Chapter 59 : Chapter 59

Chapter 59: Dayle (5)

Dayle doubted his own eyes.

“Is, is that really a fight between thieves?”

It was a series of astonishments.

He had thought he had already grasped all of Gerard and Luis's skills.

It was a misconception.

Their true abilities far exceeded his expectations.

Dazzling.

Even he, who was confident in his speed, was so absorbed that he couldn't focus.

But within that speed, there were rules and order.

As if they had coordinated dozens of times in advance.

The movements of the two, who split to both sides and threw daggers, seemed separate but harmonized, and in the end, it created a gap between Narsi and the light source, which had seemed perfect.

So when Gerard suddenly appeared in front of Narsi and seized that opportunity, Dayle unconsciously stood up abruptly and clenched his fist.

“Ah!”

But Narsi was indeed no easy opponent.

For a mage, he evaded Gerard's attack with pure instinct, and Dayle let out a sigh of regret.

“Aww, so close! What kind of mage has such good senses!?”

Truly a man who had survived countless adversities to become the king of adventurers.

Narsi immediately responded to the two's joint attack.

“Come forth, Berga.”

Thus began the individual battles.

Watching that intense battle scene, Dayle felt himself gradually being inspired.

‘What are they fighting so hard for?'

Dayle was curious.

It wasn't a question that arose suddenly.

The question had been there from before.

Tracing back, from the moment he first met their eyes.

From the time he witnessed the strange ambition in their eyes, Dayle had harbored this question.

'So, they're not fighting for me. They said it was because of the request, but that's probably just part of the process.'

They were struggling for something greater.

And.

Dayle actually knew what that was.

'The reconstruction of Shadow.'

Their gaze was chasing a dream, not Narsi or Berga.

A struggle for belief, not just to win.

At least, that's how it looked in Dayle's eyes, who was watching from the side.

......If Gerard had known this fact, he would have been dumbfounded, saying, 'No? I'm just doing this because I want to live?' but anyway.

In any case.

Right now, Dayle firmly believed this and harbored a desire to join them there.

“You must win, boss!”

While Dayle cheered for the two with sincerity, the battle was gradually heading toward its conclusion.

Gerard's ascending vision was seen through by Narsi.

The situation rapidly turned unfavorable for Gerard.

“Be careful!”

Dayle was conflicted.

Should I join now?

Should I aim for a snipe with Cold Punk.

But would that really help the boss?

It feels like I'd just be a hindrance.

Fidgeting, clenching and unclenching his fingers, Dayle couldn't stay still.

But in the next unfolding situation, Dayle could only blankly look up at the sky.

Grrrr──,

......A catastrophe was coming.

“Wh-what is that.”

Ashen clouds were swirling with the momentum to suck in everything in the world.

When he blinked, Dayle could witness an enormous amount of mana gathering toward the center.

And at that center was none other than Gerard.

As if a god descended upon this world, with arrogant eyes overlooking the ground, Dayle could only stare in awe and mutter.

“......What kind of human are you, really?”

Immediately after.

With Gerard at the center, the world was torn in half.

Kwaaaang──!

Before the roar, the blue lightning that fell first perfectly covered the spot where Narsi had been standing.

A huge shockwave sweeping the surroundings.

Despite the distance, Dayle lost his balance and had to roll around.

“Keuhp!”

Dayle hurriedly raised his head.

The unfolded scene made his expression harden involuntarily.

As if a giant had trampled through, the torn and overturned earth.

The place that had been a forest was now complete ruins.

Especially where Narsi had been, a sizable crater had formed.

A result that was hard to believe was made by lightning.

Dayle could only gape like a fish.

“......Th-this. Look at my mind.”

Dayle hurriedly got up.

Not far away, familiar figures were visible.

It was Gerard and Luis.

“B-boss!”

Dayle ran there in one breath.

“You came?”

“A-are you okay?”

“Yeah. I almost became a blood pancake from falling, but Luis caught me and saved me.”

Gerard answered nonchalantly.

Seeing that, Dayle suddenly started to tear up.

