8. Rescue operation (4)

I ran past Lyrael and into the fray of battle.

As we passed each other, we exchanged glances.

Lyrael gave me an assuring nod, signifying that her injuries were nothing dangerous.

With the last of my worries gone, I ran ahead with even more ferocity. Now, there was nothing to hold me back. A fight against multiple enemies where I’m allowed to kill—this was my battlefield.

“Let’s do this, dearest of friends! Come at me!”

I lunged at an armored man. Two more showed up behind me, trying to lock me down.

“Is that it? Weak.”

I rolled into a handstand, pushing off the ground and leaping upwards, feet first.

One of the men, swiftly reacting to my maneuver, launched his spear like a javelin.

I caught it midair by unraveling my clothing into countless threads and locking the spear in place.

“Hahaha! Yes, this is it! That’s how a real fight should be!”

Weaving all the fabric enveloping me into a large disc beneath my feet to maximize surface area for air resistance, I pushed with all my force, sending myself flying down at the nearest warrior.

No matter how wild I go right now, once the fight is over the Dren can easily suppress me.

That was the only reason I allowed myself to go all out. Lyrael won’t be harmed by my hand as long as there’s someone ridiculously strong by my side.

I bit into the man’s helmet visor, tearing it off and jumping away from him. The metal from the visor wrapped around my teeth, forming jagged canines and a mouthguard.

Yet another warrior closed the gap, aiming for my neck with his sword.

I crouched down, biting down on the blade. It instantly unraveled under my bite, wrapping into a skintight neck guard.

By then, the rest of the thread I’d discarded to propel myself in the air slithered back to me, cradling patches of my body with makeshift armor.

Looks like these four Stone Cauldron practitioners plus the three sorcerers in the back are all I’ll have to fight. The rest of the warriors will be handled by Dren.

This much should be enough. All my vitals are protected now.

Despite my behavior, my thoughts were fast. Another side effect of unleashing voracity at its fullest; as long as there was enough vitality to sustain it, thoughts flowed faster than ever.

One spear and two swords closed in on me, and the fourth man—whose spear I destroyed—went in to punch me barehanded.

I dodged the first of the sword strikes and blocked the other two by extending the threads wrapped around my body to grab their weapons.

The fist, however, landed squarely where my liver should be.

If not for the weaved armor covering me, that strike would’ve been lethal.

Still, the shock from the impact was great—after all, the warrior used Stone Form to enhance his strike manyfold.

I looked him in the eyes with a wicked smile.

“Got you.”

“..!!!”

He instantly tried to pull his fist back, but it was too late. I bound him firmly in my grasp.

Tearing his gauntlets apart, I channeled almost all my energy through his arm.

“Aaaaaargh!!!”

With a guttural scream, his whole arm—save for the fist he reinforced with Stone Form—unraveled like frayed rope, flesh and bone splitting outward grotesquely.

Before he could do anything else, I swiftly bit into his mangled flesh and jerked my head away, invisible strings of vitality flowing out of his body to satiate me.

Instantly, I pulled back. My hold on the weapons of the other three had come loose.

The men were utterly terrified, their fear fueling my strength further.

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Just then, I sensed a ridiculous concentration of energy crashing toward my neck. At the last moment, I leaned to the side with all my strength.

Squelch!!

My left arm tore clean off at the shoulder, landing a few meters away with a dull thud.

“Oof. Good strike, my dear sorcerers. If I hadn’t dodged this one, that would’ve been my head rolling on the floor. But, haha, I expected at least this much from the proud Stone Cauldron warriors. Ain’t that right?”

That was the closest I’ve come to death in the last twenty years. Holy shit. Too bad for them, though, I survived. Ah, but losing an arm is slightly problematic.

I grinned at the three sorcerers standing at the back, all breathing heavily after employing such a precise strike. My handmade metal fangs glinted dangerously in the sunlight.

***

The three sorcerers trembled in fear, watching their comrades get brutalized.

“H-How can a human fight like this?”

“I can’t believe it. To sacrifice his arm so casually—most people would’ve simply died trying to dodge the attack unharmed.”

“He’s a damn demon.”

The other two nodded in agreement.

There’s no way a fight between humans could look like this.

As the third of the four warriors brawling with the horrifying man fell, they made their decision.

“Escape. We need to recoup and summon assistance.”

“I don’t have any essence left. Can one of you call for reinforcements?”

The short sorcerer with long bangs covering his eyes checked his essence reserves—utterly drained.

While his two companions used veils to cover their faces and suppress the energy that inevitably flows out with breath when casting extremely powerful sorcery, the short man enveloped his hair in a presence-suppressing formation.

By all means, his talent was exceptional.

