Chapter 37 – Ged’s Rescue Operation in Crisis (4)

They stopped dead in their tracks, staring at me standing on the rock.

Especially Rachel, though masked, flinched visibly the moment she saw me.

Noticing this, the wolf-masked figure asked,“You. Know him?”

Rachel whispered something fervently in response.

I couldn’t hear it, but I could roughly guess the gist.

‘He’s been making some noise lately, but he’s a notorious failure, so no need to worry too much.’

Something along those lines, probably.

That would explain her reaction.

“Perfect timing? I was just getting thirsty.”

The wolf-masked figure dropped Ged, whom he’d been carrying, as if tossing him aside, and drew a black sword.

“Need my help?” Rachel asked.

“You kidding? Stay out of it. His neck’s mine.”

The wolf-masked figure swaggered forward, swinging his unusually long arms.

I waited for him quietly.

‘Head Collector, Cave’

That was his identity.

Of course, I hadn’t been certain from the start.

I’d had my suspicions.

But it was only after seeing the grotesque murders at the outpost—heads severed and stacked like a tower—that I was sure of who he was.

Could I win?

I didn’t feel like I’d lose, not at all.

Cave was a high cleric of the Darkness Council, but he was also on the international villain wanted list issued by the Central Knights’ headquarters, marked as a ‘Slaughter’ grade villain.

The Slaughter grade was just below World Enemy, a high-risk designation.

This villain ranking could indicate strength, but in Cave’s case, it was more about his bizarre and gruesome murders than his actual skill.

In other words, he was effectively a ‘Judgment’ grade villain.

And I had a reason to kill him, no matter what.

“You know what? You’re gonna die here.”

“Huh?”

At my words, Cave tilted his head to the side.

His dull, fish-like eyes blinked, as if he had no clue what I meant.

Then, in an instant.

He vanished from my sight.

Fwoosh──

A black line grazed the tip of my nose.

I managed to dodge thanks to my high agility and traits, [Instinct] and [Sharp Perception], but a big part of it was recalling his movements from the inn.

As I straightened my bent waist, what appeared before me was a web of countless sword strikes.

Instinct screamed: the moment I stepped back, I’d be trapped in that net.

So I didn’t retreat.

I charged in.

I swung my sword frantically against the whirlwind of slashes.

Clang-clang-clang──!

The Head Collector Cave from the original story I remembered was a fairly strong villain.

His role was a mid-boss.

Fast movements, high attack power.

A single hit would chunk your health, making him quite threatening.

But I never had to retry twice.

Why? Because his patterns were simple.

For someone like me, confident in my control, Cave was strong but not a difficult villain to clear.

And now, facing his sword head-on, I understood why his patterns felt so straightforward.

Cave was more specialized in assassination than direct, face-to-face combat.

His black sword, brimming with murderous intent, slithered through my defenses, aiming only for vital points.

Like a snake’s head.

Forehead, philtrum, heart.

And the decisive moment was always the neck.

As if driven by some obsession, he’d bypass other vitals and always aim for the neck in the end.

That made his swift, rapid strikes easy to predict.

Clang!

I could read the sword’s path clearly.

Once I read the path, his blade, which had seemed only fast, became visible, and now I could even preemptively claim the space where it would land.

I could predict where his sword would fly.

I parried the predicted strikes and countered.

Soon enough, my sword sliced through his side.

Splatter!

Blood sprayed, and Cave staggered back.

“Huh?”

But that was it.

He charged again immediately.

A dark aura rose like smoke, enveloping his sword.

Aura Sword.

His black sword grew insanely fast, and sharp, ferocious slashes came at my vitals in rapid succession.

My eyes and hands grew busier.

I deflected each strike, but the sheer force pushed my body back uncontrollably.

Yet, his black sword still couldn’t touch me.

Cave kept tilting his head.

“Hmm. Weird. Why’s there no blood on my sword?”

At some point, he started muttering the same thing over and over.

Chuckling like a madman in between.

“Ehehehe! Why? Why? Why? Why’s there no blood on my sword?”

His crazed demeanor stirred pity in me.

He was so curious—wouldn’t it be humane to tell him?

So, as I parried his incoming strike, I asked,

“Wanna know?”

Cave took the bait instantly.

“Yeah! I wanna know! Tell me! Tell me!”

“I told you clearly. At the inn.”

“Huh? The inn?”

In that moment.

His dead-fish eyes, staring at me, held emotion for the first time.

It was denial, born from facing an unbelievable reality.

“No matter what path you’re looking at, I’ll be seeing something far beyond it.”

And that denial quickly turned to shock and horror.

Stab──

Suddenly, his body trembled as if struck by lightning.

The vibration traveled through the sword piercing his chest, up to my arm.

“You…!”

The wolf-masked figure opened his mouth as if to say something to me.

But all that came out was red, frothy blood.

In the end, Cave couldn’t finish his words and slumped forward.

