Chapter 95

Finding the Exit (2)

Nora Galatea had spared the ones hired by Areumdri Pawnshop. However, they didn’t seem to have any intention of sparing Kairus and his group.

“If someone showed you mercy and let you live, isn’t it only right to extend that mercy to others too?”

At Kairus’s words, Lea adjusted the dial on the mask covering her mouth as she replied.

“In this city, people like us doing this kind of work, are we really in any place to talk about what’s right? Have you ever killed a five-year-old for money?”

Kairus clicked his tongue at her question.

He had never killed a child, but he did remember stealing food from an old man over eighty at the labor correctional facility.

“Sure, we’re trash. But that’s not exactly something to be proud of, is it?”

Shouldn’t a person at least feel a little ashamed?

Of course, it would be hypocritical, but Kairus, at the very least, didn’t want to boast about his crimes or mistakes like that.

“And more importantly—”

Kairus gave a quick glance over the three standing in front of him and drew the Flicker.

“What makes you so damn confident?”

He didn’t like the atmosphere suggesting that he and Irena could be taken down in an instant.

No. He absolutely didn’t like it.

Lunaseeker agents are scary but Featherwings aren’t? Is that it?

“Let’s see who dies today.”

From the perspective of the three facing Kairus, they had some confidence in winning. After all, they had gauged his power to some extent through the Scarecrow during their first encounter.

Their mistake, however, was that they were only wary of Swift Blade.

From their position, it was simply impossible to assume that the opponent would use a masterpiece with a unique ability.

Masterpieces were extremely rare. Even someone like Nora Galatea, a Lunaseeker agent, didn’t own one.

‘The key is to force the enemy to block.’

So, what Kairus had to aim for was that blind spot.

“First things first.”

Kairus glanced briefly at Irena.

“I’ll take that guy.”

The one Irena pointed out was Dublin, whose body was crudely patched together with animal parts.

Upon hearing her answer, Kairus stood before the Scarecrow and Lea, who were idly standing with a talwar in hand.

“Is your face that ugly? You even have to wear a mask.”

“I just don’t want to show it to someone weaker than me!”

Lea shot back and then slightly turned the dial attached to her mask.

Turning the dial allowed her to regulate the amount of air being supplied into the mask.

The amount of air entering Lea’s lungs decreased.

“Ah, here it comes.”

As less air entered her lungs, Lea’s eyes grew dazed.

“You on some kind of drug?”

From Kairus’s perspective, facing her, he had no way of knowing what that dial actually did.

“What the fuck…!”

Lea suddenly lunged at Kairus, swinging a giant anchor she had enlarged.

The blow, although blocked, sent Kairus skidding backward.

“What the hell is this?”

After taking that unusually sharp and heavy strike, Kairus examined his opponent.

“Haah… huu… inhale.”

The dangerously strained breathing, somehow still under control, only made Lea’s movements even more fierce and violent.

It was impossible to think and move properly under respiratory distress.

Instead, she moved like a beast in a trance, unleashing strength that couldn’t exist within the realm of rationality.

Like a wounded animal caught in a trap, she forgot pain and rampaged.

“That lunatic. What the hell is wrong with her?”

Hearing the ragged breathing and seeing her blurred vision, Kairus finally grasped Lea’s condition.

To fight while cutting off her own airflow—it was madness.

“Hey, no! Don’t attack like that!”

She brought the giant anchor down on him. Kairus, seeing it, panicked and raised the Flicker.

With a deafening crash, Kairus’s knees buckled heavily.

“Son of a… bitch.”

He couldn’t go smashing up the maze recklessly. It might be fine for now, but if these kinds of impacts piled up, the entire dimensional maze would eventually collapse.

Kairus didn’t come this far just to get buried alive. Even as his shoulder joints ached from absorbing the blow, he grinned.

“Yeah, this is better.”

With a wild scream, Lea pushed the anchor forward. As Kairus held off the force, the rusted anchor slowly became contaminated with the mosaic.

But in her berserk state, already delirious from lack of oxygen, there was no way Lea could notice it.

…

However, just as the Flicker had eaten away about half of the rusted anchor, a talwar adorned with a sapphire swung toward Kairus’s back.

“Right, I forgot about you. Scarecrow.”

Kairus had no choice but to momentarily set aside the clash with Lea and narrowly dodge the Scarecrow’s attack.

“You’d better be careful.”

Kairus aimed the Flicker at the Scarecrow and gave a slight flick of the blade tip.

After just a few exchanges, Kairus had already begun to read the Scarecrow’s attacks and successfully redirect his power.

“Scarecrow, there's a limit to someone who learned on the streets.”

It was the difference between someone who had trained properly with the sword and someone who swung it on instinct.

“And no one’s gonna take in a criminal bastard like you as a student.”

If it came down to a drawn-out fight, Kairus could beat the Scarecrow.

He flipped the middle finger at the Scarecrow and then grinned as he blocked the next swing from Lea’s anchor.

"You're already at your limit. There’s no room left for you to grow any furth—ugh!"

Kairus shoved the anchor back and deflected the talwar aimed at his leg.

'Honestly... it's obvious this guy hasn't improved at all.'

This Scarecrow had simply managed to get his hands on better battle gear.

He’d just used overwhelming speed and power to crush opponents. That’s how most criminals in this city fought.

"You thought you'd win just because your battle gear output was higher? Sorry, but that doesn’t work on me."

If the Scarecrow had really intended to kill Kairus using superior specs, then he should’ve ended it with the very first strike during their initial encounter.

