Those Who Live Without the Law

Chapter 16

Side Job Commencement

Sarah clenched her fist and thumped her chest once as she spoke.

"Call me Doctor Sarah. I hold a PhD in Economics from Petric University of the Aylan Republic."

"My goodness, did you threaten your thesis advisor that you’d crush their skull like a walnut if they didn’t give you the doctorate?"

If that wasn’t the case, it meant that this woman named Sarah not only had an impressive physique but also a sharp mind, along with the tenacity and tact to endure all sorts of high-handed treatment from her advisor.

It was proof that both her body and spirit were like steel.

"To think I have to ruin such an outstanding person with my own hands."

Kairus slowly raised his sword with a small sigh. His voice wasn’t so small that Sarah failed to hear it.

"What a laughable dwarf."

"Sure, considering your bulk, I am relatively a dwarf."

Even Jonathan, compared to Sarah standing in front of Kairus, looked like nothing but a child.

"I doubt you plan to just keep flapping your mouth to buy time."

Cecilia, who had been listening to their exchange, finally urged them to hurry up.

The moment her words ended, Sarah grasped the warhammer she’d left standing at her side and hoisted it high with both hands.

"Good grief. She’s really lifting that thing."

Now that the opponent had taken up her weapon, he couldn’t keep standing there in admiration. Kairus also drew the sword Cecilia had handed him. A metallic feeling spread through his body.

It wasn’t just a fine-looking piece of equipment the output was impressive, too. Conservatively estimated, it would easily produce over thirty horsepower. This would do.

"Let’s begin. I’ll pound your ribs like a xylophone."

Sarah’s muscles surged as if they would burst right through her clothes. Had he been watching this magnificent sight from afar, Kairus might have given a small nod of admiration.

Tragically, the warhammer swung along with that muscular surge was aimed straight at Kairus.

If he didn’t respond instead of admiring her, he’d end up like dough flattened in a waffle iron.

"You bastard! You bastard!"

Every time the hammer, swung with a vicious sound, smashed into the floor, shockwaves erupted and shook Kairus’s body.

Sarah’s offensive surged at him like a cavalry charge. Even a mere graze would be a fatal blow.

"From below, I’ll build it up."

Dodging her assault, Kairus drew out the power of the newly acquired stained glass. The wind staked its claim over the space.

Wind rushed in from all directions toward Sarah at the center. The air, gathered in one place, shot upward as it searched for a way out.

Coiling Wind. Because of the gales swirling in on her from every side, Sarah couldn’t move her body as she willed.

"Wow, she’s not lifting off."

With her massive frame and that colossal battle gear in her hands, it wasn’t a trivial matter. To lift Sarah’s body into the air, he needed even greater winds.

It didn’t matter. The purpose of the wind he had created wasn’t to fling Sarah into the air.

It was to pile up air above Sarah’s head.

“Mountain Funnel.”

The rising current formed around Sarah increased the density of the air surrounding her.

When Kairus created an opening beneath the mass of accumulated air, all the air that had been gathering above Sarah’s head poured down in that direction as it tried to return to equilibrium, forming a fierce downdraft.

Mountain Wind.

“Kh… haa…!”

That flow struck Sarah like a hammer, then kept pressing her down.

Sarah’s body staggered heavily. Instinctively, she used the toothpick she was holding as a staff to support herself.

“Huuuuuuuuup!”

Enduring the crushing pressure, Sarah straightened her back and charged at Kairus. Her momentum was like a locomotive spewing steam as it barreled forward.

“Amazing.”

Kairus had thought that the Mountain Funnel Wind would be enough to subdue Sarah. But her steel-like muscles, along with her indomitable grit, seemed to have surpassed his expectations.

“So, you really do have a doctorate.”

Surviving the life of a graduate student and earning that PhD must have tempered a person’s will like diamond.

“What do you think you’ll achieve with this pathetic fanning in the dead of winter!”

Overcoming the raging wind, Sarah lifted her warhammer and swung it down like a thunderbolt.

A deafening boom shook the interior.

“…You puny little bastard.”

Thanks to the impact traveling down the shaft of the warhammer, Sarah could tell. The warhammer had failed to crush Kairus’s flesh or shatter his bones.

“Fanning, you say? You should watch your mouth.”

The stained glass in Kairus’s hand abruptly spewed out a monstrous heat, scorching the air.

The wind carried the searing heat in every direction. A blast of hot air that cooked flesh and blurred vision.

[Local Wind, Khamsin]

The desert wind said to never stop blowing for fifty days, drying the blood and flesh of travelers until they became mummies buried in the sand he had recreated it here.

The thermometer hanging on the wall couldn’t withstand the heat and exploded.

“My, how underhanded.”

Cecilia, who had been watching their fight, turned her gaze to Kairus.

He had locked the cold air around himself. To avoid being consumed by the scorching wind filling the entire space, he had created a personal safe zone.

“They say the highest temperature in a Flower Bath is around 200 degrees.”

Down in the southern Daeyeon Kingdom, there was a cultural practice where people would bake charcoal inside caves made of yellow earth, leave it to cool for a day, and then enter to bathe in the residual heat.

Among them, the hottest caves were called Flower Baths, with peak temperatures around 200 degrees.

The agony Sarah was enduring now was no different from standing in a Flower Bath with an industrial blower blasting her straight in the face. Most people would have been screaming, rolling on the ground in torment.

“I can withstand this. I can endure this much.”

