------------------
[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
------------------
Chapter 207: You're Too Late
The Black Night Society Leader frowned as he saw the old swordsman blocking his path.
"Old man, who the hell are you?"
"Me? As you can see—"
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Gareth deflected the Black Night Society Leader's aggressive, sharp sword techniques that kept targeting his vital points, and finished his interrupted answer.
"I'm just an old man who enjoys his drink."
The Black Night Society Leader took offense at this playful response, treating it as mockery.
"Shut up. I don't know where you've been wandering around, old man, but you've clearly had proper sword training."
"Oh—I appreciate you noticing."
The elderly knight's sword, though well past his prime, was still sufficient to handle the fierce bladework of this underworld veteran.
'This bastard, his defense is too solid?'
The Black Night Society Leader was bewildered that he couldn't defeat this old man who should clearly be weaker than himself.
'He's responding as if he knows what attack I'm going to make before I make it.'
The old man also knew how to flexibly use his opponent's strength against them.
Most annoying of all was how he cleverly disrupted balance or targeted wrists and fingers whenever their swords met—unorthodox counters.
'Damn it.'
This wasn't an opponent who could be easily dealt with through strength, momentum, and speed alone.
To be stopped by some unheard-of subordinate instead of reaching Zizek—this was nothing short of humiliation.
...But the Black Night Society Leader didn't grow anxious.
'Lord Huten's support will arrive soon.'
While he would have preferred to dispose of the enemy himself before then, it didn't matter anymore.
'You're already a dead man, Zizek.'
The Black Night Society Leader wore a triumphant smile at the corner of his lips.
***
The Bisakino Brotherhood headquarters, guarded by Nagan, was under fierce attack from Huten.
"Damn it, looks like they've fed those strange liquid to the executives again."
Nagan's executives frowned as they saw that most of Huten's faction executives, who had been absent from last night's raid, now appeared at the front line with fiercer and stronger momentum than before.
"Just think of them as ogres. Gather together and hold firm!"
However, Nagan's defensive formation was much stronger than before. His men scattered caltrops at their feet, set up palisades, and raised shields to face their enemies.
They looked more like military personnel than underworld gang members.
"We only need to faithfully serve as the solid anvil."
Nagan encouraged his executives.
'Ultimately, capturing Huten will be Karzan's responsibility.'
But strangely, as the battle continued, Nagan felt an odd sense of discomfort.
"What is that Huten thinking?"
Huten was merely holding his position in the back, rarely venturing forward.
'Dragging this out benefits our side, doesn't it?'
He only needed to hold out until Karzan arrived here.
So if the enemy was willing to engage in this standoff instead of launching a quick offensive, it was very welcome.
'That's why it's strange.'
An enemy doing something beneficial to his side for no reason? And that enemy was the cunning Huten?
"Something's off."
At this moment, Nagan was harboring the same suspicion as Karzan.
Above all, he knew Huten's method of handling matters well.
'He's a man who can set traps meticulously like a patient spider, but also has the decisiveness to step forward himself at critical moments to finish the job.'
...Just like when he killed the Godfather.
"Rodian."
Nagan turned to one of his executives.
"Snipe Huten. Aim one shot at his upper body and one at his lower body."
"Yes."
Rodian pulled back a bow with tremendous tension.
Whoosh!
Then he fired two arrows simultaneously, infusing mana into the steel tips.
Shing!
The arrows tore through the air.
However, Huten easily deflected them by quickly drawing his sword.
"!"
Nagan's eyes widened.
"Did you see that?"
"Yes."
Both men saw it clearly.
"That bastard—"
In the process of deflecting the arrows, Huten's left sleeve, hidden under his cloak, fluttered limply.
Coincidentally, Nagan knew very well who among Huten's close associates had recently lost their left arm.
"You... could it be Caleb?"
"...You have good instincts."
Huten, or rather Caleb, who noticed Nagan's agitation even from afar, brought his hand to his face.
"That's!"
It was a mask used by the upper class at masquerade balls.
Of course, it was the very same artifact that Allenbert had received as a gift from Berdzih to maintain his double life.
"...Why are you disguised as Huten and here?"
Nagan felt a chill run down his spine, realizing something was terribly wrong.
"Haha, it was a crude item, but I didn't expect to be discovered so pathetically."
When he removed the mask, Caleb's face that had been hidden underneath appeared.
"But it was enough to deceive you once."
"You son of a bitch! Answer my question!"
Nagan pressed him, but Caleb merely wore a relaxed smile.
"If you set a trap too obviously, even a fool would notice it."
Feeling ominous, Nagan drew his sword.
"Five of you, follow me. We need to kill Caleb immediately."
"Yes!"
Though he couldn't understand the exact details, he judged that dragging out time was no longer a good strategy.
"Hahaha."
But Caleb, having read his intentions completely, laughed as he felt the heavy weight of 'that thing' in his pocket.
'Come, that moment will be the day our tombstones are erected together.'
Caleb, having lost one arm and with an injured leg, was no match for Nagan. Therefore, he planned to hold out until the end and, at the last moment, take Nagan down with him in a suicide attack.
'All that matters is killing Nagan, the means are irrelevant.'
If orders came from above, he wouldn't even hesitate to sacrifice himself.
...That ruthlessness would determine the winner and loser of this chaotic night.
