Dance with the Nightingale-Chapter 74 - 73: Upheaval I

[Southern-west of Lueurre]

[Shopping District]

Rorkan Kaniel.

That was the name of the magic user we were going to meet. This ’we’ consisting of me and Syrus, Cana was too worn out for me to convince her to come. Well, she was still a F+ rank, I couldn’t work her as hard as Syrus...

Right now, we were Rorkan’s turf, the shopping district of Lueurre.

According to the Claire, Rorkan was a pure power-type magic user, who used a large war hammer as his main weapon. And was suspected to be the helper of Duke Anais and mercenary guild alliance.

Officially, he owned a whole block of shops in the district, unofficially though, he ruled the whole district with an iron fist or so I would have guessed, but apparently, he didn’t. Instead Rorkan was quite liked by people.

The story goes like this, before Rorkan came into the city for business, a huge amount of money was extorted by the City Administration each month from all kinds of businessmen, in the name of taxes.

But that changed after Rorkan came. He refused to pay such high taxes, and united the businessmen under his banner, before appealing to the baron. With him having most of the businessmen under his wing, along with he himself being a C rank magic user gave strength to his appeal.

In the end, Baron agreed to his appeal and reduced the taxes. Agreeing to take only twenty five percent of their monthly profit for small businesses and forty percent for the big ones. Hence making him appear as someone akin to a hero to the businessmen.

’He seems like a reasonable man.’, that was what I thought after reading the entire report.

So, imagine my surprise when a building exploded right beside me.

-BOOOOM!!!

A dust cloud covered the whole area, blanketing our vision as both Syrus and me instinctively covered our heads.

"Aaaahhhhhh!!!"

"Uwaaahhhh!!!"

I heard screams.

-BOOM!!

I heard explosions.

"Hellllpppp!!!"

And I heard cries of help.

In an instant the situation changed, from a normal day, to mass bombing site. I smelled blood from the whole area.

Just as I was assessing the situation, I saw something from the corner of my eyes.

A body of a man, moving at a high speed, emerged from the dust cloud only to crash into the shop behind us.

I turned around, conjuring a draft of wind to clear up the dust cloud.

’Those are...wires?’, I guessed, as I saw a few of them reflecting the sunlight, going straight into the shop the man just crashed. If not for them shinning, they wouldn’t even be visible, the wires were just that thin. Another thing I noticed about them was that they were vibrating and stretched.

’...wait stretched?’

My body moved before I could complete the thought.

I ran, reinforced my leg and kicked, just as the wires decompressed, activating [Split Second] just in case.

-Bang!

And thanks to that, I got to see the air in Mark’s lungs getting sucked out in slow motion, as he fell on the ground.

’Oops!’, I thought, not really guilty, as I grabbed his clothes and helped him up.

Of course, he didn’t want my help, as he shook off my hands and growled at me, "That hurt!, you asshole! Why do you always have to attack me whenever we meet!"

"Well, I really didn’t know it was you, so not my fault there.", I pointed out.

"That’s even worse, you attack anyone you see.", he gave me a mean look, as he checked that state of his body.

"Ugh, don’t give me that look, I knew whoever survived that crash would likely survive my kick.", I explained.

"That ’likely’ doesn’t make me feel any better!!", Mark screamed in frustration.

"Okay, okay, calm down and tell me what’s happening.", I asked seriously.

"What’s happening!? How the hell would I know!!", Mark screamed again, he seemed quite mad himself.

"What do you mean?", I frowned.

"I mean, I went to talk to Rorkan about the recent assassinations, then some buildings exploded out of the blue and then guy just rampaged!"

"Saying rubbish like, how dare you mock me and shit as he destroyed his own district.", Mark literally spat on the ground, his saliva carrying a tinge of red.

"WTF?"

"Yes, exactly that, WTF.", Mark whined as he shot out more of those wires? No, not wires, looking at them closely, aren’t they strings?

-BOOM!!

"Now, I have to go, I got people to save.", He said, much more composed as he pulled the strings using a tug of his mana and left.

-BOOM!!

"Umm, Syrus (Signor), can you keep up with him?", I asked hearing the distant sound of explosions.

Turning his face in the direction Mark left, Syrus squinted his eyes as he truthfully said, "No."

"Thought so. Go evacuate as many people as you can. You are free to handle anyone who tries to cause more chaos, just try not to kill civilians. And make sure to keep your communication artefact active.", I ordered as I activated my skills.

[Attribute Infusion] [Parallel Mind]

"See you in a bit, then.", With that, I jumped. And just like a ninja, I reached the top of the three floored building with a single jump.

Then, squinting my eyes, I looked in the direction Mark left only to see a distant dot.

-BOOM!!

The explosions were still ongoing, another problem to deal with.

’But first, I have a deal to catch.’, I mused, as I weaved a very familiar magic.

[Acceleration x5]

-Boom!

A shockwave ravaged the surroundings as my body broke the sound barrier for a an instant, clearing the dust cloud around me for tens of meters, but by then, I was already hundreds of meters away.

Mark was still a way ahead, so I accelerated again, not stacking the spell more than five times as I knew that was the limit for my current body and armour.

And after another acceleration, I was there.

I didn’t need to look to know I was there, cause a humongous roar filled with power already told me that.

-UWAAAHHH!!!!

I could see Mark nearby. He was manoeuvring around a three meters tall giant who destroying everything around him with his threads.

