Book 14 Chapter 49

Wanted,

Profile Swindler (2)

"Go get properly dressed right now! Before Rin sees you like that and gets a bad influence! Rin is thirteen years old now!"

It was then that the Black Witch Yoru heard an unexpected provocation from Lista.

"You don't seem to understand the current situation, so I'll have to tell you who is in a position to give orders!"

A witch is one who manipulates elements floating in the atmosphere, that is, spirits.

Black Witches corrupt these elements, amplifying the power of decay. In short, they use the power of the abyss, like black mages.

Yoru recited an incantation. The reason she didn't use 'Incantation Destruction', which has lower power but higher speed, was to definitively finish off Rin, who was trapped in the iron bars.

An icy chill.

At that moment, Lista, who had been standing far below just 0.5 seconds ago, rushed forward right before her eyes.

Ch-a-a-a-ang……!

The reason sparks of blades, instead of Yoru's blood, scattered was solely thanks to Thorius who drew his short sword and parried Lista's gauntlet.

'What is this insane speed…?'

Lista and Thorius pushed each other away while simultaneously retreating to establish a distance.

'It's true that a witch is exposed to danger when casting an incantation. But was what just happened a judgment so dangerous that I almost died?'

Absolutely not.

Yoru's incantation speed was faster than usual. The distance to the target was also quite considerable.

In other words, if the enemy had been a rational opponent, victory would have been certain. But the opponent was not someone who played by the rules.

"You're the ones who made the wanted posters, aren't you? Why did you do such a thing?"

Lista, who was continuously clashing swords with Thorius, did not draw her holy sword.

"To drain your strength."

The weapon she used was just one.

"Strength?"

A cheap iron sword she had picked up earlier, just in case, after defeating the thugs.

"There's a saying, 'driving a hunt'. It's a method of exhausting animals by driving them into rough terrain, and it works the same way with humans."

Needless to say, each type of sword has a different way of being used.

'Driving a hunt?'

The method of slashes, the intervals of offense and defense, even the position of the killing blow.

'So, they've been chasing us since before we got here?'

Thorius skillfully wielded all three swords – chipped, rusty, and common – deflecting all of Lista's slashes.

'Should I use Shirpan? No, there are too many people. Not in a city like this.'

The power of the holy sword is explosive in itself, and it's a truly wild power that cannot be sufficiently controlled even with restraint. Civilian casualties are a concern.

However, the opponent, whose physical abilities were amplified by [King's Flesh], was directly confronting Lista.

If a proper sword were given, she could end it quickly, but it seemed too cheap, and the blade broke the next moment.

"What the hell is this bitch's identity? She keeps using illusions next to me, but she doesn't seem disturbed at all!"

Phaequaria acquires Dragon Eyes when undergoing body modification. Such illusions can be seen through in an instant.

"Not drawing that sword was your mistake."

Thorius tossed the longsword and greatsword upwards and charged at Lista with the tip of his short sword. It was then.

"I wondered what son of a bitch so mercilessly trampled on a woman's pure heart, and damn it, it was this old hag again? No wonder she only gathered men to my and master's taste."

"Auntie, Auntie, Auntie."

The hair of Fridde, the Priestess of the Fire Dragon, who intervened in the bloody battle on the rooftop, fluttered as if aflame.

"Fridde, you impudent brat…!"

Yoru roared.

Yoru had been arrested by the hands of the two master and disciple while she was an apprentice witch under her master, before Fridde became a witch, and was imprisoned in <Ikegrad Prison>.

"How did you escape from there? Your master was also close to death from that trap."

Fridde's master was as much a libertine as her disciple. No, perhaps she was the one who taught it.

"You must have forgotten after rotting in prison for over 10 years, but I have a unique constitution where purifying flames are mixed into my breath itself. The handsome brothers disappeared as soon as I got close."

Fridde, standing with both feet on her broom, shouted with sad eyes.

"If you wanted to keep me captive, you should have made an illusion that wouldn't disappear even if I got close!"

Pipi, the Sun Parrot, bobbed its head back and forth, representing its owner's anger.

"Grumble, grumble, my stomach went boom, boom, boom."

Yoru bristled and recited an incantation transformed into dark sorcery, or black magic.

"O you who fill the sky and earth, O power of surging water, now gather at my command…"

Fridde, countering her, put a kiseru in her mouth instead of an incantation. Was this composure? Provocation? No.

