Chapter 444 Swordsman
“Hooo—” Subconsciously,
he closed his eyes. The burning sensation from the muzzle and the smell of gunpowder
seemed to be right on Kazumi’s face, but
then, a sound of metal blocking came from in front of the girl.
Slightly confused, she opened her eyes. The person who appeared before Kazumi was actually the clean-cut swordsman who had been fighting Andre earlier?
“Mr. Rong, what is this?”
This sudden turn of events even stunned the prime mover who had just fired the gun.
Looking at the man, who was clearly an ally, he asked in confusion.
“According to Article 32 of the ‘Hero Association Hero Handling Manual,’ professional heroes do not have the right to arbitrarily take another person’s life without confirming that they have already taken someone’s life.”
“Ukanashou Tai, I will report your actions to the association.”
Holding his unopened long sword horizontally, he blocked Kazumi, who was at a loss, in front of her. The clean-cut man pushed up his glasses and said seriously to his teammate wearing a cape.
“…”
“Hey! [Swordsman], hurry up and help me, I can’t hold on!”
Just as the two confronting each other were about to say something, a childish, angry voice came from afar. The originally petite and cute girl had half of her body transformed into a giant man-eating flower, completely engulfing Andre’s body. However, the constantly bulging and changing shape of the man-eating flower’s exterior proved that this kind of restraint could hardly last for a long time.
“Alright.”
Hearing the Four Seasons Envoy’s call, [Swordsman] swallowed the words at his lips, nodded at Ukanashou Tai, sheathed his long sword, and turned to rush towards the battlefield.
Ukanashou Tai was left standing awkwardly in place, looking at Andre, who had broken free from his restraints and was now fighting [Swordsman] in the distance.
With a helpless sigh, he spun the cylinder of his revolver a few times, raised his right hand, and fired another shot at Kazumi.
“Bang—”
A different sound from before came from the revolver’s muzzle. Kazumi felt a push from in front of her. By the time she came to her senses, she found herself bound by a special net bag to the only bare tree stump left at the scene.
Kazumi tried to move her body a little, but found that her limbs were completely restrained. In fact, as the girl made small movements, the net tightened. She quickly stopped her movements, closed her eyes, and tried to circulate the energy within her body. To her surprise, her abilities were not sealed and could still be used at any time.
However, thinking about it, it was reasonable. The girl’s abilities leaned towards psychic energy. Although Ukanashou Tai had used psychic bullets with anti-magic effects before, it was clear that it was not his own ability. After all, sealing techniques were almost exclusive to psychic users. Adding this to modern firearms would be much more difficult than anti-magic bullets.
Even though Kazumi’s abilities could still be used, she didn’t dare to do anything. She had used up almost all the trump cards in her hand in the previous battle, and Ukanashou Tai had also prudently placed a phantom clone beside himself. Although he had only restrained her because of [Swordsman], Kazumi had a feeling that if she made any major moves, Ukanashou Tai would still shoot her without hesitation. And now, without Kuro guarding her, she probably wouldn’t be able to withstand a special bullet with her body.
Carefully glancing at the clone Ukanashou Tai had placed beside her, Kazumi suppressed the urge to use [Ghost Gate] to escape and turned her gaze back towards the main battlefield where fists and swords were clashing fiercely.
[What bad luck!!!]
At this moment, Kazumi knew exactly who was the culprit behind this situation. If it weren’t for Andre stubbornly trying to “save” her in a pretense, she might have already escaped safely after dealing with [Takeru Kamikami]. Why would she have to be cannon fodder in such a grand scene!
[If it wasn’t [Swordsman] here…]
Feeling the undisguised locking and killing intent behind her, even Kazumi couldn’t help but feel a little scared. This professional hero, who used firearms and clone abilities, possessed extremely seasoned experience and methods. Not to mention not wanting to cause any casualties, he was unwilling to encounter any accidents. Before, when Kazumi tried to delay time by dodging, he saw through it and unhesitatingly pulled the trigger.
Although it was possible that due to the strength of his abilities, he couldn’t enter the “[National Ranking Hero Database]” in the girl’s mind, his decisive personality alone was enough to show that he was a very competent and powerful hero in his area.
