A sharp tip flew towards him repeatedly without stopping.
Rei deflected, parried, and blocked every successive thrust while skillfully wielding the huge Death Scythe.
Originally, Oricule’s rapier shouldn’t have been a weapon capable of matching the Death Scythe.
No, considering the characteristics of a rapier as a weapon, it shouldn’t have been able to clash head on against a long sword, let alone the Death Scythe. What made it possible was that Oricule’s rapier was a work of Esta Nord, considered the greatest alchemist in all history……and that wasn’t all.
No matter what kind of weapon it was, if the wielder’s skill was poor, it would be inferior to a wooden sword wielded by a master. The main reason Oricule was able to match the Death Scythe was because of his outstanding skill.
With each swing with his right hand, a gale like thrust flew forward.
At first glance, Oricule was attacking Rei one sidedly, with Rei only focusing on defense, but the balance gradually started to tilt the other way.
……Yes, towards Rei’s favour.
Kin-Kin-Kin-Kin-Kin-Kin-Kin-!
In an instant, countless metallic sounds echoed out.
It was the sound of the rapier tip being instantly dealt with by the Death Scythe’s blade, shaft, or pommel.
With a small smile on his lips, Rei slowly started taking steps towards Oricule, first one, then two.
Due to the pressure coming from Rei, Oricule stopped attacking for a moment as he took a few steps back.
However, there was no impatience in his expression. No, rather, he even seemed quite relaxed.
「……What are you planning? It seems like you’re quite relaxed even though you’re cornered.」
「Well, who knows? Have you forgotten? All we have to do is to buy time without losing. Right now, the Silva family……well, I wonder what’s happening?」
Oricule tried to provoke Rei, but all he got back was a mocking smile.
Seeing that, Oricule spoke with a slightly uncomfortable frown.
「What’s wrong?」
「No, I know that you’re serious about what you said. ……Certainly, Elena has gone to the Silva family. But can you really do that much in Exil, which isn’t even your home territory? You guys can do nothing more than move behind the scenes, so your strength should be limited, right? Also, you already have 20 or so people here as well.」
Rei glanced over towards Vihera.
There, the robed figures, who understood each other’s movements through just gazes and gestures, linked their attacks together silently.
Alternatively, some of them threw daggers towards Vihera’s magic claws to shift their attacks and help their comrades.
Those who were beaten or kicked out were caught to stop them from taking excessive injuries from slamming into a wall.
The robed figures were fighting Vihera with masterful cooperation, but even so, they couldn’t make up for the decisive difference in strength and one by one, like a comb losing teeth, their numbers gradually dwindled.
Among the robed figures lying on the ground, the most fortunate ones were probably unconscious. On the other hand, the most unfortunate ones were those with their necks bent in unatrual angles, or those who had been slashed and torn to pieces by Vihera’s claws, killing them.
「As you can see, how long do you think they can hold out against Vihera?」
As Rei said that, he brought the blade of the Death Scythe down towards Oricule.
Seeing that, Oricule’s rapier stance changed to a defensive one as he shifted his center of gravity back to defend against Rei’s attack.
「Hmm, as far as I can see, this is really a crisis for us. However……why do you think we’d come out even knowing the difference in ability?」
「Ability, huh. Could it be you have high hopes for those dolls? It’s true that we’re in a somewhat unfavourable situation over there.」
As if to restrain Rei’s movements, Oricule swayed the blade of his rapier.
He moved as if measuring the timing of something……and the next moment, he dashed forward, rapidly closing the distance between him and Rei.
A lightning fast thrust shot out again.
Even though the attacks were sharper and faster than before, Rei used the blade of the Death Scythe to defend.
「Corrosion, corrosion, corrosion, corrosion, corrosion.」
At the same time Rei repeated used the Death Scythe’s Corrosion skill.
However……
(Tch, that’s a very sturdy rapier. As expected of Esta Nord’s work.)
No matter how many times he used Corrosion, even after it reached level 3, there was no visible effect on the rapier’s blade.
「What’s wrong? You seem to have been muttering the same words for a while now, I’d be happy if you’d let me buy more time.」
Oricule stopped his storm of thrusts and leapt back as he spoke to Rei.
「No, I’m just wondering how to clean you up. ……Well, even if I can’t use that, there are many other options.」
While holding the center of the Death Scythe’s shaft, Rei started to spin the Death Scythe.
