Those Who Live Without the Law

Chapter 89

Underground Search (2)

Crossing the sludge-filled swamp wasn’t all that difficult. After all, it was an enclosed space with a ceiling.

You just had to drive something like an iron rod into the wall to create a foothold and walk across it.

"What if you slip?"

"Then you get splashed in sewage, simple as that."

You'd be thrown into centuries-old rotting sewage collected in Bennett City. It wasn’t hard to imagine how disgustingly gruesome the outcome would be.

“Do we… have to cross it ourselves?”

“I could carry you, but what’ll it be?”

At Kairus’s words, Melvin hesitated with a conflicted expression before nodding.

If he let his pride get the best of him and slipped, he’d end up like the rest—just another rotting corpse covered in that filth.

“Smart choice.”

With that, Kairus grabbed the scruff of Melvin’s clothes. It looked just like how a cat would be lifted.

It wasn’t exactly a dignified posture for a grown man. But Kairus wasn’t doing this just to humiliate Melvin.

“If things get dangerous, I can throw you across the swamp right away.”

It was a choice made for Melvin Istovan’s safety. Carrying or piggybacking him during a fight would severely limit Kairus’s mobility.

But by holding him like this, if anything happened, he could quickly toss Melvin over the swamp and engage the enemy.

“Then… how about just throwing me now?”

To that, Kairus replied,

“If I did, at least one of the doctor’s limbs would break.”

Unless it was a situation where he had no choice but to risk injury to keep Melvin alive, Kairus had no intention of flinging him across the swamp.

Faced with that explanation, Melvin had no choice but to close his mouth again.

“Anyway, this swamp is filled with toxic gas.”

While keeping an eye on the surroundings, Kairus looked around the sludge-filled area for anything he could use as a foothold.

He could see a path across the swamp. And he had the ability to get across.

“…Why is there some weird bastard on the other side?”

A gaunt figure stood on the far end, easily over three meters tall.

Wearing a mask called a pumpkin head, the person’s body was eerily skeletal, like a dead tree in winter.

The figure was so androgynous, it was impossible to guess the gender.

Just as Kairus was preparing to move, he clicked his tongue quietly and called out to the figure across the swamp.

“Hey, you come alone?”

He couldn’t be certain, but Kairus had a gut feeling that the bastard was alone.

It didn’t seem likely that many people would want to travel around with someone looking like that.

“…”

The figure didn’t respond. Instead, they just stared at Kairus, holding a talwar adorned with a large sapphire, its blade drooping.

‘A talwar with a sapphire embedded in the pommel. Abnormally tall and emaciated.’

He was listed in the materials sent from the Rose Garden. The one hired through Areumdri Pawnshop. More precisely, Kairus had heard he was pulled out from the police detention center.

His real name wasn’t known, but his nickname was infamous.

The Scarecrow.

A name earned due to his lanky frame and great height, and it fit him disturbingly well.

He was a psycho who, on the last week of every month, cut open a person’s stomach and sliced off their nipples.

He preferred teenage boys, but if no decent prey was around, he’d attack anyone.

No one knew why he carved out nipples after gutting someone.

But then again, no one else was a lunatic like him, so there was no way to understand.

“The problem is, he’s good.”

In Bennett City, killing one person a month in some bizarre ritual wasn’t even considered particularly unusual.

And for something so petty to earn someone resentment? Not when that lunatic called the Scarecrow had such a stellar record and unmatched skill.

“…”

Another trait—he never spoke. Ever.

Until that guy was dealt with, there was no way Kairus could carry Melvin and cross the swamp. The moment you locked eyes with the talwar in his hand, he stood there like he meant to kill.

“You’d better stay here, Doctor.”

At Kairus’s words, Melvin nodded without argument.

When Kairus looked over at Irena, she met his eyes and immediately drew her stained glass.

“No fun coming alone.”

If you’re gonna show up, you might as well bring some friends. As he raised the output of Flicker, Kairus lowered his stance slightly.

Using the battle gear’s output to leap across the swamp wouldn’t be that hard. He’d held back only because Melvin and Tanya would eventually need to cross too.

And—

‘No way he’s gonna let us cross peacefully.’

If the opponent wanted to play to his strengths, it made perfect sense to intercept Kairus and Irena as they tried to cross.

One wrong move, and they’d fall into that rotting pool of filth. Game over.

“Azure Sparkra.”

The talwar used by the Scarecrow was a battle gear crafted by Filtrix Steelworks, a prestigious name in the field. Only five were ever sold, and only during their anniversary.

A weapon too luxurious for a lunatic like him. Its output alone surpassed Flicker’s by more than 1.7 times.

But aside from output, it had no particularly unique abilities. Battle gear with both exceptional power and unique traits were extremely rare to begin with.

They wouldn’t bother classifying something as a masterpiece or building a national vault to store it if just anyone could carry around such battle gear.

“Let’s go, you scarecrow bastard.”

With a surge in output, Kairus shot toward the enemy across the swamp, propelled by a sudden advance.

As he flew forward like a flash, Flicker and the Scarecrow’s talwar collided with a chilling sound.

As expected, Kairus was pushed back and flung away. Adjusting his posture mid-air, he drove Flicker into the wall to brace himself.

