Surviving with Killer Face and Sharper Tongue

Chapter 135: Blood (3)

“Sister Ibi…!”

At the sight of Ibi, who had returned to her usual self, Miki showed a slightly emotional reaction.

The other companions, though they didn't say it out loud like Miki, all had the same look in their eyes.

That they had believed in her.

On the other hand, Kain, who was staring blankly at the gap between his bleeding fingers, had a somewhat dazed expression for the first time.

“……Hmm.”

It was a reaction that said he had not expected Ibi to do this at all.

“So this is your will.”

But Kain, who soon accepted the situation, let out an incredulous laugh.

“It seems I've been too soft on you, who has never grown up in Krom.”

‘I raised you wrong.’

At this one phrase from Kain.

“Cut the fucking bullshit!”

Ibi, who had gritted her teeth, shouted.

“When the hell have you ever raised me, you son of a bitch!”

As Ibi said, Kain had never once ‘raised’ Ibi.

And yet, he was just a madman, unworthy of being a father, who truly believed that he had raised Ibi to this point, as a warrior.

However, unfortunately, he was a madman with a high ‘Charisma’ (he had risen to his current position because he had that kind of ‘charisma’ in the first place), so his [Persuasion], pretending to be a repentant father, must have sounded quite plausible.

Blood ties are not easy.

No matter how you've lived for 20 years without even knowing of their existence, you can't just coldly ignore them simply because your blood is connected.

Moreover, although Ibi usually acts cynical as if she would just brush things like this off, she actually has a soft heart, so she would have wanted to give Kain, who was pretending to apologize to her, a chance.

Despite the fact that there were more than one or two, so-called, unsettling aspects to Kain, both as a father and as a human.

She would have prioritized the affection of blood ties over her own good [Intuition].

“You crazy, son of a bitch…!”

But now that she knew what she had almost been a part of as a result, she must be feeling an even greater sense of betrayal, her fists trembling like that.

“I, haven't lived well enough to be able to tell everyone, but…!”

So she might have thought that she had no right to say anything about how he had lived and was living, but.

“But this, fuck…! This isn't right, you crazy bastard!”

This was something she could not turn a blind eye to.

“Alright, fine.”

But Kain just tried to laugh off Ibi's anger with a hollow laugh.

“Sometimes, a harsh discipline is necessary.”

As if it were nothing more than a child's whining.

“Don't kill my daughter.”

He ordered his soldiers in a firm tone.

“I need to teach her what responsibility is, so at least leave her breathing and bring her to me.”

Then he turned his back without any hesitation and tried to leave.

“If the ritual is disturbed, I will let your families know about that responsibility as well.”

“What should we do with her companions?”

“Kill them.”

His tone was as if asking why he would even ask.

“Understood.”

And as if they had been waiting for those words, the soldiers who were on standby all rushed in.

Kugugung──!

At the same time, a huge 「Ice Wall」 rose and completely blocked the space between us and the soldiers.

Naturally, the one who had erected that wall was Rine.

The reactions of disbelief at her having cast such a large-scale magic spell in an instant, without any incantation, were heard from beyond the wall, but it was only for a moment.

Kwang! Kwang!

Then, along with the sound of blows, the wall began to shake violently.

This meant that the time the wall could buy us was not that long.

“Ibi!”

So even though I had only called her name without any explanation, Ibi immediately understood my intention and quickly cut her palm with her dagger.

With the blood she had shed, she unlocked the seal of the locked door.

Crack! Crack!

The cracks in the splitting 「Ice Wall」 were becoming more and more pronounced.

But in the meantime, the firmly shut door of the basement had opened, and by the time the wall finally collapsed like shattering glass, clang!, we were already inside the door.

“Chase after them──”

──Kuung!

And by the time the soldiers who had broken the wall saw us again, we had closed the door again.

In any case, since it was a door installed to protect a ‘secret’, it wasn't a door that could be easily opened and closed structurally, but since Kain probably hadn't gone far, it would surely be opened again soon.

“We have to stop Kain.”

But we had secured enough time to briefly discuss our plan.

“He'll probably try to advance the summoning ritual.”

Indeed, Kain had mentioned the possibility of the ritual being disturbed before he left.

“He'll just try to finish it quickly before we can do anything.”

So there were two ways to stop this.

“Either go back up and stop Kain, who is performing the ritual, directly, or take the prisoners who will be the sacrifices and completely escape the summoning circle── that is, this arena.”

“I'll take the former.”

Ibi, who had been listening to me, said without any hesitation.

“I won't be satisfied unless I stab that son of a bitch with my own hands.”

“But we must also consider the possibility that we won't make it in time.”

At that, Toric, like the experienced veteran he was, immediately pointed out the ‘blind spot’ of that method.

“It would be good to deal with him, but first, we must somehow prevent the prisoners here from being sacrificed.”

“So the surest way is to catch that bastard quickly and finish him off, right?”

“That's right.”

Ibi had a point.

“It was written in the contract that only Kain can perform the ritual. So fundamentally, we have to deal with him to completely stop the ritual.”

Of course, Toric also had a point.

“But there will already be a lot of soldiers outside. They'll try to stop us from getting up to the arena where Kain is, no matter what.”

