Chapter 20: The Phantom Thief Rabbit Strikes

It was the dead of night, with everyone fast asleep and a deep silence filling the air.

We had taken our positions as planned, eagerly waiting for our target—the Phantom Thief Rabbit—to appear.

In the living room, it was just me and Liluria.

Sylha, in order to lower the Phantom Thief Rabbit’s guard, was pretending to be asleep in her room while hugging a stuffed rabbit.

To prevent any intrusion through the window, we made sure to securely close the one in Sylha’s room.

Now, all that remained was to wait for the thief to waltz in through the front door.

“This is kinda nerve-wracking… What if the thief turns out to be really dangerous? Ao, you better protect me, alright?”

“Hmm, how about I just hug you now to calm you down?”

“Wha—! H-hugging me…? T-that’s indecent! W-well, if Ao really insists, I suppose… I might let you, I guess?”

For real!? The thief hadn’t even arrived yet, and she was already giving me permission?

I thought we were close, but I didn’t expect Liluria to open up to me this much.

“Alright then, I won’t hold back—”

Opportunities to hug a girl like this don’t come by often. Who knows how many chances I’ll get in my life? I wasn’t about to let this one slip by. I prepared to throw myself at Liluria with everything I had—

But just then, the entire house went dark.

“Kyaa! T-the lights…!?”

Damn it! I was so close! Phantom Thief Rabbit, read the room, will you!?

Terrified by the sudden blackout, Liluria grabbed my hand.

For both the house’s light magic and lightning magic to go out all at once… this was clearly someone’s doing. I had just replaced the core yesterday, so it was highly unlikely that we simply ran out of magical power.

This was, without a doubt, the work of Phantom Thief Rabbit…!

Gacha, gacha, gacha. I could hear someone repeatedly trying to open the front door. It was locked, so it shouldn’t be that easy to break in, but—

Gacha, gacha… DOGAAAAAAAAAN!!!

“!?”

Out of nowhere, an earth-shattering crash echoed from the front door.

Moments later, I heard the sound of footsteps.

D-did they just break in!?

What kind of reckless method is this, Phantom Thief Rabbit!? I don’t know if they used a bomb or magic, but smashing the entire door just because it wouldn’t unlock is way too extreme!

There’s nothing remotely phantom thief-like about this. They might as well call themselves a robber or a terrorist!

The footsteps steadily approached the living room where we were. To reach the second floor where Sylha was, they had to pass through the living room and climb the stairs. That was exactly why we were waiting here to ambush the thief, but… I never expected them to be this dangerous.

I really wanted to run away right then and there!

Surely, Liluria—right beside me—must be feeling the same way I am.

My eyes, gradually adjusting to the darkness, scanned Liluria’s condition.

Then, Liluria—

“For my friend. For my friend. For my friend. For my friend. For my frie—”

She was desperately repeating that self-affirmation.

“Hey! Aren’t you overdoing it for a friend!?”

Even though I desperately wanted to bolt out the window, Liluria, gripping my hand tightly, wouldn’t let me escape.

And then, at last, I saw the figure of Phantom Thief Rabbit—!

Clad in an all-black robe that completely concealed any hint of their body,
and wearing a rabbit mask on their head that only heightened the strangeness of their presence.

Man or woman?
Even that couldn’t be determined from appearance alone.

Like something straight out of a horror movie, the thief cast a glance in our direction and immediately launched an attack!

I instinctively stepped in front of Liluria to protect her.
Compared to that armored knight from before, this wasn’t nearly as frightening.

Zudooooon

A clean punch from the thief struck my face.
The impact sent the furniture and knickknacks in the living room flying.

H-how powerful is that punch…!?

The thief tilted his head in puzzlement, clearly wondering how I took no damage.

Then, switching tactics, he unleashed a kick—this time aiming squarely at my groin.

Kan

But too bad— with my cheats, my groin isn’t even a weak point.

“Really, isn’t that a bit much…?”

Liluria, behind me, looked slightly taken aback as she saw me remain unfazed even after taking a full-force kick to the groin.

It’s fine, isn’t it?
Sure, it might look odd to anyone watching, but if you actually took a blow to the groin, you’d be ready to puke.

As a man who has transcended groin vulnerability, I might even be considered a new breed of humanity.
The thief probably never expected my groin to be immune—
he stared at it in astonishment.

“Come on, Liluria! Now’s our chance!”

“O-okay!”

Phase one of the plan:
While I hold off the thief’s attacks and keep his attention, Liluria will strike with magic.

A magic specialized solely in destroying living beings and inanimate objects—
that is Black Magic.

A slight miscontrol could easily result in fatalities, so under normal circumstances, one wouldn’t be able to practice it.
But against me, with my defensive cheats, even Black Magic is powerless.

For the past few days, Liluria has been practicing magic on me in the forest, taking every precaution so that its effects wouldn’t hit her.
She even destroyed trees and rocks near me, yet she kept at it until her mana ran out.

Perhaps she’s the first Black Mage in the world to have trained so rigorously on a living person.
Eventually, she barely made any mistakes, meaning this would work in an actual fight.

Liluria and I decided, then, to integrate Black Magic into our plan against the thief.
Liluria concentrated, focusing with even greater intensity than when facing monsters.

Her target: the ankle.
Any other body part risked lethal damage, but even if she slightly miscontrolled it, a hit to the ankle wouldn’t be fatal.

After all, it’s a bit much to try to kill someone who only stole a stuffed animal.

Bam

Then she activated her spell.
But the thief jumped to evade it.

The floor directly beneath the thief was torn to shreds, leaving behind a gruesome sight—
M-my newly bought home…!

But I can’t fault Liluria.
She unleashed her magic at the thief’s ankle, controlling it perfectly.

I never expected the thief to dodge her spell by simply reading Liluria’s gaze.
It seems the thief’s skill is far beyond anything we could ever imagine.

But our plan was still in progress.

Sylha, who had been sneaking up from the entrance to flank the thief, unleashed a powerful punch on the leaping thief.

Phase two—well, actually, the final phase:
Liluria casts her spell, and Sylha, having gotten behind the thief, strikes at the inevitable opening.

We’ve come exactly according to plan.
Now it depends on Sylha, but if it’s Sylha, she’ll definitely pull it off!

Zudooooooon

Did we get him—!?

Sylha’s punch sent shockwaves that reached us, even from afar.

As expected from a Rank Nine attack.
This isn’t going to let the thief off lightly.

Thinking that, I glanced at the thief—

The thief kept his gaze on us, slipped his right hand around his back, and nonchalantly absorbed Sylha’s heavy punch coming from behind.

T-this thief is way too strong…!!