Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: A Familiar Face in the Slaughter
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Brienne slipped through the crowd with her presence completely suppressed. Using the skills she had acquired from the Thieves' Guild, she carefully scanned the faces of the passersby.
‘Searching for dangerous individuals, huh….’
Walking like this, you see all sorts of human figures. From merchants energetically hawking their wares to male and female prostitutes in provocative outfits trying to sell their bodies.
‘Honestly, looking for dangerous people inside [Leda Cabal] doesn’t mean much.’
What was this place? The headquar ters of the five Thieves' Guilds that dominated the Empire.
In case of emergency, even the five Great Thieves—the Five Shadow Elites—handpicked by each guild would mobilize.
It was also where she had learned her skills as a child… As vague memories surfaced, a thick stench of blood wafted from somewhere.
“……?”
Kicking off the wall, she leaped onto the rooftop, and the center of the chaos came into view. A gang of around thirty thieves had surrounded a pair of man and woman.
—That’s them, those bastards!
—Gutsy punks. You know where you are and still come causing trouble?
At the leader’s question, the woman in the ominous dark blue robe grinned wickedly.
—A place where I can kill lots of trash like you?
—You little… .
The next moment, even though the thieves responsible for security were far from amateurs… Brienne doubted her own eyes at the nightmare unfolding before her.
—A, a, aaaaagh!
—S, s, save… kuaaa!
It was unbelievable. How could so many people be… in an instant… As she turned to rush back and warn her companions, suddenly a blood-soaked hand burst from her chest.
“Sorry. All witnesses must be executed.”
How had this guy… Something hot yet cold spread through her entire body.
The man in the dark blue robe yanked his arm free—puhaak—and from his grip, her heart flopped weakly, trailing long strands of blood vessels.
Brienne collapsed into the pool of her own blood. The life in her eyes, which she hadn’t detected until the end, coldly faded away.
* * *
The chaos began with ear-splitting screams right around when a soldier arrived with good news.
“Found it?”
Hirpien wore an incredulous expression. The soldier nodded vigorously.
“Yes! No doubt about it. It’s worn, but that inscription is definitely there.”
“How? Raised or incised?”
“Incised.”
Overwhelmed with emotion, Hirpien covered her mouth with both hands, then bounced over and planted a kiss on the soldier’s cheek before turning to Bardwell.
“Let’s go right now, Bardwell!”
“Of course, miss.”
As Willis and Rain exchanged smiles, someone came rushing from the side.
“Y-You can’t go that way!”
It was the mage Yanar, who had been providing support from the high ground. His face was drenched in cold sweat, his breathing ragged.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“There are things over there right now that aren’t right in the head… I saw a gold-rank adventurer get killed in one hit!”
What nonsense is that? As Willis chuckled and told him not to joke, a scream that seemed to tear eardrums echoed throughout the underground city.
—K-Kuaaaaa!
The moment they looked that way, a blinding white scene seared into their retinas.
Dozens of people floated into the air as if hooked on invisible sickles, then were brutally mangled.
Ribs burst from crushed fat and flesh, spilling entrails and vomit like rain.
The underground city instantly turned into a mad slaughterhouse. People gripped by terror began fleeing with screams.
‘That’s… .’
Rain swallowed dryly.
His heart pounded like a hammer. Countless pieces of information clashed chaotically in his mind.
‘Telekinesis? No, no… telekinesis amplified with that brutal slaughter property… .’
The answer had been set the moment he witnessed its power, but denial of reality delayed the conclusion.
‘Black magic.’
Had the black mage come after me? They watched during the queen incident, so why now? Waited until I was away from <Delaiten>?
“No, that way is seriously dangerous!”
“That’s why I’m saying I’ll go alone. Bardwell, take all the guards and withdraw first. I’ll just pop in and out.”
“No, miss. Let me stay by your side until the end!”
“Don’t say that! I don’t want to put everyone in danger because of my stubbornness. And moving together will just make us more visible and riskier.”
By the time she steadied her mind with deep breaths, the group was arguing amid the reverse-flowing crowd. Hirpien puffed out her chest, telling them not to worry.
“Who am I? Someone who climbed to bronze rank on her own. Don’t worry.”
“You think the guards will just say ‘yes, understood’ and leave? If you die, those guys might get beheaded by the family.”
Willis sneered. The uproar was so intense that they had to shout to communicate.
“In that case, I’ll go.”
He spoke after catching his breath. Attention instantly focused on Rain.
While Willis shot him a glare like he was stirring trouble, Hirpien looked moved at the arrival of a strong ally.
‘Don’t look at me like that. The one who least wants to go here is me… .’
But hadn’t Hirpien bought that seven-gold-coin book for him instead? As an investment in connections. Time to pay it back… Just settling a debt, anyway.
“I can go alone. You’d just get in the way if you follow.”
Just one soldier who knew the orgel’s location would suffice. But Hirpien shook her head furiously.
“I have to go too.”
“It’s dangerous. Just give me the money.”
The merchant might have fled already, but they might need to pay if not.
“Sorry, I know it’s my stubbornness. But I have to go to confirm if it’s real.”
