Chapter 235 : Psychopath

CLANG!!

A shockwave erupted, and the snow piled on the ground was pushed back with a whoosh.

The blizzard stopped for a moment.

The hand holding the sword rang.

The man glared at me.

"Who are you?"

I examined his gaze from behind the mask covered in Night Sky.

"Hartz or Sorrow?"

"...!"

The man's eyes widened.

They were yellow eyes that glistened like a beast's.

I grinned.

"It's Hartz."

At that moment, the man's eyes changed from yellow to a chilling blue, and he poured out ice with his non-sword-wielding hand.

The sharp ice shards tried to gouge out my eyes and pierce my brow, but I immediately retreated and deflected them with my sword.

The man watched me silently with a freezing, indifferent atmosphere.

"Who are you?"

I replied with a wide grin.

"Who do you think I am, you son of a bitch."

Sorrow's eyes narrowed.

"You're not in your right mind. Are you from the Dark Heaven Society?"

Oh? It seemed this guy was also aware of the existence of the Dark Heaven Society.

Then did he also know that they were behind the predicted monster wave?

Before I could answer, the man's eyes turned back to yellow, and he frowned openly.

"Dark Heaven Society? What's that?"

...I take it back.

It seemed only Sorrow knew.

He seemed too lazy to explain to Hartz, so he just mumbled.

"There's something like that."

He had probably asked and been answered many times.

It's just that Hartz forgot every time.

"Are they bad guys?"

"That's right."

"Ah, you mean those gloomy black mages?"

"You can't say that for sure. Not all black mages are from the Dark Heaven Society."

"How complicated."

"It's not that complicated."

Their eye color changed back and forth as they talked to each other.

I watched them and said to the Heavenly Demon.

"See? Now who's the real madman?"

The Heavenly Demon let out a breath as if he were at a loss for words.

[Hah... It really looks as if two different souls have entered. Is this also a type of magic?]

"I wonder. Who knows. Maybe. Maybe not."

In this world, you sometimes come across things that you just can't understand, and the psychopath in front of me was one of them.

In any case, I wanted to knock this psychopath down and beat him to a pulp, so I declared to them.

"I am the Dark Heaven Society, and the Dark Heaven Society is me."

They stopped their disjointed exchange of opinions and glared at me.

I spread my arms wide for them to see and looked up at the sky.

In that state, I reverently recited the words the Dark Heaven Society members used to chant like a slogan.

"I pierce the blue sky with a black spearhead and kill it, so the Dark Heaven will soon arrive!"

Sorrow looked at me with eyes as cold as blue crystals.

"You're not from the Dark Heaven Society."

His tone was quite assertive.

"What? What nonsense are you talking about? I am the Dark Heaven Society, and the Dark Heaven Society is me."

Despite my logical argument, Sorrow replied in a dry tone.

"The slogan is wrong."

"What?"

"To be precise, it's 'The blue sky is already dead, so the Dark Heaven will arrive.' A guy who doesn't even know the basic slogan can't be from the Dark Heaven Society."

"..."

That cold bastard. So unnecessarily sharp.

A moment of silence passed.

I stubbornly insisted.

If you're confident about anything, you're halfway there.

"Actually, the correct slogan is mine. They're the ones who are wrong."

"..."

But Sorrow's gaze on me was just cold.

Still, I insisted stubbornly.

"I'm right! You son of a bitch!"

One of the man's eyes turned yellow.

"He doesn't seem to be in his right mind, so let's just beat him up first."

"Shall we?"

The yellow eyes glared at me.

For a moment, the unique smell of a beast wafted over, and a low growl seemed to be heard.

"Let's beat him to an inch of his life and then find out his identity."

His voice was as brutal as his disposition, as if scorched by fire.

The unrefined, rough killing intent mixed with the surrounding air, adding to the pressure.

This was 'Beast Sword' Hartz.

At that, the opposite eye, like a frozen blue crystal, sparkled chillingly.

"Let's do that."

A voice as cold and calm as frost replied.

A man who always wrapped himself in a cold composure.

This was 'Ice Mage' Sorrow.

Woooong—

The sword Hartz held was dyed a deep yellow.

Trrrk!

Blue ice crystals began to form on his other hand.

"Hehe."

I felt the rough yet sharp, formless energy shooting toward me and raised my Night Sky Sword at an angle.

"Come at me. Psychopath."

* * *

Hartz looked at the man in front of him.

He was a man who seemed to be shrouded in billowing black smoke.

His face was covered in that smoke, and only his eyes were visible through the scattering, acrid smoke.

They were blood-red eyes.

At a glance, he felt like he wasn't in his right mind.

It was as if a demon that had crawled up from hell had descended to the earth.

He was an incredibly ominous person.

'Is he from beyond the northern wall?'

He had known it as a place where people couldn't live, but seeing the man, he thought that might not be the case.

Since only magical beasts could live here, was that man a demon-man?

No, had a magical beast evolved into a human form?

Living in this barren polar region, in an extreme environment where the blizzard never stopped blowing, he must have gone mad.

'That's not it.'

Sorrow refuted.

'If he were truly a wild man who lived in this snowy plain, or a magical beast. He wouldn't be able to speak.'

'...That's true.'

Hartz was convinced.

'Besides, he clearly distinguished between us. He also knew our respective names.'

'Who is he?'

'It's hard to guess his identity. I don't feel any mana.'

'He's not an ordinary guy.'

'I agree.'

Whatever the direction, the two's thoughts came to a single conclusion.

'In any case, there's no change in the fact that he's a dangerous guy.'

When the man aimed his black sword, a red energy flickered ominously from it.