“Really. You really worked hard, boss.”

A brief silence fell.

Luis looked at him strangely.

Gerard did the same.

'What did he just say?'

'Boss?'

To the two, it was a sudden change, but right now, that wasn't important.

Gerard got up from his spot.

“Where are you going?”

“I have to go confirm.”

“What? You mean Narsi?”

“Yeah.”

Dayle tried to stop him.

“No, he's probably dead, why confirm? Didn't you see the size of that lightning? How could he survive a direct hit? Even if he's a monster, that's impossible, impossible!”

“......”

“More importantly, it's your current condition, boss. You're on the verge of mana backlash!”

It sounded exaggerated, but Dayle's diagnosis was accurate.

In his eyes, he could see Gerard's mana circuits twisted here and there.

The flow of mana was very unstable, and the mana circuits were thin and faint, as if they would break at any moment.

A precarious situation where mana backlash, a fatal condition, could occur if not quickly corrected with breathing.

All of it was the price for forcibly using a vision unfit for his level, [Baltharga's Advent].

But Gerard didn't listen.

“I have to confirm his end with my own eyes.”

“Nooo, I'm telling you, something big will really happen!”

Gerard ignored Dayle's dissuasion.

“Luis. Where's Berga? Did you kill it?”

Luis shook his head.

“It disappeared.”

“As expected.”

“Oh come on! The owner died, so of course it ran away, what do you mean as expected!”

“Narsi raised that one to willingly throw away its own life if Narsi was in danger.”

Dayle burst into hollow laughter.

“Huh. How do you know that, boss......”

Dayle shut his mouth.

Because his Evil Eye detected a change in the surrounding air currents.

That was soon the movement of mana.

Dayle's expression crumpled miserably.

“......Fuck this shit.”

Dayle immediately took out Cold Punk and aimed the muzzle backward.

A bluish mass of electricity was rushing toward them.

Dayle pulled the trigger.

Taang! With the sound, the fired bullet collided with the electricity mass.

And it vanished futilely.

“This is crazy!”

Dayle panicked greatly.

Luis quickly pushed the dazed him aside and swung his sword.

But the electricity mass suddenly burst in mid-air right before colliding with the sword.

Pajijijik!

The electricity bundles that split like a net instantly surrounded them.

The shape was like a prison.

4th Circle lightning magic, [Thunder Prison]

There was only one being who could use such magic here.

And as expected.

“He, he's really alive......”

Dayle muttered despondently while looking at Narsi standing tall outside the [Thunder Prison].

Narsi was also not in normal condition, just like Gerard.

Clothes burned to rags, disheveled hair,

Bloodshot eyes and crimson blood covering his entire body.

Both arms were dangling like mollusks, as if the bones were broken.

No longer was there a gentlemanly appearance left in him.

But the important thing was, he stubbornly endured and survived in that state.

“A monster.”

Gerard's prediction was spot on.

Right before [Baltharga's Advent] fell, Berga, who had been fighting Luis, jumped up and acted as a lightning rod, absorbing the impact.

In return, Berga itself was scattered into flesh fragments, but the master Narsi could save his life.

“I admit it. You're a truly great thief. To think you'd steal and use even my vision. How did you know I had mastered that vision?”

“......”

“A secret? Well, do as you please. Anyway, I've won this fight.”

Narsi let out a low laugh.

“They couldn't have missed that lightning in Icata. Knights will swarm in soon.”

“......!”

“It's regrettable. I don't have the energy to cut off your breath with my own hands...... But I suppose I must be satisfied. Heh heh. You guys just wait for your end in there.”

Trailing off, Narsi turned his body and limped away.

Dayle, who had been staring blankly at that, collapsed to his knees.

“......It's over, for us.”

“Why?”

“Don't you know? To catch him, we have to break this prison now, but none of us can do it, right?”

That was true.

Gerard had not only expended all his strength but was in critical condition, and Luis wasn't at a level high enough to break Narsi's [Thunder Prison].

Dayle was the same.

