“Move the injured first!”
“Bring a splint over here!”
After I intervened, dealing with the masked intruders left in the garden was a matter of moments.
“Whew…”
The speed at which the remaining masked individuals were captured was enough to startle the guards. Taking a moment, I caught my breath.
I’m breathing too hard.
The wound on my chest is bleeding, and I feel my strength slowly draining away with it.
“You need to treat that…”
As I stood catching my breath alone, a guard approached me with concern.
It became obvious why he asked—my wound had opened further, and the makeshift bandages were steadily soaking red.
“No.”
The mansion is in flames; where would I even go for treatment?
Even the annex is probably in chaos right now.
“In that case, at least rest for a moment…”
“Don’t worry about me.”
More importantly, I noticed the guards’ attitudes had shifted dramatically—they were now openly friendly.
When we trained together in the barracks, they’d always seemed a bit wary of me. Now, they clearly saw me as an ally.
“More importantly, I’ll head into the mansion first.”
“What? With that wound?”
“The sooner we finish this, the sooner I can get treated.”
Let’s see…
The inside of the mansion is still in an uproar.
Though we’ve secured the garden entrance where the doghouse I lived in is located, there’s no way the intruders only came through the front.
They must have climbed over the walls, sneaking in from the sides and even the rear.
Two bodyguards are with the young lady, and Lowell is still fighting someone on the rooftop.
Even if the knight in charge of security blocks one entry point, at least two others remain wide open.
“Then I’ll move quickly.”
Taking some relatively intact clothing from nearby, I tightened my bandages further and entered the smoke-filled mansion.
And then—
“Wow.”
The mansion’s interior was a mess, and intruders were still actively pouring in.
Seeing them, I couldn’t help but marvel.
The masked men I fought earlier and the ones here—why are there so many?
Something feels off.
Aren’t they supposed to be a guerilla t*rrorist group from the ruined Lugar Kingdom?
With that name, I assumed they were an elite few.
Why are they swarming like cockroaches?
“The front team seems to have run into trouble.”
“We’ll handle this and move on.”
The masked men murmured amongst themselves as they turned their eyes toward me. I drew the sword I borrowed from the guards earlier.
“So many of you.”
“I’ll deal with you all at once!”
Honestly.
Very honestly, I’m at my limit.
Whoosh—
The blade of the leading masked man came slicing toward me, but I evaded it just in time.
Sharp. He’s better than the others.
Still, he’s not as strong as the ones I fought earlier.
Not an Aura user, after all.
Slash—
“Urgh!”
Using the momentum from my dodge, I slashed his neck lightly and pulled back.
Whoosh—
Another sword came swinging into the spot I had just vacated.
I told you there were too many.
“He’s injured!”
“Press the attack!”
Are these all remnants of their group?
Or did they hire mercenaries?
Who in the world takes on a request like this?
For now, I just need to focus on the fight.
Thud!
I kicked off the ground and charged.
“He’s coming!”
“Stab him!”
Honestly, there are too many opponents.
If I fight them all straightforwardly, I’ll collapse from blood loss first.
In that case, I need to shatter their morale.
First—
Using Aura to enhance my body, I grabbed one of the masked men by the head.
Then—
Crack—
With a brutal twist, I snapped his neck as if unscrewing a bottle cap.
“What…”
“Ah…”
The surreal sight made the two men at the front falter.
However—
“Don’t stop!”
“Stab him!”
The ones behind the hesitant intruders shoved them aside and began swinging their swords at me.
Thunk— Thunk, Thunk!
Using the corpse of the masked man I’d just killed as a shield, I blocked their attacks.
Instead of stepping back, I pushed forward.
Deeper, further into their formation.
We became tangled together—so close that their wild swings risked stabbing their own allies.
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
When I got right in their faces, their blind strikes started hitting their comrades.
This forced hesitation in their attacks toward me, and as they faltered, I pressed closer.
Occasionally, one of them would try to stab me sharply with a dagger from my blind spot.
Zing—
That’s when my heightened senses screamed in warning.
Whoosh!
Dodging the blade, I grabbed their wrist and—
Crunch!
“Arghhh!”
I crushed their hand with sheer strength, prying the dagger from their grip as their strength failed.
Disarming opponents is a fundamental skill for a gladiator.
In group battles, weapons get damaged far too often.
Now that I had the dagger in my hand.
The chaotic brawl shifted further in my favor.
“Just pin him down!”
“Overwhelm him with sheer force!”
They tried to rush me with their bodies, but—
I stabbed throats with the dagger, bit into faces when they got too close, and occasionally lowered my stance to make them collide with one another.
When they tried to pin me down, I moved like I was crawling along the ground, twisting their legs from beneath them.
