Black Badger

A rampage?

No way....

No. This was unmistakably the early stage of a rampage.

One eye burning black, black particles drifting around his body.

The ground beneath his feet shriveling and blackening.

There was no denying it.

Hildebert Taleb had begun to rampage.

「Leader! Don’t absorb!」

Igor shouted without even realizing it himself.

「Stop!」

A rampage led straight to death.

Everyone knew that.

In the end, a rampage only stopped after the Children of the World Tree were burned away. He had seen them crumble into ash more than once—several times in the Empire, once on Earth.

Even Rei Renyr, who had been called a swordsman on par with the Leader, had ultimately turned into black ash.

He had endured for a terrifyingly long time, but the Swordmaster who clung to reason the longest had eventually shattered—mind and body alike—and vanished.

And he had become a fear shared by all humanity.

Igor couldn’t bear to watch Hildebert end up like that—

Rip!

The balaclava that had already been half torn loose by the fall was yanked completely off.

Someone had grabbed it and pulled hard.

Feeling his hair being dragged, Igor tensed his neck and snapped his head around.

“What the hell?!”

“I’ve gotta show him your face if I want his head to come back to him.”

「So you were hiding your presence with magic.」

While Igor frowned and protested at Yun, Hildebert murmured to himself.

He turned his body, looking at the newly appeared figures.

A faint smile touched the lips of the man whose sclera had begun to burn.

「Guards?」

“...What are you even saying....”

“A rampage can be stopped.”

Yun spoke beside Igor, who clearly didn’t understand Hildebert’s muttering.

“That’s what Hilde said. So while his head’s still attached, we’ve gotta drag him back to his senses fast.”

“What kind of nonsense is that now?”

「Well, whatever your position is doesn’t really matter.」

“He’s coming.”

Beside the flustered Igor, Karl spoke in a hushed voice.

“Sword strike.”

BOOOOOM!

Hildebert swung the scalpel.

The man didn’t brace himself or narrow his eyes. As if swatting at a bug in midair, he simply flicked a line through the air with the hand holding the scalpel.

A sword strike shaped like that line flew toward them.

Bang-bang! The Badgers hastily leapt backward, barely avoiding it. The blow slammed into the spot where they’d been standing, sending up a geyser of earth.

An attack that would have severed bodies if they hadn’t dodged.

Those who jumped back grimaced.

Ricardo muttered irritably.

“Well, this is a headache~....”

“What is this? Why is he doing that down there? And what the hell was that just now?”

“If we get out of his sight, won’t the rampage stop?”

Still failing to grasp the situation, Asil held his head and stared at Hildebert.

Karl, his back against the sinkhole’s earthen wall, said,

“Last time, he said the rampage stopped when he decided to ‘only absorb people,’ so....”

Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwaang!

Another casual gesture.

This sword strike was far longer than the last. A white line that seemed to split their field of vision clean in two flew at them.

If they hadn’t bent at the waist in a flash, their bodies would have been cut apart.

Ruta Ayer, who had just started to rise, survived only because Sophia slammed a hand down on his back.

BADUUM!

Thud—

Boooom....

Sand and gravel rolled down.

The wind created by the sword strike sent the rescue team’s hair flying before it settled again.

Layered scars like sedimentary strata were carved into the wall. And yet, even while unleashing those sword strikes, Hildebert never moved from the center.

A face so cold and serene it sent chills down the spine.

Unlike Hildebert, those dodging the strikes were thrown into full emergency mode.

Igor’s expression changed rapidly.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but you said the Leader’s stopped a rampage before, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then let’s run.”

By now, the entire rescue team had clawed free of the debris and was staring only at Hildebert.

More precisely, they were waiting for the next sword strike that could come at any moment.

“If everyone hides, maybe he won’t rampage.”

“Move.”

Yun issued the order immediately.

“Up.”

There was no hesitation.

Not a single person talked back. Even Ruta Ayer, who likely hadn’t fully grasped the situation, spun around and started climbing the slope of the sinkhole.

They sprang upward.

Sword strikes rained down on them.

Bang! Banh-bang! BOOM!

「Trying to run?」

Hildebert laughed.

「Fine. I’ll go easy on you.」

Sword strikes slammed into the walls, triggering landslides.

The earth sliding down the slope swept over those trying to escape the sinkhole. Even Sophia, who had nearly reached the edge, was helplessly dragged back down.

The rescue team was forced back to the base of the slope.

