Those Who Live Without the Law Chapter 221

Chapter 221

The Approaching Crisis (2)

Dana Watson departed. This news was naturally caught by the information network of Bennett City, which had been maintaining maximum vigilance.

To be precise, it was exactly as Dana Watson herself had announced.

‘I’m coming. Do not resist.’

It was a note delivered to Bennett City by a spy whose jaw had been completely shattered. The lipstick mark stamped onto the note was vivid crimson.

Kairus had already completed every kind of preparation he possibly could.

“....”

The five mbers of the Operations Committee stood before Kairus.

“You’re telling to leave, right?”

No one answered Kairus’s question. After a brief silence, Lukas finally spoke.

“Then all you have to do is win.”

He just had to win. Kairus had no complaints about Lukas’s words. Because it was undeniably true. Kairus, who had been looking at Lukas with a faintly refreshed expression, opened his mouth.

“If I win, Dana Watson’s battle gear will go to Irena.”

At Kairus’s words, Irena, who had been standing beside him with a dark expression, widened her eyes and stared at him.

“What are you talking about?”

Dana Watson’s battle gear, Angelene’s Answer. If everything ended safely this ti, Kairus planned to hand that item over to Irena.

“Who else would I give it to besides you?”

Kairus was already using Veil of Plud Mist. It was absolutely not an item he could simply sell off to the other criminals of Bennett City for money.

Nor could he give it to Nora. Nora was an excellent companion, but fundantally, she belonged to Lunaseeker. In reality, the only people being driven out of the city this ti were Kairus and Irena.

“We’ll co back again afterward anyway.”

Irena would possess Angelene’s Answer, and Kairus would wield Veil of Plud Mist.

It wouldn’t just be the two of them anymore. Kairus was already capable of dealing with two Operations Committee mbers by himself.

And then Irena would be added to that. Once that happened, even if every Operations Committee mber in this city ca at them together, Kairus and Irena would not be pushed back.

“At this point, I’m honestly starting to get confused about which side I should be rooting for.”

Donovan looked at Kairus with a troubled expression. Lukas and the Barenza siblings felt the sa way.

anwhile, Cecilia rely watched Kairus with amusent, without any notable change in expression.

“If there’s sothing you need after everything is over, then make your demands.”

But now was not the ti to demand anything. This was the mont to earn the right to make demands.

After finishing their conversation, Kairus and Irena headed toward a mountain roughly 70 kiloters away from Bennett City. Kairus had already inford the Operations Committee of the location he was heading to.

Once the Operations Committee approached Dana Watson and inford her of Kairus’s location, and once Dana Watson arrived there.

The battle would begin.

“Why did you choose this place of all places?”

“You’ll understand once the fight starts.”

There was a reason Kairus had chosen this place. After unpacking his belongings, Kairus lit a fire and filled a pot with water to brew coffee.

Accepting the coffee cup, Irena slowly glanced around the area before speaking.

“The sunlight’s nice, so it’s not a bad place to die… but aren’t there way too many rocks?”

Most of the mountain consisted of stone. Massive boulders carved by wind and rain into bizarre shapes.

And between them, trees had rooted themselves and grown in twisted, strange forms.

Kairus gazed at the scenery before taking a sip of coffee.

“The chances of winning aren’t high. So at the very least, I had to choose the battlefield carefully.”

Dana Watson was strong. Not only the stories Irena had seen and heard herself, but also the information secured through Lunaseeker’s cooperation.

Everything pointed toward the sa conclusion—that this was a battle heavily disadvantageous for Kairus.

“The Aylan Republic will want us to win.”

“Because it ans Dana Watson’s death.”

Her death would not rely be the death of a single person. It would an the collapse of one of the pillars supporting the Empire’s military power.

‘Once I finish this.’

Kairus would be able to challenge the Emperor once more. This was different from when he had cooperated with Simid Kellogg’s rebellion.

“That bastard won’t be able to attend any official event ever again.”

No matter where the Emperor was within the Empire, Kairus could reach him in less than a day. No amount of preparation would matter.

The mont that bastard stepped outside the Imperial Palace, it ant he could no longer hole himself up inside like he did during Simid Kellogg’s rebellion.

“While I hold Denver Hudson back, you can cut off his head.”

“The reverse works too.”

Once Irena wielded Angelene’s Answer, Denver Hudson alone would no longer be able to stop both of them.

The immortal one was Denver Hudson, not the Emperor. If either Kairus or Irena tied Denver Hudson down, then during that opening, the other could kill the Emperor.

That fact alone would keep the Emperor trapped inside the Imperial Palace.

‘Of course, all of this only becos possible.’

After defeating Dana Watson. That was also why the Emperor had sent Dana Watson to capture Kairus.

Because he had judged that Kairus could not win. If he failed to win, every rosy future they had spoken of monts ago would vanish completely.

Kairus would die here. Although the Emperor would fail to obtain what he wanted, revenge itself would still fail.

‘Even if I begged for my life for the sake of the future, Dana Watson wouldn’t listen.’

As long as he stayed alive, opportunities would eventually appear—that phrase perfectly represented Kairus’s life. If the situation truly beca hopeless, Kairus was even willing to surrender to Dana Watson obediently and beg her to spare him.

But Dana Watson would never grant Kairus’s plea.

Because she had experienced enough herself what kind of hell a man destined to die could cause if left alive.

It was the sa reason Kairus had killed lvin. Here, Kairus would either seize victory or die.

“Let’s see how this goes.”

Sitting beneath the shade cast by the trees while drinking coffee, Kairus took several deep breaths. anwhile, Irena gathered branches, skewered potatoes and bacon onto them, and began roasting them over the campfire.

