Chapter 21: Wanted Criminals, the Maw Bandits (3)
A man who felt like a wild beast, Hardin Daphne. Just meeting his gaze made Mikkelsen’s body tremble all over.
Hardin asked again.
“Here, you’re sure there’s nothing else?”
“……”
When Mikkelsen clacked his teeth and opened his mouth silently, Hardin gripped his collar tighter and pressed him.
“I asked if there’s nothing.”
“N-no, there isn’t!”
“Then why is your voice… shaking?”
“I-it’s because I’m nervous! Nervous!”
Mikkelsen’s voice carried a note of desperation.
‘I have to stall for time somehow.’
I had to hold out until Big Brother arrived.
Only then could we somehow deal with these bastards…!
At that moment, Hardin gave a wide grin and spoke.
“Really? But why does it feel like you’re lying? Shall I check for myself?”
Step, step.
Hardin let go of Mikkelsen and started walking toward the mountain hideout.
“N-no, you can’t!”
Grab!
I had to stop him from going there!
Mikkelsen clung to Hardin’s waist.
Smack!
“Let go.”
“Keuk! N-no, you can’t!”
Smack! Smack!
“I said let go.”
Bruises and lumps kept growing on Mikkelsen’s body under Hardin’s fists, but he clung on with all his strength.
If he went over there… I couldn’t let him go there!
While the two were locked in that struggle—
“Mikkelsen!”
“…?”
A sudden shout rang out.
Both of them turned their heads at the same time.
At that moment—
“Whoa, you startled me!”
Hardin leapt back in surprise.
What startled him was the face of the man who had appeared there.
‘I thought it was a monster.’
A huge figure covered in muscle with a savage face resembling a maw.
His whole body was drenched in blood and plastered with tattoos, and on his shoulder he carried the carcass of a boar the size of a house.
How should I put it—just looking at him, I could tell.
This bastard was the one called Crimson Maw or whatever.
That Crimson Maw stared this way with a bewildered expression.
“What on earth is….”
And then—
“Brother Beryl!”
Mikkelsen dashed in the opposite direction, ran straight up to the man, and hid behind him.
“What is going on here?”
“I-it’s all because of that bastard! That vicious bastard attacked and beat the brothers! Please, crush him!”
Behind the man called Crimson Maw—no, Beryl—Mikkelsen wept and pointed at Hardin.
‘That bastard?’
When I narrowed my eyes and glared, Mikkelsen flinched and shrank behind Beryl again.
Beryl looked around, as if trying to understand what all this was about.
“Grrr….”
“It hurts….”
Only then did he notice the bandits rolling on the ground groaning in pain.
Crack.
Beryl furrowed his brow and stared at Hardin as he asked.
“Was this your doing?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
When Hardin shrugged, Beryl’s expression grew even fiercer. Rough breaths slowly escaped his mouth.
“…What kind of bastard are you?”
“Me? A bounty hunter.”
Beryl let out a deep sigh, as though he’d expected this.
“Disgusting. I just wanted to live quietly.”
“Looks like you’ve dealt with a lot of us before?”
Beryl didn’t answer right away. Instead, he hardened his expression and stared fixedly at Hardin, a blue gleam radiating from his eyes.
‘Oh?’
In that instant, I felt as if needles were pricking all over my body.
The wave of mana pouring out of him carried that much pressure.
Hardin’s gaze changed at once.
‘That’s at least… a 2-Star.’
The same 2-Star mana user the mercenary office demanded 100,000 gold a month to hire.
Just from his presence alone, this one felt even stronger than that guy.
After beating up those zombie-like bastards, now it was a human gorilla.
These past few months, I’d been thinking…
‘Maybe God really isn’t on my side?’
Nothing came easy. Not one thing.
Hardin let out a heavy sigh and thumped his shoulder with his fist.
And then—
“Uoooorgh!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Beryl stomped the ground and charged forward.
Every time he stepped, the earth shook, and a tingling sensation raced across my skin.
‘Here he comes.’
Hardin braced himself for combat, preparing for the charge.
Leap!
Beryl vaulted high into the air, raising both fists overhead.
Taaah!
Hardin rolled his body, dodging sideways at the last moment before the descending fists could strike.
Kwaaaang!
A deafening roar burst out, and the ground trembled.
