Volume 2 Chapter 21: A Dance with the Elves

(Walson)

Crackle!

With the crackling sound of the ground under her feet breaking under the use of the [Band of the Bold], Melon flew into the sky with the force of the impact she caused from her jump.

"Grace, aren't you going to help Melon?"

"... Walson is alone, no problem?"

"Of course, who do you think I am?"

Grace just looked at me for a few seconds before teleporting away, leaving some purple petals behind.

The spies have prepared in total 3 bases in the capital.

The so-called cunning spies only have three bases? It's much fewer than what i originally thought.

From the dead man's mind, it seems the three places that they use as their base are disguised as a tavern, some houses and a hotel respectively.

"Woah~ That's amazing..." Compared with her earlier outburst on seeing [Apollo], the sight of Grace using teleport didn't seem to surprise Barella all that much.

Eh? I thought Barella would be more surprised to see it.

Did she know that Grace can do teleportation?

...Well, the relationship between the two of them is quite good, so it wouldn't surprise me if Grace did use her teleportation in front of Barella in the Academy before or somewhere.

"You don't seem so surprised to see that?"

"...What happened just now is beyond common sense, but I don't think there would be anything that could surpass this. . . "

Barella looked down at [Apollo] in her hand.

"To think I would be able to have an Elf Weapon once again. . . ."

"Are you happy?"

"I'm not sure…. I have mixed feelings regarding this…. but I think I should be happy." Barella smiled.

The bases of the spies would be handled by both Melon and Grace, as for those who are still outside, they would be handled by me.

On the [Mini-map], seven red dots representing people with hostile intentions are rushing toward our location.

For them to be able to appear on my [Mini-map], that means those guys are already within the radius of 100 meters.

From their initial seven hostile entities, the number now has been increased to tens, it seems they noticed the death of their comrade, so they come to this place to check what's happening.

These people were also in a [Party] with each other, so when one of them died, their party member would know.

[Luke. Ilf_LV48 1054/1054_Status: Normal_Title: Nightcrawler]

On the roof, a black figure suddenly appeared in my field of vision.

Oh, there he is! But his level is so high!

The moment he jumped towards us, I raised the [Spider Hook] and clicked.

Whoosh!

"Gah!" That guy was hit by the spider web in the air and fell down in a twisted posture. At the same time, Barella also shot an arrow at the man.

The left abdomen of the man in black who fell on the street was blasted off, and at the same time, his body was wrapped in flames, making him howl again and again in pain.

"I was planning to blast off his chest, did my skill regress?" Murmured Barella.

Huh? Weren't your level only 19? How could you smoothly blast off the abdomen of a level 49 enemy!?

—It seems [Apollo] Is much stronger than what I originally anticipated, I'm not sure if that's good or not….

The speed of the man in black is fast, but the arrow shot from [Apollo] is much faster than him, making the man unable to dodge the blow.

By the way, Barella! Do you really have no qualms about killing people you didn't know right off the bat!?

—But to be fair, these people are rushing here with the intention to kill her, so I guess this response is normal...

Hm? The man's still alive even with that gaping hole in his burning body? Level 49 people really are different huh

I walked over to the fallen man, squatted, and asked him a question.

"Hey, the man before you won't tell me about the location of your base, would you be the same as him?"

Although I already knew his answer, I still hold out into some tiny hope that he regard his life more important than his loyalty.

"...Go to hell—cough—Long live the Empire..." While saying such words, the man in black body is trembling all over, he seemed to be enduring the pain of being burned with difficulty.

Then, not long after that, foam started to appear on the man's mouth, his limb twitched and stopped moving after a few seconds.

—They are really adamant about this huh, they really did kill themself the moment I asked them that question.

To be honest, if we merely knock them out and spread their unconscious existence around the capital, the investigative team in the capital should find their whereabouts soon.

That's actually a more preferable choice, but there is a high chance that if we let them live, they would spill the beans about our existence.

But if I ask them "Where are your bases?", they will commit suicide immediately, saving me some trouble from killing them myself, which are super convenient.

