Chapter 23 | The Assassin Gains the Hero’s Trust
I’d routed an army of hundreds of monsters, and now there was only one left. Unfortunately, it was a battle I couldn’t win.
“You are clearly not a knight, boy. You don’t fight by the rules, and you show no mercy. This is fun. I wonder how you’ll kill me this time.”
With pure joy on his face, General Orc came at me again.
I’d been changing up my killing method throughout the battle. Thus far, I should’ve slain General Orc ten times. I’d cut him, beaten him, strangled him, stabbed him, punched him, poisoned him, bombed him, crushed him, burned him, and shot him.
What enabled me to kill him so many different ways was the Leather Crane Bag Maha had acquired for me. Not a single one of the demon’s deaths had stuck, however. Each time, he immediately revived and chased after me as though nothing had happened. I was running out of techniques.
“Wind Cage!”
I performed an original incantation of mine, and the spell manifested. It allowed me to manipulate the air to create a cage around my target. While that didn’t sound too impressive, it was quite problematic for the one trapped within.
I filled the cage with carbon dioxide. If a person were placed into a closed space filled with nothing but carbon dioxide, all of the oxygen in their body would be immediately released, causing instant suffocation.
This was yet another tactic I’d devised to kill the hero. No matter how strong Epona was, she needed to breathe like any other human. That meant she’d die if denied oxygen. Hopefully, the same was true of demons.
General Orc’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he died.
I jumped back to gain distance and catch my breath. I’d been giving everything I had for a while now, even going so far as to take a drug to remove my brain’s natural limits. I’d expended a significant amount of stamina and mana, and I was sporting quite a few injuries as well.
Rapid Recovery raised my skill level and multiplied my recovery rate by one hundred twenty, but that didn’t mean I was a limitless font of energy. In one second, I regained what anyone else would’ve in one hundred twenty seconds. If I expended stamina faster than I could recover, I’d collapse.
For a while now, I’d been fighting at a rate that outpaced my Rapid Recovery.
“That was a first. I’ve never died without even understanding how it happened. But you’re never going to be able to finish me off.”
Unsurprisingly, General Orc returned to life. I’d been observing him very carefully throughout our struggle.
“…Well, if that’s what you think, then come at me,” I beckoned with a thin smile.
I’d been intentionally testing a variety of killing methods on him. Each time, I carefully studied the way he resurrected by using my Tuatha Dé eyes. My hope was that I’d discover the mechanism behind his immortality after watching the fluctuations in his mana with each different death.
Demonology books explained a demon’s healing factor in abstract terms, like “reincarnation brought about by the creature’s power of existence.” I didn’t intend to take such vague scripture at face value. There had to be some sort of quantifiable rule. If I could figure it out, then I could kill General Orc.
…I really don’t want to give up. I disliked the idea of dying simply because Epona never chose to do anything. That’s why I’d been working on my own path to victory. I even had a contingency strategy if I genuinely couldn’t take down General Orc.
At this pace, I was only going to be able to fight for fifty more seconds. A moment’s hesitation meant certain doom.
It looked like I only had one thing left that I could do—retreat while I still had the strength to do so, then hide and recover. After that, I’d return to the academy, gather Dia and Tarte, and escape. If I enacted that option within the next twenty seconds, I was sure I could pull it off.
Ten more seconds…
“You look like you’re up to something. You’d better make this fun!”
Looking every bit the predator, General Orc brought his metal club down at me as if it were the only thing he knew how to do.
My time’s up. I’ll dodge this and run.
I read the trajectory of the club, but I ended up not needing to dodge it.
“Lugh, you’ve made your strength clear.” Epona caught the demon’s weapon. No matter how hard he tried, General Orc couldn’t even get it to budge. “You are strong. You still can’t stop me…but you might be able to kill me. Promise me one thing. If I ever become a monster, kill me. If you promise me that, I’ll be able to fight.”
I grinned. That was exactly what I’d been planning to do from the start.
Until there was no other course of action left but to slay Epona, I had vowed to be her friend. On that day in the cemetery, I’d chosen to find a way to save the world without ending her life.