The light in Hirpien’s eyes was unyielding resolve… Persuasion would be a waste of time.
“Fine, then follow carefully.”
“I’ll protect you from the side too… That was the deal.”
As Yanar stuck to Hirpien’s side, spearman Willis sighed, scratched his head irritably, and stepped forward.
“Damn it all! Now I look like the bad guy if I don’t. Fine! Let’s go! Grab the item and get out quick!”
Once they pushed through some of the madness, an eerie silence suddenly descended.
The terrified soldier guided them with ragged breaths, while Willis scouted ahead, sensing enemies and choosing detours.
Finally, after turning the last corner the soldier pointed out… Brutally sliced corpses littered the street. Swarms of flies already buzzed frantically.
“Urk… .”
“This the place? You sure?”
As Hirpien’s eyes darkened with despair, Rain watched silently. Then Willis flipped over one corpse with his foot.
“This one’s still alive.”
Drenched in blood, but the features were unmistakably a Dior family guard. Hirpien gasped and rushed over.
“What? Jackie. You okay?”
“M-Miss… S-Sorry… .”
With trembling fingers, he pulled something precious from his bosom and offered it to Hirpien.
“W-When the owner fled… I-I somehow managed to get this… But it’s covered in my blood… .”
Rain saw dark blue poison writhing from the deep wound in the guard’s chest, blackening and rotting the surrounding flesh and blood.
A product of black magic: virulent poison.
With his heart now being corroded by the poison, that guard… was beyond saving, no matter what. As Hirpien took the orgel and began sobbing.
“Hey, no time to cry!”
Willis tore his clothes, swiftly bandaged the soldier’s wound, and hoisted him over his shoulder. At that moment, a slimy shadow loomed overhead.
“What? Still this many left?”
It was a woman’s voice laced with playfulness. But the power of the magic woven into it… Rain instinctively stepped in front of the group.
“I’ll handle this. You all get out.”
“What are you—”
“—I said I’ll handle it, so go!”
His heart began to race. Clear and intense, like the last traces of life being etched… One mistake now meant death.
The murderous intent of magic felt for the first time in ages, like a blade pressed right to his face.
Protecting anyone while fighting a monster like this was extremely difficult with Rain’s current body. The woman’s eyes curved like crescent moons.
“You’ll handle me? I can hear everything. Kid underestimating me?”
A moment of fierce silence—their distance about twelve meters. Cold sweat beaded on Rain’s forehead.
That instant.
Dark blue poison coalesced in the woman’s hand into a sickle shape, then swung wide with laughter.
“The karma of Jo (Aid) drifting in the air, the name of Lu (Tower). By my command, Libeni, dance the dance of slaughter here and now.”
A 2-star incantation’s high-speed chant…!
Witches from the Republic who used incantations granted the power of runes to all things through verbal commands, creating miracles.
Zing—runes for Jo (Aid) and Lu (Tower) glowed in midair, and the next moment, a wave of intense power crashed in.
“Magic formation deploy, 2-star.”
The formation’s shape: square and triangle.
Inscribed runes: Wa (Vortex), Du (Soaring).
A combination of earth-attribute and fire-attribute magic,
Imbuing the properties of
‘Wa (Vortex: swirling)’,
‘Du (Soaring: surging upward)’.
‘Huh, ultra-high-speed calculation for 2-star magic?’
The moment Libeni’s eyes widened in curiosity and bewilderment.
Kugugugugu────!
The ground surged up like a barrier, flames swirling around it like a vortex.
The flame wall clashed with the amplified wavelength of black magic, shrieking sharply as it birthed a storm. The ground cracked, glass shattered, skin tore in the gale.
Within that storm, the poison sickle and magic-reinforced staff clashed over a dozen times, emitting grating metallic sounds.
As the fog cleared from the successive shockwaves, Libeni and Rain stared straight at each other, blinking in mutual astonishment.
‘Osarius-style staff arts… A lackey from Osarius?’
‘This guy’s way of using the sickle… It’s exactly like my staff arts.’
From Osarius Academy but learned black magic?
No, then they’d use magic, not incantations… Anyway, one thing proven: no chance in close combat.
He could at best suppress, but one hit from that sickle… That was the terror of black magic.
“You’re pretty strong, huh?”
The woman called Libeni said, sounding amused.
Rain took a deep breath.
Focus. A throbbing rune power pulsed from his bandaged left hand.
‘If I use this power of imagery here and now, for sure… .’
As he eyed the chance to remove his left glove, Libeni threw back her hood. The moment he saw the face revealed within, his thoughts froze.
“Huh…?”
The plain brown curly hair, longer than he remembered but otherwise unremarkable, along with the common features, freckles scattered around the nose—exactly the same.
‘No way, how could… .’
Unexplainable, but cutting to the chase, her appearance… was identical.
To his past self… that is, ‘Lin’s.’
More precisely, exactly like when Rista and Fride had forced him into drag back then.
‘Illusion…?’
No, Bell Sidias’s light was linked to his senses now. That was an undeniable reality. His mouth mumbled blankly on its own.
“Me…?”