“Nick!!!”

Screamed Sem.

Everyone was thrown into a panic by this sudden development. Bellocchio was slashed, and Nick plummeted down the mountain.

Both parties lost their leader in what felt like a second.

“Now you’ve done it…!”

The first one to recover and take action was Karan.

Although she was feeling the exhaustion that came with using Union, she ran to close the distance between herself and Garosso.

“Ah, dammit! That Nick… What kind of party did he put together…!”

Garosso dodged Karan, but her fierce attacks continued.

All of her attacks had deadly power, and Garosso seemed to want to avoid an exchange of blows.

“Marcus! Let’s go!”

“Got it!”

Marcus and Willy moved to support Karan and block Garosso’s escape.

“I am going to Nick! Someone accompany me!”

Said Bond, and Sem looked around, trying to decide what he should do.

Every second counted, and he soon came to a conclusion.

“Tianna be on guard! He might not be acting alone! Suisen… Take care of Nick!”

“I-I wonder if he’s alright…”

“He fell off the mountain, but he’s probably hanging on somewhere… It’s Nick we’re talking about, so I’m sure he is.”

Sem gave instructions as he ran towards Bellocchio.

Suisen hesitated as she looked at a downed Bellocchio, but soon realized there was no time for that.

“Dragon girl! Come with me!”

“Alright! I’m leaving mister Bellocchio with you!”

“And we’re leaving Nick to you!”

Tianna held her magic bow and looked around.

Sem reached Bellocchio and checked to see if he was breathing, conscious, and the state of his wound.

“Guh… I-I am fine. I won’t die.”

“Don’t talk! This is a serious wound!”

Sem said to a pale looking Bellocchio.

Every moment counted, and Sem focused all of his attention on healing.

◆

Karan had a bad habit.

She would say she understood things even if she understood them poorly. Ever since she was a child, her parents told her to always answer loudly and clearly, as nothing was more righteous than vigor and energy.

Because of this, she would often instinctively say ‘I understand!’.

Nick somehow sensed this, and told her time and time again to make sure to always say when she did not understand something. He would also compliment her when she asked questions and understood things properly.

He would sometimes make fun of her, but never insulted her for doing a poor job. Sem and Tianna also respected the way Nick taught.

Karan started thinking more deeply. When she started understanding things better and coming up with her own answers, her usual intensity lessened, and a calmness was born in her heart.

“Eh… Don’t you have to go save your leader? Is revenge more important? You dragon people really are just animals. Poor Nick.”

Garosso snickered at Karan, who rather than yell back quietly looked deep into his eyes.

“If I try to help him, you’ll attack me. You’re a bad hunter if all you wanted was to kill Nick and Bellocchio. Why didn’t you attack when they were alone?”

“…Eh…”

Although Garosso acted like he wanted to get away, he could not hide his bloodlust. He was clearly looking for an opening.

He was also trying to use the opening after he kicked Nick down. It was not simple malice, it was a deliberate provocation.

This provocation was not unsuccessful, rather, it made Karan burn with rage, but the question was where she would direct that anger, and how she would use it.

Her number one priority was to save Nick, but for that, she would have to first kill the man in front of her.

She would have to take him down as fast as possible, so as not to put the people going after Nick in danger.

Karan decided that was where she would direct her anger.

[Controlling your emotions isn’t about holding back, it’s about deciding for yourself when to release them.]

Something clicked inside her mind.

All this time, when Karan fought monsters and other enemies, she simply repeated what she learned from her father.

She swung her sword, took down monsters, and even used her special technique, Fire Dragon Slash, just like how she was taught.

This did not change after she was betrayed by White Hellan.

After being faced with the malice of others, and learning how scary people could be, she became very distrustful. But after meeting Nick and the others, this distrust evolved into caution.

Still, her fighting style remained the same.

However, after adventuring as part of Survivors, performing various jobs, and being put into this situation where Nick could very well be dead, something changed.

“Sha!”

Karan unleashed vicious attacks, but not wide, powerful attacks meant to be one hit kills. She aimed carefully with her word and attacked in a quieter, more compact manner. She also stopped blocking her opponent’s attacks and dodged them instead,

“Eh? Are you losing your nerve?”

“You can’t cut anything without swinging a sword.”

“I guess.”

“You had to get close and slash to cut Bellocchio’s back. That means you didn’t use a wind spell to make wind blades or anything like that.”

“…!”

“Bellocchio was cut because he blocked you, wasn’t he?”

There was a clear reaction from Garosso.

He took some distance and his grin faded away. The acting ‘mask’ he had on was taken off.

“Correct. Sword technique ‘Shameless Sword’. An assassination skill that makes it so when two swords clash, a ‘continuation slash’ occurs. What a terrible technique. The pinnacle of cowardice.”

“Who are you to talk?”

“It’s terrible but it’s strong. It’s still very useful even after its trick has been revealed. For example…”

Garosso sheathed his katana, and Karan jumped to the side with all she had.

A sharp wind blew past where Karan was standing, and a little bit of her hair was cut and fell to the ground.

“Did you hear about it from Nick? However!”

A long range slash, one of Garosso’s special techniques.

Karan barely remembered it, but she had the vague idea that Nick told her about this at some point.

He would picture what the opponent wanted to do, and simply follow along with it.

The point was not to make the opponent dodge and take distance, but rather put them in a position where they would have no choice but to move. The attack that followed would be the real one.

“Too slow!”

“Wha…!?”

Garosso was waiting where Karan landed, and slashed downwards from the shoulder, but Karan anticipated this and broke through the attack.

Her attack was faster, sharper, and heavier than his, and knocked him back.

“Gah… Bah… Is that your animalistic strength…!?”

Karan swung her sword just before their swords could be locked together, making Garosso’s slash much shallower. It cut through the back of Karan’s jacket and a layer of skin, making her bleed, but failed to reach her muscles and bones.

“So this is what happens when you can’t take a full swing.”

“You knew… And still did it…?”

Secret sword technique, Shameless Sword. An assassination skill that produced a ‘continuation slash.’

People that were ignorant of it would get their backs slashed, and people familiar with it would be forced into defending and dodge, until eventually also getting slashed.

No matter the situation, it was a powerful technique that gave its user the initiative.

However, to someone with strong enough resolve, who cared little if their back was cut and would not hesitate to sacrifice themselves for an attack, it was nothing more than an average technique.