Chapter 170
Chapter 170
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 170
Chapter Title: 70. Human Hunting (4)
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Yuri, Rolang, and Jared found a suitable spot and dug out a sturdy burrow.
"This should do."
The three slipped inside together. It was cramped, but they had no choice.
Yuri sealed the entrance using branches and nearby natural materials.
"Listen carefully from now on."
"Yes."
"I'll teach you a secret technique."
Yuri intended to pass on the Eastern martial art he had learned from Moyong Chan to the two of them.
"It's a secret divine art that lets a living person mimic a corpse—slowing the heartbeat, dropping the body temperature, and allowing you to breathe without any trace of presence."
"Does a martial art like that even exist?"
"It does. It's called the Turtle Breath Great Law."
"Ooh……."
It wasn't overly complex, so the pair picked it up quickly.
"The Turtle Breath Great Law will put you into unconsciousness, but it erases your presence entirely and lets you control when you wake up."
Yuri placed his hands on their chests.
Rolang and Jared circulated their mana just as Yuri instructed. In accordance with the technique's principles, their metabolism gradually slowed to a crawl.
Yuri fine-tuned their timers.
The effect was instantaneous.
"I'm so sleepy."
"Then sleep."
"Sweet dreams."
"Yeah."
With that, Rolang and Jared sank into the Turtle Breath Great Law.
Yuri lay down in his spot as well.
Imperial knights occasionally prowled outside, but the three in suspended animation remained oblivious to the world around them. The knights, for their part, detected no signs of life.
Time passed.
As night fell, Yuri opened his eyes.
"……."
He was alone when he woke. Scanning with his senses, nothing registered.
The imperial knights appeared to have moved on already.
Yuri closed his eyes and paused for a moment before slowly crawling out of the burrow.
The moon hung bright in the sky.
Gazing up the mountainside, he spotted occasional flickers of light moving about.
The encirclement had passed by.
"Lucky."
He murmured to himself, then drew a deep breath.
The crisp night air washed through his lungs.
"Huu……."
He lifted Guilty.
The blade, bathed in moonlight, gleamed with a soft luster.
"Thanks again this time."
Whispering softly, Yuri closed his eyes and used Heart-Soul Severing to realign his internals.
His body stirred back to life after the dormancy of the Turtle Breath Great Law, and the mana flow tangled by heart demons smoothed out perfectly.
Every hair on his body prickled with renewed vitality.
He could even feel the subtle shifts in the air brushing over his skin.
His senses expanded further.
He vaguely sensed the enemies' positions. The imperial knights were forming an encirclement aimed at the mountain peak.
Unaware of the Turtle Breath Great Law—a supreme technique—they hadn't realized they'd already bypassed their targets.
Two options lay before him.
Slip away from them and descend the mountain.
Or sink his teeth into their nape.
Yuri gripped his sword. Heart-Soul Severing churned wildly within him, as if possessed by its own fierce will.
Yuri paused in thought.
Ogres had raided Liberda, and Sibylla—now king—had struck at Bursen.
A cascade of unforeseen events had rendered his preparations moot, leaving Brioll to face the empire alone.
Memories from his past life overlapped.
The palace engulfed in flames. People dying wretched deaths.
The empire's black legions had slaughtered mechanically, devoid of emotion.
If he didn't stop them now, the same tragedy would repeat.
Killing imperial troops was tantamount to saving the lives of Brioll's people.
Decision made, Yuri melted into the darkness and began to move.
He hated leaving Rolang and Jared behind, but they would awaken at sunrise.
Until then, this was his time alone.
He soon closed in on the nearest foe.
A small voice drifted over.
"Why are they so obsessed with just three guys?"
"We've already lost how many?"
"Got careless, I guess."
"Careless enough to lose entire squads?"
"So you're saying they actually have skills? Experts like that in Brioll?"
"Brioll's got no nobles who can't swing a sword. Probably some hotshot we don't know about."