It soon spread to the black smoke that was faintly flowing from his entire body, as if catching fire.

Soon, a dark red energy rose from the man's entire body.

It was as if the remaining acrid ash and sparks were mixed and flying around.

'What in the world is that...'

Sorrow's blue eyes narrowed.

It wasn't mana, but it produced an aura on the sword and spread throughout his body.

He could clearly see it, but he couldn't identify what it was.

He couldn't get a grasp on it at all.

It felt like walking in the dark, fumbling around.

It was an incredibly ominous energy that he couldn't dare to define with the knowledge he had, nor could he describe it with words.

It was to the point where he couldn't be seen as the same human being.

Hartz grinned at the confused Sorrow.

'This is why bookworms are...'

'What?'

'Why are you so flustered? Do you think everything in the world is in books? We're not normal either, are we?'

'...That's right.'

Sorrow couldn't help but smile.

Because even their own case couldn't be found in any book.

'What about the captain? And what about his sister? What about Miho? Hurd? Are they people who can be defined by the common sense in books?'

'Stop. I know what you mean.'

'Sometimes I feel sorry for you, trapped in the curse of knowledge.'

'Shut up.'

'You remember what his sister said, right? All the common sense you've known until now is a variable thing that can be overturned overnight, and therefore, knowledge is not something to be captured by, but a versatile tool in your hand that can be used freely.'

'...I haven't forgotten.'

'You shouldn't forget. It's a phrase I've memorized because you muttered it so much.'

Hartz and Sorrow calmed their minds and prepared to attack.

The sword Hartz held was dyed a deep yellow.

Blue ice crystals began to form in Sorrow's hand.

Just then, the man aimed his black sword.

"Come at me. Psychopath."

Flinch.

Hartz and Sorrow, who were about to charge, froze at those words.

'Psychopath.'

For a moment, Hartz and Sorrow could smell a familiar scent in those words.

In a flash, the various words the man had said passed through their minds.

'Get lost. You psychopath.'

'What are you looking at? You psychopath. Haven't you seen a handsome man before?'

'Hey, psychopath. Come out. It's a duel. I'll fold you in half.'

It was a phrase he always used like a habit when he spoke to them.

'Psychopath.'

There was only one guy who had lost his nerve enough to say such crazy things to them.

'Ashuban.'

But, wasn't that guy already dead?

Didn't he, despite being so damn weak, choose to commit suicide with a magical beast on the Mist Cliff to save some nameless country girl?

At first, it was incredibly unpleasant, but why was that familiar phrase, which had grown on them, coming out of the mouth of that demon-like man?

It was something they couldn't understand at all.

This too was not in the books.

While Hartz and Sorrow were hesitating at the unexpected words.

The man tilted his head and flicked his sword.

"Hmm? Why aren't you coming? Are you scared? Like a retard?"

"What?"

"I won't kill you, so come at me comfortably. I'll just kick your ass a few times and let you go."

Throb—

A vein popped on their foreheads.

He might not be good at other things, but he was a master at getting on their nerves.

To provoke killing intent with just a few words.

'Whatever. I'll find out if I beat him to an inch of his life.'

'...Right. Let's just beat him up first.'

Hartz and Sorrow charged at the nameless man.

His two eyes were dyed yellow and blue, respectively.

Sorrow extended his glowing blue hand toward the man.

Krrrk—

Sharp ice crystals flew toward the man's face.

Following that, Hartz kicked off the ground and shot his body forward.

For a moment, his movement was so fast it blurred.

It was their basic, habitual first attack.

They checked the opponent and simultaneously obscured their vision by scattering ice, and then Hartz's sword qi would cut the opponent.

It was simple, but difficult to deal with.

While the opponent was blocking the ice suddenly flying at their face, Hartz's charging sword could cut them.

If they dodged, he could chase them in that direction and continue the attack.

No matter how the opponent reacted, it was a safe and advantageous start that allowed them to move one breath ahead and take the initiative.

But the man just stood there, watching the sharp ice shards fly toward him.

'...What is this?'

Sorrow felt a sense of incongruity.

The man's reaction was as if he knew this was coming.

As if he had predicted it.

Then, he just tilted his head slightly and dodged the ice magic with minimal movement.

"...!"

'It's not a delusion.'

The attack... was read!

His ominous, blood-red eyes met theirs.

The area other than his eyes was covered in something that shimmered like smoke, but for a moment, it seemed like the man grinned.

Shudder!

Sorrow quickly conveyed to Hartz.

'Retreat!'

But Hartz, who had already charged at the man, was just about to slam the yellow aura he had produced on his sword into the man.

'Retreat, my ass!'

Retreating in fear before even clashing swords was not in his nature.

Hartz swung his sword in a wide diagonal arc, from bottom right to top left.

In terms of timing, it was right after he had dodged the sharp ice shards.

From the opponent's perspective, it would feel like an almost simultaneous attack.

The man was watching Hartz's sword with his head tilted at an angle from dodging the previous ice magic.

Then, at some point, the man's eyes flashed.

He deflected the side of the incoming sword upwards.

CLANG!

"...!"

By deflecting it at an angle in the direction the sword was swinging, the sword strike was greatly diverted from its original trajectory.

It was a soft but rough, cunning and exquisite skill.

At a glance, it seemed like he was roughly deflecting the sword.

Then, he spun in the direction he had swung the sword and threw a kick.

It was a fluid movement that flowed like water.

Hartz's eyes widened at the unexpected counterattack.

"What?"

Sorrow shouted.

'Dodge!'

Thwack!

Hartz was hit by the kick and sent flying.

(End of Chapter)

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