Ch.185184. Reunion (5)

# 184. Reunion (5)

And just as I expected, things unfolded.

The Abyss couldn’t swallow him, and it returned to me, trembling as if sulking.

‘Somehow I thought this would happen…’

After withstanding the Abyss’s attack, he stood in place for a moment, his body shaking.

Seeing that, it seemed the effect wasn’t completely useless after all.

I quickly approached him, taking advantage of the large opening.

But at that moment, he returned to his original state and swiftly swung his sword.

That was dangerous.

His swordsmanship, now so powerful he could hardly be called the same person, was rough and crude.

Unlike before, his style had completely changed—like me earlier, he was unleashing a fierce barrage of attacks.

-BANG!! CRASH!!!-

But unlike him earlier, I wasn’t just taking the hits.

I dodged and blocked his sword with minimal movement.

And whenever an opening appeared, I counterattacked.

As I perfectly defended against his attacks, the surrounding soldiers looked on in admiration.

“Who the hell is that person…?”

“Even their defense is perfect…”

“From what I saw earlier, they seemed close to the Legion Commander… Must be a mercenary from the Kainis Empire.”

“And pretty, too…”

Except for that last comment, they were all nice things to hear.

But I didn’t want to hear such things right now.

This wasn’t the time.

‘Still, they seem to be doing their jobs while saying that… so I guess it doesn’t matter?’

With that thought, I checked my opponent’s condition.

After several exchanges, his body was even more blood-soaked than before, and he seemed to be continuously using magic—I could no longer feel that aura from earlier.

Compared to him, my condition was perfect.

Stamina, magic power, vitality, skill duration, and so on.

I was in peak condition, lacking nothing.

“As expected, you’re as good as they say.”

No matter how hard a common soldier tries, they’re still just a common soldier.

He had certainly become stronger than before, but he was still woefully inadequate compared to the Executioners.

Especially compared to demons like Lilith or Agareus.

“The title of Executioner isn’t given lightly.”

Though they were enemies, each Executioner’s skills were exceptional.

Agareus, whose raw power rivaled even the Emperor’s; Lilith, whose swordsmanship even I couldn’t match; and so on.

But compared to such formidable individuals, his current skill was pathetic.

And as if he understood my words even in his unconscious state, he grew angrier and swung his sword faster and more erratically.

‘He’s much more emotional than before…’

Naturally, his sword, consumed by rage, couldn’t reach me and merely cut through empty air.

As his sword gradually lost its sharpness—fueled by anger at his own weakness and at me for making him realize it—an uninvited guest interrupted our battle.

“Have you been fighting alone like this the whole time? For a lady to exert herself so—”

The monster, seemingly targeting Greg, who was about as helpful as a rat’s whisker in life, abandoned me and headed toward him.

I cut off Greg’s nonsensical babbling as he stood at a dangerous distance from me.

“Shut up and get out.”

“What…?”

“I said shut up and get out! Quickly!”

Greg, who never seemed to listen, remained standing in place despite my shouts, practically inviting the attack.

The man rushed toward Greg at full speed.

He was trying to vent his anger on Greg instead of me.

‘Ah… shit…’

A sword raised high in the air.

That sword contained magic power and killing intent on a completely different level from before.

Even her magic wouldn’t be able to block that attack.

“Really… not helpful in the slightest…”

Part of me wanted to just let him die, but that would make me third-rate at best.

I had no choice but to use [Swift] and rush toward Greg, who was staring at the sword with a dumbfounded expression.

“Hey, you idiot. Can’t you get your head straight?”

In that split second, I changed my sword’s form to a greatsword.

Then I raised it to meet his blade.

-CRASH!!!-

A thunderous sound like lightning.

With that sound, my arms shook violently.

Of course, the same was true for my opponent.

And then came the sound of gunfire.

-BANG!!-

A bullet from somewhere pierced through his hand.

The shot caused him to lose his grip.

Riel’s support fire, perfectly timed.

“Unlike some people, you’re reliable.”

