Chapter 88. Huh...?

"The ones who died here don't seem to be related to the magicians.

At least their bodies are intact... for the most part."

It was comical to say the bodies were intact when they were either split in half or torn apart by metal fragments.

But at least it was certain they didn't start rotting the moment they died.

"No, it's not like a magician organization would only have magicians or magic knights."

The Steel Knights seemed to conclude that this incident was also the work of the evil cult.

'No...'

Muno thought differently.

There was no way those evil cultists would deliberately avoid a clash with the royal family in this situation.

It was also strange that they had left only small fry in other places, but sent a force capable of easily assassinating a 3rd or 4th-Star knight after him alone.

Of course, considering the grudges they had already accumulated, the motive was sufficient.

'That woman also tried to capture me alive. But now?'

Of course, now that even that woman, who was a 6-Circle magician, was dead, the evil cult's policy might have changed, but he was more suspicious of something else.

Assassins who specifically targeted only him but tried to avoid a clash with the royal family, and who had no demonic energy.

It seemed to be the work of someone who held a grudge against him, separate from the evil cult.

The reason they aimed for this particular situation was probably...

'If I die now, it'll be reported that I was sacrificed during the subjugation of the evil cult.'

In reality, they were strong enough to have taken him down if not for the synergy between his Spirit Arts and unique ability.

Those who could mobilize strong individuals of this level and subtly pull strings during a royal event.

No matter how he thought about it, there was only one possibility.

'Aslan...'

His eyebrows twitched on their own.

As his suspicion hardened, anger welled up, but he couldn't share this inference with the Steel Knights right away.

"Hoo..."

It was unlikely that the masked men who had become corpses would have left anything to prove their affiliation.

'It's all just suspicion.'

And even if he could prove it, this wasn't the situation for it.

Therefore.

Craaack.

Crack.

'First, this competition.'

Muno gathered the surrounding metals and regenerated his 'Blade'.

"Ho!?"

"Is that the artifact... Amazing."

...It's not, you fools.

"Well then, I'll head towards the South Gate Guard again."

"Yes. Ah! Let me say it again, please refrain from damaging property! When did we say we'd compensate for all of that?

If the commander finds out..."

Ignoring the voice that pricked his conscience for now.

"Good luck with your work!!"

"...Sir Muno!?"

Papababak.

He started sprinting again before the Steel Knight could finish his words.

He had wasted unnecessary time because of the assassins.

No matter how many small fry there were, cleaning up the forces of his enemies came first.

Especially if the reward was a prize from the king.

'Whatever, I'll finish this contest first.'

He pushed the troubling and uncertain thoughts to a corner of his mind and did his best in what he could do right now.

And also.

'They won't just give up after failing once. Right, you petty bastards?'

It was unlikely the provocation he threw out only in his mind would reach them, but the assassins would probably appear again.

Therefore.

Chrrrrk.

'Even more conspicuously!'

He wrapped his chain around a distant chimney.

Craaack.

- Sir Muno! Please!!!!!

Ignoring the shouts of the Steel Knights from behind, he launched himself into the air again.

"Yeehaw!"

It wasn't that he was doing this because he was having fun playing Spider-, no, Chain-man.

Absolutely not.

And his inference soon became a reality.

Not long after leaving the site of the attack and heading towards the South Gate Guard.

As he was about to leap across a square again, a familiar scene unfolded like déjà vu.

Thud!

A masked man striking the chain wrapped around a chimney.

And an arrow flying silently towards his eyes as he lost his balance in mid-air.

However, what Muno had not expected was.

'Fuck.'

That his own hands were trembling slightly.

Ziiiiing.

Paaang.

He barely managed to deflect the arrow with his unique ability.

If the one who shot the arrow was fully aware of their own skill, they would have definitely felt something was strange.

'Damn it, I wanted to hide it for a while.'

Thump.

As soon as he landed on the ground with difficulty, the presence of a metal dagger aiming for the back of his neck approached without a sound.

This was also exactly the same as before.

However.

Thud!

