Chapter 17

Mad Swordsman of the Shadow World (17)

West, Section 5’s defensive position.

Two campfires burned in the darkness.

Shadows flickered inside the position.

Watching from beyond the bushes, Section 1’s raiding party exchanged glances.

“Their guard is sloppy.”

“It’s Section 5. What did you expect?”

Low sneers passed between them.

Sixteen in total.

More than twice the number defending Section 5.

“We sweep them all away at once. Let’s go.”

At the signal from the one in front, the Section 1 trainees charged the position all at once.

“Attack!”

Pabababat!

Bursting out of the bushes, they swung their wooden swords at the shadows beside the campfires.

Thud! Thwack!

But what they felt at the tips of their hands was not the touch of a person.

“...Leaves?”

Leaves covered with blankets collapsed limply.

An empty position.

Nothing but the blazing campfires and the scarecrows they had set up.

“It’s a trap! Fall ba...!”

The moment someone shouted.

Snap!

The taut vines stretched beneath their feet snapped all at once.

Rumble!

Logs piled on the slope above the position came rolling down through the darkness.

“Aaaagh!”

“D-Dodge!”

Sixteen people became entangled inside the narrow position.

Some had their legs swept out by the logs, while others collided with their own allies while trying to dodge.

Into the chaos where nothing resembling a formation remained.

“Now!”

Perka gave the signal.

Pabat! Pabababat!

Eight members of Section 5 burst out from the darkness.

Not from the front.

From above the slope, from behind rocks, aiming only for the backs and sides of the confused enemies.

Thud! Thwack!

“Ugh!”

Renil’s wooden sword smashed into one boy’s wrist and knocked away his weapon, while Tioren silently hooked the backs of two boys’ knees in succession and toppled them.

“Stay calm! There are only eight of them...!”

Section 1’s leader shouted and tried to reform their ranks, but.

“Scatter!”

At Perka’s shout, Section 5 disappeared into the darkness without hesitation.

Strike, then withdraw.

When they tried to regroup, they vanished. When they gave chase, they were struck from another direction.

—Don’t meet them head-on. The position is bait, and your weapon is the terrain.

Everything was unfolding exactly as Theron had planned it.

“Y-You rat bastards...!”

Confusion spread across the faces of the Section 1 trainees.

A fight where their numerical advantage meant nothing.

But that advantage was not entirely meaningless.

“Everyone, back-to-back! Don’t scatter, stay together!”

The leader’s judgment was not bad.

Once all sixteen formed a circle and began holding their ground, the attacks from the eight gradually lost their effectiveness.

If they dragged this out, they might instead be caught by the enemy.

And...

“...Perka.”

Renil retreated behind a rock, swallowed his ragged breath, and pointed into the darkness beyond.

Past the bushes.

New presences were approaching.

“Section 1... their main force. There are more than twenty of them.”

The raiding party had merely been the advance force.

Cold sweat formed on Perka’s forehead.

They had blocked the first attack.

But they did not have enough strength to block the next one.

“...The signal.”

Perka gritted his teeth and pulled the whistle from his chest.

Piiiiik! Piiiiik! Piiiiik!

They needed Theron’s help now.

_______________

At the same time, the southern ridge.

Amid the lingering echo of the whistle, Theron stared toward the west swallowed in darkness.

“...They’re already targeting us.”

Well, that was only natural.

Among everyone here, they were probably the most appetizing prey.

There had likely even been some sort of wager over who would take their tokens first.

Theron narrowed his eyes.

The situation began taking shape inside his head.

‘If I run at full speed...’

He could reach Section 5’s main position in a little over ten minutes.

But...

‘Then Isaac will follow me there too.’

He had no intention of clashing with him already.

Theron planned to whittle down Isaac’s forces as much as possible and fight him only after his strength had been weakened.

“...Hoo.”

Theron let out a quiet breath and coldly considered the current situation.

Three whistle blasts meant they were in danger, but it also meant they were still holding out.

In that case, there was no need to move in a panic immediately.

Before long, his deliberation ended.

Because of the whistle just now, the Section 3 trainees with Isaac would also start moving.

If that was the case, Theron felt he might be able to make use of the Section 3 trainees who were moving in search of him.

‘Isaac, sorry, but...’

This time, I’ll borrow your strength.

Theron lowered his body and changed direction toward the west.

This time, he did not erase his tracks.

Rather, it was the opposite.

Broken branches.

Clearly visible footprints.

Even a thread from his clothing scraped against a rock.

Isaac would surely notice them.

However...

‘If they’re too obvious, he’ll suspect a trap... if they’re too faint, he’ll miss them.’

It was important to maintain that razor-thin line between the two.

Leaving just enough traces behind, Theron began running swiftly toward the west.

What he needed now was.

‘Let’s have you all get tangled together and play properly.’

______________

“...This way.”

In the darkness.

Isaac ran his fingertips over a broken branch and spoke quietly.

Thirty members of Section 3’s main force followed behind him.

After losing the search parties, Isaac had stopped splitting his forces and instead moved with all of them together.

There was no need to create another variable by separating and allowing them to be picked off.

A companion beside him asked.

“If we keep going this way... isn’t this where Section 5 is?”

