Whoosh~
CRASH~
The entire train station suddenly collapsed within a brief moment, dragging down the fracturing sounds of solid structures.
Amid that thick, murky grey dust and smoke, a pitch black sphere faintly manifested right in the middle of the debris.
Ah no, it was actually a pure black hexagonal prism sitting isolated among the earth, rocks, and smoke, to be precise.
'Fortunately, I had prepared a few bombs in my bag beforehand.'
From within the prism block, Ron walked out in utter exhaustion while scanning his surroundings, his gaze suddenly turning remarkably dazed.
'...Bizarre? I only triggered them to cause a scare, how did it...'
Ron looked behind him toward Janeus, who was leisurely stepping out.
"Princess... This place is quite dusty and smoky, it can easily cause illnesses, would you mind hiding away for a moment?
But Janeus did not reply to Ron's words. Instead, she merely looked straight ahead.
Ron instantly noticed something. He retracted the fishing lines inside his sleeves and formed them into a short black blade.
"Three targets? Princess, this is a bit...?"
Ron discerned within that smoke that black silhouettes were gliding at an extremely high speed, charging toward the two of them. He did not hesitate for a single second, immediately retreating backward.
There was a misconception that retreating in combat meant being overwhelmed, but no, everything did not unfold like in wild brawls.
BOOM!!
"This is?"
Thanks to his backward retreat, Ron managed to evade an explosion right at the spot where he had just stood. But the bad part was, he did not see any explosion or physical destruction at all.
'Invisible damage?'
Ron swung his knife forward, even though the enemy was still a great distance away from him, essentially to scout.
His gaze flickered with a brief moment of hesitation, but then he decisively swung his knife forward.
The knife immediately slipped from his grip and shot straight toward the curtain of smoke, dragging along black threads clinging behind it.
But the entity looming within the darkness seemed to have noticed Ron's trick, intentionally dodging out of the attack range, leaving the knife to fly straight through the distant wall.
Seeing this, Ron thoroughly understood one thing.
"Princess, they possess consciousness. I am not certain about the situation yet, but do not kill them, please."
Having finished speaking, Ron paid no further heed to Janeus. He retracted his knife and charged forward at a speed far exceeding what a normal human could ever achieve.
Speed.
Observation capability.
Within just a few seconds, the distance between the two sides closed to a few meters. Ron was attempting to drag both of them into a close quarters combat scenario. Even though the opposing side outnumbered him three to one, this was a highly rational decision.
He took advantage of the murky dust that had not yet dissipated, utilizing dozens of fishing lines to wrap around his own body parts, solely aiming to reinforce himself to the absolute maximum limit.
"...!..."
BANG!
This time it was no longer an invisible strike. Ron witnessed a steel blade explode right beneath his feet, causing him to take damage and lose his balance, tilting forward.
Without waiting for Ron to regain his footing, someone closed the distance, lunging at Ron and grabbing his collar.
SLAM!!!
"Cough!"
This time Ron took the full brunt of a terrifyingly vicious body slam, causing the ground already cluttered with fragments to be crushed even further.
This strength, was it body reinforcement magic?
With this strike combined with this terrain, an ordinary person being hit would lightly suffer a broken back, or severely end up with a fractured skull, lifelong paralysis, or outright death.
STAB~
"What the—!"
But Ron was no ordinary fellow. He immediately pulled his arm back and drove it straight into the neck of the person who had just slammed him down.
Ron next spat a mouthful of viscous black blood as a gift right into the eyes of the enemy who had slammed him. That gaze pierced through the darkness to voice a filthy surge of terror.
But what need was there for filthy terror anymore? Ron's blood was not only filthy but also incredibly toxic.
STAB
STAB
STAB
Ron retracted his hand from the neck, pulling a short knife from his coat pocket and repeatedly stabbing into the flank of the person who slammed him. In the brief moment that person was waiting to feel the pain, Ron raised his nearly broken neck and...
"Hey, are you done yet? There is still another target, you know?"
A voice echoed from afar. It was the comrade of that mysterious fellow arriving.
"Why is it taking so long—"
Suddenly, that voice trembled faintly, as a deep, hidden terror gradually manifested through the eyes.
For what he was looking at was a figure whose limbs were fractured into segments, with blood dragging from the body down to the ground, standing right back up.
In his hand was his comrade, who was being carried by the neck like a mindless object.
"D-Demon?"
That stranger turned his head, slowly shifting his eyes toward him.
That gaze was utterly hollow, completely soulless, with golden pupils faintly showing within the pitch black darkness of that eye color.
"Oh? My apologies, I used too much force."
Ron turned around, staring intently at the other two before flashing a bizarre, demonic smile.