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Chapter 46

I let out a sigh as I struggled to twist myself around.

“Stop wasting your energy. This chain is a relic, the Iron Chains of Binet. I’m sure you’ve heard about it, correct?”

“This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

“You won’t get hurt if you don’t act stupid.”

From how they were talking to me, it didn’t look like they were planning to kill me any time soon.

As if displeased by that fact, a deep voice echoed from underground.

“What are you talking about?”

The one who had grabbed my ankles appeared from beneath a mound of dirt.

Funnily enough, he didn’t have robes covering his body like the other two.

His head was clean-shaven and his body resembled a boulder in both size and shape. His figure was comparable to Hariba’s inflated body.

He looks quite fierce.

His face seemed more like that of a mercenary or a bandit than an assassin.

That scary face turned to look at me.

“You, are you planning on taking this kid back?”

“I am.”

“No, I oppose that decision. He barely has one blessing. He won’t even be useful as an offering.”

“That’s not your decision to make.”

It seemed the two didn’t have a good relationship.

For some reason, there were sharp blades hidden between the words they spoke to each other.

I decided to stay quiet and watch for the time being.

“He is still a descendant of the Lord of Blood and Iron. If he didn’t have even a single blessing, I wouldn’t have bothered bringing it up.”

“Even so—”

“So what is your plan, then? The Hariba that you put so much effort into has died. Should we return with just a bloated carcass?”

I couldn’t completely grasp all the nuances of this conversation, but I understood that to them, I was already a bird in the hand.

“What do you think?” the bald guy asked the one behind me.

It didn’t seem like he was asking a superior, just looking for a third opinion because the two of them couldn’t come to an agreement.

“I think we can take him with us.”

Her voice indicated that she was a woman.

“What’s your reasoning?”

“We can’t go back with nothing to show, and this guy’s blessing doesn’t seem too bad. You saw it too. He defeated Hariba, who had ingested the ‘reagent’.”

“...”

“And he had enough energy left to put on that ridiculous act. Evidently he’d noticed that we were hiding. The trash of House Bednicker progressed that much in just one day; his blessing is probably one of the best.”

People were busy misunderstanding things again.

But since they didn’t know anything about Spirit Mountain, their explanation was reasonable. A few people had turned their lives around due to a blessing, after all.

“Hmm...” The bald giant paused for a second. “Still, taking a direct descendant of the Lord of Blood and Iron is too risky. It’s a completely different matter than taking someone from a branch family like Hariba.”

“You don’t have to worry about that part. There’s no way the Lord of Blood and Iron will care about someone who has lost his favor even once, even if they’re of his bloodline.”

I lifted my head and looked at the stranger.

I still couldn’t remember whether or not I had heard their voice, but something about how they said that felt off.

“...If you say so.”

And the bald guy’s reaction really hammered that odd feeling home.

I closed my eyes for a second to organize my thoughts.

Although they were still keeping guard and being careful with what they communicated with each other, I could understand a few small points.

The first mysterious stranger knew me.

The bald giant was hasty.

Finally, the woman was the most coolheaded.

After I came to this conclusion, I spoke.

“One of you three...”

“What?”

“If one of you undoes these chains right now, I’ll let you live.”

“...”

They look like they just heard a dog speak.

Of course, I couldn’t see two of them. I just had that thought when I saw the reaction of the bald guy in front of me.

“What did you say?”

“Are you deaf? I said if one of you unties me, kneels, and begs for mercy, then I’ll let you live.”

The bald one laughed while showing his white teeth.

It didn’t seem like he was laughing from joy.

“You’ve gone mad.”

“Not at all.”

“Are you so confident because we were talking about taking you alive? Do you think you’ll be treated well as our prisoner? You may not know this, but there are fates in this world worse than death. And I... am a professional at making them happen.”

The bald one smirked.

“With the right technique, I can keep you alive for at least a month even after removing your eyes, ripping out your tongue, and cutting off all four of your limbs. I don’t know if you can call that living, however.”

“...”

“Do you get it, punk? Be sure to think before joking with people you shouldn’t. If you don\'t—”

“You talk too much. I’m excluding you for now, Baldy.”

Immediately, Baldy threw a punch at me. Not at my head but at my chest, even while I was covered in chains.

“Mukad!” shouted the mysterious stranger as if to stop him.

...That was probably Baldy’s name.

Was it his real name or a false one?

Regardless, it was still useful information.

Crunch!

Despite the man’s shout, Baldy didn’t halt his attack.

I received his punch and was flung backward through the air.

* * * * *

* * * * *

Idiot. But really, just how strong is he?

Even though the chains were covering my body like armor, I could still feel a throbbing pain in my ribs. It was a familiar feeling, the pain of having one of my ribs cracked.

However, I’d accomplished my goal.

I didn’t even think about stopping. Rather, while I was flying through the air, I kicked off the ground once more to run even faster.

“Uh...”

Before the one who had thrown the chains at me could take action... I quickly turned my body.

Fwip!

Ugh...

Spin, spin. Although I was getting a bit dizzy from how fast I was spinning, I didn’t stop.

Like this, after spinning my body a few dozen times while flying backward, the chains reeled around my body like a fishing line.