The spinning slash he swung while anticipating the attack was blocked by the enemy's dagger.

"Kuk!"

The shattered dagger, the masked man sent flying backward with a broken arm, none of it was satisfying.

Even though it was a reenactment of an attack he had experienced once before, he had failed to finish the guy in one blow.

'Damn it!'

He had momentarily forgotten in the heat of the life-or-death battle.

The aftereffects of using Blade Explosion and Wind Slicer simultaneously had not yet recovered.

"Tsk!"

Thud.

The moment he rushed at the repelled masked man, an arrow approached the back of his head with perfect timing, as if it had calculated his speed.

This was also exactly the same as before, but only his own physical condition was different.

In that case.

'I might not be able to catch even one this time.'

Thwack!

Muno deflected the arrow once more and pursued the trace of the most threatening enemy.

'I'll catch the archer at least!'

A body that turned like lightning.

He roughly estimated the firing point of the arrow from when he was sniped in mid-air and the one that had just flown in.

He watched the top of the building on the opposite side where he expected the enemy to be.

Thud!

Chrrrrk.

Ignoring the other masked man rushing in from behind, he flew straight ahead.

Once again, an arrow appeared before his eyes like a ghost.

Paaang.

'I know this one anyway!'

He immediately used his unique ability to make the arrow miss, then used all his senses to detect the metal in front of him.

Especially the small triangular metals that looked like arrowheads.

However.

'It's not there!?'

The range of his current metal detection ability was a radius of almost 100 meters.

It was less than a tenth of the Demon Devourer's demonic energy detection ability.

Thump.

But if he stood still like this and focused in one direction, he could detect a distance almost twice that.

There was not a single trace of metal that looked like an arrow.

Nevertheless, what he could see was.

Swoosh.

An arrow that had once again approached his eyes like a ghost.

'What is this...'

Paaang.

He deflected the arrow in the same way again and focused his senses in that direction.

But the result was the same.

'Is it a real ghost... No, magic?'

No, that couldn't be. His ability to detect magic was far superior to his metal detection ability.

In that confusing situation.

Muno felt the presence of small daggers soaring from the front and back of the low building he was standing on.

'These things.'

Chrrrrk.

The moment his will moved, chains shot out from both his ankles.

Those chains simultaneously wrapped around the necks of the masked men who had begun to appear on the roof from both sides of the building without a sound.

And immediately after.

Craaack.

"Kuk!?"

He moderately broke their neck bones and threw them onto the roof.

Just enough to paralyze their entire bodies without killing them, who appeared to be at least 3rd-Star level Corporeal Arts users.

Clatter.

He was trying to leave a mouth that might reveal their backers.

Thwack.

With a small noise, an arrow was suddenly lodged in their hearts.

"You son of a bitch...!!"

This time, it wasn't aimed at him, so he hadn't even properly perceived it.

Truly ghostly archery skills.

But in the process, Muno's eyes caught a shadow moving like a ghost far to the south.

'About 400 meters? Crazy!'

Pabak.

Apart from the surprise, his body moved naturally.

The enemy's movements were too fast, and the distance was too far.

In that case.

'Acceleration!'

I will definitely catch you!

Even while his stamina was low, his body began to accelerate, using anger as a driving force.

As soon as he did.

Swoosh.

There were again arrows flying silently.

What was infuriating even in that situation was that two arrows curved left and right, aiming for his vital points and flying in from different directions.

A trajectory that seemed to have calculated his own movements as he had suddenly started sprinting.

However.

"Not a chance!!"

As long as he had his metal manipulation ability, metal projectiles like arrows were useless against him.

Deflecting the arrows without even moving his sword or hands, he ran straight ahead and finally succeeded in bringing the target within his sensory range.

'Twelve arrows, found them.'

He could clearly feel the clustered triangular metals moving quickly.

And also that the distance to them was rapidly closing.

'Hmph!'

Kwa-kwa-kwang!

He soon guessed the direction the enemy was moving in and went straight ahead.

And when he finally had the building where he could feel the enemy's presence under his feet.

