Chapter 174: The Second Event – Collapsing Kingdom – part eleven

(Sumeragi’s PoV)

As I fought with Eren for a while longer, I realized that, “Those rubber balls really don’t do much damage in the end… And in that case, <Ex Regeneration> should now completely solve the issue caused by them.” I told Eren. I still have to deal with the HP loss from the Divine Oath, but it should only be a matter of time for him to lose when my damage output is higher.

“Is that so…? Then how about this!? <Heavy Juggle>!” He exclaimed.

“For how long do you think this kind of thing will work!? <Rolling Slash>!” I countered his attack with this skill, cutting through the rubber balls and quickly moving closer to him.

There were a bit too many of those rubber balls though, so I decided to ignore some in order to close the distance between us… However, just as I made this decision, my <Super Intuition> skill made me react in time, just as a purple rabbit pierced the floor in the space that I was in just a second ago.

“Not bad, boy!” Eren exclaimed.

“You were using a camouflage skill!?” I asked him.

“Who knows? <Moonlight Herd>!” He used a new skill.

“<Sunlight Stab>!” I used this to cut through some strange dark mist that he was summoning, but the current situation still looks troubling… I have been using detection skills since the start of the battle, yet I'm still being confused by his antics. He must have some really strong camouflage there.

“Look up! <Moonlight Rabbits>!” As he cast this, more purple rabbits came out, and started trying to attack me from above.

“<Holy Rupture>!” I slashed through the rabbit just before it reached me, but… “A rubber ball!?” I was sure it was a rabbit!

“Pay attention, boy!” Eren exclaimed this as he hit my stomach with his elbow… When did he get this close!?

“E-<Ex Heal>!” I hurriedly cast to recover from the damage.

“Do you think you have the time for that!? <Meteor Shower>!” He exclaimed, throwing more rubber balls towards me.

“<Piercing Rosary>!” By using this, I threw multiple light beams towards the incoming rubber balls, but they just seemed to split up when the light hit them… Were those illusions? Which of them was real then?

It was hard to be sure, so I kept on intercepting as many as possible while relying on my detection skills, but it was still hard to not make any mistakes when there were so many of those… They’re still just rubber balls, but I’ll lose if I can’t land any hit while he whittles away my HP like this…

“Come on, boy! Can’t even realize which balls are the real one!?” Eren laughed out loud while saying this.

This was rough… Due to how weak each individual rubber ball is, the detection skills didn’t assign them a high priority, so it was easy for them to slip past me… And a single sword isn’t the best weapon to handle multiple ranged attacks while fighting in a narrow corridor…

“Seems like I have no choice…” I mused to myself.

“Oh? Still have some fighting spirit in you?” He asked me while still keeping that mocking smile in his face.

I took a deep breath, and decided to not hold back any longer, “You have lost on the moment you decided to fight in such narrow passages! <Premium Item: The Truth of Tomorrow>; <Light’s Breath>!”

“W-what!?” Was all that he could exclaim as I activated my trump card. The premium item that allowed me to skip the chant of the <Oracle> skills. In this corridor, there is no way that he can dodge this large blast.

And like this, I blew up not just Eren, but a good part of the building’s walls and ceiling.

“You really were way stronger than I thought… It couldn’t be helped.” I said to nobody in particular. I didn’t want to kill him, but I was running out of time because of the <Divine Oath>, so I had to do this…

I crouched down and stabbed my sword on the ground. This NPC… I thought he was just Rena’s pawn, but he was actually quite strong, “I need to be more careful next time.”

“About that, you’ll have no next time.” That was Eren’s voice.

… And the feeling in my chest… Was of a dagger stabbing through it.

I turned around and saw that Eren was holding it. He was right behind me, stabbing me with his dagger.

“You’re really… Amazing.” I commented as I saw my life points quickly disappearing.

“That I am.” He replied.

“But… How are you alive?” I asked him. He really should have had no way of surviving an Oracle skill of all things. Especially when his karma is that low, the damage should have been far too high…

“You were just too caught up on playing with balls, boy.” Was all that he said as a reply.

“I see…” I get it now. It was an illusion. He mixed himself up with his rabbits and balls, and I ended up missing… Damn it. I didn’t notice it at all.

And then, I saw my HP hitting 0.

******

(Eren’s PoV)

“Boss, you done?” One of my henchmen, who was supposed to have fled, asked.

“Just finished.” I answered.

“I was only able to catch one of them alive. What do I do with him?” He asked me, then put one of Sumeragi’s knights on the ground. The knight was tied up and was dragged here through the neck.

“Did you erase the evidences of what happened in my room?” I asked him just in case.

“Of course.” He answered.

“Then it’s all good.” I told him, then looked towards the knight. He seemed to be pretty terrified right now.

“Please let me go! I surrender! I give up! Please cancel the battle, I can’t log-out!” He started shouting some incomprehensible things.

… He doesn’t seem to be very useful.

I sighed, then looked around, seeing that quite a few of my henchmen were coming out of their hiding spots, “Hang him.” I told them.

“Understood.” One of my subordinates said.

“No! Please stop! Help me!” The knight exclaimed, but was dragged away without anyone caring about his words.

Then, I took out a pipe and started smoking a bit while the migrant screamed for mercy. At the same time, my subordinates were telling him about how this was his punishment for trying to go against the mafia.

Ignoring that, I started walking away while reflecting on everything that just happened… In the end, it’s all that madwoman’s fault, isn’t it? All the problems in my life come from her…

Just as I started thinking this, my stomachache started coming back… I wonder if someone can replace me on this job.

I sighed. It’s been a while since I last had an opportunity to ‘play’… I should take a break and relax now.