Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Henchmen I Never Want to See Again.
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"White Face, have you lost your mind?"
Evelyn's voice echoed from somewhere. I whipped my head toward it, but as expected, no one was there. She must have cloaked herself with invisibility magic.
I spat out a mouthful of blood and checked my Freyker vest. It had blocked several attack spells, leaving its surface scratched up in places, but it was still holding strong.
"Lost my mind? This is how assassins fight. Even if you die, make sure to take the enemy down with you. Did you forget that already?"
"Hmph. That's not wrong, but there's another assassin creed: if you run into an opponent you can't possibly handle, run."
"Yeah, I know. That's why I'm great at running away."
"Don't you think now's the time to run?"
"Nah, not at all."
I chuckled. Evelyn seemed to think invisibility magic was some ultimate ability.
Truth be told, invisibility magic had a fatal flaw. The caster themselves couldn't see a damn thing either.
Sure, a Master could read an opponent's movements through their presence and mana flow, but that only worked against regular folks. It didn't fly against someone like me, trained in assassin techniques.
I immediately suppressed all my presence and every bit of mana activity in my body.
Now we were on equal footing. Just as I couldn't see Evelyn, she couldn't see me.
'Run or keep fighting?'
I scooped up a few sharp stone shards scattered around. Pretending to slip, I brushed my foot against a nearby slab, and right on cue, "shards" and "blast craters" came flying.
Magic spells exploded around me one after another. She clearly hadn't pinpointed my location—they were scattered and imprecise.
Some debris grazed my skin and cheek, drawing blood, but I ignored it. I just stared straight through the direction the spells had come from, waiting for my chance.
Finally, I flicked both hands into the air. Two stones shot out like blades, and one embedded itself in empty space.
"Urk."
A short groan leaked from somewhere. I smirked faintly. Not a direct hit, but I'd achieved my goal. Blood was trickling down around the embedded stone.
'Gotcha.'
Drip by drip, the blood fell. Every time a drop beaded up and plummeted from the air, I hurled another stone at her.
Evelyn finally broke and revealed herself, charging straight at me.
"White Face!"
"Come on in."
After several clashes, one of her Zelsas grazed my side. It wasn't deep, but the stinging pain surged through me. Without pause, I grabbed her arm with mine and slammed my right wrist down hard on her collarbone.
Then came a one-handed sword duel. I didn't let up, hammering her side repeatedly with my knee.
"Urk."
Evelyn tried gathering her two Zelsas to cast a spell, but my grip pinned her arms, making it impossible. Most divine artifact spells required chants and gestures—I'd blocked the gestures.
After countless knee strikes, Evelyn finally crumbled. I pinned her down hard, slamming her face-first into the floor, and pressed Yojjo's blade tip against the back of her neck.
"You should've just run."
"You... you're...?"
"Let's end this."
Despair flickered in Evelyn's eyes. She sensed death coming.
"You're making a mistake. If we die, you die too."
"Bullshit. Everyone dies eventually."
As I moved to thrust Yojjo mercilessly, the blade trembled. My hand was ice-cold and rational right now, so Yojjo was clearly protesting.
Yojjo's signals were always a simple 'YES' or 'NO.' This felt like a 'NO'—don't kill Evelyn. I'd been about to do just that, so if it wasn't a no, there'd be no reason to vibrate.
'Why the hell not?'
Evelyn was dangerous as hell. Killing her now would prevent future headaches.
But Yojjo's silent messages were always right. Except that one time it led me to Catrine. After agonizing over it, I slammed Yojjo down into the floor beside her face instead.
Evelyn stared at her reflection in Yojjo's mirror-like blade, her eyes wide as she trembled up at me.
"You're... letting me go?"
"Yeah. So get lost."
I released her, and Evelyn sprang to her feet.
"Why?"
"Beats me."
"What does that mean?"
I ignored her confusion and drew Yojjo.
At that moment, a massive aura rolled in from outside the building. Evelyn and I both whipped our heads toward the collapsed prayer hall in horror. But the presence was still too far to see.
"Ah, damn it! If you're coming, come sooner—not now, you idiot."
"What's wrong? Do you know who it is?"
I ignored her question and dashed over to snatch the "Jade Harness of Great Sins" from the floor. With all my strength, I hurled it far into the middle of Kara Lake.
At the same instant, the prayer hall's outer wall exploded inward, and a figure burst into the building. It was Armida sis. She waved away the swirling dust and strode down the corridor.
"It was definitely around here..."
Evelyn's eyelids twitched at the overwhelming aura pouring from Armida sis.
I shot sis a glare.
"Wow, you sure took your time."
"Oh, little bro's here too? But what's with all those wounds?"
Sis fussed over my injuries, and I let out a short sigh.
"Never mind that. What took you so damn long?"
Armida sis grinned sheepishly.
"I did my hair, sprayed some conditioner, put on skin cream... I told you earlier, I was doing my hair."
"Right. Guess we can head home now. Festival's canceled today. No point sticking around."
Armida sis glanced around awkwardly.
