Chapter 80 Oswell, The Hunter and The Hunted

As he kept his eyes closed, muttering unheard words to himself, he visualized a sea of flames, constantly rising in temperature, the same thought became reality around him; the temperature rose, with the air shifting into heat waves around the boy.

Reno continued to lure the beast around, ducking and rolling as it constantly tried to bite or claw her.

“Gah! Anytime now, Emilio…!” Reno yelled out.

Though it was understandable why the girl was desperate for him to finish weaving the spell, he definitely was annoyed that she was disturbing the delicate process, but he did his best to speed it up the best he could.

He could hear the snarls of the towering beast as it rushed towards Reno, trying to swipe at her as she used her nimbleness to evade it, but just barely.

“Alright, bring it here!” He called out, opening his eyes.

As he was ready to conjure the battle-finishing spell, the heat waves around him had increased, causing the rocks he stood on to begin steaming as he aimed his staff forward.

Reno glanced over, hopping to a spot in front of him before jumping out of the way again. This led to the black-furred lycan to be perfectly in his sights for the opportune moment, allowing him to call upon the magic in full:

“Carve through fields of grass, lakes of water, and towers of rock! Bestow your destruction onto my enemies! Grand Fire Cannon!” He yelled out.

It was a condensed beam of heat, pressurizing a stream of flames to the point it resembled a straight, radiant laser as it shot forward with such force that the boy’s boots slid across the stone.

“Raagh–!?”

Just as the lycan noticed the increase in temperature, it was swallowed by the radiant beam, being vaporized by the sizzling heat nearly instantaneously.

“–” He huffed.

As the straight-shot of pressurized inferno fizzled out, he was left breathing heavily as blood dripped from his forearms.

All that was left of the beast was a charred spot on the clammy, stone ground, and ashes of its fur left swaying in the stagnant air.

“Holy crap…” Reno muttered before yelling out, jumping up and down as she regrouped with him, “That was freakin’ amazing!”

He couldn’t respond at first as the high-end spell tired him out, forcing him to catch his breath and wipe the sweat from his chin.

Reno glanced at his arms, “Hey! Yer bleedin!”

“Oh…I am,” he noticed, “Healing.”

The simple incantation was enough to handle lacerations of that degree. While his forearms recovered, the two were greeted in surprise by the orange-haired adventurer leaping down beside them.

“Gah!” Reno yelled out in shock.

Out of pure reflex, the girl had almost dug her dagger into the clown-like man’s neck, but was stopped as the boy got between them, stopping her.

“This is Lawrence…I told you about him–he’s an ally,” he told Reno before looking at the man, “…And this is Reno–my, err, partner in this mission.”

Lawrence held his smile, not having flinched despite having that dagger aimed at his neck, bowing forward, “A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I’ve handled all of the guards on this floor.”

With that said, he noticed the amount of blood that was on the pale man’s body–definitely supporting the idea that he just got done butchering a number of people.

“…Right, nice job,” he muttered.

Reno finally relaxed, though still seemed creeped out by the man, “Well, that just leaves Oswell then, right?”

“Indeed,” Lawrence said.

“Why’re you here anyway? Who the hell are ya?” Reno asked.

Lawrence answered, “I’m an adventurer, you see! My job here is to take down Oswell and his operation here. Your friend here happened to share that same mission–as do you.”

“Mhm,” Reno kept an eyebrow raised on the man, “As long as yer here to help, I don’t mind. We’ll need ya against Oswell.”

There wasn’t very long of an opportunity to gather themselves as the sound of footsteps approached, then stopped.

They all turned around to see him–the one they all had their sights set on, but it seemed that man’s sights were set on them as well as quiet anger boiled in his eyes.

“…Oswell,” Reno muttered.

It seemed the man had just returned, but he was quick on the uptake as he found the intruders quickly, holding a look of utter disdain in his dark eyes.

“…This is what I return to? I couldn’t leave the hideout in their hands for just a short outing? What ridiculous bullshit. It doesn’t matter,” Oswell said in a quiet scorn, beginning to slowly draw his sword, “…It means I have less pigs to pay.”

The man with the olive eyes and shaggy, fluffy hair of black-and-gray hairs looked anything but pleased, but he didn’t outwardly express such rage.

There wasn’t any time wasted; the wanted adventurer slipped his black coat off along with the vest underneath, leaving his upper-body uncovered as he revealed the black tattoos that covered his chest and arms.

“Shitty brats–you’re the boy that was with Reno earlier, eh? Some sort of little mage? You got this far–so I’m not going to treat you like a child,” Oswell said, turning his attention to the clown, “–And you. What’s your deal?”

“The Guild Foundation has revoked your status as an adventurer, Mr. Oswell,” Lawrence said, stepping forward with a smile, “I can take you dead-or-alive, but…”

“Don’t bother,” Oswell said, cracking his neck side-to-side as he held his cobalt broadsword in his right hand, “I’m going to kill all of you anyway. I don’t do half-measures; what happened here, stays here.”

There was an aura that exuded from the goateed-man of clear experience; though it was easy to just liken him to a sleazy criminal, there was no doubt he was strong. Scars were inlaid in his flesh, and the four-starred badge of the Mountain God Style was etched into him: a Champion-rank swordsman.

…He’s the same rank as Rubert. Back then, I could hardly even perceive Rubert. I was helpless–if Father didn’t show up, I would’ve been dead. But, it’s different now–I’m stronger, and I’m not alone, he thought.