Round and round.
As the speed of the spinning Death Scythe increased, the sound of it tearing through the air gradually grew louder.
Oricule frowned his eyebrows as he became wary of Rei’s unexpected actions.
And then……
「Fuuuu-!」
Letting out a sharp breath, Rei swung the rapidly spinning Death Scythe.
If the thrusts Oricule had released earlier had pierced through the air, Rei’s attacks tore right through it.
And, it was faster than any attack Rei had made with the Death Scythe before……
Of course it didn’t end there.
As Oricule focused on dodging the slashes while waiting for an opening.
「Penetrate.」
Along with the words Rei muttered, the wind wrapped around the Death Scythe’s shaft……the next moment, instead of a slash, Rei thrust out with the shaft of the Death Scythe.
It’s speed was comparable to Oricule’s thrusts, and purely in terms of speed, it might even have been faster.
「What-!?」
Oricule managed to dodge Rei’s attack, partly because of his own skill, but also because it was a single attack compared to his own countless thrusts.
……However, even so, the wind clad shaft still managed to pierce through his cloak.
It wasn’t because of the Death Scythe itself, but rather the wind that was wrapped around it.
That moment of surprise……created an opening for Rei.
「You’re too naive-!」
Not missing this opening, Rei’s next attack was a slash from the Death Scythe’s blade. The blade swung from lef to right, straight across Oricule’s body……however, the results completely betrayed Rei’s expectations as the blade stopped at Oricule’s body and did not slice through. ……Still, as the Death Scythe weighed over 100kg, so despite not slicing Oricule in half, Rei’s inhuman strength succeeded in blasting him away.
Oricule was sent flying like a stone thrown by a child, but somehow managed to regain his balance in mid air before landing on the ground.
「Hey, you. Don’t get in the way!」
After finally slowing himself down to a halt, he ended up where Byune and Nakuto were fighting the dolls.
Anyone could see how powerful Rei’s previous attack had been from the trails on the floor as Oricule slid back.
However, Rei cast a questioning gaze towards Oricule.
His attack had definitely been a fatal one. With a horizontal slash empowered with a significant amount of magic power, Oricule’s body should have been split in two.
But, instead of his organs being scattered to the surroundings, he was only blasted away with his body intact and still alive. Rei couldn’t overlook that irregularity.
However, looking over at Oricule, he soon understood the cause.
The rapier in his right had was still the same rapier from before. But, in his left hand, Oricule was holding a sword too long to be called a dagger but too short to be called a long sword. Only one side had a blade while the other had a comb like edge.
It was a weapon designed to catch the blade of an enemy’s sword with the comb like edge and break it. In other words, it was a sword breaker.
(Also, after receiving the Death Scythe’s attack, it wasn’t destroyed. Even if it’s not as strong as the rapier made by Esta Nord, it’s still a powerful magic weapon, isn’t it?)
Most people who wielded a rapier would also use another weapon for defense in their non-dominant hand. For example, a main gauche with a large guard, otherwise known as a parrying dagger, to block enemy attacks……or a sword breaker, like the one Oricule had, to break the blade of an enemy’s sword.
「I didn’t think you’d still have a trick up your sleeve.」
「Since I’m fighting you, Crimson, I’ll naturally prepare a trick or two.」
「Hey, didn’t you hear me tell you to get out of the way?」
The doll at Oricule’s feet spat out in frustration.
For a moment, Oricule glanced down at the doll that was telling him that he was being a nuisance……
Tsu-! Suddenly hearing the sound of something cutting through the air, Oricule deflected several needles that flew towards his face.
「I may have intruded into your fight, but I would like you to clean up your own problems responsibly. Even though there aren’t many of them, you can’t even deal with two thieves……」
Oricule told that to the doll at his feet as his eyes stayed on Rei.
There was an unmistakable sense of disgust in his tone.
「You……are you calling Pree-sama a fool!?」
Hearing the doll’s words, all the other dolls, who had been wary of Byune and Nakuto, turned to face Oricule at the same time.
Because they were dolls, they gave off no murderous intent. But even so, it was clear the dolls did not like what had been just said.
