306 – Struggling
As soon as I identified the other person, my relaxed mind tightened with tension.
The masked man.
He, whose name is not even known exactly, hides his identity and actually leads Drakan in place of the leader who rarely appears.
In terms of overall combat power, it is by far the 1st place.
He was, in fact, a being who reached the limit of what humans can reach, to the extent that it is safe to call him a transcendental level.
Even when he tried to eliminate Drakan’s stronghold before, he was able to overwhelm Evan, the head of the enforcement headquarters, in a one-on-one confrontation. If Evan hadn’t sacrificed his life to save his time, I wouldn’t have been able to get through the gap in time.
Honestly, I wasn’t confident that I could win in a head-to-head match.
It was best not to encounter him. So when he boarded the train safely, he was relieved that he would be able to get to the association without dealing with this guy.
The other person knew our destination.
That is why it proudly showed itself inside the inevitable train.
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It would be great if the train compartments could be separated and removed like at the time of Dietrich’s battle, but I did not expect the author to be easily fooled by such a shallow move.
“You seem to have a lot on your mind.”
The masked man spoke in a calm tone, without any signs of agitation, even though a battle was about to unfold.
If the opponent does not attack first, I have no reason to refuse.
The longer you wait, the more advantageous it is. Even at this moment, the train is moving toward the association, and in the meantime, I am also gradually recovering my stamina.
More than anything, night is not far away.
The sun is slowly setting, so if I can hold on just a little longer, the sky will turn dark and I will be able to use the power of Eldina.
So, I decided to respond to the other person’s conversation with a happy heart.
“I just want to ask you one question. “Why are you chasing us?”
I expected that there would be an enemy attack from the moment I woke up Eldina.
But the enemies I thought were the apostles of God, not Drakan.
According to the information I’ve heard so far, Drakan’s ultimate goal of targeting us is for the second coming of the dragon, but I couldn’t understand how we could connect with the dragon.
This flow could not be seen even beyond the rift of time.
In the first place, dragons were only mentioned occasionally in the original story, but never actually appeared.
If I know for sure what the other person is aiming for, I feel like I would rather negotiate with them and ask them not to interfere, saying that I will cooperate here.
Of course, he won’t really help Drakan and will only pretend to do so, wasting time.
Because I have no desire to become a colleague of an evil organization that kills people without any hesitation.
But even such a trick cannot be used unless you know Drakan’s purpose.
“There is only one reason. “Because that is the captain’s order.”
The masked man didn’t seem to have any intention of answering meekly.
Well, I didn’t really have any expectations from the beginning. Even when I asked other members, they all repeated the same answer, so I had expected them to be so vague.
Perhaps he thought that further conversation was unnecessary, the other person kept his mouth shut and began to raise his magic power.
I wanted to take a little more time, but for now, I have no choice but to engage in battle.
“Please stay back.”
“···Be careful.”
Eldi I stepped behind her and gave her a worried look at me.
She also seems to have a general idea of how strong her opponent is.
Yes. It will be difficult to resolve this fight through psychological warfare or a battle of numbers like before.
The enemy will cover his face with a mask and try to calmly subdue me without being swayed by anything I say.
He has excellent judgment, so there is a high possibility that he will not even blink an eye at the most psychological warfare.
In the end, it is a head-to-head match. A clash of pure combat power.
If things go that way, there is a high probability that I will lose. I think I have a chance of winning if I somehow manage to turn the fight into a variable.
“You still have a lot to think about. “Go away.”
At that moment, dark magic overflowed from both of his hands, and the entire world began to turn dark, like ink spreading.
I watched the change calmly without losing my sense of tension.
The opponent is a wizard who deals with darkness.
But I am also an apostle of the Goddess of Night.
No matter how advantageous this darkness was to him, it was the same to me.
I could feel my magic power and stamina slowly recovering.
At that time, the masked man stretched out his hand forward, a hole appeared in the air, and the arms of a huge beast attacked me.
I hurriedly dodged to the side and threw the card, but the darkness surrounding the opponent easily bounced the card away.
Bam!!
The beast’s arms hit the floor roughly and scratched the wall with their sharp nails, trying to cruelly tear me apart.
Let’s respond calmly. First, when you hold out the magic hat, a pure white rabbit jumps out from the hole and jumps at the enemy.
