Chapter 019
Thud, thud, thud—
Arrows continued to rain down, and soon the room was filled with flaming shafts.
Combined with the dry weather, the fire from the arrows spread rapidly through the wooden building.
"Damn it, it’s that guy, isn't it?"
"Probably?"
It was clearly Barque, whom they had been talking about just moments ago.
Mitchell frowned and hurried toward his room.
Flames were soaring there just the same.
After quickly grabbing only his weapons and stepping out, he saw the twins and Grant engaged in battle in the hallway.
Argh!
Grant, having dealt with the enemies that rushed him in an instant, shouted toward Mitchell.
"We have to get out first! It might collapse soon!"
Every part of the building was creaking and moaning as it burned. Just as Grant said, it was a situation where it could collapse at any moment.
"Die!"
However, the enemies continued to swarm up to the second floor, seemingly without fear.
'Let's see how long you can keep that up.'
Mitchell immediately unleashed his Spirit Descent.
A spindly, weak Spirit manifested. However, this was a battlefield.
There were already those nearby who had been killed by Grant and the twin guards.
As Mitchell reached out into the air, the surrounding souls were pulled in.
Then, he converted them into Dark Aura.
Kieeeeeeeek!
The souls began to scream.
His aura holes filled up rapidly.
Using the souls as fuel to raise his Dark Aura, the Spirit also regained its true strength.
"Hah!"
The enemies, who had acted as if they knew no fear, couldn't help but gasp and hesitate before the energy emitted by the Spirit.
'These guys are at a higher level than the ones before.'
If they were low-level warriors, they would have collapsed already.
Since they had deployed men of this caliber already, Mitchell worried about what kind of enemies might be waiting outside.
But that was a problem to think about once they got out of this crumbling building.
Mitchell rushed toward the stiffened enemies.
"D-don't block the way!"
Forgetting their duty, the enemies kept backing away until they were blocked by those climbing up behind them.
Realizing there was nowhere left to hide, they swung their swords, but Mitchell lightly parried them and slashed through their chests.
"Kehek!"
"Damn it! There really was a monster here, just like we heard!"
Because it was a narrow hallway, he only had to deal with two people at most at a time.
Thanks to that, it was easy to handle the enemies whose momentum had been crushed by the Spirit.
Meanwhile, the twins, watching from behind, stood with their mouths agape.
"What on earth is that..."
In the forest where they first met, they were too busy breaking the combined formation of the Lapel warriors.
They only knew that after everything was over, the enemy's formation had collapsed with Mitchell's help, allowing Grant's Sky-Rending Flash to show its true power.
At Lapel, they had arrived after Mitchell had already collapsed, so this was their first time truly seeing it.
Seeing this, Grant felt a sense of unearned pride.
"You shouldn't be surprised yet. This is only the beginning."
After finishing his sentence, Grant began to move his feet again.
The twins quickly followed, and before they knew it, Mitchell was passing through the first floor and exiting the inn's entrance.
The moment Mitchell and his party all made it outside.
Crrr-ack—
The entrance collapsed.
Cold sweat broke out as they realized they would have been roasted alive if they were just a moment later.
But this wasn't the end.
The outside was already teeming with enemies, and among them, Barque stood a step ahead, holding his sword in perfect condition.
"I thought at least one of you would be dealt with, but how disappointing."
"I'm disappointed too. I should have killed you for sure back then."
At Grant's words, Barque's face contorted.
However, a twisted smile soon hung on his lips.
"You can't imagine how happy I was to hear that you had joined them. I was going to deal with you slowly after catching that fellow Mitchell."
Wait, I was the target?
Mitchell scratched his head vigorously and then cracked his neck.
"So, you're saying you looked down on me?"
He didn't know how Mitchell interpreted it that way, but it wasn't exactly wrong.
In truth, Mitchell's realm wasn't that high. Since Barque had gauged his approximate level when he repelled Mitchell last time, he was certain.
"You use a strange martial art, but that's as far as it goes."
A martial art effective against those of lower realms, plus one powerful strike.
Having heard from his subordinates that Mitchell collapsed after using that powerful energy, he figured he just had to be careful of that.
So, he had brought his own countermeasures.
"Attack."
At Barque's signal, his subordinates began to rush in all at once.
The situation became a chaotic brawl in an instant. But when Mitchell unleashed his Spirit Descent, the enemies' movements faltered.
Seizing that gap, Grant and the twins prevented the enemies' combined formation from being completed.
[Mitchell, I'll take care of Barque. You and the twin uncles hold back the subordinates.]
Mitchell nodded at Grant's mental transmission.
It was a rational suggestion.
He was more efficient at fighting multiple subordinates than facing a single expert.
But that plan hit a snag from the very beginning.
Whoosh—
Suddenly, a hook flew toward Mitchell.
Mitchell quickly raised his sword and parried the iron weight of the hook, but he couldn't stop the rope from tangling around his body.
Thwip—
Eventually, his body was lifted into the air and pulled out of the enemies' encirclement.
After quickly cutting the rope and righting himself, he saw Barque standing before him.
"I am your opponent."
Biting his lip, Mitchell glanced back.
With the psychic pressure of the Spirit gone, the enemies rapidly formed their combined formation. Grant and the twins were unable to easily break out of the formation that had been completed in an instant.
Barque clearly intended to deal with him first before joining the others.
[It seems they really do look down on you.]
"Is this the time for jokes? In this serious situation?"
Barque frowned as he watched Mitchell snap back.
He didn't know who the boy was talking to.
"Are you crazy? Well, it doesn't matter."
Crazy or not, he just had to capture the boy as ordered.
Soon, Barque raised his sword and rushed toward Mitchell.
A sword imbued with powerful energy flew in.
Mitchell quickly leaned his body back to dodge the attack.
But that wasn't the end. Swords followed one after another.
The attacks of Barque, a 5th-class aura user, were fierce with every stroke.
[You'll die if you keep doing that.]
Then what am I supposed to do!
He was busy enough just dodging. He felt like his head would be taken off by that sword if he even opened his mouth for a second.
[Pour out everything you can do.]
As Mitchell rolled across the ground, he chewed over Kalian's words.
'Everything I can do?'
He didn't know exactly what that meant.
While he was pondering, the sword flew in again. As he quickly spread his legs, the sword slammed into the ground between his thighs.
Before the next attack could follow, Mitchell pressed one hand against the floor and kicked off the ground.
His body floated upside down in the air.
In his inverted vision, he saw Barque's sword flying toward him.
He pulled his sword back to defend.
