Shock spread throughout the area.
“!”
The orange-haired guy's eyes widened in disbelief. He never expected a comrade would die in an instant. This is why one must never let their guard down; you never know when a blade might strike.
The sudden act of killing startled our teammate Chae-rin just as much.
“Whoa!”
I couldn’t help but let out a wry smile internally. After all, it was my first time killing someone in front of others. Of course, the guy had tried to eat me first, so in this barbaric world, that was a good enough reason for death.
However, even if my reasoning was sound, I couldn’t fully grasp her psychology. Chae-rin was a modern person, and witnessing such an instinctive act of murder might leave her feeling uneasy.
“Wow... as expected, Yor, your skills are amazing.”
... Or was it not? After all, from her perspective, this was just a game. Maybe she was okay with it.
Predicting the psychology of otherworlders is always tricky. They can seem just like regular people one moment and then view the world from a distance the next. There’s an odd sense of disconnect.
‘... Forget about it.’
But just as that thought crossed my mind, I shifted my focus back to the situation at hand. It wasn’t the time for reflection; my opponent was slowly recovering from shock and readying for battle.
“You bastard...!”
With a small curse, the orange-haired girl lunged at me. I raised my spear to block her short sword.
Clang-!
Her attack was heavier than I expected. Given how easily I had taken down the red-haired guy, this was surprisingly strong.
‘So she’s got some skill.’
Well, that explains why she had seemed so relaxed in the group before.
“How dare you! How did you get such underlings...!”
It seemed her skills were superior to the one I had just killed. In fact, there was not a trace of fear on her face. Even after demonstrating her prowess by dispatching her comrade with a single dagger throw, she showed no sign of being intimidated.
She then took a step back and unleashed a flurry of attacks. At that moment, I couldn’t help but be surprised.
A blue aura surrounded her short sword.
In other words, it was a sword aura.
Questions began to flood my mind.
‘What kind of group is the Lemegeton?’
There was that guy Rian I had encountered before. It seemed there were an unexpectedly high number of powerful individuals among this criminal organization.
Using a sword aura typically indicated that a person was at least an A-rank adventurer. So why were these types of people popping up one after another?
Could it be that the requirements for being A-rank are lower than I thought?
I wasn’t sure. I had no experience as an adventurer. Regardless, this was not good news.
‘A sword aura... this could be tough.’
Of course, I knew how to use a sword aura. But as I mentioned before, I was still somewhat inexperienced with it.
After all, with the demon’s blood at my disposal, why would I bother using a sword aura?
But now, I might have to use that troublesome ability.
After all, there was a spectator nearby. They wanted me to use only a sword aura for a no-hit clear. Although I liked to use all my strength in the past, I found it quite frustrating to restrict myself now.
‘... Wait a minute.’
But just as I entertained that thought, a better idea came to me. If the spectator was bothersome, couldn’t I just get rid of her?
So, I hesitantly asked her.
“Chae-rin, can you die right now?”
“Uh, wh-what?”
She looked at me with a bewildered expression, as if asking what kind of nonsense I was saying. Damn it, it wasn’t going to work. Eliminating the witness had failed.
Then, suddenly, I thought of another option.
After all, otherworlders have ways to avoid death beyond just dying, don’t they? I had been so focused on murder that my brain momentarily froze.
Clang-!
Blocking her sword again, I shouted to the heavens.
“Or just log out! Just log out! It doesn’t need to be long!”
“Uh, but logging out takes at least 20 minutes to get back in...”
“That’s plenty of time! In fact, it’s just right!”
Twenty minutes was enough time to deal with the opponent and even have time for a snack afterward.
At my words, she wore a worried expression for a moment.
But soon after, she nodded and prepared to log out, trusting in my abilities. She knew I could hold my own against Seere.
“... Just don’t get too hurt.”
With that, she vanished from the scene. The sense of presence I had felt disappeared.
I took a moment to create some distance and surveyed my surroundings.
“...”
It was eerily quiet. Aside from the opponent in front of me, the only sound was the rustling of leaves. There was no sense of presence anywhere else.
This meant that the only one observing me here was the person right in front of me. Given that he was about to die, it could be said that there was effectively no one else.
A strange sense of liberation washed over me. It had been so long since I felt this kind of freedom.
“Take your eyes off me!”
