I Pulled Out the Excalibur

Chapter 74 – Hunter, or Hunted (5)

Najin’s exceptional reflexes turned out to be a double-edged sword.

When an arm stretched out from the curved path in the underground sewer, Najin instinctively widened his eyes to identify and prepare for what was held in that hand. Indeed, his reflexes were remarkable and his intention succeeded.

But success doesn’t always mean it’s the best outcome.

Najin saw the lantern held in the outstretched hand. The flame burning eerily blue within the lantern flickered. The moment the flickering flame was reflected in Najin’s eyes, he felt as if the world had turned upside down.

He could see the eerily burning flame.
The burning flame cast shadows.
The shadowflame was imprinted on Najin’s retina.

The change occurred in an instant. First, his sense of balance was lost; second, the scenery he saw with his eyes distorted; and third, his internal sensations became a mess. Am I standing? Have I fallen? Or is it something else…

A confusion of sight and sensation.

-Najin!

Yet the voice echoing within him remained undistorted. It was not heard with the ears but was a resonance of the soul. As Merlin’s voice echoed, Najin clenched his teeth.

Even amidst the chaos of his senses, Najin felt ‘something’ approaching him. Trusting his intuition, Najin extended his arm and kicked the ground.

Ratatatatat!

Bone stakes shot towards Najin, embedding themselves in his body. However, the bone stake aimed at his face was blocked by Najin’s outstretched hand, and his kick off the ground prevented the stakes from piercing any vital points.

An astonishing movement given the disarray of his vision and senses. But that was all. Najin, who had leaped without seeing his surroundings, plunged into the waterway of the sewer.

Splash, and then swoosh…

Almost simultaneously as Najin fell into the water, an arrow was shot. The arrow, flying through the air, burst through the corpses blocking the way and headed towards the hand holding the lantern. Yet, the arrow did not pierce the arm.

Creak, creak, creak.

A protective spell cast over the arm caught the arrow. Soon, with a loud crack, the spell shattered. That a single arrow could destroy a mage’s protective barrier was astonishing, but… it didn’t improve the situation.

Click.

And then she revealed herself around the bend. Holding the eerily burning lantern and adorned with ornaments made of human bones, the dark mage Fauve smiled.

“Quite impressive.”

A bracelet snapped and fell to the ground. It was a bracelet that had absorbed the impact of the protective spell. A bracelet that could withstand four strikes from an average Sword Expert was destroyed in one hit.

An impressive force, but Fauve seemed merely amused, not significantly perturbed.

She still had many relics on her person. Fauve looked leisurely at the ranger aiming a crossbow at her and smiled.

“But is that okay? Your companion has already fallen into the sewer. Aren’t you going to save him?”

With that, she tapped her staff on the ground. Rings of magic appeared behind her. Fauve swayed the lantern she held, smiling.

“Falling into the water after being affected by this once… You’ll never be able to climb out. If you don’t go save him now, he’ll drown. Shouldn’t you dive in after him?”

A single ring. Bone stakes.

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Swoosh, as the bone stakes shot through the air towards Kapman, he pulled the trigger of his crossbow. With a loud thud, his poncho fluttered from the recoil.

Crash.

The arrow shattered the bone stakes. The arrow, slicing through the cloud of bone dust, stopped right in front of Fauve. This time, the arrow could not break through Fauve’s barrier. The focused barrier in front of her caught the arrow.

“So cold-hearted. I’m not fond of men without loyalty.”

Fauve clicked her tongue, aiming her staff.

“But what to do? There’s nothing more helpless than an archer without a vanguard.”

One, two, three. Three rings of magic rose behind her. Not just the rings appeared behind her, but also two dark mages and corpses with their eyes rolled back emerged from the curved path.

The corpses were a mix of knights and inquisitors.

They were either the first to rush in or those recently defeated by the dark mages. Watching this, Kapman clicked his tongue. Things just got more troublesome.

Ranger, Kapman Theosis, assessed the situation.

Two dark mages of the second circle. One dark mage of the fourth circle, and over twenty corpses they could utilize as mediums. This alone would make them difficult to confront without preparation…

‘And they possess a masterpiece too.’

The lantern-shaped masterpiece, Shadowflame. The precise effects of this masterpiece were unknown. However, seeing how Najin lost his balance and fell into the water when the lantern flickered, it was likely…

A hallucinogenic or sensory disruption type.

