novelraw Chapter 48 : Bet (1)
Chapter 48 : Bet (1)
Bet (1)
What on earth had just happened?
The soldier doubted his own eyes as he saw the little brat, who'd been right in front of him a moment ago, suddenly disappear.
He had always trained his body so that others wouldn't look down on him.
He ruled over others, trampling them so nobody would dare belittle him.
But now, a serious wound had appeared on his leg—a part of the body he had forged so hard.
It had happened silently, before he realized it.
What's more, the one who left that wound was a mere brat.
"Heeeeeeeek!!"
At some point, the kid standing behind him seemed to get frightened as he stared at the dagger in his own hand.
At the same time, the boy bowed his head, seemingly panicked as he looked at the wound he'd made in the soldier's leg.
"I'm sorry! I deserve to die for this!"
Huh?
"I didn't mean to! My hand just moved on its own... I swear I didn't know what I was doing!"
What the hell is this bastard saying? Is he scared of what he's just done?
Leaving that aside, how did that brat manage to hurt him?
His own body was tougher than rock from all his training—how could he be bleeding from the likes of this cowardly little punk?
Crrrk!-
The sheer absurdity of the situation made the soldier feel as if his chest was about to burst.
He picked up his greatsword and strode toward Simon, saying,
"If you're sorry, drop dead."
"P-please! Spare me! I beg you!!"
It didn't matter anymore that his opponent was a kid. The soldier swung his greatsword with all his might, this way and that.
He meant to chop Simon into several pieces to make sure of the kill.
"Heeeeeeeek!!"
A sword technique that could slaughter a man in an instant raged like a storm.
So fast that a hacked-up man wouldn't register being cut for a moment.
Simon screamed in terror at the lethal fury of the swordplay.
"Please give me just one more chance!!"
And yet, he dodged every single blow.
"Uwaaaah!"
Why isn't he getting hit? The soldier was confused as he swung his blade.
Even though the brat was begging for his life, he was effortlessly evading the soldier's swordsmanship.
Did I imagine it? Even when he increased his speed, it was the same.
"Please, just stop!"
"You little bastard!!"
The soldier's face twisted with frustration at the fact he couldn't even land a blow on this child.
Despite darting around like a fly, the brat was crying as if he were the victim, which made it all the more infuriating.
"Just die already!!"
"Kyaaaaaaa!!"
The soldier swung his sword horizontally with all his might.
Overwhelmed by the killing intent, Simon reflexively screamed and ducked his head.
At the same instant, whether he realized it or not, he brought his daggers across in an X shape.
Slash!-
Suddenly, a crimson X-shaped line appeared across the soldier's chest.
Following that line, his skin split open and blood gushed out.
"Huh...."
The sheer impossibility of the situation made the soldier's anger vanish, his eyes going wide in shock.
He could accept that the dodging was lucky, but was his flesh—supposedly tougher than stone—really this fragile?
No, he was lucky it was that tough.
If not, the part that was cut would have been severed entirely, not merely wounded.
"Eh? Mister?"
Simon, who had swung the daggers unconsciously, belatedly realized the soldier's condition.
He saw the soldier's eyes roll back as he collapsed.
"M-Mister!"
Simon's face went stiff as he saw the soldier collapse, bleeding right before his eyes.
To think he himself had done this sent his breathing into a frenzy.
"Kyaaaaaaaaa!!"
In the shock of having just killed a man, Simon let out a scream that was practically a howl.
As if his soul had left him, Simon's own eyes rolled back and he fainted, too.
Unlike the soldier, who had fainted first, there wasn't a scratch on Simon.
"...."
Aiden, who was watching the match, stood silent, looking completely dumbfounded.
The soldiers, who had been standing around in a circle, had the same look on their faces.
No matter that that particular soldier wasn't among Kaliion Fortress' main force, it still seemed impossible for a kid to bring him down.
More absurdly, Simon had knocked the other guy out, only to faint himself.
"N-Next!"
Aiden hurriedly chose the second soldier for the second match.
After what he'd just witnessed, Aiden realized something:
He could now gauge the kind of talent this cowardly-looking kid—who'd just felled a soldier—really had.
'I heard Paruzan's main force was wiped out!'
The soldiers of Paruzan, whom that troublesome Kadim's squad had wiped out, were little more than rabble now.
Because of this info, Aiden had let his guard down for the first match.
'To think they had someone of this level in their ranks!'
Aiden carefully chose the next soldier to send out.
Unlike the big guy from earlier, this one was among the higher-rank soldiers of Kaliion Fortress.
"Leave it to me. With the sword blessed by the will of God, there is nothing I cannot cut."
This soldier was a former "White Knight" of the Holy Nation.
Though smaller than the first, his spirit was on a whole other level.
His Paruzan opponent, though, was just a girl.
"Take care of it."
"Leave it to me. But do I need to go easy on them?"
To that, Louis answered as Rio, the second contender, asked her question.
"Crush them."
"Okay!"
Rio stood before the White Knight with renewed determination.
Some soldiers were puzzled at a girl representing them, but given what they'd all just witnessed in the first match, most kept quiet.
"A...how could this be...?"
The White Knight looked at Rio, a sorrowful expression crossing his face as tears filled his eyes.
"A young girl, not even yet an adult, has been dragged into a demonic realm like this. To think the gods have forsaken you—how tragic."
"...."
As he muttered, Rio simply tilted her head in confusion.
"But rest easy, girl. Through this match, I shall save you."
The White Knight drew his sword and continued,
"In the arena, the winner gets whatever they want from the loser. When I win here, I will recruit you into our Kaliion unit."
Would being recruited into Kaliion make any difference?
Rio simply tilted her head again.
