The Regression Of A Grand Mercenary

As the four robed men revealed their identities, rushing to me as they did…

I came about and conjured my pure core once again.

It was strange…

From the years of my life as a mercenary, I’ve never heard of a human being capable of transforming into part an animal.

What this show of ability reminded me of was the concept of Alchemy.

From what I’ve heard in the gossip in the bars, there were certain mages who would delve into the concept of the dark matters of alchemy. And one of the gossips I heard was of how one certain mage was so deep into his research, he sacrificed the life of his son all for his experiments in creating a perfect hybrid of both a wolf and a human.

In the end, the mage succeeded, but the boy was in so much pain, it bit off it’s own tongue and died inside its cage. It was a gruesome story…and on the later years, it was revealed to be true.

I’m guessing now, that its possible that a different mage is also experimenting the lives of humans to mend together in the bodies of animals.

And from the looks of it, these people in front of me are soldiers trained to fight. With how agile they are against me, I can only imagine the worse.

But that doesn’t matter.

I have to end this fight quick. Amelia is on the church and I don’t know what’s going inside there.

One thing to consider was the fact that my sword could not pierce through their robes. The robes they were wearing were clearly strong enough to even repel a sword capable of tearing through metal like butter…

But from the way it was moving, from how it flapped against the wind, there’s no doubt about it…their robes were reinforced with magic that was strong enough against an iron sword like mine.

“Magically reinforced robes…with how important this mission is for you guys, you must been preparing for a lot…but you didn’t take into the consideration on who I actually am.” as I said this, readied myself.

And in return, they came rushing in.

The first one to arrive was the man with the wings. At his speed, he flew up above and dived down to me at quite the speed. I could barely follow him.

But right at the last second, I saw a glint in the night sky like a shining star, then and there, I raised my sword quickly out of instinct.

And just as I did, his sharp claws came out of nowhere and struck my sword in place of my body.

*Ting!*

The two sounds of metal clashing could be heard.

But once wasn’t enough. Soon the man with the wings started attacking me with his claws like a bird, striking me fast with high kicks, but I weaved and dodged as fast as I could. Even with my development towards the 2^nd stage of the pure core, it felt like i could never overcome their speed…

But I didn’t worry yet.

As I was being distracted by the bat-man, the bear-arm person came about from behind and tried tackling me, but his large presence was easy to detect, I was able to move away on a roll.

But as I did roll away, another attack came about from the tentacles that struck like flying spears.

Four of those spear-like tentacles were lunged at the speed of an arrow and I could not defend with my sword as I rolled, so I pushed away using my arm up into the air, and only then could I bring out my sword.

From it, I swung down hard on the tentacles, and as quick as I could, I cut down two of his arms.

*Shwing!*

Like a sharp whip, I cut it down easily.

And as I did, the man with the tentacles screamed in an unnatural manner.

”Q-quuaurr!!!” it sounded like a drowning bird’s call…it was an inhumane voice.

“…” but I couldn’t be distracted. From the moment the tentacle person screamed, out of nowhere, I heard the sound of a spitting manner.

*Spit!*

And as I turned to where this was coming from, out from behind, I was shot by a mucus like texture from the man who had a fly for a head.

And almost immediately, my armor started to corrode.

My instincts screamed that I should take off my armor, so I did…

But I couldn’t stand still while I was taking off my armor, so I ran to a safe distance.

As I did, the bat-man followed me. If he continued on following, I wouldn’t be able to take off my armor.

So I made use of my environment.

Being in a village were farming was the common ground of work, there were a few tight corners in between the houses, and in some farms, there were certain aspects I could use as cover.

I ran as fast as I could, making heavy right turns into the alleys until finally I made it to a farm.

From here, the bat-man still followed, but as he arrived at the farm, what he only came to find were a few hay bells being suddenly thrown at him. To defend himself, he slashed through the hay bells like they were nothing, but as he did, the moment he cut through one hay bell, it scattered and caused him to be blinded, it gave me the time to hide behind one of the farms and take off my armor.

At that rate, my armor was starting to show holes…

‘Damn, it took me four days to make this armor…those bastards.’

Feeling angry by having to waste my armor, I still took it off.

I took off the chestplate, the left shoulder guard and the right arm guard. These were the parts of my arm that was being corroded by the spit from the fly-man.

As soon as I finished taking them off, all of a sudden, four tentacles came piercing through the walls of the farm I was hiding in and at the same time, from above, the bear-armed man was up in on the roof.

