Call for backup!
The thought fired through Leon's brain, and his body was already moving before the idea fully formed.
"HEEELP MEEEEE!!!"
Without a shred of hesitation, he threw his head back and let loose a blood-curdling shriek at the top of his lungs, aimed straight at the nearest cluster of Adventurers below. The sheer volume of it actually drowned out part of the battlefield noise for a split second.
And then, under Dix's utterly stupefied, frozen-solid, looks-like-someone-hit-him-with-a-Petrify stare, Leon abandoned every last scrap of dignity, pride, and factional honor. He didn't even spare Dix another glance. He just executed one clean... disgraceful about-face, and scrambled toward the far end of the bell tower like his life depended on it.
"?!?!?!"
Dix's brain blue-screened. This shameless, bottom-of-the-barrel play had smacked him square in the face and left him buffering.
He'd fought the Order Faction eighty times if not a hundred. He'd seen it all. Calling himself a seasoned veteran wasn't remotely an exaggeration.
And yet... of every Adventurer he'd ever crossed blades with, he'd seen ones who fought to the bitter end, ones who dropped to their knees and begged, ones who put on a brave front. But a bottom-feeder who didn't even bother with a single tough-guy line, just screamed for help on sight and bolted? That was a first. A genuine, honest-to-god first.
In this moment, Dix felt insulted. This guy's behavior was more shameless than anyone in Evilus.
Who the hell meets their opponent and runs without saying a single word?
"Are you seriously with the Order Faction?!"
Dix finally found his voice and roared, face twitching with fury.
"Where's your honor?! Where's your reputation?!"
"Did you feed all of it to the goddamn dogs?!!"
"Have you got no shame at all?!"
This was more dishonorable than anything he'd ever pulled, and he was a curse-user! Dix felt rage boiling straight up through the top of his skull, his face darkening to the color of charcoal. His lips peeled back to bare his teeth, every word grinding through them.
"Ha... hahaha... fine, fine, fine! Running, are we?!"
"Hah! Let's see how far you get!"
He said nothing more. Killing intent blazed in his eyes as he kicked off the ground and tore after Leon at full sprint.
If Leon had looked back at that moment, he might have caught a glimpse of something else...
As the battlefield spiraled further into chaos, the screams of the wounded growing sharper and more piercing by the second.
And the twisted, almost pathological ecstasy on Dix's face was growing thicker, more savage.
Deep in his eyes, that "D" symbol, the mark of madness and ruin, had begun to pulse and flicker violently, as if feeding on the despair and bloodshed saturating the air.
"Hahahaha! Yes! This is the feeling!!"
Dix's manic laughter cut through the surrounding carnage, dripping with bone-chilling satisfaction.
"Scream! Scream louder for me!!"
"Music to my ears!"
"Those beautiful wails... it's like slipping into a fresh pair of underwear after a scalding hot spring! Refreshing down to the soul!"
"Magnificent!!!"
Leon glanced back on instinct...
...and caught the full, unfiltered sight of Dix convulsing in near-orgasmic bliss at the chorus of screams.
The color drained from his face instantly. A chill shot straight up his spine.
"KAGUYA! SAVE ME!!!"
Leon hit a gear he didn't know he had, bolting like a cat whose tail just got stomped, scrambling and diving toward his target with everything he had.
"THERE'S A MEGA PERVERT CHASING ME!!!"
...
Kaguya's blade carved through the last Evilus soldier in front of her with a sharp ring of steel. She leaned on her katana, chest heaving, sweat soaking the hair at her temples. She lifted the flowing sleeve of her kimono and dabbed at the perspiration trailing past her eye, her pale cheeks flushed rosy from the intensity of combat.
That was when she heard it.
That unmistakable, piercingly familiar shriek for help, cutting clean through the chaos of the battlefield and drilling straight into her ears.
Kaguya looked up in bewilderment, following the sound...
