Chapter 225: East, Hwaseong (13)
I slipped out of my quarters as soon as I heard Keraph’s warning, waiting to meet him alone in the deserted bamboo grove.
The wind whipped past my ears as the hungry wild dog appeared.
-Yelp.
The boy dropped the red coffin on his back and took a deep breath.
‘I thought he picked up something to track me…I wonder if it was the coffin…’
The silver-haired boy, dressed in a tattered robe, looked like a wild dog untamed by human hands.
The boy was sniffing.
He sees the world with a transcendent sense of smell that ordinary humans can never reach, and he interprets it in his own way.
“It’s you.”
The boy flashed me a wicked smile.
I wonder what my body odor smells like that he can discern with his nose.
Well, it doesn’t smell like much, but to him, it probably smells like money.
I’m sure my body is emitting a deliciously sweet scent that’s worth 50,000 gold.
“Where’s the turtle, anyway?”
The boy, sniffing around, asked.
“What if it’s a turtle?”
“Didn’t a Kerud or something come along?”
“…Oh, a Kerud.”
He seemed to mean Keraph.
He must have been on my trail, because he said he ran into the wild dog on the way and escaped from him.
“Did you kill him?”
“What if I did?”
“That’s a good thing, because you still have your head.”
I told Keraph to stay nearby. Weak as he was, he would be no help in a skirmish like this, and would only get himself captured by the ankles.
“You know why I’m here,” he said.
“If you need money, I can give it to you.”
“In that case, I’ll take the money around your neck, and I’ll take the money you have on you.”
“Hmmm…”
“I don’t have much time.”
The boy shook his head as if to say he didn’t need the small talk, and then bounced lightly in place.
[The young one has a lot of spunk.]
Sierra was right.
The boy was still very much a child, but he carried himself with the air of a strong man.
“Volk of the Great Fang Clan will take your head.”
The lurking wolf’s ears perked up at his declaration, and sharp fangs protruded from the corners of his mouth.
[Beware, apprentice, this is not like the one you met in the Labyrinth.]
Sierra’s eyes were precise.
Volk was different from the nameless Lycanthrope I met in the Labyrinth.
Just as there are those among humans who have nothing to boast about but their numbers, there are those among the Lycanthropes who rise above them all.
Thick nails grew from his hands so I drew my sword and took a deep breath since I would have to use Chapter 2 of Reverse Heaven to counter his speed.
The mana in my body twisted and the bamboo around me swayed.
Volk moved first.
The ground he was standing on crumbled under the force of his legs but even with my Reverse Heaven, Volk was normally fast.
My eyes could barely keep up but it was a matter of whether my body could keep up or not.
-Aaah!!!
Before I could assess Volk’s speed, a terrifying clash of metal rang out.
One was my Sierra with its red blade and the other was Volk’s nails with both hands outstretched.
-Ack…
Despite my struggles, his nails, which were still in contact with my sword, reached for my throat.
It was an incredible feat of strength for a boy who hadn’t yet grown into his body.
In terms of physical specs alone, he was superior.
By nature, lycanthropes are not a race skilled in assassination so they don’t make their living from assassinations.
Their thick hides are hard to pierce and their overwhelming speed allows them to avoid most ranged opposition, whether magic or arrows.
They had stamina to keep moving for long periods of time, and an innate sense of toughness, their fangs and claws that could easily pierce an opponent’s frail flesh, armor, and weapons, and the strength to support them.
Their entire bodies were weapons and magic.
Werewolves, also known as Lycanthropes or Inrangs have been mercenaries since time immemorial, and were called ‘war machines’.
At one time, when demons were left to the other side and humans fought bloody wars against each other, it was a matter of which nation was favored by the lycanthropes.
Arguably built solely for war, lycanthropes are said to have swept the battlefield with their superior physical prowess.
The species itself was not particularly specialized in assassination, though it was adept at tracking, but in other words, they were so skilled in combat that they didn’t need to worry about stealth, which is the basis of assassination.
“I’ve always wondered why a blind man would have a 50,000 gold bounty on his head…You seem to react normally.”
Said Volk with a curious look in his eyes as his strong nails, which could shatter most metals, failed to do any damage to the blade.
“Hmm…”
I hadn’t come here to fight him in the first place.
Based on our physical specs alone, I was at an overwhelming disadvantage because I couldn’t strengthen my body with mana while using Reverse Heaven.
That’s just the way it is with physical specs, but he’s no match for me.
If I wanted to take his head, I could but his talent and body were too great to kill him.
‘…I must first subdue him.’
Volk had a knack for assassination that he’d honed over the years, and he spun his body around with his claws outstretched.
