"Uncle Glenn, is he really just a warrior?"
Theresia whispered as she watched Garlan's masterful assassination work, her eyes wide with shock. She had collaborated with Glenn many times and seen plenty of elite warriors, but she had never seen anyone fight like this. To her, Garlan didn't move like a front-line tank; he moved like a professional assassin.
Reno seemed equally intrigued, turning his gaze toward Glenn. But Glenn just threw up his hands in a "don't ask me, I don't know either" gesture. He wasn't entirely sure of Garlan's full repertoire himself, and since Garlan seemed to prefer keeping a low profile, Glenn wasn't about to spill any secrets he did know.
Whew—
Garlan pulled his shortsword free, watching the monster dissolve into mana particles. He took a breath to steady his nerves. The training is paying off. His reaction speed and agility were on a different level compared to when he first arrived in this world.
Killing monsters or demons was fundamentally different from fighting humans. If he stuck to his old "human" techniques, he'd eventually hit a wall he couldn't climb. He was trying to adapt, even if his movements still carried the shadows of his past life as an operative.
Two hounds remained in the street, while the others were tucked away inside buildings. At this distance, a silent kill was impossible without a distraction. Garlan decided it was time to dip into his "private stash."
A pebble clattered loudly as it rolled around a corner. The sound instantly drew the attention of the two monsters. They turned their heavy heads, thick saliva dripping from their fangs, and stalked toward the corner. They expected fresh prey, but when they rounded the wall, there was nothing there.
Garlan was currently suspended in the air, one hand gripping the edge of a roof eaves. Because he had completely masked his presence and used a chemical powder to neutralize his scent, the monsters were blind to him.
One of the hounds sniffed the pebble, found nothing unusual, and prepared to turn away.
Flash—
A cold blade dropped from the sky, plunging precisely into the brain of the trailing monster. In the same breath, Garlan drew a second alchemical blade and cleanly severed its head.
The lead monster sensed the danger and prepared to let out a roar, but found it couldn't make a sound. Its limbs gave way, and it slumped helplessly to the ground, watching Garlan approach with his long blade.
The pebble had been coated in a mixture of "Monster Attraction Scent" and a high-potency anesthetic powder. He had hoped both would sniff it to save him the trouble, but the positioning had given him a perfect opening anyway. Two more flashes of light, and two more clouds of mana particles rose into the air.
"Impressive, kid."
Seeing Garlan's signal that the coast was clear, the three emerged from the woods and slipped into a relatively intact house with him.
"Just how many drugs are you carrying?" Glenn whispered, looking at him with a mischievous glint. "If you keep fighting like this, I can just follow behind you and pick up the loot."
Garlan rolled his eyes. "It's not that easy. Brewing these is a pain. This is just leftover stock from months ago; I'm almost out. Don't go thinking you can put in an order... besides, I'm here for combat experience, not a clinical trial."
"Tch, stingy brat," Glenn muttered.
"Mr. Garlan is an exceptional warrior," Reno noted, his voice calm but filled with a strange, newfound focus. He looked at Garlan with an odd sense of expectation. "Your footwork and body coordination are top-tier. I may just be a priest, but I've seen many warriors in my time—I even saw the Hero Himmel and Lord Eisen once."
Garlan stiffened. His curiosity about this priest deepened, but so did his wariness. If his true identity was being scrutinized, he needed to be ready for the worst.
"You all need to be careful of Xis," Reno said suddenly.
"?" "Eh?"
The group looked at Reno, baffled by the non-sequitur.
"Why do you say that?" Garlan asked. He had sensed a link between Reno and Xis from the start; now that Reno was talking, he wasn't going to miss the opportunity.
"He is a demon."
"Captain, is this really okay?"
The priest holding the scripture looked at the man leading them with a hint of fear. The Xis he knew had always been arrogant and overbearing, but never like this. The man before him was cold as ice, performing every action with mechanical precision and eyes that held no human emotion.
"Rat, are you getting cold feet? We've already done it; there's no turning back now." The glamorous woman sneered at the weak-looking man. "Besides, didn't you hear the Captain? The other party has a demon disguised as a human. We're just luring the village monsters to them so they can kill each other off."
"But... there are... there are humans in that group too..." Rat stammered. He had no status in the party and was often bullied by the woman. He had joined only to repay Xis for saving his life once.
But after a certain subjugation mission a while back, Xis had disappeared for a long time. When he finally emerged from the woods, he claimed he had simply been lost. Since then, Rat felt he had become a stranger. He suspected this Xis was an imposter, but every magical scan confirmed he was the real deal.
Still, Rat trusted his intuition. The real Xis was gone. This man could replicate every habit and detail, but those lifeless eyes couldn't be faked. Every time Rat looked into them, he felt like he was staring into the eyes of... a demon!
"Humans? Ha! You probably just have a crush on that red-headed girl," the woman mocked. "Men really are animals. You saw how happy she was talking to that old man and the youngster. It makes me sick..."
The blonde boy hummed a tune nearby, watching the argument with amusement. He didn't care if there were demons or not. All he knew was that if the other party died at the hands of monsters, they wouldn't have to share the reward.
___
There's a few advance chapters on my P@treon
Usually upload 2 Chapters a day in there, except Saturday and Sunday
43 Chapters Ahead, and will continue to increase
[email protected]/Sp1ced
If you're new to this stuff just replace "@" with "a" for the right link ^^