Chapter 15

Infinite Skill Copying with EX-Grade Interpretation Chapter 15

“Haaah, hey, when the fuck is Eugene getting here?”

A secluded alley in the slums, blanketed in deep darkness.

A man dressed in a white suit irritably exhaled cigarette smoke as he muttered.

In stark contrast to the rotten stench in the surrounding air, their suits were excessively clean, and their gazes were cold.

“We haven’t heard a thing from him since the last contact earlier! Maybe he’s off chasing prey wherever he pleases again?”

At his subordinate’s answer, the man called Rico adjusted his sunglasses and clicked his tongue.

Hot cigarette smoke scattered into the cold night air.

He frowned as though he disliked the situation immensely, but soon a cruel smile formed on his lips.

“Yeah... that bastard has always done whatever he wants. Let’s start cleaning up. The higher-ups keep hounding us to get this done quickly.”

“Seriously, those old bastards upstairs never contact us normally, then pile work on us at times like this.”

“Stop complaining. As long as we clean things up properly, the money we get is no joke, right? We just have to earn our pay.”

Rico threw the cigarette he had been smoking onto the ground and crushed it beneath his foot.

That was the signal. The group of white-suited men waiting nearby began moving all at once.

Their footsteps through the dark alley were quiet yet threatening.

Before the lingering pleasure of the vice they had enjoyed one last time before seeing blood could even fade, they headed deep into the nauseating stench unique to the slums.

The farther they went into the alley, the stronger the stench of rotten meat and filth became.

The expressions of the men, who had been enjoying the scent of cigarettes, twisted harshly.

Just as their disgust reached its peak, a plaza surrounded by enormous piles of garbage appeared before them.

Rico stepped into the center of the plaza and let out a thunderous shout.

“Hey! Your big brothers are here, and you’re not even coming out to greet us?!”

At that booming voice, people who had been hiding like rats came pouring out.

─Tat-tat-tat.

The people who appeared with hurried footsteps were all dressed in shabby clothes. But unlike their appearances, most of them were officially certified by the Association as third-grade or higher.

The elites of the White Bone Guild, known as a nuisance of the back alleys.

Even so, they could only bow their heads and grovel before the men in suits.

“P-President Rico, you’re here! As ordered, we’ve assembled and were waiting.”

The Guild Master of the White Bone Guild approached while bowing repeatedly.

Rico looked down at him arrogantly and asked.

“Yeah? Everyone’s gathered exactly like I told you, right? Not a single person missing?”

“O-of course! Every member of the White Bone Guild is present. They’ve all been sharpening their blades, saying they want revenge on those Scabbard Guild bastards. A-are we finally attacking them tonight?”

Expectation appeared on the face of the clueless White Bone Guild Master.

After messing with the promising members of the major Scabbard Guild, they had become fugitives, so he apparently hoped Rico’s organization, their powerful sponsor, would use its strength for them.

A cruel smile bloomed on Rico’s lips as he looked at that foolish grin.

Everyone’s here.

That’s what you’re saying?

At those words, smiles also spread across the lips of the waiting men in suits.

They were all thinking the same thing.

This just got easier to clean up.

“Why are you suddenly smiling like...”

─Slash!

Before the question could even finish, a silver trajectory cut through the air.

“Ghk?! Ugh...!”

One strike.

A dagger shot out from Rico’s sleeve and sliced precisely across the Guild Master’s throat.

Red blood erupted like a fountain, speckling the white suit. It was the opening act of a brutal execution.

“W-what the hell! Why?!”

“What do you mean, why? It’s time for you to die, so you die!”

The startled White Bone Guild members tried to grab their weapons, but the men in white suits had already slipped among them.

The ambush was perfect, and the difference in equipment and proficiency was hopeless.

The cramped plaza of the slums turned into a scene of carnage in an instant.

“You fucking bastards...!”

“You talk too much. Hey, kill them all! I’ll pay extra per head, so finish this properly!”

It was a one-sided massacre. The White Bone Guild couldn’t even put up proper resistance because of the wounds and exhaustion they had suffered during their previous expedition.

The stench of the garbage dump was gradually covered by the metallic smell of blood, while desperate screams decorated the night sky.

But just as Rico was about to sink into the satisfaction of victory, someone pointed toward the sky and shouted.

“Hey, look at that! What is that?!”

Everyone’s gaze turned toward the roof of a nearby abandoned building.

Against the black night sky, a dazzling sphere of light was condensing.

It wasn’t ordinary illumination. Waves of mana vibrated through the atmosphere.

“It’s magic!! Some bastard is targeting us...”

─BOOOOM!!

