Chapter 115 - #114 Mount Hakuba 3 (1/2)

----The west side of the mountain----

*Clang* *Bang* Dull sounds of metals clashing could be heard in the vicinity but that wasn't all, there was also sound of gunfire.

”Cora! Why are you doing this?!” Poney shouted with an angered yet confused expression while looking at her former teammate while also doing bullets from another enemy in front of her.

”I don't think you have the luxury of taking your eyes off me!” A woman with a huge rack and pistol in hand shouted with her face filled with hatred and rage. It was the same woman who was with

It was indeed the truth since Tsukushi was already done, however, fortunately, she wasn't dead yet since these people wanted them to suffer so they wouldn't kill them too quickly. She just took a surprise bullet into her shoulder, nothing too serious.

”Poney, forget about Cornelia! She is no longer with us, just focus on the enemy in front of you!” Najasho shouted with a stern expression while blocking one of Cornelia's punches with his blade but he was still thrown back despite successfully blocking it.

Although he said those cold words, he himself didn't want to fight his friend, however, he was aware that if he will show such weakness, the enemy will try to exploit it and his own friends will also lose the will to fight. Such was the burden of a leader, not showing his real emotions to motivate his team.

*bang* *bang* ”Yes, listen to your friend and focus on me more so I can have more fun while avenging Kouga.” Mashiro coldly said while glaring at Poney as if she wanted to tear her into pieces.

”Tch! Annoying cow-tits!” Poney shouted at her with an annoyed expression while slowly getting closer to her while making sure to dodge all bullets coming at her.

”Oh my, someone is insecure about their brėȧst size. However, it is truly nice that you can still jest, I hope you will keep that attitude once we will be breaking your bones, haha!” A man in attire similar to one of the gravekeepers said while laughing like a madman. It was the leader of this group, Mudi.

'That guy must be the reason why Cornelia is controlled like this. He is also keeping a distance from us so it looks like he isn't combat-oriented Gravekeeper...I have to try it since we are already surrounded from all sides.' Najasho thought while glancing around himself just to see that they were fighting inside the circle made from those ”bandits” that are occupying this mountain.

”Cornelia! You should be dead, Gai is already waiting for you there!” Najasho shouted right at her face when he exchanged blows with her and he noticed that her eyes widened although her expression remained stoic.

'Now!' Najasho sprinted around Cornelia who was frozen in place from hearing his words. Najasho already knew that she was still the same Cornelia as before only being controlled so giving her information of the death of a man who loved her and chased after her, must have affected her a bit.

”?! What are you doing?! Come back!” Mudi showed a bit scared expression when he saw Najasho bypass Cornelia, running straight towards him. He quickly shouted at Cornelia and her expression distorted in pain before she made a quick spin and literally kicked off the ground, flying towards Najasho while throwing a punch at his open back without any hesitation.

'Tch! I can't just ignore her, her punching strength is something even I have to be aware.' Najasho thought with an annoyance visible in his eyes before he spun around to parry her Crushing King shingu to the side with his own blade.

”Mudi, are you sure you don't want any help?” A tall muscular man standing in front of these bandits asked while looking at Gravekeeper.

”Very nice of you to ask, Suzaku, however, I have no intention of using your help unless necessary and it also seems that it's not all of them. I suspect that red smoke was signal for their comrades, maybe more of them will come so be ready to intercept them while we will enjoy our sweet revenge.” Mudi replied with more composed expression than before when he was finally protected by Cornelia once again.

'...Tch, toying with your enemy is never a good thing. You should always deliver swift death to them so they can't adapt to your methods. Nevermind, they have no escape route out of here so it's irrelevant, I just hope they won't torture them in front of my boys since I wouldn't want my unit to apply such methods during battles.' Apparently a leader of those bandits named Suzaku thought with an annoyed expression.

After Najasho and Cornelia's small exchange, they returned to their original positions while Mudi was hiding behind Cornelia's back.

'Should I transform here? If I would do it, I am confident in defeating Cornelia in a minute without actually killing her but she knows that I need some time for transformation since it causes me to feel an enormous pain in the beginning. She probably won't let me transform, I have no idea how well he has control over her but even if I can transform. I won't have enough time to break through this blockade made by these bandits. I will run out of my transformation after killing those 2 in front of us and transforming for the second time in a row is too high risk!' Najasho was thinking of a plan. If he wanted to, he could simply hack his way out of here but he wouldn't be able to make it so both Poney and Tsukushi would be able to retreat together with him. Their lives were his responsibility so he couldn't make any careless decisions.

He kept exchanging blows with Cornelia and on the other side Poney and Mashiro already engaged in close combat battle. Poney was quite astonished when she noticed how Mashiro was able to protect herself so well despite being so proficient with a gun.

'These kids...what scary talents. That girl with a ponytail can actually fight evenly with Mashiro who has been a special agent for us in the past. It even looks like she is even slowly getting the upper hand in their fight. At this rate, we will be forced to help them...' Suzaku was astonished by Najasho and Poney's talent and strength. Mudi's group actually spent some days inside his fortress and he got to know how exactly strong is that woman named Cornelia so he was surprised that he can see someone who is fighting her with a nonchalant expression.

*Clang* *Clang*

Najasho was once again thrown back after trying to advance towards Mudi but he easily rebalanced himself in the air and landed on his legs.

'Looks like I will have to take a gamble, I hope it won't cause me any life-lasting injury.' Najasho thought and buried the tip of his blue broadsword into the ground and suddenly his hair started to grow longer.