The Desperate Bloody Battle to Claim Seira
The subordinates watched with their own eyes as Sichif sent one or two men straight to the afterlife in the blink of an eye. "Such... a monster bastard." Even if they all combined their strength, it was still not enough against him.
Heh heh, our power isn't enough. Let's wait.
Huhu, yes. Time will eventually be on our side.
The number of subordinates was steadily growing—five, then six. Damn it, my stamina is running out more and more…. Sichif wanted to end this in a single decisive blow, snatch Seira away, and simply play with her like a toy.
That was when one of the oil lamps hanging on the wall caught his eye.
If it's this….
Sichif snatched up the lamp at once. Then he shook it violently, pouring the oil everywhere.
"Now! An opening!"
A subordinate who had been waiting for exactly that moment charged in. But Sichif slid close to Seira, lifted her pale, delicate hand, and used it to block the attack.
"Kehek!! Using a woman as a shield, you coward…."
"Kuk kuk, does honesty put food on the table?!"
In an instant Sichif had turned Seira into a shield and slain one of his own followers. The subordinates who witnessed it cried out in unison.
"You son of a bitch!!!"
"Ugh… kuhuhuhuk!!!"
Some were shedding tears; a few were even sobbing. It wasn't out of renewed loyalty to their comrades. They had an entirely different reason for screaming.
"How… how could anyone use such a beautiful girl as a shield?!!!"
"He's not even human!!!"
Hmm, maybe I went a bit too far.
Sichif pretended to agree, nodding solemnly, then released Seira's slender wrist. Next he pulled out several more lanterns, dumped all the precious oil onto the floor, and instead filled the lamps with the wine from the fermentation bottles, shaking every last drop into them.
"That—that bastard! Is he trying to make a flame bottle that tastes like wine?"
The subordinates closed in without leaving any gaps. He was soon surrounded by a dozen men who had taken shelter along the walls.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Whoosh—!!!
Yet Sichif's hands seemed to multiply. Even while preparing the molotovs, he nimbly hurled throwing stars at the two subordinates rushing him.
"Keuk!"
Two or three others responded by flinging daggers coated in deadly poison.
"You cowardly bastard!"
Clang— Clang—!!!
Sichif spun the flame bottle left and right with casual ticks, effortlessly deflecting every star. One subordinate scolded the man who had thrown them.
"You had it the whole time—why didn't you use it?!"
"I was afraid Seira might get hurt."
"Are you insane?! Use it right now!"
"Damn it… when the hell is the right time?"
If it involved Seira, they would gladly offer their own lives. Her overwhelming beauty could turn anyone in the world into a loyal subject. No… into a devoted stalker.
"Argh, take this one too!"
Psh— "Keuk…!"
"Damn it, what is that fainted body saying…!"
"It's blasphemy!! Kill this bastard first!"
Stab. Psh—!! Stab!!!
The absurd sight of the men who had insulted Seira immediately turning on and butchering one another made Sichif pause to admire her sensual back. That single fainted body… boasts absolutely invincible defense against ranged attacks.
To Sichif, Seira seemed like a perfect defensive item. The thought only made his desire to possess her burn hotter.
"Uraaaaaah!!!"
Clang— Clang— Clangclang— Clangclangclangclang!!!
More than ten pairs of daggers rose at once as the men charged him together. Sichif swiftly lit a torch with one of the finished molotovs and hurled it at the entrance. Then he ran up the wall, bounded two or three times across the high ceiling, executed a perfect backflip, and flung three more throwing stars at his former subordinates.
Two struck the napes of two men's necks. They collapsed. Only about eight subordinates remained in the warehouse now. He could handle them alone.
Meanwhile, the thirty or so men trying to enter from the first floor found their path completely cut off by the sudden blaze.
"Hey, get water! Hurry, water!!!"
The grand duke had sent over a hundred men to the guild house, and of course mages were among them.
"Hehe, were you looking for me?"
"Ooh, mage-nim!"
The blue robe alone made it obvious he was a water-attribute mage. The expensive crystal wand he carried only confirmed it.
