Ch.394Fall

The foul stench seeps into my inhaled breath.

The chamber was overflowing with a suffocating smell of blood, and headless corpses filled every direction.

I deliberately took rough breaths while leaning on my blood-soaked steel longsword, which I had thrust into the floor like a staff.

The arrows lodged in my back irritated me with every movement, and my deliberately exposed forearm stung with pain.

Stalling for time was more annoying than I’d expected.

So much so that I wondered if it might be easier to just follow Hersella’s temptation and slaughter them all.

If I actually did that, though, dealing with the aftermath would be quite troublesome.

Anyway, after mindlessly cutting down enemies, the number of guardsmen lying as corpses was approaching twenty.

With my special abilities sealed and fighting with only limited strength and skills, I couldn’t cut down too many, but this should be enough to break their morale.

“Twenty men taken down… how can someone with a body like that have such strength?!”

“Is he not getting tired at all?”

“That’s impossible…! Look at him. He looks like he’s dying!”

As the death toll exceeded twenty, the guardsmen seemed to be getting unnerved, flinching slightly.

Eyes filled with fear and revulsion. A familiar gaze. They must be starting to see me as some kind of monster.

They still haven’t figured out my identity, but they must have realized I’m an opponent they can’t handle.

“When is Lord Cezare coming?”

“He’s on the second floor! He’s delayed because the path is blocked!”

So even a Master-level knight is coming? That’s troublesome.

…Maybe I should just slip away.

While pondering this, I glanced toward the annex.

I wonder when these agents will finish their job… ah.

Black smoke was slowly rising into the sky above the annex visible through the window.

Did they succeed? That took a while.

Smiling under my mask, I lunged toward the window leading outside.

“Where do you think you’re escaping to?!”

The guardsmen who noticed my intention rushed at me all at once.

Knights charging to block the window. It was literally a wall of swords and spears.

As if that could stop me.

I rolled on the floor to avoid a spear aimed at my waist, then pushed off the ground and leaped, scattering daggers.

“Argh!”

“You bastard…!”

Knights with daggers embedded in their helmet gaps and collarbones collapsed with screams.

The moment a crack appeared in their formation, I immediately dove between them and swept my longsword in all directions.

Severed limbs scattered with a spray of blood.

Only one enemy remained by the window.

“By the honor of the Royal Guard-!”

A guardsman thrust his sword with a determined expression.

I tilted my head to avoid the sword tip and countered with a kick to his head.

The kick, carrying the momentum of my charge, instantly broke his neck.

The knight, whose head was now attached to his back, fell limply out the window.

“Vile assassin! Your rampage ends here! In the name of justice, I shall judge you!”

A voice like butter melted in oil with milk poured in.

Turning around, I saw a man with a face that seemed to consider seducing women his life’s mission, pointing his sword at me.

Who is this idiot?

“Lord Cezare! We must stop him! If he escapes like this…!”

“Don’t worry, I’m here now!”

The man called Cezare smiled, revealing healthy teeth.

His white teeth gleamed in the light.

What is this guy even doing?

What difference does your arrival make? You’re way too late.

Were you playing with women or something?

“Listen, assassin! If you’re a knight-“

Ignoring the man trying to speak to me, I put my foot on the windowsill.

No reason to waste time on a fool. I just need to escape now.

Just before jumping out the window into the sea, I turned my head and waved at Cezare.

“Hey, wait…!”

As the irritated man tried to say something, I kicked off the windowsill and launched myself out.

—-

After a brief moment of floating that resembled liberation, a terrifying sensation of falling enveloped me.

A storm-like noise disturbed my ears. My flipped clothes flapped wildly.

This reminds me of old times.

Though it’s much higher than back then.

‘Remember? When I jumped from the Wall.’

[How could I forget? In all my life, I’ve never seen anyone else commit such madness.]

That memory seems to have left quite an impression on Hersella too.

Well, she probably hasn’t experienced a thirty-meter vertical drop either.

But this time it’s over three hundred meters.

Although what’s below is the sea rather than ground, falling from this height back-first could still be fatal.

The scenery around me disappears like I’m on a high-speed train.