But he’d failed and now here they were, still facing off.

"You're already fucked, you son of a bitch."

With a shout, Kairus swung his blade.

His body moved forward, but he was already preparing for a potential halt. As his steps began to slow, his eyes remained locked on the path ahead.

From the perspective of the two facing Kairus, it wasn’t particularly difficult to block his ongoing attacks.

After all, the talwar’s output surpassed that of the Flicker, and Lea’s rusted anchor wasn’t lacking in raw power either.

"...?"

But then, in the midst of battle, the Scarecrow finally realized something.

Both he and Lea had only been defending this entire time. They had no problem blocking, but they hadn’t even attempted a counterattack.

“Haah... haah!”

With a beep, the dial on Lea’s mask automatically turned, restoring her air supply to normal levels.

"Think I'm gonna give you time to catch your breath? Dumbass."

Kairus wasn’t about to stand by while Lea wheezed and gasped for air. When breathing is suddenly restored after restriction, people naturally focus on breathing.

Usually.

Lea’s rusted anchor came crashing into Kairus.

He managed to lift his sword in time to block, but the impact was entirely his to absorb. As dizziness clouded his vision, Kairus delivered a sharp kick to Lea’s abdomen.

Struck in the stomach, Lea flew backward, rolled across the ground a few times, and then straightened herself up with a burst of laughter.

"You know, if you suffocate often enough, you start to get used to it?"

"What the fuck—say something that makes sense, you psycho."

Getting used to suffocating—what the hell kind of logic was that?

Kairus thought it was complete nonsense, but having just experienced it himself, he couldn’t help but admit she had a point.

"That mask’s actually kind of tempting."

Using it in real combat was insane, but it might be useful for training. With that thought, Kairus gave his left arm a slight flex.

‘Not broken, but...’

It might just be a sprain, but considering the shock and sudden defense just now, it was more likely a fracture.

Kairus’s recovery was fast, but he wasn’t at the level where a bone could knit back together in three seconds.

“If you want it so bad, come take it.”

“Think I just might.”

Kairus hadn’t blocked it perfectly, but he had managed to defend himself somehow.

Lea, on the other hand, had failed. She’d taken Kairus’s kick directly to the abdomen without defending.

“Not gonna piss blood or anything, are you?”

At Kairus’s comment, Lea let out a faint scoff.

“I’ll make sure to piss it all over your dead face! Then you can see for yourself!”

Once again, the now-shrunken anchor flew from Lea’s hand toward Kairus. It was about the size of a child’s toy marble.

“Isn’t it nice, fighting while talking? Thought I was brawling with some kind of beast earlier.”

Kairus dodged the flying anchor and grinned as he glanced at the Scarecrow.

“Wasn’t talking to you.”

Flash—before he knew it, the blurred form of the Scarecrow appeared right in front of Kairus’s nose.

The follow-up slash came, but Kairus managed to deflect it.

“…Told you, that doesn’t work anymore.”

The Scarecrow ignored Kairus’s words and continued attacking. And on top of that, Lea joined in with her anchor swings.

All of their attacks focused persistently on Kairus’s upper left side.

‘They noticed the fracture in my arm.’

They were trying to aggravate the injury by forcing him to strain his broken arm.

Of course, Kairus had no intention of playing along with that.

“Then how about this?”

He could simply move in a way that didn’t leave any opening on the left.

That might sound impossible, but it wasn’t all that difficult.

“Go on, try that again.”

All he had to do was create a situation where attacking his upper left would mean getting their own throat sliced.

Even if they succeeded in hitting Kairus’s arm, their own heads would be on the line—so they wouldn’t be able to commit to the strike.

And if they were so determined to injure his left arm that they’d risk their own lives?

Then he’d gladly give up the arm and take their heads. Not a bad trade for Kairus.

“Areumdri Pawnshop must be paying well. Seeing how hard you’re working.”

The Scarecrow, unable to respond, swung the talwar again. Kairus blocked the blow more smoothly than the last, then swept his sword low to create a sudden updraft.

A whirlwind burst forth in an instant, lifting the Scarecrow into the air.

“You’re tall, but maybe because you're all skin and bones, you float real easy.”

Since he hadn’t meant to be airborne, the Scarecrow couldn’t put up proper resistance. Even so, he still swung the talwar and blocked the Flicker.

‘Now.’

The mosaic spread. The talwar and the Flicker both vanished simultaneously. In that moment, the pumpkin-head could no longer use battle gear and the punch that followed smashed his head in.

“That’s one down.”

The other one wouldn’t take long either. Lea had taken a direct hit to the abdomen and was injured.

Even with a fractured left arm, Kairus saw no reason he couldn’t finish her.

“Wait, just wait! Please, listen to me!”

No one wanted to die. Lea was no different.

“What, you like choking yourself but don’t wanna die? You’re a real piece of work.”

As Kairus mocked her, Lea hurriedly continued.

“I… I had no choice but to take this job because of my own circu—!”

The Flicker pierced through Lea’s throat.

She couldn’t finish her sentence. When Kairus yanked the blade from her neck, the only thing that spilled from her mouth was red blood, not the words she’d tried to say.

With a flick, Kairus shook the blood from his blade and looked down at Lea’s corpse as he spoke.

“If you didn’t want to die, you should’ve said ‘I surrender’ first. Who gives a damn about your circumstances?”

Everyone has their own reasons for doing things.

But there’s no need to ramble on about personal circumstances. If she had just surrendered first, she might’ve lived.

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