TTOB 07

Chapter 7

Surprise Attack (2)

Kazar twisted his body immediately. A violently spinning axe whistled past right under his chin with terrifying momentum. If he hadn’t dodged it, his back would have been split open like firewood.

“You rat-like bastard!”

Cassion’s subordinate lifted the axe embedded in the ground.

“A rat? Who, me?”

Kazar shrugged his shoulders, replying shamelessly.

“Who else? You brought those barbarians here and caused this whole mess—!”

The moment Cassion’s subordinate shouted, Kazar slid his body forward and plunged a dagger into the inner side of the man’s knee.

“Aaargh!”

The mercenary clutched his stabbed knee and swung his axe wildly. The blade grazed the top of Kazar’s head by a hairsbreadth. Planting one hand on the ground, Kazar extended both legs and kicked hard against the mercenary’s stabbed leg. Losing his balance, the mercenary tumbled onto the ground. Kazar wrapped his legs around the fallen man’s neck and twisted with all his strength.

Crack!

With the sound of a breaking neck bone, the mercenary’s body went limp.

‘A mere minnow.’

It was the third day since escaping the mine. He had now adapted considerably to his changed body. While his physical condition was still incomplete compared to his past, and the quality of his Aura was dismal, his movements were far smoother than before. In his past life, Cassion had used Kazar as bait to lure out the elite unit of the Cornu tribe, aiming to seize the spoils the barbarians had plundered. Though they were called a mercenary corps, in Kazar’s eyes, there was no real difference between them and the Cornu tribe. The Cornu tribe robbed the village, and in his past life, the mercenary corps robbed the Cornu tribe.

‘This time, I’m the one doing the robbing.’

Wiping the bloody dagger against his thigh, Kazar charged into the battlefield where the brawl was raging.

Though considered an elite unit of the Cornu tribe, Shakim’s squad could not match the full strength of the Cassion Mercenary Corps, an elite mercenary force. While Shakim was kept in check by Mercenary King Cassion’s sword and couldn’t exert his power, the mercenary corps’ Aura warriors paired up in teams of two, steadily pushing back the Cornu warriors. Before long, the nine Cornu warriors were reduced to five. The Cornu tribe had to make a decision.

“Shakim, I will forge a path! Escape!”

A Cornu warrior shouted as he took Cassion’s sword strike in Shakim’s place.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Seeing a minnow interfere with Cassion, two mercenaries joined the fray. They separated Shakim’s subordinate, allowing Cassion to focus on fighting the enemy leader.

“Haat!”

Cassion pressed Shakim relentlessly. The swordsmanship he had refined while roaming countess battlefields contained innumerable feints. Not only through the movement of his blade, but also with his fingertips, toes, and glances, he skillfully disoriented his opponent. Cassion would make a motion like a downward strike only to instantly change direction into a side slash; the moment their swords touched, he would subtly shift his blade tip to slice Shakim’s wrist and throw off his balance with a kick. Compared to his volatile, highly adaptable swordsmanship, the plunderer Shakim’s sword was heavy and straightforward.

“Hraap!”

The Auras harbored by both men collided, sending a blast of wind pressure exploding. As leaves, dirt, and grass swept up into a billowing cloud, Cassion’s sword aimed straight for Shakim’s chest. Shakim pushed Cassion’s sword away with his own. Without being pushed back, Cassion slid his blade down against Shakim’s while keeping them locked.

Schwiink!

The two grinding blades sparked violently. When Shakim knocked the sword upward to dislodge it, Cassion spun his body on the spot like a top, altering the sword’s trajectory. The tip of Cassion’s sword dug toward Shakim’s chest once more. Shakim tried to pull his body back to dodge the blade. Seizing that exact moment, Cassion’s subordinate thrust a sword into the opening. Shakim’s armpit was exposed to danger. Shakim punched the incoming sword with his fist to alter its direction and stepped back, trying to escape the crisis. Without missing the opportunity, Kazar intervened. Sliding in swiftly like a sled over ice, he slashed Shakim across the thigh.

