Chapter 191
Chapter 191
Clean Sweep (2)
Had Dorothy really shown all the cards she possessed? Of course, I didn’t think so.
‘She hasn’t even properly used the power of her battle gear.’
Even at this very moment, the pair of shoes Dorothy was wearing repeatedly produced ominous black cracks around them that appeared and vanished.
I had no idea what kind of power those things held.
“Ah, is this what you’re curious about? Compared to Veil of Plumed Mist, it’s nothing that impressive.”
As she said that, Dorothy drove her right foot deep into the ground and aimed the tip of her left foot at me.
“Pull.”
At that instant, I felt my body being yanked. It wasn’t a slow, gradual pull.
It felt like I’d been caught in something like a crank used to tow a massive ship and was being reeled in.
With a turbine-like roar, Veil of Plumed Mist resisted the shoes’ attractive force. At that moment, Dorothy pulled her right foot out of the ground.
Her body shot toward me like an arrow. No, it was exactly the same principle as how an arrow flies.
With a thunderous bang, her right foot struck Veil of Plumed Mist. The instant the impact transmitted—
“Push.”
“Khak?!”
With her word, my body was flung backward as if it had bounced off something. I rolled across the ground several times before finally stabbing my sword into the earth to stop myself.
‘Does the right leg push, and the left leg pull?’
I let out a small, bitter laugh. So this was why the Emperor had sent her.
“So that’s why you were the one who came.”
The attraction and repulsion just now weren’t caused by some invisible thread connecting us.
It was instantaneous. The moment the tip of that flat shoe pointed at its target, the force activated. In that case, I couldn’t take off. The moment I tried to fly, I would be seized immediately.
“You’ve got a lot of tricks, don’t you? Maybe you should put flying on hold?”
Before her words had even finished, Dorothy’s body flew toward me again. That wasn’t a charge. I could feel a force pulling at my body.
It was a force pulling both Dorothy and me together. Since I resisted, it was Dorothy who was dragged toward me instead.
“It seems fine control is impossible?”
Blocking the kick that had flown right up to my face, I spoke.
“Yeah. If it weren’t, I would’ve plucked out our friend’s eyeballs.”
It was impossible to pull only a specific part of the target.
If that had been possible, just as she said, it wouldn’t have been strange for my eyes to be ripped out while I was still alive.
So was it a trivial ability? Gritting my teeth as I was shoved back by the repulsive force from her right foot, I answered myself.
“It’s a really fucking annoying ability.”
“Thanks!”
She could pull and push at will. If I resisted, she could simply push and pull her own body.
If I didn’t resist, she could push and pull me instead.
From the one on the receiving end, it was enough to drive you insane. And it wasn’t as though she was only pulling me.
A boulder the size of a carriage snapped through the air toward Dorothy’s leg. Even so, it was shoved aside as it flew and ended up crashing down toward me instead.
I swung my fist and shattered the rock, then lunged at Dorothy.
In that instant, I felt the pull again. I didn’t care. In that brief moment, I corrected my posture and continued my charge.
“Oh, this one’s not bad.”
This time, the force reversed into repulsion. It could slow me somewhat, but the output of Veil of Plumed Mist exceeded that of those damned shoes.
I pushed through the repelling force, closed the distance, and reached out toward her.
“You’re not the only one who can do that!”
“Uwaaaah!”
Though indirect, I could push and pull as well. A sudden gust roared in, and Dorothy’s body was yanked sharply toward me.
‘The exact opposite.’
If she pushed, I pulled. If she pulled, I pushed. With that alone, I could neutralize her battle gear to a considerable degree.
The moment the balance between attraction and repulsion roughly aligned, Dorothy and I found ourselves properly facing each other again.
Then the wild exchange began.
Sword and leg clashed without rest, as though they regarded each other as mortal enemies. Shockwaves burst outward, and the violently churning air, under my control, let out a swarm-like roar as it poured razor winds toward her.
“I should… fall back?!”
The other knights who had been watching the fight from a distance decided to widen the gap even further.
‘As expected of the Captain. At this rate…’
And Gemini was able to rekindle his hope. No matter how that fight ended, I would weaken.
If they attacked again, then they would have a chance. No—
“Right now, everyone!”
Drawing his sword once more, Gemini looked at the other knights. There was no way they hadn’t been thinking the same thing he was.
Unbelievable as it was, the fight between me and the Captain of the White Heron Order was deadlocked. Neither side held the upper hand.
In a battle like this, even the slightest variable could decide the outcome.
And the knights gathered here were more than capable of becoming that variable.
“I—I’ll go first.”
Among them, the ones equipped with bow-type battle gear stepped forward first.
They took their stance and drew their bowstrings. Their only target was me. They wouldn’t hit. Striking someone moving that fast was beyond their level.
‘But they can occupy the space.’
Still, it was possible to blanket the area around me with arrows. And more than ten arrows flew toward me at once.
“This— huh?!”
There was no way I wouldn’t sense the arrows flying at me. But if I tried to respond to them right now, I would get hit by Dorothy instead.
I resolved myself to take a few arrows if I had to and kept my focus on her.
