The pursuers had changed their tactics.
Najin faintly sensed this shift. Previously operating alone, they were now moving in pairs or in groups of three or four.
‘Killing six in two days did have an effect.’
Two days since he started fleeing after drawing the sword, Najin had killed six lone pursuers. Handling one or two had given him a feel for how to deal with them, making the six kills not too difficult.
Ambushing, creating complacency.
Concealing his strength until a burst at the right mont.
The combat techniques learned from Ivan and Offen proved effective against the Shadows of the Order. But it seed like that wasn't all.
Najin quietly clenched and unclenched his hand. The injury from the battle with the Druggist Hakan was healing. His arm, which could barely move before, was now strong enough to wield a sword.
‘It's not just the healing that's improved.’
He felt an overflow of energy, his mind was clearer.
His eyes could vividly predict an opponent's movents, and he could freely manipulate the flow within his body. Was this also an effect of Excalibur?
...Was it not King Arthur who was remarkable, but Excalibur itself that was simply overpowered?
For a brief mont, Najin entertained this irreverent thought. Of course, this was a misconception. Excalibur had only granted him rapid healing. The other aspects were always part of Najin.
Only because he resolved to cross the line.
And released the constraints he had placed on himself.
Thus, Najin's inherent talents began to bloom rapidly. He had plenty of experience already. His growth curve, poised for flowering, was skyrocketing.
"...Huh."
Observing the movents of the pursuers, Najin exhaled deeply. For the past two days, he had road the underground city aimlessly, as if hunting, not escaping.
It seed his act had worked.
Thinking Najin's purpose was hunting, the pursuers started moving in groups... As a result, gaps appeared in their net across the city. It was ti to proceed to the real objective.
Just one more ti.
A definitive end.
Najin approached a group of three pursuers moving through a dark alley. The underground city was full of narrow alleys, and the walls naturally had many footholds. Treading from gap to gap, Najin closed in on them.
How to face multiple opponents at once?
Najin recalled the battle experience drilled into him during the fight with Hakan.
Of course, comparing the mindless addicts to the Shadows of the Order was an enormous insult to the latter... But, well, what does it matter?
‘They don’t explode like the addicts.’
No risk of being discovered by killing them.
With that thought, Najin leaped down from the wall of the alley. The three pursuers quickly ford a defensive line upon sensing his fall.
The leader swung his sword to counter Najin, and the mont created by this move was exploited by the other two. Najin saw all their movents and realized they still lacked full information about him.
‘It's not about countering.’
Just as Najin’s falling sword was about to clash with the pursuer's, it flashed white. A sliver of Sword Aura wrapped around Najin's blade.
‘You should have dodged.’
Though just a sliver, it was undoubtedly Sword Aura. Najin knew its terrifying cutting power too well. He vividly rembered his own steel sword sliced by Ivan’s Sword Aura, the mont when death lood close.
A sword without aura cannot counter one with it.
Crack!
The mont the swords collided, the pursuer's sword shattered. Najin's sword, continuing its trajectory, sliced into the shoulder of the pursuer and erged from the other side.
‘One.’
Their plan of one person countering while the others attack was shattered by Najin's single move.
Plip, plop.
As blood droplets flew, Najin ducked low. Dodging two swords slashing through the darkness, he swept his energy-wrapped sword low.
The pursuers, unable to use Sword Aura, were limited in their attack thods in the narrow alley. Their blades would just rebound off the walls. But not for Najin. His blade, aided by Sword Aura, cut through the wall and struck. One avoided it, but the other couldn’t. As one pursuer’s ankle was severed and he toppled, Najin swiftly stabbed and withdrew his sword from the neck.
‘Two.’
Blood spurted. A body collapsed.
After handling two, Najin turned to face the third pursuer, who lost two companions in an instant. His expression hidden under a deep hood, but Najin noticed the trembling in his eyes.
Thump.
As Najin stepped forward, the pursuer retreated. The disadvantage of asymtric information. Seeing the boy, Sword Aura in hand, advancing, the pursuer turned and fled.
The roles of hunter and prey had reversed.
Najin didn’t chase the fleeing prey.
Instead, he drew a weapon from the bracelet on his wrist. A weapon plundered from the hunted pursuers. Holding it, Najin aid at the fleeing figure.
He had never used such a weapon before, but he had seen how they used and threw it. Mimicking them wasn’t hard.
Thud.
Stepping forward, Najin hurled the weapon. It whistled through the air and buried itself deep in the pursuer's leg.
“Argh!”
As the pursuer fell with a scream, Najin finished him with another throw.
‘Three.’
After plundering necessary items from the corpse, Najin delved deeper into the alley. This was enough. Now, he started running towards his real destination.
