Science/Magic 117 Finding Clues In An Unexpected Place

By the way, double chapter tomorrow...

...

Inside the building, the slavers continued their conversation.

"… Boss, what are we going to do then?"

"I'll go to see the master." The leader of the slavers spoke. "Meanwhile, keep an eye on them. Once I confirm the situation, we will make a move. Remember, we need to be quick. We can't attract the attention of the city guards."

"Hahahaha, great. I can already see the expression of the young man after we capture him and his girlfriends… Boss, can we play with the girls after we capture them?"

The boss frowned in displeasure, but before he could scold his subordinate, his expression changed.

"Careful!"

But it was too late.

In an instant, a wave of metallic sand flooded the room where they were reunited.

The wave moved quickly. In an instant, it covered the entire room. Then, It turned into chains that wrapped around the people inside.

"d.a.m.n it, what is this!?" The slaver of before tried to struggle against the chains, but–

*Bam!*

Together with that sound, his eyes opened wide.

A hole had appeared in the location of his heart.

"Why don't you repeat the words you just said? Whose girls were you planning to play with?"

When the ice-cold voice sounded, a blue-haired man appeared suddenly from the shadows, holding an energy gun in each hand.

"Y-You!"

"Enemy!"

The slavers reacted. Each one of them took the most appropriate measure in the current situation. Their mana surged out and attacked against the chains, trying to get rid of them.

Bot how could they get rid of Leto's chains so easily? Only the three B-Ranks managed to get free, and only because Leto was using part of its strength to restrain the C-Ranks.

But before the B-Ranks could do anything, Bloed pressed the trigger of his guns repeatedly.

*Bam Bam Bam Bam!*

With pinpoint accuracy, each bullet pierced the vitals of the C-Ranks trapped in the chains.

In just seconds, only the three B-Ranks and Bloed remained standing.

Bloed whistled in admiration. "As expected, using Leto to ambush weak enemies like this is a very good strategy. They did not even have the chance to struggle before they were killed."

"It's you!" One of the B-Ranks spoke in rage. It was the man that Bloed intercepted before. "How are you here!?"

Bloed smiled gently. "Of course, thanks to you. You brought me here after all."

The man's expression changed. "You followed me!"

"Well, you and your companions had been following us for a while. I was just curious about your motives. But slavery huh… That is a very sick thing."

Before the man could reply, he was stopped by the boss. "… Bloed Norman, that is your name, right?"

"Nice to meet you."

"… Such strength at such a young age. You should not be someone unknown. However, you are too arrogant. Do you think you can take the three of us by yourself?"

"Well, I can try." Bloed shrugged indifferently.

The boss chuckled. "I see. Unfortunately, I'm not planning to fight you. But don't worry, you will know about us soon. Do you think you can kill our men without consequences!?"

Then, as though they had planned it long ago, the three B-Ranks jumped in different directions.

Towards the windows and the entrances!

Even for Bloed, stopping three B-Ranks from escaping was impossible.

But he did not need to stop them.

With a thought, Leto turned into metallic chains that followed one of the B-Ranks. At the same time, two figures materialized from nothing in front of the two remaining B-Ranks.

They were Liu Yin and Regina!

The two B-Ranks were stunned. However, their reaction was not slow. Instinctively, they attacked the new enemies.

*Bam!* *Swing!*

After a punch from Liu Ying and a slash from Regina, the two B-Ranks were forced to retreat.

"… So you came prepared, huh." The boss looked at Bloed and the girls with narrowed eyes while he evaded Leto's chains.

Bloed shrugged. "Well, it would be troublesome if one of you escapes and comes back with new friends later. I think it's better if we kill all of you here."

The boss's expression fell. Then, it turned into a ferocious look.

"You will have to stop us first!"

*Boom!*

The boss kicked the floor and charged towards Bloed. His speed was so fast that his steps demolished part of the floor!

Bloed remained calm. With a twist of his body, he avoided the enemy's blade and unsheathed his saber. Then, he slashed towards the boss.

Sounds of alarm ringed in the boss's ears. Instinctively, he decided to avoid the slash instead of parrying it. But the feeling of danger did not diminish, instead, it increased!

The next second, he saw an energy bullet flying towards his face.

Helplessly, he could only use the blade to receive the bullet, but that left him exposed to the next attack of Bloed's saber.

Moreover, three metallic chains surged from the ground and entangled his feet.

'd.a.m.n it!' The slaver cursed. A torrent of mana surged towards his legs, destroying the chains and allowing him to jump back.

But unfortunately, he did not manage to avoid Bloed's saber completely.

A slash injury had appeared on his chest.

The boss cursed inwardly. 'd.a.m.n, is this monster truly a C-Rank?'

Looking around, he could see that his two other companions were completely suppressed. One of them was being repeatedly injured by the silver-haired girl, while the other was being suppressed by the demon girl with the help of the metallic chains.

'It looks like our only option is to stall for time. With this commotion, our men outside surely already noticed that something is wrong.'

Unfortunately, he did not have much time to think. Bloed kicked the ground and pressed on the attack, using a combination of sabersmanship and gunmanship to slowly suppress the boss.

Moreover, Leto would use its chains occasionally to obstruct his movements. If not by the fact that Bloed was using Leto's chains to support Liu Ying as well, he could have finished the fight much faster.

Even so, it was no good news for the boss. He could see his men were struggling to face the other two girls.

And soon, his fears turned into reality.

*Swish!*

With a swing of Regina's energy blades, the head of one of the B-Ranks flew away!

Not even two seconds later, the other B-Rank was trapped by Leto's chains and was unable to avoid Liu Ying's punch.

*Boom!*

"Ugh, cough…"

The man groaned, vomited his internal organs, and collapsed dead.

Now, the boss was the only one alive.

"Give up." Bloed spoke calmly. "You don't have an opportunity against the three of us."

The boss chuckled darkly while using his mana to suppress the injuries caused by Bloed's attacks. "Do you truly believe I'll give up?"

Inwardly, though, he was coursing his men for taking so long to appear.

Bloed seemed to read his thoughts because he smiled. "Are you perhaps waiting for reinforcements? Oh, I forget to tell you. I made sure that n.o.body outside this building can hear what is happening here."

The boss froze. One second later, he smiled bitterly.

"So you were planning to do a clean job since the start."

"Well, it would be troublesome if the person or organization behind you discovers that we were the ones that killed you. Having a mysterious enemy trying to kill us is not a very good prospect. So, why don't you answer a few questions for us? I promise you we will kill you quickly after that."

The boss chuckled again. He had been had.

However, Things were not going to go as Bloed expected.

"… I never thought I was going to have to use this."

It happened just after the boss finished speaking.

His clothes... were torn apart.

Dark tentacles erupted from his chest, creating a nauseating scene. At the same time, his skin turned dark and pale, and his expression turned ferocious.

"Hahahaha, if I will die, then let's die together!"

And power erupted from his body.

Bloed was stunned. Looking at the transformation of the man, he cursed his luck in his mind.

Having studied it recently, Bloed needed only a glance to identify the abomination on the man's chess.

It was a Devourer/Blight.

He had found a clue about those monsters in an unexpected place.