead in a single exchange. This is why people shouldn't let their guard down.
Because you never know when or how a blade will find you.
Chae-rin on our side was just as startled, probably because of the sudden killing.
"Whoa!"
I allowed myself a wry smile inwardly.
Now that I thought about it, this was the first time I'd killed someone in front of another person.
Of course, she had tried to devour me first.
And in this savage world, that was more than sufficient reason to die.
But just because I had a valid reason didn't mean I knew how Chae-rin would take it psychologically.
Either way, she was a modern person. A murder scene this direct could easily trigger revulsion.
"Wow... as expected. Your skills really are incredible, Yor."
...Or not?
Well, from her perspective, this was just a game. So maybe it was fine.
Predicting the psychology of Otherworlders was always difficult.
They felt just like me, like ordinary people, until they didn't—because in the end, they were people who observed this world from one step removed.
I felt a subtle distance.
'...Whatever, forget it.'
But I set the thought aside quickly and focused on the situation in front of me.
This was no time to sink into contemplation. The enemy was already shaking off the shock and settling into a combat stance.
"You little shit...!"
With a short curse, the orange-haired woman charged at me.
I raised my spear and blocked her short sword.
Clang!
Her attack was heavier than I'd expected. Considering the red-haired one went down in one hit, it was surprisingly powerful.
'So she's got some skill.'
Well, that explained why she'd been so relaxed about being in the middle of the forest.
"How dare you! Do you know how hard I worked to get that subordinate...!"
It even seemed like this one was more dangerous than the dead one.
In fact, there wasn't a trace of fear in her expression. Even after I'd demonstrated the power to kill with a single thrown dagger, she wasn't cowed.
Then she pulled her body back a step and unleashed a flurry of strikes.
At this, I couldn't help but be slightly surprised.
A blue aura had coiled around her short sword.
That was Sword Aura.
A question rose unbidden.
'What the hell kind of group is Lemegeton?'
The one I'd met last time—Lian, was it?—she was the same.
For a mere criminal organization, they had a suspiciously high number of strong people.
Being able to use Sword Aura meant she was at least A-Rank Adventurer material, so why did people like this keep showing up one after another?
Was the bar for A-Rank lower than I thought?
I had no idea. It wasn't as if I'd ever actually worked as an adventurer. Either way, this wasn't good news.
'Sword Aura... is kind of a pain.'
Of course, I knew how to use Sword Aura myself.
But as I'd said before, I was still a little clumsy with Sword Aura.
I mean, why go to the trouble of using Sword Aura when I had Demon's Blood, which was more efficient and far more lethal?
But now I might have to use that troublesome thing.
Because right now, I had a spectator beside me. A no-hit clear while using only Sword Aura, was it?
I used to enjoy reading about hidden-OP-protagonist stuff in the past, but becoming a forcibly hidden OP protagonist myself was incredibly frustrating.
'...No.'
But after a moment, a good idea came to me.
If the spectator was the problem, why not just remove the spectator altogether?
Just in case, I decided to ask her.
"Chae-rin, could you die for me right now?"
"Wh-what?"
She stared at me like I'd just spouted the most absurd nonsense.
Damn, so that's a no. Witness elimination failed.
Then another method suddenly occurred to me.
Come to think of it, didn't Otherworlders have a way other than dying?
My brain must have seized up from only thinking about kill-to-silence.
Clang!
I blocked her sword again and shouted at Chae-rin.
Damn, a sword cloaked in Sword Aura really did have a different weight.
"Then log out! Just log out! Just for a moment!"
"Y-yes? But if I log out and come back, it takes at least twenty minutes..."
"That's plenty. No, it's exactly right!"
Twenty minutes was more than enough time to deal with this opponent and still have time for a snack.
At my words, she gave me a worried look for a moment.
But only for a moment. Soon she nodded and prepared to log out.
She trusted my ability.
After all, she knew I was capable of fighting Seere in single combat.
"...Don't get too hurt."
And with that, she vanished from the scene. One of the presences I'd been sensing disappeared.
I put some distance between us and looked around.
"..."
It was utterly silent. Aside from the enemy in front of me, the only sound was the rustling of leaves. I couldn't sense a single other presence.
In other words, the only person here who could observe me was the one right in front of me.
And since she was fated to die soon, I could basically consider it to be no one at all.
A strange sense of liberation washed over me. How long had it been since I'd felt this free?
"Taking your eyes off me!"