「It is not the Marschel family’s technology I am questioning, just you. If you would like to say otherwise, then I hope you will help me by capturing or killing those two thieves as soon as possible.」
Hearing his words, Nakuto’s mouth twisted in disgust.
From their series of exchanges, it was clear that the relationship between the Marschel family and the Church of Holy Light was by no means a good one. Because of that, with the conversation that had just happened, he had hoped it would cause a decisive rift between the two……Nakuto had a faint hope for that, but it seemed like it wouldn’t come true. All Oricule’s words did was to make the dolls, who had been struggling against them, attack even more violently.
Watching from a distance, Rei could understand why.
(Does he want to quickly take out Byune and Nakuto so those dolls can harass me or Vihera?
Oricule had chosen to fight Rei because although he didn’t consider that he could defeat him, he thought he would be enough to just stop Rei.
He was now doing the exact opposite of what he said he was going to do, but it was probably because Oricule had reached the conclusion that he would be overwhelmed if he really tried to just hold out against Rei.
「Fine. I’ll show you the power of things created by Pree-sama.」
However, that meant nothing to the dolls, it was unacceptable that Pree’s skills, the skills of their creator, would be looked down on because of themselves. In the first place, when the dolls were given a pseudo ego, Pree had added a strong sense of loyalty towards herself. It wasn’t much different from what the believers of the Church of Holy Light felt towards the goddess they worshipped.
However, since neither the dolls nor the believers of the Church of Holy Light recognised each other sincerely, even if they were told their feelings were the same, they would both deny it.
「Everyone, let’s do it. For Pree-sama!」
When the doll at Oricule’s feet shouted out, the other dolls followed suit and began to attack Byune and Nakuto.
The speed of their attacks grew faster and, as a result, the number of attacks increased.
The skills originally required from a thief were not combat skills. Naturally, a certain amount of combat power was necessary, but even so, the main job of a thief was carry out reconnaissance, disarm traps, and set traps.
「Damn it, I can’t keep this up!」
While deflecting a doll’s spear with a dagger, Nakuto turned to look over at Tivia, who was still unconscious at the center of the magic circle.
As he battled with the frustration swirling inside his head, Nakuto stabbed out with his dagger while dodging the attack of another doll with a long sword.
A sharp tip flew towards him repeatedly without stopping.
Rei deflected, parried, and blocked every successive thrust while skillfully wielding the huge Death Scythe.
Originally, Oricule’s rapier shouldn’t have been a weapon capable of matching the Death Scythe.
No, considering the characteristics of a rapier as a weapon, it shouldn’t have been able to clash head on against a long sword, let alone the Death Scythe. What made it possible was that Oricule’s rapier was a work of Esta Nord, considered the greatest alchemist in all history……and that wasn’t all.
No matter what kind of weapon it was, if the wielder’s skill was poor, it would be inferior to a wooden sword wielded by a master. The main reason Oricule was able to match the Death Scythe was because of his outstanding skill.
With each swing with his right hand, a gale like thrust flew forward.
At first glance, Oricule was attacking Rei one sidedly, with Rei only focusing on defense, but the balance gradually started to tilt the other way.
……Yes, towards Rei’s favour.
Kin-Kin-Kin-Kin-Kin-Kin-Kin-!
In an instant, countless metallic sounds echoed out.
It was the sound of the rapier tip being instantly dealt with by the Death Scythe’s blade, shaft, or pommel.
With a small smile on his lips, Rei slowly started taking steps towards Oricule, first one, then two.
Due to the pressure coming from Rei, Oricule stopped attacking for a moment as he took a few steps back.
However, there was no impatience in his expression. No, rather, he even seemed quite relaxed.
「……What are you planning? It seems like you’re quite relaxed even though you’re cornered.」
「Well, who knows? Have you forgotten? All we have to do is to buy time without losing. Right now, the Silva family……well, I wonder what’s happening?」
Oricule tried to provoke Rei, but all he got back was a mocking smile.
Seeing that, Oricule spoke with a slightly uncomfortable frown.
「What’s wrong?」
「No, I know that you’re serious about what you said. ……Certainly, Elena has gone to the Silva family. But can you really do that much in Exil, which isn’t even your home territory? You guys can do nothing more than move behind the scenes, so your strength should be limited, right? Also, you already have 20 or so people here as well.」
Rei glanced over towards Vihera.