“Knew it’d be like this.”

Getting knocked back was inevitable. The Scarecrow’s battle gear had higher output than Kairus’s Flicker.

The opponent could move faster and strike harder than Kairus. If you compared it to boxing, it was like fighting someone in a completely different weight class.

‘Weight class matters. But fights don’t end just because of that, and…’

There were two on this side.

No sooner had Kairus fallen back and lodged his blade into the wall than Irena appeared in front of the Scarecrow, slashing with her sword.

“Kh… What the hell?!”

After a single clash, even Irena had to take a couple of steps back.

Stained Glass also fell short against Azure Sparkra in terms of magical power. Without Kairus’s support, she wouldn’t last long.

Kairus kicked off the wall and quickly closed the gap again, swinging his blade at the Scarecrow.

“…”

Still silent, the Scarecrow used his long arms to whip the talwar like a lash in response.

But the result was slightly different this time. Though Kairus was pushed back, a sudden gust of wind erupted from the point of impact during the clash.

“?!”

The moment the whirlwind appeared, Irena instinctively charged at the Scarecrow, swinging her blade. She just knew—that’s what she had to do.

The gust created by Kairus was drawn into Irena’s sword like cotton candy wrapping around a stick.

Because it happened unconsciously, the next thing Irena did also flowed naturally.

“Ah.”

When she swung the sword that had absorbed the gust, an even stronger windstorm burst forth, engulfing the Scarecrow in an instant.

The Scarecrow’s legs wavered under the force of the storm. From his perspective, it was like being struck with a giant hammer.

“Nice work.”

But it didn’t end there.

As the hammer-like whirlwind slammed into the enemy and dispersed, Kairus skillfully gathered the scattering winds and crafted a Peerless Wind.

What else could she do next? Irena still hadn’t fully grasped it in her mind.

She was just experimenting instinctively, responding to the forms of wind Kairus was creating.

“Thanks.”

“Yeah. Never forget to be grateful for everything.”

Kairus had promised to teach her Swift Blade, and only now was he truly able to teach it properly.

With a cracking sound, the jarring pop of bones resetting echoed, and the raging Peerless Wind stopped in an instant.

“Holy hell. That psycho just shut it down with pure output.”

Kairus stared at the Scarecrow, his expression one of disbelief. He hadn’t expected that bastard’s battle gear to be capable of such overwhelming power.

Meanwhile, the talwar in the Scarecrow’s hand trembled with a distinctly unstable hum.

“Isn’t that thing illegally modified?”

“Looks like it.”

Kairus agreed without hesitation at Irena’s comment.

When battle gear made that kind of unstable noise and vibration, it usually meant it was faulty.

But Azure Sparkra was a limited-edition weapon crafted by Filtrix Steelworks. There was no way it came defective.

Which meant the user had tampered with it, turning it into a faulty weapon.

He had cranked up the output with overclocking, making everything else unstable. One wrong move and the battle gear could break down completely.

“…Now’s not the time to worry about that sword.”

The immediate concern wasn’t the battle gear itself—it was how to survive the current situation.

The thing already had impressive output, and now it was illegally modified on top of that.

And just moments ago, it had erased Kairus’s Peerless Wind with sheer force alone.

‘If I get hit by that full on…’

Even if he managed to block, the force would likely send him flying straight into the swamp of filth.

It meant he had to dodge everything—no exceptions.

“…”

The silent Scarecrow made the first move this time. The talwar, with its embedded blue sapphire, came crashing down at Kairus’s crown like a bolt of lightning.

“Holy sh—!”

The Scarecrow’s overclocked strike was far too fast for anyone to adjust to on the first encounter.

Caught off guard, Kairus chose to block instead of dodge.

The impact fractured the stone floor of the sewer, caving it in around him.

Naturally, Kairus took the full brunt of the blow, stars dancing before his eyes from the sheer force of the shock.

“This is nuts!”

Stunned by the insane speed, Irena shook off her daze and charged in, swinging Stained Glass quickly to draw attention.

That bought just enough time to stop the Scarecrow from following up with another strike on Kairus.

“Hey, thanks for that!”

Kairus used the brief window to narrowly avoid a second hit.

“Is that so?! Then save me next!”

Irena shouted desperately at Kairus. He immediately lunged at the Scarecrow again.

The movements and attacks, using those eerily long limbs, carried terrifying speed and destructive force.

“Where the hell’d you learn to use a sword!?”

What made it even more frustrating was that this guy wasn’t some wild beast swinging a blade with street-brawler instinct.

The movements were rigid and lacking in variation, yet precise and solid. It was a disciplined style.

A style that perfectly matched the Scarecrow’s approach: overwhelming speed and strength fueled by raw output.

‘Still, just a bit more and I’ll get used to it.’

The speed and power were so outside the norm that adapting was difficult. But if he could avoid a major injury and prolong the fight, he could eventually adjust.

That was Kairus’s conclusion. And then came another clash.

“…”

This time, he wasn’t pushed back. Kairus successfully deflected the Scarecrow’s strike.

He was already starting to read it.

“Surprised? Hope not, we’re just getting started.”

Just as Kairus’s mocking grin came to an end, a long trumpet blast rang out.