Raid (2)
Raid (2)
Bang!
As I swung my sword with all my might, the distorted air split apart in its wake.
"Oops! Is it really being sliced apart by pure mana alone? Did Knight Carlos have an ability like this too?"
The man named Vid dodged my sword, looking appalled.
Though his expression and words made him seem utterly astonished by my blade, he avoided it far too easily.
Whoosh!
That he could dodge my sword so easily was partly due to his own skill and partly thanks to the flames wrapped around his blade and arms.
An immense heat radiated from his weapon.
It was so intense that getting too close made it feel as though my entire body would burst into flames.
Was he all right himself? His clothes ought to burn up too. However, since his clothes and hair were perfectly fine, it seemed the ability didn't affect its owner.
'Damn it, that's a total cheat!'
I'd been experiencing the bizarre nature of mana firsthand all this time, but mana that selectively transferred heat depending on the person? It was flouting the laws of physics however it pleased.
"Haha, to think I can fight properly while using an ability like this—staying behind was definitely the right choice!"
He swung his sword with a thrilled expression on his face.
Because of the flames, I couldn't get close to him, but thanks to the ability I got from Katrin, my blade could reach beyond the fire.
The fact that my invisible sword split the flames here and there made it even easier for him to dodge, but without this ability, I would have been scrambling just to avoid the fire.
Clang!
The mana sword was erased by his fire-engulfed blade, while the flames shooting from his sword vanished against my sword aura.
I was moving through slowed time, but my opponent was right alongside me in that same space.
He and I were both fighting within the Mana Cultivation Techniques granted by our inherited abilities.
Inside this slowed world, I watched his movements and gritted my teeth.
My blade bounced off his sword, and whenever our swordsmanship clashed head-on, I ultimately had to retreat.
'Kuh, I'm falling behind in swordsmanship, and I'm lacking strength too. At best, only our speed is equal.'
Though my body wasn't fully grown yet, thanks to the Physical Optimization I'd awakened from the start, I possessed a body equal to or better than a knight's.
On top of that, the Mana Cultivation Technique I had unlocked recently had made my body vastly stronger.
Yet even with those abilities, I still couldn't overcome the man before me.
Aside from myself, this was the first time I'd seen someone with two or more inherited abilities.
Perhaps because of that, his power far exceeded that of an ordinary user of inherited abilities.
Considering he, like me, possessed multiple inherited abilities, the gap between us made sense.
If our abilities themselves were comparable, then the problem had to be the difference in our ages.
I was only in my mid-teens. I wasn't even half my opponent's age; he looked to be in his early thirties.
Even counting all the runs in which I'd died, I'd accumulated a considerable amount of experience, but not all of it remained physically engraved in my body.
Neither my physical specs nor my mana capacity could escape the absolute limitations imposed by age.
My growth would have shocked anyone who knew about it, and I was satisfied with how much I'd grown, yet compared with the man swinging his sword before me, it seemed painfully lacking.
But it seemed he felt the same way.
"This makes no damn sense! Eui-cha! Aren't you clearly only around fifteen or sixteen? Yet you have this kind of skill? Being a Multi-Ability User is ridiculous enough, but where on earth did you get all this combat experience!"
After I blocked his flaming sword with my greatsword, threw a dagger, and launched a kick at him as he dodged, he shook his head in disbelief.
Although I was slightly inferior in physical strength and mana, and under pressure from his unusual flame ability, I wasn't outmatched in combat experience or battle instinct.
The experience I'd accumulated through countless deaths allowed me to keep the fight even despite my inferior stats.
The battle grew increasingly fierce.
He swung his sword with relish, and as I became immersed in the fight, I began to lose track of time.
Just as I was mindlessly swinging my blade in that feverish clash,
Twitch!
I felt something else intrude on my senses.
In an instant, my immersion shattered.
Whoosh.
At the same time, flames grazed my right shoulder.
Pain shot through me, but I focused my mind even more intently on the sensation intruding on me.
Crisis.
Without a doubt, it was a warning.
