Chapter 190: Efficiently
When the blade made contact with the mask, Ramin thought that it was harder than she had expected.
She realized that the masks worn by the Fang Agents weren’t just simple decorations but rather quite useful protective gear. Regardless, the Empire’s blades were sharp enough to cut through the masks, but a swordsman always swung their sword according to the material they were going to cut, which gave the red-masked Fang agent a moment to step back before their face could be pierced.
Half of the red mask fell to the ground along with the shattered glass pieces. Ramin looked at the face revealed, or more precisely, the mouth.
"...A Lizardman?"
The Lizardman beneath the diagonally cut mask glared at Ramin.
"...Is there anything to be surprised about?"
Ramin wasn’t only surprised because they were a Lizardman, as there were many Lizardmen in the Union Kingdom too. However, this Lizardman had black scales. Of course, there could be other Lizardmen with black scales who weren’t from the Empire, but all the ones Ramin knew of were from the Empire.
Del, the black-scaled Lizardman, drew a dagger from a sheath on their chest. Ramin considered it a reasonable choice. While they had a longsword at their waist, brandishing it in a narrow space could easily result in the weapon getting caught on something.
‘Of course, that's only when you lack experience in fighting in narrow spaces.’
Ramin kicked the door open, forcing Del to step back. She could get attacked from both sides, but fighting in the corridor seemed like the better option.
‘Because then, Juran wouldn’t be within the Lizardman’s range of sight.’
Ramin glanced at Juran, who was against the wall. Since she couldn’t give him a signal, she could only hope he would do what he had to do on his own.
Juran gave her what seemed like a nod.
‘Alright, then…’
Ramin’s idea was simple. Find Gorgota, who had left to check the situation inside the train, and escape together. But to do that, they had to kill the Fang agent in front of them.
‘The Empire communicates through the Wizards with tubifex, but the Union Kingdom mainly uses pigeons. If we kill this guy quickly before they send a signal…’
Bang!
As Ramin moved forward, a gunshot echoed. The bullet grazed Ramin's ear. But it wasn’t the Lizardman who had fired.
‘If it were, they wouldn’t have missed.’
There was another Fang agent behind the Lizardman. They hadn't been able to aim properly at Ramin because they were trying to avoid hitting Del. However, the accuracy of the shot itself wasn't the important part.
“The Vampire is here! Car 8! Car 8!”
Ramin briefly clicked her tongue.
It seemed that Del didn’t find the need to attack as the other Fang agents would surround Ramin even if Del didn’t do anything, and they could just let the others attack her from behind.
Left with no choice, Ramin thrust her sword toward Del. Even in a narrow space that could barely fit one person, if she treated her sword like a spear and made no slashing movements, there was no reason she couldn’t use her sword.
Del, however, responded defensively and backed away when possible while skillfully using their dagger instead of fighting back. Occasionally, the Fang Agent behind Del would attack instead, using their pistol.
Ramin said, "Are you just going to run away? You don’t have any confidence, do you?"
Del shook their head.
"Provoking me is pointless, Ramin Solost Muel. I'm not a fighter."
"Then?"
"I'm an official. I do what I'm told to do."
Ramin thought that this response itself was a reaction to being provoked.
“What’s the reason you betrayed the Empire?”
"I haven't betrayed the Empire. The Empire betrayed me."
“Is that why you tried to recruit me? Because of that experience?”
Del ignored Ramin's question.
"If you surrender now, I'll help ensure a positive outcome for your future."
Ramin rolled her eyes.
‘Where is the independent life you talked of, Night Sky?’
Ramin also ignored Del's words. Then, she quickly shifted her position with a step and thrust her sword. It was a large movement that she hadn't done until now.
Then, as if Del saw it as an opportunity, they took several steps back and tried to block the sword with the guard of their dagger. Del was aiming for a brawl, taking advantage of the difference in their physique. However, Ramin's moves were a deception.
As Ramin took one more step forward, she lightly pulled back the arm that had been extended. Del, who had experienced Ramin's swordsmanship once before, realized what this action meant.
'...She's going to throw it!'
Del's prediction was correct.
Ramin extended the arm she had pulled back and let go of the hilt of the sword. Del, puzzled that she would make such an easily predictable move again, stuck to the wall and avoided the sword, which had started rotating once it left Ramin’s hand.
Thud!
The dull noise was accompanied by a chilling sensation.
When Del turned around, they saw that the sword had pierced the chest of the Fang agent behind them, right up to the hilt. Ramin had been aiming for the agent behind Del in the first place.
“Damn it…!”
Del looked back at Ramin, but she was already jumping into the next sleeping compartment. Ramin opened the window of the empty compartment and squeezed through it. As her body was halfway through, she saw Del holding a dagger in one hand and a pistol in the other. The moment the rubber-powered gun was fired, Ramin stepped onto the window frame and grabbed the roof of the passenger car to climb up. The bullet grazed the sole of Ramin's shoe and flew past her foot.
“Shit.”
When Del looked up at the ceiling of the car, Ramin’s footsteps echoed. Del aimed up, but then decided to save the bullets, thinking that a low-velocity rubber bullet wouldn’t penetrate the metal plate.