A waterfall of light struck the center of the plaza. The ground overturned with a tremendous explosion, and blazing red flames swallowed the scene of the massacre.

Caught off guard by the powerful area-of-effect magic, the group in white suits scattered in confusion.

Rico instinctively threw himself behind cover. His vision flashed, and a piercing ringing filled his ears.

─BANG!!

Mana projectiles exploded one after another. Amid dust and debris raining down like a storm, a group emerged through his blurred vision.

Emblazoned on their chests was the crest of a sharp sword, the emblem of the Scabbard Guild.

“Fuuuck! Hey, hey! Why the hell are these bastards...?!”

“S-Scabbard...”

“No one told us people like this would show up, ghk?!”

The situation reversed. The white suits who had been predators only moments ago were now prey, collapsing one after another.

The elites of the Scabbard Guild were merciless. As though determined not to let a single enemy escape, they systematically tightened their encirclement and swung their blades.

Rico gritted his teeth at the chill running through his entire body.

‘We kicked a hornet’s nest. And we really kicked it hard.’

They had definitely left no traces. They had killed the pawns involved in the operation, and burned every hideout that could become evidence.

Once they killed the White Bone Guild members gathered here tonight, the cleanup would have been perfect.

So how?

But there was no time to solve that question.

The vanguard of the Scabbard Guild had already spotted him and was charging.

“Everyone respond! We’ve already been exposed! Immediately retreat through predetermined escape route number two...”

─Crack!

Before he could finish speaking, an arrow fired by someone shattered the communication device.

Rico laughed hollowly.

Fuck.

“Boss! Get out of here!”

“Aaagh!”

Avoiding the slum district that now looked like the site of a small war, Rico moved quickly.

There was no time to look after anyone else.

Right now, he simply had to run for his life and report what had happened to the higher-ups.

He ran so hard he forgot even the breath building in his lungs.

It was a predetermined escape route, so it would be difficult for anyone else to follow him.

First, he would return alive, report to the higher-ups... and then.

Then.

Then?

─Whoosh!

─Thud!

A strange noise came from overhead. A sharp sound cutting through the wind, followed by the dull impact of something kicking against a building wall.

Rico instinctively recognized what it was. A high-speed movement technique using wires.

“Eugene?”

He hurriedly turned and looked up.

Under the faint moonlight, he saw a shadow descending along a rooftop railing.

But the silhouette was different from the Eugene he knew. Far more agile, with no wasted movement whatsoever.

He was wearing Eugene’s wire device, but he wasn’t Eugene.

─Whoosh!

The shadow twisted in midair and dropped toward Rico.

─Thud!

“Ghk...!”

A heavy impact slammed into his chest.

Rico groaned as he rolled across the ground.

The opponent’s speed was abnormally fast.

It wasn’t simply the power of the wire. It felt as though he were moving on an entirely different layer of speed from the rest of the world.

“You fucking bastard... What the hell are you?!”

Rico staggered to his feet and drew his sword.

The other man also landed and took his stance.

He wore the Scabbard Guild’s standard armor, but his eyes were different from those of the guild’s hunters.

A cold gaze, as though persistently analyzing something.

Rico made his decision in that brief instant. He didn’t know what had happened, but as long as he defeated the bastard in front of him, his escape route would open.

Judging from the man’s mana fluctuations, his actual grade didn’t seem that high.

Then...

‘I’ll finish this as quickly as possible.’

─Tap!

He charged toward him.

A seasoned veteran’s refined sword path aimed for the opponent’s neck.

With this, in a single strike...

─Whoosh!

─Whoosh!

But the sword didn’t connect.

‘What the hell is with this bastard... Why is he so fast?’

He had definitely been within range. Yet in that fleeting instant, the bastard pulled his body backward like a ghost.

His strength and technique were clearly a step below Rico’s, but his reaction speed at decisive moments was beyond common sense.

If this dragged on, the Scabbard Guild’s main force would arrive.

Killing intent filled Rico’s eyes.

‘This will expose my position, but I’ll end it with this.’

He aimed the tip of his sword and gathered his strength.

Concentrating the power drawn up from the tips of his legs into a single point.

[Using the unique ability ‘Thrust.’]

He thrust!

With a tearing crack through the air, his sword shot forward at the speed of light. Even the bastard who had been dodging looked visibly startled this time.

Absolute speed that the body couldn’t follow even if the trajectory was read.

With this, he would pierce through his heart...

─CLANG!

Huh?

But the sword tip didn’t reach his heart.

Is that a protector? Why is it so hard...

─THUD!!

His vision went black. Rico’s consciousness plunged straight into a deep abyss.

______________

“Holy shit, I seriously almost died.”

I breathed heavily as I looked down at the protector covering my chest.

