Escape (2)
I could sense the presences waiting in front of the door that led to the second floor. Four of them.
The moment Jun kicked the door open and sent it flying, blades came raining down.
Thud— Clang—
I deflected the first outstretched hand with a kick to the top of its foot, knocking it off course, then twisted my body to dodge the blade stabbing in from the side. At the same time, I crossed the daggers in both hands and shoved the falling blade back upward.
While everyone’s stance crumbled, Mei pushed off my shoulder and launched herself into the air. Her heel slammed down hard on one man’s face. Using the recoil, she landed on another’s neck and slashed his throat open with her dagger.
I drove my right-hand dagger straight into the jaw of the man stumbling backward, his eyes flooded with terror.
“Guh.”
Jun’s knuckle crushed the last one’s skull, ending the fight.
“Over here! The bastards have come up!”
The ones who had only been watching from a distance shouted and scattered.
Haah. What a bunch of cowards.
This is exactly why a single straight path is unreasonable when you’re the one escaping. There are no detour routes.
“We break through as fast as possible.”
“Yes.”
“Minimize combat.”
“Okey~.”
We sprinted down the corridor.
From spots disguised as iron bars, spears and axes lunged out in ambush. Jun and I blocked them while Mei stabbed the vital points. Even when enemies burst from piled-up dummies, we simply cut them in half. Our feet never stopped moving.
The ones filling the second floor were the guild’s assassins.
“Brother, you saw that, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Not a single one of the people we contacted to join us is here.”
“...”
“That old fart Matthew cleared them all out. Just to make things harder for us.”
Enough stray thoughts. It was simply more convenient not to show any mercy.
Creak—
“Trap. Break through. Mei, stay behind me.”
Between us, the mechanism activated and a storm of arrows poured down. I claimed the left side and deflected every single one. The right belonged to Jun. Under our cover, Mei hurled three throwing knives.
Thwack. Thunk.
The blades sank into two men who had been hiding, waiting to snatch an opening. I flew forward like a butterfly and finished off the last one who tried to flee late, only to trip with a dagger buried in his thigh.
“Hey! We’re still perfectly in sync, aren’t we?”
“Just keep running.”
“It does remind me of the old days.”
I felt presences around the corner ahead. Through the gap in the door right before it, I spotted oil barrels stacked high—kerosene for emergency lanterns.
Aha.
I kicked the door open, hurled an oil barrel, and stabbed it deeply with my blade.
Splash. Splatter.
“Wh-what the—?”
The men who had been holding their breath burst out in panic as oil gushed everywhere. I kicked off the wall and drove my knee into one man’s face. Using the collapsing body of another who slipped on the oily floor as a stepping stone, I crossed the drenched corridor.
“Jun! Flint!”
A guy as prepared as him would definitely have some. I snatched the flint he tossed over and struck it against the oil-soaked stone.
Whoosh.
Flames erupted and spread in an instant.
“Kyaaaagh! Fire! Get it off me! Put it out, please!”
This should slow down any pursuit. I lightly leaped over the spear trap rising from the floor and kept running.
“Hey, mister! You escaping right now?”
“Take me with you! I may not look like much, but I’ve got pull outside! I’ll repay you properly!”
I ignored the noisy chatter and kept sprinting. A few of them cursed at us—probably because Mei was “accidentally” throwing daggers at the assassins. They didn’t look like accidents at all. She wasn’t the kind of person who missed in the first place.
Before long, the staircase leading to the first floor appeared ahead.
“F-fuck… Squad Four’s wiped out too. Weren’t they supposed to be just prisoners?!”
“Run! Don’t throw your life away! Reinforcements are almost here. First floor! Get to the first floor!”
I could see the gatekeepers abandoning their posts and fleeing from far away. I could have caught up and thrown a dagger to finish them, but—
“You okay?”
“Big bro, you’ve got some serious stamina.”
No need to push ourselves. Jun, who had caught up late, caught his breath.
“Looks like reinforcements really are coming.”
“That’s why I hurried. Once I decided on a frontal breakthrough, I already accepted we’d have to clash with their main force.”
The passage to the first floor, slowly pried open, was completely empty.