‘I’ll kill Cassion later—this bastard comes first!’

Kazar had pitted the two groups against each other to kill both Cassion and Shakim and steal the artifact. But upon executing the plan, he realized killing Cassion was still beyond his current capability. Thus, he abandoned one of his three objectives.

“Gah!”

Cassion didn’t miss the moment Shakim staggered from the slash behind his thigh. Cassion’s sword sliced through Shakim’s arm as it hung in the air.

Splurt!

Red blood spewed fiercely from the severed forearm. Showered in the pouring blood, Kazar scooped up Shakim’s fallen arm and swiftly rolled his body away.

Thwack!

Cassion’s sword struck the ground right next to Kazar. Even without direct contact, the razor-sharp Aura shredded his skin. He had sustained a wound on his left arm, but there was no time to care. The moment he dodged Cassion’s sword, the blades of both the Cornu warrior and Shakim narrowly grazed his vital spots multiple times.

“So it was you!”

Slaying the Cornu warrior who had rushed to help Shakim, Cassion shouted. The brat who had lured the barbarians straight into the mercenary camp. A pitch-black little demon—that was Cassion’s first impression upon seeing Kazar.

“Shakim!”

A short distance away, a Cornu warrior brought forward a warhorse and called out to Shakim. Shakim scrambled onto the galloping horse and fled.

“Pursue them!”

Cassion turned around to mount a horse brought by his own subordinate. Kazar tried to take advantage of that opening to run away. The moment Kazar turned his body, Cassion hurled a dagger at him.

Thunk!

The dagger embedded itself right between Kazar’s shoulder blades. Though the Aura Kazar wrapped around his body could block the Cornu tribe’s arrows, it could not stop Cassion’s Aura. Struck in a vital spot by the dagger, Kazar collapsed onto the ground face-first.

“Don’t let a single one escape!”

After visually confirming that the dagger hit its target, Cassion mounted his horse and set off in pursuit of Shakim. Listening to the sound of horse hooves fiercely pounding the earth as they receded, Kazar recalled the past.

「I advised you not to act so recklessly, so why didn’t you listen to your father’s words? That’s why you ended up like this, tsk tsk tsk.」

On the day Kazar had assassinated the feudal lord’s enemy in Cassion’s place, Kazar was instead captured by Cassion and handed over to the lord. The lord needed a sacrificial pawn to take the blame for removing his political rival, and Cassion needed an opportunity to eliminate the adopted son who had grown stronger than himself. That night, Kazar was branded a murderer, had the tendons in his four limbs severed, and was thrown as food to the hunting dogs.

In Kazar’s life, his adoptive father Cassion was not his only betrayer. Friends and subordinates had stabbed him in the back, his favorite concubine had poisoned his food, and his wife and child had joined hands with maternal relatives in an attempt to dethrone him. Thus, getting a dagger stuck in his back was hardly a major affair.

‘It’s been a long time since I felt pain like this.’

After becoming a Sword Master, Kazar had never suffered a severe injury in any battle. Because he had regressed fifty years, he was re-experiencing sensations he had long forgotten.

‘It hurts like hell.’

The blade touched a nerve, causing immense pain. Even though he had taken the hit intentionally to feign death, an overwhelming surge of agony washed over him, making him want to lose consciousness.

After Cassion and the mercenary corps chased after the Cornu tribe, Kazar blocked the pain and stopped the bleeding using self-healing, one of the techniques available to Aura users. Self-healing was a high-level technique, possible only for experts who had trained for a long time like Shakim or Cassion. Since the boy was visibly an initiate to Aura, no one expected him to still be alive. For Kazar, this was his second life. For someone known as an Aura Master in his previous life, using healing techniques was as easy as walking a familiar path again.

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.