With the power of Evil Eye, mana interference, he could easily dispel it, but Dayle was half-baked, a failure.

“It's my fault. In the end, because of my incompetence and stupid choices, things turned out like this.”

Dayle smiled bitterly and blamed himself.

“I'm sorry.”

Gerard looked down at him quietly.

“Are you giving up?”

“Then what? It's over. There's nothing we can do. I know best, as the Evil Eye.”

“No. We're the ones who can't do anything. Not you.”

Gerard put his hand into his vest.

The item that came out from there.

Seeing it, Dayle widened his eyes and stared straight at Gerard's skull mask again.

As if trying to pierce through to Gerard's intentions hidden inside.

“......Are, are you serious, boss?”

Gerard nodded.

The item he took out was a dagger.

Precisely, the dagger engraved with the incomplete barrier nullification formula by Dayle.

Why he was giving it to him now and what he had to do in this moment, Dayle knew.

However, he hesitated.

Because the nightmare of the past that tormented him came to mind.

'Dayle! Because of you again!'

'You bastard. We trusted you!'

“......”

Dayle was afraid he might make another mistake.

He was scared of betraying the trust.

But.

“Complete the enhancement, Dayle. That's the only way.”

In the current situation, there was only one choice to make.

He was the sole key and hope to overcome this crisis.

“Do you trust me?”

Dayle, who had lowered his head at some point, asked quietly.

“I trust you.”

“I trust you.”

“I'll definitely fail. You'll regret and resent trusting me.”

“Why would we? We're going to die anyway, so why resent?”

Dayle raised his head.

“Really. Can't you say something nice to encourage me?”

He grumbled, but his eyes looking at Gerard held an unbearable excitement.

Dayle had been waiting for these words of trust for a really long time.

“......Don't expect much.”

Dayle reached for the dagger.

He tried to hold back, but the hand gripping the dagger trembled.

Hoo, Dayle regulated his breathing.

He brought his index and middle fingers to the handle where the magic formula was embedded, and slowly moved his mana.

A hot heat began to rise in both eyes.

In response, a halo of light slowly emanated from the magic formula.

When the color of that light intertwined with purple and blue.

Hwaaak!

In an instant, a blinding radiance burst out explosively, and Dayle let out a scream of agony.

“Keuhp!”

Luis, who was beside him, quickly supported Dayle as he clutched his eyes and collapsed.

But Dayle had already lost consciousness.

Luis quickly checked his condition.

Simple fainting.

“You worked hard, Dayle.”

Luis laid him down and took the dagger Dayle was holding and handed it to Gerard.

The dagger was hot.

Hot enough to be red-hot.

Among them, the one emitting an unusually red light was the 'barrier nullification' formula.

Whether the enhancement succeeded or failed was unknown.

But Gerard threw the dagger with conviction.

The target was Narsi, disappearing down the hill below.

His heart.

The dagger shot slowly at first.

But starting from a certain moment, it accelerated, and the dagger drew a red, long straight line and cleaved through the darkness.

Just like the meteor of that night.

Peeing───

The dagger carrying Dayle's wish passed through the currents of [Thunder Prison] without issue and proceeded to precisely pierce Narsi's heart.

Puhk!

* * *

“Umm.”

Dayle opened his eyes.

His eye area felt stiff, and he couldn't see well ahead.

It was a side effect that occurred when overusing power.

It was an uncommon side effect, and for him, whose power was mostly unopened, it didn't apply even more.

'It happened during training at the institute. What happened... Ah!'

Dayle, recalling the events just before fainting, hurriedly groped his eye area.

The eyepatch was gone.

He turned to look around, but in his unrecovered vision, the scene that came in was a red light ominously shaking.

A cool chill felt by his head.

'D-did I... prison?'

That would mean he had failed again.

It would mean he had betrayed the trust again.

“Keuk. This damn......”

Puhseok!

“Huh?”

Dayle, who jumped up and punched the wall, blinked his eyes.

It didn't feel like hitting a wall.

It felt like hitting a wooden box.

And that box was filled with sloshing liquid.

Gurgle gurgle......

