Love Letter From The Future

Chapter 348: Bread and Dagger (46)

To prevent giving the Snow Leopard Demonic Human any chance to throw another elf, I hurried forward with desperate leaps and, before I knew it, I was close enough to practically measure the distance between us.

The Snow Leopard met my gaze with a calm expression.

In his hand, he held yet another elf.

As I locked eyes with the elf’s lifeless gaze, drained of even a hint of vitality, my body shuddered.

This was the worst kind of battle.

Preparing for the worst, I hurled my hatchet. It slammed into the elf’s skull that the Demonic Human was holding, crushing it.

It didn’t even try to dodge.

The elf’s body twisted grotesquely before promptly bursting out in nothing more than a handful of blood.

Drenched in that blood, the Leopard Snow’s eyes blazed with a vicious crimson glow.

RRRAUGH!

And then he lunged forward, trying to body slam me at a speed incomparable to before.

With a resounding thud, I was struck squarely by his sturdy shoulder. A choking sound escaped my lips instinctively.

Is he using some kind of berserk magic?

The Demonic Human’s muscles were bulging grotesquely, as if he couldn’t control his own strength. In that frozen instant, I nearly spat out a curse.

After all, I had already taken one hit.

My body was propelled backwards with a loud bang, rolling across the ground several times. Gasping for air, I tried to pull myself up, but my vision was still spinning.

Then, just as my focus was struggling to return, his claws tore toward me.

“Ian!”

With a thwack, a sword flew through the air and impaled the Snow Leopard’s hand.

Yet berserk rage robbed him even of the sense of pain.

His claws still came straight for me. Even so, Yuren’s effort wasn’t entirely meaningless.

No matter how numb to pain he was, even brute force had its limits.

He flinched for just a moment, and I used that instant to roll backward with all my strength.

Thwack! His claws pierced through the frozen ground. The Demonic Human tried to press down on me again, but a dagger flew in from somewhere, thwarting his next move.

Thwack-thwack-thwack! Blades stabbed in quick succession at the spot he occupied just moments before.

It was Senior Neris’s handiwork.

Having leapt back from between the ice spikes, she’d rejoined the fray. Though she was slightly panting and probably exhausted, her gaze was still fierce.

She was the only one among the three vanguards who hadn’t been injured.

Naturally, it was expected that she’d be in the best shape among us.

Of course, Aviang was technically part of the vanguard too, but all she’d managed so far was trembling uselessly from afar.

And Yuren was still struggling to climb out of a puddle.

Meanwhile, the Demonic Human had retreated, deftly evading Senior Neris’s daggers. This was a monster who hadn’t even bothered to dodge when his own hand was impaled.

As he withdrew, he casually flung aside the sword still sticking through his hand as if it were a trivial nuisance.

For such a violently enraged creature to retreat, there could only be one reason.

The elves that were still dangling from his shoulder.

There were maybe three of them remaining.

Senior Neris astutely aimed for those elves, and even though he couldn’t have been in his right mind, the Snow Leopard still treasured his own kind.

He must have intended to use them as a trump card.

In many ways, this was an undeniably unpleasant battle.

Yet there was one fact he had overlooked.

Maybe it was because he was in a berserk state, but he hadn’t realized that his opponents weren’t just the three of us.

“...Judgment of Light!”

With that resounding shout, light began to gather in the sky.

The Demonic Human looked startled and tried to flee, but Senior Neris and I were already prepared.

I grabbed Yuren’s sword, which had fallen to the ground, while Senior Neris scattered her daggers.

While the Demonic Human was busy dodging those daggers, my blade pierced straight through his foot. With the sword lodged firmly into the frozen ground and his muscles contracting instinctively from the injury, there was no way he could escape.

The Judgment of Light crashed down onto the earth.

Boom! Divine wrath descended onto the land. The power was so tremendous it felt as if the earth’s axis itself trembled. This was a spell perfected by a 5th-circle mage after painstaking effort.

It had to work.

Yes, it had to.

After the thunderous impact, the crackling charge couldn’t advance any further. Centered around an elf whose neck had been snapped, a translucent barrier had formed.

I couldn’t even begin to grasp the principles behind it.

All I could do was to observe the phenomenon as it played out.

The spear of lightning that had been plunging downward suddenly surged upward, then shot off in a specific direction. It was heading towards where Senior Elsie was positioned.

I screamed.

“Senior Elsie!”

A shriek rang out from the rear. At least at the very last moment, it seemed the Saintess managed some form of countermeasure, as a burst of pure white light flared out.

Still, the spell had backfired.