That was when it happened.
Dorothy suddenly abandoned the exchange.
A clear opening appeared. But I didn’t attack her.
Because she knocked away every single arrow that had been flying toward me.
“You little shits.”
With a sharp motion, the tip of her shoe turned toward one of the knights who had fired the arrows. The knight she pointed at shot through the air at terrifying speed, dragged straight toward her.
“Why.”
Bang.
The sound rang out. Her kick exploded against the knight’s head. The head tore free from the body and flew far into the sky.
Like a soccer ball.
“Are you.”
Once again, another knight’s body was dragged toward her.
“Interrupting.”
This time her kick struck the torso, and a hole large enough for a person to pass through was punched clean through the knight’s body.
“While. I’m. Fighting.”
With each word she spoke, another corpse was added.
“Do you all really want to die?”
Leaving me aside, there wasn’t a single knight here who could respond to Dorothy’s kicks. The ones who had fired the arrows paid for it with their lives.
Without even leaving proper bodies behind.
Standing there with blood-soaked legs, Dorothy casually nudged the dirt with the tip of her shoe. She had merely kicked the ground out of irritation.
“Ah, shit. It was getting good.”
Then she spun back toward me with a flick and clicked her tongue. Just moments ago she had been radiating a murderous aura, yet now it all seemed like a lie.
All hostility had completely vanished. I slightly lowered the sword I had been aiming at her.
“Is this the end?”
“I wanted to keep going. But the mood’s ruined. Well, I accomplished the imperial command anyway. I’m heading back now.”
Her shoes clicked against the ground as she walked away. Then she suddenly stopped and spoke to me without turning around.
“Don’t kill them. It’ll be different from when I do it.”
I watched her for a moment before shifting my gaze toward Gemini.
“So that’s how you’re playing it?”
The arrows that had flown in earlier. Their meaning was obvious. They had tried to use that opening to finish me off for good.
“What should I do with those bastards?”
Dorothy’s advice wasn’t wrong. It was one thing for a Captain of the Empire’s Order of Knights to summarily execute her own knights. It was something entirely different for me to cut off their heads.
The one committing the act mattered. I had no intention of killing them.
But I couldn’t just let them walk away unscathed either.
“…Hhk.”
I stood in front of them.
“I’ll give you a massage until the tail feathers arrive.”
What choice did I have? I couldn’t kill them. If I was angry and couldn’t kill, the best way to vent was to beat it out of them. Giving them a “massage” just short of leaving permanent damage wasn’t difficult.
In front of the Dalton estate, the knights’ screams rang out. That parade of screams continued until the tail feathers were placed in my hand.
While I was venting my anger, Dorothy called Guardian of the Nation Denver Hudson.
― How is it?
“He couldn’t use Cloud Seizing Art.”
By the Emperor’s order, Dorothy’s mission had been to confirm how far my Cloud Seizing Art had been completed.
And in our fight, I hadn’t used Cloud Seizing Art.
― Did he not use it, or could he not?
“Ah, come on. Even I don’t know that.”
You could see it as me hiding my strength. But it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think I hadn’t used it because I truly couldn’t.
Because of Dorothy’s battle gear, my flight had been sealed. That was precisely why she had been chosen to face me.
“I only used Swift Blade.”
― I see.
And in the close combat that followed, the only technique I used against her had been Swift Blade.
The conclusion Denver Hudson reached as he listened to the report was simple.
[Conditional]
For me to use Cloud Seizing Art—no, to use a level of Cloud Seizing Art effective even against someone as strong as Dorothy—
A specific environment had to be in place. And such conditional Cloud Seizing Art was not what the Emperor desired. I had to be able to manipulate the heavenly currents using Cloud Seizing Art without conditions.
That was the achievement the Emperor expected of me.
“I really don’t know what the Sun of the Empire is thinking.”
Did he truly believe he could keep me beneath him and use me?
Had he prepared some separate means to ensure that?
Such questions swirled in Dorothy Evergreen’s mind.
― I only follow the imperial command.
“Right, right. I’m just an obedient Captain who follows the imperial command too.”
That ended the communication. I still had a long way to go. After finishing the call, Denver Hudson rose from his seat.
In any case, I would attempt to fully master Cloud Seizing Art and Moonwalk. I was a Featherwing.
That was enough. Since the Emperor desired it, Denver Hudson would simply carry it out.
“If it goes like this, then perhaps.”
It was a funny thought, but the Emperor might even try to help my growth.
After all, even if he intended to devour me eventually, there had to be meat on the bones to eat.
Likewise, if he reported on my current state, the Emperor would surely try to fatten me up.
‘Whether he can devour me after I’ve grown.’
That was not a question permitted to Denver. He merely carried out the orders given to him. He was nothing more than the sword that guarded the Emperor.
A sword does not question its master.
“Once this is over, I can take about an hour of leave.”
As he drafted the report to be submitted to the Emperor, Denver Hudson planned what he would do during his leave.
A long-overdue bath, followed by good food and a drink, sounded perfect. By the time he finished thinking about bath fragrances and the menu, the report was complete.