—I think my moral compass start to skew off, pretty sure the me from before wouldn't call forcing other people to suicide as 'convenient'.

However, killing is a very common occurrence in this world. For example, when being comforted with bandits, thieves, and the like, killing them in the name of self defense is common.

"This bow is so powerful. Does it have a name?"

"Ah, it's named [Apollo]." I sprinkled cobweb all over the ground between me and Barella

Due to the protection of Barella, I can't directly swing around in mobile combat, but even without that, I have a lot of means to fight and protect myself with.

"Ah! Magic!" Yelled Barella, but I'd noticed it way earlier than her.

I caught the shadow arrow flying over with the glove on my hand.

The enchantment [Projectile Protection] that is imbued on the gloves nullifies the damage of projectile attacks.

Whoosh!

Barella shot an arrow in the direction of where the magic came from, and I was greeted with the sight of a man burning not long after.

I turned around immediately, releasing the pre-assembled stone wall behind Barella, making the black-clothed swordsman who were about to sneak attack Barella crash head first into the wall.

The weapons in these people's hands all emit a faint golden luster, and it seems that they are all elves. Oh, and most of them are assassins who mainly focus on melee combat.

Is this group the kind of people who prefer to quickly snatch away their opponent's life when they are not paying attention?

How simple.

A new three men clothed in black rushed over, and then–stepped on the cobweb on the ground and fell, they quickly tumbled over each other and turned into some sort of ball.

I added a few spider webs on them, making sure they can't rip themself from the tangled mess they are in, and then took out the [Iron Cross Draft] from my [Inventory] with my left hand, and swung the dagger that i was holding into as hard as i can into the ground.

The dagger exploded, and a considerable amount of [Elf Weapon–Dagger Fragments] appeared in my [Inventory]

One of the men in black body suddenly froze.

Oops. Did I accidentally smash your Elf Weapon?

However, spirit equipment is something that is connected to the life of the owner. If it is damaged, it will gradually return to its original state as long as the owner does not die.

The so-called growth equipment is such a magical item. Unfortunately, you probably won't have enough time to have your weapon repaired.

The spider web was launched once more into them, and the man in black struggled on the ground immediately.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a wind blade suddenly rushed into me.

It's an [Arte]!

I had forgotten that the enemy might have this move, but...

I raised my gloved hand, and the wind blade coming from one of the men in black disappeared.

Sorry, slashing waves are also included in the list of range of projectile attacks!

The man in black entered a state of dumbfoundment, and then his chest was pierced by the arrow launched by Barella

This person is level 42, from the look of it, the previous level 49 assassins are not a special case, since from the look of it, the level of these assassins are in the 40s.

They are all five or more grades higher than me, and their speed and physical ability are beyond my level.

However, I have many means to beat them, ha.

"Are you really a [Villager]? What kind of fighting style was that!?" Barella yelled at me.

Earlier, she was very nervous, but now she is very calm.

"Yeah, my class is a [Villager]."

While saying this, the last man in black was stuck to the ground, his body was wrapped with spider web.

"Aurevia, you sinner! You actually betrayed the Empire..." The man in black who was stuck on the ground roared at Barella, his face furious.

"What? What are you talking to a person who was exiled by you." Without much fanfare, Barella raised her bow and shot an arrow at his chest.

Barella really is having a streak now huh—um?

Wasn't Barella just level 19 earlier? How come it's level 22 now!

—Turns out killing monsters is not the only way to gain EXP! Killing people is also possible huh....

I turned my head and looked at the remaining man in black, there were still 4 people left.

"Okay, then, who of you will tell me where the location of your base is?"

"Fuck you! Long live the Empire! "

No one gave me a real answer, they chose to kill themself instead.

"Eh? Wait, if you are going to die anyway, at least die in one of our hands! You can't let the EXP go to waste!"

Immediately, Barella raised her bow and shot more arrows at the bodies of these dying men right before they died.

—It can be regarded as giving them some amount of mercy by quick death.

Looking at the [Mini-map] once more, I noticed that all of the red dots earlier are gone.

Were there only ten people that were sent here?