39 Chapter 39: Hero Slayer (1/2)
”H…how!?” Asakura Akane spluttered as she stared up at Regis Gremory, stunned. Crawling away, she clutched her wounds and winced. ”There's no way…!”
Regis didn't bother to listen. His sword, still dripping with his victim's blood, was raised and poised to deliver the killing blow.
”Tch!”
Asakura clicked her tongue and activated her skill, fading away as she turned invisible. Regis merely snorted and closed his eyes.
Whoosh!
A gust of powerful air blasted at him, but Regis merely cut the wind blade into two with his sword. He twisted around and slashed in the direction of the spell. Blood spurted onto the floor and I almost saw a shimmer as Asakura dodged and recast her ability to cloak her presence. It was just a graze, but Regis had succeeded in dealing a blow to her nonetheless despite her invisibility.
A few more wind blades came spiraling from multiple directions. Asakura had gotten wise and was launching her spells from different places at timed intervals to ensure that her position wouldn't be sounded out so easily.
Asakura clearly isn't an idiot.
I had to hand it to her grudgingly. Despite my simmering resentment, I was impressed by the way she fought. There was no way I could fight against someone of her caliber. I lacked the battle sense or keen intuition that Regis Gremory possessed, and my reflexes weren't fast enough to evade or defend myself from her spells.
I still had a long way to go.
Yet, Regis Gremory was easily countering all the wind blades that Asakura was sending at him. With his eyes closed, he expertly slashed and sliced the offensive spells while stepping forward and advancing inch by inch. At times, he would lash out and send sprays of blood spilling across the ground. Asakura was quick to react, often repairing her invisibility ability and fading away despite these brief, forced revelations.
”Shit…!
Asakura swore under her breath before disappearing somewhere again. Regis readied himself for another barrage, but this time Asakura's wind blades sailed toward the vulnerable queen and daughter. Diana and Denise glanced up in dismay as the spells lanced toward them mercilessly.
That bitch!
I couldn't believe Asakura would stoop so low…then again, like Sakaguchi and all the other bullies who tried to murder me after ganging up and bullying me, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Gritting my teeth, I threw myself forward.
I was too slow.
Regis had already reached his wife and daughter ahead of me. Without missing a beat, he slashed the first couple of wind blades and then threw up a hand to parry the last one. It bit into his flesh deeply, drawing several drops of blood, but he didn't even wince.
His wife and daughter were safe.
”Tsk!”
Then suddenly he lunged forward, somewhere toward his right, and slashed. Another scream rang through the air, along with a huge splatter of blood. Staggering from the grievous wound, Asakura's spell wore off and she sprawled onto the ground, bleeding profusely.
”Impossible!”
”Hmph.”
Regis merely smirked as he held his sword up, Asakura's blood dripping off the huge blade. He shook his head, almost disappointed.
”Once you figure out the trick, it becomes really easy to find you.”
”Kuh!”
Asakura knew she was cornered, and she quickly retreated, disappearing once again.
Amazing.
I looked at Regis in awe. I had no idea how he did it, but he pinpointed Asakura's exact location despite her near-perfect concealment.
Regis Gremory himself merely maintained his steely expression as he held his sword in both hands, waiting for the next attack.
It never came.
”Fu…”
The king of the Gremory clan suddenly relaxed and lowered his sword with a shake of his head. Glancing around, he snorted.
”She…escaped, huh?”
”Eh?”
The demonic nobles – most of whom were seeking shelter and taking cover in whatever furniture there was in the throne room – slowly raised their heads and surveyed the surroundings. There were quite a few who had jumped into action, readying their spells and weapons to deal with the hero, but were unable to act because they couldn't locate her the way Regis did, which meant there was still hope for the demon race after all.
”What an annoying ability,” Regis remarked as he sheathed his sword. Bending down to check on his wife and daughter, he asked, ”Are you both all right?”
”Yes.” Diana nodded as she slowly rose to her feet. She carried Denise, who had fallen silent from shock and fear from the commotion, but otherwise seemed unhurt. After confirming Denise's condition, Diana turned toward her son. ”Richard, Yuan! Are you all right?”
”Yes, Mother.”
Richard nodded, having been one of the many demons who had drawn their weapons to confront the invisible hero. Or assassin. Even though he had pushed Yuan behind him to guard her, the Dragon Princess had also drawn her sword.
”What are you waiting for?” Marquis Kratz shouted at the royal guard, who were still milling about in the confusion. ”Go chase the Evelyn's Chosen down! We can't just let her leave like this, not after such a heavy humiliation!”
”Yes, sir!”
The royal guard immediately began to set out, only for one of the soldiers to ask what seemed like a simple but significant question.
”How do we track the Evelyn's Chosen?”
”By whatever means necessary!”