The opponent charged at me. He lunged with a thrust using his short sword.
I could see fierce mana coalescing at the tip of his blade.
Now that I had confirmed that, I could dodge.
However, instead of avoiding it, I reached out my right hand toward the tip of his sword.
Thud-!
The sound of flesh being pierced welcomed me with a sharp pain. I couldn’t help but grimace at the sudden influx of pain.
However, since I had been cutting myself monthly, I was able to endure it for now.
As my opponent’s attack succeeded, he let out a vile laugh.
“Ha ha, you foolish idiot. You think I’ll go easy on you just because you’ve got some skill? You’re dead!”
“...”
I didn’t bother to respond. I had no hobby of conversing with the dead.
For the first time in a long while, I moved my blood.
The droplets that were about to fall to the ground disregarded logic and rose back into the air.
As long as I had the will and ability to do so, my blood was malleable and could be used to exert power.
The blood flowing from my hand enveloped the sword like a coating. It was better to quickly dispose of unnecessary weapons.
I exerted pressure and bent the blade itself.
Creak-! Crrack-!
The sound of something that shouldn’t be heard echoed from the sword as it crumpled like paper.
I let out a short sound of satisfaction.
“Hmmm...”
It certainly took quite a bit of strength to crumple steel. It was only possible with a thin and small short sword, though.
It wasn’t a method I could frequently use, as this ability had its own side effects.
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Regardless, it cleared away the cumbersome weapon.
“W-what?!”
Seeing that, my opponent stumbled back in shock. Confusion and fear spread across his face.
“No way, what the hell... Is this black magic? Who are you? How can you do something like that?”
“What does it matter to a dying man?”
I tossed aside the twisted sword and stepped toward him. The blood that had coated the blade was collected again.
Bright red droplets gathered in the air and floated.
If only I didn’t go Berserk, this would be a very useful ability.
“Yikes, don’t come any closer...!”
He shouted with a voice tainted by fear.
The bravado he had shown earlier when he attempted to attack me had vanished.
Fortunately for him, I had no interest in tormenting someone about to die.
So I intended to send him off with a single blow.
I began to shape the blood.
What I wanted was a simple stab.
The blood that had been floating in the air began to move and took the form of a spear that flew toward him.
In a panic, he quickly raised his round shield.
However, it would be useless. I had just crumpled steel; how could a mere round shield withstand this?
Regardless, this would be the end of it.
“Guh!”
With a short gasp, a hole was pierced through his neck. The peaceful scenery of the forest could be seen through the hole in his neck.
Since he seemed to care for his underlings, I sent him off in the same manner.
Thud!
As he collapsed to the ground, I found myself pondering for a moment.
“Hmm...”
Now, how should I deal with the rest of them?
Chae-rin logged out and stepped out of her capsule.
As she waited to reconnect, anxiety coursed through her.
“What should I do...?”
Of course, she was well aware of Yor’s strength. He had shown remarkable prowess time and time again, and he was a human who could face a demon in combat and emerge unscathed.
But looking at the situation, it was just one ‘man’ and a criminal left alone together. If anything went wrong, there would be no one to help.
Though she did request him to ‘log out,’ she couldn’t help but wonder why he suddenly asked for that.
He looked a bit anxious, and she had followed along without thinking, but the waiting period felt agonizing.
To log back into Demons Saga, you had to wait about 20 minutes after logging out.
This was to prevent players from logging out during battle and engaging in cheap tactics. Of course, logging out wouldn’t grant any invincibility, but it could at least confuse the monsters.
Regardless, that meant Chae-rin was stuck waiting for 20 minutes with nothing to do.
After the agonizing wait, when the 20 minutes had finally passed, she quickly logged back into the game.
“Yor!”
As the strange feeling of floating disappeared, she looked around.
And then she saw him.
There, in the corner of the floor, was a crumpled piece of metal and Yor, who was diligently digging into the ground to bury two corpses.
“Oh, you’re here?”
He looked at Chae-rin and said.
“Sorry, it’s getting dark, and I have to finish digging here. You can walk out alone, right?”
Seeing her NPC friend hiding the corpses made her worries melt away.
However, she seriously pondered within herself.
No matter that this was just a game and her opponent was a criminal...
Should she really just stand by and watch this crime scene unfold...?