Reinforcements and Revelations

“This wasn’t some drama where a tap to the back of the head guaranteed unconsciousness.”

Mo Linyu flexed her wrist, which had been scraped raw by the rope during her desperate charge with the chair. Her knees, too, bore bleeding abrasions from the unforgiving concrete floor.

Compared to the dire consequences she had narrowly averted moments ago, these were but minor wounds.

“Ah, hiss,” she winced, “I don’t think I can stand anymore.”

‘Perhaps they weren’t entirely minor after all.’

A direct impact to the knee could, in the worst scenario, shatter her meniscus. Mo Linyu settled back onto the chair, her brow furrowed in a deep frown as she stared at her trembling legs.

“Right, these two ruffians have some interesting items on them,” she instructed. “Could you retrieve them for me?”

Alezno, ever obedient, reached into the pockets of the two unconscious kidnappers and retrieved a pair of pistols.

Recalling her earlier observations, she frowned deeply. “These are exceedingly dangerous weapons,” Alezno stated.

“Indeed,” Mo Linyu conceded. “You might think of them as… staves of the Earth!”

“Agh?”

Mo Linyu pressed on, “They are magic that propels metal projectiles at immense speeds. They require no mana, yet demand the wielder’s proficiency… Now, hand them over.”

Alezno, however, did not pursue the topic. She simply rose, handed the pistols to Mo Linyu, and then, with a jarring tug, extracted the arrows embedded in the kidnappers’ legs.

‘That must have been excruciating, likely inflicting secondary trauma.’

“Moon is in danger,” Alezno declared. “I must go and assist her.”

“Understood. I’ll catch up once I’ve recovered my strength.”

“Demon Lord.”

“Hmm?”

Alezno appeared to have something more to say, yet after a moment of visible hesitation, she merely offered, “…Be careful.”

“I will express my gratitude properly to both of you later.”

Alezno departed the basement, but no sooner had she stepped outside than a gunshot echoed from behind her.

****

The Demon Lord was, it seemed, diligently honing her staff proficiency.

****

Meanwhile, the Hero, Moon…

Li Yue remained amidst the downpour, still contending with the kidnappers, blissfully unaware that their stronghold had already been breached.

“Hah!”

Her Holy Sword, hurled with sudden force, struck a kidnapper’s skull, yet lacked the power to incapacitate him. The man quickly spun around, cursing vehemently as he clutched the back of his head and opened fire.

“I’ll kill you, you bastard!”

As he continued to shout and fire, Li Yue was forced to retreat once more, seeking cover behind a stack of construction materials.

“Tsk—”

‘If only she still possessed her full strength, these few men, even armed with firearms, would be nothing. There would be no need for such a desperate, undignified struggle.’

‘No, such thoughts were pointless.’

Li Yue extended a hand, and the Holy Sword gracefully flew from the enemy’s feet back into her grasp. While its retrieval was undeniably convenient, it regrettably lacked the intelligence to soar autonomously above an enemy’s head and strike.

‘Yet, as a thrown weapon, its offensive power proved somewhat underwhelming.’

Six standing enemies still remained on the field.

Each of them was armed with a gun.

Li Yue could roughly discern their positions, maneuvering around them using a mental map of the battlefield. However, these men had clearly learned not to isolate themselves, and now moved in unison, backs pressed against each other.

This crucial lesson, however, had been learned only at the costly expense of two of their comrades.

While Li Yue found herself at a disadvantage due to their pistols, the truth was…

…to the kidnappers, Li Yue herself was far more akin to a monstrous threat.

These kidnappers were seasoned professionals; who among them could possibly be brought down, so many of them, by a mere baseball bat?

Suddenly, an arrow landed precisely at Li Yue’s feet.

“Hmm?”

‘It had been shot from above.’

‘Alezno?’

‘Ah, had the Demon Lord already been rescued then?’

“Hey! Get out here!”

The kidnappers continued their frantic search for Li Yue’s whereabouts, but Alezno, observing from a vantage point upstairs, saw everything with perfect clarity.

“Someone go back and check! The guard isn’t responding!”

‘Ah, that simply wouldn’t do.’

Li Yue was compelled to reveal herself, yet with Alezno providing cover, the circumstances were now entirely different.

