Dance with the Nightingale-Chapter 83 - 78: The Aftermath..?

[Lueurre Lower City]

[Shopping District]

[Rayne’s POV]

"Not bad, right kid?"

The Baron asked, and honestly, I had no reply for that.

The relief that kicked in, as I realized that the situation hasn’t taken a turn for worse, was too overwhelming for me to say anything.

But I couldn’t just say nothing, maybe I would just nod and be done with it if it was any other guy, but the Baron was different.

I had to make a deal with him, so I couldn’t appear weak even if I wanted to.

It took a second for my brain to process all that and go into the business mode, so after a second, I gave him a light bow and thanked him in a sincere voice, "I thank you for saving me and ’your’ city Baron, I sincerely do."

Then with a pause and a shift in my tone, I continued, "But, not bad, when half a district is destroyed? I don’t think so. It would cost me half of the request money had the request been ’protect the city’, after all."

Hearing my reply, the Baron laughed out loud.

"Hahaha, that’s a mercenary’s point of view for you. Always true to your purpose and to money, of course."

Then, shaking his head, he said, "Anyways, nice to meet you, Mr. Ray Niger. I thank you for protecting ’my’ city."

"Oh! You have heard of me, it seems."

"It was hard to miss you Ray, especially when you were in the center of this trouble. As I said, I was watching you.", the Baron said.

"We are troublemakers, after all.", I shrugged, before getting to the point, "That aside, it’s about time we had a nice long chat. I’m sure you have some questions of your own too."

The Baron looked at me weirdly before he said, "You surely don’t waste time..."

"We don’t have time, after all.", I said as I pointed at the district below us, smoke and fire still ravaging it.

Nodding, he agreed, "Sure, we will talk after this, but before that I have to clean this mess and you will help me with that.", and beckoned me closer.

"Okay.", I said as I used some wind magic to close our distance, after all [Float] can’t help me move in air.

The Baron then projected the map of the shopping district using his amulet.

"Mark the active bombs on the map.", he said, causing me to give him a glance.

"I saw how you could locate them instantly.", he clarified.

’That’s about right, not even Baron could see the Mana in the air, he doesn’t have a convenient skill as [Mana reading].’, I thought feeling a little smug somehow, but I did as I was told anyways, and marked the places with undefused bombs along with their estimated exploding time, placing 8 marks in total.

"We’ll split up, you defuse these guys.", the Baron said as soon as I was done, while pointing at the four bombs near our location.

Then he pointed at the other four bombs and continued, "While I handle these."

On the surface, there was no problem with the plan, but I had to confirm something, "Wait a second, can you defuse the bombs?"

As far as I knew, the Baron wasn’t a runesmith or artificer so it was a reasonable question.

"I have my own ways, kid.", the Baron said as he patted his big belly, "Now get going, we don’t have much time."

"Yes, sir.", I said nonchalantly, before blasting away with a bang.

’Cheeky kid.’, the Baron thought, as he too went his way.

***

[After Some Time]

The bombs had been defused, all eight of them. And the funny thing was, I only defused two of them.

Yes, you heard me right. The rest were defused by the Baron.

As for how he did it, I got a close up demonstration of that as I reached the site of the third bomb.

There was no procedure or something of that sort in his method, he was just brute forcing his way through it.

First, he fed the bomb with the mana it lacked, and then, when it was just about to explode, he covered it in that green vortex that he used to absorb mana.

A few seconds later, he retracted the green vortex only for a destroyed shell of the bomb to remain there…and that was it.

The bomb was defused.

As I said, the process was brute.

So brute, that it couldn’t even be called defusing the bombs anymore, it was more like exploding the bombs with zero collateral damage.

’Well, it served the purpose, so it was good. But is it all over?’

I couldn’t quite believe it, cause...

It felt too easy.

Okay, I almost wasn’t able to stop it, but the Baron could. And everyone in this city knows the Baron’s capabilities even if vaguely, so I couldn’t help but doubt the current situation…doubt that it was all over.

In the end, I sighed and looked at the scene before me.

If some Marvel fan of my old world were to be shown a picture of what I was seeing, then he would ask, "What Spiderman movie is this from?"

And I would answer, "From the movie in which Spidey captures the Rhino."

Why?

Cause the scene looked awfully similar to that.

A freaking giant trapped in a thick layer of strings as he struggled to free himself, while the Spidey here in question, i.e. Mark, kept increasing the number of strings trapping the Rhino.

"He is quite good, isn’t he?"

A smug Baron gloated, as we both stood at a safe distance from the fight.

"Yeah, yeah, he is good.", I admitted, as I watched the fight and said no more.

