Show Me Your Stats!-Chapter 33

Moments later, the Ocampaniya herd charged back toward them at full speed. Ayra’s face turned pale as the monstrous beasts approached at lightning speed, but Janus remained unnervingly calm.

"Just land safely," he said, patting her backside a couple of times before tossing Ayra into the air with all his strength. He threw her again! Ayra let out a short scream.

In the split second that her vision flipped upside down, Ayra saw Janus draw an old sword with a swift motion. After barely landing a few times in the air and hitting the ground, Janus swung his sword at the Ocampaniya herd. A faint ping rang in her ears, and then, blood splattered into the air.

"...!"

It seemed like he had severed an artery, as the red blood shot up in a fountain against the backdrop of the white snowy mountains, and then rained down like a heavy shower. Several charging Ocampaniya were sliced in half, crashing to the ground. But it wasn’t over. In that moment, the remaining beasts barreled forward, seemingly ready to trample Janus.

But again, another crimson streak shot out, and several more were knocked aside. Only then did the advancing Ocampaniya slow down and stop. Janus lightly flicked his sword to shake off the blood, then charged forward again.

It seemed like he was merely swinging the sword carelessly, but with each swing, immense blood spurted from the body of the massive Ocampaniya. This time, the beasts that didn’t die with a single strike screeched in pain, spraying blood and thrashing around. In the midst of it all, Janus calmly severed their life forces without being stepped on by a single one of them. With each swing of his sword, the number of Ocampaniya—once in the dozens—rapidly dwindled. As Ayra watched this overwhelming scene, her mouth slowly fell open.

‘If there were just a few, I could’ve handled them myself... but to fight this many alone?’

It was hard to believe that he was doing this with such an old sword. Janus effortlessly sliced through the tough, leathery hides and split the flesh and bones of the Ocampaniya. As time passed, the corpses piled up, and only the occasional droplets of blood splattered from the path of his sword.

Finally, Janus appeared after decapitating the last remaining Ocampaniya that had tried to escape. The blood, still warm, steamed as it dripped from his sword, and he shrugged his shoulders as if to ease the tension.

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"Phew, worked up a sweat," he said nonchalantly.

As if it were nothing, he sat down where he stood, and began washing off the blood from his body with water, as though he were casually rinsing himself off. Ayra stood there, unable to approach, staring at him with a pale face.

‘...If that man tries to hurt me, or do something to me, could I stop him? Or could anyone in the estate?’

The answer was clearly ‘no’. Even the stone hidden under her clothes would be thinking ‘No!’ at that moment.

Fear crept into her heart, but she quickly pushed it away. The person in front of her was undeniably powerful, but he was also someone who had lived in Solar for over ten years without causing any issues. In the labyrinth governed by the law of survival of the fittest, Ayra only had one option in her current situation.

"Wow... How did you do it?"

As she stepped closer, Janus, wiping the sticky blood off his neck, looked up. Covered in blood, with only his gleaming eyes visible, he resembled a serial killer.

"How? You saw it, didn’t you?"

"I couldn’t see because the Ocampaniya were in the way."

Ayra pointed to the massive corpses of the Ocampaniya. Janus scratched his cheek, seemingly understanding why she’d missed it, and Ayra melted her eyes before raising a floating water orb to wash him clean.

"I didn’t see it, but I guess you used the sword like this and that to kill them," Ayra commented.

"Well, that's about right."

As Janus rinsed the blood off with the water, the surrounding snow began to turn pink. Ayra couldn’t help but feel guilty about tearing his hair earlier, but it seemed he didn’t mind. In fact, he looked even more pleased. Once he had wiped most of the blood off, he shook his body like a dog shaking off water.

‘The Ocampaniya mountain has replaced the rocks and snow.’

Fortunately, the beasts were easier to clear away than the snow and rocks. After examining the Ocampaniya closely, Ayra waved her hand. With a tearing sound, a Mana Stone rolled out from the beast’s body. Thanks to Janus’ clean cuts, extracting the Mana Stone was surprisingly easy.

Once the Mana Stone was removed, Ayra flicked her fingers, and the Mana Stones rolled into her palm. The raw Mana Stones appeared like ordinary rocks to anyone else, but Ayra could see the magical energy contained within them.

