At the corner of his eye, a flash of steel came.

Nike caught just a glimpse of it. It was enough. He swiped his sword out of its sheath and brought it forward as a shield.

The steel clashed against his blade with a deafening sound.

"Who dares?"

Nike turned around, and his eyes narrowed as he saw the face of Beau, his sister's personal bodyguard, staring back at him.

"You dare to attack me while I am delivering my hunted rabbit, you rat fuck? Do you have no sense of honor?"

Nike asked, and he then dropped Ashley to the ground. She landed harshly on the dirt, the gag in her mouth muffling her scream.

"…"

Aren didn't say a word. It wasn't needed. He planned to let his actions speak for themselves.

He pressed his front feet on the ground and sprang forward like an arrow. The sword speared through the air.

Nike lazily swiped his sword to the side and deflected the strike. The clang sounded, and sparks flew.

"My sister bragged about how strong her current personal bodyguard is. I'd really like to see how strong you really are."

He said coldly.

…

At the Hauwnted family estate.

"What the hell is that guard doing?"

"He is attacking someone delivering their hunt?"

"I thought guards made a pact to not do that, as that is unsportsmanlike?"

The noblemen wondered out loud.

With a frown on his face, Jupiter looked at Athena, who was equally confused about what her bodyguard was doing.

If he kept angering her brother, even she couldn't defend him from her brother's anger, and if he wanted to, he could get rid of Beau easily.

…

With moans of struggle, Ashley tried to get rid of the rope binding her hands and feet, but to no avail.

It was impossible.

Meanwhile, Aren and Nike met in the middle of the clearing.

There were no trees around them—only the leaf-covered ground beneath their feet—their feet shuffled as they gauged their opponents' intention.

'Let's see just how vast the difference in our swordsmanship really is. I might be level 2, Blessed One, but it is still not that far from ordinary people.

'Against a well-trained ordinary human, like Nike, the difference in our attributes isn't really that big. I do have my abilities, so there is that, but level 1 and level 2 abilities aren't really that game-changing.

'I'd rather not use my revolver right away.'

Aren had enough of waiting. He stopped shuffling his feet. Instead, he snapped into a lunge that was as sudden as a snake striking.

Nike's hair stood on end.

The sword came at him with a stab. It had a broad blade, so it was mostly used for slashing, but because of the blunt blade, it couldn't be.

Thus, stabbing, hacking, and whatever didn't really matter, as the sword wasn't sharp enough to cut into a person.

With a smooth wave of a sword, Nike pressed the bottom of his sword against Aren's sword, driving it into the ground.

In that moment, Nike snapped his elbow at Aren. An elbow strike.

Aren slid his feet back and pulled his head and shoulders backward to avoid the strike. The elbow went over him.

Without a moment of stopping, he pulled back his body and started wildly waving his sword at Nike and quickly forced him back a step.

Nike stumbled, but he regained his stance and raised his sword to block the strikes, but Aren's swings were hard and heavy!

The whole of Nike's sword was trembling all the way to his shoulder. This kind of strength wasn't normal.

After all, it was the wild strikes of level 2 Blessed One, and it was something that Nike hadn't experienced!

'He doesn't look that physically strong…'

Nike thought with a frown.

He had also realized one thing—Aren's swordsmanship was elementary—it was like he didn't really know any technique.

It was because Aren hadn't taken any swordsmanship lessons. This week was the first time that he had even picked up a sword.

When he killed those men over in Brackenford Cross to protect Athena, he just used his speed to outmaneuver them.

Anyone knew how to swing a sword at a person, and that's what he did.

Because of his speed, Athena had the misconception that he was actually really good at swordsmanship, which he really wasn't.

Nike flicked his wrist, snapped the sword past Aren's sword, and landed a small hit on his shoulder.

Smack!

It was a hard smack, enough to make anyone drop their sword, but Aren just swallowed the pain and kept pushing.

While he was stronger and faster than an ordinary person, his body's toughness was also at a much higher level.

Wild, hard, and heavy strikes rained down at Nike, and he kept backing away with an ugly grimace on his face.

His arms kept shaking, and his sword wasn't going to last forever. This sword wasn't actually his even and was one of the blunt weapons given to the hunters.

They didn't use the better blunt weapons during the Hunt, as they had no need to. The rabbits rarely fought back well enough.

"You're pushing your luck, bastard!"

Nike screamed angrily.

In that moment, he pushed his feet at Aren's chest. It pushed him back a step. Then, Nike hacked his sword at him.

Aren slipped under the sword hack and smacked his sword at the back of Nike's knee. A crack sounded. Nike screamed hoarsely.

"Aaargh!"

Nike collapsed on one knee and looked at his other leg. It clearly was broken.

The metallic bird watched from a nearby tree. Its eyes were wide and wondrous.

"Hmph."

Aren tossed aside his useless sword, and he then grabbed Nike from his hair and dragged him towards the metallic bird.

The metallic bird looked.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

Nike asked with a scream while he felt his hair get pulled from his scalp.

"…By the way, I did really have sex with your sister."

Aren whispered into his ear, and he saw Nike's eyes turn red with anger.

"And now you will die."

Nike said angrily.

"No… You will."

In that moment, Aren ripped off his Human Flesh Mask, revealing his actual appearance beneath, and he stared straight at the metallic bird.

He smiled—a genuine smile—and then he flicked his wrist, and a long-barreled revolver appeared in his hand.

"W-What the hell?"

Nike looked at him in shock. His eyes turned wide in fear.

"W-W-wai—"

Aren pressed the black revolver against the back of his head and pulled the trigger. The blast thundered. A hole appeared in the middle of Nike's head.

He collapsed on the ground.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.