Chapter 116: The Lizard Giant

In the place he had followed the scent to, that white-haired punk from before was torturing a guy who looked like a thug at first glance.

Muno had no interest in the welfare of neighborhood thugs, but he was curious about the young man he had coincidentally seen again, so he thought about intervening.

But Rauel stopped him.

“He’s digging for information, Sir Muno.”

“What?”

“…Listening to their conversation, it seems that white-haired guy is chasing after human traffickers.”

At those words, Muno could only look at Rauel with a dumbfounded expression.

Even though it was a wide-open space, it meant that she could hear the murmuring voices from the corner of that alley three blocks away.

In reality, all he could hear was the thug’s screams.

“You can hear from here? Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Hul.

“How…”

To his unintentional exclamation of admiration, Rauel answered calmly.

“If the target or destination is precise, it’s possible from much farther away. Ah, the bald man just gave up the location of a gang called Edison’s crew.”

“…Chasing after human traffickers?”

“Inferring from their conversation, yes.”

Human trafficking.

“Then there’s no reason to intervene right away.”

“Yes.”

Their current objective was to investigate the disappearance cases in Erundel anyway.

If the white-haired man was chasing human traffickers, it could be related to that case.

Moreover.

‘About twelve hours until the promised midnight.’

There was still a lot of time left until they were supposed to meet the party after finishing their search.

Considering the range of the Demon Devourer’s senses, it was as if he had already scanned his designated area while coming here.

Since he hadn’t felt a single shred of demonic energy yet, it seemed better to find a breakthrough in a different way.

“He’s moving.”

“Did you get the location?”

“Yes.”

“Maintain distance and stick to him.”

“Without striking first?”

“Let’s just watch for now, to see what kind of guy he is.”

“Ho. This should be interesting.”

With Rauel’s smile, the two of them quickly began to follow the white-haired man who was moving somewhere.

However.

The white-haired man’s movements were extraordinary.

Sssk.

Fwip.

He soon soared up as if flying.

Ignoring the buildings and walls that blocked his way, he disappeared in a straight line towards somewhere.

What was that.

“…Increasing speed.”

“Yes!”

Pabak.

Chasing after that white-haired man, the party had to give up some of their stealth.

The only fortunate thing was.

“Continuing straight, leading to the outskirts.”

Even if the white-haired man was out of Muno’s sight, he couldn’t escape his sense of smell.

“It seems he’s heading straight for the mountain village the bald man mentioned.”

Rauel knew his destination in advance.

But even so.

Sssk.

When the white-haired man, like his hair color, turned into white smoke and leaped over the tens of meters high fortress wall without a sound, Muno could only watch with his mouth agape.

The soldier guarding the top of that wall probably thought it was just a wisp of fog passing by.

“Wh-what was that…?”

“W-well. Magic, or Spirit Arts?”

To Rauel’s equally flustered and hesitant voice, Muno just shook his head.

“No. Not at all.”

He definitely didn’t feel any demonic energy.

It was a distance where he wouldn’t have felt the movement of spirits even if there had been any, but he was sure it wasn’t that either.

‘It’s the same as that technique from before.’

The hand that had pierced through his glove, with no warning, only a faint ripple of mana. That bizarre technique.

As if the white-haired man’s body itself was changing into smoke…

‘…Does that even make sense?’

It was hard to believe, but the scene before his eyes was real.

“I’m chasing.”

“But Sir Muno, are you sure you’ll be alright? I can get over without making a sound by aiming for the guards’ blind spots, but…”

…Ugh.

For a moment, he thought about summoning the Chainman again, but causing a commotion like that would be like advertising that the Black Knight had come to Erundel.

“You go first. I’ll go through the gate, so tell me the location.”

Damn it.

‘Losing face like this…’

A short while later.

Muno had no choice but to sprint towards the south gate, the closest one to where the white-haired man had jumped over the wall.

The only fortunate thing was that, as befitting a commercial city, the checkpoint for leaving was simpler than for entering.

“Sir Lumpen, farewell.”

Pabababak.

As soon as the south gate guard captain’s farewell was over, Muno started to dash out of the city.

‘About half an hour wasted. Damn it.’

When he felt that people’s gazes had fallen away, he began to accelerate.

‘Hooooo…’

Boom!

Pabababak.

As he sprinted like a gale, bursting the ground, he felt he was getting closer to the location of the mountain village he had heard about from Rauel.

And as if to prove that his current choice was by no means wrong, the alarm bells of his senses soon began to ring.

– Krrrr…

A disgusting and appetizing energy felt from a distance.

‘Demonic energy!?’

Muno’s speed began to increase even more as he spotted his prey.

From the direction he was heading, a loud noise was already erupting.

– !@#@!

– Block it!

– Monster…!

‘Monster?’

Even a word that stimulated curiosity and vigilance was heard.

As he sped up even more, at some point, Muno, who was descending the mountain ridge where the village was located, was able to see the source of the commotion with his own two eyes.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Thump.

Thump. Thump.

Is this what a giant lizard would look like if it had human limbs?

A ‘lizard-headed giant’ the size of a decent building was swinging its long arms and tail, its green scales shining all over.

Kwaaaaaaaaang!

Every time its limbs brushed past, the houses of the mountain village were shattered and scattered.

And the people hit by its tail were turned into bloody pulp and sent flying in all directions.

However.

‘Strange…’

The scattered and destroyed houses were mountain huts where civilians would live.

But the people sent flying from them were mostly masked martial artists or mercenary-like figures with various weapons.

The people moving busily around the monster were dressed similarly.

However.

“The captain is rampaging…!”

“Get away!”

“Crazy, we have to get that thing first!”

“Is getting it the problem!? We’re going to die!”