「Ah, please, Hildebert!」

「Just like you did.」

Yoow’s shout was ignored. Everyone failed to escape. Asil, who had been closest to the sword strikes, was buried completely under the soil and had to wrench his head back out of the ground like clawing his way from a grave.

“What the hell is this situation....”

「I’ll give you five minutes.」 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

As Ruta Ayer muttered in a daze, Hildebert spoke lightly.

The golden eyes that tracked them held none of his usual gentleness.

「But the stage is here.」

「Leader! Get a proper grip on yourself!」

Igor shouted as he pushed himself upright.

「Stop spouting nonsense that doesn’t make any sense!」

「Could it be PTSD messing with his head—」

“He says he’ll play with us for five minutes.”

Yun said beside the stunned Igor and Yoow.

“Spread out. Stick to the slope so the sword strikes don’t concentrate on one side. He’s not letting a single one of us out of here anyway.”

The Badgers moved immediately.

Even Ruta Ayer and Asil Fiscer, who likely still didn’t fully understand, widened the distance from their seniors without a word. Running at full speed, they managed to form a wide circle around Hildebert.

Yun, Ricardo, Karl, Sophia, Ruta Ayer, Asil Fiscer forming the ring.

Igor and Yoow standing between Yun and Fiscer.

Ricardo, positioned to Yun’s right, muttered,

“When did he even learn that language....”

“Isn’t it about time he could at least understand it?”

Yun replied without taking his eyes off Hildebert.

“He can’t speak it. Though it doesn’t look like yelling in his native tongue would help anyway.”

The rescue team tensed every muscle, bracing for the next attack.

Then the man who had been calmly observing with white hair cascading down raised his arm again. The black particles floating around him scattered.

Hildebert said,

「Shall we start?」

“He’s coming.”

「Five minutes from now.」

The ground beneath him writhed, covered in black particles.

「Try running.」

The sword strikes flew.

One after another. Bang! BOOOM! BOOOOM! Those clustered along the slope darted aside, dodging the incoming strikes. Sand and gravel shot upward, attacks slicing cleanly through the spots their feet had occupied a moment earlier.

True to his words, Hildebert didn’t move a single step from where he stood.

The man slumped at his feet seemed to have forgotten how to move at all.

Of course, the Badgers had no room to spare for someone in shock.

“Let’s at least try shooting him!”

Amid the flood of sword strikes that no one dared attempt to flee through, Ruta Ayer shouted while dodging the sixth strike aimed at him.

“We can’t just keep dodging forever!”

“Does calling his name in that language not work?”

Karl asked as he evaded the seventh attack. Igor replied with a frown.

“Not at all.”

BOOOOOM!

The slope was shaved away with a deafening roar.

Cursing, Ruta Ayer raised his gun.

No one stopped him.

Bang!

The bullet fired by the Black Badger punched through Hildebert’s side.

Thud!

The moment it pierced his skin, Hildebert’s body regenerated.

He didn’t even spare Ayer a glance. It was as if he hadn’t even registered that a bullet had passed straight through him.

Ricardo dodged the eighth attack with a sharp twist, landed, and let out a heavy sigh.

“Figures. No way normal attacks would work~....”

“But compared to the rampage we saw on the footage, this is extremely restrained.”

“He’s controlling it.”

Yoow pushed himself up from the ground and answered Karl’s question.

“That’s a level only Swordmaster-class can reach. But that doesn’t mean this isn’t a rampage. He’s already absorbed too much—look at his eye burning out. And look at the ground beneath him. There’s a circuit spinning inside, draining nutrients straight out of the earth. Honestly, I still can’t believe a rampage can be stopped....”

“Ah.... So as long as people are in front of him, he has no intention of stopping.”

“Then how the hell do we deal with a PTSD-triggered meltdown like this?”

The moment Yun answered, Igor’s neck veins bulged.

「Hildebert Taleb!」

“In comics, the female lead cries and shouts, and the guy snaps out of it.”

Sophia muttered while rolling across the ground to dodge a sword strike.

“Or runs «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» over and hugs him?”

Boom!

The rescue team’s chatter cut off all at once.

Hildebert released a circular sword strike unlike anything they’d seen so far. A near-spherical attack tore through the air and slammed into the slope.

The stench of sand burned the nose.

A cloud of dust erupted from the sinkhole floor, blinding everyone inside.

Yun replied calmly.

“Doesn’t hurt to try.”

“I’ll do it!”

A figure shot up from the dirt where she’d been hidden.

“Leader!”

She had already taken off her balaclava.

Rose sprinted across the cracked ground toward Hildebert.