There, the robed figures, who understood each other’s movements through just gazes and gestures, linked their attacks together silently.
Alternatively, some of them threw daggers towards Vihera’s magic claws to shift their attacks and help their comrades.
Those who were beaten or kicked out were caught to stop them from taking excessive injuries from slamming into a wall.
The robed figures were fighting Vihera with masterful cooperation, but even so, they couldn’t make up for the decisive difference in strength and one by one, like a comb losing teeth, their numbers gradually dwindled.
Among the robed figures lying on the ground, the most fortunate ones were probably unconscious. On the other hand, the most unfortunate ones were those with their necks bent in unatrual angles, or those who had been slashed and torn to pieces by Vihera’s claws, killing them.
「As you can see, how long do you think they can hold out against Vihera?」
As Rei said that, he brought the blade of the Death Scythe down towards Oricule.
Seeing that, Oricule’s rapier stance changed to a defensive one as he shifted his center of gravity back to defend against Rei’s attack.
「Hmm, as far as I can see, this is really a crisis for us. However……why do you think we’d come out even knowing the difference in ability?」
「Ability, huh. Could it be you have high hopes for those dolls? It’s true that we’re in a somewhat unfavourable situation over there.」
As if to restrain Rei’s movements, Oricule swayed the blade of his rapier.
He moved as if measuring the timing of something……and the next moment, he dashed forward, rapidly closing the distance between him and Rei.
A lightning fast thrust shot out again.
Even though the attacks were sharper and faster than before, Rei used the blade of the Death Scythe to defend.
「Corrosion, corrosion, corrosion, corrosion, corrosion.」
At the same time Rei repeated used the Death Scythe’s Corrosion skill.
However……
(Tch, that’s a very sturdy rapier. As expected of Esta Nord’s work.)
No matter how many times he used Corrosion, even after it reached level 3, there was no visible effect on the rapier’s blade.
「What’s wrong? You seem to have been muttering the same words for a while now, I’d be happy if you’d let me buy more time.」
Oricule stopped his storm of thrusts and leapt back as he spoke to Rei.
「No, I’m just wondering how to clean you up. ……Well, even if I can’t use that, there are many other options.」
While holding the center of the Death Scythe’s shaft, Rei started to spin the Death Scythe.
Round and round.
As the speed of the spinning Death Scythe increased, the sound of it tearing through the air gradually grew louder.
Oricule frowned his eyebrows as he became wary of Rei’s unexpected actions.
And then……
「Fuuuu-!」
Letting out a sharp breath, Rei swung the rapidly spinning Death Scythe.
If the thrusts Oricule had released earlier had pierced through the air, Rei’s attacks tore right through it.
And, it was faster than any attack Rei had made with the Death Scythe before……
Of course it didn’t end there.
As Oricule focused on dodging the slashes while waiting for an opening.
「Penetrate.」
Along with the words Rei muttered, the wind wrapped around the Death Scythe’s shaft……the next moment, instead of a slash, Rei thrust out with the shaft of the Death Scythe.
It’s speed was comparable to Oricule’s thrusts, and purely in terms of speed, it might even have been faster.
「What-!?」
Oricule managed to dodge Rei’s attack, partly because of his own skill, but also because it was a single attack compared to his own countless thrusts.
……However, even so, the wind clad shaft still managed to pierce through his cloak.
It wasn’t because of the Death Scythe itself, but rather the wind that was wrapped around it.
That moment of surprise……created an opening for Rei.
「You’re too naive-!」
Not missing this opening, Rei’s next attack was a slash from the Death Scythe’s blade. The blade swung from lef to right, straight across Oricule’s body……however, the results completely betrayed Rei’s expectations as the blade stopped at Oricule’s body and did not slice through. ……Still, as the Death Scythe weighed over 100kg, so despite not slicing Oricule in half, Rei’s inhuman strength succeeded in blasting him away.
Oricule was sent flying like a stone thrown by a child, but somehow managed to regain his balance in mid air before landing on the ground.
「Hey, you. Don’t get in the way!」
After finally slowing himself down to a halt, he ended up where Byune and Nakuto were fighting the dolls.
Anyone could see how powerful Rei’s previous attack had been from the trails on the floor as Oricule slid back.
However, Rei cast a questioning gaze towards Oricule.
