Chapter 189
Chapter 189
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 189
Chapter Title: Sugar Rush 5
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“Haha. You messed up, Heraldkin. Your reputation for infamy was supposed to be insane, but looks like you’re about to get humiliated right here.”
The adventurers approaching the clubhouse were convinced they had Azadin cornered and swaggered accordingly.
But it was also true that their employers stood beside Azadin. If he decided to go after the employers in earnest, there was bound to be casualties. So they cautiously tried to coax him.
“How about it? Let our employers go, and we’ll just let you walk away alive.”
“Hmm. Your intentions are way too obvious, aren’t they?”
Azadin smiled as he listened to the adventurers.
“Do I look like an idiot to you?”
“…….”
“Of course I’ll let them go.”
“Huh?”
The employers, the farm owners, were startled by Azadin’s sudden change in attitude. In a situation like this, promising to release them, who could serve as hostages?
As everyone marveled, one farm owner, Sarko, boasted.
“Haha. This is the skill of the blood sorcerer among the adventurers I hired. He manipulates blood or something to control people’s emotions.”
“Ah….”
“Is it the effect of spirit-control magic?”
“Nope.”
Azadin shook his head, but the farm owners and adventurers just laughed it off, assuming he must be under some spell.
Even though Azadin said he’d let the farm owners go, there was no telling when he might turn aggressive. The farm owners slipped out through the windows.
“Please stay back, it’s dangerous.”
“We’re going to capture that Heraldkin now.”
The adventurers said as much, but the farm owners, having only moved their bodies to safety, shook their heads as they peeked out from the windows.
“We’re far enough now, so it should be safe, right?”
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen something this entertaining. I want to watch.”
“Human fights are way more fun than dogfights or cockfights. Heh heh.”
The farm owners were thrilled at the prospect of watching the adventurers’ fight, a rare treat.
The adventurers inwardly fumed at the farm owners treating their life-or-death battle as mere entertainment, but their greed easily suppressed any displeasure since the payment wasn’t chump change.
“Then take care.”
“He may be just one guy, but even if half the rumors are true, he’s dangerous.”
That was when they said it.
“Hey, over there.”
The hollow-eyed man, the blood sorcerer supposedly hired by Sarko, clicked his tongue.
“That guy isn’t affected by my magic.”
“What?”
“If my magic worked, I’d be able to see his heartbeat and blood flow, but nothing.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Hah, his magic resistance is insane.”
“?”
Everyone felt baffled hearing the blood sorcerer. So the Heraldkin had released the farm owners of his own free will? Did letting go of hostages even make sense?
That was when the voice of the male Heraldkin, Azadin, rang out.
“Alright, then. Shall we get started?”
And then Azadin vanished from their sight.
—Firebird Windmoon Kazas Hanto: Earth Spider!
Azadin’s form blurred for a moment before he instantly closed in on the dwarf holding the blunderbuss.
The startled dwarf pulled the trigger, but Azadin’s outstretched dagger astonishingly blocked the blunderbuss’s ignition mechanism, the matchlock. The Wendigo Dagger spewed cold air, snuffing out the match’s flame in one go.
“What?!”
But this dwarf was an A-rank mercenary from the Sell-Sword Guild. He instantly drew the hand axe from his belt and swung it.
However….
—Clang!
His hand axe struck the blunderbuss’s priming pan. Azadin had flipped the blunderbuss with his dagger, guiding the dwarf’s axe right into it.
The dwarf’s hand axe had a flint head, so the impact on the pan sparked flames, detonating the blunderbuss on its own.
—Boom!
With a deafening roar, bullets sprayed into the wall.
And….
“Argh!”
The farm owners who had barely escaped the clubhouse screamed.
The bullets punched through the palm-frond walls and struck the farm owners, inflicting serious injuries.
“Ugh!?”
The dwarf mercenary, outraged that his blunderbuss had hurt the employers, lunged at Azadin, but Azadin’s fist lightly grazed the dwarf’s jaw.
“Uh….”
The dwarf, who loved booze and brawls more than three square meals, collapsed pathetically from a single light punch, his legs giving out. It hadn’t even seemed that hard, yet he passed out.
“You bastard!”
A mercenary with shield and sword charged, but Azadin simply twisted his body and punched the center of the shield.
—Thud!
The shield-bearing mercenary flew back, crashing into the other mercenaries with his body.
No one could believe what had just happened before their eyes.
“Argh!”
“You bastard! Why come at us?!”
“Ah… no… it’s not my will. Argh! M-my arm!”
Somehow, the shield mercenary’s arm had been broken.
“What?”
“Damn it! You bastard!”
One mercenary hurled a capture net.
No matter how superior one’s personal martial prowess, this man-catcher net was something else entirely.
Even a bear caught in it would writhe in agony and suffocate to death. In the arena, net-users had the highest win rates. In one-on-one fights, the man-net was the ultimate weapon.
However….
“Are you idiots?”
Azadin was genuinely astonished. They outnumbered him, yet they threw a net?
Using the Heraldkin lightness skill, Earth Spider, Azadin effortlessly slipped out of the net’s range. The wrong mercenaries got tangled instead, screaming.
“You crazy bastard!”
“Kyaa! What the hell?!”
“Damn it! Surround him! We outnumber him, what are we doing?!”