Kwaaaaaaaaaang!

Muno broke through the roof and came crashing down with the debris.

He had intended to ambush the enemy.

But what he saw right in front of him was the figure of a slender masked person aiming a bow at him, as if they had expected it.

Four arrows followed, pouring in.

'This fucking...!'

A curse escaped him, but it was brief.

Woong.

The arrows missed his body according to his quickly responding unique ability.

Feeling the enemy's eyes, faintly visible through the mask, widen.

Muno crushed the enemy in the same falling posture.

Thud!

"Aack!"

Craaaack.

The immense weight of his armor and body combined slammed into the enemy and the floor.

Rumble.

In the gap where the stone floor broke and he fell to the lower floor again, he saw the masked person manage to get up and throw themselves towards the window.

'Hmph!'

Chrrrrk.

The four chains that extended with his will tried to restrain the enemy's body.

But the masked person spun like lightning in mid-air, moving their limbs and bow to deflect all the chains.

Thwack, thwack, thwack!

As the chains were violently deflected, Muno's body, which was about to land on the lower floor, lost its balance slightly and staggered.

'Damn it! More than I thought.'

Considering his reaction to the attack, his speed, and his movements, he was at least a 4th-Star Corporeal Arts user.

Trying to capture him had been a mistake.

However.

'Even now.'

Even as his posture was collapsing, Muno reached out and grabbed his 'Blade'.

The two-handed sword compressed into the form of a dagger while maintaining its original mass.

"Ha!"

It was thrown straight at the enemy.

Paaang.

A fatal blow aimed at the neck of the enemy who was falling out of the window in mid-air.

It was a killing move filled with the intention to pierce through his neck even if he blocked it.

However.

Thud!

Slice.

The 'Blade', which the enemy had struck with their bow like lightning, even escaped his metal control, lightly cutting the mask and flying out the window.

And the enemy's face, revealed in that moment, made Muno's eyes widen.

'A woman? A black person?'

Sharp features, a slender face, gray eyes, long, curly black hair, and skin that was quite light brown for a black person.

He momentarily froze at the sight of the woman glaring at him with a frown, blood dripping from her red lips.

Oops!

"Damn it...!"

Realizing his mistake of giving her a brief opening, he jumped out the window again.

Whoosh.

'Damn it!'

The woman who had fallen out of the window of the four-story building had vanished without a trace.

Still.

'Arrowheads!'

His senses had perceived the arrowheads cleverly hidden inside the window of the second floor of the building.

Chrrrrk.

Crack.

Thud.

He moved the chains while falling and broke into the second floor again.

Thump.

"Kyaaaaak!"

All he could see and hear was an ordinary middle-aged woman and her scream.

And lying next to her.

A quiver.

"...Fuck."

It was proof that the woman who had escaped had perfectly understood his unique ability.

And it was definite proof that he had lost the enemy.

'I'm screwed.'

One of the abilities he had wanted to hide from an enemy he had made a grudge against had been completely exposed.

He felt the strength drain from his limbs.

"Damn it, since it's already happened..."

He turned around, muttering to himself in annoyance.

"P-please, save me..."

The figure of the terrified middle-aged woman came into view belatedly.

Hah.

"...I'm sorry. I'm a knight on a royal mission. I was chasing a terrorist..."

"A-a knight?"

"Yes. I won't harm you. Let me say it again, it was an accident that happened while chasing a terrorist."

"Ah, ah, yes..."

Perhaps gaining courage after hearing the explanation, the middle-aged woman finally turned her gaze to the shattered window and furniture.

And her eyes began to fill with injustice instead of fear.

So.

"Of course, the Steel Knightly Order will compensate you for the damages."

Muno had no choice but to guarantee a proper cleanup.

He felt a tingling in his ears for some reason, but the situation just before was more on his mind.

Honestly, it was a dirty feeling.

And even in that situation, the enemy had been very impressive.

'A mixed-race black person in the northern part of this continent? A former slave?'

The woman's gray eyes would not be easily forgotten from his mind.