I Became the Narrow-Eyed Villain in a Dropped Chapter 117 : Chapter 117

Chapter 117:

The advantage of a surprise attack did not last long.

The Ravens, who had quickly reford their ranks, had a clear objective.

It was obvious they planned to tie up and Hugo and deal with the Imperial Guard first.

The Imperial Guard still maintained a solid defensive formation, but with a significant number already injured, it didn't look like they could last long.

'Are they trying to stop the officially sanctioned Imperial Guard from reporting this?'

The Eight Council and the Three Blades were, in the end, organizations that moved in the shadows.

They had the advantage of being able to commit dirty deeds that couldn't be done out in the open, but they couldn't step into the spotlight.

But the Imperial Guard was different.

They were an official military organization that protected the Emperor and also served as his limbs.

Word of the Ravens' intervention reaching the Emperor's ears would be a problem on a whole different level from the displeasure of the Dukes or myself.

I rushed toward the thinnest part of the encirclent.

The Ravens stepped back one by one, seemingly having no intention of actively blocking my path.

'...It seems they're not just harassing the Imperial Guard for that reason alone.'

The path the Ravens opened by retreating led to the Imperial Guard.

This way, it would be logical to naturally join the Imperial Guard and fight.

In the anti, Ivan would get further away.

I changed direction and charged toward the most densely packed area of the enemy.

I had no intention of moving according to the opponent's thoughts.

This ti, the Ravens showed no signs of backing down.

Pajijik!

As I slamd my staff into the ground, lightning sparked out in all directions.

Even the most well-trained person couldn't help but hesitate in a situation like this.

'That's enough.'

While they were loosened by the brilliantly spreading lightning, I quickly escaped the encirclent.

There was no need to deal with each and every one of the guys trying to tie down.

In the end, if they wanted to take the commander's head, they had no choice but to follow .

The ones who noticed my sche began to follow, but they were too slow to catch .

Seeing right in front of him again, Ivan clicked his tongue.

“Where do you think you’re going without catching up with first?”

“I don’t think there’s anything for us to catch up on.”

“That’s what you think. I have a great many things to ask.”

Perhaps thinking it was pointless to run, Ivan assud a fighting stance.

“If you have so much to talk about, why don’t you put down your weapon and co here.”

“As you can see, I am completely unard. This staff is just for my aching legs….”

I heard the sound of a blade approaching from a blind spot.

I lightly twisted my body to dodge it, then struck the head of the retreating Raven with all my might, and the fellow collapsed limply.

“…you see. Well, except for cases like this, of course.”

“In that case, I suppose I should respond in kind.”

Ivan waved his hand a few tis, and the number of Ravens glaring at with wide eyes decreased.

“You’re very confident.”

“It’s just that having too many people around makes things rather awkward.”

Ivan, retorting nonchalantly, pulled a wand from his coat.

It was an item like a magician’s essential, but it wasn't a common sight in the world of The Path of the Demon King.

This was because a wand wasn't absolutely necessary to use magic.

No, in fact, it was common here to manipulate mana without such things.

I was a case in point, and even Til, who was hopeless at magic, could use a 9th-tier spell without such an auxiliary tool.

There were two main reasons for using a magical tool like a wand.

Either you needed to finely control the power of the magic, or you needed to amplify it.

Kwang!!

With a trendous explosion, a large crater ford at my feet.

If I hadn't dodged in ti, even Valheit’s body wouldn't have escaped unscathed.

The power was a problem, but the tier of the spell he used was also a problem.

There were about four or five spells similar to what I just saw, and all of them were 5th-tier or higher.

“I didn’t know you were so well-versed in magic.”

No sooner had I finished speaking than another explosion shook the ground.

“Thank you for the complint. Shall we continue?”

Ivan's expression as he aid the wand was quite serious.

Seeing him show no signs of fatigue even after unleashing such power, this was not a fight that would end easily.

I straightened my disheveled clothes and put a smile on my face.

Because smiling in tis like these was the Valheit way.

“I’d love to.”

***

'Shit, there are so damn many of them.'

Til scowled and swore inwardly.

Finding the Ravens' pursuit team wasn't difficult, but dealing with them was another matter.

They kept leaving one or two people behind to stall for ti, making it difficult to approach the main body of the pursuit team.

Their skills were nothing special compared to Til's, but when they were determined to defend and buy ti, even Til had to hesitate.

“How important is this guy that you’re throwing away your lives to chase him?”

Instead of an answer, a blade ca flying.

She parried it lightly and slashed the opponent's shoulder.

His arm was already in tatters from being cut several tis, but the opponent showed no signs of backing down.

'Tsk. This one seems intent on clinging to until he dies too.'

It had been like this the whole ti.

When one fly that gnawed at her nerves died, another one ca.

There was no end to this.

The last ti she checked, they hadn't caught the curse-weavers, but it was hard to be sure if they were still successfully on the run.

But for now, there was no other way but to slice through the flies one by one.

Just as she made up her mind and gripped her axe again, an unfamiliar noise brushed past her ear.

Shweek!

The opponent also noticed the source of the sound and swung his sword wide.

The arrow that hit the blade fell powerlessly to the ground.

Almost simultaneously, the Raven's head rolled to a stop next to the fallen arrow.

Wiping the blood from her axe roughly on her clothes, Til looked in the direction the arrow had flown from.

It wasn't soone from the Eight Council.

Among the count shadow corps or the Demon Tribe, only one or two people could handle a bow properly.

Besides, the only one with the skill to shoot an arrow so close that it almost grazed Til while hiding it from the Raven was the demon Hillia.

And right now, she should be moving with Kaseph, just like the other demons.

“Hey now, there’s no need to be so cautious.”