“Keuk...! You...!”

Although my intentions had been discovered, his reaction was too slow.

Ting!

I heard the sound of something breaking.

The mysterious man belatedly reached out with his hand, but the end of the chain had already escaped his grasp.

It might be obvious, but there was a limit to how long a chain could be, which meant it also had an end. Even a relic was no exception.

That was why, rather than untie myself, I had opted to wrap the entire chain around my body as I ran away.

But this is more tangled than I expected.

It wasn’t like a yarn of silk.

It didn’t seem like I could get out of this in a reasonable amount of time, so I decided to just run through the forest with the chains clanking under me.

Because I was running with my arms bound, I soon sensed a presence behind me.

“That’s pretty cute, little punk.”

It was Baldy.

I didn’t know what he was so happy about, but he was chasing after me at full speed with a grin on his face.

Since he was the one who had objected to me being taken alive, he was probably happy that he now had an excuse to kill me.

“Wow, you look terrible.”

“What?”

“Shouldn’t you be the one wearing a hood? You’re so rude.”

“Hahaha...!”

Even when I insulted him, he just laughed. But just like before, this wasn’t a laugh of joy.

He was probably the kind of person who laughed when he got angry.

Schwing—

An odd-looking curved blade appeared from his hip.

So he’s got a weapon as well?

But since he was so big, the blade looked more like a toy.

Dash!

The large bald man quickly closed the gap and swung his blade at me.

It was fast.

But it wasn’t so fast that I couldn’t dodge it.

Woosh!

I dodged the first attack, but his assault had only just begun.

He was pretty agile for his size. He had the perfect balance of strength, speed, and killing intent for his monstrous appearance.

I’m starting to get tired.

He wasn’t any harder to fight than Hariba, but my condition was worse this time.

I couldn’t really counterattack either since both my hands were bound.

I could attack with my legs, but I couldn’t afford to kick unless my timing was perfect. I’d be left wide open right after I attacked.

But one thing is a bit relieving...

It didn’t look like Baldy’s allies were chasing after me.

I didn’t think it was because they trusted him to finish the job. Perhaps their relationship was closer to acquaintances than allies?

This isn’t good.

Although buying time wasn’t a bad strategy, it wouldn’t be odd for me to get cut by his blade at this point.

I took a short moment to decide on a plan.

Once I’d made my decision, I ran toward the giant bald man.

As if expecting me, the blade swung down, but I pushed even closer.

Clang!

I used the chains binding my body as a shield.

“You bastard...!”

He clearly hadn’t expected me to do that, but he quickly regained his composure.

He’s a proficient fighter.

Were it not for the current situation, I would be fighting very differently... but I wasn’t in a position to experiment.

I gathered all the heat in my body up into my head.

There was a way for me to attack without using my hands or legs.

Although the heat had gathered in my head, I wasn’t trying to use a technique from the White Sun Form.

This was just a simple headbutt.

Crack!

“Ugh...”

I winced a bit.

For a second, I thought that maybe trying to headbutt Baldy would end up worse for me, but since my skull hit him right in his face, he probably suffered more damage than I did.

As I glanced up, I saw his eyes lose focus for a second.

Still, he had a strong grip on his blade. I quickly turned my body and used the end of the chain to attack Baldy’s hand.

“Ack...!”

Having his fingers smacked with a metal chain seemed to hurt a lot, enough for him to drop his weapon.

I didn’t waste any time when Baldy dropped his weapon. I grabbed the falling blade with my mouth.

I was honestly quite surprised I pulled it off.

I used the blade to cut Baldy’s neck while he was stumbling backward.

Crack...

I felt blood pool in my mouth.

If my bite had been any weaker, my teeth could’ve fallen out instead.

Suddenly, all the strength drained from my body as I collapsed to the ground.

Clang!

The blade fell from my mouth, and I tasted the rotten leaves and dirt instead.

I didn’t even have time to spit them out as I turned to check on Baldy.

He seemed to be dead.

It wasn’t wholly unexpected. Although this was a crazy situation, I had successfully cut him somewhere critical.

“Ugh...”

Although my jaw still felt numb, I didn’t have time to spare.

I slowly got up.

You would know if you’d experienced it before, but trying to get up without the help of your arms is quite difficult.

At this point, a chilling voice called out to me.

“Don’t move.”

I saw the mysterious man crouching in the branches.

He was a strange one.

Even though I was looking up at him, I still couldn’t see inside his hood.

Those clothes were probably relics as well.

Another chilling voice called out from behind me.

“You just had to make this bothersome.”

It was their female ally from before.

I let out a sigh.

There was no way they would just leave everything to Baldy.

I had already experienced how thorough they were.

Anyway, this was the end for me.

I couldn\'t defeat two more unknown enemies in my current state.

“...I killed one of them.”

“So what?”

“I’m not talking to you.” I let out a deep breath as I continued, “Can’t you help me at this point, Family Head?”

“...!”

At that moment, they both froze.

They slowly turned their gazes in the same direction.

For the record, I had already seen his figure, that of a young boy leaning against a tree.

“Didn’t you say you would let one of them live?”

The Lord of Blood and Iron spoke without looking at either of them.

“You decide, Luan. Who should live?”