“Hoo… haa. I’m sensing a lot of presences. Looks like support troops have already reached the first floor. Want to rest a little?”
Jun and Mei strode up the stairs. The number of presences I felt was one, two, three… No—hundreds. Two hundred. Three… Shit.
“You think the enemy will wait for us, you idiot? Strike while the iron is hot, so let’s—”
“Wait…!”
The door connected to the first floor burst wide open.
A seething mass of heavily armed troops filled the space. On the center of the crescent moon engraved on their armor chests, an eye that seemed to gaze upon all creation was embossed.
Lunaris. The only group in this world that wore the moon goddess’s symbol on their chests was the Luna Church. And the ones wearing the crescent moon emblem were… the Crescent Holy Order.
Should I feel relieved they were only the most basic troops? In a situation where the usual guards were sparsely visible, our eyes met with theirs the moment we stepped out.
“Oh my, what the actual fuck?”
“Catch them!”
“Uwaaaaaaaaah!”
My quiet curse was swallowed by the erupting war cries.
I swung my sword to the left. Beyond the collapsing body, a fresh one appeared and I stabbed it with the blade in my right hand. At the same time, I kicked away an enemy charging into my opening with my opposite foot.
I had discarded the daggers long ago. In a large-scale melee like this, they were useless. Though I wasn’t even sure if a one-versus-many situation like this could truly be called a melee.
Mei, swinging a sword too large for her small frame, tripped the foot of an enemy aiming for the gaps created when she threw her knives. She stayed low, instantly drew a dagger in reverse grip, and drove it into the seam of his armor. She snatched the longsword the staggering man dropped and thrust it forward.
The next one held an axe. Lucky. I ripped it from his weakening grip, swung it wide horizontally to clear space, then hurled it. It buried itself in the head of the man locked in a power struggle with Jun. Jun gave me a quick nod of thanks, retrieved the axe, and put it to use.
In exchange for that brief help, I bent backward to avoid a spear thrust right in front of my face and used the enemy’s own force to throw him down. Several bodies tangled with the one that suddenly collapsed. In the chaos of a melee, falling meant death. Even if they survived by luck, they were out of the fight.
I dodged the spears that flew at me again without tiring, cut, stabbed, severed arms, tore open sides, ripped apart solar plexuses, smashed skulls, took heads, and pierced hearts.
My companions’ breathing was growing rough.
“Ugh.”
Mei took a long cut across her cheek. Unlike Jun, who loved close-quarters combat and favored knuckles with blades embedded in them, Mei was a born assassin. She avoided even one-on-one fights, preferring to hide in darkness and strike from ambush. She was holding up relatively well by keeping her back to the wall in the narrow corridor, but we couldn’t afford to stay pinned down.
A melee like this was pure hell for her, who waited for the perfect moment to slip in…
Darkness?
“Mei. The lights! Kill the lights!”
I took a cut on my right forearm on purpose, forced my way in, blocked the attack for her, and shouted.
Clang. Clang. Clang-clang.
Mei immediately leaped lightly to secure vision and threw her daggers. Leaping usually left her defenseless, something she avoided, but she trusted me.
Clang! Clang! Crunch.
The magic lanterns flickered brightly for a moment before announcing the end of their short lives.
Crackle…
With that final sound, darkness swallowed everything.
The faint light visible where the corridor bent only illuminated its immediate surroundings.
“The lights are out! Maintain position—!”
The commander’s shout came a beat too late. And in the pitch-black darkness that wrapped around the space, such an order was foolish.
Slice.
Along with the sound of a blade cutting through leather, the commander who had been raising his voice fell silent. Without sound or shape. The soldiers only realized what had happened when they felt the hot blood spraying from the corpse.
“H-here! Group up!”
The soldiers formed a nervous circle, but how could they be sure the shoulder pressed against theirs belonged to an ally?
Thud.
The head of the soldier on the left tilted sideways.
“Fall back! Retreat to the light!”
Another brave soul shouted from behind. The moment those words left his mouth, every remaining lantern in the corridor went out.
“U-uwaaaaagh!”
Sparks flew from blades swung wildly in extreme agitation. In that brief flash of light, I saw the idiot who had bravely given orders—now hanging by a black cord around his neck from the lantern hook, limp.
