「UOOOOOH-!」

With a roar, a spear thrust out, piercing through the leather armour of a man.

「Guh, these small fry……」

As the man stepped back, holding his pierced side, two men, one with a dagger and one with a long sword, stepped forward to cover him.

While being protected by the two, the first man took a potion out from his chest pocket and poured it over his wound to heal it.

「Nakuto!」

「I know!」

As the spear wielder, Essetus, shouted out, there was an immediate response.

Essetus was relieved to hear his partner’s words as they stood back to back. But, when he realised that Nakuto’s response was filled with impatience, he couldn’t stay relieved as he glared sharply at the people surrounding them.

Essetus and Nakuto were currently in the back streets of Exil’s slums.

They had come here while asking around the city for information regarding recent missing people. But, the two of them had been immediately attacked as if they had been waiting for them.

Normally, they might have assumed this to be the work of bandits, because they were near a slum.

……But, there was a decisive reason why the man Essetus just speared wasn’t an ordinary bandit.

That was because……

「Where did you guys take Tivia! Tell us now!」

Essetus’ shout echoed out into the surroundings.

Yes. One of the men who had attacked them was undoubtedly one of the people who had kidnapped Tivia and cut off Goto’s arm and leg.

「Hah-, how would I know.」

The man who healed the wound on his side with a potion responded to Essetus before speaking again as if to provoke him.

Although it wasn’t instant, the speed at which his wound was healing was clearly faster compared to using ordinary potions, which showed that the potions he was using was more effective than the ones that could be bought at a store.

Feeling his injury healing, the man spoke provocatively.

「Well, she’s probably having a lot of fun right now. ……It’s a shame though. She was such a good woman even though she only has one arm.」

The man grinned as he licked his lips.

The blood rushed to his head when Essetus saw that and he held up his spear again as he took a step forward.

「YOU……YOU BASTAAAAAAAAAAAARD-!」

His spear, which was thrust in anger and blood lust had a lot more strength behind it, but was noticeably slower than his previous strike.

One of their attackers used a long sword to parried the spear before sliding the blade down the shaft……

「Essetus!」

The moment the blade was about to reach Essetus, Nakuto threw a dagger at the man with the long sword, forcing the man to quickly pull back.

(Damn it, these guys are strangely strong……I didn’t think they were that strong when they kidnapped Tivia.)

As he unsheathed another dagger from his waist, Nakuto calmly analysed the enemies strength in his mind.)

(There are nine of them, one is wounded, but he can still heal himself with potions and return to fighting.)

He glanced at the enemies around them while looking for a way out.

Nakuto was convinced they wouldn’t let them go, seeing how close to the slums the two of them were. Still, he stayed on guard, looking for an opportunity.

「You lot, why did you attack Tivia……no, what are you attacking adventurers!?」

Essetus yelled out in anger, but the men surrounding him didn’t respond as they drew their weapons.

The reason why even their longest weapon was just a long sword was because it was difficult to wield long weapons inside the city.

In fact, Essetus didn’t have the space to use sweeping attacks, one of the basic attacks of a spear, and had been forced to only use thrusts.

However, the fact that he had still managed to wound one person showed that Essetus had extraordinary skills.

「You guys were too persistent. Now even the Silva family is involved.」

The man who’s side had been pierced spoke with a mocking smile.

「Oguru, you talk too much. What’s the point in giving them useless information.」

Another man reprimanded the person called Oguru, but he didn’t seem to care as he kept talking.

「These guys are going to die here anyway. Might as well give them some treats. ……That one armed woman will be on her way soon. Don’t you think it would be kind of me to send them to the same place? The Chur-……」

「Oguru-!」

The man didn’t let Oguru finish and rebuked him even more strongly than before.

(I see. As far as I’ve heard from these guys, at least Tivia is still alive.)

Hearing those words, Nakuto was filled with hope, but immediately thought about how they were supposed to get out of their current situation.

Each one of their enemies were strong, about as good as themselves……even if they weren’t as good, there were nine of them. In a normal fight, no matter how hard they tried, they had no chance of winning.

(In that case, we have no choice but to run away.)

He turned to look at Essetus, who was glaring at the man named Oguru with face red and blood rushing to his head.

After hearing clues about their kidnapped comrade and being provoked, Essetus was unlikely to accept running away, even if told to do so.

(Is there something I can do to shake them up……is there anything? Something……something……?)

Nakuto frantically thought in his mind while keeping the daggers in his hands ready to stop the men surrounding them.

As he collected the words and actions of the men in his head, he suddenly noticed something strange.

The words Oguru had been about to say a moment ago before one of his companions interrupted him.

「The Church……?」

Hearing those words from Nakuto, the surrounding men were shaken slightly.

He didn’t know what had caused them to be shaken, but it was definitely a once in a lifetime chance for Nakuto and Essetus. Dashing forward, he shot out like an arrow in a drawn bow.

Weaving through the gaps in the leather armour, Essetus thrust his spear into the shoulder of one of the men.

