Chapter 83
How had the Nebula ducal family viewed this operation?
Abel, the rightful heir to the Nebula ducal family, as he was now.
And Bellias, who, unlike the illegitimate Abel, carried the blood of the rightful direct line.
The two of them had left the ducal family estate together, at the same time.
An ordinary ducal family would surely have done everything in its power to dissuade Abel from making that decision.
It was the worst possible assumption, but what if those two were attacked and the ducal family's bloodline ended just like that?
They knew he was strong.
But they could never completely deny the possibility of something happening.
So when Abel first said he was going to Marita with Bellias, they had planned to assign at least two members of [Dark Shadow] as guards somewhere in the distance.
Of course, Abel had changed the operation, turning that intention into a form of support instead.
"Honestly, even I was scared stiff back then, you know?"
Charon said that and began speaking like a clown.
Of course, he did not tell him everything.
No, rather, the only thing he had said was that one sentence just now.
"What are you talking about?"
So from the perspective of the man who had tried to ambush Charon only to be counterattacked and end up with a dagger buried in his abdomen, he could do nothing but say this.
But Charon had no intention of answering the man's question.
After all, what idiot would give information to an enemy who had ambushed him and then keep running his mouth?
"No, no, listen."
So this was only half a smokescreen.
Every action, word, and tone meant to irritate the enemy was part of Charon's method of eliciting a reaction, then rearranging that reaction in his own way to infer the answer.
To do that, he had to draw out a reaction from his opponent.
"So one egg left, and he took another egg with him?"
There was no context to the story.
"But that was the only remaining top-grade egg the farmer had. Goodness! Everyone who had carefully tended that egg couldn't help but react sensitively!"
Anyone who knew the background of the entire story would understand what he meant.
But to the man who knew none of it, it was nothing more than incomprehensible nonsense.
"You can't even understand this?! Goodness, goodness! I may have overestimated your intelligence!"
As though adding sauce to an unpleasant story, the ridiculous gestures, words, and tone he used like a clown were all irritating from the man's perspective.
"..."
But the man did not react.
Although he was irritated, suppressing his emotions was easy for someone as well-trained as him.
Sshk!
At the same time, the man threw away the dagger embedded in his abdomen.
'Hmm...'
At the sight, Charon's gaze instantly sank.
'No reaction to the poison.'
The dagger had been coated with a fast-acting deadly poison.
It was a lethal toxin capable of killing an ogre-class monster in an instant, yet the man was completely unaffected?
Moreover, his emotions fluctuated so little that it was almost unnatural.
'A pro.'
A professional who had trained in emotional control and poison resistance, at that.
‘Just as I thought. This is great.’
Whether the opponent reacted or not, there was so much information to gain. Why on earth did people not do this?
"Heh-heh..."
Thinking that, Charon hummed a tune and drew a new dagger from inside his clothing.
Gurgle.
At the same time, the hole pierced by Charon's dagger began to close.
"Oh."
He knew that technique.
In fact, as a member of the Nebula ducal family's [Dark Shadow] who had experienced countless assassinations, he had seen it quite often.
[Body Control]
A kind of muscle control that used mana to move the muscles throughout the body.
However, the man's method was slightly different.
Not a speck of mana could be felt, so it was closer to him purely using his abdominal muscles to seal the wound.
An ability to control his body beyond imagination.
Those who possessed this ability and had reached such an extraordinary level of mastery were definitely called this, weren't they?
"A traditional knight, of all things. Could this be a jackpot?"
Lord Abel said that the person he possessed during the academy train attack through Possession was a traditional knight, didn't he?
Bingo. A jackpot bingo, at that.
Click!
At those words, the man—or rather, the knight—silently stared at Charon with nothing but blind murderous intent.
"Sob, sob. How cruel. Human evolution began with conversation, yet you refuse to engage in it!"
"..."
"Really..."
Clang!
"How cruel!"
...
No matter how deftly Charon had dealt with the knight's ambush and landed a hit, fighting a knight—especially a traditional knight—in close combat was too much for him.
This was due less to any lack of ability on Charon's part than to the grotesque strength unique to traditional knights.
Fanatics who had trained solely in close combat.
They were beings who had invested everything in attack—attack, attack, and attack—rather than defense.
Traditional knights were, in other words, truly insane people who had invested everything in that one thing: attacking.
"Ghk!"
Ka-kang!
A small stone fragment flew up as the building cracked from the impact.
Using that fragment as a foothold, the flurry of blows coming from all directions in an instant was difficult to handle, even for Charon, a member of [Dark Shadow].
"As expected of a traditional knight, you're nimble!"
Crack!
