CHAPTER 61: SEA OF BETRAYAL [2]

Aint urgently threw his body backward.

But his heavy body couldn’t respond smoothly in this completely unexpected situation.

One blade barely grazed his shoulder, but the other dug into his chest.

Clang!

Though there was an impact, there was no wound as expected.

Grab me!

It was because Gardner’s sword had moved on its own to block the dagger.

Aint rolled his body backward once and grabbed the sword. The sword had already returned to its original form.

A beat late, another dagger flew in.

The employees’ daggers were fast, concise, and filled with killing intent.

Above all, they had no backup plan.

Typical assassin’s blade. These aren’t simple company employees but professionally trained assassins!

"...Ugh!"

Aint couldn’t help but be flustered by their offensive, which disregarded their own safety to exchange flesh for bone.

He lacked experience and resolution.

His offense gradually became passive, and naturally, small wounds increased.

And that led to another situation.

"...This!"

Feeling his head spin, Aint urgently corrected his posture.

It’s poison! Channel your aura through the sword. I don’t know how severe the poison is, but it will detoxify to some extent.

"Yes!"

Following his instructions, the poison’s effect subsided a bit.

As his pale complexion gradually regained warmth, the eyes of the assassins, who had briefly relaxed thinking he was poisoned, widened.

That momentary lull gave Aint the leisure to catch his breath.

The ship was half-destroyed by a sudden monster attack, and when you happened to arrive on the island, assassins with poison-coated weapons were waiting.

What do you think is the probability of this being coincidence upon coincidence?

And Gardner captured the peculiar sensation that had been nagging at him all along.

Logically, it doesn’t make sense that someone would try to kill you by controlling monsters in the sea.

Unless one considered the existence of demons.

Some demons had the ability to control monsters.

It’s demons. The demon bastards have finally targeted you and begun their full-scale activities.

"...Could it be evil ones?"

Upon hearing that demons had officially begun targeting him, Aint involuntarily muttered.

And the atmosphere of the two assassins, who heard his soliloquy, changed.

It became heavier, the killing intent became more intense, and an ominous aura burst forth.

It’s evil energy. Now that they’ve been discovered, they don’t even intend to hide it anymore.

It was an aura that Aint had never experienced before, but he couldn’t help but think it was evil energy.

An incredibly ominous, unpleasant, detestable, disgusting black aura.

"...We can survive this, right?"

Aint swallowed.

His body, overlapped with fatigue, injury, and poison, was not normal. Feeling that he was in no condition to fight, Aint anxiously muttered.

It’s not about whether we can survive, but we must survive.

Do you intend to die to evil ones while bearing the name of Armian!

The white aura made the sword even sharper.

Just as the assassins exploded with evil energy and charged, and Aint was about to extend his sword to respond, a black shadow interjected between them.

A clean sword strike blew away both offensives in one go.

And a wave of sand that suddenly rose swallowed the assassins.

"...Senior Luina?"

"Are you alright? Aint Armian?"

"How did you get here, senior...?"

It wasn’t just her.

In the distance, there was a mage approaching, moving the earth.

With hands clasped behind his back and a bored expression.

"They’re wearing the company’s clothes, but...."

The sand trembled and rose into the air.

"They’re not faces I recognize."

The bound assassins went with it.

"Who are you?"

You vermin who dared to provide the beginning of my downfall.

The face of the magic’s master, Gerhard, distorted horribly.

"..."

"..."

They didn’t answer. Having realized they had no chance of winning, they merely inflated their bodies.

"It’s a self-destruct spell!"

"It’s dangerous!"

A self-destruct spell that explodes the mana heart by colliding internal mana. In their case, the only difference was that it was evil energy, not mana.

Luina rushed urgently, but the explosion was faster.

The black heat engulfed beyond Gerhard to Luina.

These crazy bastards...!

"Ah, no...!"

Aint and Gardner screamed, but the scene after the smoke cleared was relatively intact.

"Don’t worry."

Gerhard stood in the same posture as before, and Luina, who was now by his side, was emitting a lot of aura.

And several layers of barriers surrounding them were visible.

"I anticipated everything."

After seeing the prophecy book, I’d be an idiot to fall for such a crude trick.

Hmph, Gerhard snorted.

"Are you alright?"

"...Yes, I’m fine."

"I’m touched. You rushed right over to protect me."

"...We are partners, after all."

"But it’s not over yet."

"Pardon?"

The question couldn’t continue further.

A roar that seemed to tear the eardrums shook the beach. Eventually, the massive body that had split the ship in half showed itself again.

The difference was that this time, there were two of these giant creatures.

"...I’ll take one of them."

"Take? What do you mean?"

"I mean the sea serpent."

"What nonsense. Why do such a foolish thing?"

Facing a sea serpent in the sea was a foolish act.

Unless there was abundant power like before or it was an unavoidable situation, there was no need to do so.

"We’re escaping."

"What?"

Instead of answering, Gerhard began to flee, carrying Aint using the sand.

’Which side of this island was the legacy on?’

If they went there, Aint would naturally handle it, so there was no need to risk danger unnecessarily.

"T-together!"

Luina belatedly caught up.

***

Meanwhile, not far from that scene.

"...Is this really right?"

Bella, who had unknowingly been infected with evil energy after being attacked by an evil one and had vowed to confront evil ones together at her friend’s request, was confused.

In her hand, a top-grade recording crystal was consuming mana, capturing the scene before her eyes.

"I’m ranked 19th in the Knight Department, after all...."

Of course, it’s far from the second rank or the top 10, but objectively, it was clearly in the upper ranks.

Yet they told her to just record the scene.

"...Eek! Is that okay?"

Even when the assassins suddenly self-destructed, she was so shocked she almost ran out.

But when two sea serpents appeared roaring, she could only laugh incredulously.

"...I guess it’s right that I should just keep recording."

Two sea serpents. She had absolutely no confidence in bringing those creatures down.

Contrary to her quiet soliloquy, she held her sword with one hand, ready to rush out at any moment.

"...Huh?"

At least until they fled first.