Once again, mana flowed reflexively into my fingers.
Thunk.
A barrier expanded around me,
Clang, clang, clang.
And incoming arrows bounced off the barrier.
After blocking the volley of arrows raining down on me, the barrier collapsed once more.
The battle came to a halt.
Vid, who had been attacking excitedly, stopped swinging his sword and frowned.
"Damn it, why are you interfering?"
Before I knew it, mercenaries had formed a wide circle around Vid and me as we fought.
Most of them held crossbows. They were the mercenaries who had just fired arrows at me.
Since they were mercenaries, I suppose it made sense that they carried crossbows along with their swords.
At Vid's words, one of the mercenaries stepped forward.
I'd seen that mercenary before. He was the one who'd led the mercenaries in the shopping district.
"My apologies, but if a Multi-Ability User has appeared outside the Organization—no, outside the Empire—we cannot simply let it slide."
At the mercenary's words, Vid twitched an eyebrow.
"Pardon our intrusion, but this isn't a situation for a one-on-one duel. Do not kill him; we must capture him alive and escort him back to headquarters."
When the mercenary finished speaking, Vid laughed, looking stunned.
"Ha. Ha. Ha. Capture him alive?"
My lips twitched as well.
Ugh.
Though it was the same laughter, mine was undeniably a sneer.
Capture me alive?
You bastards?
Did I look like an easy target just because that monstrous guy was pushing me around?
Only then did I take in my surroundings.
I saw corpses scattered among the destroyed carriages.
Corpses with severed limbs, drenched in blood.
There were the maids who had traveled with us all the way to the Duchy, and the servants who had carried our luggage.
There were people who had come with the Grand Archduchess, and I also saw Senior Benjamin, whose upper body was all that remained.
Only now did I realize how foolish I'd been.
Because the bastard fighting me had created the atmosphere of a proper duel, I hadn't even thought about what was happening around me and had engaged in a straightforward one-on-one fight.
He was certainly an exceptionally skilled combatant, but there had been no reason to fight that way.
There was no one left alive here anyway.
Fortunately, you bastards brought me back to reality.
This regression loop was already ruined.
There was no reason to worry about the aftermath anymore.
"You intend to silence everyone by killing even ordinary people, right?"
Then let me kill all of you, too.
Now that I've come to my senses, it's time for you all to pay.
I roused my mana and kicked off the ground.
Bang!
Dust billowed with an explosive sound beneath my feet, and my body shot backward.
I twisted my body and swung my blade.
Slash.
'One.'
Vid had blocked my sword, but you bastards wouldn't be able to block it.
Leaving the mercenary I'd sliced in half behind, I hurled myself toward another mercenary.
The mercenary fired his crossbow at me as I rocketed toward him, but since I could see the shot coming, there was no way I wouldn't dodge it.
I leaped one step to the side, grazing past the mercenary who'd fired the crossbow.
My greatsword, held at my side, swept past the mercenary's neck too, sending his head soaring into the sky.
'Two.'
Only then did the mercenary who had ordered them to shoot arrows at me shout at the top of his lungs, and the sound of someone chasing after me followed.
"Damn it, everything's ruined. But you're my comrades, and I can't let you all die. Everyone, get out of the way!"
Conflicting orders were issued, and naturally, the mercenaries followed their captain's command. Much to my gratitude.
The next mercenary raised his crossbow to block my sword.
It was an impressive reflex, hardly the sort you'd expect from an ordinary mercenary.
Marveling at that quick reaction, I cleaved through the mercenary's body along with his crossbow.
Crunch.
'Three.'
Arrows flew at me, and some mercenaries drew their swords.
I parried the arrows and shattered their blades.
"Stop!"
Vid caught up to me while I was tearing through the mercenaries.
He swung his flaming sword to cut me off.
Whoosh.
But I didn't stop.
Even with flames blocking my path, I charged straight through them.
My flank was scorched by the flames, and bloody lines were carved across my face.
Wounds rapidly multiplied across my body.