"Brioll, huh……."
These were knights holding the rearmost position in the encirclement. As always, four of them sat amid the underbrush, gnawing on jerky and chatting idly.
Yuri marveled at the empire's discipline.
One or two, and he could've dispatched them silently with ease. But four clustered together? No confidence in killing them without a fuss.
Especially on a night this deathly still.
Yuri concealed himself in the bushes and waited.
With eyes attuned to the Heart-Soul realm, even faint moonlight revealed the enemies' forms clearly in the gloom.
A hunter needs patience.
Soon enough, his chance arrived.
"Where you headed?"
"Gonna take a piss."
"Don't wander far."
"Relax."
"Not up. Down below, if there's a fight."
"Got it."
One peeled away from the group.
He distanced himself from his comrades, humming a tune.
He kept going longer than Yuri expected, long enough to arouse suspicion.
"Damn, can't even piss right these days……."
The knight had urinary troubles. He'd come this far out of embarrassment.
"Uuum……."
The sound of liquid dripping came sporadically.
Drip.
Drip.
Driiiip.
Because it kept stuttering, Yuri had to time his movements to the noise, advancing slowly.
A sigh heavy with worry followed.
"Huuu……."
Yuri slipped up behind the knight.
"Pathetic……."
Those were his final words.
Yuri severed the knight's throat.
Slish.
The mana-infused blade sliced cleanly through flesh and bone.
Thud.
Blood poured from the stump, soaking the earth.
"Too bad. Next life, piss without a hitch."
Yuri snatched up the discarded helmet and donned it. No need for the rest— he'd looted enemy gear earlier that day.
He stood motionless by the corpse.
Time to exercise patience once more.
"……."
Sure enough, things unfolded as anticipated.
A comrade had come searching for the fallen knight.
"Hey, Jack. Still at it?"
Just one.
"Hey, still having issues? I told you to see that doc I recommended. He's a miracle worker. Don't be embarrassed."
He prattled on from a safe distance behind Yuri.
"What's there to be ashamed of between us? Buddies from the hometown, been through it all together. Remember how you strutted around dreaming of knighthood? Piss problems are nothing compared to that. Right?"
"……."
"Hey, hey. You crying?"
The knight drew closer.
They seemed to share a deep bond.
No doubt they had stories aplenty.
Yuri couldn't claim his own life held more weight than theirs.
But a hunter doesn't spare the innocent.
"Jack, you bastard……."
Yuri whirled and slashed.
The knight's face froze mid-laugh as his head parted from his neck.
The two friends who'd risen from their hometown to imperial knighthood ended as headless corpses, sprawled like refuse. Yuri kicked their severed heads together with his boot.
He moved with caution.
Take out the rest before they noticed anything amiss.
The remaining pair were chatting among themselves.
One had his helmet off; the other wore his properly.
"Hey. Isn't that stuffy? You can take it off."
"No, sir."
"It's fine. This is downtime. No chance without the captain around."
"……."
"Not gonna?"
"Well……."
"Take it off."
"Yes, sir. Removing it now."
Yuri let out a soft chuckle.
He unslung the bow from his back and drew the string taut.
"Look, knights are people too—no need to be so rigid. Seniors hazed us back in the day, but not anymore. Just do your job. Got it?"
Yuri trained the bow on the loquacious senior knight.
Better to save the greener one for last.
The senior spoke from a half-reclining position.
"You know our captain? He's a real dog with a bone—once he latches on, he doesn't let go. That's why we're stuck suffering like this. Make a good impression. Screw up, and he'll chew you out endlessly; impress him, and he'll treat you right. He's got extreme favorites, you could say……."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"And, uh……."
Yuri released the string.
In the same instant, he kicked off and lunged forward.
His speed was blinding—the arrow spearing one throat coincided almost exactly with Yuri plunging his sword into the junior knight.
"Guh……."
"Uh-uh-uh……."