He jumped off arm first and attempted to strike me, but before he could descend and before the spear could strike me, I rolled out of the way.

I escaped yet again.

I continued on running…

but soon, I started to hear the sound of spit being made again and for some reason, it came from above. When I turned my head to look, I saw that the bat-man was carrying the fly-man.

And from it, the fly-man started spitting down on me.

But it wouldn’t work in the same manner as before. As he fired, I created a wind-like barrier around me.

As the spit came near, it was halted and as it did, I soon manipulated the barrier into throwing back the spit back at the enemy.

As the spit flew back, the bat-man quickly dodged.

Using this chance, I leaped from the ground using the wind and came near the two monsters in the air. With how the bat-man was carrying the fly-man, he couldn’t use his claws in mid-air, and as for the fly-man, he couldn’t attack me with how I can easily create a barrier.

In that moment, I intended to kill them both.

Basic Technique – [Breeze Strike!]

In one fell swoop, I cut down both the fly-man and the bat-man in a vertical straight line.

Even with the robe protecting them, it wasn’t strong enough to defend against a wind-sharpened blade.

As I landed down, their guts started to fall on me. With the fly-man’s guts being acidic, I had to defend myself from its blood and juices…

What was left was the bear-armed man and the octopus…

“Hmm, with all the others taking down, I think its time I end this.” I said.

And with it, the bear-armed man appeared before me while the tentacles-man was still in hiding.

“Grrr…” the bear-armed man was growling.

I can only imagine that it’s instincts as a man must have been overtaken by the instincts of an animal. Yet it’s movements remained that of a man.

“…Come and get me.” as I said this, the bear-armed man started rushing to me.

“GROWLLL!!!”

But easily so, I disappeared from his eyes.

Mobility Technique – [Gust Step]

Like the wind, I appeared smoothly…but sharply…

Intermediate Technique – [Whispering Gale]

And like how I dealt with the dragon, three strikes on the bear man was all it took to take it down.

Each swing of my sword that connected to its flesh would increase in pain and power…so for the third strike, I cut off it’s head.

As I did, the head soon rolled over to my feet…and it was there that I saw it’s face under the hood.

“…Geez, that’s just messed up.”

What was before me was like the incest birth of a woman giving life to a hideous face of a mixed man and bear. Half of his ears were covered in fur, while a quarter of his nose and mouth were elongated to almost that of a snout of an animal, and his teeth was disfigured…it was hideous…

“…It makes sense why Amelia decided to destroy this religion in the future…the result of their work is not something to be encouraged.”

As I took the time to look at the corpse, soon the enough, it was the tentacle-man who finally made his move. Jumping up into the air, destroying the roof of the farm, the tentacle-man aimed at me with its remaining legs.

As he started to fall, he thrusted all his legs at me like he himself was a large spear, but right before he could, I myself threw my own sword at him directly in the gap of his legs.

And like so, the blade pierced through his body and with it, ink-blood came spraying about.

Unlike the bat-man, he had no control over the air. He was the perfect target for a spear itself.

As I picked the sword from it’s corpse, I soon made my way to the church.

I didn’t want to waste anymore time. Who knows what’s happening over there.

As I ran, I soon came to the sight of the church.

I wanted to open the door as fast as possible, but right as I could touch the door, all of a sudden, the door, along with me, were both blown away by a high intense energy.

I could not predict for this to happen.

I was sent back flying and crashing down on a wagon that was parked near the inn of the village.

“…Ugh.” as I recovered my consciousness, I realized that my helmet was blown off and I could feel blood dripping down to my lips.

When I tried raising my head, I came to the sight of what seemed like a golden ball floating on air, and beside it was a man wearing a headband on his head.

He didn’t hid his face like those monsters were…he was confident in showing his identity to me.

With a malnourished and pale face, gray hair, and a skinny figure, the man before me was holding on to the golden ball with a calm expression.

“…” it was clear from his image that he was a mage.

I could feel how heavy the air was around this man. It only meant that his energy in controlling magic was that dense.

“Incredible how a person from a village is capable of taking down four of my great creations.” he said with how coarse yet soft his voice was as he was looking at me with a soft smile. His accent was distinct…almost as if his origin was from the north kingdom itself.

[AN: Imagine a soft Russian accent]

“You’re from the Partrus Church, correct?” I asked as I stood up and tried walking near him.

“Indeed…and you must be looking for the saint.” he said.