In other words.

“Do both?”

“Correct.”

The fundamental method of stopping the ritual, the disposal of Kain, and the escape of the prisoners, which could buy time for that, had to be done at the same time.

“It said that the ritual cannot be performed if even one soul is missing. So even if it's not all of them, we have to get at least two or three people… at least one person, out of the arena.”

“I see. That's a sound judgment.”

So it's time to temporarily split the party into two.

“Lily and Toric, you take the escape.”

After all, how well would they have treated the prisoners they were going to use as sacrifices?

“The prisoners are likely to be exhausted. To get them out of here, we'll definitely need your healing power, Lily.”

“That makes sense… Yes! Leave it to me!”

Lily immediately understood and nodded.

“I'm counting on you, Lily. Toric.”

“Leave it to us.”

Toric not only had the skill to protect Lily, but more importantly, he had a wealth of experience in situations like this.

“The four of us will go up and stop Kain.”

“Understood!”

“Once we find him, I'll hold off the soldiers with Rine and Miki to buy time.”

Miki was the reliable tank of our party who could block enemies, and Rine had area-of-effect spells that were effective in fights against multiple opponents.

And I also had skills that were useful against multiple opponents.

“Then Ibi, you take Kain.”

Among us, the one who could properly face Kain in terms of compatibility was Ibi.

“I like that.”

And for personal reasons as well, Ibi was the right person.

Indeed, Ibi—having drawn the white dagger she must have used in the duel—held a dagger in each hand, showing her fighting spirit.

And just in time, the closed door began to slowly open again.

Kain must have given his blood before he left completely.

Through the opening door, we could see the figures of the soldiers who had lined up in the corridor.

And some of them had their eyes widened slightly.

It was a look that said, ‘Why haven't they run away yet?’.

Seeing that, Ibi's lips curved up into a grin.

“I'm tired of running away too.”

Swish!

Then, the dagger she had nimbly thrown accurately hit the forehead of the soldier in the very front.

Pabat!

「Thorn of the Wind」, along with red blood, gushed out in all directions, and the soldiers around the one with the dagger stuck in him collapsed to the floor together.

At the same time, our vanguards, Miki and Toric, took the lead and rushed towards them.

『Your opponent is me!』

Then, Miki, who had cast not a taunt, but a 「Mass Taunt」, threw his shield.

The flying shield bounced off the heads of the soldiers, kung, kung, kung!, in succession, and then returned to Miki's hand.

“Wooooooh──!!”

In the meantime, Toric, who had let out a 「Berserker's Roar」, jumped high and swung his axe down with all his might.

Kwang──!

The floor where the axe had struck cracked in all directions, and the ground shook.

And the soldiers who were standing nearby all fell to the floor, one after another.

Ibi was running on the wall next to them.

While the 「Frenzied」 Toric, his face flushed red, swung his axe mercilessly at the fallen soldiers, staining his face even redder with the splattered blood, Ibi, who had run on the wall, quickly delved into the midst of the soldiers.

And without even giving them a chance to be surprised at her having come down into their midst, she performed a 「Dance of Blades」.

Shashashak!

Ibi's splendid sword dance swept through the surrounding soldiers like a whirlwind, scattering red streams of blood in all directions.

Some soldiers tried to stop her, but──

──Pajijik!

“Kraaaak!”

Several streams of lightning, like a chain, connected and zapped them all together.

「Chain Lightning」.

Rine, who had cast this powerful magic without any incantation, extended her staff with her usual nonchalant expression.

Seeing this, as if they had instinctively sensed that she was the most dangerous among us, the nearby soldiers all rushed towards Rine.

But the blades they swung did not even reach Rine.

Chijijik!

Because without Rine even needing to use a defensive spell, Lily's 「Miracle of Protection」 had been cast on her.

To be precise, it was cast on all of us, not in the previous dome-like form, but in a kind of spherical form.

The soldiers' blades could not penetrate the barrier, and taking advantage of their surprise, Miki, who had kicked the ground and rushed in, plunged his fist into a soldier's abdomen.

Poof!

A strong shockwave erupted, and the soldier who was sent flying by the punch hit the wall behind him, kwang!, and was embedded in it.

Thanks to that, Rine, without even glancing at the soldiers who had rushed at her, cast 「Chain Lightning」 once more, jjeojeok!.

The split streams of lightning, as if passing through the gaps of Ibi who was spinning in the air and scattering blades, zapped the soldiers in the back.

And all my companions were listening to my 「Song of Battle」, which simultaneously raised not one stat, but their accuracy.

So no matter how strong the dark elf soldiers of Krom were, in this indoor space where there was no ‘Gloom’, they couldn't withstand my companions' attacks.

“You damn bard…!”

I don't know if he was provoked by seeing me, the only one playing music in the back, or if he thought that this song buff of mine was the secret to our strength.

“It's him! Get him first!”

In any case, seeing him start to rush at me with the nearby soldiers, he must have done one of the two.

But I did not stop my performance.

Of course, it was also because Lily's blessing still remained, but I also had a grinning mouth, in addition to the hand that was plucking the lute strings.

I had said before that the types of commands I could issue with 「Word Command」 had increased.

And this was one of them.

『──Attack your allies.』