Black Badger

Chapter 119

I drew my sword.

The one I'd given to Nol wasn't long enough or thick enough to unleash a sword slash strong enough to counter Hecate's. My strength had been a bit greater than hers, but the sword wouldn't have held up.

I had to focus on winning.

But I couldn't swing right away.

"You cut your hair."

Hecate said it while poised to unleash a sword slash at any moment.

"It suited you better long."

"Yeah?"

I murmured, running my left hand through the hair covering my nape.

"It was really long before, after all." Truth be told, I didn't remember cutting it.

When I opened my eyes, it was just short. It took a while to even realize how long and flowing it had been.

But what did it matter now?

Hecate tensed her legs.

"You still remember the Imperial Language?"

"Yeah. For now."

"I warned Kyle plenty of times."

The creatures didn't approach us.

But some kept charging at Silvia nonstop. She sliced them down with a face half dissatisfied, half satisfied.

She wouldn't let them get close, that much was clear.

I took a breath, preparing to dodge any incoming attack.

"Hildebert could have made a different decision."

Kwaaaang!

A building collapsed.

Hecate's sword slash neatly bisected it. I ducked to avoid the shockwave and bit my lip as I put some distance between us.

"But Kyle didn't listen to me."

Kugugugu, thump!

"Too much faith in me, or maybe..."

Kwaaaang!

"He figured you had no reason to make a different choice."

Was I going to lose?

It hit me just how pathetic I'd become. Hecate was renowned for her outstanding leadership and unyielding loyalty, but her swordsmanship was top-notch too. Neither I nor Kyle had ever disputed that.

And yet, I'd thought I'd regained quite a bit of my old skill.

At this rate, I wasn't even close...

"You've really gone downhill."

Kwaang!

My forearm was slashed diagonally.

Blood sprayed. The sword slash, still carrying force, flew backward and shredded everything in its path on the road.

A utility pole split in two, a motorcycle cleaved apart.

I cut down a creature lunging at my side and reset my stance.

"Captain."

Then Hecate's low call disrupted my form.

I hadn't thought she'd do something so foolish. I'd figured she was prepared enough already. But that all-too-familiar address made my grip slacken for a moment.

In the lightless city, Hecate looked straight at me.

Orange eyes.

"Still,"

They held the pride of the Empire.

"I never thought you'd hand over my sword to a mere human."

Kwagwagwagwang!

Kwoong!

...I deflected it.

What a fine sword.

I looked down at the blade, chipped but still intact.

The massive sword slash Hecate had unleashed.

I'd barely redirected the huge attack skyward to avoid it. I hadn't fully deflected it, so the top of my forearm was sliced off.

A standard-issue sword wouldn't have even managed that deflection.

I stared at the blade soaked in my blood, then gripped it firmly.

Time was short...

[Support unit arriving in 10 minutes.]

"You lost your memories, right?"

Yoon's voice came through the communicator at the same moment Hecate spoke up.

I blinked, preparing to close the distance.

"What?"

"I heard it all, your chat with that subway dweller."

Ah.

Jin.

Jin Silver. The name that lingered in my mind as guilt and pain flashed back.

His ashen arm too.

The arm that looked like it'd been dipped in cement and pulled out.

Now that my memories had partially returned, I knew what it was. Those who survived the Sacred Tree's curse but absorbed too much energy had their skin turn to stone. It calcified slowly, eventually crumbling to dust.

Jin probably never knew why his arm had turned ashen.

"I couldn't believe it for a while, but seeing you now, it must be true. Selling out your comrades and conveniently losing your memories. What a coward."

"Did you kill him?"

"That's what worries you?"

Hecate let out a venomous laugh.

"That's your first question to me? Still fretting over these things?"

Kwaaang!

The flesh on my left arm was sliced away.

At the same time, I kicked off and closed in. With this sword, I couldn't unleash a sword slash strong enough for a vital strike. Nor was I in any shape to block Hecate's blade directly.

But there were ways.

Surprisingly, these incompetent squad members proved useful.

Thump!

I dodged Hecate's attack and fired off a light sword slash in tandem.

The flying strike sliced the pin off a grenade rolling on the ground.

Kwaaaang!

"Mommy!"

Lucia Kwon, who'd somehow flowed into this zone, screamed.

Sorry, Senior Kwon.

But thanks to you dropping that grenade, it helped. I had no idea how you managed to drop grenades on the ground like that, though.

I sent silent thanks that wouldn't reach her and rose from behind the building rubble.

Grenades were powerful weapons.

They'd hit us—with our inferior recovery compared to badgers—much harder.

I saw Hecate bleeding from her leg, unable to block the shrapnel in time.

She rolled her eyes.

"I wanted a more dignified fight."

Hecate flicked the debris off her blade with a clink.

"To think you've fallen this low. Astonishing."

Hecate had no real chance of victory in the end.

She knew that too, probably. In a straight one-on-one with me, she'd win handily.

But the situation wasn't that.

For starters, Choi Yoon was here.

