Repeat Vice - The Villainous Noble Doesn't Want to Die, So He Swore to Not Die As One of The Four Heavenly Kings - Chapter 33: Magic Killer

Chapter 33: Magic Killer

In the corridors of the Gilan mansion, three people—Hawk, Kay, and Dan—were running.

Dan, who had been slashed by the Sword Saint Eric, had numerous wounds, but despite their appearance, they were actually shallow. With the aid of potions and stopping the bleeding along the way, he had recovered enough to move adequately.

“…Sorry for the trouble,” Dan apologized, to which Hawk and Kay responded with laughter.

“Don’t worry about it, Dan. The opponent was just too tough.”

“Yeah, he was too fast to even see properly. It’s cheating.”

Hawk nodded.

“If someone like that was there, even Sigil would have had a hard time,” Kay added with a smile.

At this point, the three of them had a misunderstanding.

Sigil’s combat prowess was among the best in the “Scarlet Wind.”

Having taken the lead in battles in ruins and dungeons, his swordsmanship, honed in actual combat, was undoubtedly top-notch.

If someone had captured Sigil, they must have been quite skilled—such was the perception of the members of the “Crimson Wind.”

Then there was the encounter with the Sword Saint Eric.

Eric’s swordsmanship was extraordinarily superior, to the extent that ordinary people couldn’t even perceive his sword movements.

Thus, Hawk, Kay, and Dan mistakenly believed that the red-haired man they encountered earlier—the Sword Saint Eric—was the one who captured Sigil.

And they assumed that there couldn’t be many monsters like Eric.

However, that was not the truth.

The one who captured Sigil was a being that could be called a monster even more so than Eric.

Known as an assassin that existed for over 300 years.

A lineage of hereditary assassins, or an immortal being living through the ages.

This rumored figure seemed to have a direct view of the movements of the intruders who had breached the mansion.

Their positions, actions, conversations, and even their subtle breaths.

Therefore, meticulously searching the mansion and outmaneuvering the three as they approached the entrance leading underground was as easy as breathing.

“Hey, looking for something?”

A friendly voice as if talking to a friend.

Suddenly spoken to, the three running down the hallway stopped in their tracks.

“What!?”

“Where did he…!?”

The three were all equally surprised, their eyes wide open.

Although there should have been no one in the corridor, it seemed to the three as if the man had suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the empty space.

Wearing a wide-brimmed red-black hat and a peculiar atmosphere with a tattered red-black coat.

Clearly, he was not just anybody. Kay aimed his spear at him.

“Who are you, a mage!?”

Prompted by Kay’s words, Dan readied his war hammer, and Hawk aimed his magic gun.

It was widely known that high-ranking mages could manipulate teleportation magic.

Indeed, short-distance teleportation magic existed among advanced magics.

Teleportation magic mediated by shadows, such as Shadow Move used by the chief of the Dark Knights, Alva, was precisely that.

The sight of the wide-brimmed red-black hat worn by the man made Hawk momentarily recall the legendary assassin, but he immediately shook his head to deny it.

Impossible, that was nothing but a legend, it couldn’t possibly exist.

Hawk stared at the man, smiling aggressively without showing any weakness.

“It’s surprising that you suddenly appeared, but why didn’t you ambush us? It’s three against one. Even for a mage, that’s tough, isn’t it?”

“Three against… one?”

The man tilted his head curiously.

“Isn’t it a mistake for two against one?”

The voice came from right next to Hawk.

The sound of a dropped spear echoed in the hallway.

Hawk turned his eyes, and there, just now, Kay, who had been holding the spear, was being strangled by the man.

Kay was already unconscious, his feet dangling lifelessly above the ground.

“What!?”

Hawk’s eyes widened in astonishment.

Hawk had not taken his eyes off the man.

There had been no suspicious movements, no particular actions.

Yet, in the next moment, Kay was defeated.

Naturally, the man’s figure was no longer where he had been standing, and he hadn’t split into duplicates either.

A strong sense of incongruity struck Hawk.

“Damn!”

“…Kay!”

Hawk jumped back, firing his magic gun continuously at the man.

At the same time, Dan swung his war hammer and attacked the man.

The war hammer, imbued with Dan’s trained strength, had the power to crush even rocks.

But the war hammer swung towards the man—yet, there was no sound of impact.

The swung war hammer was silently caught by the man, as if catching a falling feather, with one hand while still holding Kay aloft with the other.

Literally, effortlessly.

Wide-eyed, Dan felt a shock run through his neck in the next moment, and consciousness was easily snatched away from him.

Until the moment Dan lost consciousness, he couldn’t understand what had happened to him.

With Kay dangling and Dan collapsing lifelessly, the man extended his hand from his sleeve toward Hawk, who still held his magic gun.

On his palm lay several bullets that Hawk had just fired at him.

The man who disappeared and reappeared.

What was terrifying was his lack of preparatory movements, his lack of presence.