The tobacco leaves Fridde used were a combination of 28 herbs, aiming for skin beauty and invigoration, but the primary focus was on promoting internal heat generation to intensify the concentration of flame in her breath.

In short, Fridde could cast most intermediate or lower-level fire-attribute spells without incantation, using this tobacco smoke as a catalyst.

As she exhaled the smoke she had inhaled to the limit, not just filling her lungs but swelling both cheeks, the smoke immediately transformed into a fiery storm and engulfed Yoru.

"…Dance the dance of raging waves!"

Yoru's spell, barely finishing its incantation, countered the flames, but the flames were already deployed at maximum output.

The advantage of fire-attribute abilities is not only their powerful firepower compared to other attributes, but also their effect of blocking the five senses.

When sight, smell, and hearing are blocked, Pipi steps in. It wraps itself in flames and targets the opening that appears behind the opponent.

"…It seems I underestimated the companion of the Fire Dragon Priestess too much. To hunt you, a longer 'drive' will be needed."

Thorius threw a smoke bomb to the ground.

The smoke, combined with Fridde's flames and Yoru's dark magic, instantly covered the heavens and earth in black.

Hum… The holy sword in Lista's hand shone brilliantly, tearing through the air. Its sword wind instantly swept away the smoke, but the two were already gone.

"They ran away. How fast."

"Chase, chase, chase?"

"No, in a city like this, we can't properly exert our strength even if we chase. It's better to catch them outside."

Fridde jumped off her broom and landed on the rooftop. Lista, crouching and tracing the traces of spiritual energy, said:

"Those two seemed to have been following us for a while. Unlike Fridde, they didn't know my and Rin's identities. What happened?"

"Hmm, well… I'll have to dig up some information in the underworld, but we've become complete celebrities now."

Fridde gestured around with her chin.

People were murmuring and watching them from all directions. There were those on balconies, and in the streets… and the guards were arriving a moment later.

Most of all, what captivated people's attention was Rin. He was silently weeping in front of a slimy liquid.

"Rin, are you okay? Let's get out of here first."

As Lista placed a hand on his shoulder, Rin, whose face was pale, trembled and confessed.

"N-no… The b-book… The best book in the history of publishing, 『Action White Paper for Those Who Dream of Being the Strongest』… protected me… tried to protect me… and ended up like this…"

A fragment of Yoru's dark magic, which Lista had interrupted, had arrived here.

The power of decay reached this book first before reaching Rin, and completely dissipated its power.

『Action White Paper for Those Who Dream of Being the Strongest』 had protected the boy who dreamed of being the strongest and met a heroic end. Rin thought so.

"Rin, then you can't just sit here like this! You have to carry on the will of this book!"

"The will of this book…?"

"Yes, even though that book melted! Even though you can't meet it or read it again! The will of that book lives on in Rin's heart! As long as Rin doesn't give up on life!"

As Lista cried out with passion, genuinely moved to tears by the book's sacrifice, the light returned to the boy's eyes, which had been unfocused.

"Yes, yes…!"

As the boy wiped the tears from his moist eyes and nodded vigorously, the crowd erupted in whistles and applause.

"Yes, don't give up!"

"We'll cheer you on!"

"Life isn't over yet!"

At that spot, only Fridde, Pipi, and Sval watched the absurd scene with narrowed eyes, as if dumbfounded.

"Shouldn't they have formed a theater troupe instead of a hero party? They'd be rolling in money with just their skits."

"Right, right, right."

"Gyu-gyung…"

* * *

"It's started~!"

There was a being observing the chaos that had begun in the city from a wild mountain, having completely erased its presence.

The [Earth] rune embroidered on the back of its robe was its proof of existence.

The second pillar of the Black Church, a black mage belonging to its direct group [Seven Souls]. All of them are direct disciples of Zernix.

"We leaked information about the flesh these guys possess to those who have [King's Flesh], but I wonder if such minnows can handle the one who defeated Ice and the Priestess of the Fire Dragon?"

The being that appeared next to him in an ethereal state was [Fire].

The leader of [Seven Souls], Kishua of Black Fire.

To materialize an ethereal body so clearly requires the owner of an almost unrealistic scale of magical power.

[That person expects nothing from such trash. They are merely sacrifices to make them voluntarily hasten their path.]

"By hasten, you mean?"

[Soon they will catch a few minnows, and then they will find out the location we leaked. Won't they then come on their own accord, claiming to figure out the whole truth?]