“I’m alive... Yes, I am!” Dead declared.
“I know that already! Now, die!” His face full of displeasure, Caim punched and punched and punched Deed like he was a sandbag until Deed finally began to grow unsteady on his feet. At first, Deed had somehow managed to keep up, but after a while, the battle turned into a one-sided beatdown. “Seems like you’re finally on your last legs...” Caim declared coldly. “I can see on your face that you’re close to death.”
It seemed even the immortal assassin had limits. His life was clearly reaching its end, and the battle was coming to a close.
“This really is the end... Yes, it is...”
“Yeah, it’s over.”
“This was fun... Thanks to you, I felt alive for the first time since I came out of my mother’s womb... Indeed, I was alive,” Deed said with delight.
“I don’t know what the hell you’re saying, but if you’re done talking, then I’m gonna kill you now.” Caim mercilessly kicked Deed in the chest, the intense impact stopping his heart.
“Gah...” Just when Deed was finally feeling truly alive, he was instead overwhelmed by the sensation of death, and he tumbled down the mountain.
“Phew... That’s finally over with.” Once Deed was out of sight, Caim deactivated Shiyuu. The next instant, he was overwhelmed by deep exhaustion and almost collapsed, but he managed to endure it. “I wonder if Millicia and the rest are fine...”
Rozbeth had gone on a hunt, but Tea and Lenka had stayed to protect Millicia, so he expected her to be all right as he forced his tired body to return to the summit.
“C-Caim...”
“What the hell happened...?” While her face was pale, Millicia was here. So were Tea and Lenka. But Lykos was missing, and there was a black sphere in the sky that pulsated from time to time.
“The assassin called the Immortal Butterfly attacked us and took Lykos...” Millicia explained, her voice trembling. The Immortal Butterfly, one of the assassins Rozbeth had warned them about, had indeed shown up—but just when they’d thought she would attack Millicia, she had abducted Lykos instead. Both of them were currently inside the black sphere in the sky, out of reach.
“Hey... Is that made of insects?” Caim asked, observing the black sphere. It had a diameter of about three meters, and when he looked at it carefully, he could see it was made of countless black insects crowded together.
“To think even the Immortal Butterfly would come here...”
“Rozbeth...”
Rozbeth returned to the summit. She held her knives in her hands, and although there was a lot of blood on her clothes, she didn’t appear to be injured.
“Those black insects are butterfly monsters called hell butterflies, and they are under her control. They’re both venomous and carnivorous. A swarm of thousands—or even just hundreds—can easily devour beasts, monsters, and people alike. The Immortal Butterfly uses them to kill her targets.”
“Then you mean Lykos has...!” Millicia gasped, tears starting to form in her wide-open blue eyes.
“No, I don’t think so,” Rozbeth refuted with a shake of her head. “The Immortal Butterfly is quite the eccentric assassin and is very particular about who she kills.”
“What do you mean?” Caim asked.
“That she’s really picky—unlike me, who will assassinate anyone.” Rozbeth spread her arms. “Basically, as long as I’m paid, I’ll kill anyone. But not her—she doesn’t kill anyone younger than forty, and they must be evil murderers. I told you her name just in case, but to be honest, I never expected her to show up.”
If so, then the Immortal Butterfly wasn’t targeting Millicia. Then what was she doing here?
“Why did she take Lykos away, then? What’s her objective...?” Caim wondered. He didn’t understand what the Immortal Butterfly’s aim could be. “Anyway, we need to save Lykos. I guess I’ll try punching it first.”
Caim leaped high in the sky and struck the black sphere. However, his fist was repelled with a dull thud. The surface of the sphere was hard, and it felt like punching a rock, not insects.
“They’re being strengthened by mana!” Just as Caim used Mana Compression to increase his physical and defensive abilities, the butterflies were being strengthened with mana and had gathered together to create a defense as solid as rock. The Immortal Butterfly must have been truly skilled to accomplish such a feat.
“I could probably break it if I went all out, but...” Lykos was inside, so Caim couldn’t go too hard at it. The same went for using his poison, which might affect her. “We’ve taken care of all the other assassins, but of course another pain in the ass pops up right at the very last moment...”
“Lykos...” Millicia muttered.
Caim and his companions gritted their teeth at the unexpected development, powerless to do anything but watch over the black sphere.