The force that could have joined me and beheaded Hecate right away. But at my request, he was off ripping out a giant's throat as a badger.

The moment he and Leonard linked up, Hecate had no chance.

On top of that, the unit that had rescued the surrounded badgers was en route.

And no matter how much my skills had rusted, I was confident I could hold out for 10 minutes. Hecate, the brilliant commander who knew that about me, couldn't have been unaware.

So either she'd come to mutual destruction with me, or just to scout my situation.

The latter was far more likely at the start.

Just the start.

"Hecate."

I called out to my opponent, who at some point had lost her reason and was flailing sword slashes like an idiot.

My kin, unable to even think of leaving with me right there.

Hidden behind her feigned composure, I'd immediately recognized the state of my former subordinate.

"If things stay like this, you'll die by human hands."

"I don't want to hear that from you."

"I may not have the right to say it, but..."

"Shut up."

"I don't want to see you die like a dog."

"Be quiet!"

I sighed at my kin, lost to rage.

Don't rampage here.

I hadn't regained the skill to cut your throat yet. I didn't want to watch you meet your end by human hands.

"You cowardly traitor!"

Kwagwagwagwagwang!

A five-pronged sword slash.

An impeccable strike I couldn't possibly dodge. It tore up the asphalt, carved through the ruins in its path, and hurtled toward me.

And I charged straight at it.

An attack with no gaps. As one sharp sword slash pierced my abdomen, I swung my blade.

The sword slash cleaved the grenade in front of Hecate.

Kwaaaang!

"Ughaaaak!"

"Haha! Serves you right!"

"Cough."

Lucia Kwon flew backward amid the grenade shrapnel.

Jerry Jones, beside her, tumbled across the asphalt too. He'd gotten caught in the blast proper.

Looks like I'm the one friendly firing.

Meanwhile, my kin—who'd perfectly countered the explosion with her sword—laughed sharply.

"To think the captain would resort to such a pathetic attack!"

Thanks to charging into the sword slashes, the grenade had detonated where I wanted.

"Seeing you fallen like this is delightful!"

It hurt like hell.

I clutched my spilling guts with my left hand, gasping bloody breaths.

This place was a total melee now. Allies caught in the grenade blast. Overturned asphalt and hazy smoke. Hecate spewing hatred-filled laughter. And Silvia steadily closing the gap on her.

She didn't even notice. She'd completely lost her reason to anger.

Hecate was in a state where no enemies but me registered. If this kept up, she'd truly lose her life to human hands.

To Yoon or Silvia, judging by the situation.

I really didn't want to see that.

I needed a countermeasure, fast.

I dragged my heavy body a few steps and peered into the crater punched open by the grenade explosion.

The sewer revealed by the grenade tearing up the asphalt.

"Hecate."

I ripped away the skin shredded by her clean sword slash.

Then, walking a few steps, I dropped it into the sewer and murmured.

"Sorry for showing such a pathetic sight."

"Ah, whatever. I'm having a blast right now. I expect nothing from trash like you anymore anyway."

"It's my doing, so I'll take responsibility and clean it up as best I can."

I said it while watching the flesh plop into the water.

A resolve I'd held ever since partially regaining my memories.

But a determination I had no need to share with anyone outside my kin—I conveyed it to my old comrade.

"I'll kill my kin with my own hands."

The sewer water began to churn.

"And I'll die by your hands too."

As long as I was a Black Badger, that could happen anytime.

I had no intention of shirking what I'd done. I still couldn't fully recall why I'd sided with humans, but remembering wouldn't change reality much. I'd pointed my sword at Kyle and aided in killing my kin. I'd helped humans win the war against my kin.

So I'd see it through to the end, ensuring human victory.

And in cleaning up the mess I'd made, I'd perish by my kin's hands.

On the battlefield...

To the creatures they controlled. Or to attacks from my kin. If I even triumphed over the last of them, I'd gladly borrow kin hands to end it.

It was the resolve of a traitor.

I couldn't kill myself.

Nor did I want to watch my kin die by the hands of humans who reveled in slaughter.

"You're saying you'll die now?"

Hecate scoffed, raising her sword.

Too excited by my full-of-holes state, she didn't notice Silvia charging from behind.

"You're begging me to kill you? I'll grant your cowardly wish, Captain. That's what I wanted too—"

Kieeeek!

A creature spewed water as it surged up.

From the ruptured sewer pipe. Its massive body filled my vision.

Hard scales reflected the faint moonlight, gleaming.

Water Dragon Leviathan.

The resident of B-6 Zone who only emerged to bask in sunlight was hard to kill or handle delicately.

So it wasn't under Hecate's command.

That let me issue orders, however clumsily.

Our own method that had made Kyle so proud.

A technique I hadn't recalled in the Colosseum, and hadn't used often even before.

It surfaces when things get this desperate, huh.

"Swallow her."

I pointed at Hecate and commanded the Water Dragon.

I could control this hefty lifeform for exactly one minute.

I planned to achieve my goal in that minute.

"Swallow and leave."

So she wouldn't lose her life to human hands.