Volume 3 - CH 21

Act 3-21: Crimson Raven vs Battaman

Oboro’s team was composed of only handpicked elites. They infiltrated Akinashi from the small hill at the foot of the northern mountain range.

A closely-packed forest grew between the small hill and the mansion of Akinashi’s lord, hindering large-scale movements. Therefore, Oboro had chosen 30 veteran elites to go with him.

They were taking the closest path to the mansion of Akinashi’s lord, a straight line. Oboro and the others knew that no one in Akinashi could stop them, 【Crimson Raven】, and that was why they chose the closest, direct route.

They ran like the wind in that thicket, which blocked even the moonlight.

「Uhm?」

Oboro suddenly stopped and signaled to his subordinates with his right hand to stop too. He had felt a presence ahead of them.

【Crimson Raven】 was aware that they were playing the role of villains, but even villains had their pride. They prided on the fact that they never harmed non-resisting people who lived on the surface. Despite their infamy as an assassination organization, ever since the founding of their organization, no one among them had broken this absolute rule.

Thus, all they were going to do to the owner of the one walking toward their position as if they were taking a stroll was stun them without killing. However, their expectations were overturned in the worst possible form.

「Eh?」

The first person to let out a shocked exclamation was one of the upper echelons. No one blamed that person since what had appeared before them was a monster in the form of a bipedal locust.

「FORMATION! Crane wing!」

All of them moved at once upon Oboro’s order, trapping the locust in a V-shaped formation.

The monster, the battaman, made a beckoning gesture toward Oboro and the others as if it were telling them to come at once.

「How dare you…」

They felt enraged at that weak-looking monster underestimating them. All of them glared at it.

「You lowly monster! You’re gonna regret this!」

Oboro’s bestial roar became the gong of the beginning of the battle.

「Monster…」

The battaman turned out to be on par with Oboro. To be exact, on par with all members of 【Crimson Raven】, including Oboro.

If only physical abilities were the basis, the monster was slightly inferior to Oboro. However, the monster was overwhelmingly skilled in martial arts, the combat skill that should be exclusive to humankind.

The reason Oboro’s and others’ limbs were still intact was simply that the other party never showed killing intent. It was as if Oboro and the others were lowly insects that locust-headed monster didn’t even deem worthy of killing.

「Dammit!」

Oboro trembled as he cursed due to rage and humiliation.

We aren’t even being considered as warriors by this monster. Like hell can we endure such humiliation!

「Let’s show this fella our guts!!」

Oboro and his team couldn’t accept such humiliation.

They realized that their physical strength was pretty much equal, meaning Oboro could kill the monster as long as he could land a clean hit. That was it. The other party’s martial arts mastery was overwhelmingly superior, so landing a clean hit was almost impossible for Oboro.

Oboro took a stance with his sword in his hands as he lowered his center of gravity. His subordinates also prepared themselves.

『GISHI!』

In response, the battaman pulled back its right arm and leg while keeping its left fist in front. This was the first time this monster had shown a proper martial art stance. This was the stance of a master who had trained their martial arts for an extremely long period of years.

When Oboro saw that stance, he just laughed. Only a handful of people could reach that realm of mastery even among first-class experts. So, it felt like a joke when he realized that the locust-headed monster before him had already reached that realm.

「BE CAREFUL!! THIS FELLOW IS FAR MORE POWERFUL THAN US!!」

Oboro focused all his nerves before making the next attack.

This was Oboro’s ace in the hole and the only way to land a fatal wound on the monster before them.

「CHARGEEEEE!!」

At that signal, half of Oboro’s subordinates shot forth fireballs or fire pillars toward the battaman’s face.

The blazing flame illuminated the area as if it were turning the dark night into day. This was followed by the other half of Oboro’s subordinates charging toward the battaman to stab it.

（【Shadow Clone】―Shadow Leap）

The battaman easily knocked the subordinates charging at it.

（Too slow!!）

Using that momentary pause after the attacks, a shadow jumped by using the shadows of the knocked subordinates and arrived right behind the battaman,

（Haze!!）

Then, he swung the longsword in his right hand, which was covered in flames, toward the crown of the battaman’s head.

「GUGI!」

Even if the other party had twisted its body, trying to dodge the slash, the longsword in Oboro’s left hand sliced horizontally. However, the monster dodged the horizontal slash too.

（DAMMIT! MOVE LIKE A NORMAL MONSTER, WILL YA!）

Despite cursing inwardly, Oboro used Shadow Leap again to move behind the battaman, whose stance had crumbled.

（CHECKMATE!）

He turned around as he slashed toward the head of the battaman. However, the battaman managed to block that slash with its right arm.

The longsword severed the battaman’s right hand, heading toward its head.

Suddenly, the battaman’s figure blurred for a moment. Oboro’s line of sight instantly distorted. It turned around so fast and only stopped after his back struck a large tree.

（What just… happened?）

When Oboro forced his battered body to stand up and look at the battaman, he saw the monster standing in its place, looking at its severed right hand with a dumbfounded-like expression on its locust face.

（N-No way…）

It took him just a moment to understand the reason he got blasted away. The battaman had unleashed a pressure incomparable to before Oboro severed its right hand. The current battaman was clearly far more powerful than Oboro and his team as if it had transformed into a completely different creature.

『Hou, the arm equipped with the ability-restriction bracelet got severed, eh? It seems you guys are quite skilled indeed.』

Suddenly, a giant figure walked toward them from the dark forest.

Oboro squinted to observe the newcomer.

『Isn’t this a good lesson for you, too? A cornered rat will bite the cat. You underestimating the weak and not going all out from the very beginning is the reason for your defeat.』

The owner of that voice who appeared under the moonlight was a human-shaped monster with the head of a lion and donned in combat armor.

「Uuh… 」

Just a glance at that figure was enough to drive Oboro into the deepest abyss of despair. This was only natural since the monster with the lion head unleashed an overwhelming majesty of a strongman, which couldn’t even be compared to the battaman, who Oboro thought was invincible.

『Carve this defeat into your chest! Now, go back to heal your wounds.』

『KISHI!』

The battaman performed something like a salute to the Lionman, then touched its severed right arm with its other arm. A while later, its severed right arm grew back at the speed visible to the naked eye.

The next moment, countless other battamans appeared one after another as if they were ridiculing Oboro and the others.

「HIIIII!」

Oboro’s subordinates screamed.

『Congratulations! You people passed the test. You’re qualified to participate in the festival My Lord is about to hold.』

「Your Lord? Festival?」

『Yeah! This part is the plan of my Supreme Lord. Sorry, but you have no right to refuse! The plan is written in this invitation. Take a look.』

""

The Lionman turned around after throwing a sealed letter toward Oboro, then stopped for a moment.

『Godspeed to you guys.』

After he said that, his figure melted into the darkness of the forest. The battamans’ presence also vanished along with the Lionman.

「Boss…」

One of the top brasses ran toward Oboro with a worried expression. They no longer had their previous bearing of a warrior. In the first place, they were not even worthy of being considered enemies by the other party. In reality, Oboro wanted to leave this land as soon as possible, too.

However, that Lionman had said that they had no right to refuse the invitation. Oboro knew that if they tried to escape, his group would get erased until not even records about them would be left in this world. Thus, they had no choice but to play along with the so-called plan.

All kinds of repulsive imagination passed in his head as he thought about what kind of festival awaited them. After all, the one who invited them was such an otherworldly being. Still, Oboro at least saw a chance to survive by participating in the said festival.

「We’ll definitely survive.」

After squeezing his throat to say those words, Oboro opened the sealed invitation and began reading its content.