Chapter 128 – That Damn Villain
A silhouette was approaching—not too fast, not too slow.
Monts later, a ragged figure erged, running toward us through the trees.
Even from a distance, I imdiately recognized him.
The ability of a Divine Hunter, visible only to my eyes—
The Radiance.
A faint glow emanated from above the man’s head.
The owner of a divine power.
And that stubborn face.
“Lochter Felice!”
Though my voice carried a hint of relief as I called his na, the man before showed the opposite reaction.
He watched us warily, his eyes filled with suspicion.
It wasn’t surprising—while fleeing, the na he’d heard most often was his own, shouted by countless pursuers.
Lochter briefly paused, scrutinizing our disguises, then seed to make a decision. Clutching his sword tightly, he vanished like an afterimage.
A chilling sense of danger washed over in warning.
Ah, the red cloak!
I had gotten too used to the disguise and montarily forgotten. Our current attire marked us as dark shamans.
“W-wait!”
I hastily ripped off my cloak and revealed my face, but Lochter didn’t recognize .
His gleaming sword ca slashing toward .
He was a five-star warrior.
Gritting my teeth, I roughly pushed Nella into the bushes.
“Banri, restrain him!”
Banri, who had been perched on Nella’s head, leapt down and vanished into the ground. Monts later, shadowy hands sprang up like ivy tendrils, rising from beneath Lochter’s feet and binding his legs in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, Lochter was right in front of .
Damn, he’s fast.
I took a step back just as a few strands of hair from the front of my head were sliced clean off.
No, the sword was even faster.
That was definitely a near-death experience, right?
“Shit! Can’t you listen for a second, you stubborn bastard!”
The blade glead as it swung again.
With a single sweep of his aura sword, Lochter severed the shadowy hands that had bound him, then deflected an arrow aid at him with a flick of his scabbard.
Clang!
The arrow was one Nella had fired.
Then—
Boom!
“……!”
The second arrow, struck by his scabbard, exploded, causing Lochter to stagger backward.
I caught a glimpse of Nella’s pure white bow as she drew back the string again. One by one, crimson arrows ford and rained down upon Lochter.
His hands moved in a blur, deflecting the arrows with precision.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The arrows exploded upon impact, sending up a thick cloud of smoke.
[Keep your distance. It won’t work a second ti.]
“I understand.”
[Prepare yourself. This isn’t soone you can handle by reacting alone.]
Following Retonicalus’ advice, I widened the gap and deactivated The Ring of Blood. Clenching my fists, I kept my gaze fixed on Lochter’s position, ready for anything.
Against Lochter, I had three possible moves:
Divine Hunter’s power.
Summoning Fenry.
And Burst Strike.
However, none of those options were part of my plan for dealing with Lochter.
A single word would be enough.
I had prepared a specific phrase for a situation like this, though the sudden encounter had caught off guard, making forget to use it initially.
Of course, I couldn’t be entirely certain it would work, so I remained on edge, ready for any eventuality.
As Lochter’s figure erged from the smoke, I quickly called out a single phrase.
“Dried apples. Don’t you rember?”
“……!”
The mont I uttered the codeword that had once belonged to Liamson, the forr Lord of Blyer, Lochter—covered in dust and dirt—suddenly halted in place.
He was about fifteen steps away from .
[That was close. Don’t let your guard down.]
“……”
I was confident that Lochter would recognize the codeword, but just in case, I braced myself, ready to use Burst Strike at a mont’s notice.
Muttering softly under my breath, I said, “Please don’t co any closer.”
Lochter stared at my face intently for a mont. His eyes, which had been filled with a murderous aura, gradually softened.
Dried apples.
Only two people in the world knew that codeword now—Lochter, and the man who had once given him that na.
“…Arthur?”
“It’s been a while.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I’ve co to rescue you.”
When Lochter lowered his sword, I let out a long sigh of relief and eased my stance.
That was close—one wrong move, and I could’ve been killed on the spot.
“What’s with the outfit?”
“We disguised ourselves to infiltrate.”
“My location—how did you find ?”
Although he had recognized , Lochter’s wariness hadn’t completely disappeared.
Given his harsh life on the run, it was understandable. With enemies everywhere, he needed absolute certainty. Though I had helped him in the past, unlike Karl’s group, Lochter had only briefly seen during the events of the Feast of Blood.
“Nella.”
Rather than explaining, I decided to show proof that we weren’t dark shamans. At my gesture, Nella stepped forward and removed her robe.
When the blonde elf revealed her face, Lochter nodded in acknowledgnt.
There had never been any reports of elves becoming dark shamans.
“Where’s Karl?”
“I don’t know. Whenever I moved, he always found .”
“Karl is in danger.”
“…What?”
Lochter’s previously calm expression shifted at those words.
Was Karl’s safety really that important to him?
I was about to suggest we move quickly, but Nella leaned in and whispered sothing.
“He’s cursed.”
“Cursed?”
“Yes. Multiple overlapping curses are weighing down his entire body. It must’ve been difficult for him to move at all….”
“Can you treat it?”
“I can’t do it, but you can.”
She ant using dark shamanic techniques.
Noticing our conversation, Lochter looked at with a hint of surprise as I approached him.
“You…?”
“Hold still for a mont.”
I placed my hand on his back and summoned an ancient glyph. A soft golden light flowed from my hand, enveloping both of us.
Haaa—
A faint groan escaped Lochter’s lips. The sensation was more of relief than pain, as the oppressive weight pressing down on his body began to ease.
Clenching his fists a few tis to test his regained strength, he gave a nod.
