At my request to call Charles, Lishe answered right away.
“Sis? Just wait a moment!”
Bang! Lishe swung her sword hard, pushing Jinzou back.
Holding the holy sword, she closed her eyes, concentrating her spirit.
When her eyelids rose again, her expression was sharp and refined.
It was Charles.
“You unlucky brat!”
Charles stepped in twice at high speed, attacking Jinzou from below. Channeling rotational force into her sword energy, she swung upward.
No matter how much Jinzou used the child body of a Swordmaster, he lacked remarkable skill in swordsmanship himself. His somewhat clumsy defense couldn’t withstand the precise strike and crumbled.
Boom!
With a loud explosion, Jinzou’s jaw armor shattered.
Charles lightly backstepped, retreating to where I was.
“To see that guy here… Lars, didn’t you get bitten?”
“I need to find the main body. Remember the method we used in Count Kessel’s territory?”
“Of course. While Jinzou controls the child body, he can’t move, so if we attack all child bodies to gauge the distance, the central point… the main body will be somewhere.”
Charles turned to me, her eyes wide.
“Lars, how did you get out?”
“Let’s not fuss over the little things; let’s move.”
Jinzou charged at us. Charles and I began to dodge sideways.
I’m feeling a bit strained here. While Charles can manage, my pace means Jinzou will catch up quickly.
‘Should I use it?’
I pulled out a [Giant Potion] from my pouch.
The ultimate evolution of the [Muscle Strength Enhancer], it boosts strength to 90.
‘But side effects will kick in about 30 minutes later.’
I calculated how much time I had left. Could I find Jinzou’s main body, create a rabies cure, and also go on the hunt within the next 30 minutes?
“What are you doubting?”
Without hesitation, I flicked the cap off the flask. Downing it in one go, my muscle fibers tightened explosively.
“Lars, you’re super fast on your feet?!”
The Jinzou chasing us was wearing heavy armor, so he wasn’t very mobile. We could gradually widen the distance.
“Not much time to spare. Let’s find the child body.”
I had a guess where it could be. I aimed for a gap in the fighting royal guards.
“Over there, the Royal Guard Captain.”
“I know that face!”
The dazed Royal Guard Captain became our target, his eyes lighting up with vitality as he prepared to counterattack. Meanwhile, the Swordmaster in the back slowed down.
Jinzou moved his soul to control the child body. He could manipulate multiple child bodies simultaneously, but it reduced precision.
The Captain tried to evade us, but it was futile. Charles launched a strike containing sharp sword energy.
“Haah!”
As she slashed down at the Royal Guard Captain, he disintegrated into black ashes. Unlike the minions, this one was half Jinzou’s main body, possessing vampiric characteristics.
The soldiers were surprised by our actions, but looking at the ashes, they didn’t resist.
“Let’s look for the next child body.”
“Ah ha, brings back memories.”
As Jinzou dashed at us from behind without hiding his intentions, Charles burst into laughter and took a big step forward.
“I found it.”
“Enemy wizard. Confirmed.”
Among the group of heroes that exited the banquet hall, there was one wizard.
The moment she saw him, Charles charged like a wild leopard.
Slash!!
With the ferocity of tearing into raw meat, Charles sliced into the wizard’s abdomen. Jinzou, who was about to use the wizard’s child body, didn’t even have time to scream before turning to ash.
“I narrowed the range. The main body should be inside here. If we find just one or two more, we can pinpoint exactly.”
I sketched a triangulation on the arena site’s map.
I looked for a location where I could shorten our measuring range with Charles.
When we found the fourth child body at the watchtower.
Boom!
The Swordmaster’s child body, which had briefly hidden, burst through a wall to attack us. It took a short route back while we had momentarily lost sight of it.
“Lars!”
Charles was quick to respond, but it was a bit late.
At the moment its sword glimmered toward me,
Cling!
A skyward vertical slicing attack shot down like an arrow.
Tanya, with her red hair fluttering, blocked in front of me.
“I’ll cover you, Teacher. Let’s advance.”
“I’ll leave it to you.”
With Tanya’s help, I had located the fourth child body’s position.
I drew the final line on the map.
“The main body is here.”
I marked the spot with a pen by drilling a hole in the map.
Jinzou’s location was at the plaza clock tower.
“That location is quite conspicuous. He really likes flashy places.”
Charles clicked her tongue.
Now that we had our target set, all that was left was to head straight there. But the path was clogged with minions.
“Shield Knight, advance! Assist the Hero!”
At that moment, a brave voice called from behind us. It was Heike.
The Empire’s Knights approached with flags flying, forming a sturdy formation.
Feeling reassured.
