The Banished Black Swordsman Wants a Peaceful Life with the White Saint in the Frontier ~Huh? You Want Him to Come Back with the Saint? It’s Already Too Late~ - 56

Chapter 56: Fighting the Shadow Wolf

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The shadow that burst forth from the darkness skimmed past the orange glow of the campfire, leaving behind only the white of its fangs. Lloyd leapt into the midst of the enemy and muttered,

“〈Attractus〉”

The released sound wave spread outward, casting ripples through the air. Those ripples scraped against the instincts of the beasts that dwelled in the shadows, and all of their hostility turned at once toward Lloyd alone.

The red points of light belonging to the Shadow Wolves shifted their focus simultaneously, from Lusha and the horses to Lloyd. The skill 〈Attractus〉was one of his unique skills that concentrated monsters’ hostility onto himself alone. It did not work on highly intelligent monsters, but it was extremely effective against creatures that lived in a world of fangs rather than wit. 

And just as intended, the Shadow Wolves singled out Lloyd and lunged at him. But the magic sword’s blade was already in motion. The black of the magic sword Rukuud snatched up the moonlight and grazed the throat of the first one at a shallow angle.

The tightness of the flesh, the shallowness of the bone, the feedback of the blade’s reach. He slid the follow-through to the left, and with a second strike cut down the shadow that burst from the bushes. Along with a short scream, a lump of beast flesh fell into the darkness of the grass… Or so he thought, until just behind his right shoulder his ear caught the sensation of wind being split. From a place where there had been no presence until a moment ago, a beast’s claws closed in.

“Damn… It moved through the shadows, huh.”

Judging it impossible to completely evade, Lloyd dropped his center of gravity as if letting his knees give way, pulling the blade down behind his back. Dull claws tore into the shoulder of his cloak, cloth scattering. A cold line ran across his skin. A voice like a scream escaped Lusha and reached his ears.

“Lloyd, this darkness puts us at a disadvantage after all! I’ll light things up with magic, so—!”

“It’s fine. Against enemies like this—”

Before he could finish, a shadow sprang up from below. Another individual had been waiting for the slightest opening.

“What a restless mutt!”

Lloyd kicked off the ground and retreated in an instant, slashing once. The swung blade grazed the Shadow Wolf’s cheek, sending black fur dancing through the air. He found a rocky outcrop at the edge of the cliff with the sole of his foot and stopped, leaning his back against it.

Where’s the last one…?

There were five Shadow Wolves visible in his field of vision. The remaining one was probably hiding in the shadows, watching. The five in sight were decoys. The last one would definitely come around behind him.

“…If I want to draw out the boss, I guess I’ll have to hurt its underlings.”

He lowered the blade slightly below middle guard and shifted his gaze back and forth between the two wolves facing him. Charging in himself would be a bad move. He would make them impatient, force them to charge at him. The grass to his right sank just a little.

The left is the decoy, and the right is the real one.

With the tip of his blade, Lloyd lightly jabbed the decoy’s snout, throwing off its timing as it leapt. At the same time, he met the jaws of the real one rushing in from the right and smashed them apart, bone and all.

“One down.”

With the returning motion of the blade, he severed the decoy’s neck, then used its body as a foothold to spring upward. Using that momentum, he felled another one as well. Sparks from the campfire scattered into the night wind.

“Two, three…”

Each time he cut one down, heat pooled deep in his shoulders and arms. At the same time, a numbness like fine needles began to seep into the base of his fingers. The wound grazed by claws burned, a dull pain running beneath the skin. Cursed poison. Shallow, but it was accumulating.

The fourth one aimed low, going for his legs. There was no time to parry with the blade. Lloyd snapped his knee upward, crushing its jaw with his shin and breaking its balance. Then, as it fell, he brought the black blade down onto its back. The moment blood splashed at the base of the blade, he felt a stabbing presence behind him. The unseen fifth wolf burst out, tearing through a streak of shadow.

Lloyd dropped his body low, twisting as they passed to deflect it with his shoulder. Sharp claws ripped his cloak, and a shallow wound flared with hot pain. He immediately stepped back in and slashed diagonally upward, sending the Shadow Wolf rolling with a shrill scream. Its black fur swallowed the campfire’s light and sank into the darkness. His breathing grew ragged, the depths of his lungs creaking coldly.

Three left… I can do this.

He told himself so while resetting his stance with the magic sword.

Don’t indulge. Don’t rely on her. Don’t show my back.

 Even the form of coordination the two of them had built together… Tonight alone, he sealed it away. Relying on Lusha would be easier. It would probably end more cleanly. But—no. That wouldn’t do.

At the edge of his vision, he caught sight of Lusha watching him anxiously. If there ever came a time when he had to live on his own… When “he” came to take Lusha away… If he kept living a life dependent on her, he would be finished. He wouldn’t be able to survive.

