Chapter 35
Chapter 35: Lit’s anxiety and the lost arm
Translator: Tseirp
Two hours ago.
The South Marsh district at night.
“Ou-oucchhhh, please forgive me!”
The thug-like man screamed in pain as Lit twisted his arm.
“Sheesh, taking up so much of my time.”
“To be able to catch up to me in town even though I possess the Divine Protection of Roof Walker, you’re a monster!”
“I don’t care, hurry up, take out the item you are hiding.”
“Damn it!”
His arm creaked under the pressure.
Cold sweat was oozing from the man’s forehead.
If she put just a little more strength into it, his arm would break.
“Ah~ also, I won’t break your arm but rip it off, okay? Since you could just get it healed if I only break it.”
“Yo-you bitch!?”
The man came to a conclusion.
The girl would actually do whatever she said she would.
In the worst case, she would probably leave him half-dead and search for that item even if she had to strip him.
It was already the end when he got caught.
“A-All right.”
The man weakly passed her the medicine-filled bag he had inside his clothes.
“You guys go through three stages just to hand the drug to the drug dealers. You seriously made me work hard.”
The man was a person close to the mastermind who sold the Fake God Drugs.
That man handed the drugs to three other big shots from the underground society and those underground society big shots, in turn, pass the drugs to criminal organizations which in turn hand them to drug dealers and drug runners.
From there, the drug dealers and drug runners directly pass the drugs to the users.
A normal investigation would only reach the criminal organization stage. And even if they wanted to clamp down on those criminal organizations, those organizations had the underground society big shots behind them. It was impossible to subject them to violent interrogations.
The guards would probably not be able to reach the stage she was at.
“You guys are too cautious, to actually make me put in so much time and effort.”
After investigating for a number of days consecutively, Lit finally found a man who handed out drugs without buying them from anyone. That person was this man with the Divine Protection of Roof Walker.
If she could find out his background, she should be able to find the source of the drug.
” …… ”
“Ara, you’re suddenly a lot quieter … what’s wrong?”
The man didn’t respond.
His mouth opened limply and drool fell to the ground.
“No way!?”
Even someone like the Hero Lit would have some gaps in her knowledge and planning.
However, she would never have expected that there would be a ‘Sacrificial Bomb’ planted in him which required the Advanced Alchemy skill in a place like Zoltan.
The man’s body disintegrated and the shockwave caused green liquids to scatter around the surroundings.
“Tch!?”
Despite quickly retreating, Lit could not avoid the liquid which hit her arms and legs.
“Sticky bomb!”
Sticky Bombs had a viscosity that of birdlime and were unique skills of those with the Divine Protection of the Alchemist.
As they had the skill to alter the performance of explosives, they could manufacture explosives through special formulation using Alchemy to scatter those sticky substances.
The sticky substances on Lit’s arms and legs could not be removed easily and her movements were restricted.
(I was careless!)
The man had a huge crater in his chest and had collapsed on the ground. He probably died instantly.
(Somebody is coming!)
Accompanied by the sound of something moving fast, three individuals with their faces covered by cloths appeared from the shadows of the buildings.
They were probably alerted by the explosion earlier. In order to erase witnesses.
Lit moved her two arms that were restricted by the sticky substances and tried to draw her shotel but,
(The Sticky Bomb just now hit my sheath!)
Unfortunately, the sticky substance struck her sword and had fixed her sword in its sheath. She could not draw her shotel even if she pulled hard.
“Shi …”
The three masked individuals rushed over.
She didn’t have the time for Spirit Magic. Lit leaped to the side while her whole body was still covered by the sticky substance.
“Gua!?”
While leaping to one side, Lit extended her foot and sent one of the masked individual flying.
That person rolled on the ground and crashed into the wall of a poorly built house.
” … A regular person would have died though.”
The man who was kicked lightly shook his head and stood up.
“Divine Protection of the Assassin … I guess not.”
They seemed to move as though they had the Divine Protection of the Assassin but something felt wrong.
(Did they increase their Divine Protection using the Fake God Drug? But it doesn’t seem as though they are wielding axes.)
Lit looked at her bleeding left arm.
During that clash just now, the opponent’s blades skimmed across both her arms. It wasn’t a serious injury at all but … it meant that the opponents were skilled enough to wound Lit.
(I would be able to somehow pull through if I was in perfect form but if only I could draw my sword.)
She could expel the sticky substance clinging to her body using Spirit Magic but she didn’t think that her opponents would overlook that opportunity.
(These people should be about lower B-rank adventurer ability? Doesn’t that mean they are stronger than Albert?)
If only she had a sword.
Lit was frustrated with her own carelessness.
(Not only that, if only my opponents used swords.)
The weapons of the masked individuals were claws. They were weapons worn on fists and had the form of three metal claws extending forward.
Those were difficult to snatch and even if she succeeded, they were weapons that Lit had never used before.
Lit took out the throwing knife she had in her clothes.
They were normally used as ranged weapons but she could only use them to fight at the moment.
The masked men’s eyes thinned as they grinned having understood that they held the advantage.
At that moment, a large shadow jumped onto the head of the masked men.
“Uge!?”
The fist that slammed down crushed the masked man’s skull.