“This smell is definitely......”

It was a familiar smell, and that smell made Dayle recall where this place was.

“......Underground liquor storage? Oh shit. I'm fucked!”

Was it a coincidence?

The oak barrel he smashed with his fist was the exact same oak barrel he had smashed last time when he fainted.

After somehow cleaning up the mess, Dayle came up to the first-floor hall.

The hall was quiet without a single customer.

Through the narrow window gaps, pale sunlight and the noise of passing citizens came in.

Outside was already afternoon.

Only then did it feel real.

“......I did it. I did.”

I did it!

“Puhahaha!”

After laughing his lungs out, Dayle walked around the store.

There was no one in the store.

Neither Gerard nor Luis.

“What a shame. I wanted to share this joyful moment together.”

But it was okay.

There would be plenty of time for that in the future.

Yes.

Dayle had achieved what he had longed and wished for so much.

Trustworthy comrades and a reliable nest he could rely on.

“Euhuhu...... Luis will probably return soon.”

He didn't know the exact schedule, but he knew that Luis went out somewhere every morning.

Probably to assist with Gerard's matters.

“What should I do? Clean? I'm now an employee here too.”

At that time, while humming and wandering the hall, something caught Dayle's eye.

On the bar counter, today's fresh Royal Dream was placed.

Dayle hurriedly ran over and opened it.

From the very first page, a title as big as a door was emblazoned on the front.

[The Hero of Adventurers, Narsi. But His True Identity Was the Lord of a Massive Drug Cartel.]

Below it, the events from early this morning were described in detail.

“Narsi, a 5th Circle mage, was found dead in the forest 1km west of Bairan Village. He was a high-ranking mage and at the same time the master of Bandarok...... At the time of discovery. The shocking fact is that a large amount of Lumigan Grass was found in his possessions. Lumigan Grass is a drug strictly prohibited for handling in the empire...... Accordingly, the Central Knights Headquarters raided the Bandarok headquarters......”

After reading all the articles, Dayle slumped into the chair.

The downfall of Narsi and Bandarok.

Overnight, the largest force in Frey and the figure representing it had disappeared.

And the culprit behind all that was none other than the place he was.

Shadow.

“......Ah.”

Along with an uncontrollable exhilaration, his body itched terribly.

One more thing.

Now those chasing him were gone.

The one who issued the wanted order was Narsi in the first place.

Since he was gone, the Beltus Cult, precisely the Death Council, had no reason to chase Dayle, and the same for Bandarok.

“Ah. Bandarok is gone, right.”

As soon as Lumigan Grass was found on the corpses of Narsi and the hunters, the Central Knights and the Magic Corps raided Bandarok.

A heap of drugs was discovered inside, and Bandarok was immediately dismantled on the spot.

Now they were investigating the involved parties.

“Terrifying action. Heh heh. Well, is there anything falling to us?”

Dayle strutted as if he were already a member of Shadow.

It was then.

Rustle, with a sound, someone walked in from the kitchen side.

It was an old man.

“You're here?”

Dayle waved his hand.

“Where were you?”

“You don't need to know.”

“So cold.”

Dayle frowned but smirked it off.

We're colleagues now, right?

'This big brother will generously overlook it, overlook.'

The old man was, of course, Luis.

While quietly watching Luis remove the face mask, Dayle asked.

“But Luis. How old are you?”

“The master will come tonight.”

“Why?”

“There are still things to wrap up, aren't there.”

Only then did Dayle realize that his settlement with them wasn't over yet.

'The secret tomes are left. What do I do?'

Dayle scratched his head.

The fact that they were in Norton City was a lie, and confessing it now felt a bit embarrassing.

'Still, it's better to say it now in advance.'

The two secret tomes were in his subspace.

“Luis. Those secret tomes, you know. Actually......”

“Least you misunderstand, the things to wrap up are not the secret tomes.”

“Eh? Then what?”

“The contract. The special clauses.”

“Special clauses?”

If it's special clauses.

“......Ah.”

Dayle's face quickly turned ashen.

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