The flame in Fauve’s lantern was nearly extinguished. Observing the flame slowly growing in size, it seemed the relic required a recharge time. With this in mind, Kapman exhaled deeply.

A challenging opponent.
And this was their territory.

They had yet to fully assess their prey and were at a disadvantageous battlefield. But… so what? Kapman was a ranger, and before that, a soldier. He had fought more in unfavorable conditions than favorable ones.

What mattered was turning the situation around.

The corpses rushed towards Kapman. The knight and inquisitor corpses stood guarding Fauve, while the dark mages behind the advancing corpses chanted their spells.

Setting up a vanguard and preparing powerful magic. Even as dark mages, they resorted to conventional tactics.

“Tsk.”

Kapman clicked his tongue and pulled the trigger of the ballista, letting his body go with the recoil. There was no need for precise aim against the corpses charging head-on.

Thud.

With the recoil, Kapman was pushed significantly back. As he retreated, he let go of the ballista. The ballista fell to the ground with a thud, and Kapman’s hand had already reached inside his poncho.

What emerged from the poncho was a throwing dagger.

The dagger thudded into the corpses, significantly reduced in number by the large arrow. Between the corpses that fell with pierced heads, Kapman gained a clear view. Fauve and two dark mages gathered together, with her pointing a staff at them.

Blood droplets floated above the staff Fauve aimed.

Kapman knew what that magic was. A favorite of blood alchemists and necromancers. Blood-based magic, requiring a large amount of blood, difficult for anyone but those of the blood sect to use… but not for dark mages.

They didn’t need to use their own blood.

There were corpses that hadn’t been hit by the dagger or arrow, their skin shriveled up. As if all the blood had been drained from them. The blood extracted from the corpses swirled above Fauve’s staff.

Three rings of magic.
3-circle magic, Bloodray.

The spell came as its name suggested. A ray of blood shot from the tip of the staff. Kapman was well aware of this spell, favored by dark mages, and he knew how to counter it as well.

As he lowered his stance, Kapman flicked his fingers. The throwing daggers embedded in the corpses glowed a pale blue. Kapman might not have been a mage, but he knew how to handle magical artifacts. The more weapons at his disposal, the better.

The spell engraved on the five daggers was ‘Refraction.’

The pale blue glowing daggers refracted the bloodray. Dodging the zigzagging ray, Kapman extended his arm forward. His target was the dark mages standing beside Fauve.

Thwack.

An arrow shot from the crossbow mounted on his forearm. The arrow disrupted the dark mages’ chanting. With the few seconds gained, Kapman drew the great bow slung on his back and nocked an arrow to the string.

The action, repeated thousands, if not tens of thousands of times, was smooth, and the bowstring was pulled to its limit.

Screeeeech!

The refracted bloodray, melting the sewer walls, circled back. The deadly ray returned at a terrifying speed. Before the ray could reach his back, Kapman aimed to thin their numbers. Just as he was about to release the bowstring.

Gurgle.

An unexpected sound was heard. Something burst through the water, breaking the surface tension. Splashing water droplets, Najin emerged from the sewer, bone stakes embedded in his body, already wrapped in sword aura.

Spinning in mid-air, Najin planted his sword into the sewer ceiling. Securing the sword in the ceiling and retracting the sword aura, Najin then planted his feet on the ceiling.

All this happened in one second.

The sword, once again wrapped in glowing sword aura, was drawn from the ceiling. With the sword in hand, Najin kicked off the ceiling, charging towards Fauve.

“…!”

Fauve, who had been aiming at Kapman, swiftly redirected her staff towards Najin. Just as the bloodray, scraping the sewer walls, was about to target Najin.

Swoosh.

Kapman released the bowstring in an instant decision. The arrow targeted Fauve’s staff. The ray of blood, emanating from the staff’s tip, began to melt the arrow, but before it could completely dissolve, the arrow struck the end of the staff.

The trajectory of the staff, aimed at Najin, was altered. The bloodray narrowly missed Najin by a hair’s breadth, and he, twisting his body, swung his sword.

A brilliant arc of white sword aura traced a semicircular path. The sword aura, swung in an arc, struck down upon the protective spell around Fauve. The spell, which could have easily withstood four blows from an Expert, could not withstand Najin’s strike.

Crack.

