Chapter 70

“…He’s gone then.”

Christan Rozite let out a deep sigh.

He and the other Right Feet that were participating in this mission had almost no combat ability.

The job of a Right Foot was to monitor and report.

Usually, they would be making sure that there weren’t other eyes watching, and sniffing out traitors and stopping the enemy from escaping.

Because of this, it was only the Right Hands that actually did any fighting.

And so he knew what this meant.

The success of this attack depended largely on Leon’s ability.

“I don’t understand why he thinks of himself as weak.”

“…”

Christan muttered. The Right Hands that were there remained silent.

He had killed Thousand Needles and forced Foul Eater to submit.

All of the Right Hands in the royal capital knew of this.

A Shadow with an alias was not the kind of person that could be easily beat.

And so if it had seemed easy to him, that was because there was a big difference in strength.

Not only that, but he was able to freely move in and out of the innermost places of the royal palace. He toyed with the Left Hands and easily stopped them from invading their own turf. This was all well known.

His ability had been proven.

But that wasn’t all.

His father was none other than Grim Reaper. The man who was said to be Her Majesty’s strongest Shadow. It had only been three years since Leon had taken his father’s place. And at thirteen years of age, he had fought and disarmed multiple Right Hands.

Once the rumors spread among the Shadows, there were none who took the name Shadow Crosser lightly.

While he himself did not seem too aware of it, he had done more than enough to be recognized as an enemy to avoid.

And so when assembling the team, it was inevitable that ‘Shadow Crosser’ would be the center in terms of combat.

Christan knew Leon very well, and the Right Feet trusted him. And so he had been chosen for the job.

The other Right Hands had no issue with it. You only needed to hear some of the stories to know that there was no point in interfering, due to some misplaced ambition.

The moment they got in his way, their heads would fly. They understood that.

And so he was someone they could trust to take the lead.

In fact, he was taking care of the enemy guards right now.

“The enemy will retaliate with everything they have. They would not have traveled down this dangerous Shadow Moon Road in such numbers if they were not desperate. Their own lives are not important in comparison to accomplishing their mission. Still, we have to stop them.”

The Shadows nodded. There were twelve Right Hands and four Right Feet.

“First, the Right Hands. Shadow Crosser will take out the first guard on the mountain. That’s when the battle will begin and we will all charge forward. You will have to make decisions on your own, but kill every single one of them.”

“Understood.”

“And then you Right Feet. I want you to all quickly scatter around the mountain. You don’t have to fight. However, watch so that no one escapes.”

“Understood.”

Christan looked through the trees and at the mountain.

“The distance is about one kilometer from here. Half of it will be an upward climb. I’m counting on you all.”

They waited a little longer, and then saw movement on top of the mountain.

Leon had started his attack.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Christan said, and they all moved at once.

It was my second time coming here.

The guards hadn’t moved at all.

And once again, I thought about how annoying it was that there were two of them.

As you attacked one, the other had time to either run or join the fight.

But this time, they had friends close by.

If they decided to call their friends and fight, I would have to fight a group of them while waiting for my backup to arrive.

“Getting surrounded by professionals is the last thing that I want right now.”

I would attack once and then run away.

And so, just like before, I went around and came up behind the guard’s back.

I stayed still for just a moment. It seemed that the enemy hadn’t noticed me yet.

I had scanned the area already, and had found nothing related to magic here.

And so I slid out of the shadows and thrust my sword into his back, aiming for the heart.

“…Gggaah!”

Good. It went through.

I twisted the sword for good measure while pulling it out. And then I turned to look at the other. He was about to whistle.

I was too late!

Pppiiii—!!

The sound echoed in the shadows of the night. I dashed down the rocky mountain.

If I met the other guard in combat, my back would be open to the other enemies.

It was better to run for now.

Unsurprisingly, the guard who had whistled started to chase after me.

At worst, he wanted to slow me down a little.

Who would arrive first, enemy or ally? Of course, it would be the enemy.

I wanted to keep running, but continuing to show my back here would also be dangerous.

And so I waited for the enemy to catch up. He was much faster than I expected.

My friends…had only just left the grove.

So, how much time could I buy until they arrived?

It was just as I was thinking this that a black mist suddenly surrounded me.

It wasn’t like my shadows. It was thin, yet sticky. A foul kind of mist.

“The enemy’s magic?”

I swirled around, but could not see anyone.

Apparently, this mist also obscured your vision.

“Damn it.”

I wasn’t scared for myself. I could always dive into the shadows.

However, if the others were swallowed up by this, they would just be prey to one-sided attacks. They might even accidentally hit each other.

I wanted to find the enemy who was creating the mist, but I couldn’t see anything.