Capítulo 17: Chapter 16 - The Challenger(Part 1)

"Impressive, I can see why you were able to win the Guild's entrance tournament...you're so young, but you're easily outpacing most of us," Remarked the Knight who'd taken charge in the Guild, as we raced through the city, heading for the border where the cave the target was cornered in is located.

Well, that's mainly because my movements are more efficient and nimble.

"I mean...I can go faster, but leaving everyone in the dust would probably create more friction and resentment towards me. I don't really care what other people think of me, but it'll be a problem if that negatively impacts stuff like what kind of jobs I can take or how soon I'll be able to rank up," I replied bluntly.

"You don't mince words, do you? That's a rather rare quality for someone who isn't in a position of power."

"Why bother sugarcoating what I want to say? I don't see any point in that. Anyway, this criminal you're after, what crimes has he supposedly committed?" I inquired curiously.

I miss the internet, it's so much harder to get info in this world. I have to actually, ugh, talk to people if I want certain bits of information. It's the worst.

I really took it for granted, the luxury of having an immeasurable amount of information available to be accessed, at my fingertips.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, let's learn more about this target...

"Well, he's been going around the nation, from city to city and town to town, challenging and defeating several Adventurers and Knights, often badly injuring them. Surprisingly enough, he hasn't killed anyone yet, but that doesn't change the fact that we can't allow him to keep running around freely," He informed me, as we reached the border of the city and raced outside, heading straight for the cave, which wasn't much farther ahead.

Huh? He didn't kill anyone?

Strange...sounds like this guy's just a battle junkie looking for strong opponents who could give him a good challenge. I suppose that's a relief, since it means my chances of survival on this job have increased significantly.

"That's surprising...considering how many violent crimes go ignored throughout the nation, it's a bit hard to believe that the Knights are taking someone who isn't even a murderer this seriously. Oh, wait, let me guess...this guy attacked and defeated a high ranked member of the Knights, didn't he?" I surmised with a sardonic smile.

"That's, uh...correct, actually. The details are confidential, so I'd rather you not ask any more questions on the matter. You seem to be quite intelligent, but I suspect that unfiltered tongue will get you in trouble one day. You really shouldn't just blurt out whatever comes to mind, you know," He replied with a wry shake of his head, as we entered a small forest to the north of the city.

Ah, I get it, it'd be a blow to the Knight's reputation if people found out that one of them was easily defeated by this criminal.

Hm, should I subtly ask for hush money?

No, better not, don't want to risk making enemies of the Knight Order, that'd be a serious pain to deal with.

"I'll keep that in mind," I responded, as I spotted more Knights up ahead, surrounding the entrance to a cave.

"We're here. Good, it looks like he's still in there," Remarked the Knight I was running alongside, before coming to a halt as we reached the Knights who were standing guard and he inquired, "What's the situation? Has there been any movement?"

"No, sir. He hasn't done anything this whole time."

"He's just been sitting at the back of the cave, playing with a stone that he attached a string around."

What, like a yo-yo or something?

Wow. Either this guy's seriously cocky and is about to get a major wake up call, or he's so powerful that he can justify being that cocky.

I, uh...I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this...

"Hm, I see. Alright, then...let's determine how we should go about flushing him out of the cave," Came the response.

"Why not just fire off a bunch of Spells into the cave and kill him before he can emerge? The cave looks pretty narrow, so a relentless bombardment of powerful Spells should do the trick," I suggested objectively.

"Huh?"

"What a cowardly suggestion."

How so?

I mean, this guy made the choice to corner himself in this cave, why the hell wouldn't we take advantage of that?

Also, these people are so damn disorganized, they're just standing around randomly instead of in a formation or something.

Not to mention that most of them have completely let their guards down, likely due to the fact that they've got strength in numbers.

Just because their target isn't doing anything doesn't mean they should be letting their guards down like this.

Yeah, I might've made a mistake volunteering for this, these idiots may very well get me killed. Maybe I should just cut my losses and get the fuck out of here before they drag me down with them...

"No, it's not a bad idea, we-...," Began the Knight who appeared to be in charge, before trailing off as footsteps echoed out from inside the cave.

