186: Unforgivable ②

"H-Hurry, kill them!"

Guards began pouring into the room, one after another.

Meanwhile, the nobles scrambled to flee the scene, desperately trying to keep their masks in place. If we let them slip away now, they’ll find a million ways to lie their way out of this. Our only choice was to capture every last one of them and settle this in a court of law. That was the absolute requirement for success.

"Activate the Barrier!"

The auctioneer must have triggered a magic tool, because a resonant hum suddenly vibrated through the air. Damn it, this never happened in the Original Story. It seemed my presence was throwing the established plot into a tailspin in more ways than one.

Thanks to that, multiple layers of reinforced Barriers now stood between us and the powerful men in the back. Beating down the guards without killing them was one thing, but now I had to apprehend all those nobles without leaving a scratch on them? The difficulty level had just spiked through the roof.

"Belk, I don’t hate what you did. But you’d better show me you’ve got the strength to back it up!"

"Understood!"

The moment I lunged forward, Belk took off at a terrifying speed. He moved like a wild animal, toying with the enemies and knocking them unconscious with surgical precision. Of course, the kid starts pulling off near-perfect moves the second his back is against the wall.

However, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the noblemen scrambling toward an exit. I tried to hurry after them, but then—a familiar Mana Cannon blast obliterated the door.

The Barrier flickered and died immediately after.

Wait, what? Why are they here?

It was Carta and Meryl.

"You’re not going any further," Carta declared.

"Belk! We’ve got this side covered! We're leaving the rest to you!" Meryl shouted.

We didn’t waste any more breath on words. We simply moved as one and suppressed the entire room.