323 - The Fall of the Empire 3
TL/Editor: raei
Schedule: 5/week
Illustrations: Posted in discord
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The large, shiny red wings flapped menacingly above our heads.
We weren’t destroying the city, stealing valuable property, or kidnapping or hunting harpies. Yet, because we had dared to sit in the nobles' seats, this superior creature glared at us with intense hostility.
Her pale thighs, exposed without armor, were filled with bulging muscles that contrasted with her fair skin. Clutching a spear and handcuffs in her talons, she was ready for combat, and we were all too aware of it.
“What should we do? Should we quickly deal with her and leave?”
“Hanna, have you checked everything we need to know?”
Katie, preparing to leap off the wall, naturally twisted her body to hide the sword handle, while Grace fiddled with the bow hidden under her robe.
“Yes, we can fight now.”
“Alright, let’s finish this quickly!”
As soon as Han Se-ah, the party leader who had been searching the temple, gave the green light, Grace’s robe fluttered off, falling to the base of the column. The bow, which had been on her back, was now in her hand, and she began shooting arrows towards the harpy’s wings. The arrows sliced through the air like fish through water, elegantly curving towards their target.
“Humans!”
But this was no ordinary monster—it was an elite monster from the 46th floor. With a graceful twist, the harpy spun in the air, kicking her legs to deflect the arrows aimed at her wings, causing them to lose momentum and drop to the ground.
The harpy, still in the air, was then targeted by Katie, who had leaped off the column. Her sword, imbued with a fierce aura, sliced through the harpy’s wing with icy precision.
“Hanna, bring her down!”
“Got it!”
Though the wound was shallow, the cold attribute of Katie’s sword inflicted a status effect rather than significant damage. Before a few drops of blood could even hit the ground, the wound began to freeze rapidly. With one wing frozen and her balance lost after twisting twice in the air, the outcome was inevitable.
A gust of wind conjured by Han Se-ah enveloped the harpy’s crippled wing, causing her to flail like a human with a twisted ankle and fall.
“You humans, I’ll...!”
The harpy crashed into a column and then plummeted to the ground. She looked up as she regained consciousness, but the last thing she would see was an armored man descending upon her.
“Wow, that must hurt.”
“You shouldn't be saying that after slashing her with your sword.”
I had jumped down at the same time, thinking it would be good to capture the commander alive. Without gathering mana, I simply leapt down, fully armored, from almost ten meters high.
Even though I had reached a high level, a muscular man over 180 cm tall, fully clad in metal armor weighing well over 150 kg, diving from such a height was bound to cause a concussion.
The heavy impact against my knee knocked the harpy commander unconscious without a sound. I had intended to pin her down, but my trajectory had been slightly off, resulting in a flying knee strike to her face.
Despite her beautiful appearance, her proud nose crumbled, and her mouth was bloodied. Feeling both a bit guilty and disgusted, I quickly extended my hand to Han Se-ah.
“Hanna, give me a sack.”
“Oh, you were trying to capture her?”
“We’ve never taken a commander-level harpy before.”
Han Se-ah casually pulled out a large sack and rope from her inventory. It seemed like a grim choice for a hero, but we had used these items many times before on harpy girls and soldiers.
This time, even though we were binding an elite monster, the wing injury should make it manageable. Honestly, the rope was just from a general store, so even if it tore, it wouldn’t be a big loss.
-You’re back to your main job!
-I'm worried that the image of a human trafficker will overshadow the bomb expert.
-Is it right to kidnap in a cathedral with a saint candidate? I'm so confused.
-Some streamers end stories with explosions and kidnappings instead of proper conclusions!?
-So who are we selling this to? The kingdom? The Magic Tower?
"We’ll probably hand her over to the Magic Tower. She’s not just a low-level soldier; she’s an elite commander. She’s like a Nazi SS officer. There’s no way she’d defect to the kingdom."
[Han Se-ah The Best donated 10,000 won!]
Just say the Magic Tower pays more.
“Ahem, it’s not that the Magic Tower pays more, but that we’re contributing to the development of magic and the tower as the top mage streamer.”
Fortunately, the minor commotion inside the temple seemed to be drowned out by the chaos outside. No additional troops came to support the harpy commander.
The only issue was the way back.
Wandering through the alleys with our robes on and no weapons made us look like slaves fleeing helplessly, so the soldiers didn’t pay attention to us. We weren’t destroying buildings or looting property.
However, crossing the war-torn city with weapons and a suspiciously large sack over our shoulders inevitably drew attention.
“Ahhh! Kidnapping!”
Especially when pale calves and pointed harpy claws were sticking out of the sack.
Fortunately, the mercenaries seemed to have gathered enough loot and were retreating to the cave. They were each carrying heavy loads on their backs or had pouches hanging from their belts, running through the city’s debris, which helped to divert some attention.
“Hey, is that thing valuable too?”
“The Magic Tower will pay well for it!”
In the midst of the chaos, a mercenary who didn’t recognize us called out. He had pouches filled with jewels and trinkets jangling at his waist and a large sack slung over his back. Despite this, he nimbly jumped over the debris. Clearly, he was high-ranked.
If he were from the Rebecca Mercenaries, he’d know my face. He must have been hired for the raid. To hire even high-ranked mercenaries for plundering, they were serious about this raid.
As we ran towards the cave, it was as crowded as rush hour in Gangnam. The cargo elevator was packed, and even the stairs were full of people. As a result, some high-ranked mercenaries casually jumped off the cliff.
Just like the guy next to me.
“Move it, you bastards! I’m not responsible if your heads get smashed!”
He gathered his jangling pouches, hugged his sack tightly, and jumped without hesitation. He leaped down beside the slowly descending elevator, kicking off the walls a few times, and disappeared into the distant light below like a grasshopper.
…Should I carry my team and jump too?
“Roland, the entrance is blocked by mercenaries, so let’s descend slowly.”
Irene, sensing my thoughts, gently grabbed my left wrist. Glancing over, I saw that Grace and Katie seemed to prefer waiting rather than jumping off the cliff.
It’s a bit disappointing. I could carry Grace, Katie, Irene, Han Se-ah, and the harpy, and it would fit perfectly.
I wondered if it would make for a good stream if I took Han Se-ah and the harpy and jumped down first to report. Entertaining such a rebellious thought, I glanced at Han Se-ah. She seemed uneasy, looking around anxiously. Maybe it was her streamer's intuition. She pointed in one direction.
"Over there, doesn't something look strange?"
"Hmm? What?"
Her finger pointed to a small light in the distance. I couldn’t see what was strange about it at first, but as I focused, I noticed the tiny lights moving slowly, like fireflies.
Come to think of it, the lighting at Rebecca’s mercenary camp was set up like streetlights or stream lights, so they shouldn’t be moving.
Pushing through the noisy crowd of descending mercenaries, I strained my eyes to see something moving in the darkness. High-held lights and the clinking movement of cold steel knights beneath them.
“The Knights have arrived. Have they cleared the passage?”
Seeing that, a thought struck me.
Maybe Rebecca had anticipated the Knights breaking through and entering the city, which is why she went on such a big raid.
It wasn’t feasible to carry heaps of metal and jewels on their backs. But with makeshift carts, the story changed. They might have moved cart parts through small gaps, intending to assemble them later when the Knights arrived to transport the goods.
“The Knights coming at this timing means the city on the 46th floor is done for.”
“…Hey, how about we watch the Knights fight?”
Despite the chaos, she was still considering the stream.
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