Chapter 268 United Front

 

A moment later, the girls responded as well.

"Eh! This mana reaction...!"

"It wasn't there just a second ago!"

"Yeah. It's the 『Warmongers』."

Looks like the girls have noticed their mana reaction as well.

They wouldn't have noticed if it was just an ordinary mana reaction.
But this mana reaction is unlike that of a monster nor a human.
It's more distorted and bizarre.

"This mana reaction... Is it because of 『Broken Star』?"

"...Nope. Grevil who was also resurrected by the 『Broken Star』 had no oddness in his mana reaction."

Rather than from the [Broken Star], the bizarreness is more like... something that's been manufactured roughly and shabbily.
In my past life, there were experimentations done on humans to forcefully restructure Crests and remodel their innate power... This guy feels kind of similar to those test bodies.

...I don't know the details since I wasn't involved in that research though.

"They must have undone their stealth magic... Like declaring that they won't run nor hide."

"They're going out of their way to show themselves up even though they could launch a surprise attack here?"

"Yeah... Their goal is not exactly our death after all."

The goal of 『Warmongers』 is to fight.
Surprise attacks are completely out of question from their perspective.

"They didn't have to kill then..."

"You can say that again... We wouldn't have bothered if they were a group that only likes to have a fight without the killing part."

The [Warmongers] shortened their distance while we were talking.

"Here they come, don't let your guard down!"

I stepped ahead to cover the girls.
One man stopped in front of me.

"The one who used 『Enforced Detection』... Must be you."

The man had long unkempt hair and beard.
His eyes are bloodshot with rough breathing.

--His condition is clearly not normal.
But that's because he's only thinking about fighting--or not.

His body is falling apart due to the twisted resurrection.
Let alone exerting 1/10 of his power, I'm amazed he's even alive.

And despite all that, he managed to kill a high-ranking adventurer, as expected of [Warmongers].

"Correct."

I confronted the man as I answered back.
Defeating this man without saying anything is an easy task.

But if I did that, I would have to look around for the second [Warmongers].
I need to make this guy bring us to the other members of the group.

"Twas' a beautiful magic. There was absolutely no wasteful mana expended, like it was a spell art cast by elite magic combatants in the past."

"...And?"

"In honor of your strength, we 『Warmongers』 implore you for a match... After we are done with those, of course."

The man turns his back on us after saying that.
Toward a horde of monsters coming here due to the effect of [Enforced Detection].

『...Is he gonna help us?』
<TLN: If you're reading this novel at any other site than Sousetsuka .com you might be reading an unedited, uncorrected version of the novel.>
『Or so he pretended to and then used the chance to attack our back...』

Ruli and Alma sounded perplexed to see [Warmongers] turned his back on his opponents.
They can't comprehend the reason behind his actions.
...Well I guess it's something only those who live for battle can understand.

『He won't do that... From his perspective, we're the sparring partners he has been looking for all this time. Wouldn't it be a waste to kill us in a surprise attack? I believe he intends to fight us in perfect conditions after moving the small fry out of the way.』

『A waste...?』

『I-I don't really get it... But I guess you do, Mathi-kun?』

『Yeah... But I don't get how they would just kill their sparring partners.』

I mowed down an incoming monster as I said that.
It was a boar monster.
...It's not that strong but probably exceeds rank D at least.

The [Warmongers] man muttered when he saw my sword.

"Impressive swordsmanship. I thought there were only weaklings in this era... I almost feel bad to have you killed."

"...Who's going to kill whom?"

"I, kill, you. Death to the losers. That's what I've always done."

The man cut down a monster close to him as he said that.
The monster that had been hit by the sword of [Combatant Mira] kept charging forward without even realizing that it had been cut--before falling down split in two.







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