Hazure Skill “Kage Ga Usui” O Motsu Guild Shokuin Ga, Jitsuha Densetsu No Ansatsusha - Chapter 187

Chapter 187

Translator: Denryuu; Editor: Ryunakama

After leaving Warwick’s workshop with my right arm, I headed for the house in which I had fought the doppelganger. As I was his only target, I wanted to take the fight somewhere isolated so that Elvi and Lyla wouldn’t be dragged into it.

The doppelganger appeared late into the night, just as the moon began growing dimmer.

「So you knew to come here.」

「I can detect my own presence well enough.」

「That’s fair.」

My winning blow from before must have barely done anything — from what I could see, it would not hinder him in the least. I had snuffed my magicka out. Warwick’s invention could be powered with a surge of magicka at a moment’s notice, and I planned to use it to catch him off guard.

I had spawned my arm again and again, eventually becoming able to do so with the same ‘thought’ that activated my skill.

「Why are you doing this?」, I asked. 「It can’t just be to replace me… I doubt that’s the case.」

「What makes you think I’ll tell you?」

He was a full body that had spawned from an arm. If such technology really existed, then that could change the meaning of death altogether. I wondered if such a phenomenon had arisen all over the world, or I had been its sole target.

Well, I thought, it’s not like he’ll tell us no matter how we interrogate him.

「Hey, Mister Right Arm. You’ve been looking forward to this, haven’t you?」

「…You can tell?」

「Of course, for I feel the same way.」

When both parties have similar fighting styles, they will fight in a way that makes the most of their abilities. For one reason or another, being able to focus on their favourite techniques gets them into the zone.

The doppelganger produced his knife from his breast pocket. It might look cheap, but it’s more than enough for ‘our’ purposes.

「Did you really wait for so long just to be empty-handed?」

「The greatest weapon under the heavens is myself. That will never change. I never choose where to fight or what else to fight with.」

「You’ll regret that soon enough.」

I laughed. Many people have said the same thing to me over the years.

The doppelganger casually assumed a fighting stance and activated his skill. I had already done the same, activating ‘Faint Shadow’ before knowing that he had acted. Our skills were hopelessly incompatible with each other, and it wouldn’t be long until we reached another stalemate.

My opponent then charged at me without using his skill, the dagger he had in his right arm tracing a path of silver in the air. I parried it with my nose, then saw that he already had another blade in his left arm.

So you’re trying to capitalise on your numerical advantage, I thought.

I parried both knives, finding an opening that I tried to attack with my feet. Though he managed to dodge it, I caught a glimpse of his hesitation at having met with an unorthodox attack.

「That line about regret is kind of cheap, I must say.」

Furrowing his brow, the doppelganger tried the same attack that I had just done. I focused on defending against his kicks, then made a warning kick of my own. Yet, despite the numerous attempts we had made on each other, none of them had resulted in a clean hit.

「Since we know that our skills can’t do anything, there’s only one logical option」, I said. 「That makes things easier, doesn’t it?」

The doppelganger ignored me and attacked again.

The difference in our abilities was becoming clearer by the minute, though.

I’m not a big fan of attacking relentlessly and hoping to get lucky — I believe in going for the kill only when it’s guaranteed. My attack is the last. My knife swing is the last. That’s how I roll.

Skirmishes that required minutes of hand-to-hand combat were few and far between for me. Only Aimee and a few others had put up such fights. Observing the doppelganger’s attacks calmly, I could tell that neither of us were used to prolonged fighting.

His attacks had been varied in the beginning, but now that push came to shove, they had become predictable. I saw his knife at my feet, which meant that it was coming for my throat. And then the knife in his left arm —

Just like that, I had become able to read his attacks.

「Listen, Mister Right Arm — I don’t think you’ll have expected this.」

I channeled magicka into Warwick’s bracelet, producing an appendage that was good as new.

「!」

I sank my magical fist into his plainly surprised face, then my normal one into his solar plexus. His waist folding, he collapsed into a heap on the ground.

「Always expect the unexpected.」

「Kuh…!」

Realising that things had gone south, the doppelganger activated his skill and disappeared. Had he weighed his odds and decided that he had already lost?

No matter the reason, I’m not letting him escape. Not this time.

I darted in the direction that he was likely to be headed and managed to follow right behind.

「Every single person who told me that I’ll regret my decision has come to regret it themselves.」

「Tch –」

He may be wounded, but I had no intention to show mercy to him. No matter what he looks like or how powerful he is, he has committed treason.

『I wonder if I can do this?』

『Ah! Ah! Yeah, you can!』

What I was about to do had been approved by Warwick himself.

I activated ‘Faint Shadow’ and channeled some magicka away from my arm, causing everything below my wrist to fly out from its stem. The pale turquoise bullet struck the doppelganger, who was facing me, right in the chest, propelling him a few metres forward.

Excellent, I thought. It flies fast.

Speed alone can’t hit someone like ‘me’. But when coupled with invisibility…

「So you’re not even able to dodge an attack coming right from the front.」

I looked at my ‘severed’ wrist with the new knowledge that ‘Faint Shadow’ applies to any part of my body. If I eject it while my skill is activated, it becomes difficult to detect if the target has only a moment to do so.

「I get to fire things… cool.」

I just might have become more powerful than my initial self.