Hardin quickly got to his feet and retreated, glancing back to see the earth where Beryl had struck blasted open in all directions.
“……”
A crater large enough to bury a pig had formed.
‘If that hits, it won’t end with just pain.’
Hardin let the corner of his mouth curl up. The problem was—this wasn’t the end.
“Hrrmph!”
Beryl closed in again without pause, throwing another mighty punch.
A fist so quick it didn’t match his huge frame.
‘Fast.’
No—more than just fast.
It felt as if he could predict exactly how I would move, already swinging his fists to cut off my retreat.
If I had to put it in more refined terms…
‘Good combat sense.’
Kaaaang!
Hardin lifted the sword at his hip, still in its scabbard, and blocked.
At that moment, his body slid backward, his hands went numb, and the scabbard caved in.
“Damn it, my arm.”
If I had been even a moment late in releasing my mana, or if I’d blocked barehanded, there was a good chance my bones would have snapped.
As expected, he was pretty strong.
If I factored in swordsmanship, the situation would be different, but just in terms of raw strength, he was a few levels above that Donfel fellow or whoever.
‘Annoying.’
Really, nothing ever went smoothly.
The shadow beneath Hardin’s eyes grew longer and longer.
---
From deeper inside the forest, the sounds of impacts and shouting rang out in turns.
Thud! Thud! Crack!
“Hrrmph! Hrrmph!”
“Huff, huff, huff…”
Beryl swung his fists nonstop, and Hardin met each one by thrusting his scabbard to block.
“…T-the Boss?”
“Huuuh…”
Whenever Beryl’s fists struck the trees or boulders behind them—
Kwaaang! Crunch!
He left fist-shaped dents in the stones, and trees shattered and fell apart on the spot.
As this grim spectacle continued, Hardin’s face was growing pale.
“Haah, haah, haah…”
Tired… So damn tired.
Honestly, that gorilla bastard’s punches and attacks themselves weren’t anything all that impressive.
It felt like he wasn’t relying on any proper training or swordsmanship at all, but simply swinging his fists by instinct.
The real problem was…
“You little rat!”
Kwaaaang!
Beryl’s punch toppled the tree behind where Hardin had been standing.
“Hyut-cha!”
Hardin, who had already flung himself aside to dodge, aimed a kick at the opening.
Thunk!
But without mana left, the kick hit Beryl’s skin and was stopped pathetically.
‘Not enough mana… I need maaana…’
I’d more or less figured out Beryl’s level.
If I were at full mana, I could’ve smashed him to pieces a hundred times over by now. But at this point, there was barely a rat’s tail worth of mana left in me.
With just that, breaking through his reinforcement and thick flesh to land a critical hit was nearly impossible.
If I used my sword to slice his neck, maybe I could do it somehow, but…
‘Then my bounty would be cut in half…’
…Why were there so many restrictions?
Dead or alive should be worth the same price, shouldn’t it?
This was practically like telling me to fight with my arms and legs tied.
Just then, a voice echoed in my head.
Captain, are you really struggling this much over something so trivial?
It was that little runt Martin, the youngest member of the unit.
‘Bullshit. You try it, you bastard. This isn’t easy, you know?’
Grit.
Hardin clenched his jaw and caught his breath.
“Huuuh… huuuh…”
Even as the battle continued, I regulated my breathing, drawing mana into my body through my cultivation technique.
‘At times like this, this really comes in handy.’
I could clearly feel how fast my mana core recovered.
After dragging out time, I’d gathered enough to land maybe one or two good hits.
‘I have to end this.’
I’d knock him out no matter what, then bind him with a mana restraint and deliver him to the Empire.
Then I’d get that 100,000 gold, hire mercenaries, and be done with it.
Clean. A perfect plan.
The only problem was how to land that one hit…
‘Well, that part’s actually the simplest.’
In that instant, Hardin’s lips curled faintly.
“Oooh dear!”
He let out a pitiful cry, staggering and swaying on his feet.
At a glance, it looked like he had completely lost his balance.
“Boss! Now!”
“Oooooooh!”
The excited bandits erupted in shouts.
“Hrrraaaagh!”
Beryl’s face flushed bright red, and his punches came even faster.
So close to hitting, just barely missing.