"Well, actually, there's something I wanted to check..."
"What?"
"On the way here, I sensed a monster summoning ritual nearby. Felt like it was around here—did you see anything?"
I looked at Evelyn, who was trembling with her head bowed. Telling the truth would get her killed for sure.
I pointed toward Kara Lake.
"Fought it a bit ago, then it ran that way."
"Really? Got it. I'll check later."
Armida sis shot off toward Kara Lake in a hurry. Evelyn watched her go, then approached me.
"Who the hell is she?"
"Figure it out yourself. She's a spinster who's been around forever."
Evelyn's face twisted as expected. No way a human could emit that kind of aura.
"But why's someone like her down here...?"
"No clue. Says she's hunting some psycho trying to destroy the world, but looks like she's chasing the wrong leads to me."
"Hah."
Evelyn let out a small laugh. I jabbed at her.
"Not going home?"
"I am."
"Hurry up, before I change my mind."
I let loose a wave of killing intent, and Evelyn backed away warily.
"Thanks anyway. See you later."
"We got no business anymore."
"Nah, we will. Often, even. When that time comes, I'll return the favor for today."
"Do whatever."
"Catch you later."
Evelyn leaped down from the building.
I quickly pulled a healing potion from my subspace pouch and doused my wounds. I hadn't noticed during the fight, but now they burned like hell.
The plaza looked like total chaos. Dead Velbocks littered the ground here and there, while holy knights and Kara soldiers patrolled, inspecting monster corpses.
I eyed a spot swarming with people. Uncle Jenbe stood in the middle, scratching his head awkwardly amid the Kara citizens' praise.
I scanned the surroundings and frowned. The one person who should have been there was missing.
Snorting in annoyance, I marched up to Uncle Jenbe.
"Uncle Jenbe!"
The crowd around him parted like the tide at my angry shout.
Uncle Jenbe welcomed me.
"Human! You made it. Come on over."
"Where's the client? The Ruler of Kara. The Ruler."
"Oh. He left."
"I specifically told you to keep him here until I got back."
Uncle Jenbe eyed me nervously.
"How do you stop someone who wants to leave?"
"Then what about our pay?"
Uncle Jenbe rolled his eyes.
"He gave us a proper thank-you."
"A thank-you?"
"Yeah. Very polite and sincere. For a city ruler, he was surprisingly humble."
I rubbed my face. This orc uncle fought for the world's richest woman and calls it even with a heartfelt thanks. Sigh, how do I fix that stubborn opportunism?
Still, we'd saved Kara's Ruler—a high-status guy with deep pockets. No way he'd wipe his mouth clean after just thanks.
"Well, if the Ruler has any conscience, he'll take care of us."
"Probably."
"Probably?"
I glared, and Uncle Jenbe backpedaled fast.
"Definitely."
I looked around again. Another person who should definitely be here was missing too.
"Oh, and where's Zombie Uncle? He go too?"
"Zombie?"
"You know, the skinny Master guy. He came to your food cart once, right?"
"Oh, that human? What would he be doing here?"
I gave him a suspicious look.
"He didn't come?"
"Nope. Haven't seen that Master in ages."
"Huh. Did anyone else see him?"
"Dunno?"
"Go ask around the holy knights and Kara soldiers. He was definitely at this Euroa Temple today."
Uncle Jenbe asked around and came back.
"No one saw him."
"Seriously? That can't be..."
Kallon had come here with me earlier because of some appointment. We split up midway, but the monsters appeared right after—not like he could've missed them. He should've stepped up and fought with everyone, but no one saw him. Something was off.
'No way this uncle's... with Evelyn?'
It wasn't impossible. On the way to Euroa Temple, he'd been reluctant to travel with me, almost desperate to send me home. And when we parted, he'd warned me I'd ruin myself over a woman—practically predicting the Evelyn encounter.
All signs pointed to suspicious.
'If Zombie Uncle's in on it too, then Kara's Ruler wasn't the target...'
If they'd orchestrated this to hit Kara's Ruler, Kallon should've been here no matter what. The target was right here. Plus, they had Evelyn, their assassination expert. If it was the Ruler, she'd have taken point, not Kallon.
But Evelyn had only controlled the monsters and drawn everyone's attention. If the Ruler was the goal, it made zero sense.
"Oh yeah, heard the relic vault under Euroa Temple got robbed too."
I snapped my head toward Uncle Jenbe.
"By who?"
"Not sure, but survivors say it was a swordsman and a mage in disguise."
Looks like the relic vault was their real target. The monsters from the main hall were just bait to divert the holy knights and temple guards.
"A swordsman and a mage... Wonder what they took."
"No idea."
"Well, we'll find out eventually."
Still, it all felt off.
They wielded a "Jade Harness of Great Sins" that could only come from Sky City Chronos, carried swords forged from divine metal, raided a famous temple's relic vault, and used forbidden monster summoning.
Only one group fit that bill: the henchmen of Armida sis's runaway friend.
'These bastards show up out of nowhere and cause all this trouble.'