Then another Fang agent belatedly arrived. "Where's the Vampire?"
"She went onto the roof of the car. Half of you go up from the front, and the other half from the back. Hurry!"
Ramin looked at the scenery from on top of the moving train. The train was racing as fast as a galloping horse. The sky was clear, and the landscape was beautiful, with green fields and low mountains. If it weren't a life-and-death situation, she would very much want to stare at it in awe.
As Ramin looked forward, her hood naturally came off.
‘What a fool.’
Feeling scorching heat hit her face, Ramin put her hood back on and turned around. Then a hand reached up from the back of the car, and someone began climbing up. It was a Fang agent.
"She’s there!”
Ramin fired her gun.
Bang!
However, the bullet missed, hitting the roof and causing a small spark. Although the distance was close enough, the strong wind made aiming difficult.
"It's a gunpowder pistol! She has a gun!”
Ramin looked back and forth. The Fang agents already had their hands on the roof of the car and were prepared to climb up.
Del shouted, "The Vampire has a gun! Go up at once on my signal! Anyone who dies here will be honored by the Angry One!"
Ramin glanced around, lowered her body, and lowered her hands toward the roof of the car.
'Efficiently.'
There was a way of life she had developed after encountering Hwee-Kyung, her teacher, and countless others. It was efficiency. A Vampire's life stemmed from someone else's suffering, pain, and life, so it must not be wasted. And this way of life still applied even after she became a chosen one.
‘Mazdari gave a complicated explanation, but the conclusion was that using Demonic Magic drains mental power, so it makes me tired.’
While she could recover by burning dried medicinal herbs, there was no knowing when she would have the time to do so. Therefore, Ramin thought that the Demonic Magic should always be used efficiently. And this was the reason why she had aimed for the heart when she first became a chosen one and fought the Dragon Knight. The heart was the most vulnerable part of a person’s body, after all.
‘Even if I just shoot electricity everywhere…if what the ancient scholars said about electricity is true, most of the energy dissipates as it passes through the air.’
That would be a waste of energy.
There hadn’t been many chosen ones, so the study of electricity hadn’t progressed much either, but Ramin did have some knowledge.
‘Dry wood doesn't like electricity, but a wet cloth does.’
Ramin put her hands on top of the roof of the car.
‘Rubber doesn't like electricity, but iron does.’
An electrical current flowed through the roof of the car, which was made of thin steel sheets, and it reached the Fang agents who had just started to climb onto the roof.
There were no dazzling electric sparks like the ancient chosen ones had shown. Instead, the hearts of the Fang agents simply contracted, and they died of cardiac arrest. Three lifeless bodies fell off the train.
"The Vampire is using strange powers!"
"She seems to be a Wizard. This is inconsistent with what we know of her!"
"We can't handle this by ourselves..."
The agents appeared to be in chaos. Not all of them had been killed, but none of those left had the courage to climb onto the roof again.
"She's a Chosen One! It's electricity!"
Del had figured it out, but it wasn’t enough to reassure the agents. In the first place, Ramin hadn’t zapped them to death in the corridor; she had waited for this moment.
"Jump over from the cars next to the one she is standing on! The soles of your shoes will block the electricity."
Ramin was considering giving up efficiency when someone appeared at the window of the next car ahead. It was Gorgota. Gorgota didn’t make any sounds to prevent attracting attention from the Fang agents, but the handwave obviously meant for Ramin to jump over the car and go to them.
As Ramin started running, a gun was aimlessly fired from below the car roof. While thinner places of the roof got pierced, there were also bullets that were stopped. Ramin then ran as fast as she could and jumped across the gap between cars.
Thud!
The moment Ramin landed on the next car, a spark arose from the connecting part between the cars. She crouched and looked down. Juran was dusting his hands off and getting up.
Juran then said to Ramin, "I'm glad you're safe, nunim. I've just disconnected the cars."
Before Ramin could ask anything, she realized what had just happened. The coupling between the cars was burning red and had been broken.
Since the train's power came from the steam engine in the leading power car, it was natural that with the coupling severed, the following cars would lose speed and fall behind. The train was running on a straight track, so it quickly distanced itself from the severed cars. Then the door opened, and Del appeared from the part of the train growing farther and farther from them. As they took aim, Del realized that the distance was too great and lowered their gun.
"What about Gorgota?"
“Gorgota had been captured by the Fang agents. I helped Gorgota escape.”
Ramin then came down from the roof and joined Gorgota.
Gorgota said, "We did manage to shake off the agents, but now that they know we're on this train, we can't continue riding it like this."
“Then what do we do?”
Gorgota took out a map.
"The Rubeil Valley is nearby. It might take some time, but we should be able to travel on foot. We can jump off during a deceleration section."
Juran then said, “Would we be okay? Although I’m not sure why, it seems like they've discovered our route."
Noting the thoughtful look on Gorgota’s face, Ramin said, "I'm worried about that too, but it's not even the worst-case scenario. The fact that they know our route might mean that they know what we want."
"What do you mean?"
Ramin replied, “We weren’t certain if we would even be able to get some clues about Hwee-Kyung if we went to Rubeil Valley, but in reality, it might be the opposite. They discovered our route because Hwee-Kyung is there.”
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