Chapter 55: Clash of Blade and Hammer. ( 1 )

I stared blankly at the massive crater as well as my right arm, which had disappeared along with the mana attack. The young man's—no, the old monster's—voice had echoed into my ears, as if the alarm signaling my demise had finally come.

“War God Laurel. For your crimes, I shall slay you right where you stand.”

Fuck.

My bad premonition was really accurate. Of all the people I met, it had to be Aleksander Ryback, the most unreasonable. Damn it. It was similar to that time with Isolde; the descriptions and my own biases were messing with me.

Speaking of, are Isolde and everyone else okay? No, now’s not the time to be considerate. Fuck. If I had known it was Kalman III, I would have grabbed everyone and ran at first sight. Now I lost an arm for carelessness before the fight even started.

… I knew. I knew that all the bloodshed during my mercenary days, as well as the secret assassinations and all the dirty work I had done, would eventually come back at me one day. But this was way~ too soon. I hadn’t even prepared for it at all!

Why did he suddenly attack out of nowhere? For fame? But that doesn’t make sense either, considering the infamy of my name was at the level of normalcy. At most I’ll be as infamous as some well-known bandits. It wouldn’t have been enough to move Kalman III.

I need to think of a way out of this… Is there even a way out? Hah… Fuck it. It hurts like hell. Hah. Breathe. Laugh it off. You’ve been through worse days, Laurel. Fuck it. Get your blood pressure under control... Seriously. Fucking...

My eyelids twitch. I don't know whether I should laugh or cry knowing that I'm feeling less pain than walking with an ankle sprain I had in the past since the blood loss and the ice were numbing the pain of having my right arm chopped off.

It was, in an ironic way, a good thing I'm the only one he’s targeting. In the worst-case scenario, he won't hunt down the others. With that in mind, I immediately ordered them to scatter. Should I be thankful that Aleksander was allowing me the right to do so?

I feel like he was waiting on purpose; rather than saying that he was being honorable, it looks to me as though he was stalling for my wounds to get worse. Why though? I can’t even guarantee a victory at my best. Ah fuck. Whatever. I’ll just have to make do with what I already have.

Lilia's dependable, and the old man is doing well, so the two of them should be fine if they’re with Paul. The kids in Vast Expanse could take care of themselves. Right now, I just need to survive. It's going to be fine. Everything will be fine.

I just need to make it out of this situation alive… Right before I went, however, Aisha suddenly tugged on my sleeve.

“Older brother…”

… Judging from the fact she had never called me as such, it seems like she had known my real name for a long time. Figures. It would’ve been stranger if she hadn’t. But her ominous expression was uncalled for. I don’t need another external pressure on my shoulders right now.

“Don’t give me that look. Of course I’ll win. Sooner or later, my name would be among the top powerhouses. You just wait and watch.”

I had lied. I was probably going to die. I was going to die without leaving a corpse behind to be buried. I wasn’t even confident that I could win him at my best, let alone without using my dominant arm. And I have a feeling Kalman III didn’t intend to hold back at all.

“Promise?”

“… Sure.”

Aisha left after hearing those words… This is why I hate making promises. I always ended up breaking them sooner or later. But I couldn’t just lose. I have to at least hold out long enough so that they can escape… Can I even make it that far?

I can’t grow back limbs, but lizards need to know when to give up their tails. Considering how strong Ryback was, I was going to lose at least a few more. Since I was a mage with telekinesis, I could live just fine even if I lost all of them. That settles it, then.

I stared at Kalman III, but he wasn’t there anymore. Without hesitation I ducked down while swinging my cape backwards. The sound of steel clashing against each other echoed throughout the area.

The cape had managed to block the blade, but the weight behind that swing nearly made my arm numb. Letting it slide downward slightly to relieve pressure, I tried to kick him in the shin. Kalman jumped up and swung down again, but I moved away using telekinesis.

Damn bastard, he used the time I talked to Aisha to move out of sight and went for an ambush. I inwardly cursed as I tossed an ice dagger, trying to distract him in order to retrieve my rapier. The blade flew forward and simply bounced off his armor… Fuck.

“Yaaaaah!”

Alec attacked first, slashing down on the diagonal at me. He wielded the huge sword effortlessly with one hand. With a step to the right, I slid away and stabbed at him in the eyes. The blade, assuming it had been affected by gravity, missed.

I moved forward regardless, striking his face with the pommel. Alec had flinched for a moment, but he steadied his balance. Hesitation would only result in death either way. I took my chances and went all out.

[Roar]

[Blood Manipulation]

[Aura Manipulation]

[Mana coating]

[Long Sword of Silence]

With Roaring to knock him off, I increase the flow of my blood pressure while giving up defense to enhance my speed, coating my blade with mana to increase its sharpness. Using the Long Sword of Silence, I went for the throat.

It had been missing; however, it wasn’t pointless. While the blade had failed to aim for the throat, it had bitten onto his armor. And like a silver serpent, the rapier had dug in and smashed the chest place into smithereens while tearing flesh and cutting the bones.

Alec had fallen backwards, about to hit the floor. Knowing that a single second wasted could be the death of me, I dashed in for a second time like a feral shark smelling blood. If I could take him down right here and right now, I'd—

A black flash struck diagonally. While it had failed to take away my life, it had stolen my left vision. Aleksander had gotten me. I howled in pain and writhed in agony. Normally it wouldn’t; however, I had lowered my defenses entirely.

That was a mistake. I was arrogant, thinking that once was enough and forgetting that he was an immortal. I should have made sure he remained knocked out. And along with that single mistake, our positions had switched.

I was the prey, and he the hunter.