Blood scattered in all directions, and it felt as though the stench of burning flesh filled the air.
Pain surged through me, but this much was easy enough to bear, because in the meantime I was able to slaughter every last mercenary.
"M... Monster."
Finally, I plunged my sword into the neck of the mercenary who seemed to be their captain, finishing off the last of them.
Drenched in blood and covered in burns in numerous places.
Yet, pulling my sword from the mercenary's neck, I stood once more before Vid.
"Damn it, I knew this would happen. His outer shell is just a kid, but inside is a guy who's tumbled through brutal battlefields, so of course picking a fight with him would end like this."
Did he deliberately turn this into a one-on-one duel earlier?
It seemed he was smarter than he looked. Or maybe his brain only worked when it came to fighting.
"This makes fighting easier than before, but damn it! It still looks damn near impossible to capture you alive."
What's this? Were you planning to capture me alive too?
I smirked and raised my blade.
It was just a sturdy greatsword, but in a chaotic brawl like this, it had proved immensely useful.
The dagger and the ring helped, too.
Looking at my physical condition, it certainly seemed difficult to beat my opponent now, but I still had one weapon left.
Now that there was no future left to preserve, it was a weapon I could use without hesitation.
I manipulated my mana.
My body was a wreck, but my mana still moved smoothly.
I channeled the mana circulating through the pathways built inside my body toward my chest.
The necklace hanging around my neck felt cold.
But as mana seeped into it, the necklace gradually warmed.
The mana that had entered the necklace flowed back out—several times stronger and far wilder.
The amplified mana began moving along the pathways constructed within my body once more.
Whoom.
My body grew scorching hot. With the mana moving several times more powerfully, it felt as though my body would burst, but thanks to the newly acquired jewelry box, I could control it well enough.
The world slowed down once more.
Perhaps because the mana was difficult to control, the slowed world appeared quite distorted.
And then, my body began to glow faintly.
"What the—you possess Mana Resonance too? No, more than that, you're getting even stronger from here? That is definitely..."
He stared at me with an utterly baffled expression.
"Good gods, who on earth are you...!"
There was no reason to listen to the rest of his words.
Now that I had started using the necklace, time was short.
Within the slowed world, I charged forward.
Flames poured down upon me once again.
I swung my dagger instead of my greatsword.
Slash.
My dagger sliced through the flames.
Beyond the split flames, my opponent's startled face came into view.
Another step forward.
This time, I swung my greatsword.
Clang!
He'd somehow recovered his blade, and it met my greatsword.
A blast of intense heat washed over me.
But I didn't back down.
My assault didn't end there.
Focus, focus harder.
The world slowed even further, warping along with the heat.
I thrust the dagger beneath his parrying blade.
Thunk.
The sound of sword aura erupting from the dagger and sinking into his flesh rang out.
My opponent shuddered.
I shoved my greatsword forward with all my might.
The heat traveling down the greatsword scorched my hands, but I didn't care.
Clang!
This time, I won through sheer strength.
His flaming sword was knocked sideways.
His stance was blown wide open.
I released the greatsword and took another step forward.
Driving the embedded dagger deeper, I slammed my freed fist with all my strength into the face right in front of me.
Blood splattered, and he tumbled backward.
He seemed to lose consciousness for a brief moment.
I didn't stop.
I rained punch after punch down on my falling opponent.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
How many times had I struck him?
When I finally stopped swinging my fist, he lay motionless, completely knocked out.
I couldn't let this opportunity slip by.
Picking up the greatsword I'd dropped on the ground, I severed his head.
His head, still frozen in shock, rolled across the ground.
The battle was over.
My breathing was heavy and ragged.
Judging by the searing pain racking my entire body, it felt as though I'd been roasted alive in the heat.
Even so, I could still move.
The amplified mana was still driving my body forward.
I stared far into the distance ahead.
I didn't know if I would make it in time.
It might already be too late, or my body might break down before I even arrived.
It might actually be better to just end this and start the next regression loop right here.
And yet,
I began to run.