The masked man died instantly and crumbled to the ground.
“Scoundrels trying to take advantage of a single girl.”
The man intimidated them by showing his blood-covered fist.
Lit unconsciously blinked to make sure she did not mistake the man in front of her.
I don’t believe it, why is he here … those words screamed in Lit’s heart.
“Danan … !”
“Yo, Lit. I didn’t think I would be able to meet you again here. But we’ll have to postpone our reunion until we’re done with these guys.”
Both the now remaining two masked men stared at the large man wrapped in muscles with overflowing murderous intent.
” … Why did you!”
But, before they said another word, the masked men were pulverized instantly by Danan’s fists.
In the literal sense.
After it ended, there were only lumps that no longer resembled human forms remaining.
☆☆
“O Water Spirit, cleanse my body.”
Lit gathered her magic and chanted, causing Water Spirits in the form of fish without scales to appear, which washed off the sticky substances clinging to Lit, the injury on her left arm as well as the dirt.
Her body was cleansed but her mind was still unsettled.
“Danan, why are you here?”
“I was just thinking the same for you but all right. It’s that. I told Hero-sama that I will go look for Gideon.”
Lit’s intense beating heart hurt. Of course, it was not a physical wound.
However, the cut wound she suffered just now could not even compare to the pain she was feeling now.
“Then, you plan to take Gideon and leave?”
“That was the plan but.”
Danan scratched the back of his head.
“I have not been in Zoltan for more than a week but I have a pretty good grasp of the situation. … I never expected that Gideon to get together with Lit.”
Danan grinned broadly. But he immediately tightened his facial expressions.
“I did not find anything. I plan to return with that.”
“Eh?”
“Hasn’t Gideon found a place to return to? In that case, everything else doesn’t matter. I won’t go out of my way to take him away.”
“Really!?”
Danan nodded with his face full of scars.
“Actually, I didn’t even want Lit to see me. I was planning to quickly leave but … Tch, there were evil things happening here too.”
Danan said as he peeled off the mask of the masked man corpse.
“That is … !”
Lit was at a loss for words when she saw its appearance.
There were horns on the head of the corpse. Unlike the human-like appearance just moments ago, the head now was devoid of hair and had two twisted horns protruding out.
“Stalker Demon! A demon assassin! Why is a middle-rank demon in Zoltan!?”
“I have no idea. But this incident is a lot darker than expected.”
” … !”
“It’s getting dangerous so stay away … well, I want to tell you that but, to be honest, it’s tough on my own. I would be happy if the two of you helped but … it might not be a good idea to show myself to Gideon. That guy has a strong sense of responsibility after all.”
“That’s right …”
“That’s why I want to exchange information with you, Lit. I’m staying in the Black Cat Pavilion in the South Marsh district.”
“Okay.”
After that, the two of them exchanged information on the current situation.
After collaborating their information, they found that the Roof Walker man was truly a person from the Thieves Guild, someone from Big Hawk’s faction.
“It’s a little cliched seeing how the mastermind is the Thieves Guild.”
“Isn’t that usually the case?”
“Yeah.”
Danan rubbed his bearded jaw as he pondered.
Lit considered the state of affairs for a while before deciding that there won’t be any further development so she returned.
“Well then, I’ll be heading back.”
“Sure, don’t let your guard down like before.”
“I will bear that in mind.”
Lit left without a sound.
Danan sensed Lit’s presence move further away and groaned emotionally.
“I knew that Gideon was here but to think that even Lit was here too. The world works in interesting ways.”
That being, that took Danan’s form, started walking back to the inn.
“I only ate a single arm so the memories are incomplete. It would be foolish to appear before Gideon who knew Danan well. It would be great if I could stay hidden until they shatter the demons’ schemes.”
That being showed a completely different smile compared to that of Danan as he walked down the dark streets.
☆☆
At the same time.
In a seaside village.
“Oo, he’s awake!”
Danan opened his eyes.
It seemed as though he drifted ashore at some village.
He was struck by intense hunger and Danan spoke weakly.
“Fo- food please.”
“Well, be patient, you should first have some plain hot water.”
Danan downed the cup of plain hot water he was given instantly.
His stomach immediately convulsed and he was assaulted by the urge to vomit … but,
“Delicious!”
“Amazing, normally the stomach would not be able to take the first mouth.”
The villagers were amazed at the appearance of Danan gulping down the plain hot water.
“What an amazing person. Despite being unconscious for a whole week.”
“One week!?”
Danan stared at his right arm missing from below his elbow.
The humiliation from his negligence caused his face to turn purple.
“That bastarddddd! I have no idea how you survived but the next time I meet you, I will murder you!”
That being should have been dead. He definitely saw Gideon cut its head off with his sword.
Asura Demon Shisandan.
The Demon Lord Army General that impersonated the Knight Captain Gaius of the Principality of Logavia and almost crushed the country from the shadows.
The one that assaulted Danan was without a doubt, that Shisandan.
“Even better, if you can revive without limit, at least let me kill you 10 times! It’s decided!”
Danan swore his revenge with his fist thrust into the air.
The villagers looked at each other and all wondered who that superhuman and weirdo was.