Like ants falling into a pit, once they got too close, their lives were forfeit.
“D-Damn it…”
“He’s a crazy monster…”
The terror began to spread from the front to the rear ranks.
The fear that had been paralyzed by the strength of their numbers was now dissipating, replaced by an overwhelming awareness of death.
By the time half of the masked men had fallen—
“Ugh, ugh…”
“That damned freak…”
Their fear took over, gripping their entire bodies, especially their legs.
Though I was drenched in blood, my own included, and had taken several hits I couldn’t dodge, dealing with frozen prey was child’s play.
**
“Young lady! We must move quickly!”
“Y-Yes!”
The third floor of the burning mansion.
Darren, the escort knight of the Boyd family, quickly moved down with the young lady.
“Kaiden! What about the intruders?”
“I don’t see any for now.”
The overwhelming assault from the intruders that had pressed them earlier had suddenly ceased.
After a brief discussion with Kaiden, another escort knight, they decided to prioritize evacuating the young lady from the mansion.
So far, they had held out thanks to Lady Aria’s magic, but she was reaching her limit.
Escaping outside the mansion seemed to be their best option.
Given that they were in the capital, reaching the city guard or another noble family would likely ensure the young lady’s safety.
“But.”
“Young lady?”
“Where is Puppy?”
But.
In the middle of their escape, the young lady brought up something completely unexpected.
“Young lady…!”
What on earth was she talking about at a time like this?
Why was she concerned about that creature now, of all times?
“This is hardly the time to—”
But as Darren looked into her eerily glowing red eyes, he found himself unable to finish his sentence.
“Where is he?”
“…He was likely in the yard. He’ll manage to survive on his own, I’m sure.”
This is insane. What’s so special about that mutt…?
The young lady had always been eccentric, but her fixation on him was beyond anything she’d ever done before.
A young lady who had shown no interest in combat her whole life had suddenly insisted on watching a Colosseum match one day.
And ever since, the events that followed were beyond belief.
For a moment, the humiliating memory of being bested by someone who didn’t even know the basics of being an Aura user resurfaced.
He quickly pushed it out of his mind.
“Let’s hurry and move downstairs.”
Still, for someone who was once a Colosseum champion, his skills were undeniable.
At this point, he wouldn’t mind borrowing the hand of that mutt—no, that dog, if it could help.
Such thoughts might be disgraceful for a knight, but he couldn’t help but hope that the dog the young lady had brought in to guard the mansion was doing a good job biting down on the enemies outside.
The young lady always had an air of foresight about her.
Surely, there was a reason she decided to bring him here.
Even the Boyd family recognized her unique qualities, which was why they set her up in this mansion in the capital and arranged special tutors for her.
Anyway—
“Kaiden! We’re taking this route down!”
We descended through the back stairs of the mansion.
It was a path usually reserved for servants, but even here, a few masked intruders were coming up.
Slash!
“Gah!”
Only one or two.
He dealt with them very easily and went down.
“Their numbers have thinned out dramatically.”
“Something must’ve happened below.”
The masked intruders had suddenly dwindled in number.
Considering how we were struggling earlier with the endless waves pouring into the hallways and staircases, the change was suspicious.
Could reinforcements have arrived?
Given the skilled fighters we encountered among the masked men—those who managed to sneak in and deliver sharp, precise attacks—it seemed unlikely that the mansion’s guard force alone could have dealt with them.
Regardless of the reason, he wasn’t about to waste the opportunity.
They quickly escorted the young lady down the stairs toward the lobby.
“It’s quiet.”
“Too quiet.”
We reached the lobby with the young lady safely flanked—Kaiden taking the lead, Darren guarding the rear.
“Kaiden?”
Just as they were about to enter the lobby, Kaiden halted abruptly.
“Darren, cover the young lady’s eyes.”
“…My lady, just for a moment.”
What could possibly be so shocking that Kaiden asked him to cover her eyes?
Carefully, he took a cloth and gently shielded the young lady’s eyes before glancing ahead himself.
And then—
“… What is this?”
The words escaped Darren’s lips in disbelief.
The first-floor lobby was a scene straight out of a nightmare, drenched in crimson.
Blood flowed everywhere, and the bodies of masked intruders were scattered across the floor.
The once-pristine marble was so thoroughly soaked it seemed as though it had always been red.
Amid the chaos.
A man.
“Hah…”
He was drenched from head to toe, so much so that he looked as though he’d been submerged in blood rather than merely fighting within it.
“It’s over.”
Then, as if noticing Darren and Kaiden’s stunned expressions—both standing with the young lady safely shielded behind them—he offered a faint, almost reassuring smile.
Thud.
Of all the people in the lobby.
He was the last to fall to the floor.