“You think you can have a chat in front of me?!”
General Orc summoned another metal club from out of nowhere and swung it down. It collided with Epona’s head and immediately shattered.
“You’re getting on my nerves.”
Epona grabbed General Orc’s arm and hurled him into a stone wall.
A crimson haze surrounded Epona.
I know this skill. It was the S-Rank skill Berserk. Setanta, the man in Soigel who I’d suspected of being the hero, had used it.
A man using Berserk grew horns and had their muscles swell. A woman using the skill was enveloped in a fiery aura.
“Lugh, can you promise you’ll kill me?” asked Epona, repressing the influence of Berserk, which could cause her to lose her mind at any second.
“I promise. If you ever become a monster, I’ll put you down. I’ll even let you in on a secret of mine. I am an assassin, so that kind of thing is my specialty,” I admitted.
Epona smiled. A was an expression full of childlike innocence.
Because she decided to trust me, I decided to reveal my true identity to her as a friend.
“That puts me at ease.”
Epona turned to face General Orc, who was slumped on the ground before the wall. She walked toward him slowly, step by step, gradually increasing her power along the way.
The red haze burned hotter and hotter. As Epona’s infinite power rose, her face became increasingly twisted with insanity.
She clenched her fists tight.
“Wh-what is this power? Even for the hero, this level of strength should be… No way…you’re not an imitation—you’re the original.”
There was panic on General Orc’s face for the first time.
“Don’t come near meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
He opened his big mouth to spawn more orcs and goblins, made them rush at Epona, and then tried to flee.
However, the orcs and goblins didn’t even slow Epona down for a second. The moment any made contact with Epona’s aura, they vanished without a trace.
I doubt even the bullets from my Cannon Strike would be able to make it through that crimson glow. I’m not even sure Gungnir would make it.
Once Epona entered that state, there was no chance of killing her. I wouldn’t even be able to touch her.
“I already can’t contain myself… Kee-hee-hee-hee-hee, I’ll crush you with everything I have.”
Epona focused her power into her fist.
“STOPPPPPPPPPP!”
“AH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!”
General Orc’s scream was lost amid Epona’s laughter.
Before Epona’s all-out attack even made contact, General Orc disappeared utterly, and a red shock wave carved its way through the ground.
I flooded as much mana into my eyes as I could and observed. General Orc’s body evaporated like water, and then a red jewel-like thing shattered, ending his existence.
I’d now seen how to kill a demon. After comparing it to the various ways I’d tried, I finally understood how it worked.
That red jewel was General Orc’s true form, but of course, getting to it and destroying it was no easy task. The hero possessed some special characteristic that enabled her to reach it.
“Good thing Epona decided to throw her fist forward,” I remarked.
If she’d struck the ground with that much force, it undoubtedly would’ve caused more destruction than Gungnir.
All right, time for my final job.
Epona was looking up at the sky with bloodshot eyes, roaring with laughter. I hit her with a Cannon Strike to the chin that knocked her unconscious.
“I promised I would kill her, but it looks like I didn’t need to this time.”
That was a close call. Epona had lost all sense of reason. If she’d been allowed to do as she pleased, I doubted the academy would’ve survived. That was why containing her power was so important.
Cannon Strike only got through because I’d hit Epona the moment after she’d released her heat haze during her all-out attack.
Even when she was not surrounded by that burning aura, the most my powerful Cannon Strike could do to the hero was knock her unconscious. It was ludicrous.
As strong as she was, I had the perfect opportunity to end her now that she was out cold.
I looked down at Epona. One strike to her vitals with Gungnir was likely all it would take to snuff out her life.
But I’d decided not to do that.
“Even if I don’t attempt it, I’ve already proven I can kill her,” I said to myself.
Knocking her out after she’d exhausted her power was all it took to get her defenseless. After that, it was just a matter of choosing which of my ace attacks to use. I’d made an important discovery today.
I picked Epona up and began to walk back to the academy. Before she woke up, I wanted to tell everyone she was the one who’d wiped out all the orcs. If it got out that I was capable of such a thing, it would undoubtedly cause me unnecessary trouble.
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