"Better than you?"

But he probed deeper, only to get a, "You wish.", in response.

Though my thoughts on the matter were different.

I wasn’t sure who would win if we actually fought. He was a genuine C ranked mage while I was someone who just became D- ranked.

But that was only when we fought fairly. If I was allowed to use the whole arsenal of my artefacts, talismans, charms, and potions, along with the unique way that only I could use them… then, I was pretty sure, I could beat him.

Meanwhile, the fight was coming to an end, and so were the similarities that Mark had with Spiderman...

Cause now that he had completely trapped Rorkan, it was his time to attack.

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And his attack was quite different, quite cruel than Spidey’s could ever be.

A slight twitch of his fingers was all it took…

The strings tensed, their strength being boosted even more by Mark’s mana, before they contracted sharply, cutting flesh, turning Rorkan’s dominant hand into shredded cheese.

--AHHHHHH!!

The giant roared, as his formerly muscular arm now hung from his shoulder with only thin strips of flesh connecting it. And that was the only thing he could do, for he was utterly helpless, utterly trapped to do any harm to Mark.

Uncaring about the cruelty with which Mark acted just now, the Baron instead cheered him. Feeling glee as his subordinate took out the most powerful part of his opponent’s body.

’It’s over.’, I thought, but apparently, I was wrong, as I heard the Baron muttering besides me.

’Now to bleed him unconscious…’

Strings clenched all over Rorkan’s body, forcing the blood in his veins to move as Mark wished, to move where he wished, to move towards his shredded arm…

The blood gushed out with force, more force than before, painting the already red strings with another layer of red, causing me to question...

’Were his strings always red?’

Burying the question deep inside my heart, I watched as the giant screamed even more, flailed even more, only to eventually succumb to unconsciousness due to excessive bleeding.

Maybe it was his skill or maybe something in his blood, my instinct pointing towards the later, but Rorkan started to shrink soon. Going from his gigantic form, to the form of Rorkan I had heard of.

And though his arm was still hanging down his shoulder, I could see that it could be easier healed back using a high grade potion, which only impressed me further.

Did Mark really saw that maybe Rorkan was drugged, and decided to bleed him out, cause that the best option?

If he did that during an intense fight, then yeah, he indeed was quite good...though, he wasn’t as good as my subordinates.

One year.

One year of training was all it would take for Syrus, Allen and even Cana to beat him.

Proper training, which I am arranging for now.

Anyways, with Rorkan under control and all the bombs defused, the situation was pretty much handled, on my part atleast.

Now all that was left was for Baron to take Rorkan under custody, as he would try to get any leads about the mastermind of this event from him.

Something he wouldn’t want me dragging my nose into.

So, as Baron went closer to Mark to check up on Rorkan before putting him in prison, I went ahead and called my faithful subordinate, Syrus.

"Syrus, status."

<I am mostly done with helping the crowd. The knights and soldiers have finally arrived and are stabilizing the situation quickly.>

"That sounds about right. So…where are you?"

<I’m salvaging those siege machines.>

"Alone?"

<Yes.>

I facepalmed.

Okay, I take that back. No matter their strength, they also need to think before they act…

’When will the day come when my subordinates would do everything on their own leaving nothing for me to do... Maybe never.’

I lamented the harsh reality.

<Ray?>

’Atleast he calls me by my fake name. Baby steps Rayne, baby steps...’, I consoled myself as I squeezed out, "Call Claire ask her to send some people… to help you out..."

<Okay. Anything else?>

"N-Nothing."

’Haaah. Barely held myself back.’, I sighed. ’Anyways, let’s decide a meeting time and say goodbye for now. I’ll look for some leads too while I am at it.’

Or so I was my plan.

Interrupting it was Baron’s beeping amulet, which the Baron picked up. And two seconds later, his expression turned livid.

Screaming, "They what now!!?", the Baron took off for the Upper City with a huge bang. Leaving us, Mark, me and the soldiers who had gathered in the meantime to take custody of Rorkan, in dust, quite literally.

’So, it isn’t over. Figured, all of it was just a diversion to lure Baron out of Upper City.’, I took the revelation as calmly as I could, before I too blasted my way-

"WAIT! WAIT! RAY!! WAIT!!"

Once again interrupted, this time by a shouting Mark, who continued, "TAKE ME WITH YOU!!"

With neither the time nor the patience to argue, I looked at him and said, "Climb on."

But when I noticed him on the verge of wrapping his four hands around me, I changed my previous evaluation of him.

"WITH YOUR STRINGS YOU DUMBASS!!"

[Acceleration x5]

-Bangggg!!