There was no way Senior Elsie could have gotten off unscathed. I bit down on my lip and glared at the Snow Leopard.

It was a 5th-circle high-level spell. Not quite at the level of a so-called ‘Enhanced Spell,’ but its power was still truly terrifying.

And yet he had deflected it.

I couldn’t even guess what would happen if the two remaining elves were sacrificed. Both Senior Neris and I had no choice but to tread carefully.

And that was the opening the Snow Leopard aimed for.

Without warning, he threw one of the elves he’d been cherishing straight toward Yuren, who was still struggling to climb out of the puddle.

With his movement so restricted, he couldn’t dodge.

Boom! A thunderous crash erupted, and Yuren’s body was sent flying into the air.

It landed on the ground with a heavy thud. Judging by the groans he let out, it didn’t seem like Yuren would be able to return to the battlefield anytime soon.

In a grim sense, it was fortunate that the blast was strong.

At least it fully blasted him out of the puddle.

Otherwise, Yuren would have been slowly consumed by that black liquid, losing his life bit by bit.

I should’ve done something to stop it from coming to this.

Seething with frustration, I recklessly charged forward, kicking off the ground. Senior Neris quickly followed behind me.

What followed was a continuous exchange of offense and defense.

Whenever Senior Neris threw daggers to keep him occupied, I took the chance to close in on the Demonic Human.

Slashing, chopping and stabbing him with my sword.

Even as I was knocked away multiple times, I kept charging at it, taking turns with Senior Neris. Yet, even then, we couldn’t overpower it in its berserk state.

What bothered me most was that one last remaining elf.

Not knowing what kind of magic he might harbor, we had to stay cautious, forced into a passive approach. In the end, Senior Neris was the one who broke that deadlock.

While I was closing in on the Demon Human again, her dagger shot out once more.

As always, the demonic human tried to evade it by twisting his body.

If only it didn’t have the shape of a crossed iron crucifix, he might have succeeded.

Thwack! The blade narrowly struck the elf’s skull before grazing past.

I cheered inwardly.

Senior Neris’s daggers had been stored in an expandable spatial pouch—and there was no rule that only daggers could be kept inside.

Senior Neris’s expression also visibly brightened.

At last, it seemed this long battle was coming to an end. The woman stepped forward lightly.

Or rather, she tried to.

Had a shadow not suddenly reached out to grab her, she would have. Its writhing arms and legs coiled around Senior Neris’s entire body, pressing her so tightly to the ground she couldn’t budge.

At that moment, I was driving my blade into the abdomen of the startled Snow Leopard.

I then swiftly retreated from his strike range. He staggered back a few steps, unable to ignore the wound in his abdomen.

I anxiously called out:

“Senior Neris, are you alright?!”

“I-I’m f... ugh, ah?!”

But the more she struggled, the tighter the shadow constricted around her.

Feeling anxious, I turned my gaze back to the Snow Leopard.

“Blessings reflect one’s desires.”

He spoke calmly, steadying his now-cooling breaths. His muscles rapidly shrank as steam billowed from his body.

His berserk state had ended.

Blood endlessly gushed from the penetrating wound in his abdomen. The outcome of the battle was clear.

Thankfully, Senior Neris’s final gambit had succeeded.

But one should never let their guard down before the fight is truly over.

I watched him warily.

“...What are you talking about?”

In response, the Demonic Human chuckled softly. Facing death, his expression was nothing but peaceful.

Peaceful enough to be infuriating.

“We were blessed by Lord Leoric... sacrificing our lives, we turned our deepest longings into power. The one who shivered in cold his entire life burst into flame; the one who starved endlessly became a deadly venom that could devour the world. How do you like it? The dagger we tempered with our very lives?”

“It’s the worst.”

My words held a double meaning.

The Snow Leopard gave a bitter smile and then slowly hunched over.This was to be our final exchange.

Sensing that, I glanced behind me. The flow of mana felt unusual. The princess, having finished gathering herself, was just about to cast a spell.

Still, wasn’t this a duel of life and death between warriors?

For a brief moment, I considered letting the two of us settle this alone, but quickly abandoned the idea.

Nothing could be more foolish than seeking romance on the battlefield.

Besides, if even I could sense the mana, there was no way the Snow Leopard hadn’t noticed it.

It must have resigned itself as well.

I silently raised my blade to face him.

“Come. I’ll put an end to that wretched life of yours.”

At those words, he burst into laughter.

“Puh, hahahahahaha!”

After laughing to his heart’s content, he lowered his stance, glaring at me.

Boom! The ground trembled as he launched forward.

Wordlessly, I adjusted my stance.