Chapter 39
I've seen Yor fight quite a few times before.
With the Owlbear, and when he was guarding Chae-rin too. There were quite a few YouTube videos showing this NPC in combat.
But if you asked me if I'd ever seen him fight properly, I'd have to shake my head no.
After all, most of his opponents went down in one hit.
It was impossible to gauge his true combat ability or fighting style.
What kind of opponent could even challenge someone who one-shot an Owlbear?
I'd just vaguely assumed he was pretty strong... nothing more concrete than that.
But seeing it up close like this, I could tell. His combat ability far exceeded those vague assumptions.
"My god..."
Ha-neul muttered in shock.
To think he could go toe-to-toe with a Great Demon and even gain the upper hand.
Having participated in the previous Andromalius subjugation, she knew.
Just how powerful demons with rank truly were.
Even hundreds of users rushing in together would be cut down in a single second by these Great Demons.
Though Seere seemed a bit weaker for some reason... still, users couldn't even dream of facing them.
Yet here he was winning against one. How could she not be amazed?
And another shocking thing was just how aggressive his fighting style was.
"What kind of man..."
He showed absolutely no fear of getting wounded or wounding others. Blood sprayed everywhere but he paid it no mind.
When he truly committed to battle, he fought like a berserker.
To charge through that storm of sword strikes without even a weapon - what incredible courage.
'Can he not feel pain...?'
The thought crossed her mind briefly.
But no, that wasn't it.
His face grimaced each time a blade cut him - he definitely felt pain.
He just endured it and kept pushing forward.
A faint hope rose in her heart.
If the fight continued like this... they might actually be able to subjugate Seere.
But such hopes were quickly dashed.
"Stop!"
Reinforcements had arrived in the slums.
*
Tap tap tap
Knights in military boots advanced through the back alleys. Given the news of a demon's arrival, there were many reinforcements flooding into the slums.
I frowned.
'Great.'
Why now of all times?
I'd expected reinforcements to arrive eventually.
Given the commotion, someone was bound to have alerted the guards.
But the timing couldn't have been worse. Just a little longer and I might have been able to catch him.
"Is Seere here?"
"Where? Where is he?!"
The reinforcements weren't just knights. Behind them, I could see people carrying various weapons approaching. In other words, Otherworlders.
They'd come running at news of Seere's appearance too. They soon spotted this location.
"Found him! Over there!"
"Ohh, it really is Seere!"
"Me too, me too, please use me as a footstool! Uh... but who's that next to him?"
"A man...? Ah, can't tell with that hood."
I frowned. As usual, these guys were no help at all.
As I hesitated, Seere spoke up.
"Kuhehe, shall we call it here, child? After all, as a Manifestor yourself, getting caught would be quite troublesome, no?"
He was suggesting we break off and go our separate ways.
Though slightly irritating, he had a point. Honestly, the Imperial Knights were just as unwelcome to me as he was.
Sure, I had illusion magic and a hood for now... but there was no need to draw their attention unnecessarily.
"You could escape easily now. Most of the attention is focused on me after all. So hurry and back away."
But should I really let him go like this?
That felt unsafe no matter how I thought about it. If he held a grudge and came after me later, it would be a real pain.
'I should at least wound him badly.'
Honestly, we probably wouldn't meet again, but I needed to ensure he wouldn't be a threat even if we did.
While capturing him here would be best, that ship seemed to have sailed.
The knights were annoyingly quick on their feet.
Fortunately, an opportunity to wound him came quickly.
"I said back off."
He used his ability again.
"Huh? My sword!"
Swoosh-
As the Otherworlder's sword vanished, a blade appeared in one of his hands.
Unable to stop me with one sword, he planned to use two.
And that was a hasty mistake.
It forced him to drop the dagger he was holding in his other hand.
His ability might be unlimited, but with a human body he could only hold two weapons at once.
I quickly rolled toward the side where he'd dropped the dagger. Then gripped it with both hands. The familiar grip sensation wrapped around my senses.
"Everyone form ranks! Let's drive out this evil demon!"
Given how close the knights were, this would probably be my last strike.
So I held nothing back. I poured all the mana in my body into the blade.
Swoosh-
Sword energy gathered in the dagger.
Though crude, the energy contained within was not to be underestimated.
A killing blow with no thought for what came after.
Having prepared, I immediately slashed upward.
Fortunately the attack connected. And quite critically at that.
Slash-!
"Arghhhh!"