In an instant, two people were defeated, and neither of them could even see the moment they were attacked.

Hawk stared at the man with a stern gaze, murmuring with conviction.

“It’s the real deal, huh, The Bloody Redcap…!”

“Ah, using that nickname again, huh. I wish I could be called by a different name soon.”

The man—Redcap—looked at Hawk with his eyes, resembling pools of red blood.

However, this wasn’t the end for Hawk.

Hawk, still holding his gun, had two crystals roll at the man’s feet.

Immediately afterward, a bright flash emanated from one, and a special magical wave from the other.

Hawk jumped back from the spot, firing his magic gun again at the location where Redcap was.

What Hawk had hastily dropped were a flash crystal that blinded and a special anti-magic wave crystal that disrupted magical spells when shattered.

The anti-magic wave crystal, once used, made it difficult to use magic within its range for a while.

Redcap’s teleportation-like power was probably magical in nature.

It was different from the fast movements that couldn’t be followed by the eye, like those of Sword Saint Eric.

This should prevent his incomprehensible teleportation.

But—Hawk’s vision, who should have been shooting his magic gun, reversed, and the next moment, he was lying on his back, gazing up at the ceiling.

And, somehow, Redcap, who had approached, was leaning over him, peering into his eyes with his red ones.

Another teleportation.

The anti-magic wave had no effect.

Hawk’s plan had completely backfired.

“Hu…!”

Hawk tried to get up, but Redcap stepped on him from above.

“Guh!?”

Hawk groaned, but Bloody Redcap paid no attention and spoke.

“To face a superior opponent and seek a turnaround until the moment your companion is defeated and you die. It’s truly admirable as a warrior. You’ve done nothing wrong. If it were a decent opponent, this move alone would have opened up enough of an escape route. Therefore, this outcome purely reflects the absolute difference in our levels.”

With that said, Redcap strangled Hawk.

“Also, the dizziness wasn’t bad, but the anti-magic was a miss. I don’t have any magic power, you see.”

Those were the last words Hawk heard before losing consciousness.

With Hawk, Kay, and Dan unconscious, Redcap withdrew a concealed knife from his sleeve.

Irritatedly looking at the three, he muttered, “Supposedly, you cut off a man’s head… Wasn’t it? I don’t like blood though.”

He ran the blade along Hawk’s neck, illuminated by the moonlight, and then glanced up.

Narrowing his eyes, Redcap sighed.

“…Checking so suddenly. Gilan, you’re always causing trouble.”

With that murmur, Redcap disappeared from the corridor.

Leaving behind the three unconscious figures.

At the Gilan mansion corridor, lightning and swordplay were flying around.

At speeds beyond ordinary perception, the clash of metal against metal resounded, and sparks flew.

Vallum, imbuing his spear with lightning attributes, faced off against Sword Saint Eric, who imbued his sword with light attributes.

Each clash of sword and spear caused bursts of light and lightning, illuminating the dark corridor as if it were daytime.

Both remained unscathed, their strengths evenly matched.

“…You’ve become stronger, Vallum,” Eric muttered as they crossed blades.

Vallum offered no response, continuing to swing his spear in silence.

“I never expected you to side with the Lightless. You, who worked so hard to maintain public order…”

Ignoring Eric’s words, Vallum increased the speed of his spear.

Eric responded in kind, sharpening the edge of his sword.

The sword and spear crossed at high speeds, as if racing each other to increase their velocity.

The sound of air being torn by the excessively fast swordplay echoed.

And finally, Vallum’s body was enveloped in golden lightning.

Thunder Armor.

With his entire body wrapped in golden lightning, Vallum’s strength and speed surged explosively.

The activation of Thunder Armor occurred in an instant, at the moment the spear and Eric’s sword clashed.

At that moment, Eric’s sword, unable to withstand the blow of the lightning-wrapped spear, cracked from the impact and the blade danced in the air.

Eric, with his eyes slightly widened, kneeled down.

A momentary, insignificant opening.

In that instant, Vallum’s spear seized Eric’s shoulder and pierced through.

With that thrust, lightning scattered and chaos ensued.

Fresh blood danced, and Eric knelt on one knee, quietly laying down his sword.

“…Heh, my defeat, huh. Vallum, you’ve truly become—” Eric didn’t finish his sentence before Vallum coldly withdrew his spear.

“——Guu!?”

Eric collapsed, groaning in pain.

Vallum swung his spear in silence, flicking away the blood on the spear.

Eric glared at him with one eye.

“…No mercy. After all, you’re my superior.”

Vallum looked down at him with a hint of disdain at Eric’s words.

“You speak the truth about defeat. Your swordplay lacked the killing intent, and you were chatting during the battle. Moreover, there were cracks in your sword from before the fight. You never had the intention to win.”

Eric raised his upper body and chuckled lightly.

“…I didn’t even feel like winning anyway.”

“And there was doubt in your swordplay. Regarding the Gilan matter, your master isn’t satisfied either, right?”

