Chapter 160 - Your Words, Not Mine

Osric jumped out of the way, letting the saber slam into the ground next to him. He then turned to Leon with a questioning expression.

"They are attacking me! Are you sure he is the killer?"

I sighed.

"I'm not the killer!"

A frown formed on Leon's face.

"It appears they have already lost their mind and will attack anything nearby. Nonetheless, it doesn't change the fact he is likely the killer! The evidence still supports it."

My eyelid twitched.

"And what exactly would convince you otherwise?"

Leon glared at me.

"If you weren't so suspicious."

With that, he charged towards me, making me feel a little helpless over the situation. I never thought that Leon could be so...

Unreasonable? Or is it stubborn?

Probably both.

Osric began fighting with the other skeletons. He attempted to use lighting to destroy them, but that didn't work. Osric quickly realized the only option was to beat them down with his physical body and thus began doing that.

Leon lunged towards me, reaching out with his hand. Naturally, I wasn't willing to be grabbed, so I stepped out of the way. Then, Leon's foot traced an arc upwards, heading straight for my chin.

I didn't expect him to move like that. I knew I wouldn't be able to dodge this normally, so I began my teleportation as it came up towards me. Right when I felt a strong gust of wind brush by my neck, I disappeared.

Upon reappearing, a strong sense of danger filled my mind. Without really understanding why, I jerked my head to the side.

A sharp gale brushed right past my ear, as though the air itself was tearing apart.

Then, a deafening boom reverberated.

After a few seconds, I was able to process what happened. Leon threw his staff straight at my head the moment I reappeared. The staff missed because of my sudden movement and slammed into the wall.

Massive cracks formed in the wall while large stone fragments scattered in the air. Leon put some force into that, needless to say. A small frown formed on my face.

To be honest, I wasn't sure if I could dodge another one of those attacks again. He was able to do that because of the light Osric was providing. I had to do something about that. My head slowly turned until it was set on Osric.

He destroyed most of the skeletons which were all after him. However, there was a frown on his face. It was because Osric realized they wouldn't die despite taking several hits. On top of that, none of the damage he was doing seemed to be permanent.

I began running towards Osric, with my crystal in my free hand.

He didn't notice this.

However, Leon obviously did. He called out and used this time to retrieve his staff.

"Watch out, the madman is coming!"

...Just saying, him calling me madman for something I didn't do was quite offensive.

Osric turned to Leon upon hearing him scream, then quickly processed his message. He turned to me, and began retreating. But that was when a giant saber was being brought down on him.

In his confusion, Osric did not take notice of the skeletons around him. He reached out with his hands just in time, catching the blade between both hands. But that was when the other skeletons attacked. Swords and spears shot towards Osric.

Leon clicked his tongue and seemed to be questioning the intelligence of a certain someone.

A soft sigh escaped my lips.

My eyes widened while my pupils constricted.

I teleported within range of Osric. The lightning on his body disappeared while the surrounding skeletons all collapsed into a pile of bones, armor, and weapons. I looked at Osric who was still holding onto the saber with shock.

A bitter smile formed on my face.

"I got you."

Osric blinked a few times.

"Ah, thanks."

Leon had an ugly frown.

"Don't trust him! Run away right now!"

Still in a confused fluster, Osric ran away. After he had gone fairly far, he furrowed his brows.

"Why should I run?"

Leon grit his teeth.

"Because he is trying to gain your trust and turn on me."

I took a frustrated breath.

"If that was the case, it would be far more beneficial for me to let him die or at least be critically injured. Then, I could deal with you."

Osric nodded slightly.

"...That does make sense."

Leon stubbornly remained with his opinion.

"Oh, really?"

A small smirk formed on his face.

"The only reason you kept him alive is that you weren't confident in taking me on alone!"

Osric's eyes widened ever so slightly. It seemed he believed Leon's statement.

To be clear, I always thought Leon was a good person overall, even if there were a few disagreeable aspects about him. After all, he went out of his way to create a village for many people to live in happiness.

However, he was also beginning to get on my nerves. 

A smile gradually formed on my face.

"Leon. This entire time, I haven't attacked you once. Do you really wish for me to start?"

Leon chuckled.

"You haven't attacked me because I haven't given you the opportunity to. Even if you could, it would hardly scratch me."

He didn't wait for my response and dashed towards me once more. My neck twisted, tilting my head to the side.

"So will you believe-"

I was interrupted by the horizontal swing of a wooden staff. My knees buckled, letting me lean back.

"-me if I can..."

Leon raised his leg high in the air before bringing it down, aiming the heel of his foot at my head. Intuitively, I realized that Leon was determining the position of my head from my voice.

As such, I cut myself off before jerking my head to the side.

A loud crash resounded just behind my head. I could feel several sharp rock fragments cut into my scalp, making me bleed a little. However, there was no real damage. Then, I was able to catch a fist going for my abdomen in the corner of my vision.

A tight feeling wrapped around me. I teleported once more, farther away from Leon, but with Osric still within range of my crystal. The corner of my lip turned up slightly. I tried to suppress it, but it was uncontrollable.

"...hurt you?"

Leon took a deep breath while pulling his foot out of the ground.

"Believe you if you can hurt me?"

He laughed.

"I suppose. But I am not some sort of pushover that will let that happen."

Leon bolted towards me. It almost felt like I was food and Leon was a starving lion. After a bit of pondering, I realized that my attack had a chance of killing him if it hit the wrong spot.

I didn't know if Leon had any weaknesses, so as he was charging towards me, I asked a question.

"What place on your body-"

Before I could finish, Leon attacked. He balanced on one leg while the other did a horizontal sweep towards my waist. I took a step backward and folded my body so that my waist was safe from his attack.

I took this time to continue asking my question.

"-will be the least likely-"

Leon did a strange cartwheel-like maneuver, which resulted in him bringing his fist down towards my shoulder.

I twisted my body so that the top half of my body was sideways, like I was sleeping on my side. As the fist glided past my back, I finished my sentence.

-to kill you?"

Leon did not respond. After missing that strike, his strange maneuver caused him to face the opposite direction. However, he wasn't done yet.

Leon pushed off the ground with both feet, doing a backflip over me. As he did so, he brought his staff down onto me.

After twisting my body, I found myself in a position that made it a little too hard to dodge. And so, I teleported once more.

Leon landed squarely on his feet, then dashed towards me.

I furrowed my brows.

"Answer my question or I will choose for you!"

Leon threw a fist at my chest. For a moment, I thought it was actually a spear coming for me. I sidestepped it.

Leon swept with his leg, shattering two stone platforms along the way. As he did so, he responded.

"Then choose for me!"

I jumped to evade it once more. As expected, Leon took advantage of that by bringing his staff down, towards me. A sense of danger suddenly came from behind me as well. I glanced over my shoulder to see Osric in the form of a wolf, lunging towards me with his jaws wide open.

At first, I didn't want to hurt Leon too badly. But now that he said that and Osric too tried to kill me...

That desire changed.

A creepy smile formed on my face as I raised my wooden stake.

"Your words.. Not mine."