The commander's answer didn't solve anything and the soldiers merely stared at him. He coughed and just stomped out of the throne room, gesturing for his troops to follow him, and they obeyed without any further questions.
His point was clear. Even if they didn't have any way of tracking Asakura Akane, there was little point in staying in the throne room. Blindly charging out and securing the castle would be preferable to standing around like incompetent fools.
”Wait.”
However, Regis Gremory wasn't done. He raised a hand to stop the royal guard from leaving. The soldiers turned to him, surprised. The lord of the Gremory Clan merely smiled and pointed in one direction.
”The girl seems to have exited that way. And I wounded her pretty badly, so she can't have gotten far.”
”Yes, sir!”
As the soldiers filed out of the room in haste, I trailed after them.
”Where do you think you're going?”
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It was the fat demon noble with gray skin and sharp ears. He was glaring at me suspiciously.
”You don't think I'll believe it's a coincidence that one of Evelyn's Chosen attacked our Lord right after you showed up? You brought her here, didn't you?”
”If I did, then all the more it is my responsibility to hunt that hero down.”
”What nonsense!” Fat Man roared. ”You don't seriously think you can brush a crime of such magnitude off like this? You brought danger to the royal family! You committed treason and consorted with humans!”
”That's enough, Count Raum.”
Regis's voice was enough to silence the raging noble. The fat demon named Raum immediately went quiet, his already ghastly complexion turning more grotesque.
”Forgive me, your majesty! I only…!”
”I do not question your loyalty, Count Raum. Think nothing of it. However…” Regis turned to me with an ominous smile. ”I would like to see for myself how the rumored Hero Slayer earned his title. So show me, young man…how you hunt heroes.”
With a challenge issued in such a manner, there was no way I could refuse. Smiling, I nodded and turned to chase after the royal guard.
*
Regis Gremory was right.
The courtyard that we stumbled across when following his directions was stained with blood. Apparently, in her flight, Asakura had left a trail of blood as she bled out. Before, in the throne room, she had somehow managed to stem her bleeding to ensure that she didn't leave any clues behind, but the more she moved, the more her wounds opened up and by now she was unable to stem the bleeding. Blood must have leaked through her fingers or whatever makeshift bandages she used to wrap around her injuries, leaving red drops on the ground.
”The trail ends here! She must be here somewhere!”
The guard commander was shouting and ordering his troops around to track her whereabouts. They spread out over the courtyard, vaulting over walls and checking for areas where Asakura could be while covering each other's backs.
I followed them, especially keeping my eyes on the trail of blood that had stopped right in the middle of the courtyard. Despite leaving such visible signs behind, Asakura was nowhere to be seen. I was sure she would have realized that it was pointless to continue casting her invisible spell when she was leaving such a clear trail behind.
However, the soldiers had already thought about that ahead of me. A couple of them had poked the space around and on the end of the trail of blood, only to find nothing. I swallowed as I studied their efforts, and then glanced around the courtyard.
Absolute Appraisal.
Nope…despite its absoluteness, Absolute Appraisal couldn't detect invisible beings. I sighed and shook my head in disappointment.
How am I going to find Asakura when she's invisible? How did Regis Gremory do it? Even if he's a Demon Lord…
Speaking of which, either my Absolute Appraisal still wasn't at a high enough level or the absolute in its name was a lie. How the heck did I get an error when trying to find out about his special abilities? Regis Gremory was a true mystery.
Whoosh.
Even though I couldn't see anything, the moment I heard the slight sound I was already instinctively moving. Something invisible sliced through the place where I had been standing on, and would have taken off my head if I hadn't dove. Around me, a couple of soldiers who were trying to sniff out Asakura's location fell, blood spurting from their wounds.
”Enemy!”
”She's here! Evelyn's Chosen is here!”
”Damn it! I can't see her! Where is she!?”
”Gaaaah!”
The courtyard was slowly turning into a bloodbath as the royal guard fell, taken out by Asakura one by one. I would have joined the dead if my instincts hadn't helped me evade the next few wind spells that sliced sharply through the air.
”Hah. Tanaka. So you did come after me, after all. I'm so glad I didn't run away completely. I knew you would try to chase after me.”
Asakura's gleeful voice rang across the courtyard. I gritted my teeth and held up my staff, only to get knocked over by a powerful wind blade. All around me, gusts of winds combined to turn into a huge hurricane that lifted the royal guards high into the air.
”Aaaah!”
”Help!”
”T…this is the power of one of Evelyn's Chosen…!”
Despair and fear drenched the entire place as the demonic warriors were helplessly thrown about and held aloft by the terrifying gale. Asakura's laughter echoed as she cast a second set of spells that sliced them into pieces.
A rain of blood descended down upon me. Unlike the others, I had somehow managed to bury part of my staff into the ground and prevent myself from being lifted into the air like the others. Unfortunately, that meant I ended up getting drenched by the rain of blood that splattered onto the ground.