Once Cassion and Shakim were far away, Kazar pulled out Shakim’s severed arm from beneath his belly and slipped off the ring. Slipping it onto his finger, the oversized ring shrank to fit Kazar’s finger perfectly. Instantly, a small magic circle wrapped around his finger before vanishing. Thanks to the ring’s effect, vitality surged back into his body, and his Aura power increased. Shakim’s ring was an artifact suited for an Aura user, not a mage.

Leaving behind the porters and three mercenaries, the entire mercenary corps had set off after the Cornu tribe. Spreading his Aura to monitor the remaining mercenaries’ movements, Kazar carefully pulled out the dagger embedded in his back.

Ssssh.

As he pulled out the blade, the gaping wound neatly closed up like lips pressing together. Kazar threw Cassion’s dagger, drawn from his wound, straight at the mercenary guarding the baggage.

“Gah!”

The dagger accurately pierced right through the mercenary’s neck.

“H-How is that guy…?”

Seeing the brat they had left for dead standing up with a bloody smile, the remaining mercenaries quickly drew their weapons. He was a kid who had stood back up just fine after taking a blow from Cassion’s sword. Realizing he wasn’t someone to be underestimated due to his age, the two attacked Kazar simultaneously. However, the speed at which Kazar slipped into their guard was faster than the speed at which they approached.

Flash!

Closing the distance in the blink of an eye, Kazar thrust his blade deep into the abdomen of the mercenary attacking from the right. By the time a scream leaked from his mouth, the sword he held had already transferred into Kazar’s hand. With the stolen longsword, Kazar slashed the neck of the mercenary attacking from the left.

Thud.

The bodies of the two men felled by Kazar struck the ground almost at the exact same time. Having dispatched all three mercenaries, Kazar snatched their coin pouches and mounted a sturdy horse. The porters merely watched blankly, making no attempt to stop him. Right in front of the porters, Kazar stole the horse and leisurely rode away from the camp.

Leaving the mercenary camp behind, Kazar deliberately chose a forest trail instead of the open plain to move while avoiding pursuit. Just as he entered the forest to catch his breath, a pitch-black arrow flew out from the darkness, aiming straight for his neck. Kazar ducked low to dodge the arrow and kicked the horse with his heels to pick up speed. Accompanied by sharp whistling sounds, arrows flew continuously.

“Catch him!”

It was bad luck. Trying to take a wide detour on purpose to avoid pursuit, he had been spotted by mercenaries. Arrows rained down onto the forest floor like torrents, and sharp whistles echoed. Hearing the sound, mercenaries moved in to block Kazar’s path.

“Hyah!”

Kazar steered the horse back and forth to give them the slip. Hearing the commotion, the Cornu tribe members who were heading this way changed direction as well.

“Damn it, because of that brat, the barbarians noticed us!”

The mercenaries grumbled.

“We’ll handle these guys, the rest of you catch that brat!”

The mercenary corps split into two. Most pursued the Cornu tribe, while three or four went after Kazar. While fleeing, Kazar saw flames flickering in the darkness. On a dark hill, Shakim and Cassion were locked in a ferocious, life-or-death battle. Having lost an arm, Shakim was at a visible disadvantage.

‘Cassion. Next time, I will definitely sever your head.’

Kazar already knew where Cassion would head after leaving this place. Postponing his revenge for later, throwing off the mercenaries’ pursuit was the urgent priority.

‘Ugh!’

Because he had ridden the horse roughly to create distance from the mercenaries, his wound reopened. His back burned with pain as if seared by a fire poker. An Aura user’s healing technique was merely a temporary measure to prevent death or incapacitation during battle, not a true cure. If he lost consciousness before receiving proper treatment, the wound would worsen and backfire instead. Grit his teeth, Kazar drove the horse even faster. As the steed carrying him entered a small woods, three or four mercenaries trailed right behind. In a forest, one had to reduce speed, and the distance between him and the pursuing mercenaries was merely ten paces. Kazar contemplated grabbing a low-hanging branch ahead, leaping up, and taking out the trailing mercenary. However, doing so carried a high risk of being struck by the other mercenaries charging right behind. There was an Aura user among his pursuers. Fighting an Aura user in his current state was dangerous. It was better to throw off the pursuit and escape by any means necessary, but the problem was that he had no particularly good option other than fleeing with all his strength.

