kidnaping Incident 3

By the time Olba reached the front lines, the entire area was already thoroughly dyed with blood. The soldiers protecting this high-value facility were by no means weak. Among them were even those with enough strength to join the Imperial Guards.

But this...

"How did this happen?!"

In the hall of this underground facility, at the only point where light could shine in from the outside, there is an entire mountain of corpses.

All of them bore only a single sword wound.

Completely dominated by an overwhelming difference in strength.

"It was you bastards...!"

The target of Olba's glare is a group of individuals wearing black bodysuits. Judging from the bulges on their bodies, all of them are young girls of small stature.

They number 7 in total. But in this location currently illuminated only by moonlight, their presence is so thin that Olba would lose sight of them if he let his attention wander for even a moment. The girls, through their uncommonly high proficiency with magic, are controlling their own presence.

They possess power enough to match that of his own. Olba has no choice but to acknowledge this fact.

Among them, a young girl drenched head to toe with blood looks Olba up and down under the light of the moon.

"...!"

At that moment, alarm bells go off inside Olba's head. There is no particular reason, it is all instinct. Every fiber of his being is screaming at him that she is dangerous.

While the blood from her bodysuit drips onto the ground, drip drop, drip drop, she also begins to slowly approach him.

All while slovenly dragging her blood-soaked sword over the ground, leaving a trail of blood behind.

"Who are you people? What is your aim?!"

So asks Olba while suppressing his fear.

Every single one of them has enough strength to rival his own, but there are seven of them. How out of luck is he?

To do battle would be sheer folly.

Even while lamenting his own unluckiness, Olba continues to search for a way out of this situation.

But the blood-stained girl does not seem to have heard Olba's question.

She only laughs.

Underneath her blood-stained mask, the blood-stained girl only laughs.

I'm going to be killed!

Or so thought Olba, when...

"Fall back, Delta."

The blood-stained girl stops moving.

Then she turns back as if nothing had happened. Olba watches her go with a sigh of relief.

In exchange, a different girl steps forward.

"We are Shadow Garden."

It is a voice so beautiful that if the situation wasn't as it is, he might have fallen in love with it.

"And I am Alpha."

And suddenly, he realizes that she has taken off her mask.

Under the moonlight, her skin shines a dazzling white.

The girl takes one step forward.

"...!"

A blond elf.

Beauty enough to steal his breath away.

Then she takes another step forward.

"Our aim... is the destruction of the Order of Diabolos."

She swings the black blade that had appeared in her hand out of nowhere through the air.

The night was sliced through.

Or so the black blade caused Olba to hallucinate.

The air pressure, the sword pressure, every single part of it intimidated and terrorized Olba.

How on earth did she manage to gain such strength at such a young age?! Olba finds himself shuddering with both jealousy and fear.

But what he finds more shocking than her strength are the words that had come out of her mouth.

"You bastards... where did you hear that name from?!"

The Order of Diabolos. In this facility, there is only a small handful of people who know of this name.

"We know about it all. The demon Diabolos, the Curse of Diabolos, the Descendants of the Heroes, as well as... the truth of demon possession."

"How, what, that..."

Among what Alpha just said were things that even Olba learned of only recently. Those secrets are protected so carefully that there is no way they have leaked outside.

"Did you think that you people were the only ones chasing the Cursed of Diabolos?"

"Kuh...!"

This information leak can never be forgiven.

But to kill these girls to plug the leak?

He does not possess the strength to do so.

In that case, what Olba must do is... to survive. He must survive and warn Headquarters of these girls' existence.

Therefore, Olba charges forward.

"AAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Olba draws his sword with vigor and slashes at Alpha.

"Ara, how reckless."

Alpha easily parries his sword.

Her counter slashes Olba's cheek, causing blood to fly through the air.

But Olba does not stop.

Again and again, without regard for how many times his swings miss, Olba continues brandishing his sword, searching for an opportunity to escape.

But she dodges every stroke by a paper's length. Exerting only the minimum amount of movement, she has already fully seen through his swordsmanship and dodges everything perfectly.

In converse, it is Olba who is getting cut. Cuts on his arms. Cuts on his legs. Cuts on his shoulders.

But none of the cuts are fatal.

Determining that her intention is to subdue himself for interrogation's sake instead of to kill, Olba laughs.