There was a sound of glass breaking and something wet leaking out as he struck.

A potion container that had been under the armour had been destroyed.

At first glance, the potion container looked like it was made of glass, but it was actually quite sturdy. It wasn’t fragile enough to break due to ordinary impacts while moving around, but it still wasn’t strong enough to survive a direct hit from a speear.

「No-!」

「As expected you also had a potion!」

Next to Essetus, Nakuto’s daggers flashed, slashing the eyes of one man before immediately slashing the eyes of a second, disabling them both in an instant.

「Damn it!」

Possibly angered by seeing two of his comrades being taken out, one of the men shouted out as he swung down his long sword.

「Tch-!」

Nakuto immediately twisted his body to the side to avoid the attack, which caused him to be unable to avoid the kick directed at his legs, knocking him on his backside.

「Nakuto!?」

As Essetus shouted out, one of the men tried to swing his long sword down at Nakuto……

Something flew out at a tremendous speed, striking the blade of the long sword and deflecting it.

「What!?」

It was a completely unexpected attack. Realising that it would be dangerous if what they were doing was exposed, the men immediately started to pay attention to their surroundings.

However, they couldn’t sense the presence of the person who had just attacked them.

Furthermore, it didn’t just stop there.

The men surrounding Essetus and Nakuto noticed something rapidly approaching them.

It was filled the bared presence of fighting spirit and blood lust.

A moment later, it became clear who their opponent was.

For a moment, something purple entered their vision and the next moment, they collapsed to the ground unconscious.

In the blink of an eye, more than half of the seven men, excluding the two that Nakuto had slashed, were on the ground unconscious.

The remaining three had their eyes go wide as they looked at the person who had suddenly appeared.

At the person standing between them and their targets, Essetus and Nakuto.

Her brushed back reddish purple hair reached her arms and her figure could be described as bewitching.

She was dressed like a dancer or prostitute, wearing many layers of thin cloth, while her legs and arms were bare, only her hands and feet covered. Only the blades attached to her hands and feet gave her away as a fighter.

……Her clothes aside, her eyes where filled with fighting spirit and a lust for battle that was more suited to a warrior.

Many men thought her bewitching expression was there to seduce them, but in essence, she was only looking to fight.

「The Mad Beast, Vihera……」

「Fufu, you seem to know my name. From what I’ve seen you guys seem to be pretty good at what you do……but, it is a bit strange to attack two people in a place like this, isn’t it?」

「This had nothing to do with you. Just stay out of it and get the hell out of the way.」

「That’s fine with me. ……But, my female instincts tell me there’s a better fight to be had. There’s also my partner.」

She gave a quick glance.

In the direction of her glance was a girl……or perhaps it would be better to call her a child.

「Mm.」

The petite girl gave a short response as she placed several 10cm long needles between her fingers as she looked towards the men.

They must have realised it was one of those needles that had caused the long sword to be deflected as it swung down at Nakuto earlier. Their gazes changed from looking at her as a child to one of wariness.

「……Go away. This has nothing to do with you guys. You don’t want to get involved in any trouble yourselves.」

One of the remaining men pointed the dagger in his hands away from them.

However, all he got back was Vihera’s provocative smile.

「Unfortunately, these two people are acquaintances of the person I’m attached to.」

「Mm.」

Byune gave a brief nod to Vihera, who asked her for confirmation.

As a thief who explored the dungeon, Byune was naturally good at collecting information.

That said, her own communication basically consisted of single sound sentences. Her collection of information was mostly eavesdropping on what others talked about in the bars or guild.

And, she had just heard a rumour that Rei had saved the members of Essetus and Nakuto’s party in the dungeon a few days ago.

As their party was somewhat famous in Exil, Byune naturally knew what kind of people the members of the party Sonic Blades were.

For Byune, Rei and Elena were likable people who cared about her as a survivor of the Fraut family, and she wouldn’t hesitate to help out their acquaintances now that she didn’t have any pressing business.

As to why Byune was near the slums, she had been on her way back from a delivery quest from the guild. Vihera had been worried that she would be dragged into something strange and had followed along. That said, there was also her intention of running into someone who usually wouldn’t be out and about in the city to fight.

『……』

At the words of the two new people, the men silently exchanged glances.

They were naturally confident in their own abilities, but if asked if they could take on Vihera, the Mad Beast, before it became a big commotion, their answer would be no.

However, that didn’t mean they could leave Essetus and Nakuto alone after their snooping about. Nor could they leave behind their comrades.

After thinking about their various options, they finally decided to withdraw temporarily.

「……Let’s leave.」

Along with those words, those who could still move held back Vihera and the others while the rest quickly retreated with the companions they could.

「Damn it, wait!」

「Stop. You know you won’t be able to beat them no matter how hard you try, right?」

「But, Tivia!」

Essetus tried to say something to Vihera, who stopped him, but by that time, the men, including Oguru, had already disappeared.

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