Chapter 190
Chapter 190
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 190
Chapter Title: The Lizardman Beneath the Red Mask
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The moment the blade touched the mask, Ramin thought.
'It's tough?'
Ramin realized that the masks worn by the Tooth Agents weren't mere decorations—they were surprisingly effective protective gear.
Even so, the Empire's steel blade was sharp enough to slice through the mask. But a skilled swordsman always swings according to the material he's cutting, so the red-masked figure managed to pull back just in time, before the blade could reach the face beneath.
A chunk of shattered glass and half-severed red mask clattered to the floor.
Ramin looked at the face beneath the mask.
More precisely, it was a snout.
"...A Lizardman?"
The Lizardman whose mask had been diagonally sliced off glared at Ramin.
"...Is that surprising?"
It wasn't just any Lizardman that surprised him.
There were plenty of Lizardmen in the Union Kingdom, after all.
But this one's scales were black.
Sure, there might be black-scaled Lizardmen not from the Empire, but every black-scaled Lizardman Ramin knew hailed from the Empire.
Del—the Tooth Agent and black-scaled Lizardman—drew a dagger from the sheath on his chest.
Ramin thought it was a sensible choice.
His longsword hung at his waist, but in tight quarters, blindly drawing and swinging it would likely catch on something.
'Of course, that's only if you lack experience fighting in confined spaces.'
Ramin kicked the door open, forcing Del back.
He might get sandwiched in a pincer attack, but fighting in the corridor seemed preferable.
'From that Lizardman's view, Juran won't be visible.'
Ramin glanced at Juran, pressed against the wall.
He couldn't signal her.
All he could do was hope she'd handle her part.
Juran gave a slight nod, or so it seemed.
'Good. Then...'
Ramin's plan was simple.
Find Gorgota, who'd gone to scout the train's interior.
And escape together as a trio.
To do that, he needed to kill the Tooth Agent in front of him.
'The Empire communicates via earthworm signals through their mages, but the Union Kingdom mostly uses pigeons. If I kill this guy before he can send a signal...'
Bang!
The gunshot rang out just as Ramin stepped forward.
The bullet grazed his ear.
It hadn't come from the Lizardman right in front of him.
'If it had, it wouldn't have missed.'
There was another Tooth Agent behind the Lizardman.
He'd fired while avoiding Del, so he hadn't aimed properly at Ramin.
But the shot itself wasn't about hitting Ramin—it was a signal.
"Vampire here! Car 8! Car 8!"
Ramin clicked his tongue.
Del showed no sign of pressing the attack.
He could just wait—the other Tooth Agents would surround Ramin, and he could strike from behind.
With no choice, Ramin thrust his sword at Del.
Even in a space barely wide enough for one person, treating the blade like a spear made it perfectly usable.
But Del responded defensively, retreating when possible and handling his dagger adeptly, prioritizing evasion over counterattacks.
Occasional shots came from the agent behind Del, wielding a pistol.
Ramin said,
"All you're doing is running back. Feeling outmatched?"
Del retorted,
"Taunts won't work, Ramin Solrost Muel. I'm no fighter."
"Then what are you?"
"A bureaucrat. I carry out orders."
To Ramin, that response smacked of falling for the provocation.
"Why betray the Empire?"
"I've never betrayed the Empire. If anything, the Empire betrayed me."
"Is that why you tried to buy me off?"
Del ignored the question.
"Surrender now, and I'll ensure a favorable outcome regarding your future treatment."
Ramin rolled his eyes.
'Where's the "proactive life" the Night Lord preached?'
Ramin ignored him in turn.
Then he lunged forward with a big swing—his first major motion yet.
Del seemed to think he'd found an opening. He retreated sharply, raising his dagger's guard to block the sword, aiming to lock blades and grapple using their size difference.
But Ramin's move was a feint.
He stepped in closer and lightly pulled back his extended arm.
Del, who'd clashed swords with Ramin once before, recognized the motion instantly.
'...He's throwing it!'
Del was right.
Ramin thrust his arm forward again and released the sword's hilt.
Wondering why Ramin would telegraph so obviously, Del hugged the wall to dodge the spinning blade's path.
Thud!
A dull, chilling sound echoed.
Del turned to see the sword buried up to the hilt in the chest of the agent who'd been standing behind him.
Ramin had targeted the agent behind Del from the start.
"Damn...!"
By the time Del looked back, Ramin was already leaping into the adjacent berth.
He flung open the empty compartment's window and hauled himself out.
As his body was halfway through, he spotted Del aiming a dagger in one hand and a pistol in the other.
A rubber-powered shot fired just as Ramin kicked off the sill, grabbing the train car's roof and pulling himself up.
The bullet scraped the sole of his shoe and flew off.
"Damn it."