“There she is!”

Li Yue charged almost directly, but just as the suited man raised his pistol, preparing to pull the trigger, an arrow struck his gun-wielding arm with unerring accuracy.

Being an athletic arrow, or perhaps because Alezno hadn’t drawn her bow to its full extent, the projectile didn’t pierce the suited man’s jacket. Nevertheless, the impact felt like a brutal punch, causing the pistol to slip from his grasp.

“Hah, nice job!”

This opening proved instantly fatal. Li Yue had already closed the distance, and her golden baseball bat delivered a devastating upward slash, striking the vagus nerve in his jaw. It was a blow that vibrated (and perhaps even fractured) his skull, instantly rendering the man unconscious.

At this precise moment, the tide of battle began to turn.

To guard against Li Yue’s swift assaults, the remaining men had kept close together. But with one of their number felled by her sudden strike, the five survivors were thrown into disarray. Arrows, seemingly conjured from thin air, rained down from above, unerringly striking the kidnapper nearest to Li Yue.

Even if they dared to fire their weapons, at such close quarters, it was highly probable that…

“Wah—!!”

A 9mm bullet wound might not be immediately fatal, but it certainly inflicted excruciating pain.

Yet, the shriek of agony did not emanate from Li Yue.

When a nimble enemy plunged into their midst, the probability of friendly fire far exceeded that of hitting the intended target. Consequently, they found themselves swiftly beaten into unconsciousness by a large, formidable bludgeon.

“Monster!”

Barely thirty seconds had elapsed before the final kidnapper shrieked and collapsed to the ground.

“Hoo—”

Li Yue flashed a thumbs-up towards the roof of the derelict building, though her motorcycle helmet, streaked with rainwater, likely obscured the gesture.

Alezno, too, removed her head-mounted night vision device.

“…Is this also Earth’s magic?”

By the time the two located Mo Linyu, she had only just managed to reach the basement stairwell, leaning heavily against the wall for support.

Unaware of the full extent of events, Li Yue merely placed her hands on her hips and quipped, “Huh? After all that, how are *you* the one looking the most dishevelled?”

“My thanks, Hero.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Li Yue retorted. “I only came to rescue you because you’re still useful! We’re partners, after all; without you, locating anyone would be far more challenging!”

“No,” Mo Linyu countered, “when it is appropriate to express gratitude, I will always do so.”

Mo Linyu then turned her gaze to Alezno, who stood silently by the basement entrance.

“Ranger, my deepest thanks,” she continued. “Li Yue alone would not have been able to free me.”

“…Mm.”

Alezno merely offered a subtle, silent nod.

Mo Linyu pressed on, “Now, let us consider how we are to return.”

“No need to worry,” Li Yue assured them. “Before I charged in, I sent Ms. Dong Lu the address. She’s undoubtedly rushing over here right now.”

As if on cue, a resounding crash echoed from outside—the unmistakable sound of a vehicle smashing through the iron gate.

“Oh, they’re here.”

However, Alezno, who had ascended to survey the situation, called out, “Moon! Two vehicles have arrived! But the people emerging from them are the same as those from before!”

“What?”

Li Yue paused, considering this.

“The Demon Lord’s bodyguards also wear suits,” Li Yue pointed out. “Are you certain you haven’t simply confused them?”

“No,” Alezno insisted, “I fear it is indeed the same group of individuals.”

Mo Linyu, despite her limp, moved with an unnerving calm towards the basement entrance. She quietly closed the door, then secured it with the deadbolt.

Only then did she speak. “Before the Hero even lured anyone out, they must have placed a call to someone. These are likely their reinforcements… Dong Lu, upon receiving your call, would still need time to gather her people. My father’s SPs usually remain on standby in the city center… and this, I presume, is the outskirts?”

“Why in the world are you so calm?” Li Yue exclaimed. “What are we supposed to do now—”

Li Yue’s words were cut short by another series of impacts from upstairs. It sounded as though yet another vehicle had arrived, ramming into the kidnappers’ reinforcements from behind, crushing their cars together from rear to front.

“Everyone drop your weapons!”

Then, a voice boomed from a loudspeaker…

A voice that struck Li Yue as somewhat familiar.

“Police! Don’t move!”

Only then did the sirens begin to wail.