Chapter 62

EP.62 Side Story - Coincidence (2)

[1. I will draw the enemies' attention.]

It was a hastily formed team, and the operation was reckless, but with no other options, this was the only way.

At the very least, hesitation was not an option.

-[I'll set this place on fire. I intended to burn them all to death.]

-[Then they'll all die!?!]

-[So, I'll just use a small fire to draw their attention for now.]

First, I spread the weapon maintenance oil I had prepared around, focusing on the passageways and using the minimum amount necessary.

Click

Then, I lit a match and set the oil on fire.

Whoosh

Naturally, smoke, heat, and light were produced, revealing my presence.

"Intruder!!"

"Fire!! Put it out quickly!!"

But this was the very outcome I had planned for.

'...Buy as much time as possible...'

I threw all the daggers I had. While I couldn't be sure they would work against the professional assassins, the sudden appearance of fire gave me a slight chance.

Clang! Clank! Clank! Thud...

I threw at four people, but only one was hit.

At least it was a hit to the forehead, which was fortunate in an unfortunate situation.

"Kill him!!"

The daggers flying at me were theirs. In such a fire, poisons and smoke screens were sealed. Moreover, the other passages were completely blocked by fire, so I could buy some time.

'...Stage 2... Hurry up...'

Now, I could only trust the girl who had stabbed me in the chest. This operation required the fragile trust between us to succeed. It also required a bit of luck.

Sring!

A strange sound, not the usual clanging of metal, but the sound of a blacksmith cutting metal.

There was only one person who could make such a sound in this place.

***

[2. Meanwhile, you cut all the iron bars. (*The keys for both guards are the same and the numbers match, so there are no other iron bars here.)]

The girl looked at the note with the plan, feeling bewildered. She never imagined she would meet that crazy boy again.

'...Jehad definitely said he was a crazy kid.'

In fact, most people, including Aria, called Leo a crazy kid. It wasn't entirely wrong.

From her perspective, a kid who suddenly appeared in the middle of the city with a decapitated person hanging from a tree, then suddenly started a fight, and after trying to resolve it peacefully, ended up getting stabbed in the chest.

Even if he died, it would be hard to understand. But just before he died, the crazy kid started saying incomprehensible things.

And in the moment he was about to die, he tried to use her hand to kill himself.

'I'm done.'

The boy removed his hand from hers and cauterized the wound with a nearby lamp. There were potions to heal it, but why he chose such a dangerous method was a mystery.

So, Jehad just described him as a crazy kid and said it was better to forget about him.

Just as that strange kid was fading from her memory, she met him again in this place.

In fact, she had chased after a bad guy who suddenly kidnapped a child without any plan.

She was confident that she could handle a simple bandit gang on her own.

And when she successfully infiltrated, she was devastated.

"Clank... Huh..."

"Ugh... Ahh..."

"Ow... Ooh..."

People were barking like animals and eating their food, and others were calmly killing them.

At that moment, Aria unconsciously thought of that strange kid. There was no context, but for some reason, his bizarre behavior made a bit more sense.

She had never seen people die so meaninglessly.

'...Ugh... Ah...!'

Ariasfil lost her mental composure. Perhaps she wanted to deny the dark side of reality and kill those people.

Click

At that moment, someone covered her mouth and sword, and whispered.

(If you go out, you'll die.)

She almost screamed. It was partly because of the shock, but mostly because of the person who explained it.

'Why is he here...?!!'

It was that strange kid. The one who hung a decapitated person on a tree, hung a guard on a window, and did all those crazy things with her.

If she hadn't understood what he quietly conveyed, she would have really screamed.

When the guards left, the girl finally managed to move her mouth.

(Why are you here?)

The answer was written on a scratched metal plate and a tattered notebook.

[I'm a mercenary and I came to handle this.]

The strange kid was calm. He chose the fastest way to convince her and the safest way to communicate, and immediately handed it over.

Then, without asking why he was here, he analyzed the current situation and explained it to her.

Like a general from a political science book, he devised the best strategy and plan and told her.

-[What if you're lying?]

She doubted him. The methods he had told her so far had critical flaws.

-[If I lie, I live and you die. But honestly, it's more advantageous for you to lie.]

That was true. If he started the fire in the first stage, she would be the one to move.

The timing was in her favor.

-[I know. It's hard to trust a crazy guy like you. So, don't trust me, trust the situation.]

-[Trust the situation where you gain the most.]

As the paper ran out, the kid looked at her and then whispered.

(Then I'm going.)

The kid ran and after a brief struggle, created a bright light and heat in the dark basement.

If he acted as a decoy and she escaped alone, she could definitely escape.

But

-You guys will worry about how to live tomorrow...

-...I... every day... worry about how I will die...

Why does the sharpness of those words, a month late, now pierce her heart.

Somewhere along the way, she had pulled out her sword and infused it with aura.

Sring!

The sharp cutting sound echoed through the iron bars. The rusted bars were cleanly cut each time the sword touched them.

"Ugh... Ugh..."

But even with an escape route open, the people who had become livestock didn't even think of fleeing. They had already lost their human dignity.

'...Why is everything going according to that kid's predictions...?'

Just as she wondered, the fire began to intensify. The sound of the iron bars being cut indicated that the strange kid had moved on to the third stage of the plan.

***

[3. I will set additional fires. Meanwhile, you move the hostages out of the basement.]

He was worried about burns and smoke inhalation. Of course, not for himself, but for the crawling people.

-[It doesn't matter.]

