Chapter 422: Midnight Raid

The night of our mock battle with Velmeria.

「Master!」

「Woof!」

「Ceh! Fran, barrier」

「Nn!」

Fran and Urushi jumped up from their fluffy beds in the inn, and I immediately activate the transfer. In order to get away from this place as much as possible. Fran is already putting up barriers as fast as she can.

Booom!

Immediately after we moved to a dozen meters above the courtyard, there was a huge explosion from the room where Fran was staying. It had been struck with flame magic.

『Even though there's another guest, they're crazy!』

「Master, that is!」

『Ah! I can feel it even from here. It's that magic sword』

In the middle of the courtyard, the person who did it stood quietly. He had a blank expression on his face which I couldn't tell what he was thinking and a half-destroyed longsword in his right hand. There is no doubt about it, that was the sword with a face of a man with an expression of agony engraved on the hand cover.

More than that, the disgust rising from within me tells me. It's him.

『Are Velmeria and Frederick safe?』

「I don't know.」

Velmeria and the others were supposed to have taken a room next door, but i couldn’t feel their presence. Is it because they sensed an enemy attack and disappeared, or is it because they lost their lives and have no more presence of them? I think it's the former……

『Urushi, check the safety of the two!』

「Woof!」

We weal deal with him

「――」

The man is looking at us with an expressionless face.

「This time, gonna defeat it!」

『First, i want to block his escape route…』

The only thing I can think of that might work is the Great Wall skill. But I can't use it in this small courtyard. If we covered all four sides with the huge wall made by that technique, we would only have a space of about four and a half tatami mats. If we made it thinner, it wouldn't be strong enough and he could easily escape.

I also thought about surrounding the entire inn, but then the people in the inn would not be able to escape. In the end, we had to be careful not to let him escape huh.

『Fran, don't let it go!』

「Nn! Leave it to me! Haaaa!」

Fran offsets the flame magic released by that magic sword again by releasing flame magic in the same way. She ran down the street towards the man below her.

「Awakening――」

The awakened Fran kicked the sky to accelerate and slashed at him with all her might. However, the man used his magic sword to fend off the blow, he's pretty skilled.

I appraised the man during our attack. His sword skills are at level 5, higher than Hamuls. He has various strong skills such as Herculean Strength, Physical strengthening, and Rapid regeneration. He was clearly stronger than Hamuls.

And also, he is in the same state of Fanaticism and Potential Release as Hamuls. But there's something interesting.

Hamuls would have had the skills of regeneration, muscle hypertrophy, and martial arts added when he is using Potential Release. However, the man in front of me - Gordon - has none of those skills. Regeneration may have been integrated since he has rapid regeneration, but what about the other two?

Weren't those three skills given to him by the sword? I wonder if it was a skill gained from using potential release, a skill that bloom from his dormant talents?

Well, let's think about it later after we destroyed that magic sword.

『If possible, I want to capture Gordon alive』

「Nn」

If we can talk to him, we can find out if Marquis Ashtner is behind this. We'll destroy the magic sword without letting it escape and capture Gordon without killing him.

『Since he has rapid regeneration, it's okay to hurt him a little…』

As long as he was in a state of potential release, he would soon die if we didn't do anything. We had to destroy the sword and return him to his normal state before that happened.

「Haa!」

「――」

Fran's target was Gordon's wrist. The first step is to separate Gordon from the magic sword, and then hit the magic sword with a great firepower.

But that doesn't work. Gordon took advantage of his rapid regeneration and forcibly attacked her. However, Fran, who has a superior skill with the sword, did not miss the flaw in Gordon's attack. She used a feint to hit his neck and aimed at Gordon's writs

However, Gordon reacted to it as well. But he didn't evade it, or that he repelled the thrust. Gordon dared to expose himself in front of Fran's thrust.

「Tsh!」

We pierced Gordon's solar plexus deeply. Gordon then let go of his magic sword and grabbed onto my hilt with both hands. His grab is powerful because of his Herculean Strength and Physical Strengthening skills.

I tried to get out from his grab, but Gordon had tightened every muscle in his body to hold me in place so that I couldn't escape. If I tried to escape seriously, I could shake him loose, but if I went crazy in this state, I might kill Gordon.

「Get your filthy hands off my master!」

「――」

「Haa!」

「――」

「Aaah!」

Fran grabbed my hilt and kicked Gordon in the face. The sound of Gordon's legs and ribs snapping echoed through the air. But that didn't freak Gordon out. On the contrary, she was blown away by the magic power released by the magic sword that had fallen at Gordon's feet, she's forced to let her hand go from my hilt.

『Fran!』

「Kuh! Master!」

Thank God. She's okay. But what Gordon did after that was beyond our expectations. He showed his back and ran away from Fran.

『This bastard!…He wasn't after Fran, but his aim was me alone!』

「Stop!」

Fran was about to chase after him when she saw the magic sword standing in the way. It's trying to split me and Fran up!

『Like hell, i would let you!』

「――」

I used telekinesis to entangle Gordon's leg, and then used wind magic to break Gordon's legs as he dropped to one knee. But he still wouldn't let me go.

Should I just hold Gordon here and leave the magic sword to Fran?

『But, she can't take on a magic sword without a weapon…』

As I watched, I saw that Fran was parrying the attack of that magic sword that had plunged in at high speed with her fist that had concentrated barrier. No matter how fast it was, it would not be able to catch Fran in such a straight line of attack. Fran's fist was a little bit damaged, but she was still able to deflect its trajectory significantly.

It was just after that.

Kiiinnn!

『Obey me!』

An inorganic, high-pitched voice that sounded as if it had been synthesized by a machine rang in my head.

I can understand it with my senses, that Fran's resistance skills have been activated, something must have been played. She used to leave everything up to her skills, but now that she has trained herself to manipulate the flow of her magic, she now can understand which resistance skill has been activated.

It's mental resistance and dominance nullification.

『Fran, are you all right!』

「Nn? Is this your voice now?」

She seems to be fine. There's nothing wrong with her. But I'm pretty sure it has used some sort of mind control ability on me. Looking at Hamuls and Gordon, there is no doubt that they have the ability to manipulate people. There was a good chance that he would be able to exert that effect on the person he slashed.

I guess the reason I could hear her voice too was because I was connected to Fran.

『Obey me…!』

「So noisy」

『Fran, don't let it cut you! It has mind control powers!』

「Okay」

The sword on the ground jerks away. Is it just me, or does it seem surprised that it couldn't dominate Fran?