The beast’s arm lightly catches the rabbit and crushes it with force. Pow! White smoke billowed out along with the sound effect.
And when I opened my palm, two cute rabbits were copied.
“···Funny prank.”
The masked man muttered slightly displeasedly and manipulated the beast’s arm to throw the rabbits far away.
The rabbits that hit the floor roughly had the same effect as before, and when the rising smoke cleared, they had multiplied to four this time.
The rabbits jump up and approach the opponent.
They were insignificant rabbits that seemed to pose no danger on the outside, but the opponent was not alert and swung his arms to block their approach.
The more the rabbits continued, the more they doubled in size, accompanied by pure white smoke.
When the inside of the train started to become crowded with soft cotton balls, the other party seemed to have come to the conclusion that there would be no end to this.
Anyway, rabbits are a nuisance that does not cause any harm and only increases in number the more you touch them.
Rather than paying attention to this, I realized that it was a much easier option to deal with me directly.
But I guessed that kind of trend from the beginning, so I played first.
Pong! With that cute sound, I also transformed into one of the pure white rabbits swarming around the train.
“···Tsk.”
The other person showed his displeasure with a brief clicking sound and swung his beast’s arm, slaughtering the rabbits near where I was just moments ago.
The rabbits multiplied enormously with smoke rising.
It may have seemed comical at first, but as the attacks continued, the number of rabbits increased rapidly.
At this point, it was no longer just cute. The rabbits that filled the inside of the train, so crowded that they built mountains among themselves, gave off a disgusting impression.
If I had ignored it when there was just one at first, this wouldn’t have happened, but it’s already too late to regret it now.
However, such pranks were just inconvenient and annoying, and were never threatening attacks that could cause direct damage to the opponent.
Nevertheless, the masked man did not let down his guard and did not let down his guard.
All of my colleagues except myself had already fallen to me, so in a way, it was a natural reaction.
Furthermore, since I am hidden among such a large group of rabbits, I guess they are even more alert because they don’t know when I might suddenly jump out and attack them.
I’m sorry, but I don’t plan on doing that. My goal is only to buy time before arriving at the Association.
So, unless the other person responded first, I planned to continue hiding among the rabbits and dragging out the situation.
“···Indeed. “Is this an intention to waste time?”
But the other person quickly figured out my intention.
And then, without hesitation, he explosively gathered magical energy and released it all at once, violently releasing darkness throughout the entire area inside the train compartment.
This was not an attack that could be avoided by hiding among the rabbits!
I immediately lost my disguise and returned to my original form, raising a red handkerchief to hide myself from the darkness.
The attack was somehow prevented, but the rabbits on the train suddenly disappeared.
This is a magic that is almost like an illusion, and if I don’t concentrate, it will go away. In other words, the moment you use different magic at the same time, all the rabbits disappear.
“It’s a pretty fun prank, but if that’s all it is, it’s disappointing.”
The thorns of darkness rising from the ground came fiercely towards me, tearing through the floor of the train.
The moment I rolled to the side to avoid the attack, a hole appeared in the ceiling and the beast’s legs trampled me mercilessly.
“Gagging!!”
I lost consciousness for a moment due to the dizzying pain.
The opponent, without any mercy, poured out attacks without missing the opportunity when I was neutralized.
An ominous shadow-like figure flew through the air, attacked me, and bound my body.
The pressure that threatened to break my body began to engulf me as I collapsed in my seat.
And then the pitch-black thorn does not miss its target this time and pierces it clearly.
“Ugh…!!!”
As I screamed in pain, the masked man looked down at me with blunt eyes, as if he was confident of victory, and came closer step by step.
“···Stop.”
At that time, Eldina came forward and blocked her opponent’s path.
The masked man could have killed her immediately, but instead he stopped for a moment and quietly looked at the woman in front of him.
“It’s you. “The key the captain is looking for.”
“If you need anything, I’ll follow you. So stop now.”
“Hmm. It’s not a bad thing if you cooperate obediently. “Because if you die, you’ll be in trouble.”
A brief moment of time given by Eldina.
It seems like she wants to sacrifice herself for me, but there’s no way I can tolerate an ending like that.
I forced my trembling body to stand up and took out a card from my pocket.
I wanted to save Joker as much as possible, but…
I have no choice but to use it now.