Episode 25 - Behemoth Raid 2

The preparation had paid off.
To counter that damned poison mist, he had sourced antidote candy from the far eastern continent and supplied his people with two pieces each.

It had let them press the attack without hesitation even through the transformation — and after a month of intensive training, his elite assassins had drilled their movements to a speed that could toy with Kaftin's reflexes.

On top of that, he had equipped every last one of them with dwarven assassination blades — sharper than standard steel by a considerable margin.

Far short of an Aura Blade, certainly — but enough to cut through the flesh and leave wounds.

"DIE—!!"
"...Hff—!"

The creature was growing more savage by the minute.
Every wound it took made the movements wilder — and at unpredictable moments, air burst from the vents across its body, launching it forward in sudden, explosive bursts.

"Don't stop moving — not for a second! The moment you freeze, he crushes you! Keep moving, keep him off balance!"
"By your command!"
"There—!"

Kaftin had zeroed in on Veilslayer's voice and brought a fist crashing down — but Veilslayer was already two beats ahead, bounding off a branch and clearing the area entirely.

"Ha! You're half the speed you were before the transformation! And this is supposed to be your trump card?!"
"Grrrrr—!"

While Kaftin ground his teeth and fixed his glare on Veilslayer, three assassins came in from different directions, opening fresh cuts across his thigh and arms before sliding away.

He lunged after the one who had cut his thigh — and brought a tree down for his trouble.

"I'll give you this... you really did come prepared...!"
"I'm still willing to accept a surrender. What do you say...?"

Part of him wanted nothing more than to kill the thing outright — but Athunga had expressed a desire to capture it for study. Veilslayer himself wasn't without curiosity about the creature's secrets, so he let the offer hang in the air.

But —

"Heheh... that won't do... there's still... still something left to finish...!"
"......!"

Kaftin fixed his gaze on the direction the voice had come from and settled into a stance, every line of his body coiled to charge.

Veilslayer read it instantly and bent his knees, ready to move.
The vents in the legs — he would use them to come in fast.

"What is it you still need to finish?"
"Tearing every last one of you Four Gang Lords apart — and scattering the pieces over my master's grave...!"
"Insolent—! You still have the luxury to spout nonsense like that?!"

The words had barely left his mouth when the sound of expelled air punched through the clearing — and Veilslayer slipped out of the way with practiced ease.
Any moment now, the massive body would come crashing down where he had been standing, and his people would close in to add more wounds.
Except —

"Got you."
"......!"

The creature hadn't moved.
A break from every pattern so far — and the assassins, unable to adjust in time, were already rushing in from behind.

"—! Everyone scatter—!"
"Too late!"

Kaftin was already swinging the log he'd snapped earlier — a wide, horizontal sweep behind him.

One assassin managed to roll clear. The other two caught it full on and slammed into a tree behind them.

"Kghak—!"
"Ngh—!"
"Heheheh...!"

At Veilslayer's signal, the other assassins surged in to cut off whatever came next — but it was already happening.

"You seem to be under the impression that my arm cannons are a ranged attack..."
"...?!"
"Let me show you... the true use of the Rote Kanonen...!"

The words were barely out before Kaftin's left fist drove straight into the two assassins still crumpled against the tree.

"Kghk—?!"
"Ngh—?!"
"Now... watch closely... a magic trick... these two will simply... disappear...!"
"...!"

A deafening blast — and in an instant, the trees standing in the direct path of the fist and the two assassins caught in its wake simply ceased to exist.
Torso and skull vaporized in the explosion, reduced to fragments scattered in every direction. Only arms and legs remained, tumbling across the ground.

"...Damn it—! Scatter! Do not stop moving — not for a moment! The second you let your guard down, that's you...!"
"Heheheh... no need to rush..."

The poison mist released with the blast was already yellowing and killing the vegetation around them — grass and trees alike withering where they stood.

His people had the candy, so they were fine — but the trees themselves, which had served as both cover and footing, were rotting and collapsing around them.

"Ngh—!"
"One shot left... and this time I won't miss all three..."

This time, the moment an assassin's blade raked across his thigh, Kaftin clenched the muscle around it — trapping the blade before it could slide through.

"Ngh?!"
"Really now... don't fall for a trick like that. You're boring me..."

Trying to yank the blade free had been the mistake.
Kaftin's massive hand closed around the assassin's body and hauled him into the air.

"Hey — Veilslayer! What should I do with this one...? Blow him apart? Or maybe..."

Even as the grip slowly tightened, the assassin made no sound.
Just gritted teeth, a twisting body, searching for any way out.

"Do what you like. But for every drop of blood my people have spilled — I'll wring twice as much out of you...!"
"Heheheh... now that sounds interesting."

He hurled the assassin into the ground — then caught him again with the swollen arm that hadn't yet discharged, snatching him back up.