"I am from the Blue Magic Tower…"
"Quickly show us how to put out the fire!!"
"Hut, something like this is easy."
The subordinates had no confidence to leap over those terrifying flames like seasoned circus performers. But with a mage present, everything changed. A mage could extinguish not just a fire in a passageway, but even if the entire mansion were burning down, right?
Shwaaaaaaaaack— "Water@#$%@#%"
Instead of being quenched, the flames seemed stimulated by the water magic. They devoured the wooden floors as fuel and roared upward with even greater fury.
"The mage started the fire!"
"Fuck, when did I?!"
"But it's getting even bigger!!!"
One of the recovery mages, formerly an alchemist, pinched his nose.
"Damn, what the hell is that smell…?! Could it be!!"
"Aaaack!! Why aren't the reinforcements coming?!"
"You bastards! What are you loitering around for? Everyone below is dying!!!"
"Kuaaaaack!!!!"
The thieves beneath the warehouse were falling into utter panic, slowly tasting the fear of death.
"Damn it all! The only thing we trusted was our superior numbers."
"So this is the master's skill… said to be equal to a first-class knight…."
Sichif looked at the reinforcements who couldn't even dare enter the basement and smirked.
"Hehe, that's naphtha, you idiots!"
"Na… natpa?"
"Naphtha!!"
The state-secret explosive that grew fiercer the more water was poured on it—naphtha. The substance inside those wine bottles was precisely its raw ingredient.
One of the thieves came up with a plan.
"Back off. Increase the distance and pick up the shurikens the master threw!"
Sichif was shaken. He had coated those stars with King Cobra venom. A King Cobra alone could grow several meters long and kill an elephant in seconds, but what he had used was the venom of an Emperor Cobra—a serpent that grew over thirty meters. And now his own men were about to throw those poisoned stars at him?
Wait, where did I leave Seira?
Flustered, Sichif began searching for her. Because Seira was invincible—an absolute beauty defense system. He hurled all seven of his disguised daggers, then leaped toward where she had been.
In that same moment the subordinates gripped the Emperor Cobra shuriken in their left hands and ordinary daggers in their right. They were ready to throw at the slightest opening.
Ordinary shuriken could be dodged with a mere graze, and Sichif was agile enough to handle them from any angle. But the Emperor Cobra venom would send a man to the afterlife in 0.1 seconds with even the lightest touch. Even first-class knights who could treat tyrannosaurus-level earth dragons like puppies might only last a few minutes.
"Ehh! Before he gets behind Seira again, hurry!"
The subordinates were extremely tense. If he reached Seira's back once more, it was over. They could not bring themselves to throw such a dangerous weapon at an angel among angels descended from heaven.
Yet when Sichif arrived at the spot where Seira had collapsed, no one was there. He checked where Puyor had fallen, but Puyor was gone as well.
"Goddammit, those bitches…."
It seemed the two of them had used the chaos to flee through the secret underground passage.
"Hehehe, Seira's not here?!"
"She ran away. Shouldn't you be sad?"
"Shut up!! We'll kill you first, then chase after Seira!"
"Yeah, Seira's steps must be slow, right? Hehe, when we catch her we won't go easy!!"
The subordinates began throwing the poisoned shurikens all at once. Sichif closed his mind's eye, focused his spirit, and activated his weapon technique. His footwork accelerated. He burst forward at terrifying speed. One subordinate threw in panic but couldn't even hit his afterimage. Two or three others swung their daggers in wide arcs.
Swish— Swish—
They only cut empty air. Instead of counterattacking, Sichif rolled through the air and dashed straight toward an empty space.
Heh heh, you cute little thing. You dare run from me? From me, who earned the title of footsteps faster than the wind?
Thanks to that, judging her direction became simple. Sichif raced to the secret underground passage and slammed the sealing device beside the door.
"Ma-Master! Masteeeeer—!"
"Kk kk k, calling me master only when you need me?"
Sichif laughed leisurely as he left the warehouse alone.
"Kuaaaaak!!"
The subordinates trapped inside his underground warehouse could not escape. They were roasted alive.
Now then, heh heh heh. The place Seira headed toward is….?!