As for [Swordsman], if not for the Four Seasons Envoy’s call, the young man might not have been able to identify this swordsman. After all, there weren’t few strong swordsmen nationwide, and many ability traits couldn’t be identified solely through information from books.
His obsessive adherence to rules, his signature future-forged long sword, and his demeanor that was nothing like a warrior’s immediately matched the information in Kazumi’s mind.
Heroes Association
Ranked 145th, [Swordsman], current master of Isshin Dojo, disciple of Master Zhan, and… Shun Muto’s junior disciple.
Automatically filtering out the greasy and disgusting swordsman’s image from his mind. Kazumi didn’t expect to meet this person here, guarding Nara City, which was not far away. According to Long Chuanze’s previous statement, his swordsmanship had a certain restraining effect on Andre’s power, so he had paid a certain price to rush here. Unlike Shun Muto’s extremely greasy appearance, Long Chuanze’s junior disciple had a completely different temperament from his senior brother, with a gentle demeanor, a pursuit of rules, and equally powerful strength. This was also the main reason why Kazumi had survived until now. What Long Chuanze said was actually not wrong. According to the rules and regulations of the Hero Association, professional heroes had no right to kill criminals who had not harmed others.
However, rules were generally meant to be broken, especially in professions that required violence. It was hard to say whether they would consider the rights that criminals deserved when they possessed the ability to harm others.
Just like the seasoned veteran Ukanashou Tai, if dangerous elements are killed, there will be no danger. Even if the higher-ups pursue accountability, as long as it is not an extremely malicious act like indiscriminate killing of civilians, who would be more important: a dead evil villain or a professional hero with great strength and seasoned experience?
“You’re courting death!”
Andre, unable to withstand the powerful force within his body, extended a pair of huge hands and tore the man-eating flower’s sac in half.
Andre, covered in green mucus,
climbed out of the shattered
flower’s body, panting. Even though he was restrained within the man-eating flower, Andre could sense the outside situation.
Although Kazumi was not harmed at present, Ukanashou Tai
knew clearly. If this girl, who was already injured because of him, really died here, he probably wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.
“Clang—”
A flash of light from his waist, and a sharp blade emerged from the darkness, directly slashing at Andre’s abdomen. But Andre acted as if he hadn’t felt the attack. With both fists, he unleashed a destructive transparent energy and mercilessly smashed it into the face of the short loli, who was slightly exhausted from the destruction of her mimicked man-eating flower.
“Bang—”
The Four Seasons Envoy’s vines hadn’t even gathered before she was sent flying by the terrifying force, smashing into the ground and creating a large pit and a cloud of dust.
“Hmph, the troublesome guy is dealt with. As for the swordsman, I agree with your beliefs, but you can’t stop me today,” Andre said.
Andre stood up, spat a mouthful of blood from his mouth, wiped the corner of his bleeding lip, and grinned. His bandaged eyes looked at Long Chuanze, whose expression had become solemn, and said.
“This is troublesome.”
Long Chuanze’s relaxed eyes under his glasses became solemn. Staring at Andre’s abdomen, which showed no change after being slashed, Long Chuanze’s gaze drooped. He held his long sword at his waist again and said in a voice only he could hear.
He had used eighty percent of his strength in his previous attack, although it was only to buy time for the Four Seasons Envoy to retreat and allow Andre to intervene. He hadn’t expected the opponent to be so decisive. The only explanation was that the opponent had found a way to counter his abilities!
“Then how long can you maintain this state?”
Even though he felt it was a bit tricky, Long Chuanze didn’t show it. He abandoned his charging stance and slowly stood up. His gentle eyebrows remained unruffled as he looked up at the giant before him and said casually.
“It’s enough to deal with you!”
Clapping his fists together, Andre knew that the other party had also observed something. But he knew himself quite well. This kind of fine operation, covering his abilities within his body, was very strenuous for him. If he didn’t take this opportunity to deal with Long Chuanze, this battle would indeed be difficult to win.
Stomping his feet, he charged towards Long Chuanze like a ferocious tiger.