The intention was clear: same as the two before — crush him in the grip and detonate the gas.

"Ngh — he's going for the gas cannon! This is the moment — don't waste what your comrade just bought you! Move—!"
"Hyaah—!"

This time Veilslayer himself came in, cutting into Kaftin's body directly.
Without realizing what was being set up for him.

"Hm... whatever you've got against the poison, you seem to have it covered...!"
"Die already—!"

Veilslayer landed briefly on Kaftin's shoulder and drove the glass blade into the joint.

"Ngh—?!"
"At this angle, even you can't — what?!"

Kaftin immediately clenched the muscle — locking the blade in place, too deep to push further, too seized to pull free.

Veilslayer released the blade without hesitation and leapt clear — and Kaftin's hand swept through the space he had just vacated.

"Impressive — wasn't that blade precious to you? Come and get it back."
"Don't make me laugh!"

He drew the remaining glass dagger from the sheath at his back and set his jaw.

The glass daggers — Veilslayer's assassination blades.
Not the kind of weapon that could be sourced just anywhere, given the material.

And one of them had been taken this easily.

"Fine with me. I've been curious about your blades for a while now — this works out well."
"...Hm!"

Even as they spoke, another assassin raked a long cut down the back of Kaftin's thigh and was gone.

Kaftin tracked the retreating figure with his eyes, clicked his tongue, and hurled the assassin he was holding.

The thrown man collided with the fleeing assassin's back — and both went down together, crashing into a tree trunk.

"—! No—!"
"One more time—!"

The blast came immediately — Kaftin's swollen fist driving toward the two of them.

"That won't happen—!"

He had spent over ten years cultivating these assassins. He would not stand by and watch them die for nothing.
He had braced for losses — but that didn't mean he could simply let it happen.

Veilslayer's body launched forward at tremendous speed.

He had never reached the true threshold of Sword Master — but in its place, he had spent years studying the eastern approach to Aura use and refined his own independent Aura Skill.

The Aura Skill that drew out the Aura latent within the body to amplify physical capability — it activated now through Veilslayer's frame.

"Hyaaah—!"
"DETONATE—!"

He wasn't trying to push the two assassins clear.

Veilslayer had poured everything he had into the glass dagger — forming an Aura Blade — and what he was aiming for was severing that damned arm in a single stroke.

And Kaftin felt it. Clearly.

"Don't you dare—!"
"Choose then — your arm, or my two people's lives! Which is it?!"

Kaftin's instincts flared.

At that speed, Veilslayer would take the arm before the fist ever landed.
Which meant —

"GRAAAAH—!"
"HYAAAH—!!"

The fist connected with the two assassins — and in the same instant, the glass blade was already sweeping toward the arm.
And then —

A dull, heavy impact — and Veilslayer was being thrown back.

"Ngh — kgh?!"
"GRAAAAAAH—!!"

At the last instant, Kaftin had wrenched the mid-swing fist sideways — and instead of losing the arm, he had taken the Aura Blade-laden glass dagger into the plating of his swollen forearm, and used it to drive Veilslayer's body backward.

"Ngh—! You damned monster—!"
"Heheheh—! Got you! Veilslayer—!"
"Don't count on it—!"

The crushing impact to his midsection meant nothing. Veilslayer locked his jaw, seized the hilt of the embedded dagger, and wrenched it back into his grip.

"I may not be able to cut it off — but carving into it is another matter entirely...!"

He had registered it: the plating on Kaftin's forearm was noticeably thicker than elsewhere on the body.

It didn't matter.
The Aura Blade was already biting through it like tofu.

He kept his grip on the hilt and dragged — opening a deep wound along Kaftin's forearm.

"Bleed more... suffer more... I'll wash away my people's blood with yours...!"
"NGGGHHHH—!!"

Perhaps because the wound had gone deep.
Dark red gas began venting from the cut with a series of sharp detonations.

"Hahaha! So that arm cannon of yours is out of commission now?!"
"Ngh—?!"

Kaftin flung Veilslayer away with a sweep of the arm and clenched down hard on the forearm.

But the gas was already escaping — and the arm was rapidly contracting, deflating back toward its normal state.

"Tch... a more troublesome Aura Skill than I expected..."
"Kgh—!"

Veilslayer hit the ground hard. The impact to his midsection was severe — he lay there for just a moment before forcing himself upright and falling back.

That had been close.
If he had stayed down even a second longer, the creature would have been on him.

He forced the pain from his body out of his mind and put a tree between himself and it.

"Running again—! Come out and face me properly! You gave up the shadows and sent a challenge — have you no pride?!"
"Hm—!"

He didn't particularly care what it said.

Veilslayer signaled his remaining people with a hand sign.
The order to advance to Phase 3.

—To be continued—