Mei’s really going wild now that it’s dark.
“Kuh, h-here—!”
“Uwaaaaagh! Get away, you monster!”
Jun didn’t even bother hiding his presence. He simply bulldozed forward like a tank. He stabbed daggers into the backs of their necks just enough to incapacitate, caught the falling bodies from behind, and used their hands to swing their own swords.
“Nick! What the hell are you doing!”
Even when trustworthy men pressed shoulders together, it was useless.
“Urgh… glurk.”
“You son of a—!”
A man with a deep gash across his chest couldn’t hold back and stabbed with his sword.
“Cough… hack. G-Gale… It wasn’t me.”
“What?”
I took the head off the man with the stupid expression.
Darkness was intimately familiar to me. Ever since my distant vampire days, darkness had always been on my side. I slid forward without a sound, breathing thin as a whisper.
“D-damn it… This… can’t be blocked…”
A dagger cut off the words at his throat. Every time someone lit a fire somewhere, Mei’s daggers flew in. They fell to black cloth around their necks and cold steel.
“U-uwaaaaaagh!”
“R-run!”
“Maintain formation! Even if you fall back, don’t break—!”
In the darkness, a single silhouette pierced a throat.
It was pure pandemonium. These were mere soldiers, not even proper knights. Those who bravely raised their voices only became targets faster. In a space filled with cold chills, the stench of blood, tension, and terror, anyone who kept their sanity would have never remained a common soldier.
Stepping on and being stepped on, shoving and attacking each other as they retreated—I cut through them and finally found Mei.
“Mei, now. Break through with Jun. There’s no time. I’ll draw their attention.”
We had no information. We didn’t know how many more reinforcements were coming, what traps remained, when they would restore the light… or how many truly strong enemies were among them.
These men had collapsed suspiciously easily. But even if this opening was a trap, there was no telling when another chance would come. So we had to move as fast as possible.
“Brother… Will you be okay alone?”
“I can only move once you two go first.”
“Got it.”
I watched Mei nod and leap away, then charged forward and swung my sword in a wide arc.
A wolf among sheep. It didn’t matter how many sheep there were. Catching those who had already lost the will to fight and were running away was easy.
“Wh-what? It’s you, isn’t it? You’re the one who touched my shoulder!”
“What are you talking about? Don’t you hear the screams? They’re still over there. Stop them!”
Looked like Mei and Jun had begun their escape.
“Shield bearers, raise your shields! Anyone retreating while ignoring formation is not an ally! Fire!”
Arrows began appearing one by one in the murky darkness.
Swish. Swish.
“Aagh! Don’t shoot! Stop shooting!”
“Aaaaaagh!”
I used the soldiers’ corpses as shields to block the arrows.
“Shoot!”
“Don’t let them through!”
I didn’t need to kill them all. Creating suitable chaos in the darkness and slipping away in the gap was enough. Sometimes I moved openly, sometimes like a shadow, slowly advancing. A distance that would normally take less than a minute felt like a thousand miles.
I gripped my scattering mind—worn down from weeks without proper sleep—and took one step, then another. I held my breath as if I were one of them, deceiving the enemies. And then I ran.
I threw daggers behind me in the direction I had come from, creating the illusion that I was still there. I leaped. Stepped on shoulders. Drove a rope-wrapped dagger into the ceiling and used the momentum to jump even farther.
A few who seemed skilled had adapted to the darkness and attacked, but I wasn’t someone who would fall to them. And so, the exit.
Just around this corner was the exit leading aboveground, but the area was noisy. Had they gotten stuck here?
I kicked off the wall I had been clinging to, flew in, and split the skull of the man swinging a sword at Mei.
“Mei!”
“Brother… what the fuck is that?”
Right in front of the exit, Mei stood guarding Jun in the corner, her arm trembling violently. Jun leaned against the wall with a deep gash in his side, catching his breath. What Mei pointed at was the staircase leading aboveground. A fairly wide hallway connected directly to the surface. In that space lit by faint oil lanterns, one figure stood looking at us and smiling.
“I’ve been waiting for you, Lee Han.”
“Shylock…?”
The man who should have been dead was smiling, his wrinkled face twisted grotesquely.