Chapter 98. Stone Snake (3)
Silence descended over the darkness in the abandoned building. The faint moonlight cast white light. Dust settled, and the damaged interior gradually became illuminated.
"..."
Enoch gripped the hand holding the sword and exhaled white breath. His mouth was bitter from the adrenaline of combat.
"You, you bastard."
Suddenly, an angry voice echoed from the tip of the two-handed sword he was clutching. He slowly raised his head.
Faust's proxy. The corpse that had once been an elemental mage glared, impaled through the neck by the sword.
"Why, didn't you, finish it...!"
His head was still intact. Faust's corpse was still connected to his main body.
But perhaps because half of his upper body had been completely blown away by the rock snake, he seemed to be only able to move his mouth, incapacitated.
"There is something I need to ask."
Enoch spoke quietly.
"I already know that Pandemonium is a group of Black Mages. You must know things that only you do."
Enoch slowly asked, reminding himself that his face was hidden by the shadow of his hood and mask.
"Earlier you said that a revolution was coming to the Empire."
[The Magic Empire is already stirring greatly from the shadows.]
[A great storm is coming soon to the Magic Empire. Freelancer. And to achieve my ambitions within that storm, capital is needed first.]
The words he had spoken just now. They were clearly linked to the information about the original work 5 years ago that Enoch needed to find out. He felt a hunch about that.
"That. Tell me in detail."
At his words, Faust slowly raised his head. The corpse replied with a wicked smile.
"Heh heh. Me? Do you expect the proxy to beg for his life?"
"Indeed, I suppose so."
Enoch had also left him alive only to confirm a slim possibility. He hadn't expected to get answers from someone who used proxies like expendables.
It was just a little regrettable that he couldn't extract information from Pandemonium, as they dealt with a lot of secrets as a group of Black Mages.
"Damn it, to think I was defeated."
Faust's corpse raised the corner of its mouth as if sneering.
"I shouldn't have blasted off the head of that stealth-type freelancer. She was a useful corpse."
He scoffed, looking at Skia's corpse lying on the floor far away. A tone that violated even the minimum dignity of the dead.
Enoch twisted the hand holding the sword with a blank expression.
Grip.
The sword hilt rotated with the blade, and the cold blade of the greatsword piercing the enemy twisted in his neck.
"Kuheuugh!!"
Immediately, his pain-filled scream echoed.
Faust's main body, wherever it was, must be fully 'sharing' the sensations and pain of the proxy corpse.
One of the characteristics of Faust's unique magic that Enoch remembered flashed through his mind.
「You cannot immediately disconnect the sensory synchronization from a 'proxy' with whom you directly share senses.」
However, unfortunately, no matter how much pain he inflicted now that the proxy's sensory sharing was maintained, it would only be pain without substance for the main body.
There was no threat to the real Faust's life.
As long as he himself was aware of that, he would endure the torture and not reveal anything for the short time until the sensory sharing was released.
One couldn't underestimate the mental fortitude of a Tier 10 mage.
Just then, as if breathing, he coughed and wheezed in pain, his throat making a gurgling sound.
"Y-You're more emotional than I thought. Freelancer?"
In an instant, the mouth of the controlled corpse twisted into a grin.
"I don't know your objective, but it would have been more rational to incapacitate me moderately and transport the cargo, rather than finishing me off completely like this."
"..."
Enoch looked at him with a blank expression. Faust uttered from the corpse's mouth, as if sneering.
"Perhaps, did you want to take revenge for killing that stealth-type freelancer?"
It wasn't wrong.
In the darkness, Enoch slowly exhaled.
Faust's unique magic could amplify and wield the corpse's abilities from its life. However, he had no ability to restore a damaged corpse.
That's why he put limits on the power of a corpse he intended to use for a long time, to preserve it.
As he said, if he only considered efficiency, it would have been better not to provoke him to release the limits earlier. It would have been better to leave him incapacitated and leave.
However, Enoch did not do that.
"...Yes. I admit it."
