Pick Me Up!

Chapter 265: Like Killing Insects (5) (1)

The assassin girl, skilled with her sickle, met a fate far too hollow for her abilities.

Had she been able to use her engraving powers, the outcome might have been different. I flicked the blood off my sword. Jenna, her face pale, coughed heavily.

“Are you okay?”

“Somehow… it seems like… I didn’t die. Cough!”

“That’s all that matters.”

I helped her up.

“Whew… I really thought I was done for,” Jenna said, wobbling to her feet.

From the front car of the train, the sound of clashing steel continued intensely.

Two shadows collided sporadically, sparks of blue light bursting between them. With a loud clang, the two figures separated.

“You’ve gone awfully quiet. Nothing more to say?” Velkist wiped the cut on his cheek with his arm.

It wasn’t a minor wound. His sleeve was soaked in blood. In contrast, Spira stood unharmed.

She twirled her dark kukri, then looked at us.

“Heh, I taught you not to let your guard down. Guess the second-string just couldn’t help it.”

Even though her comrade had died, there wasn’t an ounce of disturbance in her demeanor.

Instead, the smile on her lips grew even wider. I left Jenna where she was and joined Velkist.

The situation: two against one.

“Well, I could finish you both off here…”

Spira’s eyes shifted.

A couple of helicopters, armed to the teeth, were approaching alongside the speeding train.

“But I can’t use my assassination techniques here, and it seems I don’t have the time either.”

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“Always barking orders like a pack of dogs.”

The Vulcan cannons mounted on the helicopter pointed in our direction.

Spira licked her lips with her tongue.

“Stay hidden here for as long as you can. If you come out… you’ll die instantly. Oh, and by the way, my eldest sister’s going to make her move soon, so enjoy your last moments while you still can.”

Spira grinned broadly as she tucked her kukri back into her sleeve.

“Esten, let’s go.”

“See you soon.”

Spira winked at me.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

There was a light explosion from the front of the train.

I leaped backward in a hurry.

Screeeeech!

The blast caused the train to partially derail from the tracks.

Despite the sparks flying from the wheels, the train continued to push forward.

‘Of course… she had more allies.’

This was just the beginning.

Judging from her calm demeanor, it seemed they had prepared a backup plan in case the ambush failed.

‘Annoying.’

Just when we were about to press on with our mission, these nuisances showed up.

I sheathed my sword. Winning a fight or two wouldn’t bring this to an end.

“She’s stronger than I expected,” Velkist spat, wiping the blood from his lips.

Even Velkist, who was toughened through countless battles and drills, had a hard time.

“I never thought I’d be pushed back like this by anyone other than my superior.”

“Well, she’s a ranker.”

It was fortunate we were fighting here. If we had been outside, the situation would have been much worse without our engravings.

Given the circumstances, it was a relief that we could even engage in close combat.

“By the way, are we just going to stand around like this?” Jenna scratched her cheek.

“Because, you know, it feels like the train is about to fall.”

Velkist and I both looked forward at the same time.

The train, now half off the tracks, was plummeting toward the buildings below.

“…..”

After escaping the train, we were subjected to a lengthy debriefing by the company officials.

Jenna, veins bulging on her neck, passionately argued our case. She insisted that they had provoked the fight first and that we were not to blame.

And honestly, she wasn’t wrong. The others, unlike Jenna, hadn’t received the antidote. True to the claims about the special poison, ordinary antidotes had no effect. Most of the others were in critical condition. The security chief had even come by to issue a stern warning that the ringleaders of this terrorist attack would pay the appropriate price.

“What’s the plan from here?”

“Who knows?”

We were back on the deck of the Lucette, our airship.

I lay down, one foot propped up against the railing.

“What do you think we should do?”

“Of course, we should pursue them! Sitting here won’t accomplish anything. Doing something is better than nothing.”

“There are times when doing nothing is the best course of action.”

The promotion test for the six-star rank had been canceled.

Most of the participants had been eliminated beforehand, so there was no way it would proceed as planned.

We returned to the Lucette on the docking platform to discuss our next move.

“I think Vel’s right. We have to do something! I need to pay them back for what they did to me!” Jenna rolled up her sleeves.

“…..”

I looked up at the sky.

We could move out right now.

But what if they were lying in wait outside?

‘Would dragging this out really work to our advantage?’

They had figured out that Niflheimr and I were connected.

There’s no way those assassins would have attacked blindly without any plan. No matter how confident they were in their abilities, the truth was the same as before—assassins are inherently weak in open combat. If Spira hadn’t been an assassin, this fight would have played out very differently.

‘Hmmm.’

I turned my gaze to my left ring finger.

There used to be a ring there, a gift from Yurnet.

It was called the Proof of the Fallen. A symbol of my position as the ruler of Niflheimr. Without it, it was hard to stay in touch with her. If I could communicate with her, the situation would be much easier…

I swallowed hard.

The familiar voice echoed in my head.

“Give me a moment. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

I stood up and headed inside the ship.

I entered the storage room and locked the door.

“How are you contacting me? I don’t even have the ring.”

“Then why didn’t you contact me for a week…?”

An investigation.

I narrowed my eyes.

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