When the Serial Killer Next Door Gained Harem System

Chapter 130: Keeping the Street Safe

Still on the ground, Ken rolled hard to the side, got his bow back into his hands, and nocked two arrows in one quick motion. He fired both at the man who had been pretending to be injured, and the shafts struck him in the chest and leg before he could move away. He was not dead yet, though, and I was not about to let that EXP go to waste.

I took a long step forward, grabbed the back of his head as he turned away from me, and drove my dagger into his back. Then I twisted it sideways while it was still inside him and let him drop.

╔══════════════════╗

> ENEMY SLAIN

╠══════════════════╣

> +40 EXP

╚══════════════════╝

I changed into Cleric and cast Choir of Ash, letting the spell mark the fallen enemies around me so each of them could feed back into my mana regeneration. That meant I could afford to be a lot looser with my spellcasting from here on out.

╔═══════════════╗

> Choir of Ash: -21 MP

────────────────

Cooldown: 2 minutes

Duration: 60 seconds

╚═══════════════╝

After that, I switched into Spellblade and cast Blazing Cleave, swinging my dagger as a fire arc burst from the weapon and shot up into the air. I tightened my grip and moved the blade downward, and the fire followed the motion exactly, dropping with it and slamming into one of the men who was rushing me. The blast hit him high and made him stumble hard, smoke rising from his armor as he crashed to the ground. I raised the dagger again, keeping the fire suspended in a shifting circle above me, then brought it down once more and sent it crashing into him a second time.

It still wasn’t enough to kill him, but it left him open long enough for Ken to finish the job.

"I got him!" Ken shouted.

He nocked another arrow while the man was still trying to recover and fired, and the shot buried itself in the man’s left eye before he could even react. That meant I wasn’t getting any EXP from that one, which was annoying, but there was nothing to do about it.

That left two more.

The numbers were even now, two against one on each side, and the remaining men glanced at each other before gripping their swords tighter. Apparently they had decided not to run.

Good. More EXP for me.

"How do you cast so many Shadow Leaps?" one of them spat.

I ignored him and kept moving while Ken got back up behind me, bow still ready in his hands. I changed into Nongi and cast Crown of Nails, and a ring of holy spikes appeared behind me, floating in the air in a slow and steady circle. Then I lunged at them with my weapon ready.

My dagger clashed with one man’s sword, and that was enough to trigger the spell. One of the nails shot forward instantly and struck him in the cheek, making him howl in pain as he threw up his palm to cast something. I ducked under the attack and drove my dagger into his leg, and before he could recover another spike shot forward and slammed into the palm he had raised, cutting off the spell before it could fully form.

"Careful!" Ken called out.

I glanced left and saw the other man rushing toward me, but Ken forced him to hesitate by sending an arrow straight at his head. That gave me enough room to switch into Warrior and use Dash, shooting forward with a burst of speed so sudden it looked like I had vanished and reappeared in front of him. The force of my movement threw him off balance, and he stumbled backward under the impact.

I kicked him in the head while he was still trying to recover, which counted as another hit, and one of the nails shot forward and struck him in the chest. It wasn’t deep enough to drop him right away, but it was enough to keep him struggling while he clawed uselessly at my leg.

"That’s enough from you, huh?" I whispered, and then I let my foot off his throat.

I dropped to one knee and drove my dagger into his face. The blade punched through with brutal ease, and the man finally went still as his body slackened beneath me.

╔══════════════════╗

> ENEMY SLAIN

╠══════════════════╣

> +39 EXP

╚══════════════════╝

When I looked back, I saw the last one trying to run.

No chance.

I changed classes again, used Shadow Leap, and appeared directly in front of him. He skidded to a stop, dropped to both knees when his strength gave out, and covered his face with shaking hands.

"P-please..." he muttered. "I... I didn’t..."

"Who hired you?" I asked.

He shook his head hard. "I don’t know. The boss knew him."

"Who hired you?"

"I don’t know," he repeated. "Please let me go."

I stared at him for a second, trying to decide whether he was lying. Probably not. If the third suspect really was a noble, then it made sense that he would only deal with one man and not trust anyone else with the truth. Still, that didn’t mean I was feeling generous.

No witnesses, right?

"Ace," Ken said behind me, his voice coming out a little rough from the fight. "Let him go."

"Please," the man begged again. "Please, please, please..."

Then his expression changed too fast for me to trust it, and his hand shot up, palm opening as a fireball began forming in front of him. I reacted instantly, switching back to Rogue and casting Shadow Leap just as the spell fired. My body dissolved into smoke and reappeared inches away from him, and the fireball sailed harmlessly past where I had been standing a moment earlier.

I glanced at the spell burning through the air, then turned back toward the man. His eyes were wide, his mouth hanging open in panic, and he looked like he had already realized exactly how badly he had messed up.

"Well."

I put a hand on his shoulder.

"Wrong move, buddy."

╔══════════════════╗

> ENEMY SLAIN

╠══════════════════╣

> +44 EXP

╚══════════════════╝

ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎

I stepped through the entrance and looked around. We had been in the Circle for about half an hour, so it seemed like we had made it back right on time.

The carriage that brought us here was still waiting. The coachman was resting on the ground with his back against the side of it, while the two guards sat in front, one of them asleep and the other keeping watch over the entrance. The guard who was awake nudged the sleeping one and pointed in our direction.

"They’re here."

I pulled the items out of my inventory and walked over to the carriage. The waking guard straightened up, took the plants from my hands, and began counting them one by one while the coachman got up and watched. After a moment, he finished counting, nodded once, and signaled to the coachman.

"They’ve got it," he said. "Let’s head back to the city."

"Man..." Ken muttered beside me. "It’s over. Finally."

I doubted that was really the end of it. We still had the third suspect to deal with, and from the way things looked, he had no intention of leaving the city anytime soon. If he was bold enough to send men after us, then he was bold enough to fight back, and that only made me more interested in finding out who he was. Unlucky for him, he had picked the wrong person to mess with.

"Yeah..." I exhaled. "Finally..."

ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎

By the time we returned, it was already afternoon. The carriage stopped near the dormitories and we hopped off, with the boys’ dormitory to my left and the girls’ dormitory to my right. As soon as our feet hit the ground, the coachman pulled the reins and turned the horses away from the circular street.

"I’m hungry," Ken said with a tired exhale. "You think we missed breakfast?"

"Probably," I replied.

"Damn."

"I need to sit down for a minute."

I walked over to the nearest bench and dropped onto it, and Ken sat beside me a second later. He leaned back, closed his eyes, and pressed a fist against his forehead as if that might somehow help him recover from the day. While the silence settled between us, I opened the UI to check my stats.

Before I could do that, though, Null, the student council president, came walking over to us. He planted one hand on his hip, glanced toward the street entrance, and then turned his sharp eyes on me. He was probably wondering why the hell we had come back in a royal carriage, and honestly I couldn’t blame him for that.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Long story," I said, too tired to bother with much else. "How did last night go? People were willing to stand guard?"

"Thirty-five boys volunteered, and sixty girls did too," he said. "I’m still trying to figure out how we’re going to manage the night shifts."

"Good for you," I said. "Keeping the street safe was a good call."

"Thank you," he replied. "Though coming from you, I can’t really take that as a compliment for some reason."

"Hmm." I closed my eyes. "Fair enough."

Null didn’t add anything else. He just looked at us one last time before walking off. Good. The last thing I wanted right then was more attention.

Now I could finally check the UI.