Proofread by Thomas F
Ball Juras
Clang Rip Clang!
Things are getting bad; every minute, more and more cuts begin to appear on my body.
They are shallow, but they have started to sap my strength. They would have affected me more if I didn't have my newest skill, Wounded Wolf.
Still, it wouldn't do— as more cuts appear on my body. My men, despite fighting in frenzy without care for their lives, were dying one after another.
It wouldn't be long before they came to help him. I do not fear any, except for that High Mage.
So, I have to finish him off, and I will have to use my trump card.
It made me angry as I didn't want to reveal it. Nobody knows of it, and I liked it that way. Until I reach Lv. 40 and challenge Gyrge for the leadership.
Well, that could still happen. I just need to make sure nobody leaves; not a single soul.
…
Julian Pierce
"If you hadn't made things so difficult. Some of your people would have survived, but now, all of you are going to die," he stated.
There was no doubt in his gaze, only the cold certainty of a man who believes he could slaughter us all.
It immediately made me alert.
"Bring it out; it won't change a thing," I replied. He may have something hidden, but I am not without my own hidden ace.
"Hehe!" he laughed, and a moment later, an aura burst out of his body.
It's surprising; I thought it would be some powerful skill. Inherited skill, but didn't expect an aura. Dam it, I should have; he is one of the most powerful leaders of his gang.
Such a position and power do increase the chances of awakening the aura.
"What do you say now?" he asked with a grin. "Like before, it won't change a dam thing!" I replied, and the next moment, an aura burst out of my body.
He also didn't seem to expect it, as the shock was visible all over his face.
"I hope you have enough control," I said and pushed my aura into the skills.
It had been nearly two months since I had awakened my aura in battle with the horde.
I have been practicing daily since I was taught the aura exercise, that is, the day after the battle, the day after I was discharged from the hospital.
Miss Carla is teaching me, and I also had a few sessions with Lord Silver and Sands.
While Miss Carla's lessons were about aura control, Lord Silver and Sands focused on using it in battle.
He reacted quickly and is much faster than before, but so am I. I couldn't yet smoothly infuse my aura into the skills, but I made tremendous progress from that day I had awakened it.
Clang Rip!
He defended against my shield bash, but my blade cut through him, just below his chest piece, before moving the shield to attack him.
He could infuse his aura into the skills, but not as well as I, despite feeling like he has an aura longer than me.
I infused more aura into my skills and attacked with greater intensity. Despite being a rogue, he is very good at defending. Still, he is becoming desperate, using that anguish to force more aura into his skills.
Still, he couldn't cover the gap between us, and it is only increasing further with every attack.
…
Ball Juras
'Fuck, fuck Fuck!' I cursed in my heart as I was forced into defence.
We have good connections, which have provided us with valuable intelligence.
The Belnin merchant state has one of the best intelligence networks in all the merchant states, but not a single one of them had told me this bastard had an aura.
If I had known about it, I wouldn't have taken such a risk.
It was my fault that I hid my aura; nobody knows about it, not even White Gyrge. If I had revealed it, I would have been able to ask him to teach me a thing or two.
Aura isn't a simple thing. I can't just kidnap someone and force them to teach me.
Those who could teach are all monsters; they could kill me before I could even say a word. My only hope had been Gyrge, but I know the bastard wouldn't have taught me correctly.
He would have done everything to make me fail.
I am learning aura; I have the method and a book on control techniques. I had found it on one of the people I had killed. Still, learning from the book and being taught are entirely different things.
This bastard in front of me is definitely instructed. It's clear in the way he is using the aura.
Rip!
I defended another of his attacks, but his blade cut across my leg once more, and this time, it went deep.
'I cannot stay here anymore,' I thought. Earlier, with the boost of aura, I thought I would kill all of them, but that's not possible right now.
My men are getting killed despite the boost of frenzy. Less than half of them have remained.
Escape is my only option. If I didn't, one of these attacks is going to land deadly, and I could say goodbye to my life.
There will be consequences for running. I might even lose my position at the table, but I didn't care. My life is more important as long as I have it; I will get other opportunities.
Including the opportunity to kill this bastard.
…
Julian Pierce
I moved for another attack, when he suddenly turned into the smoke.
"You cannot escape," I said, and I followed with Pursuit Dash. It's a good skill and might have been able to fool a few, but not me.
I moved fast, faster than him, and appeared in front of him, before bashing my shield toward him.
He tried to dodge, but my shield was fast. He left with no choice but to bring his daggers forward to guard against my attack.
Clang!
He defended and used the force of the attack to retreat, while I followed him with a slash of my sword.
He defended once more, but found a shield in front of him. Which he again defended, but a moment later, my sword slipped through and cut across his arm.
Like the cut on the leg earlier, this was not a shallow cut.
The injury made him visible for a moment before turning to smoke again, but that didn't stop me from following him with another attack.
Clang Rip Clang!
I attacked one after another, never letting him get close to the exit, while also bringing more and more injuries across his body.
Even with the level, he shouldn't have been able to fight as he is. He possesses a survival skill; it is not exactly a healing skill, but it has some healing properties.
I couldn't help but feel envious of it. They are rare and makes enemies very hard to deal with.
Skill or no skill, I have to finish him.
So, I continued attacking, looking for a chance. That will give me an opportunity to finish him off. These kinds of people don't deserve to be on the street with honest citizens.
I have seen what drugs they supply did to people. Hospitals in the Gailhorn are filled with those people.