Yet even in that situation, Charon's mouth kept moving without pause.
Kakakakakak!
"Wow! That attack just now was incredible. Six consecutive strikes in an instant! I'd like to learn that too—would you accept me as a traditional knight?!"
Clang!
"How stingy!"
Hahahaha!
Even while spouting such pointless nonsense, Charon's mind began racing.
'Hmm. This is troublesome...'
Close combat was honestly not his specialty.
He did have a technique that granted him explosive acceleration for an instant, but if someone asked whether it was his forte, Charon would answer no.
'But getting away...'
Continuing an exchange outside his specialty was honestly killing him.
Of course, that was an exaggeration.
Boom!
Charon blocked the knight's attack, which came crashing down like lightning, with the daggers in both hands, but he did not erase the smile on his lips.
To be honest, his experience fighting Abel... No, even calling it a fight was ridiculous.
He had been driven into close combat, pressed the seizure switch, and ended up with his entire body skewered in a space devoid of mana.
Thanks to that experience, Charon was able to remain so relaxed.
'Honestly, compared with Lord Abel, he's...'
The enemy was by no means weak.
It was only because his comparison was Abel, a being beyond the heavens.
'Now then... what should I do?'
He wanted to create some distance, but the enemy seemed to know his own strengths and was tenaciously pursuing him.
Or should he retreat and live to fight another day?
Abel and Bellias could be put in danger.
So he rejected that option without even considering it.
After countless exchanges back and forth,
something strange began happening to the dagger that had endured all of them.
Crunch.
A tiny gap. The knight's slash seized it and shattered Charon's left-hand dagger in an instant.
"Hup!"
Charon immediately kicked up the fragments of the falling dagger and used the debris like a shotgun.
Whoosh.
But the knight easily evaded the ambush.
"Oh, I thought that was a pretty good improvisation, though?"
When it came to close combat, it was no exaggeration to say that traditional knights were the most troublesome people in the world.
No, seriously, could he really catch the fleeting instant when someone kicked up falling fragments with a mana-enhanced leg and dodge it?
"You're a monster!"
Clang!
"Goodness! How cruel. Don't you know anything about chivalry?! I can only use one hand now!"
But.
"I suppose you didn't think of this too?"
...
[Lainas]
The knight of [Lainas] facing Charon had not let his guard down even once.
But.
Now.
"I suppose you didn't think of this too?"
Charon's empty hand began to move.
With his subjective sense of time split to the limit, the knight confirmed every movement and could not help focusing on the hand that had moved behind Charon's back.
It was a very natural chain of cause and effect.
Because the knight had sensed Charon's strength more clearly, he had become more wary.
But that wariness was precisely what caused the knight's defeat.
The dagger had broken, Charon had kicked up its powder and used it as a makeshift shotgun, and the knight had confirmed that the dagger was broken.
Charon's words and actions had hinted that he was aiming for something.
This entire series of events was for one thing alone.
"Be--"
It was all merely preparation to detonate the [Mana Bomb] installed in one of the molars at the back of his mouth.
"!!!"
Charon's face was twisted into a creepy grin.
At the same time, a shape slowly began to appear in Charon's opening mouth.
Upon seeing that shape, the knight convulsed as a chill sharply dug into him.
He knew instinctively.
That bomb was dangerous!
But.
He could not move.
It was a calamity caused by the brief moment he had spent focusing on Charon's empty hand.
Click.
-----!!!
With the horrifying sound of the [Mana Bomb] activating, a massive explosion began to engulf the knight.
***
"Wow, that was dangerous."
Charon muttered with a smile as he shook the dust from his body.
"I wanted to take him back alive..."
That would be impossible.
The [Mana Bomb] had detonated directly in front of him, turning him into a gruesome corpse with barely enough of a shape left to identify it.
Still, even in that state, the lingering traces of mana made it possible to extract his memories, so it was not exactly a tremendous loss.
"As expected, this method is best against knights."
The same had been true when he fought the Sword Master he had faced.
It was all thanks to his supernatural ability, [Absolute Defense].
Unless he exhausted all the mana in his body, the ability granted him a truly absolute barrier.
Thanks to this ability, Charon, despite being an assassin, primarily used suicide bombs or tactics that made his own body the bait.
Of course, relying on only that would make every battle too one-dimensional, and he thought his opponents would eventually learn about it, so he had later learned dagger techniques as well.
"Now, shall I harvest the mana?"
Since he had done well this time, perhaps his salary reduction and disciplinary action would be lifted too.
Thinking that, Charon hummed as he rummaged through the subspace ring he had taken with him when he left the Nebula ducal family estate.