Hardin slipped away from Beryl’s attacks by the thinnest margin, teasing him all the while.
Just a bit more. A bit more and it would be enough.
I moved—no, taunted—just enough to make him feel like he could almost reach me.
“Hrrrgh! Hyaaaah!”
Whoooosh! Whoooosh!
‘Why… why the hell can’t I hit him?’
Beryl’s punches grew faster and faster, and the flow of his mana started to falter.
As Hardin kept stumbling back in a shaky retreat—
Taaah!
“…?!”
Beryl’s foot struck a stone on the ground, and his massive body lurched off balance.
‘Got him.’
He must have been so focused on trying to hit me that he hadn’t looked at his feet.
Well, honestly, it wasn’t some huge opening.
Most people wouldn’t even have noticed something like that.
But for me… it was enough.
Enough to smash my fist right into that bastard’s face.
‘Now.’
Dodging his punch, I slipped inside his reach.
‘What?!’
Beryl’s eyes bulged as if they were about to pop out.
Siiiik.
I grinned, clenching my fist tight.
Planting my forward foot solidly, I twisted my torso and swung my fist up. Then I drew mana straight from my core.
“Hyut-cha.”
Wuuuung!
A bright gleam shot from my eyes as the core expelled every last scrap of mana, pouring it into my arm and fist.
The moment I buried that into his jaw—
Paaack!
“Argh!”
With a thunderous boom, Beryl’s huge body shot backward, tumbling over and over across the ground.
Bang! Crash! Crunch!
He smashed through several trees behind him, kicking up thick clouds of dust in his wake.
“B-boss!”
“Holy shit… is this real?”
…He really just sent the Boss flying?
The faces of the watching bandits twisted in shock.
“Goddamn…”
Couldn’t control my strength again.
I spat curses as I looked down at my wrist, dangling loose.
Drip!
Maybe because I’d just dumped out all the mana I’d painstakingly recovered—Blood started to trickle from my nose again, and my hand quivered in little spasms.
‘What is this body, a scarecrow?’
A core that wouldn’t control properly and a body like a bundle of straw.
A truly wonderful combination.
I let out a deep sigh and lifted my head, peering between the shattered trees.
‘…He’s not dead, is he?’
Please, just be barely alive.
Otherwise, no money…
And then—
Thud!
“Huh?”
The dust parted, and a pitch-black shadow rose from within.
Everyone turned their eyes in that direction.
“Uwooooooo!”
With a roar loud enough to split my eardrums, Beryl revealed himself.
His jaw was swollen to the size of a melon, and his body was covered in wounds.
And yet, even factoring all that in—he still looked perfectly fine.
“…Wow, tough bastard.”
I’d worried for nothing. Completely for nothing.
Come to think of it, his underlings were sturdy too—no wonder he was even worse.
‘So now what?’
As I racked my brain for a solution, my vision started to swim. Gather mana again, wait for another opening…
‘How long is that going to take?’
Just thinking about repeating it made me sigh. At this point…
‘Maybe I should use my sword?’
If it came to it, slashing him down and settling for 50,000 gold wouldn’t be so bad. Better than wasting my strength on this…
Still, it did sting to lose that extra 50,000.
‘Ugh, what the hell am I supposed to do?’
I scratched my head with a face full of irritation.
At that moment, Beryl raised a finger and pointed it at me.
Creak!
“I sincerely acknowledge your skill! Of all the men I’ve faced, you are the strongest.”
“Ah, yes, yes. Thank you.”
Great, just great. I’d even gotten high praise from a bandit.
“And so… I shall grant you my greatest strike.”
“Your greatest strike?”
Beryl reached for the massive log lying nearby.
Then…
Creeeak! Crackle!
“Uoooooo!”
White vapor billowed from his mouth as he pulled with all his might.
‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’
While I stared in shock, Beryl hoisted the uprooted log in both arms and glared this way.
The gleam in his eyes grew even fiercer, and all the muscles over his body swelled monstrously.
Then, little by little, a blue light began to ripple over the log. That had to be a kind of weapon enchantment as well.
“Y-you’re insane! Boss, are you really going to use that?”
Mikkelsen, watching from the side, let out a shriek and stumbled backward.
‘…What the hell?’
What was it that made him freak out like that?
With an exhausted expression, I scowled.