So that even if the calm mornings, the hectic afternoons running the “handyman service” together, and the nights when they fell asleep trading words back to back all vanished someday… He would be okay. From now on, little by little, he had to learn how to live on his own.

Just then, a gust of wind blew through, and the campfire blurred for an instant. The smell of blood thickened. Deep in the forest, one heavy presence drew in a breath. The ravine went silent as if holding its breath and then, immediately after, a thunder-like roar shook the ground from deep within the forest, reverberating heavily in his gut.

“GROOOOOOOOOOOO!”

The Shadow Wolf’s roar made the air tremble. Ash rippled, and the planks of the pack wagon creaked. What emerged from the darkness looked similar to the other Shadow Wolves, yet its sheer presence was on another level entirely.

Bulging shoulders, fur like soot. Red eyes that gleamed as if swallowing the campfire’s orange glow. The final one… The leader-class Shadow Wolf. The low growl rumbling deep in its throat dominated the entire pack, and the other shadows all became feral at once. Under the onslaught of the charging Shadow Wolf pack, Lloyd was quickly forced entirely onto the defensive.

“Damn it… The boss shows up now of all times.”

Each time he took a hit, each time the cursed claws struck him, the mark on his right hand throbbed painfully. Black ink-like darkness beneath his skin gained warmth, spreading slowly from the center of his palm. It felt as though invisible smoke was leaking out from between his finger joints. The 〈Malice Glyph〉 was being affected by the miasma carried by the Shadow Wolves.

“Lloyd, this is reckless! We need to coordinate—”

“Stay back!”

“Seriously, why are you being so stubborn?! Lloyd, you’re acting strange today!”

Lusha’s anguished cry rang against his eardrums. He understood why she was angry. He himself didn’t know why he was being this stubborn. They had been happy together. Every day had felt fulfilling. So why was he afraid of her leaving him?

Huh…? Come to think of it, why did I even start staying with Lusha in the first place?

Suddenly, he remembered how they met. She had been called a false saint and hunted. He had wanted to help her when she insisted on her innocence. That was supposed to be the trigger.

“I don’t think your power is a ‘curse,’ you know?”

“Because… Every time you use it, it’s always to protect someone, isn’t it?”

Words she had once said resurfaced in his mind. It must have been when they talked about the 〈Malice Glyph〉. And then she had said this…

“Even if someone calls it a ‘curse,’ if you’re using it to protect someone, then I think it’s ‘kindness.’ At the very least, I was saved by that ‘kindness.’”

That was right. Because she said that, Lloyd felt as though his unrewarded life until now had been redeemed. He wanted to protect her. He wanted her to be happy. So why was he doing nothing but ignoring her feelings? And besides… If he kept being stubborn like this and got himself killed here… Who would protect her from these Shadow Wolves?

What am I doing…?!

When a man’s name came out of Lusha’s mouth, he felt fear over her relationship with that man. Thinking that everything he had now might be taken from him, he had even tried to deny his relationship with her. But if Lloyd were to be killed by the Shadow Wolves right here, none of that would matter.

If I can’t protect Lusha… What’s the point of having this goddamn power?!

Lloyd closed his eyes and deliberately matched the throbbing in his right hand to his breathing. Deep in his chest, he loosened the lock just a little. The blackness swelled beneath his skin and mixed with his blood, spreading throughout his body. Black miasma burst forth from the mark, instantly enveloping Lloyd’s body. A dark red film stretched across the edges of his vision, the contours of the world sharpening and lightening as noise faded away.

“Haaaaaaaah…!!”

With his shout, the miasma surrounding his body converged in an instant and was absorbed back into him. The release of the 〈Malice Glyph〉… Normally, there was a risk of losing control unless he first received Lusha’s protection. But now was no time to worry about that.

And besides… If worst came to worst… 

He was certain a part of him was still depending on her to save him from the darkness. Power flooded his body, and he leapt straight into the enemy’s ranks. His steps sank much deeper into the ground. The Shadow Wolves clearly faltered at how drastically his speed had changed.

And it wasn’t just his physical speed that changed. His blade moved faster as well, leaving the air behind. Before claws could reach him, he tore shoulders apart; before fangs could bite down, he severed throats. Black, flame-like miasma coiled around the magic sword, effortlessly burning through fur and muscle resistance. There was almost no resistance to speak of. As if cutting paper, he sliced through flesh cleanly and easily, the heavy sound of collapsing meat the only thing that echoed.

But… There was a price as well. He had already stopped counting how many he had killed. His consciousness melted into blackness, his thoughts being swallowed. It felt similar to his usual rampages. 