With the oppressive curse weakened, his body began to feel normal again.
“Thank you.”
“It’s only temporary. Make sure you get proper treatnt later.”
“I will. I owe you one.”
Our conversation was montarily interrupted as we all turned toward the forest.
There were movents beyond the trees—sounds of sothing heavy trampling through the woods.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Massive figures crushed everything in their path as they approached.
In an instant, they broke through the treeline, revealing themselves—Van Dykes.
We had thought we’d lost them, but during the delay, they had tracked us down again.
As the shamanic unit erged from the ruined forest, I narrowed my eyes. It would be better to take care of them now before they regrouped with other forces, which would make things more troubleso.
If it were just Nella and , we wouldn’t stand a chance. But now, I had the future assault captain by my side.
“Captain—no, Lochter.”
“……?”
“Ti to repay that debt, don’t you think?”
“Do you seek vengeance?”
“Not quite to that extent.”
Lochter nodded, drawing his sword.
***
The sun was slowly setting over the forest, casting long shadows across the crimson-stained ground.
A figure, masked by a shaman’s robe, charged fearlessly toward the gathered shamans.
Seeing him approach, the shamans ordered the Van Dykes to return, but the constructs were already ensnared by a black spirit far in the distance.
They recognized this strategy—it was the sa pattern they had encountered once before.
“There he is!”
“Stop him before he gets any closer!”
The golden light he wielded was fatal to them. The shamans quickly retreated, while two knights stepped forward to block his path.
“Alex Marcia, didn’t we teach you a lesson earlier?”
“This ti, I’ll be taking your head for sure.”
The two knights, clad in blue epaulets, were ard with artifacts. In the past, the blue epaulets had symbolized elite knights of Blyer, renowned for their prowess.
More recently, however, they had beco symbols of fear and envy among the knights of Tobaron, marking those equipped with high-level artifacts.
The knights drew their artifacts—bracelets that enhanced agility and swords with increased durability and cutting power.
They stood their ground, waiting for the approaching figure.
Monts later, when they finally ca face to face—
“I told you, the more you rely on artifacts, the farther you stray from the path of a true knight.”
“…?”
The figure removed his robe, revealing a man with a pair of determined eyes and two swords.
Upon recognizing him, the knights’ eyes widened in shock.
Lochter Felice.
The forr commander of Blyer’s knights.
“C-Commander!?”
“I bear no grudge against you.”
“W-wait…!”
Before they could finish, the gleaming aura sword flashed, forcing them to grit their teeth and raise their swords.
Kaang—!
The magical sword clashed with Lochter’s aura sword, holding firm. At that mont, another knight struck at Lochter’s neck like a bolt of lightning, his speed enhanced by the power of an artifact-infused bracelet.
However, Lochter tilted his scabbard slightly, causing the knight’s sword to glide upward harmlessly.
Ka-ka-ka-ka-kaang—!
In a single breath, dozens of blows were exchanged.
Lochter deflected every strike without fail, and as he lowered his stance, the knights frantically shouted,
“Damn it! Everyone, attack at once!”
Unlike Vice-Commander Lyon’s unorthodox style, Lochter’s swordplay was simple.
Yet, among the hundred knights who had trained alongside him, not one wanted to face him in combat.
Swordsmanship honed to the extre.
A style with no openings.
This was a level of mastery that couldn’t be overco with tricks like artifact enhancents.
While the knights tried desperately to pin Lochter down, the shamans hurriedly prepared their spells. One of them pulled out a communication orb, intending to inform Kal of the situation.
“…Huh?”
As the surface of the communication orb caught a glint of light, the shaman instinctively turned around—only to freeze in terror.
A golden arrow, as large as a spear, was hurtling toward him from behind.
By the ti the other shamans noticed and gaped in horror at the incoming arrow—
Flash—!
A single beam of golden light swept through them rcilessly.
When the light faded, not a single shaman was left standing.
Torn robes and blood-soaked ground.
Beneath the scattered remnants of the shamanic unit, two heads soon rolled onto the dirt.
Faces twisted in agony.
The heads of the two knights.
“…….”
Lochter glanced down briefly at the severed heads of his forr comrades. Without a word, he turned and charged toward the Van Dykes.
With a single slash, his aura sword cleaved one of the constructs’ helt-like visors in half.
***
“Damn, that was clean.”
I deactivated The Ring of Blood and stepped out onto the battlefield.
The Van Dykes, struck by sacred energy, had all been obliterated.
The battle had been straightforward—Lochter would slice through their thick armor, and I’d fire arrows into the openings he created.
Compared to how we used to struggle to penetrate their armor, it felt almost absurdly easy now.
The sa applied to taking out the shamans.
With a powerful knight like Lochter on our side, the difficulty of the battle had dropped dramatically.
‘As I thought, we need comrades.’
Allies you can trust to watch your back.
I planned to gather more of them through Hunt, one by one.
[2nd squad, report if you’ve sent the signal.]
Just as I gestured toward Lochter, intending to hurry up and find Karl, a voice echoed from sowhere on the ground—it was Kal’s voice.
Lifting a torn shaman’s robe, I found a communication orb.
It had turned red, aning that the shaman had connected to Kal just before dying.
I picked up the orb and paused briefly, contemplating my next move.
‘Should I shake him up a bit?’
Taking a short breath, I made up my mind.
“Ah, ah.”
After clearing my throat, I spoke into the orb.
“It’s been a while, Kal.”
[……?]
“This is Alex Marcia, you damn villain who killed my father.”
Today, I was going to stir things up.
Big ti.
User Comments
0 comments from readers