The key to victory was the mental shock of being outmaneuvered, followed by the muscle contraction it caused.

That moment was brief but undeniably affected the fight, and I didn’t miss that fleeting opportunity.

Thanks to that, I won far more easily than I’d expected.

Cave died with his eyes wide open, as if he couldn’t accept it.

A fitting end, I thought, as I turned to look for Rachel and Ged.

The two who should’ve been there were gone.

They must’ve fled the moment Cave fell.

“Not that it matters.”

I knew where they’d gone.

I was the one who’d told them the escape route in the first place.

I could see their escape path and where they’d be by now as clearly as the palm of my hand.

They wouldn’t get far with Ged in tow anyway.

It was a pointless struggle.

I ran, using [Lightweight].

It didn’t take long to hear sounds ahead.

But what the hell.

It was the sound of combat.

“Haah!”

“Yuria! Get back!”

I thought I’d misheard.

Yuria?

I arrived at the scene and looked.

Three figures were fighting fiercely.

Rachel, masked.

And her opponents… were actually Yuria and Ivan.

“What’s this scene now?”

I scratched my head.

The first emotion I felt was betrayal.

Seriously?

She said she was sleeping.

She said she’d crash as soon as she got back.

She was supposed to be snoring in her dorm room, so why was she here?

Anyway, dealing with this situation came first.

Just then, Yuria, mid-swing, locked eyes with me in midair.

“S-Senior!?”

Yuria, startled to see me.

The seasoned Rachel didn’t miss the opening.

“Watch out, Yuria!”

“Ah!”

Rachel kicked Yuria, pushing her back.

Then, with astonishing agility, she slipped out of the battlefield.

“Oh.”

The two hurriedly chased after her, but Rachel was already soaring through the air, leaping from branch to branch, moving away.

Her light movements and speed were enough to sap any will to pursue.

“What, what the hell! Where’re you going?! Take me with you, you bitch!”

Only Ged’s pitiful wails chased after her.

* * *

The situation wrapped up when the guards arrived.

Ged was bound and dragged away by the guards.

He’d probably be taken straight to the Central Knights’ headquarters.

Even the cult wouldn’t be able to interfere there.

Meanwhile, Ivan and Yuria were talking with two professors.

One was Chaser Idna, the martial arts department advisor, and the other was Professor Bellbo, who taught [Basics of Interpersonal Combat].

The professors’ faces as they looked at the two cadets were beaming.

Watching them, I thought to myself.

It wasn’t the ending I’d planned, but this wasn’t half bad.

The professors were praising the two for capturing Ged.

They occasionally burst into loud laughter, looking as thrilled as if they’d done it themselves.

No matter what anyone said, Ged was the villain who’d thrown the Academy into chaos.

Of course, the real culprit was someone else (namely me), but regardless, he was a key figure who’d smuggled the Secret Tomes, and that fact didn’t change.

And they’d caught him trying to escape.

Two freshmen, only two weeks into their enrollment.

And those kids happened to be their own students.

How could they not be overjoyed?

Sure, Ged’s stats leaned toward intelligence rather than combat, making him an intellectual villain, but no one could deny that two-week-old freshmen catching a villain was unprecedented in Academy history.

It was a tremendous achievement, and the Academy would surely reward them for it.

Naturally, Merit Points would be awarded too.

Maybe that’s why.

For a villain infiltration, the atmosphere wasn’t bad at all.

Well, except for Yuria stealing nervous glances at me.

“…….”

From the moment Gwyn and Karina showed up, I’d pieced together the situation.

I’d give her a piece of my mind later, but for now, I’d quietly celebrate.

Then it happened.

A guard ran up from the distance and called out to Professor Chaser.

“We found it, Advisor!”

“Oh, really? Where?”

“About one kilometer west of here, in the bushes! There’s a body dressed like the escaped villain. Cause of death is a sword wound to the chest, a long sword pierced cleanly through the heart…….”

“Uh. West is where Senior Gerard came from…….”

“……is the presumed cause.”

The guard’s final words were barely audible.

Silence fell.

The guards and professors all looked at Yuria, who’d mumbled, then at me.

“…….”

My face burned.

Among them, Advisor Chaser’s gaze stung the most.

His slit-like eyes scanned my body.

They lingered on my bloodstained clothes, my torn grip, and especially my longsword.

Then he walked toward me.

“So it’s you? The infamous Gerard.”

It was my first time meeting Professor Chaser.

He hadn’t been at the assembly hall during the Swamp Orc incident.

“I’ve heard a lot about you from Baron Tesda.”

Curious, I asked,

“What’d he say? About me?”

Professor Chaser looked me straight in the eye and answered.

“A guy who’d happily play with fire even in a field of oil.”

That sounded exactly like something he’d say.

“But. Seeing you now, I think I get what he meant.”

He rubbed his chin, nodding a few times.

Then, suddenly, he grinned and whispered,

“You did it, didn’t you? That body.”

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