Red welts of heat blossomed across Sarah’s skin. Muttering as if casting a hypnotic spell on herself, she advanced slowly step by step.

“Wow, look at this unbearable woman.”

Enduring this scorching wind with nothing but her bare body, crawling forward step by step and finally raising that colossal warhammer Sarah looked strong enough to hold up a collapsing roof.

“Huuuaaaagh.”

As she let out that sound and took a deep breath, Kairus halted the hot wind and quickly cooled the air.

Wherever that warhammer struck, the layer of air that had been shielding Kairus would shatter. Then he would be directly exposed to the burning heat.

The technique he had used to secure the advantage would become meaningless. Better to retract it now. The stained glass that had been spewing heat moments ago now released a freezing chill, cooling the air.

The temperature inside the room dropped swiftly.

“Ha, now that’s better. Thought I’d roast to death.”

Spitting on the floor, Sarah pointed the warhammer at Kairus.

“All your little tricks are over—”

The moment Kairus stepped forward, a sound like a firecracker exploding rang out from beneath his feet.

His kneecaps, structurally altered through procedures, and the rest of his body adapted to match them, began accelerating.

Bursts of rapid acceleration and abrupt stops repeated endlessly movements no ordinary flesh could even attempt.

“Wha… what is that.”

Spring Parsley rubbed her eyes. Spring Parsley couldn’t even see Kairus’s movements.

Sarah was repeatedly losing sight of Kairus for an instant, then catching up to his position again.

But Cecilia’s eyes were following Kairus precisely.

‘She can see him.’

That woman hadn’t become the boss of the enormous Rose Garden simply because she was good at managing an organization and had shrewd instincts.

‘If we fought… could I win?’

The fact that Cecilia was keeping up with Kairus’s speed meant he couldn’t overwhelm her by velocity alone.

Of course, speed wasn’t the only weapon in Kairus’s arsenal. But still…

“Ah, damn.”

Kairus, momentarily distracted by other thoughts, hastily dodged Sarah’s toothpick as it swung at him.

He had to focus on his current opponent for now.

Slashing Sarah’s neck as she swung that warhammer like a falling meteor wasn’t Kairus’s objective.

Even if he won, if Cecilia didn’t acknowledge his value, it would all be for nothing. He had to keep doing things that would raise his worth as much as possible.

‘This isn’t a fight it’s a test.’

He needed to prove and showcase what he could do, what talents and usefulness he possessed.

In this situation, the most powerful way for Kairus to demonstrate his value to Cecilia was simple.

Sarah’s greatest strength, above all else, was her overwhelming power, produced by combining her formidable physique with the output of her battle gear.

In that case…

Showing that he possessed power surpassing hers and breaking through head-on was the surest way to earn the highest marks.

Kairus raised his sword, aiming at the warhammer plummeting toward him like a comet, and roared.

“Aaaaah!”

No one would be foolish enough to trade a fortress for a mere battering ram.

If Kairus was to be recognized as a direct descendant of the House Featherwing whose worth was said to exceed that of a fortress many times over this much was something he should be able to endure again and again.

He would prove it here and now. He wouldn’t even consider evading or deflecting.

The sword could withstand it. If he failed against this attack, the fault would lie not with the battle gear but with his own skill.

The falling warhammer and the rising sword, each aiming to shatter the other, finally collided.

“Mm!”

A shockwave spread with such force it threatened to burst eardrums and rupture hearts, and Sarah let out a low groan.

The impact, erupting like an explosion from underground, struck the walls. Countless echoes followed, each one proclaiming the destructive power of the recent clash.

“What’s wrong? Worn yourself out after one swing?”

Kairus spoke as he held up the massive hammer pressing down on him with his sword.

“Worn out? Me? Don’t talk nonsense.”

The tendons on her hands clutching the massive warhammer writhed, and cracking sounds rang out from her finger joints.

“It’s just been a damn long time since someone took it head-on.”

“I’m usually a pretty astonishing person. Lots of secrets, very charming.”

The enormous hammer suddenly lifted off Kairus. Their gazes locked.

Sarah’s face was twisted like that of a demon crawling up from the depths of hell.

Kairus clenched his molars, glaring back with eyes that looked ready to spark into flame.

“I’ll mash you up just like the boss’s special stew!”

The massive hammer came crashing down. Cecilia’s brow twitched for a moment, but neither Kairus nor Sarah had any attention to spare for her.

Sword and hammer collided again. Even after batting the sword aside, the hammer retained enough momentum to keep crashing down toward Kairus’s head.

Before the hammer fell on him, Kairus swung his rebounding sword again.

“Faster.”

Again, and again. If the hammer retained its force even after knocking his blade away, leaving it still pressing in, there was only one thing Kairus could do.

Swing again. As many times as it took for the hammer to stop.

“Just a little more. You can keep going.”

If the massive swinging hammer was like an ancient, towering tree, then the sword Kairus wielded was the axe relentlessly chopping at it to bring it down.

…

Once more, sword and hammer collided and froze midair. Before the hammer halted, Kairus had needed to swing five strikes.

Sarah kept swinging her hammer. Kairus kept striking at it over and over.

To stop a single mighty blow, he delivered five swift attacks, which spread through the air like an umbrella of steel.

“You lunatic. If you’re going to do that, why not just dodge!”

Sarah spat out the words with an incredulous expression. If he could swing that many times for each of her blows, it meant he could have evaded instead.

“Killing you isn’t the goal.”

Kairus’s objective was to prove himself.