Looking down at Faust, Enoch opened his mouth.
"This might be revenge."
Staring into the empty eyes of Faust's proxy with a blank expression, Enoch calmly admitted that fact.
Just as a ripple appeared on the surface of the water in his mind, Enoch was quietly stirred by Skia's death.
Was this also a feeling the original him would feel?
Frankly, I don't know.
I couldn't even properly comprehend it.
Skia was a mage who didn't appear in the original work. A freelancer who worked in District 37 Outskirts. A person completely unrelated to Enoch, just that.
Her death was regrettable, but there should be no rational reason for Enoch to be so agitated.
If so, what was this intense emotion?
It wasn't a problem to dwell on for long.
Enoch accepted it with calm eyes.
─It's just, I'm afraid.
Even Skia, who was clearly powerful, died. Combat where life and death hung in the balance was like that. I had never forgotten that fact for even a single moment until now.
I had merely confirmed it anew with her death.
With the pungent smell of her blood spreading on the cold floor, clearly and distinctly.
Next, that death might bare its teeth at me, or it might become the guillotine of fate falling towards the people I wanted to protect.
Therefore, Enoch clenched his sword.
'I won't let that happen.'
No matter what fate came in the future, he had no intention of just accepting it.
That was precisely why he had accepted Elena's request to obtain the company's sponsorship.
Thoroughly preparing, protecting what I want to protect.
To survive and move towards the future I desire.
Screech.
It was time to end it. Enoch quietly pulled out the sword that was piercing him.
Faust twisted his mouth as if sensing the end and looked up at me.
"Freelancer, I will definitely remember this!"
He opened his mouth as if struggling.
"Including this body, I will make you pay the price for everything you've taken from me!"
"No. The opposite is true."
To Faust, who was spouting sophistry to the very end, claiming that everything was what he had taken, Enoch slowly raised the sword he held with both hands.
"If I meet you again, this time I will definitely extract the information that Pandemonium possesses."
"Heh heh."
The corner of Faust's mouth twisted downwards in distaste at those words, and he laughed.
"You won't give up until the end!!"
Woong.
The longsword raised by the figure in the black hood, as if aiming for the night sky, lightly hummed, cutting off his shout.
The pale white moonlight shone on the blade in the darkness.
Just before swinging it, Enoch calmly resolved himself.
He would survive from now on.
That was the reason he had struggled until now.
For Enoch Elsyde to survive in this cruel world with a sword that no one recognized.
From now on, he would definitely open the future with his sword.
***
The cargo transport was completed without a hitch.
As Enoch stepped out of the building, Arcato and April, who were in a car that had just started among the abandoned Scavenger vehicles, motioned for him to get in without hesitation.
As a result of Arcato pushing the accelerator so hard that the engine almost caught fire while driving through the streets of the Outskirts at midnight. They safely arrived at the destination and delivered the cargo.
Just when I thought that might be enough.
"We need to handle the job properly. Hey, client. Is there something like a recipient stamp?"
"That's right! We need that!"
After that, thanks to April and Arcato's thorough work skills, the blueprint was properly confirmed and approved by the relevant personnel.
Everyone was silent in the car on the way back. They all seemed a bit tired from the battle.
Screech.
The car, which had been driving along the outer road of the Outskirts, stopped briefly near the Commercial District's outskirts.
Leaving Arcato, who said he would stop at a rest area for a moment. Only Enoch and April remained in the car.
Since the front passenger seat of the Scavenger vehicle they used had melted during the fight, making it impossible to sit there, they were sitting side by side in the back seat.
Outside the car window, the dawn sun was already rising, tinging the city landscape with a faint red glow.
"Hm, hmm."
Suddenly, a clearing of the throat was heard from beside Enoch.
Inside the car, April was holding her rifle, resting her head lightly on the barrel. Her bright pink hair fell on her cheek.
She glanced over, looking at me.
"Thanks for the help earlier."
"..."
As Enoch slightly tilted his head at her sudden gratitude. She smiled faintly.