Mercenaries with spears, halberds, and long poles charged together at Azadin. But he slithered under the billiard table….
“Argh!”
Another mercenary near the billiard table vanished under it like an ant caught in an antlion pit.
“Gah!”
And the one just sucked in was hurled out at the polearm mercenaries. As they flinched and pulled back their weapons in surprise, the net was thrown onto their weapons this time.
“Huh?”
“Damn!”
The net yanked tight, confiscating their weapons. And… Azadin, who had snatched the net, climbed atop the billiard table and hurled a club, no less?
“Go!”
A short but hefty club flew with red glow, smacking across the mercenaries’ faces in rapid succession.
It had clearly been thrown with ferocious momentum, yet miraculously delivered just enough impact to knock them out before spinning back into Azadin’s hand like a boomerang.
“You bastard!”
Someone on the roof ripped off tiles and loosed an arrow, but with so many people around, would an arrow even land properly?
Moreover, Azadin casually dodged it and reached out.
“No way?! Is that possible?”
The archer who shot it freaked out. Azadin had lightly deflected the arrow, embedding it into the guy next to him.
“What are you doing to our team?!”
“No, that bastard spun the arrow!”
“Give me a believable excuse!”
“I’m telling the truth.”
“Why shoot an arrow in this tight space?”
“I’ve got the skills for it!”
“You missed, didn’t you?! Friendly fire on the wrong guy? Means you don’t have the skills!”
“That bastard… ow, I told you not to talk.”
Azadin leaped onto the billiard table as the Sell-Sword Guild adventurers bickered among themselves.
—Boom!
Azadin kicked the rafters and roof, bringing disaster to those above. A single human kick stripped the roof like a storm gale, shattering it to pieces and sending everyone on it tumbling inside.
“Uwaa!”
The clubhouse turned into pandemonium in an instant.
“Damn! Fighting here will never end!”
“Retreat!”
“Let’s surround him outside!”
The adventurers bolted out of the clubhouse in panic.
“Good! Damn! Fighting in tight quarters was stupid!”
“We’ll surround him in open space!”
“But where’s that bastard?”
The adventurers realized the clubhouse was now empty.
“Right?”
Azadin, among them, nonchalantly inspected the clubhouse interior as he spoke.
His posture was so natural that the adventurers assumed he was one of their own and left him be—never imagining he’d pull this right under their noses!
“Guh. You bastard!”
“How far will you mock us….”
The enraged adventurers swung their weapons, but….
—Shing!
A blue sword gleam swept over their polearms. Azadin had drawn the azure steel longsword from his back.
The ordinary weapons clashed against the blue gleam and were neatly severed. So clean was the cut that even the wielders panicked at the light feedback in their hands.
“Huh?”
“N-no way!”
“Azure steel?!”
Everyone recoiled in shock.
“You seem upset that I’m treating you lightly, so how about I get serious from now on?”
As Azadin aimed the blue longsword at them, everyone gulped. Their mouths went dry on their own. Only now did they realize, seeing him draw and swing the blade.
‘This bastard’s been barehanded this whole time, just disarming and using our weapons.’
‘And… he only struck to hurt, never stabbed to kill!’
‘No way he was going easy on us this far?’
‘But… an azure steel longsword! If he starts swinging that….’
He was already a monster without proper weapons, but if that monster swung an azure steel master blade that sliced steel like grass?
This place would turn into a bloodbath in seconds.
“You’re Sell-Swords living by the blade yourselves, so treating you too lightly wouldn’t be polite, right? Shall I fight in earnest?”
“N-no, please. If I may be so bold, keep treating us lightly.”
The elf woman swallowed her pride and made the request to Azadin.
“Fine.”
Incredibly, Azadin sheathed the azure steel longsword back in its scabbard. Watching this, the adventurers finally realized.
‘He really was just toying with us?’
Blood drained from the adventurers’ faces all at once.
The rage from moments ago cooled to ice, replaced by fear creeping up like morning mist laden with dew, soaking their bodies. Even after the opponent sheathed his azure steel longsword, none dared charge.
“What are you lot doing, you morons!”
From the farm owners’ perspective, it was maddening. The high-paid adventurers couldn’t handle one guy and were flailing.
And now, with morale clearly broken, weren’t they just eyeing a chance to bolt? These bastards had strutted around Bell Hoda boasting their sword skills!
They’d trashed farm and village security while swaggering, but faced with a real opponent, they cowered like chicks spooked by a hawk, hiding under the eaves instead of fighting.
“It’s open space now, surround him! No matter how great he is, alone he’s nothing!”
The farm owners’ bellow snapped the adventurers back to attention.
However….
“Sorry we’re late!”
Suddenly, a booming voice rang from behind the adventurers.
Startled, they turned to see… masked figures had appeared at their rear at some point.
Bird-shaped masks, just like the Heraldkin before them. About six in number—not a huge group.
But they’d struggled so hard against just Azadin alone; six more in Heraldkin masks?
‘No way all Heraldkin are this strong. He said he’s the 2nd Herald, right? One of the especially powerful ones among them.’
‘But so what? Wanna test their strength? Pass.’
‘Me too, pass….’
Having been thoroughly thrashed by Azadin already, the adventurers had no desire to challenge six new Heraldkin to gauge their power.
Moreover, the reinforcements didn’t end there.