That thrust just now had been truly dangerous. I had seen its trajectory with Interpretation, but even with Acceleration, it had been too fast to dodge completely.

Still.

─Clang, clang.

I flicked the armor with my fingers, and a heavy resonance came back.

“Guild equipment really is good. Without this, I’d probably have a hole through my chest right now.”

[Using Interpretation.]

[Famer Steel Plate]

─Special armor made by the Blacksmith Guild’s forge.

─Marked with the emblem of the Scabbard Guild.

“Hey, are you okay? Sorry, I was a little late cleaning up the small fry over there.”

Yuri was walking toward me from a distance. Her sleeves and shoes were already soaked in the blood of the enemies.

There was a veteran’s composure in the way she casually brushed debris from her hair.

She looked back and forth between Rico, who had been slammed into the ground, and me, then spoke apologetically.

“Sorry...”

“For what?”

“No, that standard armor. I would’ve given you something better if we had any, but I guess the timing was bad.”

‘This is standard armor?’

The difference in standards was so enormous that I didn’t even know what to say.

Still, maybe I should consider myself fortunate.

These people called me their benefactor and treated me warmly, so I could feel reassured.

“Then if we caught this guy too, is it over?”

“Probably. The communication device has gone completely quiet, so I’m sure.”

The communication device that had been noisy until just a moment ago had fallen silent, so it seemed there were no enemies left.

‘Things should be quiet for a while.’

Thanks to the Scabbard Guild’s help, we killed and captured those bastards.

Information? They’d probably give it up on their own once they were tortured.

They had suffered losses too, so they would probably stay quiet for at least a few days. I could finally live without worrying.

So.

“Ghh...!”

“Huh?”

That was when it happened.

The man I had knocked unconscious suddenly made a move.

He pulled out something like a gemstone hidden in his pocket.

And tried to put it in his mouth...

[Using the skill ‘Perfect Acceleration (A).’]

“You fucking bastard.”

─THUD.

I smashed his face down completely so he wouldn’t be getting up again anytime soon.

─Roll, roll.

A blue gemstone rolled across the ground.

Seeing it emit a faint glow, Yuri shouted almost like a scream.

“Hey! Grab that, quick! It could explode!”

“Huh? O-okay!”

─Whoosh!

I squeezed out what remained of Acceleration, rolled across the ground, and snatched up the gemstone.

A cold yet violently surging sensation of mana touched my palm.

Explode? What the hell is this?

[Using Interpretation.]

[Small Mana Crystal]

[A stone containing mana.]

[When subjected to impact, the mana within explodes.]

“A mana crystal?”

“So you do know what a mana crystal is. These vicious bastards... They carry something like this around for suicide attacks?”

Yuri naturally took the mana crystal from my hand.

She rubbed the gemstone a few times, then began scratching it with her fingernail.

“Phew, thank goodness it’s only a small one. If it were medium-sized, all of us could’ve gone straight to the afterlife together.”

As though she had done this many times before, she handled it like she was defusing a bomb, then casually tossed it behind her as though it were no longer needed.

“What changes if it’s bigger?”

“A lot. And if it had been a mana crystal imbued with an attribute, this whole area could’ve turned into a sea of fire. These are pretty rare and expensive resources, so they’re hard to see in the city... This organization might have much stronger backing than we thought.”

Goosebumps rose across my skin.

A single piece of stone like that could turn an entire area into a sea of fire?

Just imagining it was horrifying.

Were things like this really allowed to circulate through the city?

Wouldn’t scavengers be impossible to stop if they carried these around for suicide bombings?

“Well, large mana crystals barely exist in the city. I’ve only ever heard rumors about one myself. And.”

“And?”

“They’re quite rare resources. If they’re properly processed, you can make artifacts or magic tools out of them too.”

So they were dangerous, but equally useful.

It was fascinating because this was a world completely unknown to me.

So things like that existed too.

Hmm...

Hmm?

That was when it happened.

Faint sparks began appearing before my eyes.

[You have acquired a keyword.]

[Retrying the previously failed Interpretation.]

Huh?

Letters shimmered into existence before my eyes, and my gaze naturally began to move.

─Rustle.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out an object I had been hiding there.

This...

It was familiar.

No, it was something I could never forget.

“Don’t tell me.”

[Highest-Grade Mana Crystal]

[A mana crystal containing an enormous amount of mana.]

[Possesses a hidden attribute.]

[The attribute can be identified through processing.]

‘Those loan sharks had something like this?’

The day I freed myself from debt.

That jewel inside the safe had actually been a mana crystal.

Beyond being surprised, I was baffled.

How the hell did they have something like this?

What the hell were those bastards really involved in?