I swiftly and warily backed away, putting more distance between myself and the cave, as the Knight in charge and a few others stepped forward, forming a tight perimeter around the entrance to the cave as the man approaching us from inside came into sight, a look of anticipation and a smile on his face.

Those long, pointy ears, he's an Elf.

He had long, dark blonde hair tied in a top knot, light purple eyes and a fair complexion. He was very tall, probably close to two meters in height, and he had a jacked, muscular build, his footsteps quite heavy.

"Don't take another step forward. Stand down and-...," The Knight in charge began to warn him, before the Elf suddenly shot towards him with a sharp burst of speed.

He closed in on the Knight before he could react, extending his arm out and slamming it against the Knight's neck in a brutal lariat, sending him flying back with immense force and crashing a tree, a crunch echoing out as the back of his neck collided against a protruding bump on the trunk of the tree, breaking his neck and killing him.

Holy shit, that all happened in less than half a second. He's way faster than even Aura was, this isn't gonna be pretty...

"L-Lieutenant, no!"

"Y-you bastard-...!"

As the other Knights who'd surrounded the entrance of the cave shot towards the Elf in anger, he spread his arms out on either side of himself with a smirk and fired out powerful gusts of wind, blasting them away with alarmed yells.

"Oh, is that first guy dead? My bad, wasn't on purpose, guess I hit him a bit too hard. I really do apologize for that, I just couldn't keep my excitement contained and ended up failing to control my strength. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Icaro Tieldac. Now, then...all of you, come at me, try and put up a good fight!" Exclaimed the Elf, as I swiftly took out my grappling hook and fired it back at the branch of a tree, pulling myself up and away from him.

I landed high up on the tree, perching myself along a branch before taking out a handgun. The Elf glanced at me briefly, narrowing his gaze before turning his attention back to the Knights and Adventurers in front of him.

He said 'I ended up failing to control my strength'...which means he's holding back. Fuck.

"Wha-...tch, damned coward!" Growled one of the Adventurers, as I stabilized myself on the branch I'd landed on.

"Forget about him, we don't need his help to take down just one guy! Let that loser run away if he wants, it ain't gonna make a damn difference!"

Oh, I'm not running away, dumbass.

I'm just not gonna do something as suicidal as fighting alongside such a disorganized group, they're only gonna get in my way. I'll just stay up here and analyze this Elf guy's abilities, so try and buy me as much time as possible, you NPCs.

The Elf then shot forward with a sharp burst of speed despite his large frame, closing in on another Knight in the blink of an eye. The Knight began to chant and charge up a Spell in alarm, but he was way too slow to react, as the Elf slammed his foot onto the Knight's stomach, severely denting his metal armor and sending him flying back.

Two others then sprang up on either side of the Elf, who swiftly spun across, grabbing one of them by the head and flinging him at the other one with immense force, as they crashed against each other and collapsed in a heap as loud clangs echoed out as their metal armor collided against each other, the two Knights letting out dazed groans.

Several attack Spells then came shooting towards the Elf from multiple direction, he responded by leaping straight up, my eyes widening in disbelief as he shot up about twenty meters into the air.

As the Spells missed him and flew across the area, they ended up hitting some of the other Adventurers and Knights in the group, cries of pain ringing out as the Elf fired out intense bursts of wind from the soles of his feet and blasted himself straight down towards a spot where a number of the Knights and Adventurers were bunched up.

They hurriedly scrambled out of the way in alarm, the Elf balling his fists together as wind swirled around them, raising his fists up and slamming them onto the ground as he landed with immense force, a devastating shockwave of wind erupting out from the point of impact.

The ground broke apart as yelps of alarm rang out, the Adventurers and Knights thrown off balance as clumps of dirt and grass flew out from the point of impact, a cloud of dust rising up around the Elf.

Some of the remaining Knights and Adventurers fired off attack Spells at the Elf in a panic, once again inadvertently hitting and injuring their allies as the Elf easily evaded their attacks...yeah, I definitely made the right call in getting some distance away from the battle...

"Hey, is that Wind Magic or Air Magic?" I inquired quietly, as Arkiela poked her head out from inside my collar.