***
Meanwhile, Huten, disguised as Caleb, appeared at the battlefield where Zizek and the Black Night Society were clashing, bringing only his direct subordinates.
"It's Lord Caleb!"
"Reinforcements have arrived!"
The Black Night Society members, who had been struggling against unexpectedly fierce resistance, cheered.
'Damn it, here he comes.'
Zizek gritted his teeth. Although Caleb had lost an arm to Karzan, he was strong enough to corner Nagan, leaving Zizek with no chance of winning.
'I'll just have to hold out somehow.'
If he did, Karzan's reinforcements would eventually arrive.
Thinking this, Zizek was fiddling with his sword hilt while looking at Huten disguised as Caleb—
"Move aside, you're in the way."
Huten walked behind the Black Night Society Leader who was engaged in combat, and without any hesitation, stabbed him in the back.
Squelch!
Huten's blade pierced through the Society Leader's chest and stabbed Gareth's shoulder.
"Guhk!"
"Old man!"
Zizek was shocked.
"L-Lord Caleb..."
The Black Night Society Leader spat blood after being stabbed in the heart, then died instantly.
"That crazy bastard."
Zizek was appalled by this atrocity.
"You pathetic fool. Struggling so much against a single old man."
Huten coldly muttered as he looked at the Black Night Society Leader's corpse, killed so meaninglessly.
"Incompetent till your dying moment."
He raised his head to look at Gareth.
"You're lucky. You avoided a fatal wound at the last moment."
Huten swung his sword lightly as if swatting a fly.
Clash!
However, unable to withstand the power, Gareth was thrown against the wall.
"Ugh!"
Gareth trembled with his injured back.
'This guy, what strength—'
It felt like taking an ogre's club head-on. He might have broken his wrist.
"Get out of my way."
Huten walked steadily toward Zizek after slaughtering three gang members who had rushed at him.
'That bastard.'
While Zizek was greatly shocked by Huten's cold-bloodedness, more than anything—
'He's unnaturally strong. Was Caleb that powerful?'
He felt something was off about his opponent's martial prowess, which was clearly superior to what he had seen before.
'Damn it, something's wrong.'
Zizek fingered the dagger in his breast pocket. This weapon, received from Knut, was either for suicide to protect secrets in the worst case or to strike at an enemy's weak point as a last resort.
"Argh!"
"Boss, run away!"
Zizek's eyes bloodshot as he saw his subordinates dying like flies while trying to block Huten's path.
"Caleb, you son of a bitch."
Zizek stepped forward.
"Hahaha. Come on then."
Huten smiled with satisfaction at Zizek's foolishness in choosing to confront rather than flee.
'Risking the grand plan for a few subordinates—your caliber is only that much. That's why you'll die by my hand.'
The spider's venomous fangs were ready to tear apart its weak prey.
***
"That bastard."
I jumped up from my seat as I saw Caleb kill the Black Night Society Leader and render Gareth unable to fight.
"That's not Caleb. That's Huten."
Now all the puzzle pieces fit together. Huten and Caleb must have disguised themselves as each other.
"Incredible, to think he'd pull such a trick."
Huten was indeed formidable. To use my plan in reverse?
'But.'
This was also the moment my waiting strategy, prepared for contingencies, proved accurate.
"Stay right there, you bastard!"
I ran toward Huten at maximum speed.
However—
'Damn it, the formation is collapsing too quickly!'
Huten, who easily tore through the defending members, was striding toward Zizek. Moreover, the excited Zizek was also running toward him, so it was clear I would be too late at this rate.
'That bastard, not even trying to hide his strength?'
Huten, who had smashed someone's head using even his left arm for show, suddenly turned his back to look at me.
"?!"
With my vision heightened to the extreme, in what seemed like frozen time, I could read Huten's lip movements.
'You're too late, Karzan.'
***
The distance between Huten and Zizek had narrowed to within five steps.
'With this, Zizek will certainly die.'
And Nagan, falling victim to Caleb's suicide attack, would at minimum suffer severe injuries preventing his recovery.
'Once he loses both Nagan and Zizek, Karzan will have no influence over the Bisakino Brotherhood.'
The remaining followers, having lost their core, would be absorbed into his hands.
'You should always remain behind the scenes.'
Therefore, killing Zizek and Nagan would ensure his victory.
'Karzan, whoever's blade you may be.'
Huten smiled victoriously as he sensed Karzan rushing from behind and Rudgarda approaching like the wind from ahead.
'Too late.'
Swoosh!
Huten's assassination sword rushed toward Zizek's neck, having closed the distance.
"Stop, Huten!"
Karzan had fired a slash aiming for his back, but it didn't matter.
'You aimed at my back, not my sword. That's also your mistake.'
The black veil surrounding Huten protected his back like a shield.
Therefore, Huten could maintain his sword's trajectory toward Zizek.
Splat!
Bright red blood gushed forth.
But what Huten's sword cut was not Zizek's neck, but the tender side of a boy who had suddenly intervened from the side.
"Mo-Moritz?"
"B-Boss... run—"
Moritz, who had managed to intervene outside Huten's awareness due to his paradoxically weak presence, spoke to Zizek with a pitiful voice.
"You crazy little bastard, how dare you interfere."
Thud!
The enraged Huten kicked the boy, sending his body flying into the wall.
"...Ah."
Seeing Moritz's blood, Zizek's sanity snapped.
------------------
[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
------------------