I leapt backward, slashing at his nails at an angle to close the distance.
In that split second, Volk’s claw almost touched me as he spun, but I was able to swat it away with my prosthetic hand just in time.
-Aaah!
Despite the contact between our flesh and nails, it was the metallic sound that rang in my ears.
“…What is it? Why is your skin…?”
Volk’s words trailed off as he alternated between his nails and my left arm.
Through the gap in my shirt, where a portion of the sleeve had been torn off, I could see a lump of iron, not human skin.
“I lost my arm.”
“Ha, the gods are too kind. As if the eyes weren’t enough, they also took your arm.”
“That’s right, and now a wild dog has come to take my neck…”
“Wild dog…?”
Keeping my distance, I deliberately provoked him by mentioning Volk’s tinnitus.
There was no time to rest since in a race like this, every minute was wasted, and every erratic breath would prove fatal.
“You son of a bitch…”
“Wait, isn’t ‘son of a bitch’ more like ‘asshole’?”
Another taunt, and Volk, with his face contorted, charged straight for me.
In his path was a trap of Arachne’s thread, which I had laid out before he arrived.
“Ha, did you think your webs would stop me, I can see through them!”
Volk snapped off Arachne’s threads like it was nothing, barely noticeable if you weren’t paying attention.
His excitement at having me figured out spurred him on but it was a fleeting moment.
The bamboo supporting the thread shook, and the bamboo leaves twisted and fell.
I cast Reverse Heaven again, drawing out a separate energy from the mana flowing through my body.
The shadow of Volk, who had been charging at me, shimmered in response.
It was Sheddie’s power.
Although it was new to me, I had already tested it.
Sheddie’s shadows could be manipulated at will, but they were never fast.
It would have been difficult to keep up with Volk, especially with his speed and flexibility so I was curious to see if I could use Sheddie’s power in a situation where I was already using Reverse Heaven.
The result was this.
The jet-black grip that emerged from Volk’s shadow was able to keep up with the now much more ‘normal’ creature.
“…”
Recognizing the grasp too late, Volk turned around and swung his ankle out, but he couldn’t dodge anymore while he was in the air.
-Ugh.
Shadows shot out from everywhere, completely enveloping Volk’s body as I grabbed his ankle.
In conclusion, it was possible to use Sheddie’s power while casting Reverse Heaven Chapter 2.
The only penalty was that it was swordsmanship, not magic, so the sword had to be wielded whether I liked it or not, and the strain on my body was already there, and using both Chapter 2 and Sheddie’s power at the same time only made it stronger.
This time, I wasn’t trying to kill my opponent, so I swung my sword into the air.
The red blade grazed the neck of Volk, whose eyes widened.
“…What is this…?”
Volk swallowed hard.
No matter how stupid and ignorant he was, he couldn’t fail to recognize this.
A taunt, then Arachne’s thread plus the momentary lapse in judgment and his excitement led to a loss.
Without the leap he made in triumph, he would have escaped Sheddie’s shadow.
Volk was that fast, that’s why I wanted him.
I turned to the wolf pup in the trap and spoke.
“I am blind,” I said, “but in exchange I can see things that others cannot.”
“…So what am I supposed to do? If you’re going to kill me, kill me fast.”
“Is that so?”
“What do you mean…?”
“You shouldn’t die like this, I can see you have a sick family to take care of.”
“Krrr…”
At the mention of the word family, Volk’s eyes widened and he snarled but the threat of a wolf missing claws and fangs was not to be feared.
“Looks like that’s the only family left, too.”
“Touch my sister, and I will hunt you to the ends of the earth…!”
He and I are probably picturing the same face now.
He has a sister with a serious illness, a sister who is the reason he lives with blood on his hands and the meaning of his life.
He loves her dearly and wants to cure her, even if it means killing for dirty money.
It’s the same reason he’s been after my head that is worth 50,000 gold but even with the vast sums of money he earned from the blood of so many people that he became famous in the underworld, he can’t cure her.
That’s because he was spending his money in the wrong place.
The villain in this story is his broker.
He was lured into believing he could cure her this time, and now he’s pocketing the money.
Of course, the cure is a charade.
The only people around Volk are those who want to take advantage of him. Even though I’m trying to take advantage of him right now, I pride myself on being a good person.
I know how to cure her.
“I’ll cure her.”
“You’ll…?”
Volk frowned, as if that was suddenly some kind of bullshit.
After all, Volk is no saint but he’s also not a terribly evil person.
If ignorance is a sin, he’s a sinner, but at least he’s a good man.
Well, that’s good for me, since I don’t mind taking advantage of him.