Their withdrawal symptoms are so bad that I couldn't even watch it. If the city hadn't spent a large amount of money to help and gotten help from the church of Dusk, many wouldn't have survived.
Taking these kinds of people out will make the dominion safer. Hell, it will even make the world a little bit safer.
I pushed that conviction into my subsequent attacks. Using every bit of strength I have and even digging deeper for more.
Clang Rip Clang!
My attacks become intense and constant. There is not even a moment of pause. The enemy is pushing into his desperation, clawing out more power.
That's not going to save him. I will not let him escape and harm the innocent people of the dominion.
So, I kept attacking and finally came across the chance. I had been waiting for minutes, and I didn't waste it. I pushed the aura into my skill and attacked.
This attack is no different. I bashed my shield toward him, and like always, he defended with his daggers before I swung my sword.
This time, I didn't slow down a little as I usually do. Instead, I moved straight ahead at him.
I could see a surprise, before the alarm finally flashed in his eyes.
Clang!
My sword came down on the dagger like a hammer, and he immediately put his second dagger forward. If he had not, he wouldn't have been able to stop my sword.
Bam!
He did not knock my shield aside before—it was already pressing too close—I drove it into him. He tried to fall back, but there was nowhere to go. Even his daggers stayed frozen; a single move would have opened the path for my swords to cut him down.
Knowing it, he moved his second dagger away from my sword to defend against the shield.
It clashed against my shield and was only able to slow down its speed for a moment. I could see the panic appearing in his eyes, and he opened his mouth.
Bam!
My shield bashed against his head with all my strength. I sent him flying before making him crash against the cavern's wall.
He fell prone and opened his eyes, only to see my sword coming toward him. He focused on it, terror filled his eyes.
"I surrender!" he shouted quickly, but my sword didn't stop until he realized his mistake and threw away his dagger from his bloodied hand.
I cursed seeing that. I wish this scum hadn't done that. So, I could kill the bastard and be done with him.
I stopped my sword an inch away from his head and looked at him.
"Move and I will kill you," I said to him, and I will. I can't take any chances with enemies as powerful as him. Killing him would have been much safer.
He didn't reply, but remained in his spot. I didn't move either, aside from pushing away his daggers with my shoes.
A few seconds later, Muriel came beside me, and I carefully removed the restraints from my bag and handed them to her.
She moved toward him and began to restrain him with it. These are not simple restraints, but powerful ones, and made specially to restrain the rogues.
These people are very good at escaping from restraints. I didn't want to take any chances.
Only after he was fully restrained and all his stuff removed did I finally bring my sword down and take out potions—a healing potion and the one that will stop him from using more power than an average person.
"What is it?" he asked, looking at the blue potion that Murial tried to feed him. "Something that will stop you from doing anything that will threaten us," I replied.
He hesitated, but drank it. He knew he didn't have any choice.
"Can you do anything about the frenzy?" I asked. Less than a third of them have remained, but they are still fighting without care for their life.
"No," he replied, and he didn't seem any regretful.
I didn't say anything further and turned. It won't take long for the battle to be finished.
"Come out now," I said, looking west; nothing happened. "It won't be pretty if you make me come to you," I warned.
Nothing happened, and I was about to move toward him. When a man, looking to be in his early sixties, came out. I recognise him; he is the enchanter that Miss Sable had sent information about.
"Slowly, lay down your staff and other things," I ordered. The old man hesitated before doing as told.
I am very cautious; mages are dangerous. The cautious one is better.
Murial immediately moved to restrain him and fed him a potion. This one will block his mana.
"What is going to happen to me?" asked Juras. I turned to the man; the fear had vanished from his eyes. He had buried deep in his heart.
"You will be tried in court for your crimes and punished accordingly," I replied.
"I heard Silver didn't like to execute people," he said with a smile on his face. He is right; we have executed a very few people, only the worst of the worst.
The Lord is too merciful. Preferring to jail them instead of executing.
There are so many powerful people in our jails. If a jailbreak occurs, it will cause immense destruction to the city. Zela didn't share that view.
She said, if it ever happens, then all the criminals who crossed the boundary of the jail will be killed within seconds without exception.
I asked her what she meant, but she told me she had already said more than she should have.
It took little more than a minute for the last few to be dealt with. Most of them died. Only five survived, and that is because we took some effort to capture them.
"Murial, Botr; go to the city and bring our people; Vargas, note down the drugs," I ordered and turned to the old man.
He is an enchanter, and I have a few questions for him.
It was hours before we got out of the caves, with all the drugs, which we burned that very day in front of the Governor and citizens.
There will be no tolerance toward drugs.
It took some time to finish the tasks and write up the reports, so I returned to the apartment near dawn.
I don't mind. I could have done it the next day, but I wanted to close that chapter and begin a new day with a fresh start.
Steelguard Commissioner Lv. 40
[Conditions Met: Steelguard Commissioner – Steelwarden of Law]
Steelwarden of Law Lv. 41
[Conditions Met: Vigilent Watch - Lawman's Eyes]
[Conditions Met: Enforcer's Shield – Lawman's Shield ]
[Conditions Met: Voice of Watch – Voice of Law]
[Conditions Met: Keen Instinct – Watchful Guard]
[Conditions Met: Custodians Edge: Law's Edge]
[Conditions Met: Rapid Dash – Lawful Blitz]
[Skill Gained: Shield of Justice]