-[What doesn't matter?!]

-[Smoke is hot, so it rises. In contrast, those people are used to crawling.]

Thus, the risk of smoke inhalation would be minimized. Moreover, since they were in a beast-like state, they would naturally look for an exit when they saw the flames.

The girl's role was to move them in the chaos.

Leo, meanwhile, set more fires to intensify the blaze.

"Got you!!"

A man broke through the flames, grabbed Leo's arm, and tried to stab him with a dagger.

Swish!

At that moment, Leo threw flour.

Whoosh!

"Aaaaaah!!"

But that was enough. The dust explosion from the flour was sufficient to increase the fire's intensity.

Boom!!

The consecutive explosions, likely caused by the assassins' gas canisters, also helped the other assassins who were caught in the blast.

Since most poisons and smoke screens are flammable, this strategy was possible.

Now, she covered her mouth with a wet hood and continued to throw flour into the passages, accelerating the fire.

"Ugh...!!"

Meanwhile, the girl, who had put on the hood he gave her, was visible. Guiding the crawling people was like a shepherd leading a flock of sheep.

"Let's go!! This way!!"

Holding her hand, Leo showed her the exit. The marks he had left along the way guided the group to the best escape route.

They were almost there. If they got out of this basement, the plan would succeed. They could escape this hell.

But something was strange. Even though it was dark, some moonlight should have entered as they approached the exit.

Why was there no wind coming from the direction of the exit?

The answer was clear when they saw the blocked exit.

Bang!

"Damn...! It's locked...!!"

For some reason, the basement door was firmly locked. A couple of kicks wouldn't open it...

Boom!!

The solid wooden door was completely knocked off. The hinges were torn off, and the door shattered as it flew.

"Alright? Let's get these people out first."

"Uh... Okay...?"

She was reminded of the girl's strength.

"Ugh..."

"Roar..."

Following the girl's guidance, they could safely navigate the narrow path. Now, only Leo's group needed to get out.

"Ugh!! These arrogant ones...!!"

A voice suddenly rang out, instinctively detected. The voice coming from the flames was not that of an assassin.

"Watch out!!"

"Uh?!"

Leo pushed her out.

At that moment, he turned and saw a black mage deploying a magic circle.

'...Magic?'

He instinctively raised his sword to block his face. In this environment, fire or lightning magic wouldn't work, so he made that judgment.

Boom!

But it was a misjudgment. A magic-created stone wall blocked the underground exit.

"Hehe! This will...!"

"You bastard!!"

Leo threw a dagger. The black mage, who seemed to be cackling, deployed a shield.

"Idiot."

Behind the dagger was a bag of burning flour. The flour exploded, turning the inside of the shield into a hot oven.

'...I killed him, but... what now?'

The magic stone wall was several times stronger than the flimsy iron bars. Considering its thickness, it was even more so.

"...Hey!! Can you break it...!!"

Clang!! Clank!! Clang!!

Before she could finish, the girl threw her sword at the stone wall. The impact was so strong that it echoed inside, but the magical stone wall firmly blocked the exit.

"Can you hear me!? Answer if you can!!"

Leo was about to answer but closed his mouth.

'...Should I just stay here...?'

After all, he had saved the people he wanted to save. The girl had safely escaped. If he wasted time trying to save himself, some stragglers might come.

He had no regrets about living. He had long abandoned his hometown and was tired of the goal he had been pursuing.

The one who could save him from death was already gone.

So.

The boy remained silent in the inferno...

Clang!! Clank!! Clang!!

Just as he was about to remain silent, the sound of sword strikes continued.

"Snap out of it!! Answer!! Don't die like this...!"

The sound of sword strikes and her voice, which was loud enough to be heard through the stone wall, sounded like sobs.

"Because of me...! Because of me, you're dying...!"

Finally, the girl burst into tears. For a boy she had only met twice, in a bizarre and twisted way, she willingly shed tears.

Suddenly, he thought to himself.

It's troublesome for this girl to cry.

Somewhere along the way, he had a sword in his hand.

The scar on his chest continued to throb from the heat, but it didn't matter.

-Where you want to go... will disappear the moment you give up...

The strange old woman's words echoed in his mind as he swung his sword.

It was a strange sensation.

For a moment, he felt the sword take root in his hand. The breath of the sword blade harmonized with the breath of his lungs.

At that moment.

The sword was me, and I was the sword.

Crack

The stone wall split. Through the cracks and broken pieces, the girl's face was visible.

Her face, swollen with tears, and her hair, a mess from the heat and soot, looked at him.

Thinking it was a good decision to come out...

Thud

"...Huh?"

At that moment, the stone wall collapsed. It fell endlessly toward where he was. The impact was considerable.

Perhaps due to the aftereffects of the monstrous swordsmanship earlier, his body didn't react. The impact of the stone pile didn't cause him pain as he fell.

Unconsciously, as he fell into the inferno, he said,

"I... wanted to live..."

He closed his eyes. Surprisingly, his body wasn't as hot as he expected.

On the contrary... it felt comfortable.

Is this what death feels like?

I hope my mother passed away like this...

"Get up. Boy."

Someone called him. His eyelids trembled and his eyes opened.

"You didn't die. You're a warrior's example."

The person holding him was a woman with white hair and red eyes, like the girl, but more mature and dignified.

"...Who...?"

"Chris Reinhardt, also known as the Dark."

Hearing the name "Dark," Leo said as he closed his eyes,

"That's pretty cool... Dark..."

With those words, Leo fainted.

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