Chapter 85 (1/2)

・ ・ Chapter 85: Shaman VS Thief ( 2 )

“Twine into hairs, O rotten red, become thread which violates flesh and bone―― Redhair Twine”

I grabbed stones in both ofthe at Masaru's waist and dashed forward

We were going with the usual forh battle prowess to be considered a proper vanguard, so I could calmly provide support frouchi exclaiuess, they hurt real bad if they hit?”

It looked like he could easily predict the trajectories of uchi only needed to sway his body to the side to dodge the acidic wires cohtforwardly at him Not only that, he even cut one doith his knife

“The hell, this was one of uchi co metal, that knife now had a small chip on its blade With that, and obviously froured out its acidic nature

“GAAA!” Right as Higuchi finished warding off my attack, it was Re a lot better than that bitch Saitou ever did!”

Rem moved fast, as if she had perfectly assimilated Masaru's Warrior specs into her new body But despite that, she failed to cut down Higuchi with that powerful slash just now

Higuchi held his own against Re series of sword strikes He al and counter-attacking the corpse-doll without any change in his confident expression

“Tsk, of course a dead body doesn't feel pain,” Higuchi spat as his butterfly knife lightly carved into Rems side So to slow her assault

He et him anywhere, and he swiftly withdrew a few paces

“There!” I yelled, taking ai

Taking distance from Rem had only made him more open to my own attacks My cursed red hairs were easy to reconstruct even if split

He could sidestep or cut away all he wanted, but , relentlessly

“―― Tch! This is getting nowhere,” Higuchi griped in annoyance

I felt the saain, e it soet attacked byhi by his expression, that didn't see this back and forth but it see neither stamina nor concentration He just looked irritated

Should I keep at it? Could I wear him down like this? No, that was a bad plan

He was stat-wise stronger than ht continued, the more time he'd have to adapt to our two-front attacks and think up a way to strike back I also couldn't say with confidence whether my concentration could hold out until then

It should be… about ti”

The strands of Redhair Twine Higuchi had been cutting aere all over the place In other words, drops ofthat now, I could

“Huh!? fuck!!” Higuchi cursed

Red bog acid bubbled up froh he had stepped on a trap Of course, his danger sense triggered iuchi's feet touched the corrosive water only for a 's effective radius The acid had only slightly e was done

“Swell,as wide as possible Now that he had seen Rotten Bog I had to make use of it before he had the tiuchi winced

The bog had suddenly expanded and that had clearly caught hiuard That was probably the first tiuchi's expression

I did it I thought as

“Die!!” I yelled

This ti to protect him They'd only need to melt away a littletheir feet daone, he would no longer be able to so easily dodge Reht from the Warrior Job

He had to protect his feet at all cost He pitched his hands doard

Of course, sacrificing his hands wasn't going to be any better His ability to fight would drop either way

“Gh, Goddaa to save his hands

He had to sacrifice so knife in his left hand

He had stabbed the blade into the bog acid, causing it to vigorously start iven Higuchi all the tith into his left arle liain I was a that whole process, but figured that he could only do this by drawing out the full potential of his Thief Job No, this is not the tiue, “that didn't go as planned…”

“You sure pullin' all the stops, eh Momokawaa!”

He only had to throay one of his knives to escape Rotten Bog

Dah focus to both expand and deepen it at the sara shallower than normal

No matter, I could think about this later I had hoped to end it with Rotten Bog, but now I should prioritize thinking up a new――

“Yeah, shouldn't take it easy just cause he's ato a decision “I'll finish it quick”

That hen Higuchi's eyes changed He had been underestioing to get serious

Iintuition but I could sense that clear change in his mindset With no time to think up a plan B, I sent in redhair to somehow try to delay hiain effortlessly snaked clear of the acidic strands as he made his move, much faster than before

He had used his e another knife from his waist he threw it―― at least, that was how it looked

“GAGA!?”

Re in, collapsed on the spot

Reot stabbed, it shouldn't prevent her frouchi shouldn't have been enough to stop her

Which meant, Rem's sudden fall wasn't caused by the knife

“Huh, wires!?”

“Hehe!” Higuchi snickered beforeskill!”

That hen I realized: he was not throwing one knife, but two, and at the same time

And in between those two knives was thin metallic wire These knives, connected to each other, were not meant to stab directly, but only have the wire in between connect Once caught, the knives theal force

Higuchi had used his first throired knives to bind Res, and used the second one just now to restrain her arms and torso

“Reuchi yelled,to Rem's position in the blink of an eye He then struck a powerful kick on the immobile corpse doll

“GA!!”

What in the… His kick had actuallyit away If I had been hit by that, there was no telling how many bones would be shattered, not to ans would undoubtedly be paste

“Aaaaaaaah!!” I panicked With Reuchi fro

I could only keep piling on the redhair, while also adding in Blackhair Bind from his own shadow I knew he had the Thru Bind skill, but it ht still serve to slow him down

“Heh, Can't, catch me――”

Fuuuck, why don't they hit! He's this close, and I' in so many tentacles, but they just don't hit!

My black tentacles were jetting out of Higuchi's shadow, sure, but once they did, it wasn't like they could row fro at, by the time blackhair bind was out, he wasn't even there anymore Every new tentacle turned out useless, but despite that, I kept creatingto pour in the redhair, but in no time―― crap, he's here!

“――Can ya!”

“Ahh!?” I yelped Higuchito stab ? He wastoo fast, I couldn't see what he did, no, I couldn't see anything

“Ah, huh! My eyes――”

“Oraa!!”