He has finally found the path to victory.

After the nth time that his sword slices through empty air, Olba suffers a cut to his chest, and totters back in retreat.

"Seems that continuing this any longer would be a mere waste of time."

Olba does not answer.

Kneeling down while pressing down on his chest wound, Olba smiles... then drinks something.

"What are you d-... what?!"

Abruptly, Olba's body doubles in size. His skin turns jet black, his muscles expand, and his eyes turn red.

And above all else, the amount of magic in his body increases explosively.

"...!"

Without any notice, Olba's blade flashes in a mowing attack. Alpha manages to block in time, but the shock causes her to grimace.

As a snap judgment, she decides to take some distance by riding the shock and jumping backward.

"What an interesting trick."

Flapping her slightly numbed hands, Alpha tilts her head.

"That wavelength is magic deviation, is it not? Hmm, and you are trying to suppress it with brute strength?"

"Alpha-sama, will you be alright?"

So asks another girl at the back, seeing Alpha retreat for the first time in this fight.

"Not a problem, Beta. It's merely gotten a bit annoying... hmm?"

When Alpha returns her attention to Olba, he is no longer there.

Instead, there is now a square hole in the spot where he had been standing, with a staircase extending downwards. Hidden door.

"... He ran away."

"He got away... shall we give chase?"

But Alpha stops the girl who is preparing to jump into the hole.

"No need. At the other end... 'he' is there."

"'He'... Speaking of which, earlier Shadow-sama did say that he'd go ahead and split up from us. Could it be...?"

"Indeed. He went off towards an undetermined direction, so I'd originally thought that he had gotten lost, but..."

Alpha laughs gently.

"To think that he had predicted even this outcome... he never ceases to amaze."

The eyes of the girls peering into the hole are all glittering with respect.

...

"I'm lost."

So I mutter to myself in an underground facility with nary a soul in sight.

It was fine when we all came together and crashed this hideout. But then I got bored fighting with the small fries, so I thought to go on ahead and find the boss first. But then this is the result. Sighs, and I had even practiced my lines for when I met the boss.

But still, this facility sure is huge. Guess this time it's bandits who had occupied an abandoned military facility?

"No?"

At that moment.

I feel the presence of someone approaching from the other side of the underground passage.

After a short while, the other side also notices me. They stop a certain distance away from me.

"To think that I was forestalled..."

It's a guy with bulging muscles. And for some reason, his eyes are glowing red. What on earth is that, it's so cool! Can he shoot beams out of his eyes?

"But it is only a single person. This will be easy."

The red-eyed guy makes a twisted smile, then disappears. Or so it would probably seem to a normal person, but he's just moving quickly.

But, well.

I stop Red Eye's sword with a single hand.

Since I know the direction that he'll be coming from, that speed is not really that much of a threat. Plus, power is all about how it's used.

"Wha-!"

Lightly pushing the shoulder of the surprised Red Eye, I take my distance.

He has even more magic than Alpha. But unfortunately, he doesn't know how to control it at all. He's just a moron with a lot of magic.

Incidentally, I am really not fond of the brutish fighting style that simply relies on doping up on magic to raise one's strength and speed. Of course, I am not making light of the importance of physical specs. If I was really forced to choose between power or technique, then I would choose power without hesitation. There is no worth in techniques if there is no power. But the imperfect and warped way of fighting by solely relying on physical specs like simple strength, simple speed, and simple reaction time that completely disregards and gives up on the details – that kind of fighting style is something that I really hate.

Physical specs are genetics, but techniques are effort. That's why I, and the eminence in the shadows that I am aiming to be, would never lose in the area of technique. I apply techniques to my strength, apply schemes to my use of speed, and search for possibilities with my reaction time. Physical specs are important, sure, but I would never stupidly fight while relying solely on it. You could say that that is my esthetics in regards to battle.

Which is why I am slightly ticked off by this magic-doped retard.

So I'll give him a bit of a lesson.

On the proper way to use magic.

"Lesson 1."

I raise my slime sword and walk towards him.

One step. Two steps. Then the third step.

The moment I took my third step, Red Eye swung his sword. That is his maai.

At that moment, I accelerate.

I only used a tiny bit of magic – I concentrated only on my foot, compressed the magic, and then released it all at once.

That was it.

With only that much, the explosion of the compressed magic propels me forward with great vigor.