Najin’s sword strike broke through the defense. Just as the tumultuous sword aura was about to reach Fauve’s neck, a loud explosion of the protective spell occurred.

2-circle spell, Barrier of Rejection.

The resulting repulsion force pushed Najin significantly backward. He was propelled back to where Kapman stood, exhaling deeply. There, Kapman looked at Najin with a bemused expression.

“…You’ve managed to survive, impressively.”

A murmur of disbelief. Najin didn’t mention how, upon falling into the water, he had instinctively thrust his aura-wrapped sword into the wall and moved blindly against the current. He merely relayed brief information.

“That hallucination lasts about 1 minute and 30 seconds.”

From the moment his senses twisted, Najin had been silently counting. The duration of the masterpiece’s effect, whatever it was that caused the shadowflame. Sharing this timing, Najin gasped for breath.

Bone stakes were still embedded in his body, and his breathing was harsh from holding his breath underwater.

His condition wasn’t great, a result of receiving a critical hit during their first encounter without any information. As Najin removed the bone stakes from his body, he regulated his breathing.

“Kapman, sir.”
“Speak.”
“How many can you handle?”
“You first.”

Najin, sword in hand, gazed ahead. The two dark mages gathered with Fauve and their summoned corpses seemed somewhat challenging to handle alone.

“This crazy bastard…!”

While the two conversed, Fauve glared at Najin, eyes wide with fury. Despite using the Barrier of Rejection, Najin’s sword aura had managed to graze her skin just before she was pushed away.

Blood dripped from her neck as she pressed her palm against it, grinding her teeth.

She cursed under her breath while roughly tapping the lantern at her waist. The fully recharged Shadowflame flickered eerily blue once more. As Kapman was about to close his eyes at the sight of the flickering lantern, Najin’s voice reached him.

“I’ll take care of her.”

Kapman heard Najin’s voice.

“Handle the rest as you see fit.”
“What?”

A tone of command. Before Kapman could retort, questioning the sanity of such a statement, Najin stomped on the ground. A loud thud resonated, and cracks spread across the sewer floor.

A burst of acceleration.

Najin surged forward. Kapman, with his eyes closed, didn’t see it, but he gasped. The fleeting presence he felt was too ferocious.

With the ground as his launchpad, Najin sprinted forward.

Rapidly drawing mana, Najin’s speed rivaled that of a Sword Seeker. The dark mages couldn’t follow his movement with their eyes.

By the time they realized, Najin was already upon them.

However, the corpses of the knights and inquisitors managed to react to Najin’s movement, albeit belatedly. They swung their swords at Najin, and Fauve extended her lantern towards him. But Najin had already closed his eyes.

He could feel their presence even with his eyes shut.

Najin took another step forward, maintaining his momentum and swinging his sword. As the Barrier of Rejection shattered, attempting to push Najin back, he reached out with his hand.

…The repulsion from the Barrier of Rejection occurs ‘twice.’

The first instance focuses on the weapon that broke the barrier, occurring instantly, and the second, a wider repulsion, follows shortly after. Having heard this from Merlin and just experienced it, Najin seized the opportunity.
Having experienced it, he swung his sword with one hand.

The sword that broke the barrier, and his left hand holding the sword, were flung back, but his right hand remained. Najin’s extended right hand grasped Fauve’s collar. As the repulsion force began to push Najin back, Fauve’s neck tightened in the grip of her robe.

“Gack!”

Her breathing disrupted, her magical power scattered.
Najin wouldn’t miss this opportunity. He drove his foot down, leveraging the repulsion to hurl Fauve away.

Fauve was thrown far into the distance.

She was separated from the assisting dark mage and the protective corpses. The knight corpse swung its sword and the inquisitor brandished its spear, but by then, Najin was already sprinting towards the isolated Fauve.

Najin charged at Fauve, still with his eyes closed.

Fauve clenched her teeth as she watched Najin, who was running towards her with his eyes still closed. Was he planning to fight blindfolded? Let’s see if he could manage that. As she caressed her neck and swung the lantern vigorously, she thought to herself.

The Shadowflame was a masterpiece. If simply closing one’s eyes could neutralize it, it wouldn’t be called a masterpiece.

‘The moment he falls for it again.’

This time, she would pierce his torso with a beam of blood. As a smile formed on Fauve’s lips at this thought, Najin opened his eyes. He then stared directly into the flickering flame.

His eyes, wide open, were tinted with a platinum hue.