“Teacher Gothberg, there was an order from Her Majesty to assist you. Leave the breakthrough to us. Combat Healers!”
Ambrosia brought the combat healers of the Emperor’s direct guard and cast a purification spell.
Pure white divine power created a luminous path toward the clock tower.
“Thank you for the help, Sister. I’ll give you a nice gift later.”
“Oh, should I be looking forward to it?”
“Of course.”
After waving at Ambrosia, we dashed toward the clock tower.
“Where’s Jinzou?”
“He seems to be up above!”
Charles and I quickly climbed the stairs.
The ground started to feel farther away, and people began to look tiny below us.
Finally arriving at the top floor.
There stood a well-built man in a neat suit, facing away from us, beneath a giant bell, overlooking the arena and the ground.
That figure was undoubtedly Jinzou I knew well.
“Lars.”
Charles seemed ready to spring out at any moment, tightening her legs.
I restrained her with my arm.
“Slowly.”
Holding my breath, I took one step at a time closer.
At the moment the tension peaked.
“You’re quicker than I thought.”
Jinzou turned his head towards us, grinning.
Slash!
From the gaps in the spire, dark forms jumped down and hurled daggers at us.
Assassins, shadow folks.
“Watch out for the poison!”
“Cowardly!”
Dodging the daggers, Charles engaged with the assassins. I bent low and lunged at Jinzou.
Half of this was a gamble.
He wouldn’t want to lose the child body that he painstakingly gathered as a crucial power.
He could only control the Swordmaster now, so he couldn’t freely move his main body.
As expected, he couldn’t evade me. Smash! I wrapped my arms around Jinzou’s waist and shoved him down from the spire.
“Lars!”
Charles’s voice faded behind me.
As I fell through the air, I had no time to care. I jabbed the prepared syringe into Jinzou’s body.
Shloop, collecting his blood.
“Self-destruction, is it?”
Just as I guessed, Jinzou couldn’t move his body freely due to controlling the child body, awkwardly writhing its head trying to bite me.
Crunch, as his fangs sunk in, Jinzou gave a charming smile filled with victory.
“Go ahead and suck it dry, brat. That smile is for your girlfriend.”
Realizing he got the short end, Jinzou let out a hollow laugh. As the liquid entered his mouth, he spat it out as his mouth started to melt away.
I had prepared mercury packs around my neck and shoulders for this kind of situation.
“Gothberg.”
As I threw off my coat, I kicked him downward. In my hands, I held a syringe filled with his blood.
“Oh, don’t humans die from falling from this height?”
Gravity accelerated us, making our descent rapidly quick.
We were nearing the ground.
I pulled a flask from my white coat’s pocket, popped the lid, and downed its contents without hesitation.
“One, it tastes like five-year-old fiddlehead ferns.”
Whoosh, my body sprang upward with rebound.
This was the [Levitation Potion] I had prepared for Valen too.
“Oh right, I should bid farewell.”
I mirrored Jinzou’s smile and waved goodbye at him.
Crash!!
Jinzou hit the ground, scattering the neatly arranged bricks in every direction.
“Good.”
I got Jinzou’s blood.
Inside it were plenty of rabies antibodies.
I took a beaker and evenly spread the contents of the syringe on the ground.
“Property Change.”
Immediately, it began to analyze the components and separate them.
“There’s nothing perfectly suited for the synthesis. I’ll have to extract and enhance it to make it work.”
It was my first time seeing a cure for an incurable disease. I got a little excited, my pupils dilating unconsciously.
“This was an unexpected principle. It was an antibody that only bonded to the nucleotide sequence causing rabies symptoms, transforming into a non-toxic protein.”
I couldn’t administer injections to all the minions. In a situation where there are so many infected, I would have to spray it into the air.
It needed to be absorbed through the respiratory system and activated immediately, going through enhancement several times.
The liquid in the beaker turned a refreshing shade of blue.
“It’s done.”
I increased the quantity and filled the flask, completing the mass production of the first cure.
Now, I just needed to distribute it.
What should I do?
It would be great if I had something like a rocket to burst it in the air.
“Hmm…!”
There didn’t seem to be much time left.
Jinzou, who had fallen to the ground, walked out and shook his head.
He looked down with a bitter smile.
“My suit is torn.”
He seemed quite angry.
Pointing his finger at me, Jinzou said.
“Gothberg. I’m interested in you. You will be used as a child body.”
“Have I been chosen by the great Demon Race? What an honor.”
I shrugged and threw the flask at him.
Bang! The potion exploded, creating a pitch-black smoke that obstructed Jinzou’s view.
“Your opponent is me! Yesterday, tomorrow, and right now!”
As the smoke cleared, a beaming Charles charged at Jinzou, shining holy sword in hand.
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