"For taking care of Skia."
"Were you close?"
"So-so. Even though she didn't talk much, we worked together quite a bit. She was a good colleague."
After the fight in the abandoned building, just before leaving. Enoch had helped April briefly deal with Skia's body.
He had carefully wrapped her in a body bag he found in the trunk of a Scavenger vehicle. According to Arcato, a response team was supposed to come.
Enoch turned his head and said calmly.
"I'm sorry."
"You seemed a bit cold when we first talked, but you're surprisingly not heartless, are you?"
"Maybe."
A vague answer escaped his lips. It wasn't just to gloss over things. It was truly a difficult question to answer.
"I still don't know myself very well."
Enoch said, looking down at himself calmly.
April, who glanced at him from the darkness with bright pink eyes, shook her head lightly.
"Well. I guess you have your own problems too?"
"...I can't deny that."
"Life seems complicated for everyone, huh. Hmm hmm."
April wiped away the moisture that had formed in her cat-like eyes and lightly cleared her throat.
"You seem to have recovered quite quickly, though."
"Well, I guess you sometimes experience things like this doing this job."
She said with a sulky expression.
"This time it's a bit depressing, but if I just stay depressed, it's just self-indulgence anyway."
And then she turned sharply to look at me.
"You have the terminal, right?"
"I do. But why suddenly?"
"It's to change my mood. Give it here."
She took the terminal from Enoch's hand as if snatching it, then tapped the display.
And then she held it out to Enoch again.
"I added my number here. If any jobs or missions you can do come up, contact me with this?"
"Contact?"
"If you're going to work as a freelancer, the wider your network, the better. You can share information with each other and know the contract terms well. And the jobs also increase."
Enoch looked at the terminal screen and asked quietly.
"...Are you sure I won't abuse this? As a freelancer, you must have made some enemies."
"Well. Of course, you covering your face completely and not revealing your identity, and your unique fighting style. You're quite a suspicious unknown, you know?"
She smiled slightly and glanced at me.
"But it seems like you're not a bad person."
"..."
When I didn't answer, April, looking a little tired, placed her hand on her lap and tapped it lightly.
"Tch, he's being awkward and not talking again."
She was someone who was quite interesting to talk to.
And after spending some time with her, I realized that despite her pretty appearance, looking barely twenty, her way of speaking was quite unique.
"Your way of speaking is like a battle-hardened veteran who's seen it all."
"Leave out the veteran part. I did jump into the working world earlier than most. Pitiful, aren't I?"
"Not really."
"Seriously. You're so cold-hearted."
Indeed, judging by his way of speaking, Enoch himself might not sound like a seventeen-year-old either. Just as he was thinking that, April said pointedly.
"...And anyway, if you don't have a good judge of character, you can't survive in this business. So, the intuition of a woman like me is quite accurate, you know?"
"I'm a little envious of that self-love."
"Heh heh. Admit it."
She slightly turned her forehead, which was leaning on the rifle barrel, towards me and smiled lightly.
"And someone like you will become a star in this business soon anyway. There's no harm in knowing someone like that."
Enoch stared at her for a moment.
Elena had been like that earlier, and April was like this. It seemed some people definitely saw some potential in him.
Unexpectedly, it wasn't a bad feeling.
Aside from the risks of gaining fame. Being gradually acknowledged by those around him was also proof that he was becoming stronger.
Enoch slipped the terminal into the inside pocket of his robe.
"Then I'll gladly accept."
"Alright. Shall we grab a drink at a bar sometime later? If I buy, will you come?"
"Yes."
Enoch nodded roughly at her words.
There was no harm in having connections with the freelancer side anyway. Besides gathering information, he could also borrow their strength through transactions when needed.
Just then, April's serious voice echoed in Enoch's ears, which had been lost in thought.
"By the way, after seeing you fight earlier, I had a realization."
"What is it?"
April asked, her eyes shining in the darkness.
"...Are you, like, some kind of genius?"
In that moment.
At her words, Enoch paused for a moment.