One crumpled, foaming blood. The other shuddered, throat impaled on Yuri's blade.
Yuri pressed the sword in tighter.
Blood trickled from the junior's neck.
"Yell, and you die."
"Y-yes……."
"Want to live?"
"Y-yes, yes."
His voice was a terrified rasp, thick with survival instinct.
"Tell me the situation."
"Uh……."
His eyes darted wildly.
"What, talk and die anyway?"
"……."
"Die now, or maybe get a shot at running."
"Uh……."
"I don't want to kill you."
Yuri withdrew his blade. The knight's eyes bulged.
"Where's Elpeso? What'd you report to the main force? Current orders. Just those three. Answer, and you live."
As he spoke, Yuri drove Guilty into the convulsing senior knight's skull.
The cranium shattered, ending him instantly.
Witnessing it, the junior spilled his guts.
"I-I'll talk."
Not exhaustive details, but enough to grasp the broad strokes.
Intelligence gathered.
Yuri nodded.
"Hands behind head. Face down. When I leave, run downhill. Understand?"
"Yes."
He complied meekly, prone with hands neatly clasped behind.
Yuri's sword smashed into his occiput.
The junior likely never realized his death.
The utmost mercy Yuri could offer.
His gaze swept the darkness once more.
No more lucky breaks where they peeled off one by one.
Having committed to battle, he'd have to risk exposing his position from here on.
Fortunately, the junior's info sketched out their formation.
Yuri shifted laterally.
He'd clear them from the rear, methodically.
A faint sound echoed through the dark woods.
Wright of the 9th Knight Division, eyes fixed on the upper slopes, turned at the noise.
It was faint, but unmistakably like a scream.
"Didn't you hear something just now?"
"Like what?"
"Sounded like a scream……."
"Probably nabbed one of those fleeing Brioll rats."
The other three showed no interest.
As the least experienced in the group, Wright simply nodded.
Imperial squads mixed seniors and juniors, with a strict hierarchy between them.
Speaking up meant a scolding from the veterans.
Wright opted to stay put.
"Don't make a fuss."
"Yes, sir."
"Chasing three rats, and we're stuck suffering like this……."
He wanted to remind them those rats had already slain fellow knights, but the words stuck in his throat.
"Just some Brioll hicks."
Imperial arrogance ran deep—seniors especially tended to underestimate the foe.
Wright, raised on legends of Fiore Brioll, never took Brioll lightly.
Hadn't a Brioll knight just won the recent tournament?
This would be no easy war.
Suddenly, Wright turned.
The sound came again.
"That was……."
This time, he wasn't alone. Another senior stared in the same direction.
"Something happening back there?"
"No way."
The other two shook their heads.
"That's the rear."
"Yes."
"They fled upward. That's why we're encircling the mountain. No holes to escape through."
"Right."
"Rear guys probably jumped at some mountain beast."
Anxiety welled up in Wright.
Something was clearly afoot, yet these two seniors showed zero vigilance.
The one who seemed reasonable merely scratched his head.
Wright rose to his feet.
"I'll go take a look."
"What?"
"Just to be safe."
"Hm……."
The senior behind him snickered.
"Fine, if you're spooked, go check. A wild goose chase builds character."
"Yeah, do that."
"Hurry back."
Permission granted.
"I'll just circle the area."
Protocol called for moving as four, but Wright's seniors weren't sticklers for rules.
Wright patrolled solo.
The darkness felt alive, ready to spit out threats.
The moon provided light, but dense trees filtered it to a dim haze.
After scouting, Wright headed back. No presences detected. Maybe the seniors were right—pointless worry.
"Huu……."
He returned to their position.
But.
"……."
Something was wrong.
All three seniors lay sprawled on the ground.
The moment he opened his mouth.
"Shh."
A low voice whispered right in his ear.
Wright froze solid.
"Quiet."
The blade at his throat chilled him to the bone.
"Do as I say if you want to live."
It was the enemy.