Following the dagger's path, Seere's arm was severed.
His left arm spun through the air before landing far away on the street.
Shocked cries erupted from the onlookers.
"What?!"
"How did...!"
All eyes turned this way.
I prepared to withdraw before people recovered from their shock.
I gathered up the blood I'd spilled and slowly backed away.
"N-Now's our chance! Everyone pursue him!"
A knight who'd regained his senses began charging at Seere.
I approached Ha-neul and whispered:
"Hey, let's bolt."
The illusion magic duration was almost up. I needed her to extend it while we escaped.
*
Thanks to Seere drawing aggro, escaping was surprisingly easy.
After all, Yor's tattoo hadn't been exposed, and everyone was busy chasing Seere.
Thanks to that, Ha-neul was able to leave the city without drawing anyone's attention.
Man, she hadn't even known about that secret passage in the back alleys.
"Haa... haa..."
Once they reached the plains, she gasped for breath.
Her heart felt ready to burst. For a mage like her, keeping up with Yor's speed was far too cruel.
Eventually he got frustrated and helped support her.
...... While being supported by a 'man' was slightly embarrassing, given the huge gap in ability she just accepted it.
Honestly... the physical contact while being supported felt kind of nice too.
"Let's rest here a bit."
As she caught her breath, Yor spoke. Thanks to his regeneration, his wounds had almost completely healed.
After briefly surveying the surroundings, Yor did something new.
He gathered all the blood covering his body into one hand. Seeing this, Ha-neul asked in surprise.
"You had that ability too?"
"Ah, yeaah."
"Don't think I saw you use it during the fight..."
"Well, there were lots of people watching then."
He explained that he'd been reluctant to use it with the beggars around.
While regeneration could be handwaved, manipulating blood would definitely draw strange looks.
Of course, fighting one-on-one with Seere was already strange enough.
Anyway, saying that, he buried the blood he'd collected underground. Ha-neul found it absurd.
'So he wasn't even going all out then?'
He still had more abilities hidden?
Ha-neul really wished she could see Seere's level.
She couldn't tell if Seere was weak or if Yor was just abnormally strong.
Though they'd escaped safely, Yor's face remained grim.
Letting Seere escape seemed to really bother him.
'Maybe I should have used the blood control too...'
The regret crossed his mind.
The demon knew he was a Manifestor now, so who knew how he'd act with that information.
At least illusion magic had been active at the time...
'Whatever.'
After worrying briefly, Yor decided to shelve it for now.
Thinking about it wouldn't solve anything. Getting home was the priority.
"Oh right, I grabbed something..."
As they rested, Ha-neul spoke up again. Her breathing had stabilized quite a bit during the break.
She opened her inventory and took something out.
Seeing it, Yor smacked her hand in shock.
Smack!
"Ow!"
"Why on earth did you bring that?!"
He couldn't help but be shocked.
What Ha-neul had pulled from her inventory was Seere's severed left arm.
Did she have some kind of dismemberment fetish? Even Yor found this a bit creepy.
"Wait, let me explain!"
Of course Ha-neul felt wronged. She had her reasons for taking it.
Rewinding to several minutes ago.
When Yor cut off Seere's arm, instead of watching that scene, she saw something else. Seere's arm flew through the air and landed right in front of her.
At that moment, a system window appeared before her eyes.
[Would you like to acquire this item?]
An alert that this arm was an item.
Given it dropped from a raid boss, of course she'd grab it.
Someone else would have just picked it up if she left it there anyway.
Ha-neul held out the severed arm to him and said:
"I'll give this to you. It's kind of gross but... you're the one who got it anyway. I just grabbed it since it was marked as an item."
"... This thing is an item?"
Yor tilted his head but accepted it anyway.
Looking at it, it just seemed disgusting.
Come to think of it, Andromalius had left his arm as an item when he died too.
Tigers leave their pelts when they die, do demons leave their arms?
'So what ability does it have?'
Since it was marked as an item, it must have some effect.
Suddenly an ability came to mind.
The one Seere had been using throughout the fight.
The ability to move objects from elsewhere to his hand.
Since it came from his body, maybe this arm had a similar effect.
'Try grabbing something.'
With that thought, Yor commanded the arm.
Swoosh-
Sure enough, an object appeared in Seere's left arm.
Something oddly warm.
A black piece of clothing large enough to cover Yor's face twice over...
"Hm?"
In other words, a bra.
"?!"
Ha-neul frantically checked her chest