"Of course! The 7th Legion is dangerous no matter where you go, but the Kaliion unit I belong to is comparatively safe."
He was surprisingly polite for an opponent, but Louis stuck out his tongue at the sickly-sweet tone of the White Knight.
'Idiot.'
The White Knight was saying all this because Rio was a "virgin".
Indeed, the rapturous gleam in his eyes as he looked at Rio confirmed Louis's suspicions.
"You are still pure! Girl, I cannot allow your life to be extinguished in a place like this. I shall save you, no matter what."
Listening to this, Aiden gave a snort.
The White Knight wanted to 'save' Rio for his own lecherous reasons.
Save her?
In his twisted mind, uniting with her physically was what he called salvation.
In short, he was a lunatic.
"Mister, are you pure?"
"Hmm? Yes, I am. I belong to the Holy Nation's order of White Knights, after all."
Purity was expected from a member of the Holy Nation.
But Rio couldn't help questioning the White Knight.
"If you're pure, why are you here?"
She asked, pure and innocent, with no hint of mockery.
The White Knight hesitated, his voice trembling as he replied.
"What do you mean by that?"
"This is a place just for bad people, isn't it? Why are you here, then?"
"That's..."
His mind went blank, and he gaped, sweating and searching for an answer, but Rio pressed him again.
"Did you maybe do something bad and get forsaken by God?"
At that, the White Knight bit his lip.
"You're nastier than you look. Trying to put me in a box like that!"
His angelic smile evaporated instantly, his expression contorting in a fit of mad fury as he raised his sword.
"I am a noble White Knight! Do you mean to say you don't trust in my salvation?!"
"No. I can't. You weren't saved yourself, mister."
From the moment he'd ended up in a hellhole like this, he no longer had any right to talk about salvation.
If he were really a savior, then he should try getting out of this 7th Legion first.
"Grr!"
At Rio's flawless rebuttal, the White Knight wrapped his sword in aura.
As if to prove his affiliation with the Holy Nation, a pure white aura shimmered like sunlight reflected off a mirror.
"You wicked wench!!"
Enraged, the White Knight rushed at Rio, sword brimming with murderous intent—his talk of salvation thoroughly abandoned.
Yet Rio didn't react at all.
Her pure, questioning gaze didn't change as her sword instantly turned crimson.
Suspected of using aura herself, she imbued her blade with power and parried the White Knight's sword.
Kwaaaang!-
Their powers collided, creating a great sword echo and a shockwave.
The ground shook as if struck by a cannonball, and something snapped.
"Gasp!"
The White Knight turned pale when his own sword, clad in pure white aura, shattered.
From the blade of Rio's sword, a crimson whirlwind erupted and surged straight at the White Knight.
Swept up in the mysterious sword energy, now a red tornado, the White Knight was thrown into the air.
Slashed all over his body, he crashed down among his fellow soldiers.
From start to finish, the soldiers watching—from Kaliion Fortress and beyond, including their commander Aiden—were left dumbfounded by the surreal sight of Rio using a mysterious power to launch the White Knight skyward.
"That seems to settle it, doesn't it?"
While everyone was stunned by the unexpected outcome, Kelian spoke up.
"That's two wins for our side. Any objections?"
Just as Silia said, the arena was over.
Out of three matches, Paruzan had just taken two consecutive wins.
"Not at all! That's not two wins, it's one win and one draw!"
"Huh?"
But Aiden spouted nonsense.
"What are you saying? It was your side's soldiers who went down."
"No, your soldier fainted too, remember? In the first match?"
In the first match, Simon had certainly taken down his opponent, but in the shock afterward, Simon himself had fainted as well.
When Aiden pressed that point, Silia looked at him in disbelief.
"Are you just refusing to admit defeat?"
"That's enough. Let it go."
Just then, Kelian stopped Silia and accepted that the first match was a draw.
Understandably, Silia had a hard time accepting that.
"What are you doing? You think that's reasonable?"
"There's no reasoning with a man like this. The only way for such people to truly despair is to show them they can't win, even when the rules are in their favor."
And so, absurdly, a third match was set.
This time, no more kids from Paruzan's side—just an ordinary soldier.
This soldier was a veteran who'd survived for a long time, and had honed his skills by surviving the latest stampede.
'No telling what other variables there might be.'
As Aiden sent out his third fighter, he thought to himself.
He'd lost not once but twice, so he could only admit it.
Paruzan's forces hadn't deteriorated from the stampede—they'd grown even stronger.
Who knew how they'd gained such strength, but a normal match gave them no chance.
So, Aiden gave a command to someone hiding in his shadow.
"If this keeps up, we're definitely going to lose. You know what to do, right?"
"...."
The black shadow who received Aiden's order quietly shifted position.
Moving into the trees, out of sight, someone emerged from within the shadow as if rising from underwater.
He was a dark mage.
As the third match began, he started casting a curse—a dark mage's specialty.
[Slow Movement]
[Dizziness]
The target of the curse was the third Paruzan soldier.
If this took hold, the result would be obvious.
Just as the curse was about to be cast—
"Big Bro, what are you doing up here?"
"...!"
Startled by the sudden voice of Louis behind him, the dark mage abruptly canceled his casting and turned to look.
"Doing something fun up here?"
What's with this brat? Is he also from the Paruzan unit?
How did he find me here?
"You keep giving off this burnt, pitch-black smell. It was bugging me."
"...."
What should I do? Is this kid like those other brats from the earlier matches?
He must be, if he could sense my perfectly hidden presence. If that's the case...
[Deadly Poison]
The dark mage grabbed Louis's arm and cast a curse to silence him.
This poison would instantly kill a normal person if it spread through their body.