"It's Air Magic. But he's using it pretty minimally, he could unleash some pretty destructive Spells given his Mana Pool and Mystic Pressure if he wanted to. He isn't taking this seriously at all, he's just toying with those losers.

If there's a small silver lining, it's that his Skills are nothing to worry about, they're all minor passive Skills that shouldn't make a difference to you," She informed me, as the Elf proceeded to easily take down the Adventurers and Knights who were still standing, hardly any of them putting up even a semblance of a fight.

He really knows what he's doing, he's quick to exploit their panic without giving them a chance to recover or calm down. He's attacking relentlessly, very deliberately keeping the pressure on the Knights and Adventurers, and they're crumbling under that pressure.

No question that he's got both power and speed in spades, which is further enhanced by the fact that he's clearly highly experienced in real combat. And the way he's using his Air Magic, by shooting out small but sharp and intense gusts of wind from his feet to move faster, and from his elbows to hit harder when he punches, it's highly efficient.

He's not slowed down by chants since he isn't using any large scale Spells, instead opting to use his Magic with almost frightening efficiency. The way he uses his Magic is precisely how I feared people in this world would use their Magic, with creativity, unorthodoxy and, like I said, efficiency.

Still though...I should still be able to kill him, though it definitely won't be easy.

I put away my handgun and took out one of my many submachine guns, an MP7, taking aim down at the Elf as he was almost done incapacitating the majority of the Adventurers and Knights on the ground, until there was only one of them left standing, a fearful look on his face.

The Elf's back is turned to me, perfect...I quickly and quietly screwed a silencer onto the tip of the gun and locked the Elf within the sights of the gun, and as he began to drive a punch towards the last man standing, I fired out a barrage of bullets in his direction, as his fist slammed onto his target's chest and sent him flying back, the Elf stiffening as my bullets began to close in on him.

In the blink of an eye, he quickly raised his right arm off to the side and fired out a powerful burst of wind, shooting himself away to his left as one of my bullets tore through the top of his right ear, a couple more grazing his right arm and right side, drawing out a few trickles of blood as he spun around to face me.

No fucking way, how...how the hell did he react to that?

"Whew, close one. The little pellets you fired at me are so fast, faster than anything I've ever encountered before. Good think I felt them slicing through the air behind me, or that probably would've killed me," He chuckled as he let out a sigh of relief.

He's this composed and relaxed even after barely dodging my bullets? Had he reacted even a second later, the bullet that tore through his ear would've been a fatal headshot. This guy's got some screws loose...

"Must be the Air Sensory Field Spell, it's an Air Magic Spell that forms a field of air around the user that's connected to their senses, they can sense any and all movement that occurs within that field even if it's in a blind spot," Arkiela informed me.

"I must say, I'm surprised. I saw you backing away earlier, I thought you had run away," The Elf addressed me, racing across as I fired more bullets at him.

"No, I was just analyzing and assessing your capabilities up here. Plus, it would've been suicide to fight alongside a group of people who were thrown into panic and chaos," I shrugged, ceasing my barrage of bullets as he continued to evade.

Damn it, he reacts and responds so quickly, all I'm doing is wasting bullets. I thought engaging him in conversation might help distract him and slow down his movements at least a little bit, but no such luck...

"Hahaha! How logical and calculating of you, I like it! Ohh, I'm getting a good feeling about you! I'd like to formally challenge you to a fight!" He declared heartily, tilting his head across as I flung a poison needle at him.

Ordinarily, I'd say fuck that and just book it. But he's way faster than I am, my chances of getting away from him are slim. Also, we're already in a fight, so challenging me seems kinda redundant.

"Question for ya, why didn't you kill anyone? Or at least, why didn't you kill anyone deliberately?" I inquired curiously, as he began firing off wind blasts around him to knock the unconscious bodies of the Adventurers and Knights that were littered across the area off to the sides, clearing the middle of the space.

"Huh? What's the point in that? Defeat can make a person stronger, and potentially set the possibility of giving me a better challenge in the future! It'd be a waste to kill an opponent when such a possibility exists!"

Yeah, he's definitely got some screws loose. Well, not that I can talk.

Hm, so I'm trying to kill someone who won't be trying to kill me?

Okay...I can work with that, I can definitely work with that...

_____________________________________________

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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