And was treated to a scene of pure theater: Leon in the lead, arms over his head, running for his life in a blind panic, with Dix right behind him, teeth bared, closing the gap step by step.
Leon ran. Dix chased.
Leon kept running. Dix refused to quit.
"..."
Kaguya's doll-like features locked into a flat, weary stare, the corner of her mouth twitching.
"Hey, hey, hey..."
She pressed a hand to her forehead, her voice dripping with exasperation.
"What kind of skit are you performing now? Last I checked, Orario hasn't staged any new plays about a hero getting chased by a psychopath..."
"..."
Leon said nothing.
He just slid smoothly in front of Kaguya and, with the practiced efficiency of a man who'd done this a thousand times, positioned the Eastern beauty, still radiating battle aura and body heat from her freshly finished fight, directly between himself and the incoming threat.
His face, meanwhile, put on a flawless display of terror, selling the role of "helpless weakling being bullied by an overpowered maniac" with theatrical conviction. Every flinch perfectly timed. Every gulp pitch-perfect.
Sharp as Kaguya was, even she couldn't tell that this was Leon, the consummate rat, putting on a masterclass in acting.
As for the contemptuous looks that nearby Adventurers were shooting his way, branding this a rock-bottom display of "hiding behind a woman"...
Leon felt absolutely nothing. He might've even found it a little funny.
He could have shouted it loud and proud:
"From the very first day I set foot in Orario, the number one survival rule I learned and made my sacred creed was... shamelessly mooch off my goddess without a hint of guilt!"
One Eastern beauty's coattails? Easy ride.
...
Watching Leon glide behind her with the fluid grace of a figure skater, propping her up as a human shield to face the infamous Level 4 Hazer, Dix Perdix...
Kaguya's delicate face went so dark it could've dripped ink.
She sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth, fighting down the overwhelming urge to draw her blade and cut down the bastard behind her first. Her pale hand shot back like lightning, reaching to grab Leon's arm and haul him out from behind her by force.
But Leon had seen it coming. He sidestepped with a nimble slide, effortlessly slipping out of reach of Kaguya's rage-fueled grab.
"..."
Kaguya tilted her head slightly, her peripheral vision boring into the shameless man behind her like a dagger. Her back molars ground together audibly.
"You bastard..."
Her voice squeezed out from between clenched teeth, trembling with furious embarrassment.
"Using a girl as a human shield?! Is there actually a floor to your moral basement?!"
Against the Eastern beauty's lethal tongue, Leon's composure was an unshakable fortress. Not a ripple crossed his face.
He'd already worked this out. Lose face if he had to, but absolutely do not reveal his real strength in public. Not with Valletta lurking in some dark corner somewhere, watching.
Sure, Dix was the kind of top-tier Level 4 who only needed a Great Feat to hit Level 5 immediately. But honestly? Even if Leon faced him alone, one-on-one, he wasn't the least bit worried.
His confidence came from the monstrous boost of the Demon Lord's Crest. After advancing to Level 3, the Crest's Basic Ability doubling effect meant his Endurance and Magic stats were, he was certain, on par with or even beyond an ordinary Level 4 Adventurer. Even if his opponent specialized in those two stats, Leon was confident he could go toe-to-toe without giving ground.
As for the gap in his other stats?
He could play to his strengths and compensate with range.
As an instant-cast mage with long reach, he could kite Dix with textbook precision, keeping him dancing on a string the entire fight.
And even if Dix found an opening and closed the distance, landing a full combo of savage hits...
Leon wasn't sweating it. With Frost Armor's raw defensive power, he could tank the damage head-on.
Then hit back with a Frost Nova, freezing or slowing Dix on the spot, and calmly reopen a safe casting distance.
The real clincher, though...
If Dix had no answer to that combo chain, then under Leon's relentless barrage of spells, all it would take was one bad read. One clean hit from a fully charged Fireball...
Sorry, but even a peak Level 4 was getting wiped off the map.
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