Chapter 86: My Enemy Owes Me One [Part 2]

Chapter 86. My Enemy Owes Me One [Part 2]

She started walking toward the forest.

I followed several paces behind.

Not beside her.

Maybe she really was Duke Harven’s daughter and had genuinely been attacked.

Or maybe someone knew I had entered Hollowgrave and arranged something considerably more elaborate.

Unlikely didn’t mean impossible.

If this was a trap, letting her walk ahead gave me time to react.

My Abyssal Eye remained active as we moved between the trees.

My detection formation disappeared behind us as we left its effective range.

Evelyne kept glancing over her shoulder at me. Every time she did, she immediately faced forward again, as though checking whether the blood-covered stranger was still following somehow made the situation worse.

My attention shifted from her to the possibilities surrounding her identity.

Harven’s estate was difficult to penetrate. His servants were carefully selected, his guards loyal, and his household security significantly better than the average noble’s. Planting someone inside had always required either patience or unnecessary risk.

Yet now I had stumbled across his daughter in the wilderness.

A perfect opportunity.

Twenty Mind Corruption slots.

Mira already occupied one.

If I could place another controlled person inside Harven’s household, I’d gain better access to information.

My gaze settled on Evelyne’s back.

But using her...

Something around her neck flashed beneath the fading sunlight.

My eyes narrowed.

A silver necklace rested against her collarbone, mostly concealed beneath the torn edge of her traveling coat. The pendant was small, elegant, and expensive, shaped like overlapping silver leaves surrounding a pale blue gemstone.

Mana moved through it.

I focused Abyssal Eye.

Layers of protective enchantments became visible immediately.

Mental interference resistance.

Foreign mana rejection.

Corruption suppression.

That necklace was specifically designed to resist invasive mana and corruption.

Trying Mind Corruption on her would be troublesome at best and detectable at worst.

That didn’t mean this opportunity was useless.

A surviving guard.

A servant.

A coachman.

Someone who returned to Duke Harven’s estate because his beloved daughter personally vouched for them.

Now that could work.

The thought remained comfortably in the back of my mind as I followed Evelyne through the forest. Evening had settled deeper between the trees, turning the spaces beneath the branches into long stretches of blue-gray shadow. She moved more confidently now that the Health Potion had restored some strength, although every snapping twig still made her shoulders twitch.

Around ten minutes later, the smell reached me.

Blood.

A lot of it.

Evelyne smelled it too.

Her pace slowed.

We emerged through the trees, and I finally saw what remained of her carriage.

Okay, calling it a carriage was generous.

One wheel had been ripped completely off. The front section had collapsed inward, the wooden frame was covered in enormous claw marks, and half the roof had been torn away. One horse lay dead near the road while the other was nowhere to be seen, presumably having made the intelligent decision to resign from noble transportation and pursue a new career somewhere far away.

Bodies were scattered around the wreckage.

Guards.

The driver.

Several monsters were crouched over them.

Evelyne made a strangled sound beside me.

[Carrion Fang]

[Rank: D]

[Attribute: Earth]

Another.

[Carrion Fang]

[Rank: D]

There were five altogether, low-level quadrupedal monsters with gray hides, oversized jaws, and claws designed more for scavenging than serious combat.

One lifted its head from a corpse.

Blood dripped from its muzzle.

Evelyne yelped.

I moved.

[Eclipse Light Manipulation]

Silver-black light gathered inside my palms before condensing into two daggers.

This time, I made absolutely certain Evelyne was watching.

I’d already wasted one perfectly good demonstration because she’d fainted. I wasn’t repeating that tragedy.

I lunged.

The nearest Carrion Fang barely had time to turn before I reached it. Abyssal Reinforcement surged through my legs, but I kept the visible magic limited to the two strange daggers in my hands.

My right blade plunged beneath its jaw.

I extended it.

The short dagger lengthened inside its skull.

Its body jerked once before collapsing.

I withdrew the blade, twisted around the corpse, and ducked beneath another monster as it leaped toward me.

Its claws passed over my hood.

My left foot pivoted.

The movement carried my body around its flank almost like a dancer turning around a partner, except most dancers didn’t finish the motion by driving a magical dagger through someone’s ribs.

Probably.

The blade entered.

Extend.

The Carrion Fang screamed as silver-black light erupted through its opposite side.

I dissolved the dagger before its body could trap the weapon.

The third monster charged from behind.

I heard it.

No need to look.

I stepped forward, lowered my center of gravity, and spun as its jaws snapped shut where my shoulder had been.

My dagger swept across its throat.

Blood sprayed over my sleeve.

Not deep enough.

So I reversed my grip and stabbed again.

The blade entered through the same wound.

Then I extended it downward through the chest.

Its legs immediately folded.

Three.

The remaining two hesitated.

Interesting.

Even D-rank monsters possessed enough survival instinct to recognize when dinner had suddenly started murdering the customers.

One backed away.

The other growled.

I smiled beneath my hood.

"Come on."

It charged.

I moved first.

Abyssal Reinforcement pushed my body beyond ordinary human limits, but I deliberately kept my movement fluid rather than explosively magical. No obvious magus behavior.

Just footwork.

Timing.

Violence.

I slipped past its claws, planted one hand against its shoulder, and used the contact to swing myself around its body.

The Eclipse dagger plunged behind its front leg.

Extend.

Its growl became a wet choking sound.

I ripped the blade free.

The last Carrion Fang ran.

I’d already spent a Health Potion because of its friends.

It didn’t get to leave.

I sprinted after it.

Three seconds.

That was all I needed.

My reinforced legs closed the distance before it reached the trees. I jumped, landed one boot against its back, and drove the dagger downward between its shoulder blades.

The monster crashed into the dirt beneath me.

My blade extended through its chest and into the ground.

Its body shuddered.

Then stopped.

I stood slowly and looked back.

Evelyne was crouched beside the ruined carriage.

Both hands covered her mouth.

Her face had gone pale again.

But she was conscious.

More importantly, she had watched everything.

From her perspective, she hadn’t seen Rey Valen.

She’d seen a hooded man fighting with strange magical daggers like some kind of assassin or close-combat specialist.

A completely different combat identity was possible.

I dissolved the Eclipse dagger and activated Abyssal Hunter’s Domain.

My awareness spread through the surrounding forest.

Trees.

Animals.

Several weak mana signatures belonging to harmless creatures.

No hostile monsters nearby.

The Crimson Siegehorn had apparently been the major threat. These D-rank scavengers had probably arrived afterward to enjoy the corpses.

I walked toward the carriage. "Nothing else nearby."

Evelyne stared at the blood covering my hands. "W-we should go."

I glanced across the bodies. "Let’s check if anyone is alive."

Her expression changed. "No."

I looked at her.

She immediately seemed uncomfortable beneath my hooded stare.

"We need to leave now," she insisted. "I mean... look at them. They’re all dead."

For some reason, that irritated me more than it should have.

Maybe because I’d heard similar attitudes from nobles too many times in Rey’s memories. Especially from her dad.

Guards were replaceable.

Servants were replaceable.

Commoners were numbers until someone important needed them.

Like father, like daughter, apparently.

"We only need to check."

"But—"

"The nearest safe route is that way." I pointed through the trees. "You can go ahead."

She blinked.

"If another monster comes, though, don’t turn around and look for me."

Her mouth closed.