‘If I could absorb the Mana from these stones, I’d be able to use magic endlessly.’

Unfortunately, the magical energy that entered the Mana Stone changed its properties, and it couldn’t be absorbed by a human body. Magic couldn’t be stored in anything other than Mana Stones or certain mediums, so the mana potions often seen in fantasy novels couldn’t be created. This was the conclusion that senior researchers had reached long ago in the labyrinth. However, it was still a shame, as new recruits would often try to create potions despite the results.

After collecting the Mana Stones, the Ocampaniya bodies began to dissolve. They would probably be completely gone by the end of the day. Holding the Mana Stones, Ayra walked toward Janus. He took a handful of them, then waved her off.

"I don’t like carrying too much. You take the rest."

As Ayra offered the Mana Stones, wondering if this amount would be enough to pay interest, she suddenly realized something. Looking down at the stones in her hands, she realized it was probably around 100 Cell.

‘This is a windfall!’

For a mercenary like Janus, something like Ocampaniya was nothing. But for Ayra, it was a huge blessing. The poverty-stricken lord didn’t hesitate and quickly pocketed the Mana Stones. With just 200 more Cell, she could delay the estate’s collapse by paying the interest.

"Thank you, I’ll make good use of these Mana Stones."

In a good mood, ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) Ayra smiled brightly, but Janus simply stared at her for a moment before standing up. He walked over and suddenly grabbed Ayra’s arm.

"What are you doing?"

Even though Ayra asked in a nervous and confused tone, Janus didn’t answer. He just moved her arms around and started feeling her body here and there, but it didn’t seem sexual. Finally, he interlaced his fingers with hers, then grinned.

"I was worried when I threw you, but it looks like you’re not hurt, thank goodness."

"Uh, yeah... I’m fine. I am a mage, after all..."

Ayra was puzzled, wondering if he was concerned about her well-being, when Janus casually leaned in and kissed her. The kiss was thick with the smell of blood, which made her stomach churn, but she didn’t show any sign of discomfort.

"Alright, let’s go. Now that the path’s cleared and the Ocampaniya are dead, there shouldn’t be any problems."

After patting Ayra’s shoulder a couple of times, Janus began walking ahead. Ayra stood frozen for a moment, then hurried to follow him, biting her lip. If a Favorability notification popped up for her at this moment...

[The user's favorability toward Janus Rehzedet has increased by 3.]

Current favorability: 32

It really appeared...

No, it really showed up! 32? Is that even possible? Ayra scowled, angrily pressing down on the notification window, remembering how Janus had used his Taunt skill earlier. With the stone now flattened from the pressure, she shoved it back into her body and stared blankly at Janus’ back.

Perhaps choosing this man as an ally wasn’t such a great decision after all?

The feeling of danger emanating from him made her repeatedly remind herself internally that if she got too attached to him, it could be disastrous. With a shiver running through her, she tightened her clothes.

❄

There was a brief incident where Ayra had forgotten the horse on the cliff and had to go back to retrieve it—during which the poor animal trembled and foamed at the mouth while Janus carried it on his shoulders—but the two of them managed to cross the Dalum Gorge in less than 30 minutes. After they passed the gorge, a path leading toward a village appeared. Finally, they could investigate the merchant’s whereabouts.

"Thanks. I couldn’t have made it through Dalum Gorge safely without you."

At her heartfelt thanks, Janus shrugged as if it were no big deal.

"Well, I was getting kind of bored lately. And I like it here, it’s cool."

Ayra couldn’t understand how Janus could think of this cold weather as "cool." He had been wearing wet clothes the entire time they’d been traveling, yet his lips never even hinted at turning blue.

"So, what are you going to do now? I’m heading to the estate to take care of some business."

"Go take care of your work. I’ll be at the inn, drinking."

It seemed that he was planning to accompany her on the way back as well. That was good for Ayra. It was better to have Janus around, as it would be easier to hide her identity and deal with estate matters. Janus stretched widely, then, once the work was done, told her to meet him at the village inn and started walking away.

With the unexpected windfall of 100 Cell in her pocket, Ayra slowly made her way forward, wondering where she could find news about the merchant...