Del looked up at the roof, hearing Ramin's footsteps.
He raised his gun, then decided against wasting a low-penetration rubber bullet on the metal plating and lowered it.
A late-arriving Tooth Agent asked,
"Where's the vampire?"
"He climbed onto the roof. Half the agents go forward, half go back. Hurry!"
Ramin gazed at the scenery from atop the speeding train.
It was moving as fast as a galloping horse.
The sky was clear, the blue fields and gentle hills stretching out beautifully.
If his life weren't on the line, he'd have lost himself staring.
Gazing ahead naturally blew his hood back.
'Stupid.'
As scorching heat slammed his face, Ramin pulled his hood down and turned around.
A hand reached up from behind the car, gripping the roof as someone climbed aboard.
A Tooth Agent.
"There he is!"
Ramin fired his pistol.
Bang!
The shot missed, sparking faintly off the roof.
The distance was close enough, but the fierce wind made aiming impossible.
"He's got a powder pistol! Armed with a gun!"
Ramin glanced fore and aft—agents were already hauling themselves onto the roof.
Del shouted,
"The vampire has a gun! Climb up on signal, all at once! Those who die here will have their honor acknowledged by the Wrathful One!"
Ramin ducked low and slapped his hand on the roof.
'Efficiently.'
From his experiences with Hwikyung, his master, and countless others, Ramin had developed his own philosophy of life.
Efficiency.
A vampire's life came at the cost of others' wounds, pain, and lives.
He couldn't squander it.
And that mindset held even after becoming a Chosen.
'Mazda's explanation was convoluted, but the gist is that using demonic power drains mental energy, leaving you fatigued.'
Dried herbs could restore it, but who knew when he'd have the luxury.
Thus, Ramin believed demonic power should always be used efficiently.
From the moment he'd first become a Chosen, fighting the hero by targeting the heart—it was for the same reason.
The heart was the body's most vulnerable spot.
'Just blasting electricity everywhere... If the old scholars were right about electricity, most of the energy dissipates into the air.'
That was waste.
Chosen were rare, so studies on electricity weren't advanced, but Ramin knew enough.
'Dry wood doesn't conduct electricity well, but a wet towel does.'
Ramin placed his hand on the train car's metal roof.
'Rubber insulates, but iron conducts.'
Current spread along the thin iron plating.
It arced to the Tooth Agents just climbing aboard.
No flashy sparks like those from ancient Chosen.
The agents' hearts seized up in cardiac arrest, and three bodies tumbled off into the tracks.
"The vampire's using some strange power!"
"Looks like a mage. This doesn't match our intel!"
"We can't handle this alone..."
The agents sounded panicked.
Not all were dead, but none dared climb up again.
Del's voice rang out.
"He's a Chosen! That's electricity!"
Del had figured it out, but it wasn't enough to calm them.
Originally, he hadn't fried them in the corridor because Ramin had been waiting for this moment.
"Jump across from the fore and aft cars! Your shoe soles block electricity."
As Ramin pondered abandoning efficiency, a figure appeared at the window of the forward car.
Gorgota.
He didn't speak to avoid drawing attention, but his flapping frog hand clearly signaled to leap to the next car.
As Ramin sprinted, blind shots fired from below the roof.
Some pierced thin spots, others didn't.
Ramin ran full tilt and leaped between cars.
Thump...!
The instant Ramin jumped, light flared from the coupling between cars.
Ducking low, Ramin looked down to see Juran dusting off her hands as she stood.
Juran said to Ramin,
"Glad you're safe, sis. I just severed the coupling."
Before Ramin could ask, he realized what had happened.
The coupling glowed red-hot, cleanly cut.
The train's power came from the steam locomotive up front, so severing the coupling meant the rear cars would slow and fall behind.
Since they were on a straight track, the distance opened rapidly.
As Ramin stood and looked back at the receding cars, Del emerged from a door.
Del aimed at Ramin, then lowered his gun upon realizing the range was futile.
"Where's Gorgota?"
"The agents had him. I helped him out."
Ramin climbed down from the roof and regrouped with Gorgota.
Gorgota said,
"We shook the agents, but now they know we're on this car. We can't stay aboard much longer."
"Then what do we do?"
Gorgota pulled out a map.
"Lubail Valley's nearby. It'll take time on foot, but it's doable. We can jump during the deceleration zone."
Juran said,
"You sure? Feels like they've got our route figured out, for some reason."
As Gorgota frowned in thought, Ramin spoke up.
"I'm worried too, but it's not the worst case. Them knowing our route means they know what we're after."
"What do you mean?"
Ramin said,
"I wasn't even sure we'd find a lead on Hwikyung in Lubail Valley. Turns out, that's not it. They're onto us because Hwikyung's actually there."