Then she charged at me. A thrust with her short sword.
I could see fierce mana condensing at the tip of her blade.
I'd confirmed it, so I could dodge it.
But instead of dodging, I extended my right hand toward the tip of her sword.
Shunk—!
Along with the sound of flesh being pierced, a searing pain greeted me.
I couldn't help but frown at the wave of pain for a moment.
Still, I was someone who cut into my own flesh every month, so it was bearable for now.
The moment her attack connected, she let out a vulgar laugh.
"Keh-heh-heh, you stupid bastard. Did you think I'd go easy on you just because you're good-looking? You're dead."
"..."
I didn't bother to answer. I didn't exactly have a hobby of conversing with the dead.
I moved my blood for the first time in a long while.
Seething... the blood that had been about to drip to the ground defied logic and rose back into the air.
As long as my will and my ability held.
Blood could be shaped in countless ways, and I could apply force to it proportionally.
The blood flowing from my hand coated the entire blade as if plastering it.
It was only right to get rid of cumbersome weapons quickly.
I applied pressure and crumpled the sword itself.
Crunch—! Cr-crunch—!
With sounds a sword should never make, her short sword crumpled like a sheet of paper.
Watching it, I let out a short hum.
"Hmm..."
It really did take quite a lot of force to crumple steel. It was only possible because it was a thin, small short sword.
It wasn't a method I could use often. This ability wasn't without its side effects, after all.
Anyway, with that, the nuisance was dealt with.
"Uh, uhh?"
Seeing that, the woman let out a dumbfounded sound and stumbled backward.
Confusion and terror spread across her face.
"No, what the fuck... what is that? B-bl-black magic? What are you? What the hell are you that you can do something like that?"
"What does someone who's about to die care about that?"
I tossed away the now-ruined lump of metal that had been a sword and approached her. The blood that had coated the blade was withdrawn.
In the air, bright crimson droplets gathered and floated.
Truly, it was an incredibly useful ability as long as Berserk didn't trigger.
"Heeek, stay back...!"
She screamed in a voice soaked with terror.
The bravado she'd had when she was trying to eat me earlier was nowhere to be seen.
Fortunately for her, I didn't have a hobby of tormenting people who were about to die.
So I intended to send her off in one blow.
I performed Shaping with blood.
What I wished for was a simple thrust.
The blood that had been idling in the air gradually moved, then formed itself into a single awl and flew at her.
Terrified, she frantically raised a round shield.
But it would be useless. I'd just crumpled steel; did she think I couldn't pierce a measly round shield?
And that was the end of it.
"Gurk!"
With a short death cry, a hole was punched through her throat. Through the hole in her neck, the serene forest scenery was visible.
Since she'd seemed to care for her subordinate, I sent her off the same way.
Thud!
Watching her collapse to the ground, I fell into a brief contemplation.
"Hmm..."
Now, how should I dispose of them?
*
Flash!
Logging out, Chae-rin exited the capsule.
And as she waited to reconnect, she trembled with anxiety.
"What do I do...!"
Of course, she knew perfectly well that Yor was strong. He'd shown her plenty of proof over time, and he was a person who could walk away unscathed even after dueling a demon in the first place.
But just looking at the situation, a single 'man' and a single criminal were left alone. If anything went wrong, there was no one to help.
Of course, it was he who had asked her to 'log out'.
Why on earth had he suddenly asked for that?
He'd looked a bit urgent, so she'd complied in a fluster, but because of it, the waiting time had become excruciatingly nerve-wracking.
In [Demon's Saga], you had to wait about twenty minutes to reconnect after logging out.
It was to prevent cheap tactics like logging out in the middle of combat.
Of course, logging back in didn't grant any invincibility time, but it could at least confuse monsters.
Anyway, thanks to that, Chae-rin was forced to wait out twenty agonizing minutes.
Twenty minutes later, she logged back into the game immediately.
"Yor!"
The moment the strange floating sensation vanished, she looked around.
And then she saw it.
A lump of scrap metal rolling in a corner over there, and Yor diligently digging a hole to bury two corpses.
"Ah, you're back?"
He spoke upon seeing Chae-rin.
"Sorry, night's coming. I have to dig right now—can you walk out of here on your own?"
Watching a friendly NPC dispose of bodies, Chae-rin felt her earlier worry become utterly pointless.
And she fell into serious contemplation inwardly.
No matter that this was a game, and the other party were criminals.
Should she really just stand there and watch this serious crime scene...