And yet, the combined sorcery they conjured together left him completely dry—without even enough to perform an emergency alert.

“No, I’m afraid I’m all out of essence too.”

“…Same here.”

Damn. The attack we performed should’ve been enough to kill even someone on an Apex level—one above First Tier—in one go.

And, truthfully, their power was more than enough to pulverize the madman’s neck, but to have survived the attack by sacrificing his arm…

It was unthinkable for a Third Tier practitioner. Sure, someone with immense combat expertise could’ve pulled it off—but never a Third Tier fighter.

Worse still, the rest of their pursuit team was getting their asses handed to them by a single tall man clad in black, emitting a repulsive aura. He appeared to be at the Apex level—just below a Sub-Deity.

Why is such a monster working in cahoots with the thief?

“No choice, then. We’ll call for help manually.”

Without another word, the three men turned from the battlefield and prepared to run for their lives.

“Hmm? And where do we think we’re going, friends? Surely you’re not trying to run away and leave your precious comrades behind?”

Someone spoke from behind them.

Flinching in surprise, they slowly turned to look at their pursuer.

Countless threads of steel writhed behind him, forming dozens of tentacles.

Where his left arm should’ve been, a disgusting construct of flesh and bone pulsed with life, fibers of muscle rooting it to the stump at the shoulder. Long steel claws protruded from the hand where the ‘fingers’ should’ve been.

Half of his body, long stripped of clothing save for a cloak tied around his waist, was wrapped in that very same metal fiber in woven, swirling patterns.

His long hair, no longer tied, was soaked in blood, his right arm slung over his shoulder with a two-meter-long, thick curved blade protruding from his wrist.

“Aa-ahh…”

With a cracking voice, as if losing any semblance of reason, one of the three sorcerers fell to the ground on his ass, a pool of liquid forming at the groin.

“Thank your dead friends in the underworld for me. They had enough energy to help me break through.”

Though the man spoke with a smile, what he said was anything but friendly.

“No! This isn’t what we’ve been ordered to handle!”

The second sorcerer cried out and dashed away, his steps faltering from the overwhelming fear.

“Where do you think you’re going, friend?”

A tentacle shot out from the demon’s back, wrapping around the fleeing sorcerer’s neck and dragging him back. He clawed at the ground, but it was pointless.

He was picked up by the ankles, straining to break free from the hold.

The tentacle raised him further up, bringing his face level with the terrifying man.

“S-Spare me! We were just paid to do this! This wasn’t our will!”

“Didn’t you use a lethal spell against me earlier? Eye for an eye, mate.”

With those words, he bit into the man’s shoulder, chewing his left arm off.

“AARGHHH!”

“Oh, shut up.”

Crunch!

The demon swung his blade straight down the flailing sorcerer’s face. Half of his head—gone.

Just like that, the body went limp, drained of life.

“Ahh, thanks for the meal.”

His lifeless body was flung away, and the perpetrator’s inhuman eyes locked onto the final sorcerer.

“Oh? You’re a kid, aren’t you? Twenty-something at best. What’s someone like you doing in such a high position?”

The short sorcerer’s legs finally gave in. He bowed his head and cried out in a pleading voice.

“Please, since you’re going to kill me, make it painless. I don’t want my death to be such a painful moment.”

“Now, why’re you suggesting something as horrifying as killing you? We’re going to become friends!”

The young sorcerer’s body shook violently, tears welling up in his eyes.

He’s playing with his prey before finishing me off. What have I done in this life to deserve such a death? Even the peace symbol he gave me is just a cruel mockery of our efforts.

“Stop lookin’ at me like that, mate. Come on up, it’s time to assess the situation. Ah! You must be thinking I’m going to eat you or something, right?”

“You’re… not?”

“Of course not! You think I’m some kind of barbarian? I’d never eat someone on a full stomach. That’s just acting in bad faith. Don’t you agree?”

***

My attitude seems to have stunlocked him. He just sat there, frozen, probably overwhelmed.

“Sucks to suck, friend, but we have no time for this. Let’s go.”

I walked over and picked the sorcerer up by the hand, helping him to his shaking feet. We didn’t have much time before Mal, that fire prince, starts torturing our dear Nyra.

A full day at best. And we have to somehow absorb the power from the first-grade vitality pills within that timeframe.

Schedule’s tight, as usual. The usual.

And so, I walked toward Lyrael—stupefied sorcerer in hand—who sat by the extinguished campfire, clutching her stomach.

Looks like at least some of her injuries are severe. Lying about something like that to me isn’t great. Tsk, I’ll have to educate her later.

An excited expression naturally formed on my face, in anticipation of the teasing I’ll get to do once she gets better.