Chapter 55
An Attack From Behind
The sword Raymond swung at me darkened into an unnatural black.
It seemed as if he had activated his ability, but I already knew what kind it was.
I had seen Raymond use it when fighting monsters.
So instead of blocking his strike, I quickly dodged to the side.
Fsssh—
A few strands of my hair that his blade sliced off corroded and vanished in midair.
Corrosion ability.
That was his power.
Anything that brushed against the longsword imbued with his ability quickly corroded and broke.
No matter how well-made the sword, a few clashes with this one would shatter it.
So instead of blocking with my weapon, I dodged and deflected as much as possible.
Seeing me evade all his attacks, Raymond smirked with a slightly reddened face.
“Is dodging like an eel all you can do?”
“Not at all.”
I immediately showed him another trick.
Thud—
I plunged my sword vertically into the ground, and sharp ice spiked up around it like thorns.
Unfortunately, Raymond managed to avoid being pierced by the ice pillars.
However—
“Ugh…!”
His dodge wasn’t perfect.
He grabbed his bleeding leg that had been grazed by the spikes and stepped back.
The look in his eyes as he stared at me was even more sinister than before.
“Such pointless tricks.”
“I was just showing another trick since you said dodging like an eel was all I could do. Is that a problem?”
“…”
Hearing my taunt, Raymond, who glared at me as if he wanted to kill me, glanced at Karl.
“Sir Karl. Heal my wound with your ability.”
“…”
“Hurry! Not healing me for this woman would be a betrayal to His Majesty! Do you not care if your sister dies from illness?”
Karl bit his lip hard, then finally used his ability to heal Raymond’s wound.
This confirmed it. He had decided to side with Ernant, not me.
Ha…
I let out a sigh that carried the storm of sadness and betrayal inside me.
But now was not the time to be consumed by such emotions.
I focused again and swiftly closed the distance to Raymond, looking for an opening.
“Foolish…”
Muttering that, Raymond tried to block my attack with a sword imbued with his full ability.
If our blades clashed, mine would turn to scrap instantly.
It seemed Raymond wanted to destroy my only weapon by maximizing his ability.
I’m sorry, Raymond, but I wasn’t foolish enough to let him dictate our clash.
Thwack!
I lunged at him but stopped just short, kicking up the snow from the ground with full force.
Towards Raymond’s face.
Momentarily blinded, Raymond shouted in frustration.
“Such cowardly…!!”
Yes, I agreed that throwing snow or dirt was cowardly.
In a duel between knights, doing something like this would earn a lifetime of scolding.
But…
“Don’t you know the more cowardly survive longer in real battles?”
In a situation where one might lose their life, worrying about cowardice is pure foolishness.
I could do anything to protect this hard-earned new life.
Whether it was throwing dirt in the opponent’s eyes or fleeing like mad.
Shick—
Just like with Karoline, I cut off both of Raymond’s arms entirely.
Momentarily blinded by the snow I kicked up, he failed to dodge in time.
His severed forearms tumbled to the ground.
I pressed the tip of my sword to the now powerless Raymond’s neck and suggested:
“Surrender. Since your arms are gone, you have no choice.”
Raymond stared at his severed arms, still unable to comprehend what had happened.
I glared at him coldly and said:
“Get up. Return to camp, and I’ll report to the commander exactly how you attacked me.”
“…Do you think he’ll believe you? I’ll claim you attacked me without reason first. With no witnesses, he won’t be able to tell the difference. That Oscar, wasn’t it? The one with far-seeing ability? He’s probably busy preparing camp and didn’t see us.”
“Hah. The commander won’t care what you bark. Our trust isn’t weak enough to be broken by a deceitful tongue.”
“Really…?”
Raymond muttered with a strangely ominous smile.
“But sometimes, someone you trusted deeply stabs you in the back, doesn’t it? Just like now.”
“…?”
By the time I realized something was off with Raymond’s words, it was already too late.
Thunk—
A chilling cold blade pierced my skin from behind.
I slowly turned around.
The first thing I saw was Karl’s face, drenched in guilt.
“I’m sorry, Deputy Commander.”
I slowly lowered my gaze to his hands.
He held a dagger, its blade plunged into my side, behind my ribs.
Karl had stabbed me.
I didn’t want to accept it, but this was the reality.
“You… How could you…”
Pain and shock made me unable to speak properly. Karl closed his eyes tightly.
Then he twisted and pulled the dagger out with force.
“…!”
The pain was different from being clawed or bitten by a monster. It radiated through my spine into my whole body.
It hurt. Not just because the blade pierced my flesh.
But because it came at an unexpected moment from an unexpected person.
“I’m sorry. Truly, I’m sorry, Deputy Commander. But for my sister’s sake… His Majesty’s research must continue.”
Did Karl realize? His every apology only deepened my pain.
The excuse that he had no choice because of his sister tore my heart further.
Unconsciously, a bitter laugh escaped me.
Truly, nothing had changed since before I regressed.
Before, as now, it wasn’t monsters that drove me toward death.
It was betrayal by someone I trusted.
That was the true danger to fear.
“Yulia! Please answer! Yulia!”
Martin’s voice echoed across the snowy plain.
It had already been three hours since the team began searching for the missing Yulia.
Yet she had not appeared before them.
Shouting her name again, Martin turned to Karl beside him.
“Are you sure you saw Yulia heading east to gather firewood?”
Karl answered casually.
“Yes, she definitely went that way. After that, she disappeared. Didn’t Raymond see her too?”
Now fully healed by Karl’s ability, Raymond nodded with a worried expression.
“Yes, I saw her. Perhaps she had an accident there…”
In truth, they had lured Yulia toward a hill to the south.
But there were still traces of the battle there, so Raymond and Karl fabricated a story to confuse the search.
Yulia went east to gather firewood, they claimed.
Believing Karl, Martin ordered a search in that direction, but Yulia’s trail could not be found.
Martin rubbed his eyes in frustration and called Oscar.
“Oscar. Are you using your ability to search properly?”
“Yes, but Deputy Commander’s traces are still not found.”
During Yulia’s fight with Raymond, Oscar had been busy preparing camp.
So he hadn’t used his far-seeing ability and had witnessed nothing.
Thanks to careful planning, Raymond and Karl lured Yulia at a time when Oscar’s attention was elsewhere, leaving no witnesses.
Bang! Despite the ongoing search, Martin could not find Yulia and slammed his fist into a nearby tree.
With the heavy atmosphere, everyone cautiously glanced at each other. Maximilian hesitantly spoke to Martin:
“Commander, the sky is darkening.”
“…”
“If we encounter monsters at night, it will be dangerous. Perhaps we should stop the search for today and continue tomorrow…”
Grinding his teeth, Martin looked up at the sky.
Maximilian was right.
Even while Martin desperately searched for someone so important, the merciless darkness of night covered the sky without waiting for him.
