Chapter 51 : Chapter 51
Volume 1
Chapter 51 : The Final Struggle!
“Won’t... it not move?”
The woodcutting knife froze in midair, as if it had been clamped in the jaws of an iron vise, utterly unable to budge.
Not only that, but under Muen’s horrified gaze, the rusted blade of the knife began to melt, as though it had been thrown into a furnace and reforged.
The liquefied metal even wriggled playfully, like the slime from some storybook tale.
But this is room temperature, brother.
You are still a hundred and eight thousand li away from your melting point.
Could you at least show some respect for science?
“Could it be...?”
Muen suddenly lifted his head and realized that it was not only the woodcutting knife in his hand that was melting, but also the cabinet door that had just been abused beyond measure, and even the cabinet he had hidden in moments ago.
Anything made of metal had melted into liquid.
Those metallic fluids twisted through the air, floating as they gathered toward a single place.
That place was... Ann’s palm.
“The power of law... a God’s Chosen!”
Muen’s vision went dark.
This merciless slap from Fate nearly sent his blood pressure through the heavens.
A darling of the gods, a God’s Chosen who wielded the laws of the world on their behalf.
Just as Selicia wielded the overwhelming might of ice and snow, Ann, standing before him now, seemed to have won the favor of a certain deity and obtained the power to control metal.
With such utterly unreasonable power of law in her hands, let alone melting metal at room temperature, even if she wanted to turn it square one moment, round the next, and then shape it into a little bear or Doraemon the moment after that, there would be no problem at all!
“But...”
Why was Ann a God’s Chosen?
The original novel had never mentioned it.
It had not even once brought up a blessing that granted dominion over metal.
And if Ann truly was a God’s Chosen, why would she lower herself to serve as nothing more than a maid?
“That is naturally... because of love.”
Seeing the confusion in Muen’s eyes, Ann smiled as she condensed the metal into razor-sharp blades.
“Fame, power, money... to me, they are all filth. The only thing I have ever wanted is you alone, Young Master.”
“So come, Young Master. I will bring you back into my embrace. This time, I will cut off all four of your limbs so that you will never... be able to leave me again!”
Ann raised a hand and pointed.
The blades she had formed tore through the air like leaves swept up by an autumn wind, descending upon Muen in a deadly storm.
“Shadowstep!”
In the moment of crisis, Muen still activated Shadowstep despite its immense side effects, turning into a drifting phantom and vanishing from where he stood.
When he appeared again, he was already several meters away.
Though his face had twisted with pain and his stance had turned unsteady, he had still narrowly avoided the rain of blades.
“Damn it.”
Feeling the agony in his legs claw into his brain, Muen could not help but curse under his breath.
A yandere was already terrifying enough, and now she also had this kind of monstrous power.
Was he supposed to live or not?
If you old bastard heaven really hates me that much, then just strike me dead with a bolt of lightning already!
Why torment me like this?
“Hm?”
Ann frowned, her delicate brows knitting together.
“Another technique I have never seen before. Just how many things have you been hiding from me, Young Master?”
“Heh, a man’s secrets are like a woman’s age. They are not something others can casually pry into,” Muen said, forcing a smile.
“Is that so? Even so, I will still search you thoroughly, not as a man, but as... my possession.”
Ann spread her arms, as though embracing the entire world.
Then Muen heard it—a shrill, grating scrape from deep within the passage behind her.
Under the dim light, a colossal thing gleaming with a chilling metallic sheen scraped against the tunnel walls as it slithered forward.
Its body looked as though countless steel bars had been poured together and then violently twisted into one mass.
Within that warped shape, Muen could vaguely recognize the outlines of familiar shackles and iron doors, but now they had all become the writhing limbs of a hideous monster, crushing the fragile walls and ground as it advanced.
Ah. He had almost forgotten.
The cage he had been trapped in just now had been made entirely of metal.
“Do you have to go this far?!”
Without the slightest hesitation, Muen turned and ran.
A person could always unleash terrifying potential in the face of danger, and Muen was no exception.
Though the pain in his feet still ground mercilessly against his nerves, in that instant, he ran faster than he ever had in his entire life.
The light ahead, the light that represented an exit, rapidly expanded until it swallowed his vision, until it seemed to swallow his whole world.
After a brief blur, the world bathed in warm daylight returned to his sight once more, and the familiar scenery nearly moved Muen to tears.
“So it really is... the back gate of the Duke’s residence!”
There was no time to rejoice.
A deafening crash erupted behind him.
The gigantic monster, like a steel centipede, smashed through the pitiful basement exit in an instant and lunged at Muen.
Muen hesitated for only a heartbeat.
Then he gave up the thought of running toward the Duke’s residence and instead sprinted madly away from it.
Beyond the back gate of the Duke’s residence was a river, its surface glittering with light.
“Young Master, why are you running? If I accidentally damage one of your important parts, I would feel terribly heartbroken.”
Ann opened her arms toward Muen as though she were about to give him a tender embrace, her whole body radiating the reassuring presence of an older sister.
—That was, of course, if not for the countless savage spikes extending beneath her from the steel monster as well.
“So to you, my hands and feet are not important parts?”
Of course Muen could not stop. Instead, he pushed every last ounce of strength from his body even more frantically.
But now the purpose behind the giant monster Ann had forged became clear.
Out in the open, it was far faster than Muen!
He felt the bright daylight fading as he was gradually swallowed by shadow.
The pressure from behind him grew stronger and stronger.
Muen could no longer afford to care about anything else.
“Shadowstep!”
“Shadowstep!”
“Shadowstep!”
The special footwork meant for evasion and assassination was now being forced into long-distance flight.
Not to mention the terrible side effects brought on by his insufficient level.
Muen felt as though every cell in his legs cried out in agony each time he used it.
But he still could not stop.
If he stopped, he would lose his freedom forever.
“I want... to live.
In this world that is not beautiful... I want to live like a normal person.
And if possible... I want to live happily even more...”
So...
Run!
“Shadowstep!”
The violent pain tore through his nerves until even his consciousness began to blur.
Yet amid that chaos of pain and obsession, after every scrap of strength had burned away like the last oil in a dying lamp, a different kind of heat seemed to be born.
It arose from his dantian and flowed to the soles of his feet.
“This is...?”
A burst of wild joy flooded Muen’s eyes.
Battle aura!
At a time like this, he had actually broken through?
His feet were wrapped in a scorching current, and the pain immediately lessened by more than half.
And within the black book’s record, Shadowstep LV2 instantly rose to LV5!
No, it was still rising!
LV6!
“Shadowstep!”
The threat behind him had still not vanished, so Muen activated Shadowstep once more.
This time, he crossed more than ten meters in a single step.
And with the reinforcement of battle aura, using Shadowstep brought no side effects at all.
In other words, as long as his stamina held out, he could use it without limit!
“Young Master!”
Seeing Muen’s speed suddenly surge so drastically that he was about to escape her pursuit, a twisted expression unlike anything before appeared on Ann’s pretty face.
Abandoning the gigantic steel beast, Ann kicked off from its head and leaped into the air, lunging straight at Muen.
“Please do not run!”
“My apologies, Ann.”
Muen suddenly turned back and smiled.
Behind him, the river reflected the distant sunset, as though it were flowing with blood.
Muen raised a hand and aimed it at the stunned Ann.
Another power he had never used before gathered in his palm—mana—and then poured out without restraint.
“Light spell! Maximum output!”
In that instant, another sun appeared in the world.
Brighter than the setting sun.