The place Offen told him about.
The only exit from this underground city.
***
Shortly after Najin left the alley.
Two pursuers who entered found their colleagues' bodies and contorted their faces in disgust. Three together, and yet they were defeated. By a boy raised in this underground city?
‘Nine in two days.’
Nine, plus three.
Twelve in total. They had no pride as Shadows, but they had their self-respect.
Still, the mission must be carried out. They suppressed their anger and investigated the traces left by Najin. During the investigation, they frowned upon noticing sothing strange.
‘The sword is shattered.’
A colleague’s sword was completely destroyed.
Even the wall bore marks of being split. Not sothing a normal sword could do. It was the mark of Sword Aura.
The target was supposed to be 18 years old.
An 18-year-old boy using Sword Aura?
Could it be Excalibur's work? But if that were the case, a brilliant light should have burst forth. As they struggled to accept this situation, a figure entered the alley with a thud.
They turned toward the sound, relieved or perhaps disappointed, to find it wasn’t the boy they were after. Instead, a rcenary who had volunteered to assist with the mission stood there.
“What’s the matter?”
In response to the Shadow's query, Offen nodded.
“Yes, there’s sothing urgent to report…”
Piecing together plausible phrases, Offen took step by step towards them. By the ti the Shadows frowned at Offen’s nonsensical words, he had already closed the distance to about five steps.
Five steps.
The distance Offen had marked.
With a large step, Offen drew his sword, simultaneously enveloping it with Sword Aura. The Shadows reacted too late to the sudden change in Offen’s deanor.
Swords clashed several tis.
Blood splattered a few tis.
Having created two more corpses, Offen exhaled briefly and left the scene. Before leaving, he smiled upon seeing the Sword Aura marks likely left by Najin. It seed Najin was doing better than Offen had anticipated.
Najin had killed six pursuers in two days.
But the pursuers knew of nine deaths.
The remaining three were Offen's doing.
Pretending to cooperate, he tracked their movents and struck when they were isolated, mimicking Najin’s style.
This should be enough. With such a smokescreen, Najin’s real objective would be perfectly concealed.
The only thing left was to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Anticipating the absolute worst, Offen headed towards the last place Najin would be heading. It wasn’t these Shadows he was wary of.
Knight Berlot.
He, too, was pursuing Najin.
It seed he hadn’t realized Najin’s true destination yet, but Offen couldn’t ignore the possibility. If he was going to do this, Offen was determined to see it through.
‘What a hassle this is.’
Yet, he didn’t feel too bad about it.
Offen had lived aimlessly in this city, drowning his days in alcohol. He wasted ti aninglessly, but even in that wasted ti, there was sothing undeniably shining.
A light that didn’t belong in this underground city.
A light he couldn’t possess himself.
Perhaps Offen projected his past onto that light. The starlight he reached for but could never grasp. That’s why Offen hoped.
He hoped that light would not be trampled upon.
***
Following the path Offen had shown, Najin ran.
He realized he was nearing his destination. The sound of water falling was growing louder. He recalled the map in his mind.
The waterfall marked on the map.
To reach it, he had to pass through an old, unused tunnel leading to the falls.
Just entering the tunnel ant escape was almost certain. As Najin ran towards the tunnel entrance, his heart pounded with excitent.
He was close.
Soon, he would escape this city.
He hadn’t even crossed the waterfall yet, but he couldn’t help but feel uplifted. The possibility of getting out was becoming real. With each step, voices echoed in Najin's ears.
‘Pitiful thing.’
‘Why were you born in such a place?’
These were the words he had heard all his life.
‘You will rot here forever.’
‘You are destined to die here, amidst this trash...’
The taunts and jeers he had always faced.
The words spat out by Tricksy as he died, the mockery of the gang mbers he killed, the voice of the druggist Hakan, all echoed in his ears.
You cannot ascend.
You will rot here forever.
Your talent will only lead you to misery.
These were the words he had ignored or cut off. But not anymore. Let them talk. Let them laugh. I am going to escape this place.
A smile ford on Najin’s lips.
With each step, with each approach towards the tunnel, the echoing voices disappeared one by one.
Reaching the tunnel entrance, only one voice remained. The last voice Najin couldn’t shake off echoed in his ears.
‘Don’t cross the line, Najin.’
‘If you do, I will have to kill you.’
Najin stopped.
The entrance to the tunnel was right before him, but he couldn’t move forward. There stood the person who had drawn a line for him, whose voice still echoed in his ears.
“Have you arrived?”
The entity that set limits for Najin.
The owner of the voice still echoing.
“I’ve been waiting.”
The one-eyed Ivan.
The last line Najin had to cross, the towering wall, was right there.
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