“…Where is she?”

As I asked, the man soon patted the golden ball beside him.

“!?” with how dense the golden color was on the ball, I didn’t realize that something was inside of it. A human silhouette.

Feeling agitated that Amelia was captured, I wanted to act fast. But right before I could move a finger, the man warned me.

“Careful now. You wouldn’t want to sacrifice the entire village simply by the exchange of this one life, would you?” as he said this, all of a sudden, everything became heavy.

“!!?”

And all of this heavy pressure came from above.

When I turned my head, I could see a large magic circle above the sky. Enough to swallow the entire village.

“…Why are you doing this?” I asked.

“A non-follower has no reason to learn. If you’re as smart as you are good at fighting, its best that you leave this matter alone.”

“I see…How fast do you think you can trigger to end this entire village?” I asked.

“Faster than you can-” blood splattered across the ground as his head was sent flying into the air.

“…Not fast enough.”

To take the life of those who are not prepared, is one of the games that are always ready to be played by mercenaries.

Kill before the enemy could even think…

Be fast with the blade…faster than you could ever make the decision to kill.

Be decisive in every action you take, specially when taking the life of a stronger opponent, or never think at all at the decision to act.

Before the enemy could make his move, I made him curious…and from then on, I took his life.

As soon as I killed him by decapitating his head, the magic spell put on the village disappeared and so did the golden ball that was holding on to Amelia.

One could wonder how I was able to use such a fast swordplay….

And in truth, it was simply the conscious idea being faster than the decision itself.

My body moved before I could make the idea, for all I knew then was to kill the man.

Thankfully the man did not have a reinforced robe over his neck…if he did, I would not have been able to cut him down. My swordplay then was a decision of enhancing my speed, not my strength in holdng the sword, so everything that carried the kill was on how sharp my sword was.

In other words, I displayed a mastery of fighting so high in its level, no one, not even the greatest adventurers in the city could yet to attain.

“Haa…lets get everything cleaned up.”

As I approached Amelia who was found unconscious on the ground, I lifted her up, but as soon as I did, I then felt the presence of another person.

“…Put her down!” it was a female voice.

“…” when I turned around while carrying her, I soon met a familiar face.

“…Wow, if it isn’t the Capstone Mage.” I said as I got a good look at the person before me.

“Y-you know me?” she asked.

“…With that stone-colored hair and that cute blue staff of yours? Of course I know you.” I said as I soon walked away from this person and made my way to the church.

“I said drop her now!” she yelled.

“…I’m assuming that you’re here for her?” I asked.

“Are you one of them?! Huh! Are you one of those bastards from the Partrus Church!!?”

“…The one you’re looking for is the one without the head over by the ground.” I said.

“W-what?” having turned her head in the dead of night towards the ground, she casted a light and saw a dead body severed from its head.

“!!?” she was surprised.

“V-Victor Vandel…you killed him?” she asked.

“So that’s his name?” I asked.

“Y-yes…he was one of the apostles of the Partrus Church.” she said in a worrying tone.

“I see.”

“How did you do it?!” she asked

“…You keep asking these questions, so is it okay for me to ask them too?”

“W-what?” she was a bit bewildered by the moment.

“Are you here for her?” I asked as I clearly meant Amelia.

“Y-yes, but before that, who are you?” she asked.

“I’m nobody.” I said as I placed Amelia down on the table on the church.

“…you’re not going to reveal your name?” she asked.

“…” my silence was my answer.

“Then how do you know me?” she asked.

“…I just do, you’re quite popular in the magec side of things.” I said.

From my past, I’ve meet her a couple of times in the guild…we can’t really say that we were friends, more of acquaintances really. At times, we would encounter each other at a job I was asked to do and she would do the same job all for the fact that the payment from the job supports her research in the magic industry.

The Capstone mage, or more specifically, Jenny, one of the greatest stone mages of this continent. With her talents mostly in the makings of Golems. She could create armies of rock giants that could trample an entire kingdom overnight.

But right now, her being here was a mystery.

‘Could it be that she was one of the people who originally supported Amelia? If that is the case, why?’

Seeing as how Amelia was still unconscious, I had a bit of time to spare. I trusted Jenny, so I left to clean up the mess I made.

“Wait until she wakes up on her own.” I said as I placed her on one of the chairs inside the church.

After that, I walked out of the church.

“W-where are you going?” she asked.

“I’m going to clean up the mess, so just watch over her while I’m gone.”