My falling body was accelerating more and more.

Since Panam’s royal palace was built at the edge of a coastal cliff, there was no way to slow my fall speed after jumping.

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have jumped… I should have just clung to the cliff and climbed down.’

[Now you have regrets…?!]

I didn’t think much when crossing the window, but now that I’m falling, panic is rising.

Is there any way to reduce the impact…?

That’s when it happened.

“Where do you think you’re escaping to, you vile cowaaaaaard!”

A voice echoing like thunder.

Looking up at the night sky, I saw a knight in full plate armor falling like a shot bird.

It was Cezare.

‘He followed me? Is he insane?!’

[To think there was another madman like you…!]

It was an astonishing sight.

I might have ways to survive by focusing my power on absorbing the impact, but for a mere Master wearing heavy armor to jump like this—how is this different from suicide?

“You crazy bastard…!”

The shock of witnessing a genuine madman made me curse involuntarily.

“…A woman? No matter. I’ll cut off your head and present it to His Majesty!”

To make matters worse, Cezare threw something into the air, using the recoil to accelerate even more.

The distance between us rapidly closed.

“Give me your head!”

A slash falling like a guillotine.

The blade gleamed with a dark luster in the dim starlight.

“Tch…!”

I swung my longsword above my head to parry his blade.

The collision of blades. A flower of sparks bloomed in the dusky night sky.

Perhaps due to the added relative velocity of our fall, a powerful impact traveled through my shoulder.

“Got you…!”

The moment our swords met, Cezare stared at me with a face full of ecstasy and extended his left arm.

His left hand firmly grabbed my right arm.

“I’ll cut your throat right now!”

“You, crazy son of a bitch…!”

His longsword swung toward my neck.

I also extended my left hand to grab his wrist and block it.

And so we fell, spinning round and round while holding each other’s arms.

A destructive waltz, you might call it.

Instinct warned me of danger.

If we fell with our posture collapsed like this, we’d surely be beyond recovery.

“Let go! Are you determined to die?!”

“Hahaha! Who’s going to die? Justice never perishes!”

Cezare burst into laughter.

The water’s surface was getting closer.

“You’re talking nonsense!”

“Chirping like a strangled nightingale. It’s a shame I can’t see your face.”

Cezare pulled on my arm and moved his legs to change position.

My vision flipped as my eyes faced the sky.

The next moment, Cezare was straddling my body.

This bastard, he was planning to use me as a cushion…!

Certainly, using someone as a cushion would block most of the impact!

It was a very good idea.

Good enough for me to feel a tiny bit of gratitude toward him.

“No, wait. I can fish out your corpse and strip you! You must be quite a beauty!”

Cezare wore an expression that said he’d already won.

Well, I had been acting like an exhausted Master all this time, so his misunderstanding was natural.

But there was no need to act anymore.

The palace on the cliff was already far away, so even if I revealed my full power now, they wouldn’t be able to see it properly from up there.

That was Cezare’s fatal mistake.

“The one becoming a corpse will be you!”

I released all my suppressed power and gripped his arm with my left hand at full strength.

– Crack!

Steel plate, skin, muscle, and bone were all crushed at once as his right arm was instantly compressed. Like a sausage placed in a vise.

Burst flesh flowed like porridge between my fingers.

“Huh…?”

Cezare’s face was momentarily colored with confusion.

It takes a little time for extreme pain to reach the brain.

Not long, but still.

The next moment, his face contorted.

“Aaaaargh!”

Cezare screamed, unable to bear the intense pain.

I released his right arm, which had become like a rag, then wrapped my left arm around his side and kicked the air to spin my body in the opposite direction.

In an instant, our positions were reversed, and now I was on top of him.

“Urgh…! This strength, could you be…!”

Cezare’s eyes trembled with shock.

Did he figure out my identity? But it’s too late now.

I stand up, trampling his abdomen with my leg raised to chest level.

“It’s over.”

As I pushed his upper body with my leg and jerked up my right arm, his left hand that was holding my arm was torn off.

Cezare’s mouth gaped open. The sea surface was right before us.

Before he could scream, water splashed up as if to welcome us both.