On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ

Despite being able to build one, we haven't built any Teleportation Gate near the gold mine. No, laziness is not the reason. I am not that stupid to let my laziness make me do something so stupid. We just can't build one. We tried drawing a Teleportation Magic Circle once and it didn't work. Any form of [Teleportation] simply doesn't work there.

This information is also known by the Temple because I told Shanifa to let them know. It is to further encourage them to come to the mine and it worked. Everything is according to the plan, but I didn't expect the Temple would be this sneaky. Fortunately, I have Genelos; otherwise, Decima and the others would have suffered greatly.

"They are holding on well," Millonia remarks as she looks down at the clash between Decima's troops and the Paladin squad.

"Very few of the humans manage to survive, though," I respond. "That's to be expected, of course. The saving grace is that we haven't lost that many Warriors. It's great knowing that they don't sacrifice themselves for the human soldiers."

"Well, that aside, what are we going to do?"

"Look for any intelligence squad. Demolish them when you find them."

"Then, that means..."

"I will leave Genelos in your care."

Jumping down from Genelos after I nod my head, I tell Teanosvera to cover me with his shadow as I fall. No one can see me and I slip into the shadow of one of the Paladins nearby easily. Spreading my Mana Sense sneakily, I find the strongest in the squad. I immediately rush at the guy, jumping from shadow into shadow with Teanosvera's help.

When I slip into the Paladin's shadow, the said Paladin immediately shifts his posture. He looks ready to fight as if knowing something threatening has just come his way. Taking out my beloved dagger, I aim it at the guy before throwing it from Teanosvera's Sub-Dimension. It comes out of his shadow like a shooting star, baffling him greatly.

Unfortunately, he managed to dodge my dagger. It only managed to scratch the side of his armor which is nowhere near impressive. The Paladin looks around in alarm. His eyes wander the surroundings and a frown soon comes to his face. He can't find the one who threw the dagger--me.

Thinking quickly, the Paladin decided to look for where the dagger lands. He is maybe hoping that the dagger will fly back at the owner. Such a thing won't happen, of course, so it leaves him bitter. Clicking his tongue as he spreads his Mana Sense, fear overwhelms him as he notices something is coming out of his shadow.

I can't see the face he is making, but I bet it is hilarious. Despite his state, he is still able to turn around quickly. His eyes widen as he looks at me and I can see recognition in them. It seems I am rather popular among the Temple's community.

"The Right Hand Layland!"

"I didn't know you called me that way."

The Paladin immediately swings his sword at my reply. I am not holding anything, so I slap the sword with my bare hand. The Paladin looks extremely bewildered when his sword is flung to the side. His eyes widen in disbelief as he loses balance, but he still managed to take a distance in the end.

"W-Why are you here?"

"Don't act as if you know when I am in or out of Antares."

Every citizen of Antares, whether they are originally from there or immigrants, has my Geas on their chest. None of them can betray me because they will die if they do so. The only thing my enemy can do to spy on me is to send Assassins. It is not hard to spot them, so Antares has always been free of Assassins.

Simply said, while I know what my enemies are up to, my enemies don't know what I am up to. They have no way to monitor what I do even though they know where I am.

"You are not supposed to know...no. Even if you do know, you shouldn't be here until everything is over."

"You are just slow, imbecile."

Blinking out of existence for a couple of milliseconds, I appear before the Paladin and kick him in the stomach. His armor readjusts its shape into my leg and his body bends like an arrow before it is launched like a bullet.

I understand the optimism of the Temple well. Knowing that we don't have any Teleportation means to the gold mine, they must conclude speed is the most important factor. Added to that, no means of communication will work in this place. Getting confident that they may successfully overtake the mine is not a stretch.

Unfortunately, they didn't consider there might be eyes that would spot them before they reached the mine. These eyes can contact me because they are not within the mine's area of influence, so their ambush means nothing.

"Koff! Koff! Bastard, you kick hard, don't you?"

"What do you think?"

"It's a fucking rhetoric!"

The Paladin gets fired up by my reply. He holds his sword sideways, channels his Holy Power into it, and then charges at me. He turns into a golden streak. I can only see him as a human again when he is right in front of me. At this point, his sword almost pierces my stomach. I don't want to feel explosiveness in my stomach, so I step aside.

The Paladin puts all of his body weight on his sword, probably thinking he will be able to stab me. Because of that, when he missed, he immediately loses his balance. He is experienced enough to regain it, but it means nothing since I am his opponent. My dagger flies at me faster than he moves. When he regains his balance, it is already sunk into his waist.

He exhales deeply in shock. His hand immediately reaches for my dagger out of reflex, probably because of the searing pain that he feels. He is distracted and it gives me a chance to kick his ass, literally. I hear a 'crack' before he is launched into the distance.

I only run after him when he is already rolling on the ground like an offroad car tire. I stop him with my foot and he has suffered from other broken bones by that time. His face, however, remains fierce. He gazes at me with intense hatred; he would have killed me if looks could kill.

Ptooi!

He spits the blood in his mouth out at me. Of course, it missed its target.

"Fuck you!"

After saying that poetic line, his only able hand grabs the Cross Pendant on his neck. He channels his Holy Power into it, causing it to glow blindingly. I know where this is going, so I distance myself. [Teleportation] doesn't work here--I have to rely on my quick feet.

BOOM!

As the sound of the explosion alarms everyone, the light illuminates the battlefield. Everyone stops swinging their weapons just to look at the source of the light and explosion.

The wind blast sweeps the battlefield not long after. I am one of the few that is unbothered by the blast and I watch in interest as the others sway when it passes them. When the sound stops and the light dies down, silence fills the world for a few seconds. Everyone then looks up to the sky and plants their gaze on me.

At this point, I am still musing about how explosive the Cross Pendant was. I wonder if the stronger the Paladin is, the more explosive it gets which has always been the case.

"Commander Layland--he has come to our aid!"

"It's Commander Layland!"

"Commander Layland!"

As Decima and her troops cheer brightly, the remaining one hundred and fifty or so Elite Paladins look at me with the 'we are fucked' look. The only choice they have, if they don't want to die, is to retreat. They won't be able to contact their backup since any form of communication also doesn't work here.

Before they retreat, though, they look at the north. A smile creeps up on my face as their face darkens even further. Instead of finding the people that watch over them, they find Genelos spewing fire at the ground. Only after seeing it do they retreat.

Decima's troops, surely, won't just let them go. They chase after the Paladins, but very few of them manage to land a hit. Quite the opposite, many of them suffer from the Paladins' attacks. As the word goes: "A cornered rat bites the strongest."

Being part of the Demon King's Army, however, means that they possess the trait that every Warrior of the Demon King has--an unbreakable spirit. None of them stops chasing after the Paladins.

I watch the scene in satisfaction but don't let it continue. They still need to face the incoming two Legions of the Rectusomine Army, so they can't keep dying.

Spreading my hands, I use [Senbonzakura] and create enough cherry blossom petals to create a head-sized sphere above my head. Using Fire Magic, I create a fire core that will explode at my command inside the [Senbonzakura] sphere.

A red light illuminates some parts of the sky and it makes the Warriors chasing after the Paladins stop in their tracks meanwhile the Paladins run even faster.

"I am good at foul play too, you know?"

After saying my remark, I throw the sphere above my head to the ground. I can sense the Paladins' fear that dramatically spikes as the sphere descends from the sky. The fear instantly disappears when the sphere touches the ground. A red light quickly illuminates the world, followed by a deafening 'boom.'