Red Eye's sword swings through mere air.

But I've already entered my maai.

I no longer need speed. Don't need strength either. Don't even need magic anymore.

I caress Red Eye's neck with my jet-black blade.

Just a tiny slice of skin on his neck.

After leaving a red line on Red Eye's neck, I leave my maai.

At the same time, Red Eye's sword barely grazes my cheek.

"Lesson 2."

I dash forward again in conjunction with Red Eye drawing back his blade.

This time, I don't use any magic.

Which is why Red Eye is much faster.

But regardless of how high his speed is, he cannot attack at the same time.

Which is why he gets closed in on.

It is only a mere half step.

An almost insignificant distance. A distance that is far for me, close for him.

A moment of silence.

Red Eye is conflicted.

I can see it.

In the end, Red Eye chooses to draw back.

I knew it.

I'd already read from the movement of his magic that that would be his choice.

This is why, even though Red Eye is faster, it is me who moves first.

I close the distance faster than he retreats, and the tip of my blade caresses his leg.

A bit deeper than last time.

"Kuh...!"

Red Eyelets out a grunt of pain, then retreats even further.

I choose not to chase him.

"Lesson 3."

This tutorial session has only just begun.

...

Has he ever felt such a disparity in strength? So thinks Olba while his body is cut again and again by that jet-black sword.

Even when he was fighting with that elf who called herself Alpha, even when he fought and lost to that princess at the Festival of the War of God, he did not feel such a huge disparity.

If he really had to draw a comparison... it would be from his childhood, when he had barely begun taking up the sword and was facing off against his master. Child versus master. Beginner versus expert. The word 'fight' is not even applicable.

What he is currently feeling is exactly the same as from back then.

His opponent is a young boy who by no means looks strong. At the very least, Olba doesn't feel the sense of pressure from when he fought Alpha. If he really had to sum it up into a single word, it would be 'natural.' His stance, his magic, his swordsmanship, and every single thing about his opponent is natural. There is nothing of note in regards to his strength or speed or anything else. No, it's simply that he doesn't need any of it. His sword is purely and perfected completed with skill alone.

Olba's overwhelming advantage in magic capacity is being overturned by skill alone.

Which is why he feels that absolute sense of defeat.

The fact that Olba is still standing, that he is still alive, is solely because his opponent has decided so. If he ever changes his mind, Olba's life can be snuffed out in a split second.

Olba in his current state can heal all non-fatal wounds. Of course, there is a limit, and there are also negative side effects.

However, having lost a large amount of blood, having had his flesh sliced open and his bones severed, even he needs time for recovery.

Despite being in such danger, Olba is still alive.

No, he is being allowed to live on.

So Olba asks.

"Why...?"

Why do you allow me to live on?

Why are you hostile to me?

Why are you so strong?

So, why.

The young boy covered in black merely looks down at Olba.

"Lurking in the shadows, hunting the shadows. That is the only reason why we exist."

It is a deep voice somehow tinged with sorrow.

From that alone, Olba manages to determine the boy's identity.

"You, you plan to resist... 'that'?"

In this world, there are those that the law cannot judge. Olba knows this and thinks of himself as part of them.

Power. Privilege. And hidden faces.

The light of the law cannot reach the edges of the world.

Even while enjoying that benefit, Olba himself is stepped on by those above him, being broken by them.

Thus Olba sought greater power... and fell.

"Even if it is you, and even with all of you... no matter how strong you are, you cannot win. This world's darkness... runs much deeper than you can imagine."

Which is why Olba said such things.

It was not a warning, but a wish. A wish that this young boy, too, would be broken, would lose everything, would be plunged into despair. But at the same time, he is afraid that his wish will not come to be. Simple jealousy and envy.

"Then I will dive. It matters not how deep."

There is no fighting spirit in his voice, nor a burning vigor. Only complete confidence in himself, and an unshakeable resolve.

"You say it so easily, you brat."

Olba cannot accept this.

He absolutely cannot accept this.

Because that is what Olba previously aimed for, but was broken by.

At this moment, Olba decides to cross that last line. He takes out a lozenge from his chest pocket, and then swallows it.

Olba has already resigned himself to the fact that he would not be able to leave this place alive. Therefore he will use his own life to teach this brat.

About this world's darkness.