Vallum questioned him, and Eric closed his eyes in resignation.

“Even if he’s not satisfied, you have to understand. It was decided by my father, the lord.”

Eric glanced at Vallum.

“And you. That golden lightning just now, it’s the first time I’ve seen it. You’ve been hiding your power.”

“…It consumes a lot of magic power, so I haven’t had a chance to show it.”

Vallum placed a potion in front of Eric.

“…For you.”

“Is this charity?”

“Charity is a privilege of the victor. Well, I don’t even feel like I won.”

Vallum said only that and turned his back, moving forward down the corridor.

“Are you sure about wasting such a valuable potion? You might need it later.”

“I don’t need it. I won’t lose again.”

Vallum replied without looking back and continued running.

Left alone, Eric looked at the broken sword.

The sword, engraved with the royal crest, was bestowed upon him by the king as proof of the Sword Saint.

Eric chuckled lightly.

“I can’t renounce the name of the Sword Saint…”

Eric muttered, seeming somewhat relieved.

As Rofus jumped off the deck of the airship, countless shadow familiars dashed around the mansion.

The Dark Carpet, a dark area spread throughout the Gilan mansion’s grounds.

From the darkness that filled the Gilan mansion’s floors, shadow familiars were released, and the eyes of the familiars surveyed every corner of the mansion.

If they encountered private soldiers, they would attack in passing, but the countless shadow familiars were not meant for extermination.

Every sight and piece of information seen by the shadow familiars was sent to Rofus.

Sharing vision and hearing with familiars was a relatively popular technique.

However, that was usually done between one familiar and one practitioner. When dealing with multiple familiars, it became a different story.

Normally, due to the large amount of magic power consumption and the amount of information, it was theoretically possible but not something anyone would do.

However, Rofus, with his boundless magic power and extraordinary information processing ability, handled it as a matter of course.

Countless shadow familiars ran around the mansion, and in a matter of seconds, Rofus pinpointed Gilan’s location.

It was in the luxurious bedroom on the third floor.

Rofus landed on the ground and stared towards Gilan’s trembling figure from the darkness.

Through the eyes of the shadow familiars, Rofus observed Gilan curled up and shivering.

“Ah, you had that look on your face again, Gilan…”

Rofus chuckled aggressively and sank into the darkness.

Transit using shadows—Shadow Move.

Rofus’s figure sank into the shadows, and the next moment, he appeared from the darkness of the floor of Gilan’s bedroom.

Gilan, not noticing Rofus’s silent appearance, still trembled, huddled up.

Rofus looked down at him with eyes akin to seeing garbage.

“Long time no see, Gilan.”

Gilan, the wealthy merchant, shivered and timidly raised his head.

His eyes, captured by Rofus’s gaze, gradually filled with fear.

“Wh-Why are you here…!?”

Trembling, Gilan tried to crawl away from Rofus.

Rofus looked at him disdainfully and created a Dark Lance in his hand, slowly approaching.

It was like a replay of that night.

“A monster… Where are they!? Why did you hire them…!”

Gilan looked around desperately, clinging to the hope of escape.

Rofus approached unbothered.

“A monster? A strange name for a mercenary. Did you abandon them? Pathetic.”

Rofus sneered at Gilan with the tip of the dark spear aimed at him.

It was unexpected, as there was no lack of vigilance or negligence.

Magic detection was always active.

He had also deployed a magic barrier stronger than usual.

Therefore, it was an unforeseen situation.

“——!?”

Rofus immediately stepped back.

He felt as if the deployed magic barrier had been easily pierced, prompting him to retreat instinctively.

What appeared was a man wearing a red-black hat and coat.

A knife was gripped in his hand.

“…You’re sharp. I was planning to cut off your head.”

The man muttered regretfully.

When Rofus realized it, it was already too late.

A sharp wound opened in Rofus’s neck.

Fresh blood gushed out.

The wound was deep, and Rofus instinctively pressed his hand against it, but the blood flowed endlessly, overflowing without stopping.

“——ah…”

And now, with his throat deeply slashed, he couldn’t even make a sound.

Being unable to make a sound essentially meant that most of his magic was unusable.

Naturally, incantations were sealed, and he couldn’t use magic by discarding incantations that required naming spells.

The use of magic was limited to what he could perform without incantations.

What Rofus could perform without incantations were low-grade, intermediate-grade, and some advanced-grade spells.

Ancient magic was out of the question.

And Rofus couldn’t use healing magic.

…

Sweat dripped unpleasantly from Rofus’s forehead.

“Are you okay? You look pale. All the magicians I meet make that kind of face.”

The man—Redcap—smiled cynically at Rofus.

And then, without mercy, Redcap threw the knife at Rofus, as if bidding farewell to a friend.

“Goodbye, one-armed wizard.”

Those words of Redcap, friendly and cruel, echoed in Rofus’s ears with unusual clarity.