“Yeah.”

At Isaac’s answer, the eyes of those with him widened.

“Then are you saying the one who attacked us was from Section 5?”

“No way. Our search parties were taken out by Section 5?”

There was no way the place known for gathering the worst dullards in the training camp could have pulled something like this off.

At their words, Isaac rubbed his chin.

“Who knows. We don’t know that yet.”

Isaac’s eyes narrowed.

He examined the traces closely.

There were signs that the person had tried to erase them here and there, but they had not been erased perfectly.

‘...Still, this level of skill is impressive enough.’

Was there someone in Section 5 with this kind of ability?

Isaac became interested.

He wanted to see the face of whoever was going around doing this as soon as possible.

There was only one disappointing part.

“A little clumsy.”

Because the traces had not been erased perfectly, the person’s route could be followed.

A smile spread across Isaac’s lips.

“We pick up the pace from here. Anyone who falls behind gets left behind, so everyone focus.”

“O-Okay.”

“Yeah.”

With Isaac at the front, the Section 3 trainees ran swiftly along the forest path.

And how far had they gone like that?

“Isaac! There’s noise up ahead...!”

A commotion could be heard beyond the forest.

The sound of wooden swords colliding and shouts bursting out.

When Section 3 pushed through the bushes, the backs of Section 1’s main force, currently pressing Section 5’s position, appeared before them.

“...Section 1?”

The gazes of both sides collided in midair.

Section 1, in the middle of fighting, froze at the sight of thirty people appearing behind them, while Section 3 briefly faltered at the scene before them.

In that short silence.

Only Isaac understood the situation.

‘If the traces led here...’

Then that bastard had drawn this entire picture from the beginning.

A picture that made Section 3 strike Section 1 with their own feet.

“...Ha.”

A low laugh escaped Isaac’s mouth.

He had been used...?

And this openly, at that.

Yet instead of getting angry, his heart began to race.

“Isaac, what do we do? Retreat?”

“Retreat?”

Isaac rested his wooden sword on his shoulder and stepped forward.

Section 1 was an opponent they would have had to clash with eventually anyway.

They were standing right in front of them with their backs exposed, so there was no reason to pass them by.

“There are tokens spread out right in front of us. Why would we turn back?”

Isaac’s eyes flashed sharply.

“We take all of them.”

“Wooooo!”

Along with Section 3’s roar, thirty people poured into Section 1’s rear.

“Wh-What?!”

“S-Section 3?”

“Crazy! Why is Section 3 here...!”

The battlefield turned upside down in an instant.

Section 1, which had been pressing Section 5, began collapsing with enemies both in front and behind.

And Perka, behind a rock, stared blankly at the scene.

“...What the hell is this.”

“Why is Section 3 attacking Section 1?”

It was Tioren who answered Renil’s question.

“Theron.”

“...Huh?”

“Who else but that bastard would draw up a picture like this?”

The three exchanged looks.

And without anyone being first, faint laughter escaped them.

“Everyone, withdraw quietly.”

Perka gave the order in a low voice.

“That’s enough watching the fight. While those bastards tear each other apart... we’ll take care of our own tokens.”

The eight members of Section 5 silently passed by the bodies of the Section 1 trainees lying at the edge of the melee, searched their clothes, and disappeared into the darkness.

______________

Theron stood atop a distant rock, looking down at the melee.

The clash between Section 1 and Section 3.

Shouts, curses, and the dull sounds of wooden swords colliding erupted throughout the rocky area. Someone fell, someone else slipped into the opening, while another searched the clothes of a fallen opponent and stole their token.

That chaos.

That was exactly the scene Theron had wanted.

Now that their gazes were fixed on one another, Section 5 could slip away through the opening while stealing tokens.

Of course, they would not be able to take all of them, but they should be able to escape with about half of Section 1’s tokens.

‘...Better than expected.’

He had set the stage, but it was those bastards’ own strength that had allowed them to survive on it.

Truthfully, he had not expected much at first.

Even if they changed their mindset through intense training, the time had simply been too short.

But once the lid was opened, they proved far more tenacious than expected.

A faint smile appeared on Theron’s lips.

‘Not bad.’

He soon turned around.

While this commotion continued, there was something he needed to check.

The collapsed cliff at the edge of the rocky area.

There was something he needed to find there.

But before he could take even a few steps, Theron stopped.

“...”

Amid the noise of the melee.

Against the shouts, screams, and clashing weapons, there was a single presence approaching in his direction.

Theron slowly turned his head.

Beyond the darkness.

Between trees touched by moonlight, a boy walked out with a wooden sword resting on his shoulder.

It was Isaac.

Alone, having left the melee to his subordinates.

Dust covered the hem of his clothes, and there was a shallow wound on one cheek.

But his steps were steady.

Even his breathing was not particularly disturbed.

Rather, his gaze was calmer.

Isaac looked straight at Theron and opened his mouth.

“I knew you’d be here. This is the best spot.”

Theron did not answer.

He merely narrowed his eyes faintly.

Isaac took another step closer.

“If you used someone... you should pay the price for it.”

For a moment, the shouts erupting in the distance felt strangely far away.

In the darkness.

The gazes of the two boys met.