The group seemed to be split half and half between those trying to escape and those trying to fight the monster.

Upon closer inspection, the gazes of those not fleeing were directed more towards the human-shaped smoke(?) flitting around the monster.

“What the hell is that!”

“A ghost…!”

“You crazy bastards, run!! That thing’s a monster too!”

Kwaaaaaaaaang!

In fact, the lizard giant, which seemed to have lost its mind, was concentrating its attacks on the shimmering smoke around it.

And Muno couldn’t help but know the identity of that smoke.

‘That white-haired guy!’

It was surprising that a human body could turn into smoke and move, but.

What was absurd didn’t end there.

Kwaaaaaaaaang!

“Kyaaaaaak! You baaaaastard…!”

The lizard giant had already lost its mind.

Because human language came out of that monster’s mouth.

“A monster, talking?”

He muttered to himself without realizing it.

The lizard giant’s movements were even more surprising.

Kwakwakwang!

“Diiiiiiie!”

Because of its size, each movement looked very large, but its speed was not slow at all.

Kwaaaaaaaaang!

Rumble.

Even as Muno was closing hundreds of meters in an instant, it had shattered two houses in a flash.

Considering the demonic energy that made his skin tingle, the speed, and the power expected from its size.

‘It easily surpasses a Snow Troll. A monster of at least stage 4.’

A stage 4 monster is one that can only be safely hunted by a group of three or more 4-Star-level Corporeal Arts users, 4-Class Spirit Masters, or 4-Circle magicians.

‘It might even be stage 5…’

But the expression of the human-shaped smoke fighting such a monster was something like, ‘this is getting a little annoying’.

Even as Muno was watching the battlefield.

Fwoooooosh!

Kuuuuuuuung.

The lizard’s tail struck the smoke, but it just passed right through it.

‘That’s…?’

Right after that, a longsword suddenly shot out from within the smoke, creating a deep wound on the lizard giant’s tail.

The amazing ability of that white-haired man, who had pierced his glove and easily jumped over the walls of Erundel, was unfolding right before his eyes.

‘…Is he really human? Not a ghost?’

At the unimaginable fighting style, Muno’s approaching steps gradually slowed.

Kwaaaaaaaaang.

The moment he landed in the forest near the village, taking advantage of the chaotic atmosphere, a familiar scent was felt nearby.

“Rauel.”

Rauel, who had been approaching silently from behind, appeared right in front of him.

“What happened?”

“As soon as that white-haired guy approached the village, the emergency bell rang. It seems he started a massacre without any warning, and just a little while later, as you can see…”

“Kyaaaaaaak!”

Boom.

Kwaaaaaang!

A long explanation was unnecessary.

But there was one thing he wanted to be sure of.

“It doesn’t look like a proper village, does it?”

“Yes. No civilians are in sight, only masked people or those who look like mercenaries. And that monster.”

“Is that so.”

Kwaaaaaaaaang!

Rumble.

The lizard man’s rampage was now becoming so violent that the ground was shaking.

The white-haired man, wielding a translucent longsword through the gaps, was steadily accumulating wounds on the lizard’s body, but.

“Kyaaaaaak! Die! Die! Die!”

Boom.

Kwaaaaaang!

The lizard man would scream, but then quickly heal its wounds and move even more violently.

“That monster, did it talk from the moment it appeared?”

“Yes. To be precise, after the white-haired man burst in, I heard some fighting sounds from a house inside the village, and then suddenly the house exploded and that monster appeared.”

“Appeared as the house exploded?”

“Yes. Analyzing the sounds I heard, it felt like the person who was confronting that white-haired man suddenly turned into a monster.”

“A person, turned into a monster?”

It was an absurd story, but not something he couldn’t accept.

A special ability that could make such a thing a reality.

“Probably…”

A power that ignored the laws of the world, it definitely existed in this world.

“…Magic.”

“Yes.”

“Looks like we found the right place.”

As Muno’s desolate gaze turned towards the lizard giant, Rauel, who soon nodded, added more.

“The white-haired man stabbed its eyes and neck as soon as it appeared, but it regenerated. That’s why I think they’re continuing this war of attrition.”

“Hmm.”

Muno’s gaze turned once again to the white smoke man who was chaotically circling the monster.

He didn’t know the identity of that white-haired man who used such an amazing technique, but seeing him fight a demonic beast, it seemed he wasn’t an enemy.

And.

‘That technique doesn’t seem to be invincible either.’

Fwoosh.

Kwaaaaaaaaang!

The lizard giant didn’t seem to have lost its reason completely, as it sometimes struck the smoke with its tail or fists that were visibly shimmering with demonic energy.

The smoke man, who let normal attacks pass through him, was dodging those attacks imbued with demonic energy.

Of course, that couldn’t be called a weakness. The smoke-like movement itself was an absurd evasion ability in the first place.

Nevertheless, all that was felt from the white-haired man was the ripple of mana.

Neither demonic energy nor the movement of spirits was felt.

‘Not just his body, but even his clothes and weapons are turned into smoke and moved, but it’s not magic and it’s not Spirit Arts?’

His curiosity was piqued anew.

“Anyway, we should help, right?”

“Yes. At least for this matter, he seems to be helpful.”

“Tsk.”

He recalled the dirty temper of that white-haired punk who had immediately tried to poke his eye out for one slip of the tongue, but it was just as Rauel had said.

No matter how great that technique was, the lizard giant didn’t seem to tire easily either.

Moreover, among the masked men and mercenaries watching the battle without fleeing, none of them seemed to be on the white-haired man’s side.

“I’ll deal with that lizard giant, you take care of all the guys around.”

“Yes.”

As soon as Rauel answered.

Muno’s body began to charge towards the lizard giant.

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