I Became the Youngest Disciple of the Martial God

Chapter 44

Chapter 44

That was the one thing I was sure of.

Hariba was being controlled by someone.

The fact that he was calling out my name...

Rather than it coming from his contempt for me, I imagined it was something of a side effect of a command being forced into his mind.

The person in front of me probably didn’t even have a conscious anymore.

The problem now was that I had no idea where the person controlling Hariba was hiding.

Are they further away than I thought?

It was possible, but I rejected the idea. If that were the case, the mechanism for domination would be closer to black magic.

They would be possessing his mind, and in that case, there wouldn’t be any need for Hariba to abruptly stop every time an obstacle got in his way.

It’s not assimilation but shared senses. Not domination, control.

Once I was sure of this difference, I got back to working through the problem at hand.

The one controlling Hariba should be close by, and I had to assume their stealth technique was good enough to evade my senses.

This is tricky...

The controller was probably the mastermind. The one who had made the assassins infiltrate House Bednicker and who had tried to kill me.

Although it wouldn’t be difficult for me to defeat Hariba here, what would the mastermind watching all this do afterward?

Would they reveal themself to deal with me?

No way.

From how events had been playing out all this time, the mastermind was very thorough. They would prefer to continue hiding and wait for the perfect moment.

Personally, this was the most annoying enemy to face.

If that’s the case...

While I was quickly going through my options in my head...

“...!”

Sellen suddenly appeared behind Hariba.

Emphasis on “suddenly.”

It was like when someone broke through the surface of the water. It was like she’d been behind a veil that had suddenly been lifted.

Her blessing!

At that moment, Sellen’s heel struck down on Hariba’s head.

Since his neck seemed to be the weak point, was she planning to completely crush his spine?

That thought was wrong.

The moment Hariba’s head snapped to the side, Sellen raised two of her fingers.

Her fingernails grew at an alarming rate. Shining in the moonlight, they flashed like the claws of a beast.

I knew about this blessing.

The blessing that gave Sellen the nickname “Silver Moon”... this was the Blessing of the Silver Moon.

Slash!

I heard the sound of meat being chopped.

Sellen’s nails, her claws... whatever they were, there was blood on their edges.

The attack seems to have worked.

I briefly thought that, but then I noticed Hariba’s eyes start to spin toward her.

“Dodge!” I immediately shouted at her.

But it was no use.

Hariba bent down a little before kicking his feet back.

His movement was reminiscent of when a horse kicked backward.

Sellen immediately brought up her arms in a cross in front of herself to block the attack.

It was an excellent defense, but it could only reduce the damage, not negate it.

Although I was a bit worried about her, I couldn’t let this opportunity pass.

I clenched my fist and charged directly at Hariba, who had his guard down.

Hariba’s body was already more than double my size. Looking up, I could only see masses of flesh and his face.

I had a particularly good technique for times like this.

The skill created by referencing House Bednicker’s ancestral sword art, seventh technique, sky piercer.

White Sun Form, Third Technique.

Rising Flame.

Crack!

Unlike the first attack, this punch landed squarely on his face, just as I’d intended.

With a cracking sound, I also heard the muscles in Hariba’s body start to rip.

It would’ve been difficult to get this result with just my punch. Sellen’s claws must have cut away about half of his neck.

Hariba’s neck flopped about like it might tear away at any moment.

It was a disgusting scene to watch, but the more shocking part was that he could still move in this state.

“Uh... ugh...?”

Hariba let out a dumb groan as he grabbed his own head.

He was tougher than I’d thought.

Considering that he was only being controlled, it wouldn’t be weird to think that decapitating him could still kill him.

Ah. Now that I thought about it, I had nearly tripped on my way to her because of my dizziness.

She’d probably misunderstood that.

I was a little shocked when I heard that, but I decided to harden my expression a little as I looked at her.

“...As I thought. Damn it,” Sellen cursed. “That’s all the more reason for us to run away together.”

“Be real. With your arms like that, you can’t even support me.”

“Then are you saying it’s more realistic for you to face him in your condition?”

“Unlike you, my arms are fine. My legs aren’t completely broken either. And I told you, I saw the future.”

“...Future.” Sellen became quiet before she slowly said, “...But what if this wasn’t your original future?”

“What?”

“If this all went wrong because I interfered for no reason, and if you weren’t supposed to die here originally—doesn’t that mean I killed you?”

“What the hell are you talking about? Stay focused.” I waved my palm in front of Sellen’s face, but her loosened eyes didn’t focus easily.

It couldn’t be helped. I slapped her cheek once.

Slap.

“...Fuck, what are you doing?”

Was she really a noble?

Sellen looked at me like she would kill me before Hariba did.

I just glanced at her as I replied, “ Just go. I’ll be right behind you. Really.”

Sellen pursed her lips before lowering her head.

She then looked back up at me.

“Just wait a little bit. I’ll bring other people here.”

“Didn’t you hear what I said? We need to keep the fact we came here secret. This is for your sake as well.”

It would be annoying if everyone found out about this incident.

I wanted to keep the fact that we’d entered a forbidden area as secret as possible.

But naturally, Sellen didn’t seem to follow.

“Are you being serious? If that’s the case, I’ll just fight with you.”

“...I’ll tell you who you can call.”

“Who are they?”

“Kayan and Arzan.”

“And who are those people?”

“They’re my subordinates. They’re trustworthy.”

“What about your mother?”

“Don’t tell her. She worries too much.”

“...”

Sellen bit down on her lips before speaking with a hurt voice.

“...Why are you doing so much for me?”

“Well... I don’t know either.”

As I said that, Sellen looked as if she’d been slapped.

It was quite memorable how dazed she looked.

“...You idiot.”

“Crazy,” “insane,” she always spoke harshly, but this last insult of hers didn’t have any heat behind it.

“Luan Bednicker.”

“Yeah?”

“If we meet again...” Sellen said with a serious expression, “I’ll tell you one of my secrets.”

“What?”

There isn’t really a need for that...

As I tried to say that, Sellen’s body disappeared.

Just like when she’d launched that sneak attack against Hariba, I saw her appear some distance away.

It was as if she was using multiple short-distance teleports.

That was probably the power of her blessing.

It seems like she can’t bring other people with her when she’s using it.

That was a relief.

If that were possible, I would have had no choice but to escape with Sellen.

Naturally, I had no intention of running away.

I still had business with Hariba.

And I think she misunderstood something again.

I could resolve that misunderstanding later. I decided to first focus on Hariba in front of me.

“Uah... ugh...”

Hariba finished regenerating his wounds and finally walked toward me.

“All right. Then...”

Since we won’t have any interruptions now...

Let’s start round 2.