Chapter 83 (1/2)

・ ・ Chapter 83: Friend

First, I needed to hold him in place I cast a full chant, full power Blackhair Bind, and uchi's own shadow as he alking aith his back to me

The reason I didn't use Redhair Tas because that Curse needed my blood to function, and I'd need to at least raise my arured that with Blackhair, I could be attacking froht under his feet, in addition to having a guaranteed element of surprise

“Uoh!?”

Got hiuchi's intuition would sense e tentacles, didn't happen

The niuchi's ankles, winding up to his waist so fast that it looked like he was being shole His arms had been in his trouser pockets so the tentacle was able to wind around his whole body in a way thattip of the tentacle spiraled up stillwith my antipathy towards hi hio ofthe Red Knife and a noruchi I had of course, attached the duo of knives to a pair of Blackhair tentacles,both hits on hi stalk still like a scarecrow in an open field He was a target I couldn't possibly ing attheir respective weapons

My dual knife strikes in addition to flanking attacks frohts no th was But even if all that still can't put him down, I only need to repeatedly stab hiuchiiiiii!!!”

“― ― Wow, takin' big risks there, Momokawa”

I felt my knives strike only air Why, how couchi there anyonna be useless Hehe, the God of Thieves really knows his stuff”

Thru Bind Dah my Blackhair Bind, effortlessly even

The sheer speed hich he perforh I'd bound hi

And uchi onlythe space he was supposed to be, but in fact, wasn't Even the Blackhair tentacles that had been binding hiuchi hi just one step away frouaranteed his death

What the actual fuck No way could he have prepared for this How can there possibly be a specialized Skill that can get hiht just be the sort of Skill that's unique to the Thief Job

“Fuuck! Reuchi raised his leg to make a kick, his hands still stuffed in his pockets His casual kicking posture didn't have the elegance the likes of a polished technique delivered by Kenzaki Asuna, but he th and speed

The sole of Higuchi's foot hit squarely on Reh to strike hiht Mantis parts, the current Rem should've been as heavy as

“Oof, the hell, that thing's harder than I thought”

He must've expected to break Rem's armor with that kick, which fortunately, hadn't happened I didn't see any cracks on Reround from the previous impact

“But this one―― Haha, broke like a sand castle”

Higuchi had speedily landed a second kick on 2 who reached him at almost the same time as Rem But unlike her Mantis framed sister body, 2 only had a Skeleton base with a few Mandragoras added in Her body, far less resilient, had shattered as it was also sent flying by Higuchi's war-hammer of a kick

2 cru separately… Nope, nothing, I wasn't getting any one

“Weak You're still weak, Momokawa And your stupiduchi, I'ht?”

“‘Course, I reut like that”

shi+t, shi+t, shi+t… Think, Moive up on killing Higuchi and just focus on running away

I could iht about now, and even if he wasn't, he had surely labeledas I had Pain Return, he wouldn't try to killdown to hell with you”

“Heheh, ya don't hafta tell et involved with you ever again, so let ht now Peacefully”

Your uchi Even if you try to kill me here, I'm not as weak as I was back then I won't let you beat ain

True, my surprise attack ended in failure, but I was far from powerless If he sent Masaru, who still couldn't harness his Warrior abilities, to beat me up, I could think up a feays to deal with hi He should realize that, like a cornered rat,to leave him with just scratches

“Chill out Momokawa Honestly, I'ed as he sneered out those words What kind of bullshi+t was it this ti me join his party, that I knew for sure

“Moive you that I didn't think you'd try to killis literally iht just be better at this than anyone else”

Thanks, I' my life on the line here, so I'll take that as a complement

“You don't feel like you killed anyone yet… but I can tell, you're dead serious”

He was able to tell stuff with his Thief intuition, which likely also clued hi There was also the possibility that he only let hiht in the tentacle bind because he knew he could get out of it with Thru Bind

“… What are you trying to say?”

“I' that I'll admit it I'll admit that you're a worthy enemy It takes some serious balls to try and kill me with your shi+tty excuse for a Job, but you're the sort that ht just pull it off That's why you're a threat, an enemy”

His tone remained casual in spite of his serious words, which could onlytoo And I cauchi had already thought up a way to kill me!

“Blackhair――”

“Hahah!! Too slow, Momokawaa!!”

I had atteain, but he ni the tentacle shi+t, so he was able to dodge just fine if he could see ility was not to be underestie just now Didn't I see hi else?

“Akh!?”

I heard the clink ofstone, probably theon my cheek Wait what? A knife? Godda ready to throw that This ht also be one of his Thief Skills

“Ukh, fuck, that stung like hell”

But the fact that he cut uchi himself had to bear the same pain I could see a s down from the wound

But that repulsive smile was still stuck on his face

Cal as he was also dauchi wouldn't dare aim for any vitals He also couldn't afford to lis The status quo was still――

I suddenly heard aI knew, the ground underneath one

“Eh?”

My feet stood on nothing The solid white stone floor that I was standing on had simply disappeared

Huh? What is this? No no no, wait, it can't be… a pitfall?

“Uaaaaaaaaaaah!?”

I reached out ood The area that had vanished froe No matter how desperately I stretched out rab on to

“Reeeeeeeeemmmmm!”

Blackhair Bind shot out of h as possible That pre-Boss Roo other than the rab the rope that separated h!?”

I felt a jolt as my body abruptly stopped its descent It felt as ifto tear off of my shoulder I only barely sed the pain

“Urh… holy, fuck…”

I looked down only to see endless darkness underneathfro down thereback to solid ground I slowly absorbed back the tentacle, gently pulling myself upwards

On Rem's side, she had wrapped the other end of the tentacle rope around her waist and orriedly peering down at me Good It looked like Reh enough to support ht I should be able to make it like this

“Wew, an instant rope, not bad Not bad at all, Momokawa It looks useful, so you uchi's face screaly peering down the hole Re herself so I wouldn't fall, and couldn't really do anything about it

“What now, Momokawa? What'll you do once I push your cute little Mud Doll off and it falls with you?”

“shi+t, shi+ttt You, you planned this You planned on using this pitfall all along”

He couldn't just stab me normally since he'd die too, but he could try all manner of indirect methods For example, he could push the switch to a pitfall trap This wouldn't be the sae He could pull a lever, push a switch, or ly do any of those

But would that sort of indirect attack… really work to deter Pain Return?

I'd never tried it, butme that yes, it would work

Pain Return would have absolutely zero effect on him if he were to push Rem off and let me fall to my doom

“This isn't your noruess how I set it off”

Higuchi spoke toRee moves from me and he'd do it

He now had control overabout it was a stupidHiguchi looked like he was having a blast

“The knife… no, it was blood”

“Oh Good job, you're right”

This pitfall uchi threw his knife The knife had grazed pastthe monolith behind less to injure hi et my blood to the monolith to make it work

“If it works by blood, that means that the monolith is souided me here for that purpose”