The dagger that he threw out cut through the air, but it drew no blood in the end.
"Ting!"
There was the sound of metal clanging with each other that rang out before the dagger was knocked out of the air. But as the dagger was knocked out of the air, there was another sound that rang out.
"Snap!"
It was the sound of the dagger actually cracking when it made contact with that person's arm.
There was a look of surprise that appeared on Shaka the Butcher's face, but then he said with a smile, "It seems that you have a bit of skill or else you wouldn't be coming after me. Someone like you working as a bounty hunter really is a shame."
I didn't say anything as I stared right back at him.
During this time, I had been watching him through the surveillance spells that I set up along the pathway.
These were spells that allowed me to monitor their progress and also see what the results of the traps were. So I had seen the way that Shaka had used his men as bait for the traps.
He really was as cruel as he was in the game.
But that wasn't a bad thing.
It meant that he was quite easy to predict and easy to handle.
Instead of acknowledging him and giving an answer to his 'proposal', I said to the women that I saved, "Go ahead. The path is clear ahead, so you'll be able to escape this place."
There were some women that didn't hesitate at all when they heard this.
But there were also a few women that stayed behind with worried looks on their faces.
So I said with a stern look, "Get out of here already."
It was only then that they finally turned around to leave.
"You're wondering why I let you send them away." Shaka said when he saw me turning around to look at him. Then with a wide smile, he said, "It's simply because I don't want to hurt my merchandise. They won't be able to escape and it's better if they don't get caught up in this."
Then that smile on his face turned cold as he said, "But as for you, it won't be that easy. Since you like playing a hero, then you'll have to suffer as one now that I've caught you."
As soon as his voice fell, he charged forward.
But before charging forward, he made sure to grab another one of his followers.
That follower had a look of panic on his face when he was grabbed like this and he even tried struggling to break free from Shaka's grasp, but Shaka was much stronger than him.
There really was a power imbalance between Shaka and his men and he took full advantage of this.
As Shaka had expected, there was another trap that had been set for him.
There were more arrows that came from all around him, but he just swept the follower around to stop them.
At first, the follower tried to use his blade to stop the arrows from reaching him. But in the end, there were just too many arrows that he couldn't stop them all.
Once one of the arrows hit him, the rest of the arrows also hit him as the body of the follower went limp.
But Shaka didn't stop for a second even when he felt this body in his hand go limp.
Rather, it seemed that he became even more aggressive with it as he started swinging the corpse of his follower around as a human shield. He was just using it to swat the arrows out of the air.
With this human shield protecting him, he was able to charge through the passage and come close to me.
But as he came closer, Shaka actually started to move slower.
With the way that he was strutting and the way that he looked at me with a smile, it was as if he was looking down on me. It was as if he was saying that he could take me down at any time, but he was just having fun with it now.
In fact, he even started humming a song as he walked through the arrows flying at him.
Then all of a sudden, Shaka said, "Is there anything to gain from acting like a hero, it's clear that the bad guys are treated better in this world. You shouldn't force yourself to be a hero, you should follow me instead. I'll give you all the things that you want."
I narrowed my eyes to look at Shaka after he said this, but I didn't say anything in response.
Seeing this, Shaka shook his head before saying with a sigh, "It seems like you still need to be taught a lesson before you learn how to respect adults. But that's fine since I'm the best person to teach naughty kids a lesson."
As soon as his voice fell, Shaka started moving faster again.
He crossed the remaining gap between us in a few seconds and then when he was in front of me, he threw the corpse that was filled with many arrows at me. At the same time, he swung the sword in his other hand as well, using the corpse to provide a blind spot.
But I suddenly punched at the corpse and sent it flying at Shaka.
Only that didn't actually stop him.
All it took was a single slash for him to cut through that corpse while still swinging his sword at me.
That sword coming through the corpse came too fast for me to stop, so I could only raise my arms to guard myself.
With a single slash, I was picked up off the ground and thrown several meters away. At the same time, there was a line of blood that appeared on my arms.
Even though I had iron skin, this sword was sharp enough to cut through it.
"Ha, ha, ha, you're still nothing more than a kid. You're still too young to…"
He didn't get to finish as he suddenly stumbled.
As he did, there was a faint smile that appeared on my face.