A sword was coming for me, the slight inclination en route serving as a bad feint only greenhorns would fall for.
Clang!! We met, sword and fist. "M-monster!" The soldier shrieked, leaking even as he grasped at madness as if it were his last straw.
I kept my silence, stalling for time. While it wasn't complicated to take him out just like that, I prefered not to unnecessarily waste my energy.
As the predator, I could expend this much time if doing so reduced risk. He'd make a mistake. Eventually.
"Die... die... diediediediedie!!" Mad slashes without rhyme or reason, no skill or substance flew in my face, each as precise as a sledgehammer for tailor work.
I jumped on a broken waggon, leaving him to furiously slice through the reinforced wood below. Heavy armour wasn't always the way to go. "Dieeeee!" It was quite funny.
The idea of a man such as the one in front of me who aimlessly killed innocents just because certain body features didn't match the requirements weeping for his dead comrades was a strange one.
Feeling a sudden change in the flow of mana, I jumped off the waggon, leaving just in the nick of time as the wreckage began melting down like wax.
Another roll and sidetrack into an especially dark alleyway bereft of any light saved me from a spear conjured by wind, ripping a hole into the ground instead of my body it had been aimed at.
"Ambush!" I heard Shimanda's call about now when any form of reaction would've come too late. My lips twitched.
"[Darkness Grace III]!" I cast the cladding spell once more, finding my armour lacking. From the other end of the alley, I perceived rapid steps closing in.
Three men and one woman. "Heavily armoured. Not too gracious..." I mumbled, tripping the mad soldier weeping tears of blood that stuck to me like shit on a roadside.
"Will you cease this?!" My jests weren't to be taken seriously, as I didn't allow the soldier to get up on his feet, vacating the puddle on the ground he'd fallen into.
"[Mist Spear I]," the mages were now so close I could hear their concentrated whispers. Yet they were not my goal.
"Got you," I grinned, landing the final blow as he struggled to get up, eventually leaving himself wide open. The puddle overflowed in a rosy colour speedily turning deep crimson.
My tail twitched, sweeping backwards faster than ever. It felt like I hit something soft. That something groaned in pain as liquid trickled down my scales.
My eyes couldn't espy anything suspicious throughout this time. The assassin used means to hide I couldn't perceive right now. Nor did I consider the mana investiture necessary that would've come with a proper detection spell.
The twitching at the other end stopped, then the gimmick lost its energy supply, releasing a short woman in light leather armour clutching a dagger in one hand and a rusty horseshoe in the other.
I retracted my tail, releasing the dead body and watched her fall into another puddle. "Really strange..."
No matter how I focused on my surroundings, there was no strategic value in keeping these places. Not at all. These streets might really lead to the castle... but they were also hard to defend.
Only stupid commanders would send their soldiers to meet certain death. Yet the fierce counterattacks and occasional ambushes along the way told me otherwise.
Given not everyone was a zealot dying for religion... the soldiers' particular choice, their rabid bite and eyes burning with despair and hatred must be due to some variables I wasn't privy to.
"You're quite the fighter." Shimanda appeared below a balcony on my right side, sliding down from the adjacent roof.
Donning an expression only found in those exposed to a difficult question, he approached me. "South's clear. West too.
Seven mages and five escort knights. Three were of noble lineage." The fire of hatred was burning in his eyes as he muttered some statistics.
"Aye. As you can see, this place here's clear too. Might need a cleaner though." I wasn't exaggerating in any way.
Even before my engagement with enemy forces, this street had been lined with dozens upon dozens of desecrated beastmen corpses, both young and old.
To instil fear, perhaps. Or to insult. The answer to the royal's veiled purpose eluded me still. But not the effect it had on my guide.
Well... the beastman did clean up a bit. The horseshoe, to be exact. And with hard to conceal urgency at that. Seemed like he knew of the artefact.
"Thirty-nine and a sword trainee... your count's impressive. Stay sharp!" "I will." I nodded along, adding, "but don't balloon my achievements out of proportion.
The trainee is but a half-assed fanatic of swordplay put through a military crash course and let lose in a civil war to decimate civilians."
Shimanda didn't like being reminded of the ongoing bloody slaughter his compatriots in particular helped keep lit. He stiffened up considerably, his muscles taut as if he'd come slashing at me any time now.
A reaction he showed when exposed to unamusing topics he hated to address, I'd learned over the last few hours of companionship. There was nothing dangerous beyond that.
"Are you alright...?" "This does come out of the blue given your stamina is visibly worse off. For the records, yes I am.
Fights like these without any notable players in the field tend to pass without any hiccups." Not to forget, the more blood flowed, the greater my mana recovery.
And that was not all! I'd still yet to stop casting my very long spell in all the places I'd taken a life. Precautions for the royal meeting.
"...enviable." That was all Shimanda answered with, his thoughts not something I could infer. Not as long as he acted as my guide.
"Shall we leave this ghastly place? I stumbled upon some secret signs leading to my people. Not far, comrades shall join in on our righteous quest!"
I had to admit... after releasing some stress and venting hot-blooded impulses on the four squads and six teams I'd encountered in less than an hour, *his* people had me intrigued.
"Sure," I supported his decision, "lead the way. But please answer some questions of mine while you're at it." "Come now, Warrior Thoth. The road is tricky."
Whatever the road was, I didn't care. As long as I wasn't wasting my precious time, I was fine with almost anything.