Today’s al was bacon and potatoes. As they stared at the campfire and waited for the food to cook, the sound of whistling echoed from behind them.

“Having a al?”

Kairus did not turn around. Instead, he brought his hand toward his waist. Irena also prepared herself for battle. Because it was a voice they knew all too well.

Footsteps slowly approached. There was no hostility in those movents.

Not yet.

“That outfit suits you well.”

Dana Watson casually passed by Kairus and plopped herself down across the campfire. Dana Watson was wearing the uniform of the Scarlet Leaf Order.

From the cape draped over her left shoulder to the golden buttons engraved with the Scarlet Leaf Order emblem, it was such a neat appearance that anyone would imdiately recognize her as a knight.

“I didn’t drink a single drop on the way here either.”

As she spoke, Dana Watson picked up a few more branches, then rummaged through the backpack as though it were her own, pulled out more bacon and potatoes, and began grilling her own portion.

“I was expecting an entrance worthy of the na Red Cot.”

“Ah, that?”

Dana Watson answered as though it were nothing special.

“The point is intimidation. But you’re not the type to get intimidated by sothing like that.”

Kairus let out a scoff before pulling out an extra cup, pouring coffee into it, and handing it to Dana Watson. Taking the offered cup, Dana Watson grinned.

“A bastard who’s about to die drinks so pretty good coffee?”

“A bitch who’s about to die is getting treated to so pretty good coffee.”

The man and woman calling each other bastard and bitch stared at one another for a mont. Crackle. The sound of the campfire burning echoed through the air.

“You ca here intending to have a al, Dana Watson.”

After placing the fully cooked bacon and potatoes into a ss tin, Irena handed it over to Dana Watson. She no longer called her Captain anymore. Dana Watson showed a bitter expression.

“Still, I wish you’d call Captain. I helped you a lot too, didn’t I? That hurts my feelings.”

“There’s no need to pretend you still have any affection left.”

Dana Watson no longer held any affection for Irena. She was the daughter of a traitor who had shaken the Empire. The reason she was making that sorrowful expression right now was simply to shake Irena’s heart even a little with it.

Still wearing a bitter expression, Dana Watson accepted the ss tin.

“Thanks, youngest… no, Irena.”

In that strangely peculiar atmosphere, the al began.

“After she first beca a trainee knight, she saluted and bit her tongue so hard that she actually had to go to the hospital.”

Dana Watson burst into cheerful laughter as she casually brought up all sorts of stories.

“Fuck, I thought she didn’t just bite her tongue—I thought she bit the whole damn thing off.”

Deliberately and with clear intent, Dana Watson continued dragging out old stories. It was not because she still held affection, nor because she regretted having to fight them.

Her purpose was obvious—to shake the opponents she would soon fight, even if only a little, through these trivial conversations.

What mattered was drawing out the opponent’s carelessness and emotional disturbance. Sharing a al before a fight was not simply because it looked stylish.

“So anyway… when she first attended a knight order gathering—”

Boom.

While happily chatting away during the al, Dana Watson suddenly swung Angelene’s Answer mid-sentence.

In the middle of nonstop chatter and eating, a lightning-fast strike suddenly flew in.

“Kh—!”

Kairus managed to defend against it. The massive blade that suddenly slamd toward him was blocked by the blade of Veil of Plud Mist that Kairus had instantly drawn.

As he rapidly increased the output in response to the sudden attack, Veil of Plud Mist spewed out shrieking jet sounds like screams.

Dana Watson revealed her white teeth in a wide grin and spoke toward Kairus.

“Fly off into the sky. You like that, don’t you?”

A heavy reverberation, like the pounding of a massive drum. A sound that should not have been possible rang out from where the swords collided.

At the sa ti, Kairus’s body shot upward into the sky.

‘Fuck.’

Straightening his posture midair, Kairus imdiately launched himself back toward Dana. Accompanied by consecutive sonic booms, Kairus’s sword shot toward Dana Watson at several tis the speed of sound.

Dana Watson showed no intention of dodging. Instead, she rely gripped the greatsword with both hands and quietly stared at Kairus as he flew toward her.

One.

Two.

And then collision.

Kwagagagagak! Dana Watson’s body slid violently backward, and the rock beneath her feet shattered apart.

“!?”

Dana Watson had neither redirected Kairus’s charge nor properly blocked it.

‘It bounced? I got bounced away? What kind of bullshit is this…?’

Kairus was flung backward like a baseball struck by a bat. Faster than the speed at which he had originally charged toward Dana Watson.

It was an unbelievable result. As if to demonstrate the terrifying amount of force involved, the bedrock beneath Dana Watson rumbled loudly before collapsing and sinking apart.

Yet the very Dana Watson who had produced that absurd outco stood there perfectly fine, as though nothing had happened.

‘Don’t try to overpower her directly. That thing isn’t even human.’

This was not a fight that could be won through frontal clashes. Ever since obtaining Veil of Plud Mist, there had been opponents capable of stopping his attacks—but this was the first ti he had ever been blown backward even faster than his original charge.

Kairus sharply altered his flight trajectory once more and rapidly swung his sword, unleashing Swift Blade.

“Well now.”

Seeing the approaching wind attack, Dana Watson let out a faint chuckle and swung her greatsword in a huge arc.

The greatsword, carrying monstrous destructive power, tore through the air. The invisible wind beca caught within that strike as though grabbed by the collar.

And it shot toward Kairus in the form of a gigantic slash.

Avoiding the advancing slash’s trajectory, Kairus briefly glanced behind himself. The drifting clouds that had peacefully floated monts ago had been cleanly split in half.

Kairus felt his head spinning.

“No wonder she obediently agreed when they told her to go alone.”

Because she was confident.