I easily overpowered his weakened sword and sliced his body in half.

-SLASH!!-

At that moment, a massive amount of blood gushed from his body, and unfortunately, I was covered in it.

The smell of blood was overwhelming.

It was so nauseating I could vomit at any moment.

“Ugh…”

“A-Are you okay?”

That guy was asking such a pointless question despite seeing my condition.

He was truly insane.

“How could I be okay? What the hell were you doing, freezing up in that situation?”

“W-Well…”

“That attack couldn’t even be blocked by the Legion Commander’s magic, and you were just standing there like an idiot?”

“I… I’m sorry.”

“Is sorry enough?”

“No, it’s not…”

Greg, being lectured by me.

I spoke to him as he hung his head so low I couldn’t even see what expression he was making.

“Then pay me back with your body.”

“What…?”

Greg suddenly raised his head upon hearing those words.

For some reason, his face had turned bright red.

With a disgustingly stupid expression, he asked me:

“What exactly do you mean by that…?”

“Clean this up.”

“What…?”

The place had become a mess from the recent battle.

I looked at the deeply gouged ground and the remnants of magic from the numerous attacks.

“All of this—you clean it up.”

“M-Me?”

“Who else?”

“Do you… know who I am when you say that?”

“Greg Ignite. So what? Shut up and clean up this mess.”

With those final words, I headed toward where she was.

She was looking at me with a puzzled expression from where she had been standing.

“Do you two know each other?”

“No.”

“I’ve never seen Alber treat a stranger like that before.”

“Then this is the first time.”

“What’s your relationship, really?”

“You don’t need to know. More importantly… I’d like to wash up.”

Hearing that, she smiled brightly and began walking somewhere, saying:

“Follow me.”

“Okay…”

“But you’re definitely on a different level than before.”

“I still needed some help though…”

For some reason, except for once at the beginning, I didn’t receive her help this time.

She smiled at my reaction.

“I thought Alber could handle it just fine. Were you disappointed?”

“A little… just a little…”

“Unlike Alber, they weren’t that strong.”

“I know…”

Of course I knew.

That there were places that needed her help more than I did.

But for some reason, I wanted to act spoiled.

“Still… you could have helped a little…”

“You’ve become quite cute while we were apart.”

“What?”

“It might be because of your current appearance, but you’re definitely cute.”

Hearing that, I fanned my face with my hand to cool my burning cheeks.

And she entered a building we had arrived at.

“What is this place…?”

“Officers’ quarters. People like me and Riel use it. By the way, I share a room with Riel.”

“I see…”

I arrived at her room and entered with her.

A clean atmosphere created by neat interior design.

And several large bookshelves filled with hundreds of books.

But now wasn’t the time to admire the room.

“Um… can I wash up right away?”

“Yes, of course.”

It wasn’t just a little uncomfortable.

So I immediately went into the bathroom.

And started bathing right away.

“Ugh… the smell is something else…”

Fortunately, after wiping off most of the blood and washing my body with body wash, the smell almost disappeared.

And only then did I notice another scent.

More accurately, it should be called a fragrance.

“This… could it be…?”

A fragrance I’d smelled many times before, but it felt different, perhaps because it had been so long.

And as I smelled it, some inappropriate thoughts came to mind.

“She must bathe here every day…”

Just as I was imagining that, the bathroom door suddenly opened.

-CLICK!!-

And she entered the bathroom with a mischievous smile, exactly as I had been imagining.

I quickly hid my body in the bathtub filled with water.

“What! What! What are you doing!?”

“I see that part of you hasn’t changed…”

“Ah… well… yes…”

“It’s been a while… shall we? I’ve been holding back for so long…”

“But I’m… in this state right now.”

She entered the bathtub just like me.

Then, looking at my now delicate body, she said:

“That doesn’t really matter, does it? After all, what’s missing is missing, and what’s there is there.”

“Is… that so…? But I’d rather wait until I return to my original state…”

Unable to hold back any longer, she pounced on me in that situation and shouted:

“Stay still!!”

-SPLASH!!-