As he galloped wildly through the trees, a sudden gust of wind blew from up ahead out of nowhere.

“Uwoaah!” “What the—!” “Neiiigh!”

The forest churned. Leaves, grass, and dirt swirled into a vortex, obscuring vision while horse neighs, screams, and shouts tangled together. Kazar turned his head back while fleeing. Bizarrely, the gale was swirling while selectively avoiding Kazar and his horse.

‘Magic? Don’t tell me, Tiri?’

Kazar flinched in surprise and stared into the darkness. His suspicion was reality. How he had managed to find his way here was a mystery, but Tirad was standing in the dark forest. Even while Kazar expressed amazement, Tirad continued to cast magic. Thorny vines rose like heat hazes from the ground, wrapping around the horses ridden by the mercenaries. As the horses thrashed to break free, the mercenaries tore at the vines. Just as it seemed they were breaking loose, a follow-up attack struck.

“Kehooh… Air, I can’t… breathe…”

The mercenaries clutched their necks in agony, while the horses tangled in vines frothed at the mouth and collapsed one by one. One of the mercenaries severed the darkness with an Aura Blade. An invisible barrier split open, and the surrounding air rushed into the gap. Seeing that, Kazar realized what had happened.

‘He trapped them in a Vacuum Shield.’

Kazar liked Tirad’s cleverness. Though a Vacuum Shield was a lowest-tier technique, it was extraordinarily effective for taking lives.

“Haat!”

Tear open the barrier, the mercenary fired Aura Blades in all directions to locate the mage. Trees were chopped down and collapsed, while severed branches showered onto the ground. Kazar deployed his Aura to block the wind.

“Hey, Tiri! Did you come to greet me? Did you miss me that much?”

Instead of answering Kazar’s question, Ernolf launched an attack at the man who had torn through the barrier.

‘Wind Bullet!’

Air compressed tightly like a pebble rotated ferociously as it fired from Ernolf’s fingertip. The launched wind bullet collided with the mercenary’s Aura.

‘The power is insufficient.’

Just as Kazar missed his past strength, Ernolf lamented his lost mana. However, he was not alone. Having gained an opportunity thanks to Ernolf, Kazar didn’t miss the opening and slashed the enemy’s flank. Ernolf immediately assisted Kazar as well.

‘Ice.’

Just like when he had frozen the Retchaka’s feet, white frost encased the mercenary’s legs. Because the opponent was an Aura user, it couldn’t hold for even a second before shattering, but that was more than enough. Kazar’s sword sliced through the Aura user’s neck as fast as a flash of lightning.

“Haa, haa…”

After seeing Kazar finish off the last remaining enemy, Ernolf collapsed sideways onto the grass. Having overexerted his Mana Heart, his heart pounded as if it were about to burst, and his four limbs grew stiff and rigid.

“Tiri!”

The moment Kazar severed the enemy’s neck, he rushed over and supported Tirad. In his past life, he could trust no one. His adoptive father, friends, comrades, ministers, wife, concubine, and even his own flesh-and-blood child had plunged blades into his back. However, right now was different. Dragging a diseased body here, pouring out his remaining strength, a brother who was on the verge of fainting lay before him.

“How did you know I was here?” “You… you called for me, you damn bastard.”

Struggling to move his stiff, uncooperative tongue, Ernolf panted heavily for breath.

“I called for you?”

Asking back in surprise, Kazar muttered to himself as if realizing something.

“Right, you felt it. Even if you lost all your memories, we are still one…”

Muttering incomprehensible words in a voice filled with joy, Kazar pulled Shakim’s ring from his finger.

“Brother, no matter what I do, you won’t betray me like the others, right?”

The ring shrank to fit Ernolf’s finger, briefly flashed a blue light, and then settled into quietness. Watching the color of life return to Tirad’s pale face, Kazar smiled quietly.