Honestly, he was like spider-man. Quite funny to watch as he dodged building destroying attacks with a hair’s breadth.

His opponent though, wasn’t that funny.

A three-meter-tall man, who was like an untamed wild boar with twisted features, fuming with each step he took…yeah, that wasn’t my definition of funny.

The Rorkan that I saw, was easily a perfect opposite of what I imagined.

I imagined Rorkan as a calm, sensible enough to talk person, with whom I would have to bargain a lot to work with.

Not a fuming giant covered in violent violet flame-like aura.

Right now, he looked like a different person. Quite different from what I saw in the report.

The two metres tall man had gained another meter and buffed up to the point that it looked abnormal.

’Maybe he was using some sort of amplification skill?’

Each of his muscles were tense as he held his hammer, and his eyes were red with rage and madness, even a little sadness.

Essentially making him an unstoppable mass of muscle, that was covered in violet flames. The flames moving through his body and into the hammer like flowing water, converting all his swings into AOE attacks, troubling Mark quite a bit.

But he was managing well. It didn’t look like he was winning, cause he wasn’t, but he wasn’t losing either.

And that was his goal.

He was just keeping Rorkan in the same place, while people evacuated from the area.

’And when that is done, he will fight for real.’, I thought as I enjoyed the fight from above.

Of course, I wasn’t doing nothing.

’Ah, it finally connected.’

-What is it? I’m on my shift right now. Make it quick.

Claire’s tired voice came from my communication amulet. Normally, I would humour her, but right now, I didn’t have time for her antics.

"A situation happened in the shopping district. I don’t know how, but a mass bombing is being carried out here.", I solemnly declared as I shared a small video of the situation here.

For a good five seconds my amulet remained silent, before Claire finally spoke.

-Do you want help?

"No. I just want you to inform everyone; Allen, Cana, and everyone else to stay away. And be ready if something unexpected happens. I’ll handle things here."

-Okay, will do, anything else?

"None.", I said and hung up.

Still in air, I activated [Mana Reading].

The skill allowed me to see the mana, and read it’s movements.

As soon as I activated the skill, I spotted various points where mana conglomerated. And when I said various, I didn’t mean three or four. I spotted exactly thirty-six spots, scattered all over the district.

And I didn’t need to be a genius to know what that meant.

In just nine explosions, the district was already in tatters.

Smoke, blood, and riots were going on all over the place.

Without even needing to count, I already knew that tens of people had died and hundreds were injured.

If all of those thirty-six bombs detonated, then there won’t be a shopping district anymore.

But what I hated the most was, even in this situation, my brain had its priorities straight.

I cancelled my float spell, and let gravity do its work.

Two seconds and I landed on the rooftop of a wrecked building around 100 meters away from the fight. Slightly patting the ledge of the rooftop, I sat on it, building the impression that I was leisurely watching the fight.

"HEY! MARK!", I called out loudly, successfully getting the attention of both C ranks, distracting them both.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING RAY??", Mark shouted as he nearly slipped up.

"I HAVE A DEAL FOR YOU!!", I continued, uncaring about his situation.

"SERIOUSLY NOW!? CAN’T YOU SEE I AM LITTLE BUSY HERE!?", He said after narrowly dodging another attack.

"I CAN SEE THAT!"

Of course, I could that’s why I was proposing it now.

"SO WHY NOW!?"

"SINCE YOU ARE BUSY NOW, I FIGURED THAT NO ONE IS THERE TO DIFUSE THE REMAINING BOMBS.", I explained loudly.

"YOU CAN DO IT!?", He exclaimed as he rolled out from the cover of a building, dodging another attack. The poor building was reduced to rubble after clashing with Rorkan’s hammer.

"OF COURSE!", I confidently replied.

This chapt𝙚r is updated by freeωebnovēl.c૦m.

And maybe Rorkan didn’t like my easy-going tone as he turned in my direction and swung his hammer, slamming it on the ground.

And then, followed by shooting in my direction, or so he tried.

A network of strings stronger than steel, trapped him in place, like a leash straining a beast, making it impossible for him to leave the plaza.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT IN RETURN!?", he asked after interrupting a series of Rorkan’s attacks using his strings.

"A FAVOUR!", I replied, after dodging the blast of violet aura that exploded along the ground.

"A FAVOUR!?", he incredulously repeated.

"YES! A FAVOUR!", I confirmed.

"WHAT KIND OF FAVOUR?", he cautiously asked.

"THE ONE YOU WOULD AGREE TO DO FOR ME!"

"THAT’S FUCKING SUSPICIOUS!"

-BOOM!!

Another bomb exploded in the distance prompting me to say, "THE CLOCK’S TICKING MARK! DECIDE FAST!"

"YOU ASSHOLE! YOU ARE DELIBERATELY DOING THIS!", he growled.

"OF COURSE, I AM! NOW WHAT WILL IT BE!?", I admitted.

And after a while, "GO YOU PROFIT SEEKING BASTARD! I AM HIRING YOUR MERCENARY GROUP TO DEFUSE THE BOMBS!", he finally said the words I wanted to hear.

’Gotcha.’ I smiled, shouting for the last time, "DON’T FORGET YOUR WORDS LATER!!", as I disappeared with a shockwave.

My destination? Of course, the bombs!

’Time to earn my pay!’