Ah, here we go again…

He thought dimly, but it was already too late. Sword movement, footwork, and breathing merged into one, never stopping, like a circle circling the fire. Was the laughter the wind’s, or his own throat’s? It was cold, yet strangely hot. Light, yet heavy. The colors of the world receded, and only the black directly before him pressed vividly closer.

A Shadow Wolf’s roar rang out. In response, the mark burned, and black flames surged thicker. A large Shadow Wolf charged in from the side. Lloyd adjusted the angle of deflection just slightly and slid it past his shoulder. A heavy weight slammed down on his back. Just before his knees gave out, Lloyd slammed the miasma in his right hand into the ground. Using the rebound, he sprang up and circled behind it, driving the magic sword into its massive back.

Baki—gucha—! 

The raw sound of bone shattering and flesh crushing tore through the night. The huge black body was slammed into the ground, the earth rippling violently. He no longer even knew how many enemies remained. All that filled his head was a faint pleasure and a frightening lightness.

Cut. Break. Drop. Destroy all the black shadows, the red shadows..Then it would be easier. 

That was all he could think. Something white streaked across the edge of his vision. Silver hair flowed in the wind, and he thought pale blue eyes caught him for just an instant.

Who…? 

He couldn’t even tell whether it was an enemy or a shadow.

If I cut it, it would go quiet. I should cut everything.

Thinking that, he raised his sword. The grip melted into his hand, his arm moving on its own. In that instant—

“Lloyd!”

His name was called, and his awareness snapped back for a moment. When he looked down at his body, arms were wrapped around him from behind. He was being hugged from the back.

“Please, stop!”

Along with her sobbing cry, a gentle light filled the surroundings. The light was different from the campfire’s orange glow. Not the color of heat, but perhaps the color of morning’s edge.

It was soft, yet it reached the marrow of his bones. From his palms, his arms, his chest, to the mark on his right hand. It gently wrapped the roots of the black flames, stroked the raging pulse like laying a thin cloth over it, calming it, loosening it.

The dark red film faded away, and distant sounds returned. The sound of wind brushing, the sense of ash falling, the faint clatter of pebbles rolling atop the cliff. The smell of earth and blood rose to his nose, followed by the faint scent of oiled cloth.

“Huh…? I…?”

Lloyd lowered his blade halfway and looked around. Multiple black masses lay scattered in the darkness—beyond the campfire’s shadows, past the wagon wheels, near the cliff’s edge. The large one lay with a deep gash across its back, no longer twitching at all.

All enemies were dead.

“Lusha…?”

The arms around his back were still there. The trembling had lessened, but he could hear her sobbing against his back. Each time her shoulders rose and fell, he felt the movement transmitted to him.

“Why… Why won’t you rely on me?”

Lusha squeezed the words out.

“Why do you avoid me…? We’ve worked so hard together until now. I want us to keep doing our best together from now on, too… So why do you ignore me…?”

She wove those feelings together while holding back her sobs. He had never meant to ignore her, or avoid her. He had just been thinking that he relied on her too much and that he needed to be able to manage on his own if she was ever gone. But to her, it might have felt no different from being ignored.

He sheathed his sword and looked at his slightly trembling right hand. As if the earlier rampage had been a lie, the 〈Malice Glyph〉 was calm. As though this was how it should have been from the start.

“…I’m sorry.”

He turned and tried to hold her slender body. As he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and brought his forehead close, he suddenly noticed. The back of his hand glistened wetly in the moonlight. It was red with blood. No, not just his hand. His cloak was torn from shoulder to abdomen, black fur and blood clinging to it. Lloyd himself was wounded all over. Red speckles dotted her hood as well.

“Look, Lusha…You’ll get dirty. Step back.”

Saying that, he stopped his outstretched hand. His own voice sounded strangely distant. Lusha gave a small shake of her head as if to say “no, I wouldn’t let go,” but after a brief delay, she gently released her arms and stepped half a pace back.

Even as she did, her fingertips still touched the edge of Lloyd’s cloak and when she noticed, she hurriedly clasped her fingers together. She didn’t lift her face. Only the trails of tears shone thinly in the campfire’s orange light.

He had to apologize. Even knowing that, Lloyd couldn’t say anything. Countless words reached his throat, only to crumble away before taking shape. He knew how deeply he had hurt her. He knew how much her voice had saved him. And yet, he couldn’t find the words to close even the distance of a single finger’s width between them.

…I was wrong.

Only in his heart did he reach that realization, far too late. At the same time, her sleep-talking from that morning still caught somewhere in his chest like a thin blade. And even these tears might not be just for his sake. Feelings of inferiority, along with loneliness and fear, still lingered deep in the corner of his heart.

The request had been completed safely. But her tears, illuminated by the campfire, had not yet dried.

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