Chapter 225: East, Hwaseong (13)

Chapter 225: East, Hwaseong (13)

I slipped out of my quarters as soon as I heard Keraph’s warning, waiting to meet him alone in the deserted bamboo grove.

The wind whipped past my ears as the hungry wild dog appeared.

-Yelp.

The boy dropped the red coffin on his back and took a deep breath.

‘I thought he picked up something to track me...I wonder if it was the coffin...’

The silver-haired boy, dressed in a tattered robe, looked like a wild dog untamed by human hands.

The boy was sniffing.

He sees the world with a transcendent sense of smell that ordinary humans can never reach, and he interprets it in his own way.

“It’s you.”

The boy flashed me a wicked smile.

I wonder what my body odor smells like that he can discern with his nose.

Well, it doesn’t smell like much, but to him, it probably smells like money.

I’m sure my body is emitting a deliciously sweet scent that’s worth 50,000 gold.

“Where’s the turtle, anyway?”

The boy, sniffing around, asked.

“What if it’s a turtle?”

“Didn’t a Kerud or something come along?”

“...Oh, a Kerud.”

He seemed to mean Keraph.

He must have been on my trail, because he said he ran into the wild dog on the way and escaped from him.

“Did you kill him?”

“What if I did?”

“That’s a good thing, because you still have your head.”

I told Keraph to stay nearby. Weak as he was, he would be no help in a skirmish like this, and would only get himself captured by the ankles.

“You know why I’m here,” he said.

“If you need money, I can give it to you.”

“In that case, I’ll take the money around your neck, and I’ll take the money you have on you.”

“Hmmm...”

“I don’t have much time.”

The boy shook his head as if to say he didn’t need the small talk, and then bounced lightly in place.

[The young one has a lot of spunk.]

Sierra was right.

The boy was still very much a child, but he carried himself with the air of a strong man.

“Volk of the Great Fang Clan will take your head.”

The lurking wolf’s ears perked up at his declaration, and sharp fangs protruded from the corners of his mouth.

[Beware, apprentice, this is not like the one you met in the Labyrinth.]

Sierra’s eyes were precise.

Volk was different from the nameless Lycanthrope I met in the Labyrinth.

Just as there are those among humans who have nothing to boast about but their numbers, there are those among the Lycanthropes who rise above them all.

Thick nails grew from his hands so I drew my sword and took a deep breath since I would have to use Chapter 2 of Reverse Heaven to counter his speed.

The mana in my body twisted and the bamboo around me swayed.

Volk moved first.

The ground he was standing on crumbled under the force of his legs but even with my Reverse Heaven, Volk was normally fast.

My eyes could barely keep up but it was a matter of whether my body could keep up or not.

-Aaah!!!

It was Sheddie’s power.

Although it was new to me, I had already tested it.

Sheddie’s shadows could be manipulated at will, but they were never fast.

It would have been difficult to keep up with Volk, especially with his speed and flexibility so I was curious to see if I could use Sheddie’s power in a situation where I was already using Reverse Heaven.

The result was this.

The jet-black grip that emerged from Volk’s shadow was able to keep up with the now much more ‘normal’ creature.

“...”

Recognizing the grasp too late, Volk turned around and swung his ankle out, but he couldn’t dodge anymore while he was in the air.

-Ugh.

Shadows shot out from everywhere, completely enveloping Volk’s body as I grabbed his ankle.

In conclusion, it was possible to use Sheddie’s power while casting Reverse Heaven Chapter 2.

The only penalty was that it was swordsmanship, not magic, so the sword had to be wielded whether I liked it or not, and the strain on my body was already there, and using both Chapter 2 and Sheddie’s power at the same time only made it stronger.

This time, I wasn’t trying to kill my opponent, so I swung my sword into the air.

The red blade grazed the neck of Volk, whose eyes widened.

“...What is this...?”

Volk swallowed hard.

No matter how stupid and ignorant he was, he couldn’t fail to recognize this.

A taunt, then Arachne’s thread plus the momentary lapse in judgment and his excitement led to a loss.

Without the leap he made in triumph, he would have escaped Sheddie’s shadow.

Volk was that fast, that’s why I wanted him.

I turned to the wolf pup in the trap and spoke.

“I am blind,” I said, “but in exchange I can see things that others cannot.”

“...So what am I supposed to do? If you’re going to kill me, kill me fast.”

“Is that so?”

“What do you mean...?”

“You shouldn’t die like this, I can see you have a sick family to take care of.”

“Krrr...”

At the mention of the word family, Volk’s eyes widened and he snarled but the threat of a wolf missing claws and fangs was not to be feared.

“Looks like that’s the only family left, too.”

“Touch my sister, and I will hunt you to the ends of the earth...!”

He and I are probably picturing the same face now.

He has a sister with a serious illness, a sister who is the reason he lives with blood on his hands and the meaning of his life.

He loves her dearly and wants to cure her, even if it means killing for dirty money.

It’s the same reason he’s been after my head that is worth 50,000 gold but even with the vast sums of money he earned from the blood of so many people that he became famous in the underworld, he can’t cure her.

That’s because he was spending his money in the wrong place.

The villain in this story is his broker.

He was lured into believing he could cure her this time, and now he’s pocketing the money.

Of course, the cure is a charade.

The only people around Volk are those who want to take advantage of him. Even though I’m trying to take advantage of him right now, I pride myself on being a good person.

I know how to cure her.

“I’ll cure her.”

“You’ll...?”

Volk frowned, as if that was suddenly some kind of bullshit.

After all, Volk is no saint but he’s also not a terribly evil person.

If ignorance is a sin, he’s a sinner, but at least he’s a good man.

Well, that’s good for me, since I don’t mind taking advantage of him.