While I was still confused at suddenly being blinded, I felt a sharp blow onunder a boot I found myself knocked down and splayed on the floor

“Akh, fuck, that hurt” Higuchi groaned in pain, “Should'a gone easier on that kick”

I shared the sentiment, literally But it didn't feel like he'd broken any bones or hit any vital organs, so he sort of was able to hold back

It was then that I understood just hoas able to blind me so quickly

Basically, he just used a blindfold It felt like a cloth was covering my face, maybe a handkerchief The strip of fabric had enclosed in onwires

The way he was able to instblindfold me could be one of his Thief skills, or a technique he hiside his newfound superhuine putting up a fight in this condition I wasn't the warrior type so I had no skill or ability to sense stuff like his presence or bloodlust and react to it instinctively I honestly believed that a Shaet it off, but once I thought that far, I'd realized that I couldn't otten my arms

“Don't even try to uchi had had the time to tie uphis ‘weak' kick We uard type meant that he was far more resistant to pain then ut-punched me

The sort of pain that made me want to cry and scream, he could brush off with a ‘fuck, that hurt bad' and be done with it And while I writhed defenselessly on the ground, he had taken the opportunity to come up with and execute a ing intopain in ers had been wired up I couldn't even ihly as it felt like ers would slice off if I so ood enough Now you can't use those stupid curses any about Did he think I couldn't use curses just because he had sealedabout that creepy black hair shi+t It looks like you can make ‘em anywhere but I kno you have to look to make it work It's plain obvious with how your eyes follow thee types can't really help that though, can ya?”

Oh right Every one of the Curses I used relied on rasp of the situation Blackhair and Redhair, while I could technically use the, they'd be useless since I couldn't see where to direct the, Contrabeat butterfly and even the all but useless Red Fever were the saht gone, I was made powerless

“It's all over, Momokawa”

“Wait!? Ahh! No no noo!!” I cried out

I was left without even a s too My ankles noired up, Higuchi turned an dragging

Was he planning to throw et Pain Return'ed if he did Then, it had to be the, the Boss Roouchi cackled, “ya sure can screairl than some of the ones I know”

shi+t, shi+t, no no no, this is all sorts of bad, actually crying and screa this situation Think, et out of――

“Oi, settle down I don't need any e froot too reckless and ended up struggling against the wires too uchi's wires hadn't loosened at all Coth of an infant No struggling on my part would soout The Boss Room had to be only a few steps away Rem was still down And even if she wasn't, and had atteuchi, she wouldn'tonout of this I eak I had ht back with my tentacle curses, I would've done so already But I couldn't; Higuchi had seen how I used Redhair Twine by releasing thee wires He had made the smart move My tentacles weren't so thin so as to allow me to cast them froers

Sure, I could make them thinner I could ap, but then they would be too thin to do any real dae Wait, maybe I could make thin Redhair and e that without hi, I was sure to receive another kick that would leave et out of this, I needed to use asauchi

Should I risk losing ers? Or maybe use Redhair to freeelse? A way for e number of tentacles even if I couldn't see or use my hands? Yes, yes there was!

“… Blackhair Bind”

Right as I said that, htly heavy This wasn't because I was concentrating hard, nor was it due to a fast depletion of mana The top of my head felt physically heavier

The reason for it was si Blackhair Bind from my own hair I had even tried this once before so I felt exceedingly stupid for co about it until just now

“Wha!?” Higuchi voiced in surprise

It had worked I only had to reach for the hand that was draggingI couldn't see, yes, but I could still norht now, my nuuchi's aruchi spat

It was a strange, slippery feeling I could no longer feel anything around the Blackhair He had used Thru Bind, no doubt

Higuchi had been forced to let go of aves to un-blindfold myself The handkerchief was now off, and I could finally see my current condition

The bastard had wired me up really elaborately I immediately cast Redhair fro level acidity possessed by these red tentacles, they quickly began dissolving the steel-like wiring entangling lad I wasn't affected by ht now if that powerful acid ers were freed I openedon the wires on the rest of my limbs

“Almost,”

There I was free, unbound, liberated But Higuchi wasn't about to let that last

“No you don't!”

He was already holding a pair of wired knives and within spitting distance of me

“Cover!” I yelled

I quickly swisheduchi's wired knives were, in the end, ordinary knives They'd at least get obstructed with a thick layer of tentacle hair blocking the way

I didn't have the visual prowess to see Higuchi actually throwing the knife with the level of agility he boasted, but this ti to aim, and so, could put up a defensive

“shi+t, you and your Goddamn curses!”

And as I'd expected, ed to catch the knives without issue Higuchi's sharp throwing knives did cut off soainst the sheer density of tentacles, they had lost all ed tactics He sur to be of use so he endeavored to close in on his own, his butterfly knife in hand

Which was not at all good for

“GAGAAAAAAAA!!”

And that's when Re

Great, she'd made it And it looked like it definitely took some effort I could see many thin cuts all over Masaru's body

But woundscorpse-doll Her sword ready to kill, Reuchi

“Outta uchi switched target frole knife

At this rate, we'd likely return to the previous back and forth Re e or cut the more

“Ooooooooooooh!!!” I bellowed

I didn't try to think on it While Reed in, tentacles and all

I figured I needed to put my own body on the line if I wanted to stop that overpowered Thief

“Youu little――” Higuchi sensed I was about to do so uchi fro away

“Gotchaa!!”