“Is that so?”
A hint of disdain flickered across his lips. Long Chuanze drew his long sword, his eyes surging with fighting spirit as he met the charge. However, no one noticed that Long Chuanze’s eyes were not fixed on Andre himself, but on the special strap on his shoulder.
[Good! One down!]
Seeing the prisoner Four Seasons Envoy being punched unconscious by Andre, Kazumi, who was tied up and quietly watching the show, couldn’t help but cheer in her heart. After all, in terms of combat power, Andre had always been their strongest fighter. However, both of their abilities seemed somewhat disgusting, and they were not very friendly to heavy-duty warriors like Andre.
Although [Swordsman]’s seemingly pointless persistence had saved Kazumi’s life, from the girl’s perspective, [Swordsman] had indeed been a teammate who acted like a burden. If he hadn’t used all his abilities to restrain Andre, the Four Seasons Envoy wouldn’t have exposed such a huge flaw and been directly defeated.
However, all of this was good for Kazumi. As long as Andre could defeat the opponent, this crisis should be over. This desolate and remote place. Only a few heroes could rush here in such a short time. Others were either too far away or not strong enough to join this level of battle. Didn’t you see that even the shameless hero Ukanashou Tai was just playing a minor role here, unable to break through Andre’s defense?
Even if Andre couldn’t defeat the opponent, as long as the battle situation tilted towards Kazumi’s side, Ukanashou Tai, as a hero, would definitely go to help. At that time, Kazumi would have a chance to use her abilities to escape.
Kazumi couldn’t be bothered to care about anything else now. Having revealed all her trump cards, she felt no sense of security at all. Even if she were confined to her territory and forced to develop for years, she’d accept it. She truly never wanted to have a gun pointed at her forehead and be shot, not once, but twice!
[They’re getting serious.]
Gusts of energy winds hit her face, making the skin on Kazumi’s body flap noisily. The girl squinted her eyes, watching the battlefield escalate before her, her beautiful eyes flickering as she constantly analyzed the information revealed during their rapid clashes, and gathered it into her mental database.
Andre was wildly swinging his fists like a beast, with transparent, distorted energy emanating from all around his body, as if repelling the surrounding air. A tide of energy like a surging sea pressed towards the thin man before him.
Long Chuanze, however, still maintained his relaxed and leisurely demeanor, like a tenacious small boat under a surging tide, appearing as though it could be swept away by the huge waves at any moment, yet it always managed to withstand wave after wave. His agile footwork danced on the tip of his sword, always dodging Andre’s attacks at the right moment and using the opponent’s momentum to unleash his own attacks.
“Iaido.”
Long Chuanze narrowly dodged Andre’s leg sweep. He twisted the hilt of his sword horizontally, and the ordinary iron sword emitted a dazzling white light at this moment. He tensed the muscles in his right hand and exerted force, slashing forward fiercely. A sword energy more solid than any previous attack shot towards Andre’s head.
“Chop—”
The materialized sword energy accurately hit Andre’s defenseless neck. But the next moment, an identical sword energy shot out from in front of Andre and flew back towards Long Chuanze at a much faster speed than before.
“Clang—”
Raising his sword again, he unleashed the same slash, neutralizing the reflected attack. Long Chuanze stopped his offensive momentum and looked at Andre.
“What, you saw through my attack and stopped?”
Seeing him stop, Andre also stopped in his tracks, touched his undamaged neck, and looked at the swordsman before him with disdain. How could he make such a low-level mistake? He had always been wary of the swordsman suddenly switching his swordsmanship to attack externally.
“No, it’s just that my goal has been achieved.”
Shaking his head slightly, Long Chuanze’s emotions were not stirred by Andre’s words. Instead, he pointed to Andre’s right side and said somewhat inexplicably.
“?”
He subconsciously turned his head to look, but then, a sharp sword energy suddenly exploded at Andre’s left shoulder. The sturdy special strap snapped under this burst of sword energy, and the cylindrical container on his back flew out under the impact.
And the place where the shattered cylindrical container flew to was the tree stump where Kazumi was bound.