“…Co out.”

“Yep, of course.”

A man with a crossbow slung over his shoulder hesitantly erged from the bushes.

Aside from the twigs and leaves stuck here and there, he was neatly dressed.

“A rchant?”

“Oh, how did you know that?”

“That insignia on your shoulder, it's what rchants usually wear.”

“To be precise, it's a comrce permit, but I guess that’s… wait, where are you going?”

As Til turned her body, the rchant raised his voice and waved his hands as if flustered.

But his expression didn't look urgent at all.

Rather, seeing that face, which even held a hint of a smile, Til felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.

“I’m busy.”

“May I follow you?”

“Hah… do as you please.”

She didn't have ti to get into a scuffle with a guy like this.

If she moved fast enough, he'd probably fall behind on his own.

The next fly had already appeared.

A faint sense of bewildernt could be felt on the opponent’s face, as if he felt the line of defense had been broken faster than expected.

Chaeng!

Blade t blade, creating a sharp noise.

Perhaps because of that, the Raven missed another sound.

“Ugh?!”

An arrow was lodged in the man’s thigh.

He staggered once and tried to regain his posture, but his neck had already been half-severed by Til.

'He's no ordinary guy.'

She muttered inwardly as she pushed away the falling corpse.

There were countless cases where even trained people couldn't keep up with the speed of her light movents.

Even in the count shadow corps only Ede could keep up; the rest would quickly fall behind.

It didn't make sense for a rchant to have kept up with that speed.

'Well, that's not what's important right now.'

Following the trail left by the pursuit team, she cut down two more Ravens.

She didn't really want to admit it, but the arrows that flew in from ti to ti were actually quite helpful.

After saving ti like that, the main unit ca into view.

An expression of astonishnt crossed the faces of the pursuit team as they confird Til's presence.

It didn't take long for an axe to be slamd into that surprised face.

Compared to the flies that were determined to cling to her, dealing with these guys who were completely unprepared for battle in their haste to give chase was easy.

She also had the help of the arrows that flew in between.

Just as she was driving a bodkin into the last one’s heart, she heard the sound of soone approaching with difficulty.

“Hah, hah. Is soone going to kidnap you if you slow down a little?”

Til glanced back.

He clearly hadn't followed with ease.

His ragged breathing and reddened face showed that he had used every ounce of his strength to keep up.

And yet, an indelible smile remained on the rchant's face.

Til didn't like it.

“Who are you?”

“Shouldn’t you, ugh, say thank you first?”

The axe blade ca to a stop just short of the rchant's neck.

But the rchant was too busy gasping for breath to be particularly surprised.

“Such a bad personality….”

“I asked who you are.”

“My na is Falsh. I ca to help at Mr. Brauder's request.”

Til frowned, wondering why Brauder's na was suddenly coming up, and then she rembered that Valheit had said he t a rchant and used the alias Brauder.

“That guy asked you for help?”

“Of course. Why else would I be here.”

So he had even prepared insurance like this.

It wasn't strange, seeing as he was the type to prepare everything while smiling his silly smile all the ti.

'That Valheit fellow is way too cautious. Though I did receive help.'

Til, withdrawing her axe, fell into thought for a mont.

How much had Valheit told him?

If he had just told him to help the white-haired woman, she couldn't tell him everything.

He should have told her beforehand so she wouldn't have to worry about this.

“Thanks. You can go back now.”

“What? Isn’t there other work left to do?”

“Did Val… no, Brauder, tell you that much?”

“Nope. I figured it out with my intuition.”

Falsh grinned, tapping his own head.

It was a smile that strangely made her anger surge.

Suppressing the urge to kick him, she nodded her head.

If Valheit sent him, it probably ant his skills and security were guaranteed.

“We need to safely capture and move two people.”

“From whom?”

“These guys.”

Til kicked a corpse with a hint of annoyance.

She didn't know why, but just looking at this guy nad Falsh made her irritation well up.

“Ah, I see. Then how should we, should we split up and search?”

“There’s no need for that. I already know where they are.”

Til whipped her head around and glared at the space between the shrubs.

“You two in there, co out. Unlike those bastards, I don’t need to capture you with all your limbs intact.”

Hiccup.

From between the quiet bushes, the sound of a startled hiccup was heard.

They tried to stop it in a hurry, but the hiccup didn't seem to stop.

“I’ll give you five seconds. 5….”

“P-please spare our lives!!”

A demon suddenly popped out and slamd his head to the ground very neatly.

***

Kwang! Kwaang!

A chain of explosions erupted, and dirt and vegetation rained down from the sky.

Spitting out the dirt that got into my mouth, I shook my head.

“This thod doesn’t suit intelligence work at all.”

“I know how to be quiet when necessary, but I can’t afford to save my strength when dealing with you, Count.”

Now I roughly understood why he had pulled his subordinates back.

He intended to wreck this entire area.

“By the way, how long do you plan on ignoring ? You should give up on the idea of winning with only such low-tier spells.”

“Haha, that’s quite embarrassing.”

I laughed it off, but inwardly, I was stung.

Valheit’s bottomless mana and mastery of spells were certainly incredible, but as long as I was using low-tier spells, there was a limit.

Usually, that limit was unnoticeable, but against Ivan, it was a bit of a struggle.

'So this is what it feels like to fight a proper mage.'

If I dragged this out any longer, I would be fine, but I didn't know what kind of trouble the Imperial Guard or Hugo might run into.

“Then I’ll get serious for you.”

“…The Count with his eyes opened. I didn't an for you to get quite that serious.”

Ivan lanted in a rather serious voice.

I cleanly ignored his lantation.

The duration of the Weapon Demon is 1 minute.

I have to defeat him within that ti.