“Leader! Leader! If you want, you can absorb me—”

Crash!

An oddly shaped sword strike slammed into her mid-run and shoved her straight back to where she’d started.

Igor sheathed his sword.

“Stay in the corner, kid. You didn’t forget the rule the Leader made, did you?”

“Ah... the one-meter rule....”

Rose, slammed back into the dirt by Igor’s strike, looked like she’d just remembered something important.

She wilted instantly.

“Yes. I remember.”

Obediently, Rose retreated back toward the slope.

The Badgers stared in shock at the entire exchange—while still desperately dodging the playful sword strikes Hildebert kept sending their way.

Ruta Ayer hopped backward, shouting.

“What the hell was that?!”

“Don’t ask.”

Karl leapt aside and gave the junior some advice.

Asil, rolling across the dirt with a pale face, brushed blood off his wound and muttered,

“A stalker...?”

“I said don’t ask.”

“...Yes. Understood. Still, at this point, wouldn’t it be better if Senior Kalak tried yelling at Hilde....”

“That’s an emotionally tone-deaf suggestion.”

Sophia shot back without even turning her head. Asil protested, sounding wronged.

“You’re the one who brought it up first!”

Ruta Ayer fired several more shots. As before, he didn’t even earn a glance from Hildebert. Igor, waiting for an opening to counter with a sword strike, fared no better.

Hildebert calmly sliced the air, smiling faintly, like someone cutting toast.

Then he spoke.

「Three minutes have passed.」

「You bastard Knight Commander! You didn’t have to dump this big of a headache on me!」

“Before this gets even worse, let’s at least try something.”

Ignoring Yoow, who was tearing at his own hair, Yun made a suggestion.

“Shout ‘I love you’ at Hildebert Taleb.”

Silence fell among the Badgers.

They pretended they hadn’t heard him and kept dodging sword strikes. Even as Hildebert—one sclera darkened—chuckled softly, clearly amused by how they slipped around like loaches, not a single person opened their mouth.

Everyone focused on avoiding his gaze.

Yun broke the silence.

“Ayer.”

Ruta Ayer flinched.

“You do it.”

“Me?!”

The brown-haired Badger nearly lost his head to a sword strike.

“Me, you mean?!”

Boom!

The shockwave from the attack sent Ayer tumbling hard to the left.

Even while rolling across the dirt, he never took his eyes off Yun.

“You want me to shout it?!”

“Yes.”

“Why me?!”

Crash!

Another strike. This time Ayer injured his right ankle, but he still shot Yun an indignant glare.

“I’ve barely even spoken to him properly!”

“So?”

“Even if I shout that, what good would it do?! Shouldn’t people who were in the same squad do it instead?!”

“Want me to do it, then?”

The moment Yun asked, everyone stiffened.

Only Hildebert—clearly not listening to a word—watched their frantic movements with mild interest, murmuring that it was “quite admirable.”

The sinkhole fell quiet again.

Ricardo dodged yet another strike and muttered,

“Please... just hang in there....”

“Right. Hurry up and shout, Ayer. The mercy our youngest is showing us is about to run out.”

“No, Senior—!”

Ruta Ayer raised both hands in protest.

“Why me of all people—!”

“Are you disobeying orders?”

Yun replied flatly while dodging another strike.

“On the battlefield?”

Ruta Ayer clenched his teeth.

For a while, he kept dodging sword strikes with a face twisted into a grimace.

Igor muttered under his breath,

“Workplace harassment.”

“Then you just keep shouting in your native tongue.”

“Power abuse~....”

Ricardo added quietly.

Yun didn’t spare the green-eyed junior a glance.

“I didn’t make you do it out of respect for your position, Sordi. Stay put.”

“Sure....”

“Ayer. You gonna do it or not?”

Ruta Ayer mouthed fuck! silently.

But he didn’t resist for long. He couldn’t. At heart, he was a textbook soldier.

Dodging strikes with a face full of misery, the man squeezed his eyes shut the moment Hildebert muttered 「One minute」 in the Imperial tongue.

Then he opened them again, expression hardened with resolve.

“Hildebert!”

The Black Badger—born after borders had vanished, skilled enough to outpace his seniors—came to a stop and raised his voice.

A reliable soldier.

Thirty-fifth generation. Someone who often ended up squad leader whenever they left the Core.

“I’m sorry!”

His voice boomed through the sinkhole like a cannon.

“I love you!!”

BOOM!

A sword strike the size of a house tore through the air toward Ruta Ayer.