His attack had definitely been a fatal one. With a horizontal slash empowered with a significant amount of magic power, Oricule’s body should have been split in two.
But, instead of his organs being scattered to the surroundings, he was only blasted away with his body intact and still alive. Rei couldn’t overlook that irregularity.
However, looking over at Oricule, he soon understood the cause.
The rapier in his right had was still the same rapier from before. But, in his left hand, Oricule was holding a sword too long to be called a dagger but too short to be called a long sword. Only one side had a blade while the other had a comb like edge.
It was a weapon designed to catch the blade of an enemy’s sword with the comb like edge and break it. In other words, it was a sword breaker.
(Also, after receiving the Death Scythe’s attack, it wasn’t destroyed. Even if it’s not as strong as the rapier made by Esta Nord, it’s still a powerful magic weapon, isn’t it?)
Most people who wielded a rapier would also use another weapon for defense in their non-dominant hand. For example, a main gauche with a large guard, otherwise known as a parrying dagger, to block enemy attacks……or a sword breaker, like the one Oricule had, to break the blade of an enemy’s sword.
「I didn’t think you’d still have a trick up your sleeve.」
「Since I’m fighting you, Crimson, I’ll naturally prepare a trick or two.」
「Hey, didn’t you hear me tell you to get out of the way?」
The doll at Oricule’s feet spat out in frustration.
For a moment, Oricule glanced down at the doll that was telling him that he was being a nuisance……
Tsu-! Suddenly hearing the sound of something cutting through the air, Oricule deflected several needles that flew towards his face.
「I may have intruded into your fight, but I would like you to clean up your own problems responsibly. Even though there aren’t many of them, you can’t even deal with two thieves……」
Oricule told that to the doll at his feet as his eyes stayed on Rei.
There was an unmistakable sense of disgust in his tone.
「You……are you calling Pree-sama a fool!?」
Hearing the doll’s words, all the other dolls, who had been wary of Byune and Nakuto, turned to face Oricule at the same time.
Because they were dolls, they gave off no murderous intent. But even so, it was clear the dolls did not like what had been just said.
「It is not the Marschel family’s technology I am questioning, just you. If you would like to say otherwise, then I hope you will help me by capturing or killing those two thieves as soon as possible.」
Hearing his words, Nakuto’s mouth twisted in disgust.
From their series of exchanges, it was clear that the relationship between the Marschel family and the Church of Holy Light was by no means a good one. Because of that, with the conversation that had just happened, he had hoped it would cause a decisive rift between the two……Nakuto had a faint hope for that, but it seemed like it wouldn’t come true. All Oricule’s words did was to make the dolls, who had been struggling against them, attack even more violently.
Watching from a distance, Rei could understand why.
(Does he want to quickly take out Byune and Nakuto so those dolls can harass me or Vihera?
Oricule had chosen to fight Rei because although he didn’t consider that he could defeat him, he thought he would be enough to just stop Rei.
He was now doing the exact opposite of what he said he was going to do, but it was probably because Oricule had reached the conclusion that he would be overwhelmed if he really tried to just hold out against Rei.
「Fine. I’ll show you the power of things created by Pree-sama.」
However, that meant nothing to the dolls, it was unacceptable that Pree’s skills, the skills of their creator, would be looked down on because of themselves. In the first place, when the dolls were given a pseudo ego, Pree had added a strong sense of loyalty towards herself. It wasn’t much different from what the believers of the Church of Holy Light felt towards the goddess they worshipped.
However, since neither the dolls nor the believers of the Church of Holy Light recognised each other sincerely, even if they were told their feelings were the same, they would both deny it.
「Everyone, let’s do it. For Pree-sama!」
When the doll at Oricule’s feet shouted out, the other dolls followed suit and began to attack Byune and Nakuto.
The speed of their attacks grew faster and, as a result, the number of attacks increased.
The skills originally required from a thief were not combat skills. Naturally, a certain amount of combat power was necessary, but even so, the main job of a thief was carry out reconnaissance, disarm traps, and set traps.
「Damn it, I can’t keep this up!」
While deflecting a doll’s spear with a dagger, Nakuto turned to look over at Tivia, who was still unconscious at the center of the magic circle.
As he battled with the frustration swirling inside his head, Nakuto stabbed out with his dagger while dodging the attack of another doll with a long sword.
