Chapter 232 (2/2)
Hikaru ran down the stairs and out of the building. Up in the sky, the bright moon illuminated his snowy path. With five points on Power Burst, it actually made it harder to dash at full speed in the snow. Even so, the academy was close. He made it there in less than ten minutes after the magic item in his room went off.
Hikaru slowed down as he neared the dorms. The knights from Jarazack, slightly injured, had the a.s.sailants surrounded. A few severely-injured ones gathered in a corner, tended to by Ivan.
There were less than ten a.s.sailants, while twenty men—double that of the enemy—surrounded them. But the knights, their weapons on the ready, couldn't get closer.
The a.s.sailants were stained in deep red. Blood oozed from their bodies. One of them even lost his arm. But each and every one of them still stood. They were willing to fight to the bitter end.
「Keep your guard up.」Mikhail said, his great sword on hand.
「Yes, Sir!」the men replied in unison.
Looks like I can just leave this to them, Hikaru thought. Is this all of the enemies?
Hikaru's Instinct spoke to him. Claude was not here. He was in lecture building C with Luka.
What if an elite team headed there? A cornered rat will bite a cat.
Claude hadn't fought someone who was prepared to throw their life away. Even the knights who clearly outnumbered the a.s.sailants couldn't take them all down immediately. Tenacious enemies with such firm determination were tough.
Hikaru deactivated his Stealth as he approached Ivan.
「Ivan.」
「H-Hikaru?! Where'd you come from?!」
「Where are the other knights? Over at Claude?」
「Well…」
Ivan explained things to Hikaru. There were supposed to be fifty men, but about twenty of them took a request from the guild and went monster hunting.
「Those idiots!」
Monsters surging forth at this point in time couldn't possibly be true. Pretending to go hunt monsters and then come back was one thing, but actually going out on a hunt for real was utter foolishness.
「That means…」
A chill ran down Hikaru's spine.
Right now, only Claude is protecting Luka…
Claude's sword deflected the sword of the blue-haired man. It wasn't as though Larks Lordgrad Ludancia wasn't strong enough. Claude was just that much stronger.
How?! No one told me Claude Zahard Kirihal was a skilled swordsman!
Larks couldn't hide his agitation.
「Now you know the difference in our abilities. You'll have to bring more people if you want a chance of defeating me.」
Claude sounded calm, but he was anything but that. He was up against three people. If he took down Larks, the other two would surely attack. To make matters worse, the lanky man was a short-bow user.
Claude just needs to buy time and he wins, Larks thought. So he doesn't need to kill his opponent…
Utter humiliation. He expected to lose against a man from Jarazack, but not someone from Kirihal.
Contrary to Hikaru's expectations, Claude managed to defend himself.
「Oh, what's this?」Then all of a sudden, Larks heard an indifferent voice.「Come on, Sir. You should at least be able to kill Claude. I know we didn't expect him to be this strong, but I thought you were quite strong yourself.」
The lanky bow-user, Ray, suddenly started speaking. His words took Larks by surprise. It wasn't the same Ray he knew. It wasn't the young man who expressed how much he respected his commander.
Something's wrong, Larks thought. Though he couldn't exactly tell what exactly. The other man, Larks' right-hand Joseph, noticed Ray's strange behavior.
「You moron! Keep your mouth shut!」Joseph yelled as he grabbed Ray's shoulders.「We have an enemy right before us—」
Ray stabbed Joseph's arm with something. Joseph quickly pulled away, his face twisted in pain.
「What are you doing?!」
Ray smiled. On his hand was a syringe, its needle as big as the ones used by smiths in sewing. Blood dripped from Joseph's arm.
「We'll surely lose if this goes on longer. So how about we use the ace up my sleeve?」
His mouth curved into a smile, but his eyes were dead serious. The next instant, Joseph let out a scream.
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